Chapter 1: Tang San's Success

Is Tang San a villager? No one knows his origins. He was found by the old man Tang while passing through a graveyard, a child no more than three months old, dressed in a hand-sewn coarse cloth garment, lying in a candle wrap. It was the cold of winter, yet the child did not cry, but blinked with a pair of large black eyes, smiling at the old man Tang. At that moment, the old man felt a chill; it was eerie to see a little baby lying in a graveyard. After taking a few steps away, he stomped his foot, turned around, and embraced the child, then hurriedly left that graveyard.

On the first day Tang San Cheng arrived in the village, an event occurred that shocked the villagers. Old Master Tang had an elderly woman, and the couple had no children throughout their lives. They were delighted to see children, so the elderly woman reached out to embrace Tang San Cheng. Originally, he was a quiet child, but he cried out like a ghost, and this continued for seven days. After seven days, the elderly woman collapsed at the door of the stove and passed away. Thus, everyone understood that this child possessed a spiritual sensitivity, recognizing that the elderly woman was on the verge of death and refusing to let her hold him.

Six years later, Tang San Cheng finally left in a particularly unusual manner. He was taken away at night by a group of bandits who broke into his home. The leader, masked, held a knife across Tang San Cheng's neck and said: "I don't want anything, I only want you."

Who is Tang Sancheng? Tang Sancheng is the first remarkable figure to emerge from the village. At merely nineteen years of age, he is regarded as the village's "living treasure." Whenever someone passes away, he becomes the ancestral figure worshipped in the village, simply because he possesses the skill to select burial sites. With a grand gesture, he points and declares, "This is the spot!" Once the deceased is buried, that family is guaranteed a prosperous year, along with a bit of financial gain. The villagers have privately calculated that Tang Sancheng has chosen a total of eleven burial sites for the villagers, and all eleven families have experienced smooth sailing.

Sanya Village, located in an obscure place in an ancient capital, has not produced any remarkable figures for generations. The villagers have little understanding of the outside world; they are even unaware that Yuan Shikai has long since passed away. At this time, it is already 1931, and the outside world is undergoing significant changes, with the global landscape quietly shifting. None of this concerns the people of Sanya Village, where significant events are rare, apart from the cycles of life and death.

Then let me bow to my father. Tang San directly knelt in front of the old man Tang He, who was already in tears, saying: "My son!"

The masked figure pulled out a heavy package from within his clothing and said, "This is enough for your father’s retirement."

The masked man put down the knife: "You are quite a man!" He gave a command to the subordinate behind him: "Withdraw!"

The villagers, still bleary-eyed, were stirred from their slumber by the sudden noise, tossing and turning in their beds. Once they understood what was happening, each of them shuddered and jumped out of bed: "Oh no, Tang Sancheng has been kidnapped!"

When Tang San became famous, the entire village was in an uproar. Everyone said that this child had absorbed the spiritual and yin energy from the graveyard, calling him a "spiritual child." Old Master Tang held Tang San's hand and said, "My son, I can see it; you are extraordinary. You won't be able to stay in this San Ya Village for long."

Everyone burst into laughter, a thirteen-year-old child with a book, what does he understand! Feng Shui as well! By midnight, the child was burning hot as if he had a furnace attached to him, and his mother cried with swollen red eyes. As the saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures; this woman recalled the words of Tang San Cheng, and thus urged her husband to go chop down a tree. The man kept his head down in silence. The woman cursed to the heavens and took an axe to the ancestral grave. Once the tree fell, she returned home with the axe, only to see her child standing at the door wiping his nose: "I'm hungry..."

"Not good, not good!" It was merely dawn, yet the sound of gongs echoed through this remote and tranquil village: "Tang Sancheng has been taken away by bandits! Tang Sancheng has been taken away by bandits!" The voice was hoarse from shouting, as if it had suffered a tremendous blow

As Tang San became older, he developed a habit of burrowing into grave mounds, circling around the graves of the deceased, and mumbling to himself. The villagers were perplexed and believed he was possessed by a ghost. This mystery was not unraveled until Tang San turned thirteen. A child from a family in the village fell ill year after year, yet did not succumb to the illness. The village doctor had examined him, and even money was spent to take him to the town for treatment, but to no avail. At thirteen, Tang San stood on the ancestral grave of this family and pointed to a sturdy tree, saying, "Cut it down, and your child's illness will be cured; this tree has disrupted the feng shui of the grave."

Hmm, I think so too. Tang San Cheng was not sad either, and with a grin he said: "Father, would you like some soup? I will serve it for you!"

Father, everyone has their own fate; my destiny is already determined. I am leaving, please take care of yourself!" Tang San finished bowing three times, then raised his head, tears glistening in his eyes. He wiped his eyes and turned to the masked person: "Let's go!"

Tang San sighed, "I can go with you, but my father is getting old..."