Chapter 27: Shock

Qin Huai, Su Rou and I boarded the train to Hunan. Before we left, I went to see Yuan Xi. The little girl was reluctant to let me go. After all, Yuan Yi had been gone for so long, and it was not easy for a little girl to be strong for so long. My appearance undoubtedly gave her a sense of security, so it was normal for her to be reluctant to let me go.

However, in the end, the girl still smiled and said to me, “Chengyi, you can go with peace of mind. When you come back, I might have become very good. My master said I have a talent for learning Tao.”

This child is always sensible and makes people feel sad. I am just very confused. If she has such a talent for learning Taoism, why didn’t Yuan Yi let her learn Taoism? Was my decision correct? But I am not a person who thinks too much. I just did what I thought I should do.

This trip was not boring at all, thanks to Qin Huai and the crispy pork. At Qin Huai’s insistence, we booked a soft sleeper. The three of us chatted, played cards, slept, ate and drank, and had a good time.

I just don’t know why, but whenever I step out of the compartment to smoke, I always feel like there’s a pair of eyes staring at me. It’s an uncomfortable feeling, and I often look around without realizing it. But there’s no one in the quiet soft sleeper corridor of the train.

I told Su Rou and Qin Huai about my feelings, and the two of them immediately said that I was too sensitive, probably because someone had marked me as a pig to be slaughtered, and I was afraid of being slaughtered.

I knew these two guys were not in the right frame of mind, and I really didn’t want to talk to them. In the end, Qinhuai said, “Chengyi, who is peeping on you in this compartment? Are you implying that a woman has a crush on you and is peeping on you?”

Yes, we are in a private compartment, so who would be peeping? I guess the mark on my shoulder gave me too much pressure, so I had this illusion. Thinking about it made me feel a lot better.

After traveling for dozens of hours, the train finally arrived in Changsha, Hunan. The place we were going to in Xiangxi was not accessible by train, so we had to take a bus.

After spending so long on the train, I was a little dazed. It was no wonder. In my mind, I had been on the train for so long that I was about to collapse.

So, I followed Qin Huai and Su Rou out of the train, and when I walked to the bustling train station, I had a start. I realized that I seemed to see a familiar back in the crowd in front of me.

I was still a little dazed, but suddenly I became more alert. I stared at that back, unable to help but take a few steps forward to see who it was. I had a feeling that I couldn’t quite remember, but I also felt that it was very familiar.

But unexpectedly, that figure was walking very fast, and I was running after it, but I couldn’t catch up with it through the crowd.

At this time, Qin Huai came up and grabbed my neck, panting and saying, “I said, buddy, which beautiful woman are you after, and then you want to abandon me and Su Rou?”

I turned around and saw Su Rou struggling to keep up with us, carrying a bag of luggage and running around the train station. I guess my sudden movement caused a lot of trouble for these two guys.

But what does it mean to run fat? Well, I can’t explain it very well, but when I see Su Rou running, I always think of this word.

Su Rou ran over to me with a look of “I’m going to die” on his face, and then started yelling, “Sanwa, are you having a seizure? Why are you running like that? Is there money to be picked up ahead?”

I was speechless in front of these two guys, one a pervert, the other a money-grubber. In their eyes, the reason I suddenly acted like this was either to chase after a beautiful woman or to pick up money, and there was no normal reason.

I pointed to the direction the man was walking in and said to Qin Huai and Su Rou, “I recognize that man’s back. I want to go after him to see who it is. You know, on the train, I always feel like someone is watching me.”

But Qin Huai and Su Rou stretched their necks and didn’t see any backs. They only saw groups of people. Qin Huai said, “Buddy, are you playing with me? These are all people. Which back do you want me to see?”

“That one…” I pointed over there, but suddenly froze. Where was the back of the person I had just seen in the crowd?

“Where?” Su Rou and Qin Huai were still asking, but where could they find it?

After leaving the train station, I was still racking my brains. It was impossible. There were so many people, how could that person suddenly disappear? Could it be that I had seen a ghost? But I am a Taoist priest, and I can find ghosts. Where did that person go?

