Chapter 3: Chapter Three: Grandma, You Lied to Me…

To be honest, Chen Yan was no longer just weird and absurd.

He was now even feeling a hint of dread and panic.

Boss Ma stared at Chen Yan, then suddenly smiled as if enlightened: “Alright, Mr. Chen, could you please deliver a message to Old Grandma? Say that Xiao Ma of West Lake wishes to pay her a visit—wondering if he has such a fortune.”

Just look at that title—Xiao Ma of West Lake!

“Uh…”

Chen Yan had a thousand questions swirling in his mind, carefully choosing his words: “Old Grandma’s right at home, and we never lock our door—old folks from the village often drop by to pick some garlic or whatever. If you want to see her, just knock.”

Boss Ma laughed heartily, then his smile vanished.

“Mr. Chen, this is how it is. Back then, when Old Grandma met me, she told me one of her rules.”

“What rule?”

Boss Ma sighed: “She said that when she calculates fate for ordinary people, it’s only ever a single encounter.”

A single encounter?

“Meaning, she and any person seeking fate have only that one meeting in their lifetime.

After that one reading, there will never be a second. She said that fortune is ordained by heaven; revealing too much heavenly knowledge would shorten her yang life.”

Boss Ma spoke carefully, as if weighing every word.

A single encounter?

Revealing heavenly knowledge?

Shortening yang life?

These are all web novel terms.

Wait, Boss Ma, aren’t you mistaken?

The one investing in web novels is a different Boss Ma—not you!

Boss Ma looked embarrassed and ashamed: “It’s like this—her help back then meant everything to me! It was a rebirth! If not for her advice then… I wouldn’t be who I am today!

After I achieved success, I tried many times to see her again, but she always refused.”

As Chen Yan listened, a terrifying thought began to take root in his mind…

Boss Ma sighed: “Lately, I’ve run into some serious trouble. With no other options, I came here again to beg for an audience. I thought—if I can’t see her, maybe I can ask a family member for a favor… That’s why I had you brought here.”

Chen Yan’s hand trembled!

Boss Ma looked uneasy: “I know this sounds harsh, even cruel.

My selfishness… sigh, it’s truly shameful! Mr. Chen, I’m so sorry!

Let me punish myself with a drink!”

Saying this, Boss Ma raised his cup…

Zzzz!

Chen Yan, who had been dazed since entering the house, still reeling from all this absurdity,

suddenly felt his mind explode—a clear thought blasted into his skull.

Chen Yan shot to his feet!

His mind was foggy, but his face showed no expression.

If Old Grandma isn’t a fraud—if she truly has power…

Then…

That prophecy of “yang life nearly spent”…

Chen Yan’s scalp prickled.

He took a deep breath, his voice flat: “I’m sorry, Boss Ma, but I need to go home immediately.”

Chen Yan bolted out the door. The black-clad men outside seemed ready to block him, but Boss Ma called out: “Don’t stop him! Send a car—take Mr. Chen!”

Chen Yan strode out, quick and steady.

·

The car stopped at the village entrance. Chen Yan leapt out and sprinted home, his legs trembling as he neared the door.

This time, he was truly afraid.

The main room door stood wide open.

Old Grandma sat inside, shelling peas.

For some reason, seeing this scene made Chen Yan feel slightly calmer.

“Back?” Old Grandma glanced at Chen Yan, dropped the peas, pulled a cigarette from the pack on the table, lit it, and took a drag.

“Grandma…” Chen Yan whispered, voice tight.

Old Grandma smiled warmly at him:

“You didn’t eat a single bite of that meal, did you?”

Zzzz!

Chen Yan’s mind went into overdrive!

He struggled for breath: “Grandma, you knew?”

Old Grandma smiled: “I knew Xiao Ma would come to you. You’re not stupid—you’d figure it out, and then you’d run straight back here, right?”

“I…” Chen Yan’s voice trembled with fear.

“The peas I shelled this morning—I’ll stir-fry them for lunch, okay?” Old Grandma’s voice was unusually gentle, tender.

“Grandma…” Chen Yan’s voice shook.

Old Grandma sighed, set down her things, and slowly walked to Chen Yan’s side, her wrinkled hand gently touching his face.

“You always call me Old Grandma—why suddenly ‘Grandma’?”

“I… I’m scared…”

Chen Yan trembled: “Is… is all of this real?”

“Mm. It’s the last meal I’ll make for you. After this, there won’t be another chance.” Old Grandma pinched his cheek: “My good grandson—you’ve grown up already. Now, when I pat your head, I have to stand on tiptoe.”

Thud!

Chen Yan collapsed to his knees, looking up at her, eyes red, throat too dry to speak.

“Grandma! Is it all true? Really true?”

Old Grandma stroked his hair: “Fate is fate. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid…”

How could he not be afraid?

She raised him from age two to twenty-two!

