Family Secrets

After that phone call, Jiang Yue lost the mood to deal with San Gou.

San Gou had also been eavesdropping on the phone call. Hearing that his aunt had gotten him leave to stay in the city for a while longer, he was overjoyed.

However, the content of this phone call was rather heavy. San Gou instinctively felt that he shouldn't appear too happy.

"Second Brother, I don't have to go back to town now, right? If you ask me, those dogs were killed by those Unclean Things from last night."

San Gou had never been an atheist.

To be precise, no one in the Old Jiang Family had ever been an atheist.

"Hey, Second Brother, I'm just curious. Why would those Unclean Things want to go back to town? There are so many people in the whole town, why can't everyone see them?"

"Second Brother, do I have the Yin Yang Eye that Yin Yang Masters often talk about?"

It was no wonder they said San Gou had a peculiar way of thinking.

For children from ordinary families, seeing unclean things several times a day would surely scare them badly, even if it didn't lead to mental breakdown.

San Gou, on the other hand, was completely unfazed after the incident. He ate, slept, and flirted as usual.

Speaking of the Yin Yang Eye, he wasn't scared at all; instead, he was quite proud of it.

"You know about the Yin Yang Eye?" Jiang Yue was a little surprised.

"What are you saying? Isn't this an ancestral skill of our Old Jiang Family? When I was little, my dad often talked to me about these things."

"What did your dad say to you?"

"Huh? You don't know? My dad said our grandfather was a master, with great abilities, but he was too low-key and stubborn, unwilling to adapt. And..."

"And what?"

San Gou scratched his head. "Heh heh, that's what my dad said, not me."

"It sounds like it wasn't anything good."

"Heh heh, it wasn't very pleasant to hear, but I don't believe it. My dad blames the outhouse for his constipation." San Gou wasn't stupid; he knew to say the right things in the right company. Political correctness was paramount.

"Alright, alright, stop rambling. Tell me what your dad told you."

"Don't hit me if I tell you. That's what my dad said, it has nothing to do with me."

"If you talk any more nonsense, see if I don't smack you."

"Look at your impatience! My dad said our grandfather had great abilities, but he was simple-minded. He spent his whole life as a country bumpkin, never selling his skills, which was a shame. He also said our grandfather was biased, only doting on First Uncle and Second Uncle, and prejudiced against him. He even suspected he wasn't our grandfather's biological son."

If anyone else had said this, Jiang Yue probably wouldn't have believed it. But his Third Uncle was such an unreliable fellow, Jiang Yue truly didn't doubt that this was exactly what Third Uncle would say.

San Gou had many traits of Third Uncle: cunning and sly, full of tricks, thick-skinned, wild, unfazed by anything, and sometimes quite sharp-tongued, commonly known as "mouthy."

However, the biggest difference between San Gou and Third Uncle was that Third Uncle was like trying to carry tofu with a rope – impossible to grasp.

Whereas San Gou, despite his young age, was resolute and dependable in crucial moments.

Seeing that his Second Brother remained silent, San Gou seriously examined his reflection in the glass cabinet.

"I have to say, my dad just loves to talk nonsense. Second Brother, I think you and I are quite similar. My dad must be our grandfather's biological son. We're definitely from the Old Jiang Family, no doubt about it."

"Why did your dad suspect he wasn't your grandfather's biological son?"

"He said our grandfather's abilities were secretly taught to First Uncle and Second Uncle. Especially after First Uncle passed away, all his skills were passed to your dad. He wanted to learn, but our grandfather refused to teach him."

This was indeed a difficult reason to refute.

However, what exactly had his grandfather taught his father? Jiang Yue was completely clueless.

Speaking of family heritage, the Jiang family did have one. Feng Shui, divination, character analysis, physiognomy, and so on. The old man was indeed quite skilled. It was just that the old man never ventured into the Jianghu, so his reputation wasn't widely known.

At least, Jiang Yue had been exposed to these things subtly since childhood, never receiving systematic, hands-on training.

If his grandfather had truly taught his father extraordinary skills in secret, and he was his father's only son, there was no reason he wouldn't inherit them, right?

"San Gou, do you believe what your dad said?"

"I do," San Gou replied crisply.

"I believe our grandfather has great abilities, and I believe our grandfather didn't teach my dad. However, if our grandfather truly had such great abilities, he must have had his reasons for not teaching my dad!"

Oh?

This made Jiang Yue look at him with newfound respect. San Gou, usually so carefree, could say something so profound and sophisticated?

"Go on, tell me, what great abilities did our grandfather have?"

Jiang Yue's ability to recall everything he saw was a talent he was born with, present since childhood.

His grandfather had passed away when he was six. However, before the age of six, Jiang Yue had spent a lot of time with his grandfather.

Although his childhood memories weren't as vivid as his later ones, he could still remember quite a bit.