Seeing that I was still thinking, Su Rou said with great concern, “Sanwa, if you have any after-effects of this sign that makes people crazy, I won’t look down on you. Look at you, you’ve been acting strange since you got on the train, either thinking someone is spying on you or seeing the back of an acquaintance. Are you having a fit?”

I said to Su Rou with hatred, “Don’t forget, your son is the one who is really mentally ill now. Don’t provoke me. If you provoke me, I won’t give you medicine. Wait until you become a hero every night. Next time, see if you become Zhang Wuji.”

Su Rou looked terrified and quickly grabbed Qin Huai, saying pitifully, “Qin Huai, you’ll give me the medicine, right?”

Qinhuai looked disgusted and pushed Surou away, saying, “Go away. I’m not used to being pulled by a male animal.”

The three of them were talking nonsense, and it finally cleared up a lot of the clouds in my heart. It was very late, and we couldn’t find a bus to Xiangxi, so we decided to stay in Changsha for another night.

We found a hotel and went out to eat and drink. Qinhuai kept saying that Hunan women were passionate and that their skin was white, and that he wanted to wait for a romantic encounter in the evening. As for me and Su Rou, we just ate, ate, ate, and ate as much as we could.

Sichuan people love spicy food, and Hunan people are no different. This authentic Hunan snack made me and Su Rou so happy that we were beaming with joy, and Qin Huai was sweating profusely from the spiciness, but we couldn’t resist the delicious taste and couldn’t help but eat it.

After the three of us had eaten and drunk our fill, we returned to the hotel, washed up and went to bed. After all, we were too tired from the train ride.

In addition, we booked a triple room, not because we were trying to save money or because we had to be together. These days, things always have a strange vibe to them, and we didn’t feel safe when we were separated.

In the middle of the night, I heard Qin Huai getting up. This kid has a problem getting up at night, which I concluded was due to kidney deficiency. So I didn’t mind him getting up at night. I guess it was because I couldn’t see him, but I heard Qin Huai turn on the light and heard the snoring of the fat man who was snoring.

After going to the toilet, Qinhuai must have sobered up a bit, and his footsteps no longer sounded so confused. I said to him in a daze, “Qinhuai, turn off the lights,” but after waiting for a while, Qinhuai still hadn’t turned off the lights. I was about to say something else when I heard Qinhuai yell, “Fuck.”

This cry woke me and Su Rou up. Su Rou rolled over and yelled, “What’s going on? Is there a thief?”

I was about to get up and see what was going on, but I didn’t expect Qin Huai to look at me with a frightened expression and say, “Chengyi, don’t move.” Then he gave Su Rou a hard wink.

Su Rou of course understood the meaning of Qin Huai’s eyes, shut up, held his breath and looked at me, also a look of shock, making me feel uneasy, unable to help but guess what was wrong with me?

Following Su Rou’s gaze, I turned my head a little stiffly and looked at my shoulder. Suddenly, I had goosebumps. I didn’t know when a very large moth had been lying on my shoulder. It was no smaller than the palm of an adult man, and the patterns on its wings looked like eyes, as if it was laughing at me.

I have been afraid of these insects since I was a child, and I am most afraid of spiders. Of course, my impression of moths is not much better. At this time, it was lying on my shoulder, and I was really scared. I have never been scared of ghosts, but I was really scared of these little bugs.

At this moment, Su Rou picked up something and slowly approached me, then very quickly hit me on the shoulder with a loud ‘pop’. The moth splattered vicious juice and fell to the ground.

I jumped out of bed and said, “What’s the matter? I have to take a shower.”

But Qin Huai stopped me, pointed at the closed window and said, “Chengyi, I think you’ve attracted all the moths in this hotel. Is this what you call attracting bees and butterflies?”

I looked and my scalp immediately went numb. There were no less than twenty moths on the closed window.

Where did the one on my shoulder come from? I thought to myself in confusion. Su Rou seemed to understand my thoughts very well, pointing to the small window on the door and saying, “This moth probably has some intelligence, flying in from there.”

“Close it!” I said without hesitation, and then rushed into the bathroom.

Su Rou laughed and said behind me, “Look at you, you’re so scared, you’re not afraid that we’ll suffocate to death in here.”