Chapter 12: Zhu Miaomiao

Despite the talk of the best way to leave quickly, the three could never find the right path.

The clouds grew thicker in the sky and the brush of falling raindrops began to sound around them, a small sound but one that was particularly harsh in the silence of the jungle.

Lu Qingjiu had to turn on the torch on his mobile phone because it was so dark, and he whispered, "Yin Xun, do you know your way around?"

Yin Xun shook his head, for he was walking ahead and Lu Qingjiu could not see his face, but from his tone of voice it was clear that he did not seem to be in a good mood either: "Haven't seen this place before"

As night falls, what was once a familiar mountain forest becomes as strange as if it had never been.

While Lu Qingjiu was wondering what to do, he saw a bright light deep in the jungle that flickered as if to greet them.

"There is light there," Zhu Miaomiao exclaims in surprise.

"Wait, don't go there yet." Yin Xun reached out to stop Zhu Miaomiao, saying, "I've heard old people say that when you see light when a ghost hits a wall, you can't rush past it, it could be a trap set by something dirty."

Zhu Miaomiao was even more frightened when she heard this and said in a shaky voice, "Sake, are all places where you live so exciting?"

Lu Qingjiu, helpless: "It's my first time too"

The three were talking when the light came closer and closer to them, and a faint figure was visible beside the beam, Lu Qingjiu said, "Who is it?"

"Me." Bai Yuehu's voice came through.

"Lu Qingjiu was relieved to hear his voice, knowing that Bai Yuehu was no ordinary man and that if he could find them, he must have a way to bring them back from the pitch-black forest.

Bai Yuehu did not reply to Lu Qingjiu's words as he made his way through the dense undergrowth and appeared in front of them. Without an umbrella, he was a little wet and his figure looked a little blurred in the rain.

Lu Qingjiu nods and grabs Zhu Miaomiao's hand as he walks towards Bai Yuehu. Without realising it, a shallow puddle of water has built up on the ground, making a subtle wading sound when one steps on it.

"Let's go." Bai Yuehu saw the three coming and turned forward to lead the way.

"How did you find us?" Lu Qingjiu asked in a whisper.

Bai Yuehu said, "I am hungry."

Lu Qingjiu :""

Bai Yuehu tilted her head and gave him a look, "Lunch is over, no one is cooking dinner."

Lu Qingjiu thought to himself that it was a good thing no one was cooking dinner, otherwise they would have been lost in the mountains all night.

With Bai Yuehu leading the way, they gradually made their way back from the unfamiliar hills to their familiar path, and Yin Xun was greatly relieved to say that this was the second time he had encountered a ghostly wall.

Lu Qingjiu wondered, "Have you ever met one before?"

"I've encountered it." Yin Xun replied, "I was fishing in the mountains with a friend and I came across it."

When Lu Qingjiu heard this, he felt that something was not quite right, but he could not think of it for a while, so he had to let it go.

After about twenty minutes of walking, they finally saw the lights of the village. By now the rain had gotten a little heavier and several people were soaked through, even Bai Yuehu.

After arriving home, Lu Qingjiu sent Zhu Miaomiao to the bathroom to take a shower and change clothes.

Zhu Miaomiao nodded, took her clean clothes and went into the toilet, she seemed frightened and didn't say much the whole way back.

Lu Qingjiu and the others took dry towels and cleaned their hair first.

Lu Qingjiu wanted to ask him something, but felt that it was better not to know anything.

Lu Qingjiu heard the sound of the water stopping, but Zhu Miaomiao didn't appear from the toilet for a while. Lu Qingjiu thought it was strange, so he called out from outside: "Miao Miao, have you finished washing?"

There was silence in the toilet and no one responded to Lu Qingjiu's question.

"Miao Miao" Lu Qingjiu had a bad feeling in his heart and stood up from his chair, rushed to the door of the toilet and rapped on the wooden door, " Miao Miao are you in there?"

Still no one answered.

Fortunately, the locks of the old house were already old, so Lu Qingjiu was able to break the door open without much difficulty.

" Miao Miao " Lu Qingjiu panicked, turned and rushed to the living room, shouting, " Bai Yuehu, it's not good Miao Miao has disappeared"

Bai Yuehu lifted his eyes, his tone no different from usual: "Gone."

