Chapter 41: Planting a Worm

I arrived in Kunming in the morning, and I slept until dinner time, when I was woken up by my sixth sister.

At this time, the flower shop was already closed. We were sitting at a small table on the first floor. Sister Liu said to me, “You slept so soundly at noon that I didn’t wake you up for dinner. Do you mind?”

I shook my head to show that I didn’t mind. I found that I was not very good at talking in front of my sister. Could it be that the first reaction after I opened my eyes was that I couldn’t talk in front of a woman?

I was thinking about this and that, and completely failed to notice that my sister was introducing me to the bridge-style rice noodles on the table. By the time I came to my senses, my sister was already helping me add things to the rice noodles.

This was my first time trying overbridge rice noodles, and I thought it was very novel to add things like eggs and meat to the noodles. I was also very confused, wondering if it was edible. The soup didn’t look like it had any steam in it.

But by then, Sister Liu had already finished adding the ingredients and covered the bowl with a plate, saying, “Wait a minute and you can eat. You have to be careful, it’s hot.”

I smiled and thought to myself that it was strange for Yunnan people to eat rice noodles. They added raw ingredients to a soup that was obviously not hot, and then told me to be careful because it was hot.

I can’t blame myself for being ignorant. I’ve traveled with Uncle Wang and the others, but we’ve never been to Yunnan. We also deliberately avoided Hunan and Guizhou. This is to avoid some sensitive places. You know that all three provinces have Miao people. Who knows if the people in that village will be mixed in?

The rice noodles were ready to eat soon, and I was so hungry that I didn’t think about it too much. I picked up a big spoonful of rice noodles and stuffed it into my mouth. As a result, I stood up in an instant because I was so hot. I spat out the rice noodles that hadn’t fully reached my mouth. It was really hot.

“I didn’t have time to stop you, and you took such a big bite, it’s no wonder you were burned! This is boiling hot chicken soup, it’s only covered with oil so it doesn’t steam.” Sixth sister looked at me with a smile, making me feel very embarrassed.

In front of such a charming older sister, wouldn’t any man want to maintain a little bit of image?

After I got used to it, I realized that the rice noodles were really delicious. The soup was tender and the rice noodles were smooth. And since my sixth sister took the trouble to make them herself, they tasted even better and were also very filling.

After spending so much time with my master, I naturally became very particular about what I ate, and I’m a bit of a foodie.

After a meal, my relationship with Sister Liu had already begun to feel natural, and I found that I liked her from the bottom of my heart. I thought she was just like my own sister, and I thought I would like to have another sister like her.

After the meal, Sister Liu and I chatted casually. She was indeed from the village where Grandma Ling Qing lived. She said to me, “My cooking is nothing compared to the girls in our village. Not to mention Ru Xue, even Tuan Tuan is better than me. Haha…”

Ru Xue? Tuan Tuan? I feel very familiar with these two names. Ru Xue, Ru Xue, I suddenly remembered Ru Yue, the girl. As for Tuan Tuan, I also remembered that it was Brother Cheng Xin who told me about her, a girl who is very good at cooking.

As if she could see my confusion, Sister Liu smiled and said to me, “You must be familiar with Ru Yue. Ru Xue’s full name is Ling Ru Xue, and she is two years older than Ru Yue. As for Tuan Tuan, she is also a girl from our village. She is Ru Xue and Ru Yue’s best friend.”

When my sixth sister said this, I suddenly realized that when Ru Yue was a child and spent time with us, she often talked about her sister. It seems that once I asked her about it, but something interrupted me.

I didn’t pay much attention to it, but I thought it was funny, and asked, “Sixth sister, is your village a country of women? Why do I hear only women?”

“Haha, it’s not a country of daughters, there are many men. Isn’t the fianc茅 of Tuan Tuan, Fan Fan, a man?” Sixth sister felt funny and couldn’t help but explain.

Fanfan? Tuan Tuan? Fanfan? I also found the name very interesting and couldn’t help but laugh along with her. It was at this moment that I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder.

