Cangmang Asks the Way 1: Guardian of the Lamp

Cang Zhenye and his second son, Cang Xiangyang, had just dragged their tired bodies back from the fields. Before they could even put their hoes down properly, they heard a strange noise coming from the direction of the kitchen.

He had just stepped into the kitchen when the scene before him struck him like a bolt from the blue, leaving him utterly terrified.

Su Yumei stumbled towards us, her hair disheveled, her left cheek swollen and red, and a glaring bloodstain remaining at the corner of her mouth. In her arms, she held her youngest son, Tianci, tightly with his eyes closed, his face ashen, limp and lifeless, with a horrifying bruise on his temple.

Cang Zhenye was struck dumb, frozen in place. His face, etched with the wrinkles of time and hardship, drained of all color, turning deathly pale. He opened his mouth, but his throat felt like it was blocked by scalding sand, uttering broken, trembling breaths: "Yu...Yumei...Tianci, what...what...what happened? What...what's wrong?"

Su Yumei's eyes were fixed, as if she couldn't see him. She mechanically shoved her cold son into his arms, her voice hoarse and shrill, with an almost frantic tremor: "Don't ask anymore, just hold Tianci. I'll go get the money, to the hospital, hurry!"

Cang Zhenye subconsciously reached out to catch him, but his hands, which could bear a hundred pounds of weight, were now trembling like fallen leaves in the autumn wind, and he could barely hold his son's light body.

The road to town had never felt so long. Carrying his unconscious son on his back, feeling his son's faint, almost imperceptible breath brush against his neck, listening to his wife's suppressed sobs and broken words behind him, he felt as if every step was a knife's edge. A silent, all-consuming anger and an immense sense of powerlessness, like cold vines, tightly coiled around his heart, tightening more and more on this seemingly endless road.

Finally, they arrived at the town clinic. The town clinic was a row of low, single-story buildings with peeling paint that revealed the dark yellow mud bricks inside. The signboard at the entrance was rusty, but in the twilight, the words "Futian Township Health Center" could be barely made out.

When Cang Zhenye carried Tianci in, several patients in the waiting room were startled and quickly moved aside. A young nurse was about to ask a question when she saw Su Yumei's swollen and contorted face and the child in her arms with his eyes closed. She immediately turned and ran inside, shouting, "Dr. Zhang, Dr. Zhang, there's an emergency!"

An elderly doctor with gray hair strode out, and his expression changed the moment he saw Tianci. He reached out to check Tianci's breath, then looked him over, and said in a deep voice, "Quickly, take him to the treatment room."

The treatment room was dimly lit. Dr. Zhang had Cang Zhenye place Tianci on the examination bed and then began a thorough examination. His hands were steady, but with each touch, his brow furrowed more deeply.

Su Yumei stood to the side, still trembling. Cang Zhenye leaned against the wall, trying his best to control his emotions and answer the doctor's questions in a calm voice.

After finishing the examination, Dr. Zhang straightened up and remained silent for a few seconds.

"Doctor...how is my son?" Cang Zhenye asked, his voice trembling.

Dr. Zhang took off his glasses, wiped them with the corner of his white coat, and put them back on. He looked at the disheveled couple in front of him and sighed.

"The child was struck hard in the temple, causing him to fall into a coma. From the current situation, there are signs of a mild concussion." He paused, then said, "You need to be prepared that in this situation, it's hard to say whether he will wake up, or when he will wake up."

Su Yumei's legs went weak and she almost knelt down, but Cang Zhenye caught her.

"Then... what do we do now?" Cang Zhenye's voice trembled.

"He should be hospitalized for observation first. My equipment here is limited, so I can only do the most basic treatment. I will give him some dehydration medication to reduce intracranial pressure. You need to be prepared that if his fever doesn't break tonight, or if he vomits or has seizures, he must be taken to the county hospital immediately."

After he finished speaking, he looked up at Su Yumei and said, "The injury on your face is also quite serious; it needs to be treated."

