Epiphanies of Rebirth 36.2

by Eques · August 15, 2020

Chapter 36.2

The sound of firecrackers outside was endless. Usually, the compound was calm and peaceful, but during the New Year, all sorts of “cow demons and snake spirits” found their way to the door: distant relatives of all kinds, former subordinates, and a multitude of acquaintances and people claiming they were acquaintances. These visitors brought with them a horde of children that swarmed the compound like an invasive species, instantly overrunning the area.

But they also had their natural enemy—the Xiao family.

No one knew when or where it started, but there was an unspoken convention in the compound: the children, whether it was those who lived here or those who came to play, avoided the Xiao family’s house. Even the devil’s spawns who dared to climb through the windows and throw firecrackers to scare their elders, walked quietly and behaved themselves when passing by the Xiao family’s doors.

In fact, this was a very ordinary family. Their house and the garden were no different from other families, and they also put up spring couplets and other decorations, celebrating the New Year like everyone else. Three generations lived together—mother and father, son and daughter, and grandmother, an always cheerful old lady.

And yet, this ordinary family was terrifying—

The old lady’s gentle smile was actually only a disguise—any kid that fell into her hands would be subjected to a relentless examination of their school knowledge. The parents, who both held important positions, looked stern and never smiled; barely a cough could scare a child who was being questioned about traditional Chinese poetry by the grandmother into jumping up in fright. The son and the daughter? The son was solemn and austere, always holding a string of Buddhist prayer beads; if you dared to do anything out of line, he wouldn’t rebuke you, but would only look at you silently with an enigmatic expression in his eyes. The daughter was elegant and dignified, her manners and behavior perfect as though she had stepped straight out of an etiquette book. She was also a top student and would read foreign books whenever she was free, as if she was afraid that others would not know she was able to speak a foreign language. As a target of comparison, her overall level was just too high, so during visits, all parents would give their own not-as-excellent offspring bitter, frustrated looks.

The devil spawn would walk out of the Xiao house’s door meek and docile, feeling as if they were fleeing from the persecution of the Heavens. They didn’t dare to even think about provoking this family!

At this time, China was striving to develop internationally. The Xiao parents, who’d been hard at work throughout the year, flying all over the world visiting various countries, were finally able to return home for the Spring Festival. They closed the door and looked at their outstanding daughter who, once the visitors left, instantly revealed her true colors and slouched on the sofa, even putting her feet up on the tea table. “Look at you! Aunt XX praised you so much a moment ago, what would she say if she saw your appearance now!”

“Oh, relax. MiaoMiao is usually so well-behaved, just let her be,” the smiling old lady defended her granddaughter, and then asked her daughter-in-law, “Didn’t you go to Belgium last month? Why haven’t you brought anything back?”

When Mother Xiao heard this amiable inquiry, she immediately got a headache. This woman, who was a canny and competent person when outside, gave her husband a helpless look and quickly ran away. She didn’t forget to throw the hot potato to her husband before she fled: “Ask him, I don’t know!”

The old lady looked at her son with a smile.

Faced with her gaze, Xiao Shenxing felt a trickle of sweat run down his neck. He said helplessly, “Mom, didn’t the doctor say that chocolate isn’t good for your health? You know you shouldn’t eat too much.”

“Yesterday, I asked Bodhisattva for divination. Bodhisattva said that it’s all right to eat a little,” Grandma Xiao replied with a smile.

That’s not who you should ask, okay?! Xiao Shenxing thought, distressed. At that moment, there was a sound of footsteps. Hurriedly pretending it had distracted him, he looked at his son who was coming down the stairs, and rebuked loudly, “Just look at yourself! What is this?!”

Xiao Chi: “???”

Xiao Shenxing glanced at his mother, who looked like she wanted to continue the topic of her missing souvenir from Belgium, and quickly approached his son, trying to find something to criticize as he walked. Failing to do so, he could only scold unreasonably, “Just look at how you’re dressed!”

The house was heated and it was about 20ºC inside. Xiao Miao was wearing a dress that exposed her calves, but Xiao Chi was wrapped up tightly, and even wore a thick leather jacket!

Father Xiao grabbed the collar of his son’s jacket and pulled it open. “Just look at how thick this is!”

What do you know, you philistine!

This jacket had been placed in the family’s prayer room so that Bodhisattva would bless it! It was very auspicious to wear it, just right for the New Year!

