Chapter 1: Ancestral Hall

Robbery, robbery! Everyone, hand over your brains if you want to read smoothly.

In the rural outskirts of Sijiucheng lies Zhang Family Village, a clan village backed by a large mountain, with over two hundred households in the entire village.

Old man Zhang Laizhong was born in 1895 during the previous dynasty and possessed considerable family assets. He had three brothers, and he was the eldest. He had three daughters: the eldest, Zhang Cuihua; the second, Zhang Meihua; and the third, Zhang Xiaohua. However, he had no son, and his wife eventually passed away from dystocia when giving birth to Zhang Xiaohua.

Because he was unwilling to accept having no son, old man Zhang remarried in the twenty-second year of the Republic of China. The woman was a refugee. As it turned out, the child she bore the first year was also a daughter, which made old man Zhang so angry he wanted to chop off his own manhood.

But without a son, his lineage would effectively end. Unreconciled, old man Zhang tried hard for another year and finally, in the twenty-fifth year of the Republic of China, had a big, chubby boy. He named him Zhang Ping'an, hoping he would grow up safe and sound.

This thrilled old man Zhang to no end. He pampered him from a young age, fearing he would break if held in his hand or melt if kept in his mouth. Zhang Xiaohua and his other two sisters also spoiled this younger brother to the heavens.

Ten years later, it was the tenth birthday of old man Zhang's son, Zhang Ping'an. Ordinarily, no one celebrated a tenth birthday, but old man Zhang's house was decorated with lanterns and streamers, full of joy.

Zhang Ping'an's grandfather, Zhang Dadan, also doted on this little grandson very much and rarely agreed to hold a tenth-birthday banquet for him.

Old man Zhang's family hosted the entire village with a running banquet, and Zhang Ping'an's three sisters were busy running around attending to the guests.

Over these ten years, Zhang Ping'an could be described as a nuisance to both cats and dogs. Ever since he was five or six and gained a bit of sense, he began his path as the village bully. Relying on old man Zhang's doting, the occasional support of his four sisters, and the backing of his cousins, he dared to do anything.

Zhang Ping'an was mischievous and troublesome; chasing ducks, driving chickens, catching shrimp in the river, and setting traps in the Back Mountain—there was nothing he couldn't do. Especially when his nephews came over during summer vacation, including Jia Dongxu, who was four years his senior.

Two years later, in 1948, Zhang Ping'an had spent two years learning hunting from the retired uncle at the village entrance, Zhang Laiyuan. Under Zhang Laiyuan's guidance, the twelve-year-old had become much more sensible, which greatly comforted old man Zhang, so he let him continue learning to hunt from his clansman, Zhang Laiyuan.

That year, his sister in the city, Zhang Xiaohua, never returned. He had wanted to send the game he caught to the city, but was stopped by Zhang Laiyuan.

"You won't be able to get into the city if you go now. Wait until next year."

"Alright, I'll listen to you, Uncle." Zhang Ping'an trusted his uncle's words implicitly.

Just like that, until the end of '48, Zhang Xiaohua's family never returned, while Zhang Ping'an had learned seven or eight tenths of Zhang Laiyuan's hunting skills.

At the end of this year, Zhang Family Village held its ancestral rites. All males in the village over ten years old were required to attend, and Zhang Ping'an was naturally no exception.

The Ancestral Hall of Zhang Family Village was not small, consisting of five rooms made of green bricks. Zhang Ping'an and a group of juniors were assigned to clean the side rooms.

"Ping'an, it's different from last year. This year we're responsible for cleaning the left side room of the Ancestral Hall. Are you still sweeping the top this time?"

"Yeah, I'm the only one who can climb up there. I won't worry about the rest."

"Fine." This side room was not small, measuring nearly thirty square meters. Almost every time, Zhang Ping'an would climb up along the main beam to clear the spiderwebs above.

While Zhang Ping'an was sweeping with a broom, he suddenly discovered a small tripod hanging by a string of copper coins in the corner of the roof ridge. Zhang Ping'an poked it a few times with his broom, but the small tripod only swayed back and forth.

Helpless, Zhang Ping'an had to step on the crossbeam and reach out to grab it. The good news was that the small tripod was caught in his hand; the bad news was that because he gripped it too tightly, his hand was painfully pinched by the feet of the Three-Legged Tripod, and he accidentally missed his footing and plunged headfirst.

With a "thump," the three cousins sweeping inside the room were startled.

"Ah! Ping'an..."

