Heavenly Eyes

CHAPTER 1

Section 1: The Freak

When I was born, because I had an extra eye on my forehead, my parents considered me a freak and wanted to abandon me.

My grandmother traveled a long distance, taking a slow green train from the countryside to the provincial city, and rescued me from beside a hospital garbage bin.

My grandmother was a fortune teller in the countryside, while my grandfather was a simple, honest farmer. He died early because of the difficult times, a consequence of my grandmother's profession.

Therefore, my mother hated my grandmother's profession and was never close to her.

She was a good student, very ambitious, and got into a prestigious university in the provincial city through her own hard work. After that, she cut off contact with my grandmother.

From university graduation until she got a job, married, and had children, she never came back.

The year she gave birth to me, perhaps because she was about to become a mother herself and understood the hardships my grandmother faced raising her alone, she surprisingly called my grandmother to tell her she was pregnant.

My grandmother didn't say much at the time, only that she would come to see her when she gave birth.

My mother laughed and asked her, “I haven't even told you the due date yet, how did you know?”

My grandmother replied, “Did you forget what your mother does?”

Then my mother stopped smiling.

 

The day I was born, it rained heavily. My mother labored for a day and a night before I was born.

My paternal grandmother was convinced that my mother was carrying a boy. She was afraid that medication would affect the baby's intelligence, so she wouldn't allow a Cesarean section, forcing my mother to endure a difficult natural birth.

 

The Shen family was a prominent household in the provincial capital, and they weren't very happy with my mother's family background.

 

Unfortunately, the Shen family had been without a male heir for three generations. My father insisted on marrying her, otherwise he would have remained a bachelor for life. It was only then that my paternal grandmother reluctantly allowed her to enter the family.

To secure her position as the Madam of the Shen family, my mother desperately wanted to have a son.

Unexpectedly, after laboring for over twenty hours, she gave birth to me, a ‘thing.’

Those were my paternal grandmother's exact words.

She called me a ‘freak’ and a ‘curse.’

She said I looked like this because my maternal grandmother dabbled in the occult and committed acts that incurred karmic retribution, and that the consequences manifested in my mother.

Back then, the one-child policy was strictly enforced, and my parents both worked for the government. Having a second child would have meant losing their jobs.

My mother had previously aborted two girls. This pregnancy, she only went through with it after countless pleas and assurances that it was a boy.

To avoid taking up my parents' only-child quota, my paternal grandmother coldly ordered my mother:

“Either you divorce my son, or you get rid of this 'thing'. Our Shen family will not accept this monster as a granddaughter.”

My mother looked at the newborn me, didn't hold me, didn't feed me, and despite my cries, wrapped me in a raincoat and left me by the dumpster behind the hospital.

Thankfully, my grandmother arrived just in time, scooped me up from the ground, and scolded my mother, “Liu Xiang, what are you doing? Even a tiger wouldn't eat its own cubs!”

My mother, surprised to see my grandmother, flinched and nervously took a step back.

Then, her face hardened.

“How did you get here?”

My grandmother, soothing me with tenderness, said to my mother, “Why am I here? I came to see my granddaughter!”

 

My mother froze for a moment, then a flash of resentment crossed her face.

“You knew? You knew I was going to have a girl, why didn't you tell me! The Shen family has only sons for three generations, my mother-in-law wanted a grandson! You're my own mother, how could you do this to me?

 

Do you know how much effort and hard work I put in to achieve my current status? If Shen Jun divorces me, I'll have nothing!”

Saying this, she reached for me. “This child can't stay, if you still consider yourself my mother, then stay out of it!”

 

My grandmother was not yet fifty, and my mother, having just given birth and gone out into the wind and rain, was no match for her.

After appeasing his mother, my father discovered my mother and I were missing. Finding us with my grandmother, he was very surprised.

 

“Ah Xiang, who is this? And how is the baby with her? My wife said that out of anger, this child, after all, is our own flesh and blood…”

My maternal grandmother sized up my father, then said coldly, “I am her mother, I'm taking the child. You don't need to worry about it. If you find her a burden, just pretend you never had her.”

 

My father finally realized she was his mother-in-law.

 

“You're Liu Xiang's mother? Uh...Mom! Why didn't you tell us you were coming? I could have sent someone to pick you up. Give me the baby. We'll talk about the future later.”

But my grandmother ignored him and insisted on taking me away.

 

My father was uneasy, but my mother held him back tightly.

 

“Husband, let her take her. Let's pretend we never had this daughter. Don't worry, I'll definitely take good care of my health. Next time, I'll definitely give you a son…”

Seeing my mother's unstable state, my father could only watch helplessly as my grandmother took me away.

 

Later, my father sent a sum of money to my grandmother, saying it was to cover the trouble of taking care of me.

 

My grandmother accepted the money but didn't spend it. She saved it in a bank account, saying it was for my education.

 

Over the next few years, my mother became pregnant several more times. Whenever it was a girl, she had an abortion. Finally, when I was five, she gave birth to my younger brother.

My grandmother told me all this.

 

I asked her, “Why did they have to have a boy? What's the difference between a boy and a girl?”

 

My grandmother said, “There's no difference. Your parents are sick in the head.”