After making sure that his father didn’t accidentally scratch the leather with his nails, Xiao Chi quickly pulled the collar out of his hand and carefully smoothed the wrinkles. As for Xiao Shenxing’s anger? He wasn’t afraid of it at all—his father would get mad from time to time for whatever reason.

Xiao Miao, who was lying on the sofa eating fruit, couldn’t help but press a hand against her forehead. This jacket again.

For the first time in her life, she saw someone have a leather jacket be blessed, and not only did Xiao Chi act as if it was completely normal, but Grandma Xiao unexpectedly didn’t stop it either; it was truly an eye-opener. After that, Xiao Chi came to borrow leather care lotion from her and never returned it. He’d been wearing it since yesterday, even when the relatives came to pay their New Year’s visits!

All right, the jacket was nice and he looked good in it, but wasn’t he hot? It was twenty degrees inside the house!

Xiao Shenxing, who scolded his son to shift the topic, took advantage of his proximity to the stairs to flee to the second floor before Grandma Xiao could raise the issue of Belgian chocolates again. Xiao Chi, who was suddenly scolded, didn’t take the short dispute seriously at all. After confirming that his jacket was not damaged, he straightened out the string of beads on his wrist and said, “I’m going out.”

“Going out?” Grandma Xiao was immediately concerned for her grandson. “It’s almost twenty degrees below zero outside—dress warmly and come back before dinner!”

Xiao Chi said, “Okay,” and walked towards the door.

Xiao Miao looked at her elder brother coldly, eyeing the jacket on his body. It was -22ºC today, and it had snowed heavily a few days ago, making the world outside a frozen and snow-covered land. She really wanted to see what outfit this person would use to brave it.

Xiao Chi walked to the hallway, changed his boots, took his keys, and put on a scarf and a pair of gloves. Then, he stretched out his hand to the thick down jacket hanging on the coat rack and—

Put it on. Over the leather jacket.

Xiao Miao: “WTF?”

Acting perfectly natural, Xiao Chi wrapped the down jacket around himself and over the leather jacket, opened the door, and left.

Grandma Xiao looked at her granddaughter. “What’s wrong, MiaoMiao?”

Xiao Miao’s eyes were sharp. “My brother is not right!”

“What? What’s not right with him?” The old lady kept asking for a long time, but Xiao Miao was unable to pinpoint the exact issue—she just felt that something was odd. Two women, one old and one young, sat still and looked at each other. Finally, Grandma Xiao stood up with a rustle of clothes, but instead of walking towards the door where Xiao Chi left, she went deeper into the house, to the family hall for worshipping Buddha. “Wait, I’ll go ask Bodhisattva for divination.”

After kneeling on the cattail cushion for half an hour and reciting two sets of sutras, Bodhisattva’s divination came out. Grandma Xiao held the book of oracle predictions, trying to interpret the result.

She was unable to figure it out, however. “Fortune in monetary matters is unobstructed, in life… Too much yang? Distant yang, close yin?” She looked at her granddaughter. “What does this mean?”

Xiao Miao also didn’t know. So, when Xiao Chi came home in the evening, the two directly asked him to interpret the result.

Xiao Chi would never dare slack off in matters related to Bodhisattva, so he immediately began to interpret it patiently.

“Too much yang? Distant yang close yin?” This result was quite straightforward but also very profound. Yin and yang might be relevant to many concepts, for example, men and women, where yang would usually represent men and yin women.

After thinking about it, he clapped his palms together: “I got it.”

Distant yang, close yin—didn’t this mean to avoid things with yang energy and seek things with yin energy? Yang energy represented men, so he should stay away from men!

As for yin energy—there was a belief that land could be yin or yang as well. The land that Flux Realty held currently should be considered full of yang energy, so—could this mean that it was necessary to buy some land where yin energy was predominant?!

Xiao Chi decided to take a walk around Yan City as soon as the Spring Festival was over!

With “close yin” settled, only “distant yang” remained. Xiao Chi solemnly and decisively said to his grandmother and sister, “I must stay away from Hu Shaofeng for the time being!”

Through the entire first lunar month, Xiao Chi didn’t say a word to Hu Shaofeng! Even the phone call with New Year’s wishes was left for Xiao Miao to answer!

Hu Shaofeng was aggrieved—what did he do wrong? He kept racking his brain but he couldn’t think of anything, and before the New Year’s Day, Xiao Chi had behaved normally. Well, he did treat Hu Shaofeng somewhat coldly but it was just the usual, he’d never shunned him so thoroughly!

