PCJ – Chapter 110 Household God

“Jiaohua, why are you back from school? Did you forget to bring your books again?” Liu Qiaoye asked immediately upon seeing her son rush home.

The word “again” was quite telling. Zhang Jiaohua had used the excuse of forgetting his books to come back home countless times.

“No, I earned a hundred yuan today and was afraid of losing it, so I came back to put it away,” Zhang Jiaohua replied, taking out the two red envelopes from his pocket. He had already checked on the way that each envelope indeed contained fifty yuan. Ma Lisong and Liu Guocai wouldn’t dare to cheat him in such matters.

Zhang Jiaohua produced the two red envelopes primarily to get Liu Qiaoye to agree to his plan of inviting the Patriarch’s statue to their home. Though Zhang Youping and Liu Qiaoye neither believed in Buddhism nor Taoism, rural folks still held a certain reverence for spirits. Nobody liked having a deity at home because they could be difficult to serve. A wrong word or action could anger the deity, bringing misfortune.

“Where did this money come from?” Liu Qiaoye didn’t immediately take the envelopes from Zhang Jiaohua’s hand. She wanted her son to understand that not all money was to be accepted without question. One must earn honest money.

“The school’s new building is encroaching on the old temple’s land. The Patriarch got angry, and the wall collapsed twice. I helped them plead with the Patriarch, and he agreed to let them build there. Principal Ma and the contractor each gave me a red envelope,” Zhang Jiaohua explained briefly.

Liu Qiaoye had heard about the wall collapse at Meizi’ao Primary School but hadn’t realized it was due to divine anger rather than human sabotage.

“Son, you shouldn’t accept just any money. If others offend the spirits and you plead on their behalf, what if the spirits blame you? Wouldn’t you end up like Daoist Ma?” Liu Qiaoye expressed her concern.

“It won’t happen. Our Patriarch isn’t so petty,” Zhang Jiaohua reassured, though Liu Qiaoye didn’t dare to continue the conversation.

After Liu Qiaoye accepted the two red envelopes, Zhang Jiaohua took the Patriarch’s statue out of his backpack.

“What are you doing?” Liu Qiaoye was startled. The statue seemed normal in the temple, but it felt out of place at home.

“I invited the Patriarch to be our household deity. He will protect our family from now on,” Zhang Jiaohua said earnestly.

Liu Qiaoye couldn’t voice her opposition now that the statue was already in their home. It’s said that inviting a deity is easy, but sending one away is difficult.

“Then you must serve the Patriarch well. Don’t neglect him, or he will be displeased,” Liu Qiaoye advised, unsure how to educate her son in this situation.

When Zhang Youping returned, Liu Qiaoye pointed to the Patriarch’s statue. “Our son has invited the Patriarch home.”

“This rascal…” Zhang Youping was about to scold Zhang Jiaohua but was stopped by Liu Qiaoye.

“What do we do now?” Zhang Youping asked, troubled.

“This might be good. After the New Year, we’ll be going to Guangdong. Our son will have to stay home alone. With the Patriarch’s protection, he might be safe and sound,” Liu Qiaoye resigned herself to the situation.

Zhang Youping reluctantly nodded in agreement.

Inviting a household deity usually required elaborate rituals, but the Patriarch wasn’t pretentious. Zhang Jiaohua casually invited him, offering incense and burning paper money. The statue settled peacefully in their home.

Every day before school, Zhang Jiaohua offered incense to the Patriarch.

The new building at Meizi’ao Primary School didn’t encounter any more problems. The wall didn’t collapse again the next day. Liu Guocai was relieved, and Ma Lisong breathed a sigh of relief. Liu Guocai even bought a pack of candy and some rare drinks for Zhang Jiaohua, making his classmates envious. Zhang Jiaohua didn’t share any candy with those who usually isolated him but gave some to the mute boy and a few pieces to Zhang Yuanbao, who had started to look out for his cousin.

While this matter settled, another significant event occurred in Meizi’ao. The water buffalo of barefoot doctor Liu Zongtai went missing. The buffalo seen by Liu Guocai and Liu Yunjun that night belonged to Liu Zongtai’s family. After that night, it disappeared without a trace.

For a rural village like Meizi’ao, a water buffalo was vital. Without it, the families owning the buffalo couldn’t farm their fields. Thus, cattle thieves were despised.

Buffaloes attracted mosquitoes and other pests, so pens were usually built in slightly raised areas. These pens weren’t well-secured, just enough to keep the buffalo from wandering into fields. Sometimes clever buffaloes would unhook themselves and roam.

Whether Liu Zongtai’s buffalo broke out on its own or was let out by someone else was unclear. The wooden latch was on the ground, and the pen was empty.

Eyewitnesses Liu Guocai and Liu Yunjun saw the buffalo running past the school’s hillside without anyone herding it. So, it was likely the buffalo escaped on its own. Where it went after that was a mystery. Liu Guocai and Liu Yunjun were preoccupied with the wall and didn’t follow the buffalo’s trail.

Liu Zongtai’s family searched everywhere but found no trace of the buffalo.

With no other options, Liu Zongtai came to Zhang Jiaohua’s home.

“Jiaohua, Uncle Liu needs your help to find our buffalo. Without it, our farming is doomed,” Liu Zongtai pleaded. Although he was a barefoot doctor, farming was still his main occupation. To a farmer, a buffalo was indispensable. They would never slaughter a healthy buffalo.

“Dr. Liu, my son is just a child. How can he do such a thing?” Liu Qiaoye interjected.

“Mrs. Youping, everyone in Meizi’ao knows your son’s abilities. Why hide it? Don’t worry, I’ll reward him generously if he helps,” Liu Zongtai assured.

When Zhang Jiaohua returned from school and saw Dr. Liu, he thought someone at home was sick. “Mom, is Dr. Liu giving you an injection?”