Chapter 36: Old Business

For a long time after Lu Qingjiu left Shuifu Village, Yin Xun played alone.

He went up the hill alone, down the water alone, climbed up to the mill that was once a favourite of both of them, and looked far into the distance.

In the distance is a path that winds through the hills, through which newcomers to Shuifu Village, and oldcomers returning, must pass.

As Yin Xun watched the road, he had a few coins in his hand, game coins that he had spent all his pocket money to buy from the town, which he wanted to give to his friend Lu Qingjiu as a parting gift, but unfortunately he was unable to give them to him in the end.

He remembered Lu Qingjiu's promise to him when he left, that he would return. So Yin Xun thought that when Lu Qingjiu came back, he would put these coins into his friend's hand.

Yin Xun's family situation is similar to Lu Qingjiu's in that both parents work outside the home, leaving the elderly and children behind. However, Lu Qingjiu's parents were more responsible and took Lu Qingjiu out of Shuifu Village early on and sent him to school in the city. Yin Xun was not as fortunate, as his parents' financial situation was not so good, so he had to stay in the remote Shuifu Village for several years.

Yin Xun has been playing with Lu Qingjiu since he was a child, but now that he has left, he is all alone.

Yin Xun waited and waited and waited for her friend to return until one summer evening.

Yin Xun still remembers the weather that day, clear and hot, with not a cloud in sight. The moon hung brightly over the black night and the sky was lit up by a cluster of brilliant stars. The cicadas chirped noisily in my ears, and near the roadside I could see glowing fireflies flickering in the dense grass.

It was an ordinary night, and for Yin Xun, who had lived in Shuifu Village for a long time, he didn't feel anything different from it. His grandmother promised to buy him a new pair of shoes at the end of the summer.

Yin Xun sits on a mill at the entrance to the village, holding two chirping crickets that he has just caught from the grass, still in high spirits and struggling and wriggling in Yin Xun's hands.

Although it was getting late, Yin Xun still had no intention of going home.

The security in Shuifu Village is good and there is no deep water nearby for children to play in, so there are few accidents in the village and parents are relieved. Yin Xun is looked after by his grandparents, who are old enough to look after him, and as older people are less energetic, and children in rural areas are usually rough, his family did not come looking for him when he was late.

If it had been before Lu Qingjiu left, Yin Xun would probably have gone back with his buddies, but now Lu Qingjiu is gone too.

Sitting on the grindstone, Yin Xun drifted off to sleep as he played with it. The grindstone was so hard that it hurt his face, but in the haze of sleep, Yin Xun seemed to hear the sound of water flowing.

The sound became louder and louder, and Yin Xun opened his eyes in confusion. However, when he opened his eyes and saw his surroundings, he was stunned to see that a huge puddle of water had appeared underneath the mill, and the water inside the puddle was swirling, and the sound of the rushing water made the water flow extraordinarily fast.

Yin Xun looked at the puddle of water right in front of him with a stunned look, how could there be such a puddle of water on this flat ground.

As Yin Xun stared at the puddle, a pair of black, hairy hands suddenly reached out from the puddle and grabbed Yin Xun. The hands were thin, but very strong, and they easily grabbed Yin Xun's ankles and began to drag him into the turbulent puddle.

"He reached out and grabbed the grinder, but his strength was no match for the creature in the puddle, and he struggled for two or three seconds before being dragged down.

The water quickly overflows Yin Xun's mouth and nose, his eyes rounded and he struggles with all his might, but this does not get him out of danger.

As the oxygen gradually exhaled from his lungs, Yin Xun's eyes gradually closed feebly and he was in a trance, as if he heard a clear, crisp sound of a coin falling to the ground.

The moment he thought of this fact, Yin Xun once again burst into a powerful burst of strength, and he actually broke free of the black hands that were holding him and swam towards the top of the puddle.

I don't want to die I don't want to die Yin Xun thought, I haven't given the coin to Sake yet.

With such an obsession, Yin Xun's consciousness fades and his vision is eventually enveloped in darkness.

The family noticed that Yin Xun was gone at noon the next day.

The grandparents had prepared a meal but did not see their grandson return. After sensing something was wrong, they searched around and searched for a whole day before finally finding him.

It was a small pair of slippers under the mill, scattered next to the mill, and you could see how flustered their owner really was when he left them.

The grandparents called the police and asked everyone in the village, but they could not find Yin Xun. Yin Xun's parents rushed home and were devastated to learn of their son's disappearance.

