novelraw Chapter 300 Extra Chapter 20: I've encountered a stubborn plaster that I can't shake off.
Chapter 300 Extra Chapter 20: I've encountered a stubborn plaster that I can't shake off.
I am Tong Yuqi, the seventh child in my family. I am the youngest, and my parents and elders dote on me. However, some people say that I am a jinx and will bring misfortune to the family.
I've had this saying since I was three years old. Why is that? Let me tell you:
My great-grandmother always hoped that my mother would have a son, but this wish was not fulfilled even after my sister Liu was born. Fortunately, my aunt had a son with her first child, so she wasn't too disappointed.
Actually, after having my third and fourth sisters, Dad didn't want any more. He wasn't sexist at all and loved us sisters very much. But Mom still really wanted a boy, so we had my fifth and sixth sisters.
When my mother found out she was pregnant with me, my great-grandmother was already in poor health. She was sometimes lucid and sometimes confused. When she was lucid, she repeatedly told my mother not to abort the child, and my parents naturally agreed.
My great-grandmother passed away before I was born. The following year, after I was born, my maternal grandmother's health also deteriorated. My maternal grandfather took her to live in the small courtyard of the old house to help her recuperate, but she still passed away when I was a little over two years old.
It's said that my maternal grandfather lived alone in that courtyard and spent two years in a state of depression. I don't have much of an impression of my great-grandmother or maternal grandmother, but some old ladies started spreading rumors that I was a jinx to their families!
These people are truly wicked. My great-grandmother was over seventy years old; isn't it normal for her to pass away? My maternal grandmother had been in poor health since childhood, but the fact that she lived to be over fifty already proves that my maternal grandfather was a skilled doctor. Why do they have to smear such a bad reputation on a baby like me? Are they just trying to have a good time?
The rumor hadn't even been circulating for a few days when my father stopped it with force! Under the pretext of cracking down on the promotion of feudal superstition, he arrested the two old ladies who were spreading the rumor and made them apologize to me and my family in public at a residents' meeting organized by the neighborhood committee. They also had to accept punishment!
Actually, this whole thing is pretty ridiculous. These two old ladies are only fifty years old, and their husbands have passed away, so they want to remarry. They took a fancy to my widowed grandfather, and when their attempts to arrange a marriage failed, they held a grudge and attacked me, a defenseless little kid. It's truly despicable!
The two women were criticized and educated, and their children couldn't hold their heads up high. As a result, the parents offended the two neighboring families. Later, the maternal grandfather was reported by them for having a bad family background, which was also due to this reason.
When the Cultural Revolution began, I was only three years old and didn't know that my maternal grandfather had been reported multiple times for such a bizarre reason. Of course, the Fan family was the most malicious among them. My father tried many things but couldn't keep my maternal grandfather, so he could only arrange for him to be sent to the countryside.
Just as I was about to start school, my father suddenly sacrificed his life. He was a martyr and died a glorious death, but for our family, it was like the sky had fallen!
He didn't keep his promise to send me to school. My older sister went to register me for school. My mother was seriously ill and hasn't smiled in a long time.
My family was discussing going to the countryside, saying that the whole family should stay together. I thought it was just to visit my maternal grandfather and uncles in the countryside, and that I could come back in a few days and play with my friends!
But after we actually went to the countryside, I realized that I wouldn't be able to come back for a very long time! I even cried secretly when I missed my friends, but my fifth sister said that we would still make friends and make new friends when we got to the new place.
The first friend I made in the countryside was Xin Xin, a four-year-old girl who lived in a cowshed. She and her grandmother were sent down to the countryside together; she had no parents. She was very thin and small, with big eyes, and she always followed her cousin around like a little shadow.
My cousin took good care of her, even better than he did to me, his own cousin. Later I learned that the little girl had a high fever and almost died; it was her grandfather who saved her. When the adults went to work, her cousin Yu Chen would take care of her. She was only two years old then, just learning to speak, so she was very dependent on him. He, in turn, received emotional value from her—the feeling of being needed, trusted, and relied upon.
This unique experience between the two was something they would never forget. When the cousin doted on Xin Xin, he seemed to completely lose his temper; but when Xin Xin defended her cousin, she instantly transformed from a docile kitten into a wolf cub!
Their childhood sweetheart relationship is completely different from that of my sixth sister and brother-in-law. I still envy the relationship between my sixth sister and brother-in-law, which is peaceful and natural.
As for these two, haha, they're in love like crazy people, I'd rather stay away!
After we went to the countryside, we started practicing martial arts with my older sister, and I quite enjoyed it. With some skill in hand-to-hand combat, we played with the boys, letting those jealous and ostracizing village girls do whatever they wanted!
My sixth sister and I went to school as usual, but because we were from an ancient martial arts family, we were also secretly assigned some tasks. After I turned fifteen, with my mother's permission, I began to take on tasks under the guidance of my cousins and my fifth and sixth sisters.
My sisters protected me very well until I was admitted to university, at which point they allowed me to go to the Ancient Martial Arts Association to choose and participate in missions on my own.
This was my first time participating in a mission without the protection of my family, so I chose a relatively simple one that could be completed by an intermediate martial artist. I wasn't the person in charge of the team either.
No one stipulates that one must complete tasks that are commensurate with one's own strength. High-level martial artists generally do not take on tasks that are easier to complete, and low-level martial artists will not overestimate their abilities and attempt to take on dangerous and difficult tasks.
Although the one I chose is relatively simple for my cultivation level, the evil martial artists I need to capture are very cunning and it will be difficult for a newcomer.
There were four people who accepted this task. Three of them were from the same family, one was a young man in his twenties with the cultivation of an intermediate martial artist, and the other two were high-level martial artists in their thirties.
The young man was like a proud peacock. When we set off, he kept nagging about protecting me and telling me about the glorious history of each family. Sometimes he would unconsciously reveal his own secrets. The two men and women beside him would always give him a look to tell him to talk less.
At this moment, I suppressed the aura of a high-level Martial Grandmaster and acted like an ordinary beginner martial artist; otherwise, he wouldn't have dared to be so arrogant.
This young man is the young master of the Cui family in Haicheng, named Cui Zichao. He looks like a well-protected spoiled brat. The Cui family of Haicheng is an ancient martial arts family with a history of two hundred years. During the War of Resistance against Japan, their martial artists led the people to fight against the Japanese invaders, and they were very famous.
However, this once large family has lost many elites, and now its population is dwindling, and its strength is only at a lower-middle level among ancient martial arts families.
Given Cui Zichao's age and current cultivation level, he should be considered an elite member of the family, and he should definitely receive preferential treatment in terms of resources.
So he was very proud, a bit arrogant, loved to play the hero, and showed off—he had a lot of bad habits. But overall, he wasn't a bad person at heart.