Su Yumei shook her head: "I'm fine, I'll stay with the child."

Dr. Zhang didn't say anything more. After prescribing the medicine, he asked the nurse to prepare for the IV infusion.

The IV drip bottle hung on the metal frame by the bed, the medicine dripping slowly through the transparent tube into Tianci's thin hand. On that hand, there were still bloodstains from the reeds that had cut him during the day, now scabbed over.

Su Yumei sat on the edge of the bed, holding Tianci's other hand. That hand was icy cold, so cold it made her heart race. She pressed her son's hand against her face, trying to warm it with her body heat, but it remained cold for a long time.

Cang Zhenye stood aside, watching this scene, unable to utter a single word.

Just then, Tianci's finger suddenly twitched.

Su Yumei trembled and lowered her head. Tianci's eyes were still closed, but his lips moved, uttering an extremely faint sound:

"……mother……"

Su Yumei froze. Then, hot tears welled up in her eyes and fell onto Tianci's face.

"Heaven-sent! Heaven-sent!" She bent down, her voice trembling uncontrollably, "Mother's here, Mother's here!"

Tianci slowly opened his eyes a crack. His gaze was unfocused and unfocused, but he was looking, searching.

"...The light..." he murmured.

Su Yumei was stunned for a moment, then nodded frantically: "There's a lamp! There's a lamp! Mother will light a lamp for you!"

Standing at the door, Cang Zhenye heard these words and suddenly remembered those nights—when he returned from the fields carrying a hoe and saw a faint light shining from his own window in the distance. It was so weak, so small, but he knew it was the direction of home.

He turned away, secretly wiping away the tears that were about to spill, and then rushed out to call the doctor. Soon, Dr. Zhang and a nurse came running in.

Dr. Zhang bent down to examine her, lifted her eyelids, felt her forehead, and listened to her heartbeat. A few minutes later, he straightened up, and a hint of relaxation finally appeared on his face.

"It's good that you're awake, it's good that you're awake." He turned to Su Yumei and said, "For now, there's no danger to your life. But we still need to observe you, after all, it's a head injury, we can't be careless."

Su Yumei nodded repeatedly, unable to speak.

Dr. Zhang asked Tianci a few more simple questions—what's his name, how old is he, does he know where he is—Tianci answered haltingly, and some of his answers were unclear, but at least he was answering them all.

"The symptoms of a concussion can last for a few days, and may include dizziness, nausea, and even forgetting some things," Dr. Zhang instructed. "You must stay in the hospital for observation for the next few days and cannot move. Call me immediately if there are any abnormalities."

Cang Zhenye stood by the bed, looking at his son's open eyes and the tear stains still wet on his wife's face. The weight that had been hanging over his heart finally lifted by half.

"Yu Mei, I'll head back now. Xiang Yang, Xiao Hua, and the others are still waiting for news."

Su Yumei nodded and said, "Be careful on the road."

Cang Zhenye glanced at Tianci again. Tianci's eyes were half-open, as if he was sleepy again. He reached out and gently touched his son's face. Then he turned around and strode out of the treatment room.

The road back was the same one. Dark and full of potholes.

But Cang Zhenye felt much lighter than when he came. His steps were steady on the ground.

He remembered the word Tianci had said when he woke up—"lamp".

He remembered his wife teaching Tianci to read every night under the lamp. The lamp was dim, with a thin flame, but it always shone warmly on the faces of the mother and son.

When Cang Zhenye pushed open the door, the kerosene lamp was still lit in the kitchen. Cang Xiangyang and Cang Xiaohua were sitting around the table, their dinner untouched.

Upon seeing their father return, the two of them stood up at the same time.

"Dad, where's Tianci? How is he?" Cang Xiangyang rushed over and asked.

Cang Zhenye sat down on the stool and let out a long breath. He looked at the faces of the two children; one was flushed with anxiety, and the other was biting his lip and remaining silent.

