…hidden secret

translator: baumkuchen  editor: ellabells

In the past, Lu Qingjiu hadn't believed in these things, but after all these experiences, his mindset gradually changed. It wasn't until he met Bai Yuehu that he could officially be considered to have come into contact with these things.

After learning the method from Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu, Lu Qingjiu naturally wanted to test it out and see if he could unravel the mysteries hidden in his heart.

He got the spiderwebs from the mountain, found a bamboo stick, twisted the stick into a hoop, and stuck the spiderweb onto it. He then stuck on a large stick as a handle, and the net was complete. Even though it looked rather crude, it wasn't going to be used to catch anything anyways.

Lu Qingjiu took what Bai Yuehu had said to heart, so he got up very early the next morning. He prepared chicken stew with the chicken he'd bought from town the day before. After the stew was done, he fried up some vegetables, preparing lunch in advance. After Yin Xun came over, he randomly found an excuse to get out of the house for a short trip. Yin Xun didn't question it and contentedly sat at the table with Bai Yuehu, merrily drinking chicken stew.

Lu Qingjiu left the village and went to the nearby graveyard alone.

The graveyard was right by Shuifu village. The village was small, so there weren't many weddings or funerals. Lu Qingjiu could be considered to be quite familiar with the graveyard. Before coming back here to settle, he still had to return to Shuifu village once in a while since his grandmother's grave was here.So every Qingming Festival and anniversary of her death, he would come by to pay his respects.

Today's weather was very good, with no clouds in sight. The horizon of the blue sky was hidden behind the surrounding mountains. Lush green trees covered the little path, casting down mottled shadows.

With a bag over his shoulder, Lu Qingjiu made his was down the path to the graveyard.

Because it was a graveyard, there was no one living in the vicinity and the trees were especially lush. Tombstones dotted both sides of the path. Some tombstones looked desolate, while others had been cleaned and were well-maintained with offerings of melon and fruits as well as burnt paper money. 

When Lu Qingjiu's grandmother had still been around, she had repeatedly exhorted upon him the importance of having a child because if he didn't have one, he may not have a single person to pay him respects in the future. Lu Qingjiu didn't actually agree with her, he was more inclined to view death as like the extinguis.h.i.+ng of a lamp. Even if spirits existed, they were nothing more than remnants left behind by the dead, lacking any consciousness or reason.

Of course, the living would never know what awaited after death.

Lu Qingjiu stopped before a gravestone engraved with the name of a woman: Fang Ruhui —— his grandmother's name.

At this time, the sun was still high in the sky, exactly noon The brilliant suns.h.i.+ne dispelled the cold atmosphere of the graveyard, making it impossible for people to feel any fear.

Lu Qingjiu drew out the net he prepared from his backpack and waved it back and forth over the grave. He soon felt a strange sensation. His hand, which had easily slid through the air seemed to slow, as if there was something invisible in the air. But he couldn't see a thing in the spiderweb net. The thing caught in the net didn't seem to have a physical form, rather more like something otherworldly…

Lu Qingjiu's movements gradually slowed. He felt that the spirderweb net had become much heavier. At last, he had to stop.

A moment after he stopped, the spiderweb net, which had originally still been in good shape, suddenly broke. A large wind suddenly blew through the trees. The dust mixed in with the wind p.r.i.c.ked at Lu Qingjiu's eyes, making his eyes water uncontrollably. After waiting for the wind to stop, Lu Qingjiu's mind was fogged with a strong sense of sleepiness. He yawned, placed the net back into his backpack, then turned around and headed back down the path towards home.

After returning home, he gave Bai Yuehu and Yin Xun a casual greeting and went to his bedroom to sleep.

Seeing this, Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu exchanged a glance, but said nothing.

On his way home, Lu Qingjiu already felt extremely sleepy, so after using a lot of effort getting back, he fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow. Following that, Lu Qingjiu entered a strange dream.

The dream was set in the old home he now lived in, so the surroundings should have been very familiar, but they felt inexplicably unfamiliar.

