My sister-in-law heard from a village shaman that if she took her child on a nighttime hike up Mount Tai for blessings on his fifth birthday, he would rise to greatness and have a limitless future.
I warned her that young children were physically fragile, and too much exercise could cause rhabdomyolysis, which could even be life-threatening. Besides, the holiday crowds would make it inconvenient to bring a child along.
She was determined to go. To protect my little nephew, I secretly canceled my standby ticket to Tai'an for the May Day holiday.
Ten years later, she blamed me for her son failing to get into high school.
“If you hadn’t stopped us from climbing Mount Tai, my son would be a child prodigy by now. He wouldn’t have been left with nowhere to study!”
In the dead of night, she ordered her son to throw me into the lake.
She muttered, “There’s a debt for every wrong, and a culprit for every crime. Once you, the one who started this, are dead, my son will succeed.”
I woke up reborn, back just before the May Day holiday.
This time, I’m supporting my sister-in-law’s decision. We’re definitely climbing Mount Tai!