As a young child, I felt immense sympathy for my parents: “It's so sad, they're both sick. My little brother has just been born, and he has to take care of two sick adults, that must be so hard! I only need to take care of Grandma. I'm luckier than my brother!”

 

My grandmother smiled and patted my head: “Our Tongtong is the most innocent and kind child.”

Cuddled in my grandmother's arms, I giggled, a snot bubble forming at my nose. Then, as if a sudden memory struck me, I said, “Today, while you were helping Uncle and Aunt with the 'flower questioning' inside, a lady with long hair and in a costume asked me if I wanted shoes.”

Section 2: The Playful Grudge

My grandmother's radiant smile froze instantly. She nervously grabbed my shoulders and asked, “What? Did you take them?”

I shook my head. “No, I said my grandmother would buy me some. The lady's shoes were too old and worn. Country grandmothers don't wear embroidered shoes like that.

The lady's face turned pale and green, like she was really angry. Grandma, did I say something wrong?”

 

Grandma grabbed a feather duster and ran outside.

 

“Damn it! That unlucky opera singer! Even after being dead for a hundred years, you still won't rest! You scared my granddaughter! Believe me, I'll make you disappear for good!!!”

My grandmother suddenly appeared at the doorway, startling the woman in the costume.

 

“Mrs. Feng, there's no need to be so harsh!”

The woman's voice was like opera singing, a high-pitched, wavering sound. She had a teardrop-shaped birthmark on her cheek, making her look like she was crying even when she wasn't.

 

The wooden handle of my grandmother's feather duster was carved with talismans, soaked in cinnabar and chicken blood. Normally used for dusting, it now served to banish evil spirits.

 

With one swift strike, the woman jumped up from the blow.

Looking down, I saw that the woman had no feet.

 

No wonder she wanted to give me her shoes; she couldn't wear them herself!

 

Grandma kept hitting, the woman kept jumping and wailing.

 

I clapped my hands and laughed, giggling and blowing bubbles of snot.

Eventually, Grandma subdued the woman.

 

She was tethered under the eaves of our house to guard the gate.

 

The downside was that she couldn't move around; the upside was that she was sheltered from the wind and rain.

 

Every morning, when Grandma offered incense to the spirit tablets in the house, she'd also give a stick of incense to the woman.

 

And when people came to Grandma for help, the woman could sneak a bite of the offerings.

Sometimes, when Grandma wasn't around, the woman would talk to me.

 

She said her name was Sai Feng Huang, the leading actress of the San He Opera Troupe. She had fallen in love with a wealthy young master, Liang Tian Dong, and they had secretly pledged their love to each other.

 

However, the Liang family were prominent city folk, and Mrs. Liang, the matriarch, despised her humble origins and forbade her from marrying her son.

Young Master Liang, desperate, decided to elope with her.

 

They agreed to meet under the pear tree, without fail.

 

Unexpectedly, she waited all night, but Young Master Liang never came, and all contact ceased.

 

From then on, she came to wait under the pear tree every day, for years she doesn't know, but Young Master Liang never appeared.

Then, the woman asked me, “Tongtong, do you think Young Master Liang will come?”

 

Although I was young, I was a sensible child.

 

“Auntie, have you been waiting under the pear tree ever since that day?”

 

The woman paused, seeming lost in thought.

“What...do you mean by that? I've been waiting here...all this time...That pear tree...it's where your pigsty is now.”

 

I scratched the tuft of hair on my head. “Auntie, you said yourself that the Liang family were prominent local people. How could Young Master Liang just disappear without a trace?

 

If you couldn't find him under the pear tree, wouldn't you try to find out where he was? But you said you waited under the pear tree every day.

Maybe...you died that day you were waiting for him. He wasn't avoiding you; he couldn't find you.”

 

Upon hearing my words, the woman's face turned completely white.

 

Her face was already pale, but now it was even paler.

 

That day, she sat on the roof of our pigsty, clutching her head and lost in thought for a long, long time.

 

Finally, she told me she remembered. She remembered everything.

“That day... I had an agreement with Young Master Liang to meet under the pear tree without fail.

 

Who knew I was spotted by a scoundrel named Li San from the city? He robbed me of my gold and silver, then choked me to death and buried me under the pear tree.

 

Young Master Liang waited for me but fell gravely ill and soon passed away…”

Remembering the past, Auntie began to wail sadly, her voice rising and falling like opera.

 

I felt sorry for her too.

 

After all, the pear tree where she was buried is now our pigsty.

 

If it were me, buried under a smelly pigsty, I'd be unhappy too.

That evening, after sunset, Grandma returned from outside.

 

Two uncles, one in white and one in black, both wearing tall hats, came to take Auntie away.

 

I asked Grandma, “Where are the uncles taking Auntie?”

 

Grandma said, “Sai Feng Huang's resentment has dissipated. It's time for her to go to the underworld and be reborn.”

 

Then she patted my head, praising me, “Our Tongtong has done a good deed!”

At that time, I didn't understand the concept of reincarnation. I only knew that no one would be there to talk to me or sing operas to me anymore.

 

It wasn't until later, when a young woman in the village gave birth to a daughter, and I saw a teardrop-shaped mole on the child's cheek, that I understood.

 

Reincarnation, it turned out, meant changing from one person to another.

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