Lu Qingjiu though for a moment before realising why he found it unfamiliar. Because everything had been flipped, the bed that had originally been on the right, was now on the left. The door lock had also changed direction. Lu Qingjiu was very clear on the fact that he was dreaming. Just as he planned to go outside, he heard someone call his name.

"Jiu-er, Jiu-er…" The elderly person's voice was hoa.r.s.e and weak, but it made Lu Qingjiu come back to himself in an instant. He followed that voice outside and quickly found the person calling his name in the courtyard —— it was his grandmother, Fang Ruhui.

"Jiu-er, ah." His grandmother was standing the the courtyard and calling his name, but didn't turn to look at him.

Seeing this, Lu Qingjiu's eyes turned hot. He couldn't help but yell out "grandmother".

But the elderly woman ignored Lu Qingjiu's call. She raised her head and looked towards the sky outside the courtyard. From where Lu Qingjiu was standing, he just so happened to be able to see her eyes. He could clearly see that her eyes were full of fear and pain. The look on her face was something he couldn't understand. In Lu Qingjiu's memory, his grandmother had almost never expressed negative emotions in front of him…

At this time, the sky above the courtyard was black, covered in thick, dark storm clouds; their gloomy appearance looking as if they was going to pour down at any moment. Lu Qingjiu took a step forward, intent on walking towards the elderly woman in the courtyard, but he felt the world spin around him. He woke up from his dream in an instant. The moment before he woke up, he seemed to hear an earthshaking roar from a wild beast.

"Ah!" He violently sat up from the bed, his forehead covered in sweat, and had to take many deep breaths before calming down. After he calmed down, he took a look at his surroundings. After seeing the layout of the room, he confirmed that he had awoken from his dream.

"Qingjiu, Qingjiu," Yin Xun's voice sounded from outside his bedroom, "Do you want to eat dinner?"

"Eating," Lu Qingjiu replied.

"Then quickly come out!" Yin Xun said, "I! Personally baked flatbread!"

Lu Qingjiu pulled open the door, and saw Yin Xun outside who was proudly puffing out his chest. "Quickly come and taste them!"

"You know how to bake flatbread?" Lu Qingjiu replied, "I'll give it a taste."

Yin Xun happily headed to the kitchen to get the bread while Lu Qingjiu headed to the dining room, where Bai Yuehu was already sitting at the table. Lu Qingjiu yawned. He was a little hungry. He didn't understand what that strange dream he had meant. If what Yin Xun said was true, didn't it mean that that was his grandmother's deepest memory? But why would such an ordinary scene be her deepest memory? Was that last roar also part of the dream?

Before he could think it through, Lu Qingjiu's train of thought was interrupted by Yin Xun, who came out of the kitchen with a tray in his hands. He put the tray down on the table. On the tray were a few black things which Lu Qingjiu couldn't recognize.

When Lu Qingjiu and Bai Yuehu's gazes fell on the tray, their expressions instantly stiffened.

"This is…" Lu Qingjiu spoke, "What did you make?"

"Flatbread," Yin Xun said, "They're really fragrant, just with a bit of burnt vegetable smell." He blinked, a face full of innocence, "Qingjiu, this is my first time cooking. No matter what, shouldn't you encourage me?"

Lu Qingjiu, "…"

Bai Yuehu stood up from his chair, not giving Yin Xun a second look as he heartlessly left.

Lu Qingjiu really wanted to say: Big bro, don't be in a hurry to leave, if you leave then what'll I do? Am I actually going to have to eat all these black things by myself?

Yin Xun, seeing that Bai Yuehu hadn't given him any face and directly left, grabbed Lu Qingjiu's shoulder, saying softly, "Qingjiu, you won't be as heartless as him, right?"

Lu Qingjiu gulped. Faced with Yin Xun's sad, imploring eyes like that of an aggrieved woman, he could only stomp a bit, clench his jaw, pick up a piece, and take a bite. He originally thought such ugly flatbreads would be just as unpalatable as they looked, but who knew that the taste would actually be… still okay. It was just that their appearance was far too horrible.

