Chapter 3: The Inescapable Fear
Langpao Water Village actually still has people living in it, but almost all the original inhabitants are elderly, and the youngest among them are all over fifty years old.
In most people’s eyes, people of this age are no longer really considered people. Nowadays, only young people and children are truly considered people. Those decrepit old folks are just dried-up bones in the grave, long since eliminated by society.
Although Langpao Water Village is the root of the Yun Clan, no one pays much attention to it here.
In the distant Capital City, prosperous Jiangnan, advanced Lingnan, leisurely Shu Region, there are naturally flowers that never fade in all four seasons, grasses that stay evergreen through all eight festivals, and carefree indulgence with golden cups in hand and heads pillowed on a beauty’s knee.
Given this, who could still remember the old estate on the Northwest Gobi Desert?
However, even a swift steed like a young colt has its flaws, the Xie family’s precious tree occasionally has yellow leaves, and the Yun Clan naturally cannot escape this rule either.
Yun Ce is the Yun Clan’s flaw, the yellow leaf, because among the Yun Clan’s direct line descendants, he alone stayed on the Gobi Desert…
It wasn’t that he liked the Gobi Desert, but because he hated Yun Linchuan. He always felt that if he continued to get close to Yun Linchuan, this old ancestor of the Yun Clan, he might not live to the age he hoped for.
Yun Ce returned to Langpao Water from the city on the first day, and the next day, over a hundred pretty, sturdy, young outsiders arrived in Langpao Water Village.
They were very disciplined, firmly guarding a courtyard that wasn’t very large, and basically didn’t move around much.
1 These pretty young people all came back following this generation’s old ancestor of the Yun family. It was said they were all his guards and health doctors.
1 The reason Yun Linchuan became the old ancestor wasn’t because of how much he contributed to Langpao Water, but because he held the highest official position in the entire Yun Clan.
1 Actually, it couldn’t even be called an official position anymore. For an old guy over a hundred years old to still talk about serving the people was pure nonsense. Being able to control his own shit and piss without troubling others was already a great merit.
1 He was now just a retired elderly person. But in his youth, prime, and old age, he had made great contributions to this country. In his nineties, no one hoped he would die early; they just treated him like a mascot, enshrining him so he could see more of the country’s current prosperity.
1 When the day finally came that he truly departed, he could report the latest state of national development to those pioneers, telling those departed pioneers that the juniors were living pretty well.
1 The old guy recently felt like he was about to die, so he thought of Langpao Water Village. He felt that even if he couldn’t be buried here, he needed to spend his final days in Langpao Water.
1 So, he came back.
1 Before, it wasn’t that he couldn’t come back, but that he didn’t dare to.
1 Back then, he had led the two hundred most outstanding descendants of Langpao Water’s Yun family to participate in saving the country. So many people died in battle, causing the old clan leader to die of depression. There always had to be an accounting for that.
1 At his age now, nothing really mattered anymore. Even if he met the old clan leader and got scolded, that would be a blessing for him.
2 He had long grown tired of living. If he wanted to die, he would die. Even if the doctor was right there, it wouldn’t delay him from going to see the old clan leader.
2 The reason he was stubbornly holding on to one last breath was that he couldn’t let go of that little guy in the flower cluster.
2 The courtyard had quite a few flowers planted, mostly morning glories, purple morning glories. This thing only bloomed when the sun wasn’t intense; once the big sun came out, it would wither and shrink.
2 Yun Linchuan liked morning glories because they always reminded him of the bugle in the army. Whenever the charge horn sounded, he felt like he could charge once more.
2 His long life had always followed the bugle calls for daily routines, which made him inseparable from the morning glory. He always wanted the guards to play the charge horn for him one more time, but the health doctor was always worried he would get too excited and die.
2 He could only plant some morning glories to console himself.
2 So, the morning glories in his courtyard bloomed vibrantly like fire in the early morning, and two pumpkin vines with the same yellow morning glories were creeping toward the roof.
