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A Prophet - Chapter 27 (Part 3)

Chapter 3 - The Mystery of Grandfather's Survival

In the hospital bed, I lay quietly.

My wife walked over and asked, "Are you feeling better?"

I nodded.

"Mom, what's wrong with Dad? Why did his blood pressure suddenly shoot up like that?" my daughter asked with concern.

"Nothing, nothing. We just had a little argument, that's all." My wife gave me a look as she spoke.

"Daughter, go call Uncle Wang over. I have something to say to him," I instructed my daughter.

My daughter immediately went to Wang Jiaxian's place, and shortly after, Seventh Brother Wang Jiaxian arrived.

"What's wrong, Fifth Brother? How did you end up in the hospital?" Seventh Brother asked me.

I gave my wife a meaningful look. She patted my daughter's shoulder and said, "Let's go outside and give your father and uncle some time to chat."

My daughter walked out, looking puzzled. "What on earth is going on?"

"Spit it out, Fifth Brother. What happened?" Seventh Brother sat down beside me, leaning in close.

I raised my hand and pushed myself up with effort. "Come on, give me a hand."

Seventh Brother helped me sit up. Leaning against the head of the bed, I let out a heavy sigh. "Did you bring any cigarettes?"

Seventh Brother looked at me in bewilderment. "Fifth Brother, you never smoke."

"Did you bring any or not?"

"I did." He took out a cigarette case, pulled out two cigarettes, put them in his mouth to light them, thrust one into my mouth, took one for himself, and then said, "Alright, spill it. What's wrong? You aren't getting a divorce with Fifth Sister-in-law, are you?"

I gave a weary smile, shook my wife's words off, and fixed my gaze straight upon him.

Seventh Brother was completely baffled by my stare. "What on earth is the matter?"

"Grandfather is still alive!"

"What?" He leaped up as if struck by lightning.

"Grandfather is still alive!" I repeated.

Seventh Brother froze, the deep drag of smoke he had just inhaled remaining trapped in his lungs for the longest time without being exhaled.

"Seventh Brother? Seventh Brother?" I shouted.

Seventh Brother's head drooped to the side, and he fainted dead away.

"Doctor! Daughter!" I yelled toward the doorway.

Our daughter came running in and stood there, dumbfounded. "What's going on! How did another one faint? Someone come quickly!"

Fifteen minutes later, Seventh Brother slowly regained consciousness, an IV drip running into his hand and an oxygen tube running up his nose.

We lay side by side in our hospital beds, staring at each other.

Seventh Brother blinked his eyelids and weakly said, "Fifth Brother, you can't play games like this. It's enough to get someone killed."

I was amused by him despite myself. "Cough, cough. Seventh Brother, I didn't want it to turn out this way either, but now you know why I ended up in the hospital."

"Fifth Brother, we made a pact to live hard until we're one hundred years old. If you pull stunts like this, neither of us is going to cross over into the new century. Fourth Brother just left, and at night I keep dreaming of him inviting me to join him. I explained to him in the dream that I don't want to go over there just yet. Did he pay you a visit in your dreams too, telling you to drag me along with him?" Seventh Brother was always so humorous.

"Heh-heh-heh-heh." I burst into loud laughter. "Seventh Brother, I was afraid you'd pass out again, so I tried to break it to you gently, but someone claims Grandfather is still alive."

"Cough, cough!" Seventh Brother went into another fit of coughing. "Who? What's this all about?"

I said, "Today when I was strolling down the street, I spotted a few fortune-tellers and went over to meddle in their business."

"Don't we do that all the time? Get to the point," Seventh Brother urged impatiently.

I cleared my throat. "Those fortune-tellers were frauds, and the formulas they were using all came from our 'Jiangxiang Sect'..."

"Oh, Fourth Brother, you're way too long-winded. The 'Jiangxiang Sect' formulas were destroyed by Grandfather long ago. The moment his Yin-Yang Guidance Records came out, all the oral formulas lost their potency. Furthermore, Grandfather personally destroyed the four great secret manuals of the 'Jiangxiang Sect' back then, and purposely leaked some fake secret manuals to throw the jianghu into chaos. Nowadays, those so-called Chapter of Aobao, Chapter of Military Horses, and whatever else is floating around in society have all been edited and altered by Grandfather. The real stuff has been gone for ages. Grandfather used the fake to pass off as the real to completely eliminate any future troubles. Anyone still using those things to run scams today is either asking for a beating or looking for death."

I took a deep breath. "Are you listening to me, or am I listening to you?"

"Then hurry up and tell me!"

"What I'm trying to say is that those people really were using 'Jiangxiang Sect' formulas. Even though they were a bit clumsy, people still fell for it, and what's more, their leader is Fourth Sister-in-law's daughter!"

"Fourth Sister-in-law? Which Fourth Sister-in-law? The educated youth?"

"Seventh Brother, has your brain gone haywire from fright too? Would an educated youth know how to tell fortunes? Huang Farong!" I said.

"Cough, cough, cough, cough!" Seventh Brother suffered a violent fit of coughing. "Huang Farong? She's still alive?"

"Not only is she alive, but her daughter even tracked me down—and it was her daughter who said Grandfather is still alive!"

Seventh Brother scratched his head furiously. "This is getting a bit messy, a bit messy."

I detailed the entire encounter between myself and Huang Farong's daughter.

Seventh Brother listened quietly, and suddenly his eyes lit up. "Fourth Brother, I think there's something fishy about all this..."

"How so?"

Seventh Brother analyzed carefully: "Fourth Brother, do you remember when Zhou Yulang was setting up schemes to swindle people, Zhaoyilong mentioned a mastermind behind the scenes? He said it was someone named Huang Farong, and that this person also pulled off a shocking financial fraud case in Guangdong. That case has never been closed to this day, and that person named Huang Farong remains a wanted criminal at the top of the national list. Now, another woman pops up claiming to be Huang Farong's daughter. Is there any connection between these two things?"

Seventh Brother's words served as a wake-up call, sending a chill through me. "Oh no, oh no, I might have been played! The woman who tracked me down is probably a complete fraud. She's no daughter of Huang Farong at all. Then... then what is her motive? Why would she fabricate the rumor that Grandfather isn't dead? And how does she know so much about the inner workings of the 'Jiangxiang Sect'? She spoke about everything with absolute fluency."

"A good question!" A woman flashed into the doorway, holding a basket of fruit and looking at Seventh Brother and me with a smiling expression.

Seventh Brother asked, dumbfounded, "Who is she?"

I trembled and said, "It's her! Huang Farong's daughter!"

Seventh Brother shuddered and fainted dead away once more...

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