The wife said, “How could a cotton thread possibly lift a millstone? Old Bolton, stop talking nonsense. Let’s go look for the child instead!”

Mr. Bolton let out a long sigh. “Heaven’s will, heaven’s will—it’s heaven’s will that I will have no descendants! Alas, there’s no hope!” In the end, he stomped his foot hard and plopped down on the ground…

Mr. Bolton knew that those who fell under his own “Scissors Decree” could not be saved. However, Mr. Bolton was skilled in the mystical arts, and now all that was left was to get a lucky response. As long as the response was auspicious, his son could still be saved. But after asking for a lucky phrase twice, both times his wife answered incorrectly, and with a wrong answer, there was no hope. Two questions asked, representing the lives of two sons; each time his wife answered, one son’s fate was sealed. In the end, Mr. Bolton couldn’t save either of his sons…

Whether you believe this is the reason for the “Five Defects and Three Lacks” or not, it is nonetheless a fact. Anyway, I believe it, because this Mr. Bolton is my master. Later, he calculated it himself and found that his fate indeed fell under the “solitude” defect among the Five Defects.

As for how I became his disciple, that’s a long story. It starts with the time I almost lost my life at a haunted well during my days as a sent-down youth. Of course, that’s a story for later, and I’ll tell it in due course. But before that, I need to introduce myself first…

Actually, when it comes to my own story, it’s even more mysterious than Mr. Bolton’s. You could say it’s mysterious upon mysterious—most people simply wouldn’t believe it. Even my friends of many years, when they hear me tell my story, always curl their lips and say, “Yeah, right!”

Chapter 2: Strange Dream

Indeed, my story is truly hard to believe, but no matter how strange it is, I still need to introduce myself. My surname is Foster, and my given name is Edward. Yes, you heard right—my name is Edward Foster. Maybe you’ll ask, how could anyone have such a strange name? Was your family deep in debt when you were born, and your parents hoped you’d help pay it off?

The name is strange—not only do you think so, even I myself think it’s odd. It’s so odd that ever since I was old enough to understand, I’ve disliked telling others my name, because every time I say it, people are always curious, or even outright mocking.

But names are given by parents, so I just have to accept it. I remember someone once said, a person can decide everything in their life, except for their own name. When I heard this, I thought it was absolutely right. From childhood to adulthood, we can decide everything for ourselves—even as babies, if we see something we don’t like or food we don’t want to eat, we can cry or fuss. But our name is decided by our parents the moment we’re born.

Maybe you’ll ask again, were your parents uneducated? Did they just flip through a dictionary and pick random characters for your name? No, I can tell you clearly, my parents were not uneducated. My father even attended school for a few years as a child, so he knew quite a few characters and was a very reasonable person. The reason he gave me such a strange name as “Edward” was entirely because of a strange event that happened when I was born—or to be precise, even when my mother was pregnant with me.

Curious, aren’t you? What kind of strange event could lead to such a name? After I grew up, I kept pestering my parents, wanting to know what exactly happened to decide my name. Eventually, after years of my persistent questioning, my parents finally told me the story. As I listened, my heart pounded—I couldn’t tell if it was true or not. In a word: mysterious!

This strange event was told to me by my mother. Whether it’s true or not, you can just listen to it as a little story for after dinner.

Both my parents are from Beijing. When my mother was pregnant with me, it was 1949, the year the new China was founded. After years of war and turmoil, China finally saw the dawn of a new era. That year, everyone knew peaceful days were finally coming. It was also the year my parents got married, and by winter, there was already movement in my mother’s belly.

As the saying goes, “A joyful event lifts the spirit.” When my father learned my mother was pregnant, he was over the moon. You see, my father was the only son for three generations—our family line was thin, and now there was finally going to be a new addition. How could he not be happy?

But that happiness didn’t last long. Soon after, my parents could no longer feel happy, because they started having frequent nightmares! At first, it was my mother. Since she was pregnant, my father took over all the chores, so she often sat in the courtyard to rest. That time, it was around two in the afternoon. My father had gone out to work, and my mother, as usual, was resting on the bench in the courtyard. But that day, she dozed off without realizing it, and in a hazy dream, she suddenly heard the sound of footsteps—“crack, crack, crack”—outside the courtyard gate…

According to my mother, although she was dreaming, her mind was unusually clear. She thought my father had forgotten something and come back. After a while, the courtyard gate was pushed open, but the person who entered wasn’t my father—it was a man she didn’t recognize. This scared my mother terribly!