Epiphanies of Rebirth Chapter 60 (Part 3)
Translated by Pure (ko-fi)
Chapter 60.3 "You even dare to twist the words of the Bodhisattva?"
"Hurry up and persuade Shenxing, Dabao is a very good child..." The old lady was worried that her grandson would suffer, so she grumbled endlessly to Yu Shuyuan, "You two are not at home all year round. Always busy with work, and as soon as you come back, you will scold your son. Dabao and Xiaobao were all brought up by me..."
Yu Shuyuan was helpless to Grandma Xiao’s nagging, so she had no choice but to go upstairs. Before she completely opened the door, she saw the broken porcelain on the floor, and her chest tightened immediately.
She immediately pushed the door open and went in. When she walked in, Yu Shuyuan was met with the scene of Xiao Shenxing angrily grabbing the inkstone on the table and throwing it at Xiao Chi. Xiao Chi didn't dodge, he let the heavy inkstone hit his chest, and the ink splashed all over his body. Xiao Chi didn’t flinch nor change his expression, but Yu Shuyuan at the door exploded. She slammed the door with a bang, and yelled at Xiao Shenxing, who was ready to throw the brush holder, "Xiao Shenxing! I dare you to throw another!"
Xiao Shenxing was startled by his wife and subconsciously stopped. When he came back to his senses, he immediately became angry, "Why are you here?!"
"I asked you to come early because I want you to persuade your son!" Yu Shuyuan strode in with an angry face, her phoenix eyes widened in fury as she aggressively continued to scold him, "Who told you to use your hands?! Did I ask you to beat him? What did I tell you on the phone? Do you not understand the word 'persuasion'? When you get upset at the negotiating table, you also throw your teacup at the foreign ambassadors?"
"How can that be the same?" Xiao Shenxing did not have plans to return so early. It was only when he received the news from his wife, after they got off the phone, he immediately booked a flight back. On the plane, he was thinking about how to get this son, who rarely communicated with him since childhood, to change his ways. But no matter how he contemplated, Xiao Shenxing remained clueless. He knew too little about his son. Like what had happened just now, his son obviously did not show him any respect. Apart from beating, he couldn't think of any way to maintain his own identity and dignity as a ‘father’.
He shouted impatiently at his naggy wife, "You stay out of this. Don’t bother with this thing, I just have to show him who’s boss!"
"Don’t bother with this?" Yu Shuyuan immediately became infuriated with her husband's words, "If I don’t bother to care, then would you bother to? When did you ever bother to care? You only knew that our son is dating another man because I told you! Did I ask you to come back to beat him up? If that’s my intention, then I would have thrown the teacup myself!"
Xiao Shenxing slammed the brush holder back on the table with a bang, "Why are you making trouble for no reason?"
With a stomach full of dissatisfaction, Yu Shuyuan retorted, "Making trouble for no reason? I think you are the one who is ‘making trouble for no reason’!"
Xiao Chi stood beside them for a while. His chest still hurt from being hit by the inkstone, but he soon realized that the focus of his parents' topic was no longer on himself.
Xiao Shenxing questioned Yu Shuyuan, "You still want to say that you are not ‘making trouble for no reason’? The reason why Xiao Chi is like this is probably because you spoil him!"
Yu Shuyuan confronted tit-for-tat, "A load of bull! You two-faced thing, return my affections! How many days do you stay with the kids a year? Have you ever taught them anything?!"
Xiao Shenxing: "Aren't I busy with work? You dare say that about me? How many days can you stay at home all year round? How can you be better than me?"
Yu Shuyuan: "Didn't you just say that I spoil the children? Now you’re saying I don't care about the children? You’re busy with work? Oh, so now you are saying I don’t have my own job? Blame me for all the bad things, and the good things are all inherited from you, the father? Xiao Shenxing, can you be any more shameless?"
The two bickered on and on, cursing and swearing. The grievances between the husband and wife seemed to have accumulated for many years, and it was even bigger than the son, Xiao Chi. At the end, both sides were already red and panting. Xiao Chi coughed, he stopped in front of his mother to try to persuade her. "Mom..."
"Shut up!"
Xiao Shenxing and Yu Shuyuan cut off his words at the same time, and then resumed glaring at each other.
Yu Shuyuan roared angrily, "You still have the face to quarrel with me! The American psychology book I read a few days ago said that the biggest cause of homosexuality besides genetics is due to alienation from relatives of the same sex! I think the biggest reason why our child has become like this lies on you! You are the culprit!"
Xiao Shenxing sneered. "What fallacy! What, so being estranged from relatives will make others homosexual? I think the man that he’s with is playing hooligan and leading you on!"
Xiao Chi frowned and said in a deep voice, "Dad, watch your words."
"What am I watching for? Am I wrong?" After Xiao Shenxing and his wife had a hearty quarrel, their anger had subsided a lot, so they regained some composure. Xiao Shenxing continued to lecture Xiao Chi, "Hurry up and break up with that man! Don't do these messy things, aren’t you afraid of angering your grandma to death?"
As soon as he finished speaking, an extremely familiar voice came from the door.
The half-opened door was slowly pushed open from the outside. There stood the pale and chubby Grandma Xiao. She was holding her walking cane and was supported with the help of Xiao Miao. She looked to have been standing there for a while, obviously listening to their conversation. Because Grandma Xiao was still unsure what to make out of the content of the quarrel between her son and daughter-in-law, she looked confused, "What about playing hooligan? What kind of mess did Dabao make? Who do you ask him to break up with? A man?"