Since he could remember…

No father, no mother—his whole world had always been this woman before him.

“Alright, alright, I’ll stir-fry the peas first.”

“I don’t want to eat!”

Chen Yan clung tightly to her legs: “I just don’t want you to die! Grandma, don’t die, okay? You’re powerful, aren’t you? Can’t you save yourself?

Didn’t you say you had magic, supernatural powers?

Grandma, don’t die, okay?”

Old Grandma looked down at him, her eyes complex.

She seemed about to speak, then hesitated: “Actually… it’s…”

“Actually what? What?” Chen Yan leapt up, hope flaring: “What do you mean? Actually—there’s a way, isn’t there? Isn’t there?”

Old Grandma spoke with difficulty: “There is a way… but it’s difficult.”

“Difficult or not, we have to do it! What’s the way?”

Old Grandma took a deep breath, her expression solemn.

“I need three things.”

“What? I’ll get them right away!”

“First, I need the tender bud from the very top branch of the old willow tree by the village stream. Willow is yin—it best connects yin and yang. Strip the bark, and take only the freshest inner section.”

“I’ll pick it! What’s next?”

Second, go behind the ruined temple on the southern hill, dig at the position marked by the Heavenly Gang number, and retrieve a stone infused with earth qi. It must be half-black and half-white—warm to the touch on the front, cold on the back.

“Got it. I’ll dig it up. What’s the third?”

Old Grandma’s eyes held a trace of hesitation: “The third… is the hardest.”

“Tell me! Say it!”

Old Grandma’s face grew grave: “Life-extension techniques are borrowed life. To extend mine, I must take ten years of yang life from someone close to me. Chen Yan, do you understand? Ten years of yang life…”

“I’ll give it! Not just ten—twenty, I’ll give!” Chen Yan cut her off without hesitation.

“My dear grandson, I can’t bear to… you…”

“My yang life! The willow bud, the yin-yang stone, and my ten years of yang life—that’s all, right?”

“…Right.”

“Good!” Chen Yan’s expression was resolute: “I’m going to pick the willow branch! I’m going to dig the stone! Wait for me! I’ll get them for you!”

Watching Chen Yan rush out, Old Grandma’s eyes flickered with an unusual gleam: “Remember—the willow by the stream, the Heavenly Gang position on the southern hill. I taught you how to calculate Heavenly Gang when you were little. You still remember, don’t you?”

“I remember! I remember!” Chen Yan nodded frantically.

Old Grandma watched him sprint out the door, a tender smile on her face.

She turned, lit another cigarette, smoked a few puffs, glanced at the shelled peas on the table, then stood and carried them into the kitchen.

The stove had already been lit.

……

Chen Yan nearly sprinted to the village’s edge and found that willow tree.

No one knew how old the willow was, but he remembered playing beneath it since childhood.

The villagers had said it was likely decades, maybe even a century old.

Hmm, so it really does have some significance?

Chen Yan climbed onto the tree—growing up in the countryside, climbing trees was no challenge.

He scrambled up, searched for a long while, and gathered many fresh, tender willow branches from the very top of the canopy.

Unsure which was the tenderest, he simply grabbed them all, bundling them into a thick handful.

He jumped down, shoved the willow branches into his arms, and turned to run toward the southern slope of the village.

Second task: the small ruined temple on the mountain! Dig up the stones beneath the ground!

Perhaps because he ran too urgently, after a few dozen steps, Chen Yan suddenly tumbled to the ground, scraping his elbow raw with blood, scattering the willow branches everywhere.

Chen Yan leapt up and hurried to pick up the scattered branches.

But after picking up a few, his movements froze.

He realized it!

No!!

He frantically pulled out his phone and checked the time.

Last night, the Old Grandma had said: My remaining yang lifespan is eighteen hours and forty-three minutes!

She said it around six in the evening.

So if you count backward eighteen hours and forty-three minutes from last night at six…

It should be around one o’clock this afternoon!

The time displayed on his phone…

Twelve fifty-seven in the afternoon.

Just three minutes until one o’clock.

Chen Yan’s heart sank—he dropped the willow branches and sprinted toward home!!

·

The door was closed.

Chen Yan shoved the door open—the main room was empty.

On the table, under a gauze cover, lay a plate of still-steaming… stir-fried pork with edamame!

All strength seemed to drain from Chen Yan—he panicked, rushed to the Old Grandma’s room, and flung open the door.

Chen Yan’s legs gave out.

Inside, on the grandmother’s bed, the bedding had been replaced with brand-new sets.

The Old Grandma lay there, dressed in a full funeral robe, red and green, neatly arranged, hands crossed over her chest.

She lay still, eyes closed, expression serene.

Her smile looked just as usual…

But there was no breath left.

“Old Grandma, you lied to me…”

Plop—he fell to his knees on the floor.

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(One more chapter to come)

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