"How is it, how is it?" If Yin Xun were a dog, his tail would've definitely started wagging behind him.

"It tastes alright," Lu Qingjiu said, "It just doesn't look very good."

"Really?!" Yin Xun said proudly, "I just knew it, I'm a genius."

Wasting food was disgraceful, so eventually, the two of them finished the flatbreads bite by bite. After eating, Lu Qingiu did the dishes, then reentered the kitchen and made a fresh bowl of noodles for Bai Yuehu.

The noodles were made with the chicken stew he'd made that morning for soup. The flavor was a little strong, but Bai Yuehu liked it a lot, even finis.h.i.+ng the soup along with the noodles.

"The bread actually tasted pretty good," Lu Qingjiu said as he sat next to Bai Yuehu, who was eating his noodles, "Yin Xun and I finished them all."

Bai Yuehu said lazily, "They're ugly, so I didn't want to eat them."

Lu Qingjiu, "You still care about how the things you eat look?"

Bai Yuehu nodded matter-of-factly.

Lu Qingjiu wanted to praise the bread some more to defend his friend, but he felt a sudden, slight pain in his abdomen. His face couldn't help but twist. He stood up and headed to the toilet.

Bai Yuehu watched him leave, his lips curved in something that was like a smile yet not a smile.

Twenty minutes later.

"You motherf*ucker ruined me!!" Lu Qingjiu, squatting over the toilet, clenched his cell phone as he spat abuse at a certain 'culprit', "I've been in here five or six times already!"

"Me too!" The man on the other end of the phone was in so much pain, he didn't want to live anymore, just like Lu Qingjiu, "I've even been in here one more time than you!"

"Speak! Do you actually hate me, so you deliberately poisoned me?" Lu Qingjiu despaired.

"If I poisoned them why would I have eaten them along with you?" Yin Xun retorted mournfully, "I also ate a lot, okay…"

Lu Qingjiu, "Would I have eaten so much if you hadn't been eating them along with me?!"

Yin Xun gave up on defending himself, and started to fake-cry.

Lu Qingjiu angrily hung up.

That night, Lu Qingjiu didn't sleep. He was tormented by having to get out and back in bed for most of the night. When it was almost dawn, Lu Qingjiu stumbled out of the toilet back to his bedroom, looking as if he was squeezed dry. With shaking hands, he sent a Wechat message to his circle of friends: I feel like my body's been hollowed out.

Three seconds later, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Yin Xun gave his post a 'like'.

That night, Lu Qingjiu didn't sleep very well. Firstly, it was because of those deadly black flatbread of Yin Xun's; secondly, it was because of that dream he had that afternoon.

The dream had been very short, only lasting a few scenes, but Lu Qingjiu couldn't understand why these short scenes were his grandmother's deepest memories. He laid in bed and stared up at the white ceiling, the noisy chirping of insects ringing in his ears. When night fell, the village was no longer absolutely silent. Especially in the past few days, the weather had gradually gotten hotter, and with that, the insects increased in number. Adding to the fact that the sound insulation of the room was only average, even lying in the bedroom, one could hear the chirping of insects. But these chirps weren't annoying. Instead, they reminded Lu Qingjiu of his childhood.

Since he was a child, he had been with his grandmother. Later, after his parents had established a livelihood in the city, they brought him over to stay with them. But he wasn't able to experience such days for long before a major accident occurred at home. Due to him still having to go to school, Lu Qingjiu wasn't able to return to the village. By the time he finally had time to go back, his grandmother had also left the world due to illness.

Lu Qingjiu flipped over, his mind filled with thoughts of that dream he had that afternoon. But no matter how much he thought, he still couldn't understand why he saw such a scene.

As it grew later, Lu Qingjiu closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, the sun shone brightly in the sky. Lu Qingjiu didn't feel very well, so he got up later than usual. Upon making his way to the courtyard, he saw both Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu sitting in the courtyard, soaking up some sun. Next to them squatted a flock of little chicks and two chubby black pigs, the atmosphere in the yard was incredibly harmonious.