Sister Liu was washing dishes over there and didn’t notice what was going on here. She was still saying, “Fanfan and Tuan Tuan are just nicknames. These two people love to eat and love to think about how to cook…”

At this point, Sister Liu suddenly stopped, wiped her hands, and hurried over to ask, “Chengyi, what’s wrong with you?”

I pointed to my shoulder and couldn’t even say a complete sentence. I could only keep saying, “It hurts… it hurts a lot…” I’m not exaggerating, it really hurt this time, like something was gnawing on the flesh of my shoulder, making me so in pain that I couldn’t even speak coherently. I’ve never had an attack like this before.

At this point, my sister didn’t care about avoiding taboo anymore. Seeing that my shoulder was so painful that I couldn’t lift it, she quickly helped me take off my jacket, opened my shirt, and immediately saw the small sword on my shoulder, which was still quite exquisite.

“This…” For the first time, Sister Liu was a little confused.

I thought to myself, “Chengxin, I’m going to explain this to her. The other parts are decorative, but the actual… actual part is a fork.”

Fortunately, after a brief moment of shock, Sixth Sister immediately placed her hand on my mark. It must have felt very bad, because there were so many small holes in it, and the venom had a somewhat corrosive effect, so it felt pitted and lumpy.

But judging from her expression, she didn’t seem to care about any of this. As she touched it, her expression changed, and she took out a strange-looking bug from somewhere, something that looked a bit like a longhorn beetle, and placed it on my mark.

As soon as the bug landed on my shoulder, it started to flit around restlessly. After a few circles, it flew straight off my shoulder, as if it didn’t listen to my sister’s commands.

I don’t understand the principle of Miao gong. In my imagination, they can command the bugs anyway. This situation made Sixth Sister’s face look very bad.

She didn’t say much, just wiped her hand and carefully approached the bug, which obediently climbed from the wall onto her hand.

“It’s just a little trick. I smeared something on the back of my hand that it was interested in, and it came. I just smeared some on your mark, but unfortunately it’s still very agitated. Chengyi, I can tell you responsibly that someone has planted a bug on your shoulder, and now that bug is almost ready to become an adult.” Sister Liu said to me with a serious look.

“What?” I shouted almost subconsciously, ignoring the pain. Wasn’t the mark drawn with a plant sap? How could it have turned into a person planting a bug? When I was in pain on the train, I thought about whether there was a bug in my shoulder, but I never really thought so. As a result, Sixth Sister actually told me that there was a bug in my shoulder.

“Don’t doubt it. This bug of mine has no other function, but it is particularly sensitive to all kinds of bugs, and it will become agitated when it encounters a powerful one. In Miaojiang, it is impossible to guard against being bewitched by others. Having one of these bugs is at least a lot safer. Don’t look at it as having only this effect, but it is very difficult to cultivate, and it is extremely rare. I was lucky to get one when I came out to act on behalf of the village. I made special arrangements for it to be on my shoulder, but it refused to stay there for even a moment. I am certain that someone has planted a very powerful parasite in your shoulder. Sixth Sister didn’t sound like she was exaggerating, and I guess she wasn’t in the mood to joke with me.

I listened, and my heart was at ease. At least I now know that there is a bug in my shoulder, which is better than knowing nothing at all! Sooner or later, I will have to face that village. As the saying goes, “stretching your head is a way, but shrinking your head is also a knife.” I’m not afraid of anything! It’s just that the pain is really unbearable.

Compared to my calmness, Sixth Sister was anxious, walking back and forth in the room, muttering, “What should I do? I don’t know when the people in the village will come down these days. I don’t dare to pull this kind of worm out for you…”

I didn’t understand, and I couldn’t say anything. I just felt that in these few years, I had learned a lot of Taoist skills, but they were of no use at all. It felt quite uncomfortable. If I could, I really wanted to attract a thunder to come down and blow up the bug.

But at that moment, I heard the beetle-like bug on my sister’s hand start to become agitated again, and my sister’s face suddenly changed.