Mr. No || NCT || Completed

30 - Where Renjun is a pawn

"What are you doing here, Jun-Jun?" grandmother had appeared in the doorway, startling Renjun who was in the middle of reading about his uncle's adventures in Chile. Grandmother closed the door behind her and stepped closer. "Your mother said that you arrived early and asked about your uncle's belongings."

Renjun closed the notebook and tried to device an escape plan as quickly as he could. The last time he had spoken with grandmother, she had been agitated when he implied that he was investigating the injections. If he were to admit that he was trying to draw connection between them and uncle, she would have his head on a platter.

"Aren't I allowed to read his stuff?" Renjun asked innocently. Grandmother's suspicious eyes wandered on the journals on the desk. Renjun grabbed the notebook he had started with – the one with definitions and thoughts about different mythical beings – and showed it to her. "I'm trying to find information about bad omens, and figured that uncle was interested in stuff like that."

Grandmother took the notebook from him and opened it gently. She eyed the pages and ran her finger along the text. "Yes, your uncle researched these things for the council. Ever since he was a child, he was always interested in all of my stories. Then he studied biology and anthropology so it was natural for him to become an expert for the council."

Renjun nodded. "He seemed enthusiastic."

Grandmother closed the notebook and dusted its cover even though Renjun had already done that earlier. "Why are you interested in bad omens? Are you trying to curse someone?" grandmother frowned, "are you that upset about having to get married? Lili is a delightful girl."

"Grandmother!" Renjun exclaimed, "I'm not trying to curse anyone. If I wanted to trouble someone, I would do I directly."
"I'm not sure if that's much better."

Renjun huffed. "I'm trying to research bad omens because I think that I met one and it made me curious."

"What do you mean that you met a bad omen? Where have you even learned enough about them to recognize one?" Grandmother placed the notebook on the desk, clearly unconvinced by her grandson's resolve. "I told you about them maybe once years ago, and you complained that it was boring. How can you remember it now?"

"I don't need to remember much to realize that a person who causes trouble to those around her is a bad omen." Renjun was slightly offended by her questioning his logic.
Grandmother blinked. "You're causing your father stress by working in that rundown café. You're causing worry to your mother by not treating Yun Lili well as your fiancée. And, right now, you're giving me a headache because of your comments", her voice was dry, "does that make you a bad omen? Your parents will be devastated."

Renjun rolled his eyes. Perhaps some other rich granny had been rude to her in the book club, and now she was taking her anger out on him. "I'm not dumb, grandmother. What I meant was that every now and then, the bad omen I met has this weird look on her face – like she knows something but doesn't understand it. Then she comments on a thing that hasn't happened and then that thing happens. And all doublers think that her energy is peculiar."

"Oh", grandmother hummed, "that indeed does sound a bit like a bad omen."
"I know!"

She turned to the desk and started rummaging through the notebooks Renjun had gathered. "I don't think that these journals can help you much. Your uncle and I met bad omen once – or Wū yā as they are called – 15 years ago but if I remember correctly, the notebook that contains information on our experiences is in Beijing."

The library was very quiet for a moment, as Renjun processed what he had heard. "You have met a bad omen as well?"
"Isn't that what I just told you?" grandmother scoffed, "you need to work on your listening comprehension skills, Jun-Jun."