"What are you doing?" Lu Qingjiu asked.

"Qingjiu, you're up," Yin Xun said, "How was your sleep last night?"

He would've been better off not bringing this up. The moment he brought it up, Lu Qingjiu was filled with anger. He said grumpily, "You still dare to ask me how it was? I f*cking almost died on that toilet."

Yin Xun smiled resentfully, "What a coincidence, so did I."

Lu Qingjiu, "…" Coincidence my a.s.s. He pushed up his sleeves, saying, "I'll go make some food, if you want to eat anything in particular you should say it now."

"Let's have dumplings at noon," Yesterday, Yin Xun had suffered from diarrhea all night. Only after having some porridge in the morning did it get better. He whispered, "I really want to eat dumplings."

"Alright," Lu Qingjiu agreed.

When his grandmother was around, his favourite food was her homemade dumplings. Those dumplings weren't the same as those you could buy outside. They had thin wrapping but a lot of stuffing and were round and firm. After taking a bite, the taste of the juicy stuffing filled one's mouth. Adding in his grandmother's special dipping sauce, he could eat twenty or thirty in one sitting.

Lu Qingjiu visited the fields and harvested a few cabbages. He let Yin Xun help out with chopping up the meat stuffing. As Yin Xun chopped up the meat, he said, "Right, do you know that the kid next door has been visiting the pigsty every day?"

"The pigsty?" Lu Qingjiu movements of was.h.i.+ng the cabbages stilled, "Is he sleeping in there?"

"I don't know," Yin Xun said, "Anyways I usually see him when I feed the pigs in the mornings." Yin Xun didn't have much to do at home, so he often came over to help Lu Qingjiu feed the chickens and pigs. If it could be said that Bai Yuehu had taken over Lu Qingjiu's two fields, then it could be said that Yin Xun had taken over the role of managing the courtyard.

Lu Qingjiu sighed, "He's far too attached to those two piglets already. I've seen him run over to the pigsty to sleep before."

Yin Xun said, "Isn't that bad? If he's too close to them, it'll be hard for him when the time comes for them to be eaten." With a stroke of the knife, he split the pork belly into two.

Lu Qingjiu said, "You can really bring yourself to eat them? Those two are so intelligent, when they get bigger we can just set them free."

Yin Xun sighed, "If only my dad was as reasonable as you." His movements were nimble, chopping the meat into mincemeat in moments.

Hearing this, Lu Qingjiu scoffed, "If your father was more like me, you wouldn't have had braised pork to eat."

Yin Xun smacked his lips in agreement.

When the stuffing was ready and the dough kneaded, Lu Qingjiu and Yin Xun made a whole plate of dumplings. It was just that there was a big difference in the skill level of the two. The dumplings made by Yin Xun were crooked and messy, while the dumplings made by Lu Qingjiu were round and full, each looking like cute ingots.

Fortunately, Yin Xun knew himself well and didn't make too many, not wasting filling and dumpling wraps.

After the two were done, it was already around noon. Lu Qingjiu boiled the dumplings and brought two bowls over to next door.

After perfunctorily declining a few times, Uncle Li accepted them. Lu Qingjiu took this opportunity to ask after Li Xiaoyu.

"Don't bother with him," Uncle Li said, "If he can score well enough to make it into a school in the city, we'll send him to one, but if he can't, then so be it."

Lu Qingjiu asked, "But there's no need to take an exam to get into junior high, right?"

Uncle Li replied, "Even if he doesn't need to take an exam, there's no point in him going to a junior high school in town. And it's far from home too." He continued, "He'd be better off just staying home and helping with the farm."

Lu Qingjiu said, "This kid is still so young, what could he possibly do? Might as well let him get more education…"

Hearing this, Uncle Li sighed, "I know what you want to say, but if he can't get into a good school, then he'll just be wasting his time. Besides, you don't know what those schools in town are like, they aren't at all well-known, not to mention really far from home. Originally good kids turn bad after going there. Anyways, I won't agree with him going to school there." After he said this, he waved a hand, then turned and left, clearly unwilling to say more on the matter.