2 Bald-headed and long-bearded Yun Linchuan slumped in the wheelchair. His dark red face faced the rising sun, appearing somewhat purple. He occasionally opened his eyes and scanned Yun Ce in the flower cluster, very dissatisfied.
2 Yun Ce was collecting dew from the morning glories. This was the old ancestor’s favorite. It was said that tea brewed with this stuff not only prolonged life but also cleared the mind and sharpened the vision, making one spirited all day. The old guy relied on this to stay alive.
2 There was very little dew in the deep purple morning glories, at most one drop per flower. Filling a full tea cup was no easy task, and yet his hands were stiff and clumsy, no good at this delicate work.
3 He knew the old ancestor was tempering his mind, but right now, his heart was pounding like a drum, the hairs on his arms standing on end. As soon as his hand touched the morning glory, that drop of dew in the stamen rolled off.
3 Dew was a very magical thing. When the sun hadn’t risen, it stayed there; but as soon as the sun came out, whether it shone on it or not, it would disappear immediately.
3 Collecting flower dew required hands that were fast and accurate, which was no easy task for Yun Ce at this moment.
3 Yun Ce glanced at the half cup of dew in his hand and said to Yun Linchuan, who had his eyes closed resting: “Old Ancestor, how about you being spirited for just half a day today?”
3 Yun Linchuan slowly opened his eyes and said indifferently: “What heaven-defying thing have you done to make you so uneasy in front of me?”
3 Yun Ce’s hand trembled as he said: “Speaking of money, I have 1.89 million in my account. 970,000 of it was left by my parents, and the rest is what I’ve accumulated from salary, scholarships, and royalties over these years. Oh, and I’ve also used half my salary to sponsor children from poor households to go to school.”
3 “I believe you on that point. You’ve never been one to love money since you were young. So, what about lust?”
3 Yun Ce said awkwardly: “If there’s a medical way to prove virginity, then I am one.”
3 Yun Linchuan glanced at the health doctor by his side and said: “Little Zhang, take his pulse and see if he’s really a virgin.”
3 Seeing Doctor Zhang walk over, Yun Ce sighed and said: “Why won’t you believe people?”
4 Yun Linchuan, with eyes closed resting his spirit, said: “Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth. It’s not that I don’t believe you; I don’t believe anyone.”
4 Doctor Zhang’s hand touched Yun Ce’s wrist. After a moment, he turned back to Yun Linchuan and said: “His vital essence is stable, pure yang untainted, but at such a young age, he has a problem with heart palpitations.”
4 Yun Linchuan sighed and said: “I also believe that political struggles at your level don’t yet involve lives. So, what exactly are you afraid of?”
4 Yun Ce swallowed the half cup of dew with pollen in one gulp, then said gloomily: “I always feel like a pair of eyes is watching me. As soon as I dare slack off even a little, it will pounce and chew me up bit by bit and swallow me.
4 Moreover, I believe this fear isn’t from the mind, but… instinctual fear.”
4 With that, Yun Ce rolled up his sleeve and stretched out his arm, covered in goosebumps and with hairs standing on end, in front of the old ancestor.
4 Yun Linchuan slowly put on his reading glasses, carefully examined the arm in front of him, then took off the reading glasses, pondered slightly, and said: “It’s very much like the state I was in when I encountered the Mountain Lord in the old forest in the Northeast. Those golden eyes… I still can’t forget them even now.”
4 “I’ve been to the zoo and seen tigers, bears, leopards, lions up close—these beasts don’t scare me. I even teased a king cobra.”
4 “The ones called tigers in the zoo; only the ones in the Northeast mountain forest are called Mountain Lord.”
4 “Give me a spear, and I have the courage to charge at the Mountain Lord. Old Ancestor, born into this family, I’m not short on guts.”
5 Yun Linchuan thought for a moment and said: “Go to the cemetery and visit your parents, then pour a cup of wine for those old brothers on my behalf.”