A crazy man in the village said that the child had been taken away by a water monkey, but everyone else dismissed him as nonsense. There was no water in Shuifu Village, only a small stream up to the calf, and no one had ever died in the stream, so how could there be a water monkey?

The police have concluded that

The conclusion was that the child had probably been abducted by someone passing through the village, but just then, someone found the Yin Xun family.

Yin Xun had never seen this man, he only knew from his grandparents' descriptions that it was a young man with a cloth covering his face and only a pair of black eyes could be seen, eyes that looked terrifying with only pupils and no whites.

The men went into Yin Xun's house and told Yin Xun's parents that Yin Xun had died.

Yin Xun's grief-stricken parents, while wondering if the man had killed Yin Xun, were about to tie him up and take him to the police station, when they watched him turn into a puddle of water and simply disappear in front of them. If their wet hands were not still in front of them, they would have been more inclined to believe they had just had a bizarre dream.

The next day the man who had turned into water came back.

This time Yin Xun's parents did not dare to make a move against him, but listened to the man in a disciplined manner.

"Your son is not coming back." The man said, "He's dead."

Yin Xun's grandmother fainted, her mother and father wailed and the house was filled with grief.

"But I have a way to get him back." The man said, "but after he is saved he cannot leave Shuifu Village for the rest of his life, he has to stay here until the end."

"At last," asked the only sensible grandfather, "what do you mean at last?"

The man smiled and shook his head, "I don't need to explain, he'll know himself."

Although the man's origins were suspicious, the family had no choice but to compromise and they followed the man's instructions, erected a tombstone for Yin Xun and held a funeral. The funeral was so grand that the whole village came to attend. It was not supposed to be a big event when a child dies, but the Yin Xun family held it for seven days and seven nights.

A few days after the funeral, a drenched Yin Xun appears on the doorstep of his home. He is barefoot and looks a little puzzled, as if he does not understand why he is here.

Yin Xun's parents were overjoyed to see their son, and his mother cried and laughed as she carried him into the house.

As Yin Xun's body had not been found before, the sudden appearance of the child was quickly accepted by the people of the village. Since Yin Xun had returned, it proved that the man had not lied. Yin Xun's family followed his words and built a shrine on the hill in Shuifu Village with the name Yin Xun written on it, and worshipped it with incense and candles and melons and fruits.

The Yin Xun family did as they were told, but in the mind of Yin Xun's mother, there was something else on the horizon: she wanted to take her son out of Shuifu Village.

"You can't take him away, the man said that Yin Xun can't leave Shuifu Village." Grandfather tried to stop his mother.

But the mother, who had already lost her child once, was extraordinarily determined, saying: "There's something wrong with this place, there's something wrong with the people here, I can't leave my child here, I'm taking him away from here", as if by leaving here she would leave all this madness behind and forget about the man's horrible black eyes.

My father was silent, my grandparents were unable to stop me, so the next day, my mother left Shuifu Village with little Yin Xun in her arms.

My father called the car early and waited at the entrance to the village, and the family walked in the direction of the car.

But the moment her mother stepped out of Shuifu Village, she noticed that Yin Xun, who had been silent in her arms, began to melt, his body flowing with water and gradually becoming transparent.

"Ahhhhhhhhh" the mother broke down at the sight, she screamed and threw Yin Xun to the ground, rolling and crawling out of the village, "This is not my child, this is not my child, this is a monster monster"

Yin Xun looks at his mother dumbfounded, he only remembers being pulled into a puddle and nothing else at all. He thinks the strange atmosphere in the house is due to his own playfulness, but he doesn't think of the deeper reason.

My mother left, without Yin Xun, and got on a bus with my father to leave Shuifu Village, never to return.

Yin Xun was abandoned in this tiny village.

The good news is that apart from not being able to leave Shuifu Village, there is nothing special about Yin Xun compared to other children.

Yin Xun grew up slowly in this way, and he gradually discovered something different about himself. His grandparents did not intend to tell him about it at first, until one day he found his name written on the Buddha's shrine on the mountain where his grandmother had gone to make an offering.

Yin Xun had a vague sense of something when he saw the niche, and it was a long time before he understood exactly what that feeling was.

That is the mission, the mission to always keep Shuifu Village.

Someone saved Yin Xun, who should have died, and gave Yin Xun a new life at the cost of his heritage.

The grandparents tell Yin Xun what happened back then, about the strange man, about the mother, about why they couldn't leave Shuifu Village.