Seeing the situation, Lu Qingjiu could only sigh. He also knew that the quality of the schools in town weren't very good and that the studying environment was very poor… But he couldn't just keep Li Xiaoyu from going to school just because of that. That kid seemed like a good kid and was also very obedient. It would be a pity to fall behind like this.

But this also wasn't any of his business. As an outsider, it wasn't Lu Qingjiu's place to b.u.t.t in. He returned home and saw Bai Yuehu and Yin Xun already sitting at the table, waiting for him.

The steaming, white dumplings piled in the bowls really raised one's appet.i.te. Seeing that Lu Qingjiu had returned, Yin Xun said, "Let's eat! Let's eat!" He picked one up with his chopsticks and swallowed half in one bite. He was burnt by the overflowing juices and hissed in pain. Bai Yuehu's talent in eating was unparalleled. He ate whole dumplings by the mouthful, completely unafraid of being scalded. Watching him, Yin Xun stuck out his tongue.

Lu Qingjiu picked up a dumpling and dipped it in some sauce. After taking a bite, he nodded, saying, "Not bad." It was perfectly seasoned, tasty and juicy. The crisp sweetness of the cabbage and the savory taste of the pork was wrapped tautly in the dumpling. Each bite was incredibly satisfying.

As he ate dumplings, Yin Xun spoke in a m.u.f.fled voice, "Your phone rang just now, it seems like Zhu Miaomiao called."

"Oh." When he went out earlier, Lu Qingjiu hadn't brought along his phone. When he grabbed it and took a look, he indeed saw a missed call. He called back and Zhu Miaomiao's voice came from the other end within moments.

"Qingjiu, are you eating?" Zhu Miaomiao seemed to have heard the sound of chewing.

Lu Qingjiu said, "Yep, when are you coming over?"

Zhu Miaomiao said, "We'll get there tomorrow evening."

"Okay, I'll come fetch you when the time comes," Lu Qingjiu said.

"No need, I can just get a taxi," Zhu Miaomiao said, "It'll be troublesome for you to have to make the trip."

"It's no trouble, Bai Yuehu bought a pickup truck," Lu Qingjiu said, "I'll drive that over to fetch you two."

Hearing this, Zhu Miaomiao didn't argue any further, saying, "Alright, then I'll have to trouble you."

Lu Qingjiu ended the call.

"Right." After hearing Lu Qingjiu's call, Bai Yuehu suddenly spoke, "It'll be best if you don't put any salt on the truck."

Upon hearing this, Lu Qingjiu was stunned, "Salt?"

Bai Yuehu nodded.

Lu Qingjiu never had a strong sense of curiosity. After confirming that, he just made a sound of acknowledgement. But Yin Xun wasn't like him, like a curious baby, he looked up and asked, puzzled, "What happens if you put salt on the truck?"

Bai Yuehu shot him a glance, "You can try it out."

Yin Xun was inexplicably cowed by the look in Bai Yuehu's eyes. He laughed drily and said, "I was just casually asking, I definitely won't try it."

Bai Yuehu continued to eat his dumplings.

Lu Qingjiu pretended not to see the unparalleled curiosity in Yin Xun's eyes.

There were some things one was better off not knowing. The more curious one was, the more deeply one might sink. Like with those philosophical questions about what the meaning of the world was, Lu Qingjiu wasn't interested in such topics. In other words, he sensed some danger in this question.

Curiosity killed the cat. It could also kill people.

Lu Qingjiu had always thought of himself as an ordinary person. Even if he caught a glimpse of the unusual side of the world, he had no interest in investigating.

After finis.h.i.+ng the dumplings, Bai Yuehu went off to wash the dishes.