"Quick, quick, Daniu, Erniu, go call Uncle and the doctor!" Dazhuang was the first to react. The doctor Dazhuang spoke of was the village's barefoot doctor.

"Oh, oh, oh, okay." Daniu and Erniu also snapped out of it.

No one noticed that the small tripod held in Zhang Ping'an's hand was absorbing Zhang Ping'an's blood, glowing faintly, and then disappearing.

"Uncle, quick, quick, Ping'an fell from the roof beam. My younger brother has already gone to find the doctor."

"Let's go, eldest brother, hurry and take a look." Hearing the news, old man Zhang's mind was still a bit dazed; he only reacted after being tapped by his second younger brother, Zhang Laiwen.

"Ah, my son!" With a howl, the fifty-four-year-old old man Zhang burst out with unprecedented speed and rushed out.

By the time the doctor, Lao Zhangtou, arrived, old man Zhang was holding the unconscious Zhang Ping'an and crying helplessly. He had gained this son in his old age and was just watching him grow into a man when this happened.

"Eldest brother, quick, let Lao Zhangtou take a look."

"Right, right, right, eldest brother, let the doctor check first."

Lao Zhangtou checked briefly. Aside from a wound on his palm and a swollen forehead, he saw no other injuries.

"Lao Zhangtou, how is my son?"

"He likely injured his brain; there might be blood stasis inside. I can't treat this. You need to go to a large hospital in Sijiucheng. Hurry and find a cart to take Ping'an there."

Lao Zhangtou also knew Ping'an. Ever since Zhang Ping'an learned to hunt from Zhang Laiyuan, he would give all the medicinal herbs he occasionally gathered to Lao Zhangtou, so they had become familiar over time.

"Oh, oh, oh, hurry, hurry, hurry." On the twenty-sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, old man Zhang, his wife, and Zhang Ping'an's second and third uncles packed their quilts and went to Sijiucheng together.

The group arrived at Changping County.

"Eldest brother, I'll go tell that girl Xiaohua first. She might be able to help in the city," said the third brother, Zhang Laiwu.

"Right, right, right, third brother, you go quickly. Have Xiaohua and Youcai wait for us at the city gate."

"Alright."

When the four of them reached the city gate, they were only allowed through after some questioning. Zhang Xiaohua and Lao Jia were already waiting there.

"Dad, Stepmother, Second Uncle, Third Uncle, how is Ping'an now?"

"I don't know yet, I..."

"Let's go to the hospital first."

"Right, right, right."

Half an hour later, at the hospital.

"The child most likely hit his brain. There is blood stasis inside, pressing on the nerves, which is why he cannot wake up. We can only perform a craniotomy to drain the blood, but there is a high risk."

"Whether it succeeds or not is one thing; the key is that there is a possibility of infection after the surgery. You family members decide for yourselves." The doctor was speaking the truth; he was more inclined toward conservative treatment.

"Of course, it is also possible for the patient to wake up on his own, but he won't be able to do any heavy labor in the future."

"Husband, let's not do it. How can anyone live after having their head opened? Ping'an will definitely wake up," cried Zhang Ping'an's mother, Dong Dani.

"Eldest brother..."

"Dad..." The group was waiting for old man Zhang to make a decision.

"Forget it, let's wait for Ping'an to wake up on his own," old man Zhang said powerlessly.

"Alright then. I'll arrange for hospitalization and keep him on glucose and electrolytes. Someone needs to stay behind to look after him."

In the Blue Star of 2022, Zhang Ping'an, a post-90s young man whose edges had been smoothed by life, had been unemployed for three years due to the pandemic. He was currently watching videos by Master Ni, who was peerless in medicine and divination, with great interest.

Two or three years of pandemic life made him realize the importance of his health and even more so the power of our Traditional Chinese Medicine, which is why he bought a flash drive and tried to teach himself. He had been studying for two and a half years.

For these past three years, Zhang Ping'an had lived almost entirely on the income he had previously accumulated from Weibo, his later robust credit, and the support of Boss Ma's credit service.

That morning, he got up at six o'clock to wash up, not noticing at all that the power strip he had plugged in while eating hot pot the night before had exposed copper wires, and the water from brushing his teeth and washing his face on the balcony had splashed directly onto it.

He also didn't notice when he stepped right onto it, and just like that, everything went black before him and he lost consciousness; when he opened his eyes again, he was dumbfounded by the mottled ceiling and windows, which looked very much like the style of the sixties or seventies, and then everything went black again and he passed out.