Chapter 9 — Red Rope Binds Fortune

“Tri Dan, it's not that you don't love me.” I didn't say anything. If this sentence had been said a few years earlier, perhaps we would have believed it. Even if I only believe half of it, it's enough for me to stay in Tieu Phuc Duong and continue looking at the lights for a few more years. But now it's not possible anymore. I put the red string in the incense burner next to the mountain gate. The fire in the furnace had not yet gone out, the red string touched the embers of the fire, first shrank, then quickly burned into a small black border. The mother's face changed and she instinctively raised her hand to stop him. I held her wrist. Her hand was very cold. "Burn it. The Tham family's blessings should not be tied to your body." The red string in the incense burner burned off, the flame was very small, and in the blink of an eye it was extinguished. The mother looked at the ash, her body swaying slightly. I let go. She suddenly grabbed my sleeve: "Tri Dan, are you really not going back with your mother?" I pulled back my sleeve. "I'm going back to the south of the city." "Such a small house in the south of the city, how can it be as good as my house?" "There is no Tieu Phuc Duong there." Mother opened her mouth, unable to say another word. I opened my umbrella, turned around and walked towards the backyard. After walking a few steps, her trembling voice came from behind. "Tri Dan, what should I do from now on?" I stopped for a moment. The rain beat on the umbrella, the sound was thick. "Madam Shen, go ask the god you have served for seventeen years." The mountain wind blew with strands of rain. The ash in the incense burner gently collapsed. The red wire completely disappeared.