"He's awake," he said.

Cang Xiangyang paused for a moment, then grinned. Cang Xiaohua's tears fell, but she quickly wiped them away with the back of her hand and smiled.

"Your mother is at the hospital with you. Let's eat now." Cang Zhenye picked up his chopsticks and started eating first.

As they were eating, Granny Zhang from next door tiptoed over and said, "Zhenye, your father came looking for you earlier. He wants to tell you to go to the old house to see him when you get back."

A warm feeling welled up in Cang Zhenye's heart. His father must have found out about his family's situation and wanted to call him over to inquire.

Inside, the atmosphere was heavy, like the rumble of thunder before a storm. Under the dim light of an oil lamp, 82-year-old Cang Houde sat upright in an old bamboo chair in the center of the main room. His old eyes shone brightly on his face, which was etched with deep lines by the years.

The eldest son, Cang Jianguo, sat on a small stool not far from the door, his face sallow, his eyes fixed on the ground with a complex expression. Their son, thirty-one-year-old Cang Xiaoren, leaned against the mottled mud wall, his expression indifferent, his eyes wandering.

The second son, Cang Yuanzhi, sat upright below his father, his empty trouser legs swaying slightly. But his hands, calloused from years of planes and chisels, with large knuckles, leaned steadily on his cane, as steady as when he was doing fine wood carving. At this moment, his face was ashen, and a suppressed anger permeated his entire being.

The third son, Cang Shouzheng, slumped in the darkest corner, his body as if his bones had been removed, his eyes unfocused, and he reeked of stale alcohol and mildew. His eldest son, twenty-eight-year-old Cang Yongqiang, stood with his head bowed in the shadows behind his father, like a silent shadow. Seventeen-year-old Cang Xiangrong stood by the door, his face full of resentment.

When Cang Houde saw Cang Zhenye enter, he said in a deep voice, "Fourth brother, you're back. How's Tianci?"

Cang Zhenye's throat was dry, and he said in a low voice, "Father, he's awake. Yu Mei is watching over him. The doctor said it's a concussion, and he needs to be observed."

"Yes, tell the whole story from beginning to end. Let everyone hear it," the old man said in a deep voice.

"Okay, Dad." Cang Zhenye suppressed his surging emotions and recounted what had happened. When he mentioned that Wang Zhenkun punched Tianci in the temple, a suppressed gasp came from the corner, and the veins on the back of Cang Yuanzhi's hand, which was leaning on his cane, bulged.

The room was deathly silent, with only the occasional crackling sound of the oil lamp wick burning.

After Cang Zhenye finished speaking, Cang Houde slammed his bamboo cane heavily on the ground with a dull thud, as if striking everyone's heart!

"Did you all hear that? The face of our Cang family has once again been trampled on by that brat Wang Zhenkun. Not only did he beat the women of our Cang family, but he even dared to kill a nine-year-old child." He swept his gaze over the crowd and continued, "I, Cang Houde, fled to this Xiqiao Village during the famine, built the first shack, and spent my whole life bowing my head and bending my back, just for a bite to eat, so that you could survive. But that doesn't mean our bones are made of mud."

The eldest son, Cang Jianguo, raised his head, his voice heavy: "Father... the Wang family is powerful and deeply entrenched, and his brother is in the village... we... we can't afford to confront them head-on. That Wang Zhenkun holds the quotas for fertilizer and grain seeds, and he controls the approval process for homesteads. We've been applying for homesteads for three years, and the application has been sitting in his drawer for ages without being approved. If we really push him too far, he has a million ways to make it impossible for us to farm our land. What will we all do then? This anger isn't just empty words; the real issue is the hunger of our entire family!"

"Brother, are we just going to let people ride roughshod over us because we're afraid? Wang Zhenkun is taking advantage of our fear of resistance. If we tolerate it this time, next time he might just throw Tianci into the well. We have to let him know that the Cang family isn't a pushover he can easily bully. A man lives for his pride, a tree lives for its bark," Cang Yuanzhi said.