"Yes, it's gone." Lu Qingjiu's forehead rose in a cold sweat as he said, "He was just in the toilet taking a shower, and now there's no one in the toilet

Bai Yuehu smiled, then he stood up from his chair and walked in the direction of the toilet. When he reached the entrance of the toilet, his footsteps suddenly stopped and he gave a puzzled look at the location of the toilet exit.

"What's wrong?" Lu Qingjiu asked in a shaky voice.

"Water." Bai Yuehu pointed to the ground, "There was no water here before."

Lu Qingjiu looked down and his breath almost caught, only to see that at some point, there were two more water stains on the ground, the shape of which looked very strange, almost like the marks of a person who had been forcibly dragged along, with two hands attempting to hold onto the ground, but in the end was still dragged away hard.

" Miao Miao " Lu Qingjiu panicked a little, " Bai Yuehu, Miao Miao has been taken by something"

Bai Yuehu did not look anxious at all as he said, "Do you know her birth date and eight characters?"

Lu Qingjiu said, "I only know the new calendar, not the old one."

Bai Yuehu said, "Then which character is Miao in her name?"

"The one with the three water rivers." Lu Qingjiu said, "Does this have any effect?"

Bai Yuehu: "Oh, that's not surprising." He said, as he walked out into the courtyard outside the house. It was raining at the moment and the chicks were all hiding in the chicken coop, so the yard became exceptionally quiet, and he said, "Names are important things, and with so much water in the name, no wonder it attracts that thing."

Lu Qingjiu said, "What should we do?"

Bai Yuehu looked down at the water in the courtyard and after a moment of silence suddenly spoke, "I want to eat beef stew tomorrow."

Lu Qingjiu almost choked on his own saliva, he thought Bai Yuehu would say something, but this sentence came out, so he could only coax like a child, "Eat, eat, eat, tomorrow I will buy you beef, buy ten catties"

Bai Yuehu nodded, then he bent down and put his hand into the thin puddle of water in the courtyard, which should have been very shallow, but Bai Yuehu's hand seemed to be in a deep pool, and he didn't move until the water was above his elbow.

Lu Qingjiu watched nervously from the sidelines as he saw Bai Yuehu's brow furrow slightly before his arm shot up as if he had grabbed something.

Then Lu Qingjiu heard the cries of a child, and Bai Yuehu, with a flick of his arm, grabbed an unidentifiable object out of the puddle, which at first glance looked like a monkey, but with a human face and hair all stuck together, looking at first glance like a gouache painting, blurred and uncomfortable.

"Where are the people?" Bai Yuehu asked, grabbing the thing's hand.

It was only when Bai Yuehu opened his mouth slightly at it that the thing stopped struggling and its body began to melt like ice being tanned, and water kept dripping down from its body.

Zhu Miaomiao's form changes from faint to thick and finally condenses from water into a human form, her eyes tightly closed, in a state of unconsciousness, completely unaware of what is happening to her.

Seeing the object hand Zhu Miaomiao over, Bai Yuehu flung his hand, sending the thing to the ground in the courtyard, where it melted instantly on impact, turning into a bottomless puddle.

Lu Qingjiu thanked Bai Yuehu before picking up Zhu Miaomiao, who was lying on the floor, and taking him into the house.

Bai Yuehu stood in the courtyard and didn't go in. After Lu Qingjiu had settled Zhu Miaomiao, he saw that he hadn't moved and wondered, "Bai Yuehu, why don't you go in?"

Bai Yuehu said, "I was thinking."

Lu Qingjiu said, "What do you want?"

Bai Yuehu gave Lu Qingjiu a sly look, "I haven't eaten dinner yet."

Lu Qingjiu: ""He seemed to understand something.

Fittingly, Bai Yuehu's next line was, "Should I take it to feed my hunger?"

I don't know if it was Lu Qingjiu's illusion, but when Bai Yuehu said this, Lu Qingjiu seemed to see the surface of the puddle in the courtyard tremble slightly.

Lu Qingjiu said, "Don't, don't eat that, it's not good, wait, I'll give you a bowl of noodles."

Bai Yuehu nodded in satisfaction at these words and turned to go into the house.

Lu Qingjiu was slightly relieved to see this, knowing that his vixen had not hit on that strange thing again.

The author has something to say: Lu Qingjiu: Don't eat that strange thing, I'll give it to you below.

Bai Yuehu: Really

Lu Qingjiu: Really? Wait, why are you taking off my trousers?