Lu Qingjiu went back to the inner courtyard to continue to mess with his grapevines. The grape trellis had to be erected before the vines could grow and climb. Most grapevines needed a year before any grapes could be harvested. But since the vegetables in Lu Qingjiu's home tended to grow extremely quickly, he didn't know if these grapes would grow as quickly as the crops in his field. If they did, that would be great. Lu Qingjiu was already completely accustomed to the abnormalities in his home and was even looking forward to being able to eat grapes in the summer.

After he was done with the grapevines, Lu Qingjiu had planned on going back up onto the mountain. But just as he was going out the door, he was stopped by Bai Yuehu.

"That method can only be used once," Bai Yuehu was lazily sitting on his rocking chair, as still and as beautiful as a painting, "Using it a second time will attract some bad things."

Lu Qingjiu's footsteps stilled. He was clear on the fact that Bai Yuehu definitely knew things that humans wouldn't know. He asked, "Are there any other methods?"

Bai Yuehu asked, "What do you want to know?"

Lu Qingjiu said, "I want to know… what disaster befell my loved ones when they were still alive."

Bai Yuehu opened his eyes. The average person's eyes actually weren't pure black, they were dark brown. But his eyes were actually pure black, like the night sky in the absence of any light, making people feel an inexplicable sense of fear. He said, "Don't you already know?"

Lu Qingjiu frowned, "I don't know——"

"You know," Bai Yuehu said, "The answer lies in what you've seen." After saying this, he got up and left, leaving Lu Qingjiu with an indecipherable view of his back.

The answer laid in what he had seen? Lu Qingjiu pondered for a moment before he put down his backpack. Since Bai Yuehu had already said all that, then it would be best to listen to him and avoid attracting bad things with his net.

The next morning, after finis.h.i.+ng breakfast, Lu Qingjiu found some time to take the truck to town. Zhu Miaomiao's train would reach the train station at about a bit after 9, so he could just make it in time to pick her up.

At 9:20, Lu Qingjiu was standing outside the train station and saw Zhu Miaomiao and a tall man walk out of the station. Zhu Miaomiao looked the same as before, smiling as she rushed towards him, waving. The man with her was taller than him and wore a black baseball cap. It was Zhang Chuyang who Lu Qingjiu had the pleasure of meeting once before. Even though Zhang Chuyang had worked together with Lu Qingjiu before, the interactions between the two were limited to the office, they weren't familiar with one another.

"Qingjiu!" Zhu Miaomiao walked over with Zhang Chuyang, a broad smile on her face.

"Have you had breakfast?" Lu Qingjiu asked her.

"I've eaten," Zhu Miaomiao said, "Let's go, President Zhang, this way."

Zhang Chuyang nodded, and got onto Lu Qingjiu's truck with Zhu Miaomiao. The pickup truck just so happened to be able to seat three people, Zhu Miaomiao sat in the middle while Zhang Chuyang sat on her right, next to the window.

Even though the town was small, one could still see the townspeople milling about on the streets. But the moment they left the town and drove onto the mountain roads, there wasn't even a figure to be seen, as if the only things left were the surrounding dense forest and the desolate wilderness.

"Why did you come back here?" Zhang Chuyang asked Lu Qingjiu. He was about ten years older than Lu Qingjiu and had a good impression of this young man who was handsome and had a gentle personality. Even though he hadn't known him for very long, he could tell that this was a rare dependable and hard working young man. If he had continued on in his original company, he would definitely have had a lot of potential for promotions. But afterwards, for some unknown reason, he was suddenly dismissed from the company and left. There was some gossip in the company that he had gotten into a conflict with the big boss. But as to what the conflict was, no one knew.

Of course, this was something only higher ups like him knew. Employees at Zhu Miaomiao's level all thought Lu Qingjiu had resigned. Obviously, Lu Qingjiu hadn't told his friends the truth, probably because he was afraid of worrying them.

"I wanted to do something a little new," Lu Qingjiu stared at the road ahead and said, "It's boring to stay in one place all your life."

Hearing this, Zhang Chuyang raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything else. He looked at Lu Qingjiu's driver's seat, and wondered, "Why is it that your truck looks so strange?"

