Book One, Miao Village Witch Ancestors, Chapter Two, Section Three

Two months later, my third uncle took a leave from the army to take the new third aunt to a large hospital in the city for prenatal check-ups. As the long-distance bus my third uncle was on entered the station (at that time, long-distance buses drove very fast, and the driver's pay was tied to the number of trips), he saw that the new third aunt was already standing on the platform.

Suddenly, there was a loud "bang" from under the bus, and my third uncle felt the bus tilt to the right. The driver jerked the steering wheel, cursing, "Damn it, we had a blowout!" In the panic, the driver accidentally pressed the wrong pedal. The out-of-control bus veered towards the platform. By then, the new third aunt was so frightened that she forgot to move and was crushed against the wall behind the platform.

As people rushed to lift the new third aunt onto the bus and rushed her to the hospital, she was still conscious, gripping my third uncle's hand and calling his name. Halfway to the hospital, the new third aunt stopped breathing. Her last words were, "Yuan Chao, don't leave me, I'm scared..."

My third uncle was already furious, and when he returned to the long-distance bus station, he beat the driver who caused the accident half to death. Feeling that his anger wasn't vented, he found an iron rod and smashed several cars parked inside the station. The station's staff watched as my third uncle smashed four or five cars and didn't dare to stop him. Before long, I received news, and my grandfather brought the people from the Shen clan to the scene. He did something even more ruthless; he set fire to the bus station.

By the time the county magistrate, the secretary of the county party committee, and the chief of the county public security bureau arrived, they saw more and more people with the surname Shen gathering at the bus station. It took tremendous effort to calm the situation.

The result of the police investigation was that my grandfather was detained for fifteen days for violating public order (considering the elderly man's physical condition, my own father took him to serve the penalty, which essentially involved signing his name at the detention center each day). The arsonist who set fire to the bus station was not found (no one dared to accuse my grandfather). The station had to deal with its own losses. The station compensated my third uncle with two hundred thousand yuan. Since my third uncle was a military officer in the armed police force, the local government had no jurisdiction to impose further penalties and could only report the incident to the armed police force.

A month later, the military issued its punishment for my third uncle: Comrade Shen Yuan Chao receives a major demerit, and his appointment as a cadre at the rank of battalion commander is revoked. His eligibility for attending a military academy for further studies is also canceled.

When my third uncle saw the outcome, he could hardly believe it. On the surface, the punishment seemed severe, but upon closer inspection, it wasn't that significant. Revoking the appointment as a battalion commander didn't matter since he never held that rank to begin with. Canceling eligibility for the military academy was even more interesting because my third uncle had never applied to attend. Moreover, the academy admitted students every year, so if he couldn't go this year, he could apply in a few years.

The only potentially damaging part of the punishment was the major demerit. According to military regulations, accumulating two major demerits within a year would result in automatic discharge from the military. However, accumulating two major demerits was no easy feat.

My third uncle had already packed his bags and was prepared to leave. The local government had labeled him as the one who beat an innocent driver (whether or not that driver was truly innocent depended on one's perspective), smashed four long-distance buses, and set fire to the bus station (this accusation fell on my third uncle's head since he was the one with "Shen" in his name, and besides, he was the one who did it, along with my grandfather). Even if there was a reason for the incident with the new third aunt's tragic death, these charges were enough to land him in a military court. Now, with this outcome, it was truly a blessing, and our ancestors had protected him.