Everyone in the room turned silent at once. Yu Shuyuan immediately came to her senses. Afraid to frighten the old lady, she tried to send her away. "Mom, it’s nothing important. You should go down and rest for a while, we are almost done anyways."
"Wait, wait, wait!" The old lady was unwilling to leave so easily. She waved away her daughter-in-law's hand, turned to look at her son, and finally landed on Xiao Chi after Xiao Shenxing averted his eyes.
Xiao Chi reluctantly walked around from behind his mother to help hold his grandma's other arm.
The old lady stared at him and asked, "What did your father's words mean? Who did he ask you to break up with?"
"Mom! Don't ask!" Xiao Shenxing showed an extremely ashamed expression. "I'm really afraid that something will happen when you hear what this little bastard is about to say!"
Grandma Xiao recalled the quarrel just now. She thought of the possibility and asked Xiao Chi cautiously, "You...you are with a...you are with a man?"
Xiao Chi nodded. She opened her mouth and continued to ask in a daze, "The one that’s coming over to our house for a meal on the fifth?"
Xiao Chi didn't answer. Under the collective gaze of the whole family, he directly reached into his trouser pocket, then took out a note. When he unfolded it, Xiao Chi spread it in front of Grandma Xiao who seemed to be about to faint.
Yu Shuyuan subconsciously peaked at it, but only saw ‘2nd earthly branch’ and ‘thirty-fifth year E11’, etc. While she was still trying to comprehend these words, she heard Xiao Chi explain, "Grandma, these are his eight characters[1]."
Xiao Shenxing watched his mother's trance-like expression sharpen little by little. The old lady first lightly glanced at the paper but soon couldn't move her eyes away. After staring there for a long time, she simply took the note from Xiao Chi's hand.
"Aiya..." It was hard to tell what Grandma Xiao was calculating, but her expression changed from dazed to surprised. While she pinched[2] her fingers, she murmured, "This child has a very good eight characters… they pair very well with Dabao..."
"What do you mean pair!?" Xiao Shenxing felt that the old lady was really confused, so he hurriedly interrupted, "No matter how compatible, that’s a man!"
But Grandma Xiao no longer displayed the blank expression. Instead, she retorted plausibly, "These eight characters are yin heavy, it takes another man to pair with him. Bodhisattva said our Dabao has strong yang, and is full of vicious currents. He needs to be paired with someone with a heavy yin to repress it!"
The more she talked, the more satisfied Grandma Xiao became. She kept nodding her head, "These eight characters are perfect..."
Xiao Chi also cheered her on. The grandparent and grandchild continued to babble a lot of professional terms that most laymen couldn't understand. Yu Shuyuan could feel a headache coming from their words. She and Xiao Shenxing exchanged looks, and both saw the helplessness in each other’s eyes.
Xiao Shenxing walked forward and wanted to send his mother away, "Mom, don't make any more trouble. What yin and yang nonsense, let me and his mother solve this matter..."
"What do you mean!" The solemn face of the old lady suddenly became fierce. Her son, who had traveled and seen many things around the world, still trembled at her change of temper. "You dare call the words of Bodhisattva nonsense?"
Xiao Shenxing: "..."
Xiao Shenxing resignedly, he softened his tone, "Okay, okay, I know, I understand."
The old lady relented and went downstairs. Before leaving, she did not forget to ask Xiao Chi to give her a picture of Lin Jingzhe's front face[3]. Xiao Chi had a particular fate, it was hard to find who was compatible with his eight characters.
After the old lady went downstairs, the juniors upstairs stopped arguing. Xiao Shenxing and his wife each found a chair to sit on and sighed.
In the silence, Xiao Chi took out two pieces of paper towel to wipe off the ink that was about to dry up on his face. Without a care, he continued to poke at their sore spot, "So can he still come on the fifth?"
Xiao Shenxing wanted to scold him, but the old lady's enthusiastic nagging still lingered in his ears. He angrily took a small teacup from the table and threw it at Xiao Chi's feet, "Scram! Don't bother me anymore!"
Xiao Chi turned around and walked out indifferently when Yu Shuyuan called to him. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to the Buddhist hall." Xiao Chi replied, "It's been a long time since I copied scriptures."
"..." Yu Shuyuan stared into her son's eyes. Fuming with anger, she no longer wanted to talk to him, "Scram!"
Xiao Chi walked back to his room to wash and change clothes, but he just took off his jacket when he heard a knock on the door. When he opened it, Xiao Chi saw Xiao Miao was standing outside with a fierce face and clenched fists.
Xiao Miao stared at her brother's ink-stained face, took a deep breath, and was about to say something when–
The door then closed.
Xiao Miao: "..."
After a while, the door opened again. Xiao Chi threw a few books into her arms with a wave of his hand.
Xiao Miao caught the books in a hurry. When she took a closer look, she realized they were the books that Xiao Chi had confiscated before.
Xiao Chi was clearly in a good mood as his voice came out through the crack of the door, "I'll give it back to you."
Xiao Miao: "..."
Xiao Miao: What’s his intention? Is this a challenge? Waiting online for answers, it’s very urgent.
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Footnotes: lots of feng shui terms haha
[1] eight characters - the character 8 or 八 birthdate characters are used in fortune-telling. This is also true while comparing the capability of two people. One's birth data for astrological purposes, combined from year, month, day, hour, heavenly trunk and earthly branch.
[2] pinching fingers - This is done with one hand. Touching your thumb tip to the tips of the other fingers. It’s a fortune telling thing, used to make calculations.
[3] front face - Basically a face forward picture, for face reading.
Translated by pure, hosted on puretl.com / do not repost!