Lu Qingjiu asked, "Strange?"

Zhang Chuyang said, "…This truck actually looks very typical, but I remember this being a manual truck."

Lu Qingjiu thought of something, and laughed drily, "Oh really."

"Really," Zhang Chuyang said, "Yi, that's weird, you don't even have a gear stick." After a closer look, his eyes filled with amazement, "Then how do you control its speed?"

Lu Qingjiu said, "I just rely on the throttle…" In fact, the truck didn't need him to change gears or control the speed at all. He just needed to put his hand on the steering wheel and pretend to drive. The acceleration and deceleration was all controlled by the truck itself. He had already completely gotten used to this method of operating it. Yin Xun didn't even know how to drive, so he hadn't even realised anything strange about the pickup truck.

Zhang Chuyang's thoughts didn't wander in any strange directions. He simply asked, "Did you buy a fake?"

Lu Qingjiu calmly replied, "I don't know, as long as it works, it's fine by me. It was cheap, and it's really useful…"

Zhang Chuyang furrowed his eyebrows, but said nothing, seeming to be studying the internal structure of the truck.

Lu Qingjiu could only stare at the road ahead and pretend nothing was wrong.

After looking for a while, Zhang Chuyang seemed to be unable to find any clues, and said, "I'll say, when buying cars, you shouldn't buy cars that are too cheap. It's usually okay, but if anything happens, it'll really be life-threatening. Does this model even have imitations… It's strange." As he spoke, he reached out and knocked twice on the gla.s.s. With a tone of slight disapproval, he said, "I think it'll be better if you change cars early on."

Lu Qingjiu just smiled as he listened. Zhang Chuyang seemed to have more to say, but suddenly froze. His expression turned a little strange. Lu Qingjiu thought he would continue to speak, but after that, Zhang Chuyang fell silent, looking a little restless, glancing at his seat from time to time.

"What's wrong?" Next to him, Zhu Miaomiao asked, puzzled.

"Nothing…" Zhang Chuyang frowned. He swallowed, "Feels like there's something on the seat."

"Something?" Zhu Miaomiao looked over at Zhang Chuyang's seat, "What thing?"

Zhang Chuyang didn't say anything else.

But Lu Qingjiu noticed something. On the black backseat of Zhang Chuyang's seat seemed to be two faint water stains, as if something had climbed over it. Lu Qingjiu immediately recalled what Bai Yuehu had said, then connected it with the slightly familiar water stains. He felt like he understood the real ident.i.ty of this pickup truck… Ah, thinking about its original shape, it was understandable why it had been "abandoned".

Thinking of this, Lu Qingjiu laughed.

Zhu Miaomiao's gaze landed on Lu Qingjiu. She asked, "Qingjiu, what are you laughing at so suddenly?"

"It's nothing," Lu Qingjiu said, "I just felt like laughing."

Zhu Miaomiao's expression was filled with confusion.

Zhang Chuyang hardly spoke to Lu Qingjiu during the second half of the journey. For the entire trip, he was fighting with his seat. One moment, he said something had crawled into this pant leg, another moment, he said something was touching him, and another moment, he said his seat was leaking water.

At first, Zhu Miaomiao helped him check, bit later, she started to totally ignore this former partner, just a.s.suming he was finding things to complain about because he wasn't used to the countryside.

After a tough trip, they finally reached their destination. Zhang Chuyang pretty much staggered off the pickup truck, his eyes showing fear. Who knew what exactly he had gone through.

Lu Qingjiu asked Zhu Miaomiao to first bring him into the courtyard while he went to park the truck. After parking, he patted the truck's hood and said, "Don't do that anymore, okay? He's a guest."

The truck remained motionless, as if Lu Qingjiu was just talking to himself.

Lu Qingjiu slapped the hood again, "If you don't respond, I'm going to go complain to Bai Yuehu."

The pickup truck shook for a moment, and the black headlights pointed upwards, looking as if it was incredibly wronged and listlessly honked twice.