Cang Xiaoren frowned and interjected, "Second Uncle, that's not how it works. My father is considering the bigger picture, the stability of the whole family. Wang Yaowu insists that Tianci fell down on his own, but we have no proof. How can we make a fuss? If Secretary Wang turns around and accuses us of framing him, we'll be the ones who suffer. If we make a scene, who will the township believe? What can our family do to fight back?"

"How...how could you say such a thing? What do you mean by 'without evidence'? Are your fourth aunt's swollen face and your cousin's bumps on his head fake?" Cang Zhenye pointed at Cang Xiaoren, his blood boiling.

Cang Xiaoren opened his mouth, but didn't say anything more, instead turning his face to the side.

Cang Yuanzhi jumped up from his seat, his anger rising, and shouted, "Don't you have any manly courage or responsibility? Look at how I broke this leg! Back then, we weren't afraid of such powerful enemies; we dared to fight them. No matter how powerful Wang Zhenkun is, can he be stronger than those enemies? Why don't we dare to fight them?"

Cang Xiangrong clenched his fists and took a step forward, but was pulled back by Cang Yongqiang beside him. He struggled but couldn't break free, and gritted his teeth as he retreated.

"Fight? What are we going to fight with?" Cang Xiaoren's voice carried a frustrated tone, as if he'd been cornered. "Second Uncle, you call me spineless and irresponsible, and I accept that. But do you know? As members of the Cang family, we also suffer the same scorn in this village. We're outsiders, we've taken their land, they hate us, ostracize us, suppress us—do you think I don't feel bad? Do you think I can just swallow this insult? But what can I do? Who told us to be weak? You have guts, you have a sense of responsibility, you're a hero for the country and the people. But for…" He glanced at his second aunt, Liu Wenxiu, standing beside Cang Yuanzhi, and continued, "you gave up your future in the commune. If you were still in power back then, would the Wang family dare treat us like this? Why didn't you think about the Cang family back then?"

These words were like poisonous thorns, piercing precisely into the hearts of Cang Yuanzhi and Liu Wenxiu. Cang Yuanzhi's face turned deathly pale instantly, and he swayed. Liu Wenxiu immediately stepped forward to support her husband; her hands trembled slightly, and her eyes were red-rimmed, but she stubbornly held back her tears.

Cang Shouzheng, standing in the corner, sneered and shouted:

"What's the point of arguing and bringing up these past events? What's the point of arguing? Everyone has to rely on themselves, and bear their own fate... Hah... Just like me back then, when that beast Zheng Guozhong framed me like this, who could I rely on to save me? Everyone avoided me. I had to shoulder everything myself. Now I understand, it's all fate... all fate... Accept it!"

Cang Yongqiang, who had been keeping his head down, felt a tremor in his heart when his father mentioned Zheng Guozhong and the word "framed." His father's drunken words echoed in his ears like thunder: "It's all your fault, you little beast! If it weren't for treating your broken leg, how would Zheng Guozhong have had the chance to frame me?" Cang Yongqiang lowered his head even further, almost burying it in his chest.

"Third brother, we know about your injustice. But you can't..." Cang Yuanzhi suppressed his agitation and dizziness, trying to persuade him.

"Can't what?" Cang Shouzhen suddenly roared, roughly interrupting Cang Yuanzhi's words. A terrifying light flashed in his cloudy eyes. "Can't complain? Can't hate? Or can't I be a hero like you? My good second brother! You were glorious. And me? I became a convict, a piece of dog shit. Tell me, what do I have to fight for? What do I have to fight for?" He frantically pounded his thin chest, making muffled "thump thump" sounds, his voice shrill. "You fight? Fight for what? Is it useful? Huh?! This world is already rotten to the core. Our Cang family is just cheap, we deserve to be trampled underfoot, accept your fate! The more you fight, the more miserable your death will be, just like me."

