I was dumbfounded. I thought the man was going to scold me, ask me to apologize, or at least ask me to pay him some compensations. What I was not expecting, was the words that just came out of his mouth.

I … I will die soon?

“Old man, what are you talking about?”

The old man adjusted his glasses and inspected me from up to down. His eyes were crystal clear, but it was making me rather uncomfortable.

It was like when I was younger, the first time I went to a public bath with my father, and the feeling of other’s gaze upon me.

I was a little bit shaken, “Sir, if you are all good, then I will be going now.”

Before the old man even opened his mouth, I turned around and ran away.

The voice of the old man came from behind, slow and steady.

“Kid, taking dead people’s stuff will get you punished.”

I didn’t understand what he meant, just thought of him as a lunatic.

I ran until I was entirely out of stamina and stopped to take a breather. I reached into my pocket, the money my cousin gave me had all being soaked with sweat, but I was content nonetheless.

The money was kept unscathed.

There were quite a few taxis on the main street. I stopped one and went back to my cousin’s place and took a quick shower before going to bed.

Before going back to bed, I purposefully waited in front of my cousin’s bedroom for a while. It was dead silent tonight in there.

I could not help but question myself if I imagined things.

Waking up early the next day, I ran to a phonebooth to call my mom and asked her to send me a debit card number.

It was a very proud moment for me to tell my mom that I had earned money, and could cover all of dad’s insulin injections.

I also told mom not to let dad eat any flour; he will have no energy to work on the field. When it is time to water and farm the land, give the neighbours some money and ask them to help.

“Mom, if the family need money, just ask me. Don’t keep it to yourself, go buy some meat and just relax.”

As I spoke, mom’s sob passed was heard through the phone.”

I panicked. My mom was strong-willed; no matter how hard life was, even when dad got sick, I did not see her cry.”

“Mom, what is wrong? Don’t scare me.”

Mom’s sob turned to laughter, “Kid, these are tears of joy. My baby had grown up and could support the family now.”

“Son, just keep working with your cousin. You will, for sure, stand out in the future!”

After I hung up, I hurried to the bank and kept five hundred to myself, sending the rest back home.

When I got back, my cousin had already gotten up. He laid on the couch; his eyes were colourless. I called to him, and he did not reply and got no reactions from him as if he did not hear me,

I got close to him, his eye bags were completely black, almost like a panda.

I shook his shoulder, “Dude, did you not sleep well? You got bags under your eyes.”

He glanced at me and asked sleepily, “Why did you wake up so early, where were you?”

I told him I was sending money to mom, he nodded and sat up from the couch.”

“Sit down; I have something to tell you.”

I pulled a chair over and sat in from of my cousin.

“What is it, cousin?”

“Man, cousin will be leaving for a few days, you help watch the store for me.”

Cousin will be leaving?

I hesitated. It wasn’t hard to watch the store, but I still had to deliver the cigar every day. If he was gone, who will be making the cigar?

Cousin pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. It seemed to be torn out from a notebook and folded into a square.

“Don’t worry about the cigar; here are the procedures to make them; it isn’t hard.”

It turns out my cousin already planned it out. I picked up the note and was going to open it before I was stopped by him.

“Read it at night, first listen to me.”

I carefully tucked the note in my pocket and him handing two keys over to me.

“The iron one is the key to the tea house; the steel one is to the kitchen, keep it safe.”

I put away the keys cautiously.

My cousin got hold of my shoulders and told me very seriously.

“Dude, these two days I am not here, you must remember these two things!”

“First, when you are at granny’s, you must return before twelve.”

I nodded in reply. He told me this quite a few times, no way I could forget.

“Cousin, what is the second thing?”

“The second thing is, the cigars that you make, you cannot smoke them!”