Miraculously, Lu Qingjiu understood what it was trying to say. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry, just saying, "Okay, okay, you're not cheap, you're really valuable. I was just lying to him… You won't be replaced, don't be sad."

The truck honked twice again, this time happily.

Having solved the problem, Lu Qingjiu looked up at the sky. It felt like it was probably going to rain today. He said, "It's going to rain soon, when it rains you should give yourself a wash and become the most beautiful pickup truck again."

The headlights of the truck flashed happily.

When Lu Qingjiu returned home, he felt like he had been coaxing a child and couldn't help but shake his head.

Zhu Miaomiao and Zhang Chuyang were already sitting in the living room, resting. After going in, Lu Qingjiu prepared their rooms before going to cook dinner.

Before two unfamiliar guests, Bai Yuehu still sat quietly in his rocking chair, not even sparing them a look. Lu Qingjiu had found out early on that as long as it had nothing to do with food, Bai Yuehu usually wouldn't have any interest in it. As he said, it was too troublesome.

Zhang Chuyang's gaze often strayed over towards Bai Yuehu, apparently interested in this beautiful and aloof stranger.

However, Zhu Miaomiao knew that Bai Yuehu wasn't your average person. She gently tugged at the corner of Zhang Chuyang's clothes and whispered, "Zhang-ge, don't stare at him. He's the great immortal that's going to help you fix your hair, don't make him angry by staring at him."

Zhang Chuyang replied, "Him?"

Zhu Miaomiao nodded.

Zhang Chuyang said, "Alright." Obviously, he still didn't quite believe her. If not for Zhu Miaomiao's full head of beautiful black hair as the greatest evidence, he wouldn't have followed her to his remote, desolated place. Science couldn't save his hair, so he could only treat the dead horse as if it was a live one and begin to place hope in folk remedies. After all, he was only in his thirties, yet was already almost bald to the point of being unable to face people.

As Zhang Chuyang and Zhu Miaomiao were talking, they saw Bai Yuehu, who had been lying back against the chair all this time, suddenly get up and walk towards the house. Zhu Miaomiao was still wondering why Bai Yuehu had suddenly just stood up and left when she noticed that the moment after Bai Yuehu entered the house, a big raindrop fell on her cheek.

It's raining!

Zhang Chuyang and Zhu Miaomiao followed him into the house, and not a moment later, a curtain of rain covered the entirety of Shuifu village, accompanied by the rumbling of thunder. Summer had officially arrived.

In the kitchen, Lu Qingjiu's head was lowered while stir-frying vegetables when he heard a sharp screech from Yin Xun from outside. This screech of his was something he was familiar with since he heard it just a few mornings before.

"Lu Qingjiu, Lu Qingjiu!!" The rain-drenched Yin Xun rushed into the kitchen from outside, grabbed Lu Qingjiu's shoulders, and started madly shaking him, "I've f*cking seen a ghost!!!"

Lu Qingjiu, having been shaken until the world became dizzy, asked, "What's wrong with you?!"

Yin Xun said, "I f*cking saw your truck standing outside shaking its b.u.t.t in the rain!!!"

Lu Qingjiu, “…”

Yin Xun said, "It's even f*cking standing on two wheels!!!"

Lu Qingjiu slapped Yin Xun over the head and said, "Calm down a little, are you having hunger hallucinations at noon!?"

Yin Xun said, "It's really a hallucination?"

Lu Qingjiu nodded.

Yin Xun, "Okay." He actually just accepted it like that.

Lu Qingjiu's mood was incredibly complicated for a while. All the excuses pa.s.sing through his mind had nowhere to go. He thought, that pickup truck was very obedient, it really did obediently take a bath…

…the t.i.tle of this chapter says everything. I'm dead _(:3 」∠ )_

This'll be the only update this week~

Anyways, food p.o.r.n:

Chicken stew:

what Yin Xun was trying to make:

Here's what the dumplings they made looked like:

Since this chapter's essentially three of them, how about you guys leave three comments each? xD