Origin

There was dew on the grass, and it was too wet to stay. So, Wu Zhongyuan could only jump on the tree, hide behind the branches and leaves, and observe from a high position. From here, he could clearly see everything from the mountain's foot. Even though it wasn't the season, and the apricots were not fully ripe yet, they had the same flavor as in the memory. The apricot tree was planted by the Master when he was alive. It is more than 20 years old, and they have picked fruits every year since he can remember. It is inevitable to be sad when looking at the tree. The apricot tree stands there, but the Master who planted the apricot tree has been gone for many years.

 In all fairness, he doesn't quite believe that there are spirits after people die because he has never seen a ghost while living with the Master. The Master is already dead, and the Master should also not know what is going on right now.  No matter what he does, the Master won't know. However, in this condition, he made up his mind to keep the body of the Master whole. Not to satisfy the Master in heaven, but only for the sake of complete filial piety and a clear conscience.  Most basic life skills were taught by the Master before his death, except the feudal superstitions, such as the practice of drawing talismans and doing feng shui. One of the skills was to determine the time according to the sun and stars,

 And the delay was no more than ten minutes before and after. 

Three cars came near the mountain around 6:30 am. In the front was a white Toyota jeep. This kind of car is standard equipment for the foreman and village chief in the north, and there were two mini buses in the back. A group of people came out as soon as the cars stopped. They were not workers but ruffians. They were topless early in the morning and showed off fancy tattoos on their bodies and large gold chains around their necks. As long as it was sparkly yellow, who cares if the gold were real or not anyway. 

The excavator driver was also out of the car, and he then started the excavator and drove up to the mountain, followed by twenty or so men with golden chains that were so awesome. Watching the twinkle twinkle blink in the waves of tattoos, Wu Zhongyuan was a little puzzled. The violation of funeral regulations should be handled by the town and the civil affairs department. Why did a group of hooligans come instead of government officials? 

It's not even 8:30 am, and the people who got paid by the government are not at work yet. This group of people is definitely not sent from the upper level. Besides the people sent from the upper level, there should be law enforcement agencies, not ruffians. Obviously, those men in gold chains were summoned by the developer. The location of the old house is at most two miles away from the foot of a hill rather than a mountain, and the terrain is not very high.

 Wu Zhongyuan was a little anxious seeing the excavator getting closer and closer. This big guy is really durable. Even though he poured so much sand into the fuel tank, it kept running. However, it broke when it was not more than 30 meters away from the house, and the big guy finally stopped. The driver got down to check and found that the fuel tank cap was unscrewed before, and the fuel gauge showed that the fuel was not low. It meant someone was not trying to steal the fuel, but deliberately destroyed it.

 The leader was a middle-aged man wearing a beach shirt, with a long fat oily face, and a head with big ears. When the excavator stopped, he didn't behave like those men with golden chains who kept scolding and calling names. He slowly took out a cell phone, made a call, and asked someone to send another excavator over. 

"Director Qian in the village works with us. With him around, no one dares to make trouble in the village." One of the men with big golden chains pointed to the old house and said,  "It must be the two bastards of this family who did it." 

The fat man frowned when he heard it, then he looked at the person and said, "How many times have I told you to pay attention to your manners? They are orphans adopted by the old man, not bastards." 

The man nodded and smiled again and again, "Yes, manners, Big Brother Sun said is right.  The two orphans must have done this." The fat man with the beach shirt shook his head, "It shouldn't be. By the way, Director Qian, the two boys in this family are  Lin Qingming, the elder one, and the younger one is Wu Zhongyuan. The elder has been digging coal in the neighboring county, earning money to pay for the younger one's high school fees. We moved the machine here last night, and even if someone told them about the excavator, they couldn't have returned so quickly."

 "Yes, yes, Big Brother Sun has always been right." The man with the big gold chain flattered.

 "Okay, don't talk nonsense," The man in the beach shirt pointed to the old house, "The house is nearly falling apart. You can tear it down without the excavator. Just push it over first, and then dig the grave when the machine arrives." 

Right after he finished, the man with a big golden chain shouted and led the crowd to the old house. 

When the ruffians were about to demolish the house, Wu Zhongyuan could only get down from the tree and ran out of the woods, shouting at them.

  "What are you doing?" The ruffians turned around and waited for the man in the beach shirt's instructions when Wu Zhongyuan showed up to stop them. The man in the beach shirt had never seen Wu Zhongyuan before and didn't know him at all. He was a little surprised to see someone approach, and he walked over, "Who are you?" 

"I'm Wu Zhongyuan, I'm in the high school, next town, and I heard that some local gangsters are trying to tear down the house and dig the grave. I'm here to see if it is true or not?" Wu Zhongyuan looked at the man in the beach shirt. 

"Fuck, who you mean are the gangsters?" Man with the golden chain scolded. The man in the beach shirt slapped the other man on the head and said,  "Fuck, Go away,  don't you answer that." The man with a big golden chain moved away awkwardly, and the man in the beach shirt rolled out a praying beads chain from his wrist. He stepped forward with the big praying beads in his hand,  

"Are you from this family?" 

"Yes," Wu Zhongyuan nodded, "Are you guys hooligans?" 

The man in the beach shirt smiled embarrassedly, "Of course not." 

"Then, you two are the law enforcement officers sent by the Civil Affairs Bureau and the town?" Wu Zhongyuan asked again.

 "Hehehehe." The man in the beach shirt laughed shortly. 

"Don't laugh. Are you the law enforcement officers?" Wu Zhongyuan asked, "If you're not from law enforcement agency, you don't have the right to demolish our house and dig the grave."

 "Haha, it's different if you have a degree. The talk was loud and clear," The man in the beach shirt said with a jeer. "But we have nothing to do with the town. This is our personal work." 

