Bringing Bad Luck

[Liang Yusheng Novels

Eldest Uncle Ye shot Ye Yaodong a fierce glare before stepping over the threshold. He still remembered how Ye Yaodong had grabbed him by the throat that morning!

After the two men went inside, Ye Yaodong and Ye Yaohua followed close behind.

The women were clearing the table and washing the dishes. Father Ye had picked up his water pipe, intending to have a smoke after dinner, when he saw his two brothers coming over again.

As soon as Eldest Uncle Ye and Second Uncle Ye arrived, they went over to the old lady and called out in unison, "Mom!"

"Mm. Have you eaten?"

"Yes. You've eaten too, haven't you, Mom?"

"Mm."

Ye Yaodong rolled his eyes from the sidelines. They already knew the answer. His fellow countrymen always opened a conversation with "Have you eaten?" It really was peculiar-no matter the era, that never changed.

Second Uncle Ye glanced at Eldest Uncle Ye, who cleared his throat twice before saying, "Mom, we came by this morning, but you weren't here, so we thought we'd come again."

"You came especially to see me?" the old lady asked, knowing full well they hadn't.

"Ah, no. Ah, yes..."

He had tied himself in knots before even getting started. He was no use as a mouthpiece, so Second Uncle Ye decided to speak for himself.

"Here's the thing, Mom. Didn't Third Son just catch a netful of large yellow croaker and sell them for over a thousand? That boat was left by Dad. Third Son got it when we divided things up, and he repaired it himself. Even though he got the better end of the deal, we were too embarrassed to ask him to share the money."

"But all the children in our families have grown up, and there isn't enough room anymore. We'd each like to borrow three hundred from Third Son to build a couple of rooms for the children. What do you think...?"

The old lady frowned, turned sideways, and leaned her ear toward him. "Huh? What did you say? I'm hard of hearing. Speak up!"

"Hahaha!"

Ye Yaodong couldn't hold back his laughter. The old lady really was something. Usually her hearing and eyesight were perfectly good, but now she was suddenly hard of hearing?

The old lady secretly shot him a reproachful glare.

His laughter left Second Uncle Ye feeling awkward too. As if they didn't know whether the old lady was hard of hearing!

Father Ye set down his water pipe and said helplessly, "You couldn't get me to give you money this morning, so now you've talked it over and decided to borrow it instead? Why won't you give up? I have three sons myself, and each whole family is still crammed into one room, with four or five people sharing a bed. I need to build a house and split up the household myself. Where would I get the money to lend you?"

"Then lend us a little less, and we'll put in some ourselves. Third Son, our grandchildren are much older than yours..."

"What, my grandchildren aren't going to grow up?"

"But you've got a boat now. You can make more catching fish yourself than we can working as hired crew."

"How is a living that depends on the weather ever guaranteed? The sons in both your families have already set up their own households. Why do you still need to worry about where your grandchildren will live? Leave that worrying to your sons. All you need is a place to live yourselves."

Father Ye had countered everything he said. What else could Second Uncle Ye say?

Eldest Uncle Ye still wouldn't give up. He turned to the old lady, who was pretending not to hear, and said, "Mom, then could we pay Third Son to rent the boat? There are thirty days in a month. Second Brother and I could each rent it for ten days. Would that be all right?"

"I'm deaf. Go discuss it with your third brother!"

Eldest Uncle Ye was struck speechless!

Grinning, Ye Yaodong put an arm around the old lady's shoulders. "My grandma's getting on in years. Don't upset her. Renting out the boat is out of the question. Who would be responsible if it got damaged? It may be old, but it's still our family's treasure. Stop setting your sights on it. We've only taken it out to sea once ourselves."

Hearing that, Second Uncle Ye's imagination immediately ran wild, and he began to have second thoughts.

That was right. It was an old boat. Even repaired, who knew how well it would hold up? If it broke down near the dock, they could still get back. At worst, they could swim back. But if they took it out into open water and it broke down...

The thought alone made his hair stand on end.

He tugged at Eldest Uncle Ye, who was still about to speak. "Forget it. Let's not rent the boat. We'll find some other way to deal with our families' difficulties."

"We're not strangers. Of course we'd take good care of it."

"No, this boat is old. Who knows whether something else might break after it's been repaired? Near the shore, it would be fine, but what if..."

When Eldest Uncle Ye refused to listen, Second Uncle Ye hinted at what he had been imagining. He hadn't expected Eldest Uncle Ye to be so thoughtless that he would pick up where he left off and blurt it out.

"If it broke down out at sea, wouldn't that mean we couldn't get ba-"

"Pah, pah, pah! You jinx! Are you cursing me? We're brothers, and you're bringing that kind of bad luck down on me!" Father Ye sprang up in fury at their words, almost flinging his water pipe at them.

Mother Ye said angrily too, "Pah! You're his own brothers! Just because you couldn't borrow money, did you have to put such a vicious curse on our family?"

Ye Yaopeng was also furious. He dropped the respectful titles altogether and pointed straight at them, demanding, "What have we ever done to you? Do you hate seeing us do well that much? You're even cursing us..."

"No, I didn't... That's not what I meant..." Eldest Uncle Ye finally realized what he had blurted out. He hurriedly slapped his own mouth twice and tried to explain.

Second Uncle Ye hastily explained too, "We didn't mean that. We're all family. How could we curse you...?"

Ye Yaodong's face turned thunderous too. He had only just fallen into the sea, and now these two were cursing their family again. "Pah, pah, pah! May the bad words fail and the good words come true! Our family will have smooth sailing and make a fortune! Both of you, get out! You're not welcome here. If you don't leave, I'll chase you out with a broom. Don't blame me if it gets ugly!"

"No, we really didn't mean that..."

The daughters-in-law were all furious too, chiming in angrily one after another.

"Can't you stand seeing our family do well? Just because we won't lend you money or rent you the boat, you're going to curse us?"

"We're all family. How can you be so vicious and mean-hearted?"

"What have we done to you for you to curse our family like this? You can't go through life without a conscience..."

Eldest Uncle Ye and Second Uncle Ye had stirred up a hornet's nest. Surrounded by people demanding answers, they had no way to defend themselves. Knowing they were in the wrong, they could only keep apologizing.

"Enough! You're both getting on in years. How can you still speak so thoughtlessly? We live by the sea. Are those the sort of unlucky words you can say? And about your own brother, too!" The old lady slapped the table and glared sternly at the two brothers.

Then she murmured a couple of prayers. "Bodhisattva, protect us... Mazu, protect us... Please take no offense, take no offense..."

The old lady took such superstitions very seriously. How could she tolerate anyone in the family saying something so unlucky, especially about their own brother?

Eldest Uncle Ye and Second Uncle Ye were panicking too. "Mom, we weren't thinking that. How could we curse Third Son? We're brothers by blood. No matter how big a disagreement we had, we would never curse him like that. One thing just led to another, and the words slipped out. We really didn't mean it."

"I know you're thoughtless and a little too full of schemes. But you can't be so greedy or so calculating. Only a kind heart brings blessings. Go home. Stop coveting things that don't belong to you."

"Yes, yes!"

As though they had been granted a pardon, Eldest Uncle Ye and Second Uncle Ye hurried away, practically fleeing. They didn't dare stay any longer.

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