Chapter 237

Chapter 237

From the old man, we learned many things.

That included parts of his past.

He had gone blind when he was young. It had started with a fire, and the fire had been set by his own father.

His father was the kind of man who drank, gambled, whored around, and wasted his life away. One time, after getting drunk, he flew into a drunken rage and set the house on fire. The flames had been terrible. The old man and his mother had barely escaped with their lives.

His father burned to death on the spot. As for the old man, though he managed to survive, he was horribly disfigured by the fire. Half his face was burned, and one of his eyes was gone.

At the time, his other eye could still see, but it had been damaged by the smoke. His family was poor and had no money for treatment at a hospital. Before long, that eye went blind too.

Back then, he was only in his early twenties, and he was the only college student in the village.

In those days, a college student was worth their weight in gold. You could say he had a boundless future ahead of him, only for it to be ruined by his own father.

After that, the old man’s mother took care of him. She looked after him until he was in his forties. When he was in his forties, his mother passed away as well. From then on, he lived alone, making a living by picking through trash.

Blind and by himself, he had lived here for nearly thirty years.

He had no friends, no family, and even the nearby neighbors were unwilling to say more than a word to him.

Because that face of his was truly frightening. Sometimes, just walking along the roadside was enough to make passing children burst into tears.

So he basically did not go out during the day. Only at night, after everyone else had gone home to sleep, would he go out for a walk and pick through the trash nearby.

And it was precisely this habit that led him to meet Rat and Xiao Xuan.

Maybe that was fate. Three people no one loved and no one cared for had come together.

Although it had only been eight short months, the three of them had long since come to regard one another as their only family.

Until more than two months ago, when Rat died. From the moment Rat died, this little family that had not been held together by blood was destined to fall apart.

“Xiao Xuan is a pitiful child, but truth be told, Rat was even more pitiful.”

The old man told us, “After Rat’s parents divorced, they each started new families and had other children. One was his father and one was his mother, but neither of them was willing to look after Rat anymore.”

“Rat was proud. He ran away from home because he wanted his parents to worry and come out looking for him.”

“When he ran away back then, he actually stayed close to home. But he waited for half a month, and no one ever came looking for him. Even his own parents didn’t care whether he lived or died.”

“That poor child… So he ran. And once he ran, he was gone for two years. He was only twelve then.”

At this point, the old man’s voice choked up. “Later, I asked him why he took Xiao Xuan with him back then. He said he thought Xiao Xuan was just like him, with no one to look after him, so he took Xiao Xuan away.”

“Although Xiao Xuan wandered with him for a while, Xiao Xuan never really suffered. Xiao Xuan didn’t like drinking milk, so Rat forced him to drink it. He said only by drinking milk could he grow, could he get strong. Because when Rat was little, his grandmother, the only person who was ever good to him, also forced him to drink milk. But his grandmother passed away when he was still very young.”

“Rat often went out stealing things, stealing food, and he would get beaten half to death by people. He did it all because he wanted to save money so Xiao Xuan could go to school.”

“He said that only by going to school would Xiao Xuan avoid ending up like him, stealing things to survive.”

“But really, he was only fourteen this year. He was still a child too.”
By the time we finished listening, our eyes were red.

I truly couldn’t understand it. Rat had been such a sensible kid-why would his parents abandon him?

If they didn’t want him, why bring him into this world in the first place?

Giving birth without raising the child wasn’t merely a mistake. It was a sin. An unforgivable one.

Director Chen wiped at his eyes. He had been moved to tears as well.

The old man took Director Chen’s hand again and said, “Director Chen, I don’t have any skills, and I don’t know how to repay you. But you’re a good man, a truly wonderful man. Good things will surely come to you.”

“All I hope is that Xiao Xuan has food to eat, a place to live, and can go to school properly. That’s my wish, and it was Rat’s wish too.”

“After you take him away, don’t let him come back here again. He needs to look forward. There’s no need for him to return to a place this poor. Studying hard is his only way out.”

Director Chen promised him again. “Please don’t worry. With me, he won’t suffer the slightest grievance. I promise I’ll raise him well. If he has a future ahead of him, even if he goes on to take the postgraduate exams or pursue a doctorate, I’ll support him all the way through.”

The matter of taking Xiao Xuan to the welfare home was settled.

I said to the old man, “Then we’ll come tomorrow to pick up Xiao Xuan. He might not be willing to leave with us, so… please talk to him properly.”

The old man nodded. “All right. I’ll tell him. Sorry to trouble you all.”

…

After leaving the old man’s home, we went back to the hotel and booked a few more rooms so Director Chen could settle in first.

Tonight, we were going to catch Rat. We would perform an Exorcism for him first, then go pick up Xiao Xuan tomorrow and take him to the welfare home.

That evening, after Director Chen had gone to sleep, the rest of us left the hotel and drove to the riverside where Rat had met with the accident.

Although Rat’s accident had happened by the river, his Ghost might not necessarily appear there.

When I performed Soul Summoning before, I hadn’t managed to summon him.

But Seventh Master wanted to go to the river, so naturally, he had his reasons. We simply followed him.

By the time we arrived at the riverside, it was already Zi Hour. There was no one around, not even a single homeless person in sight.

Most likely, because a homeless person had drowned in the river two days ago, even the other homeless people found the place unlucky.

“Seventh Master, Rat killed someone. Does that mean he’ll be punished too?” I asked.

Seventh Master said, “He died before reaching adulthood. Underage ghosts can also be punished, but the punishment usually won’t be too severe.”

Song Xiaotian stared in disbelief. “Damn. So even the underworld has that protection law for minors?”

Seventh Master shook his head. “Not exactly. Generally speaking, people who commit suicide will also be punished. But if a child commits suicide, they usually won’t be punished for it. Still, it depends on the person’s good and evil deeds while they were alive. If they committed too much evil, then no matter how young they are, once they go down below, they will receive whatever punishment is due.”

“However, Rat suffered so much in life, so he likely won’t face much punishment. But he definitely won’t be able to reincarnate for the time being. That isn’t something we can decide. We can only do our part.”

After that, Seventh Master told us to get ready. Once Rat was summoned later, we had to do our best to soothe the child’s emotions.

What Rat worried about most was Xiao Xuan. As long as we let Rat know that Xiao Xuan’s future had been arranged, he wouldn’t keep stubbornly refusing to leave.

“Wait!”

I hurriedly reminded Seventh Master that I had already performed Soul Summoning here once before, and there was more than one ghost in this place.

What if we ended up summoning the other ghosts too?

Seventh Master remained perfectly calm. “That would be even better. We can accumulate more Hidden Virtue and perform Exorcism for them all at once.”