5 Hearing his own old ancestor say this, Yun Ce knew there was no way to get the answer this time. He sighed, set down the tea cup in his hand, and went to his own small courtyard at the other end of Red Sand Hill.
5 The uncomfortable feeling had started six days ago.
5 In the past six days, he had tried to shake off this sourceless fear, but all attempts failed.
5 Whether he locked himself in a bank vault, went down to a 4,000-meter mine shaft, or even visited a heavily guarded supermax prison, the feeling of being stalked by a beast didn’t diminish at all.
5 He’d tried every method, but Yun Ce still felt like a trapped beast about to meet its final fate.
5 And today, that fearful feeling had grown even more intense, just like a viper already coiled around his neck, with its fangs bared.
5 When a person reaches the extreme of fear and helplessness, they will automatically seek the safest place to hide. Langpao Water was the final refuge for Yun Ce’s mind and body, so he came.
5 After he came, Yun Linchuan followed closely.
5 This was highly suspicious. He even felt his inexplicable fear was somehow related to Yun Linchuan.
6 The old ancestor definitely knew some things he didn’t. Obviously, the old ancestor’s hasty return to Langpao Water this time couldn’t possibly be to wait for death there.
6 Yun Clan descendants were all over the world, all hoping this old ancestor would live well, so they could keep climbing by relying on the big tree. After all, only with the old ancestor alive could certain things be done; once the old ancestor passed away, the Yun family’s power would at least halve.
6 Coming from the Capital City to Langpao Water, even with a complete medical team, was still a grueling ordeal that threatened the old ancestor’s life.
6 So, the reason he came to Langpao Water was probably related to this junior who came home seeking answers from the ancestor.
6 Yun Ce didn’t believe a mere deputy director at the Development Zone warranted the Yun Clan deploying its biggest trump card.
6 Unless the nameless terror on him had deeper implications, even if he died, it wouldn’t mean much to the Yun family.
6 This country held no secrets from the old guy. From the moment Yun Ce met him, he knew the answer to his nameless fear would be found.
6 Unfortunately, the old ancestor’s heart had been hardened for a lifetime. Very, very long ago, he stopped being swayed by personal feelings. Even as his great-grandson, Yun Ce wouldn’t hear what shouldn’t be said.
6 Feeling that almost real fear still filling his heart, and glancing at the hairs standing on his arm, Yun Ce felt a surge of anger. In three steps, he left home and climbed the nearby not-very-high Red Sand Hill, scanning the distance.
6 He desperately wanted to confront the source of the fear head-on before it drove him mad, even if it meant dying in battle. Anything but this endless torment.
7 Unfortunately, the four fields were empty, yet the fear remained.
7 The Northwest Gobi Desert was vast and desolate. To the east on the horizon was the endless Great Black Mountain, opposite it an equally endless red sandstone mountain. The valley between the two mountains was his hometown, Langpao Water.
7 The sky was deep blue, complemented by the black mountain, red mountain, green land, and a huge reservoir that reflected the white clouds, giving Langpao Water Village rich colors and making this originally barren ground full of vitality.
7 The sand jujube forest on the Gobi Desert was still there, its silvery-gray leaves gleaming in the sunlight like a forest of murderous blades.
7 When the Yun family came to Langpao Water, they wiped out the wolf pack. So, like many boring clans, they always liked to say they were descendants of wolves—united like wolves, resilient like wolves. Yun Clan descendants would rather stand to die than kneel to live.
7 The one who said that had long been buried in the cemetery beside the red sandstone. The red five-pointed star on the tombstone was still brightly red, without any fading. Yun Ce also believed that ancestor’s bones rang out sonorously like the red star on the tombstone when struck, and would never fade.
7 Next to the cemetery was Yun Ce’s family small courtyard. The courtyard wasn’t large, occupying less than five mu. There weren’t many rooms, just three brick and tile houses built side by side. The rafters exposed under the eaves had turned yellow and black. Though the house was a bit old, Yun Ce had no intention of renovating it.
7 He felt that home should look just like this.