But Brother Xiao never did anything without a reason! So, Hu Shaofeng knew he definitely must have done something wrong! He tearfully reflected on himself until the end of the Spring Festival; then, on the first day after winter vacation, the government’s announcement instantly distracted him from his woes.

The construction of the highway in Changqing Province had been approved! It would lead straight to Yan City! It was estimated that after its completion, it would only take two hours to drive from Changqing City, the capital of Changqing Province, to Yan City.

As soon as the announcement came out, all the neighboring provinces and cities were shocked. The rumor of a highway to Changqing had circulated for a while, but there had been no further news, so everyone dismissed it after some time. According to the prediction of Hu Shaofeng and many real estate merchants in Yan City, this highway would have been built sooner or later, but it was impossible for it to happen so early. No one expected that such shocking news would be revealed without any warning.

What did a highway that ran through half of the province and led directly to Yan City represent?

The convenience of transport and the shortened distance to Yan City, the country’s capital, meant that Changqing Province was about to spring into an all-around economic development!

For a time, countless speculators were focused on Changqing Province, which was destined to become a land of gold in the future, hoping to grab a slice of the metaphorical cake.

However, it seemed that Yan City’s authorities were set on not making things easy for them. Two days after the announcement of the highway construction, even more shocking news came out—

Upon analyzing the results of numerous land surveys and after several meetings to discuss the matter, Yan City decided to locate the highway’s entrance and exit at the foot of Xiaohuang Mountain in the north of the city.

In the north of the city!

In the north of the city!!!

Hu Shaofeng read it three times to confirm he hadn’t seen wrong before daring to believe his eyes.

Although Xiaohuang Mountain was called “mountain”, it was, in fact, just a gently sloping hill. Because it was located in the northernmost part of the city’s outskirts, its name wasn’t well known. Property developers knew of it because of their work, but most residents, even many natives, had never heard of this place.

But Xiaohuang Mountain and whether it was well known or not was not the point, the point was its location!

In the circle of real estate businessmen, the relaxed atmosphere of the New Year dissipated the moment the news came out.

The northern part of the city was a large area of undeveloped land with very few residents. The opportunities and potential were just too great!

This stretch of land that no one cared about became a hot commodity that people scrambled for overnight, and all the plots set up for bidding at the next auction were immediately checked, appraised, and re-evaluated by the industry. It took time to develop real estate, and the construction of the highway was bound to tilt the city’s allocation of resources to this area during the construction period. To observe to what extent a change in policy could affect the pace of commercial development, one only needed to look at the soaring land prices in the north, rising higher every day. Once the expressway opened to traffic, this area would have to be traversed when going to other provinces—no matter how high the current price, was there any doubt that the investment wouldn’t generate exponential returns?!

Hu Shaofeng watched as prices of the plots in the northern section of the city that were recently purchased by his Brother Xiao changed day by day. Because of their advantageous locations, other companies kept discreetly probing Flux Realty to discern whether they had any intentions to sell them.

After the value increased by nearly one-third of the purchase price, he thought about the net profit the company could earn from the sale, and his heart wavered.

But Brother Xiao—who was still ignoring him, by the way—also ignored those voices of inquiry.

Hu Shaofeng felt that Xiao Chi seemed to be waiting for something, but thought that he might be thinking too much. The current situation was already crazy—was it even possible for the waves to get any higher?

As it turned out, he really was too young.

As if turning the cold stove that was the north quarter of the city into a blazing fire was not enough, the next policy announced by Yan City was akin to setting off a bomb to create a raging inferno.

In response to a growing migrant population, more and more foreign enterprises, and an increasingly prosperous economy, Yan City had decided to make more formal arrangements.

Therefore, the area north of the 2nd Middle Road would be developed into a central business district, and all companies residing there would enjoy additional privileges.

As soon as the news came out, the whole country boiled over.

Translator’s Notes:

“Cow demons and snake spirits” [牛鬼蛇神] – all sorts of bad things, especially people; class enemies; bad elements. Here used humorously. (Source)
“Distant yang close yin” – I’m aware it sounds awkward in English, but this is my best try 😭. I tried to keep it as vague as possible, just how it is in Chinese.
遠 means:
1. “distant; remote; far”
2. “not intimate; distant” (in the emotional sense)
3. “to distance oneself from; to keep at a distance; to keep away”
近 means:
1. “near; close”
2. “intimate; close” (on affectionate terms)
3. “to approach”
So yeeeeah, you can pretty much interpret this divination result however you want. As Xiao Chi proceeds to demonstrate XD