"That's enough!"

A hoarse yet thunderous roar suddenly drowned out all the noise.

The old man, Cang Houde, suddenly stood up, slamming his bamboo cane on the ground with tremendous force, producing a heart-stopping explosion. The old bamboo cane cracked open with the sound.

The room fell into a deathly silence. Everyone was stunned by the old man's thunderous rage.

The old man's chest heaved violently, his cloudy eyes wide open, burning with anger, heartache, and a bottomless sorrow. His gaze was like a cold blade, slicing across the faces of each of his children and grandchildren.

"Look at you all, what kind of behavior is this! The enemy hasn't even come knocking on our door yet, and our own people are already stabbing each other in the heart!"

He first pointed at Cang Xiaoren: "Xiaoren, your second uncle lost his leg for the country. Whether his choice was right or wrong is not for you, a junior, to judge. If you can learn even a fraction of his sense of responsibility, then the Cang family won't have raised you in vain. If you dare to utter another word of nonsense, get out of this door!"

Cang Xiaoren turned pale after being scolded by his grandfather and dared not say another word.

Then, the old man looked at Cang Shouzhen, his heart aching: "Third son, I know you've been wronged and suffered. But you've soaked your grievances in wine, vomited your ambition into mud. Besides degrading yourself and blaming others, what else can you do? Zheng Guozhong harmed you, and you're willing to let him watch you rot and stink to death? Is this the example you're setting for your son?"

Cang Shouzheng didn't speak. He simply lowered his eyes, placed the wine bowl at his feet, and his body trembled slightly.

Finally, the old man's gaze returned to Cang Zhenye and Cang Yuanzhi, his tone heavy: "The fourth son's child almost died. This matter cannot be left like this. My Cang family is not extinct!"

He hesitated for a moment, then made a decision: "A direct confrontation won't work, but we can't cower like cowards either. Yuanzhi,"

"Father." Cang Yuanzhi immediately straightened his back.

"You're considered a meritorious person in the village, so Wang Zhenkun will still give you some face on the surface. Tomorrow, you take Lao Si to find Wang Zhenkun. Not to fight, but to reason with him. We need to show everyone that the Cang family isn't spineless. This isn't just about Lao Si's family. Someone is trying to completely break the backbone of the Cang family. If they attack Lao Si's family today, they can attack Lao Da's family and Lao Er's family tomorrow. If we back down this time, we'll truly become a disorganized mess, and anyone can kick us while we're down. But remember, be methodical, reason with him, don't resort to violence. Let's see if the Wang family dares to beat our people out in broad daylight again."

Finally, Cang Houde waved his hand and said, "This matter is settled. Everyone, disperse."

The family meeting ended. Everyone dispersed with mixed feelings.

Cang Jianguo sighed heavily, lowered his head, and walked out first. Cang Xiaoren, feeling as if he had been granted a pardon, quickly followed and disappeared into the night.

Cang Shouzheng was helped up by his eldest son, Cang Yongqiang. He didn't speak, nor did he shake off his son's hand. He simply lowered his head and staggered towards his room. Cang Xiangrong stood by the door, glanced at his second uncle, Cang Yuanzhi, then at the direction his father had disappeared in. His clenched fist slowly relaxed, and in the end, he said nothing, turned, and went into the house.

Looking at his father's weary face, Cang Zhenye was filled with mixed emotions. He walked to Cang Yuanzhi's side and whispered, "Second Brother..."

Cang Yuanzhi patted his shoulder forcefully, his gaze resolute: "Zhenye, Dad's right, we can't be spineless. Tomorrow, we'll go and meet Wang Zhenkun."

After everyone left, Cang Houde did not get up.

He sat alone under the dim oil lamp, stretching out his withered hand and slowly stroking the fresh crack on the bamboo cane.

The flame flickered in the breeze seeping through the window cracks, then steadied itself.

He just sat there for a very long time.

No one knows what he was thinking.