In his memory, his grandfather was a cheerful old man. Although he had an air of immortality and discussed matters of Yin Yang, Feng Shui, and stargazing, he was, in essence, no different from ordinary people. He ate, drank, and handled his daily bodily functions like everyone else; there was no obvious difference.

What his grandfather often did was teach him to recognize characters, read ancient books, impart life lessons, and occasionally offer pointers on common knowledge related to Yin Yang and Feng Shui. These were things that had gradually permeated his being over time, integrating into his very bones and blood.

"Second Brother, when I was little, my dad told me something that I remember very clearly. Have you heard of it?"

"Tell me more."

"My dad said that when he was little, maybe even younger than I am now, Grandpa went into the mountains to gather herbs. Dad secretly followed him."

"He followed him to a mountainside, where Dad saw Grandpa drawing and writing on a piece of yellow talisman paper. He wrote for a long time, then folded the paper into a paper crane. After that, he dipped two points of cinnabar and dotted each wing of the paper crane. Guess what happened?"

"What happened?"

"Dad said he saw the paper crane actually fly up in Grandpa's palm. It didn't fly far, but Dad said it must have been at least seven or eight meters high and tens of meters away! And it burned up in mid-air!"

"How is that possible?" This was bordering on a fantasy novel.

As the eldest grandson who had spent time with his grandfather, Jiang Yue found it hard to connect such a magical event with the jolly old man he remembered.

How many years had it been since Third Uncle's childhood? How reliable could those memories be? It was entirely possible for childhood memories to be distorted or even embellished with imagination.

"I knew you wouldn't believe me. I didn't believe it at first either. But my dad swore an oath. And when Grandpa found out Dad had been watching, he slapped him hard and warned him not to spout nonsense, or he'd beat him to death."

"After taking such a beating, how could my dad not remember it vividly? What's even stranger is that not long after that incident, Eldest Brother died of illness in another city. Second Uncle and my dad didn't even get to see Eldest Brother's body; they heard he was cremated directly at the place he died."

Third Uncle and San Gou were truly a pair of eccentrics.

For a father and son to tell a story involving oaths and curses, only these two could pull it off.

However, San Gou told it so vividly, complete with oaths, and it even brought up Eldest Brother's past. This was starting to get interesting.

"San Gou, what else did your dad say? Be specific."

"Well, he's mumbled about this several times. He said that when Grandpa saw the paper crane fly, he didn't look happy at all; his expression was very grim. He kept muttering, 'Such a big change in just three years?'"

"What change?" Jiang Yue pressed.

San Gou shook his head. "Dad never figured it out. Grandpa just kept repeating that one sentence. Dad was so stunned by the slap, he didn't dare ask afterwards. He waited until Grandpa passed away before he dared to ask again."

Jiang Yue couldn't get any more information from San Gou. It was clear that Third Uncle only knew this much at the time.

At first, Jiang Yue had completely disbelieved San Gou when he brought this up.

But now, with these details, Jiang Yue was starting to waver between belief and disbelief.

"Second Brother? There's something I've been hesitant to ask. Why did Second Uncle leave home so abruptly?"

Although Jiang Yue never mentioned it, San Gou knew it was Second Brother's sore spot, so he asked very cautiously.

Normally, Jiang Yue wouldn't have answered. But now they were all in the same boat, and San Gou had opened up to him so much. It would be improper to keep hiding things.

"My dad left a letter. It wasn't very long. It said he'd found a clue related to Mom and was going to investigate."

"That's it?"

"That was the main point. There were some other things, mostly just telling us, his son and daughter, to look out for each other and rely on one another."

"Oh." San Gou felt a bit sorry for Second Brother.

"Second Brother, you said Second Uncle left so mysteriously. Besides being related to Second Mom, could it have something to do with the skills Grandpa secretly taught him?"

Jiang Yue shook his head. "My dad worked at his unit all his life. I never saw him display any strange or unusual abilities."

"If he had them, he wouldn't tell you outright! Look at my dad; didn't he only see it by accident?"

Alright, San Gou's thought process was always so unconventional.

San Gou thought for a moment, then felt it didn't add up.

"Grandpa probably didn't teach my dad because he thought Dad was unreliable, someone who couldn't be counted on. If Second Uncle had great skills, it doesn't make sense that he wouldn't teach them to you, Second Brother. Unless the time wasn't right?"

San Gou was firm in his belief that Grandpa possessed great abilities.

"Alright, stop overthinking. When Eldest Sister gets back, I'll have her talk to Aunt. We'll just have them all come to Star City. This world is really getting too unstable."

As he was speaking, frantic crying suddenly came from the hallway, followed by a rapid knocking on the door.

Knock, knock, knock!

The force was so great it felt like the whole room was shaking.

"Little Jiang, Little Jiang, are you home?"

With that kind of knocking, was the sky about to fall?