"There is no one supporting you and how dare you do something like this?" Wu Zhongyuan loudly inquired. The man in the beach shirt has no reason to say anything, and can't keep up with the words. 

"Big Brother, stop talking nonsense with him, let's do it." Someone next to him yelled. The man in the beach shirt did not answer the call immediately, but looked around  and made sure there were no others nearby, so he raised his hand,

 "Drag him away and demolish the house." 

This group of people often do similar things, and they were familiar with it. As soon as the man in the beach shirt spoke, those ruffians immediately split up, a few rushed towards Wu Zhongyuan, and the rest ran to the house. Wu Zhongyuan didn't expect that these gangsters would dare to come so far. He hurried to dodge when someone rushed towards him and shouted at the same time, "You are breaking the law. You have no right to demolish my house."

 "Don't worry, we will also pay you money after the dismantling work is done." The man in the beach shirt sneered. Wu Zhongyuan was still young and had never experienced anything similar. When those ruffians were so unruly, he couldn't think of a way to deal with it for a while. What he could do was continue to dodge and not be caught by them. 

At this time, the remaining ruffians had already rushed to the front of the house and began to smash the doors, windows and bricks. The man in the beach shirt got angry when the ruffians couldn't catch Wu Zhongyuan and bellowed in disappointment,

" You Pigs, go up a few more and catch him." The man in the beach shirt acted as a commander, commanding and dispatching orders, "Sanpizi, Send a few people around to guard, and don't get filmed." 

"Hey, Wang Batou, your brain is kicked by a donkey. What are you doing with a knife? You need to catch him, not stab him. If you stab someone, it will cause big trouble." 

"Block him, block him. This kid is slippery, don't run after him, block at both ends." 

"Haven't you eaten this morning, right?  work harder, hurry up." 

The ruffians who blocked Wu Zhongyuan started from the first three then the number increased to six. Master once warned him not to show his martial arts skills in front of other people. It was the reason why Wu Zhongyuan didn't fight back against the ruffians. Also, there are some other reasons. Firstly, he didn't care about the old house but the Master's grave. As long as these people leave the grave untouched, he won't fight. Also, it was the first time he encountered such a thing, and he couldn't figure out what he was supposed to do.  

Forbidden to perform light kung fu, he got quickly cornered by the crowd. Wu Zhongyuan had no choice but to climb a big tree on the eastern side of the house.

 "Okay, okay, it looks like he doesn't have a mobile phone, so don't chase him, let him stay in the tree." The man in the beach shirt shouted. Leaving two men with big gold chains to guard under the tree, the rest of them went over to help demolish the house.

 Although the house is very dilapidated, it had a strong structure left by the old and sturdy foundation. The white cement had done a great job, and the foundation stone was big. After tearing down the roof and smashing the doors and windows, the ruffians were left tired. Even though they looked strong they had no strength since their bodies were weakened by wine & sex. Wu Zhongyuan was trapped in the tree but didn't sit still. He was thinking about how to save the body of his master. In a hurry, he came up with a plan.

 "Hey, leader, can we talk?" 

"Huh?" The man in a beach shirt tilted his head to look at him. 

 "If the house is demolished, then let it be. But don't dig the grave, okay?" Wu Zhongyuan suggested.

 "It's too late. If you signed the agreement and accepted the money earlier, won't things be all right now? Now that this matter has been exposed, how can we just let it be." The man in the beach shirt said. "Then tell them that my master only has bones left, so there is no need to burn the body." Wu Zhongyuan said.

 "How can you say "burn"? It's called cremation." The man in the beach shirt said with a quirky smile. "Besides, we're just doing the job. We'll have to come up with some officer to identify and decide whether to burn it again or not. " Wu Zhongyuan felt a chill in his heart when he heard it, "You should have a bottom line for bullying people. Don't force them to do the extreme."  The man in the beach shirt didn't answer the young man's words, but he just fixed his eyes on the ruins of the house and continued to direct the destruction. 

"If you dare to touch my master, I'll let you die here," Wu Zhongyuan shouted angrily, "I'm only seventeen years old, and the charges of murder won't be a death sentence."

" You don't have to run, just stay in the tree." The man in the beach shirt showed disdain. Seeing that the "project" is progressing slowly, the excavator driver, who has not done much but has been very attentive, donated a large hammer. The hammer appeared very heavy, and it was originally used to hit the crawler.

With the hammer, the ruffians quickly smashed the corners and knocked down the walls. After the "business" was done, the ruffians did not leave but ran to the back of the house, picking apricots to eat. Wu Zhongyuan felt very distressed when he saw those branches broken. He hoped that Huang Ping might have gotten in touch with his senior brother in the evening, and his senior brother must have arrived by this time. After half an hour passed, another excavator was sent here, and it drove up the mountain with heavy machinery sound. "Don't you come down now? We'll dig down the tree in a while, and we don't care if you fall to your death." The man in the beach shirt looked up at Wu Zhongyuan on the tree. 

Wu Zhongyuan frowned when he heard the words. Sounds like the man in the beach shirt got the idea that the location of the Master's tomb was under the big tree where he was, but it was not. Master was buried under the tree in the north. Thinking about it carefully, the reason why the man in the beach shirt was wrong should be because there is no gravestone on the tomb of the master, or it may be that the person who provided them with clues didn't make it clear. Right now, the senior brother is still on the way back, so it is better to make the misunderstood and delay it for a while. 

After making up his mind, he said loudly, "Don't mess around, I'll really fight with you."

 What he said was from his heart, and it was also a warning to the man in the beach shirt, but the leader only took his warning as a bluff. 

The leader sneered, and waved at the excavator driver, 

"Dig."