Although he had never tried it, Yin Xun knew that what his grandfather said was true, and in the dark, he even had a vague idea of why he had become this way. But these are things that cannot be spoken. Words can become a curse, and there are some things that, if spoken, will make a change to reality.

Later on, his grandparents died and Yin Xun grew up.

As an adult, Yin Xun's range was extended to allow him to leave Shuifu Village and go to nearby towns and villages. Whether he could go further or not, Yin Xun didn't try, because when the thought came to him, it was as if a whisper would come from the mountains telling him that he couldn't go, that if he did, he would die.

Shuifu Village is his life, his roots that he cannot live without.

This would have been the end of the story, but the arrival of Lu Qingjiu added a new chapter to the story.

"So what are you, anyway?" Lu Qingjiu inquired after hearing this long story, poking Yin Xun's arm, which had the tenderness and touch of a human being, quite different from a dead one.

Yin Xun said, "I've been thinking about it and I think I might have inherited a role like a mountain god or something."

"The God of the Mountain" Lu Qingjiu asks.

"Yes." Yin Xun said, "I know everything that happens on the mountain, but really I just know, I can't do much, I rather feel more like an ordinary person."

Lu Qingjiu said, "We all know what happened on the mountain, so what happened to the ghostly wall that we encountered with Zhu Miaomiao on the mountain?"

Yin Xun said, "I really thought a child had been caught by the puddle monster, and it was so troublesome that I couldn't get rid of it, so I just stared at it."

Lu Qingjiu said, "Oh."

Yin Xun was a little tired of talking and took a sip of the tea in front of him as he said, "Sake, this is what I've been through, I've told you everything, don't be afraid of me, I won't hurt you."

Lu Qingjiu nods, but doesn't say anything, as if he is thinking about something.

Thinking that Lu Qingjiu was still not satisfied with his status, Yin Xun looked at him with a sincere gaze and tried to tell him that he was really a good person.

Lu Qingjiu suddenly spoke up and he said, "You know everything about the mountain."

Yin Xun said, "Yes, every blade of grass, every flower, every tree, I know it all."

Lu Qingjiu said, "There's something more and you know it."

Yin Xun nods.

Lu Qingjiu said, "So," he suddenly asked, "when my parents were caught in the mudslide, do you know where their bodies were?"

Yin Xun was dumbfounded as he looked into Lu Qingjiu's serious eyes and instantly realised the importance of this question.

It's hard to feel at ease as a child when you think of your parents not having a coffin.

"I don't know." Yin Xun said, "I looked, but there were no bodies of your parents." He slumped a little, "I'm sorry, I only found your parents' backpack then, but I didn't see their person."

Lu Qingjiu sighed, he didn't say anything but gave Yin Xun a hug as he said, "It's okay, it's nothing to do with you, you did your best, don't blame yourself, it's not your fault."

After the incident, Lu Qingjiu did not expect to find his parents' remains, after all he had seen the scene and knew that the mountain had almost collapsed in half. Lu Qingjiu felt that it was enough to find the remains of his parents' backpack, as people are like ants under the power of nature. The reason he asked Yin Xun this question was not to blame him, but to find out where his parents were buried, so that he could at least pay his respects, even though they might be buried too deep to dig up.

However, Yin Xun said that he had not seen the remains of Lu Qingjiu's parents, which surprised and slightly disappointed Lu Qingjiu.

If Yin Xun is indeed the mountain god of Shuifu Village, then his inability to find the remains of Lu Qingjiu's parents means that they may have been swept out of Shuifu Village in the mudslide that came with the collapse of the mountain, which would be too extensive for Lu Qingjiu to give up.

"Or I'll try again." Yin Xun is still a bit sad.

"No need." Lu Qingjiu shook his head, "There's no need to force it." Knowing Yin Xun's character, he must have given him such an answer after repeatedly checking. He put a smile on his face, "My parents are also open-minded people, they won't be stuck on such things, they just want me to be happy."

This is where Yin Xun shows a relaxed expression.

Lu Qingjiu finally untied the knot in Yin Xun's heart, and they made an appointment to go to the mountain next time to see the Buddha's shrine erected by Yin Xun's grandparents.

Lu Qingjiu turned around and found Bai Yuehu standing behind him, their eyes locked in silence, and Lu Qingjiu laughed bitterly.

"This guy, he's still hiding something from me." Lu Qingjiu said, "What does the place I entered mean for Yin Xun?"

Bai Yuehu said, "The soul."

A dead tree, a lonely tomb, endless weeds, and thorns on the grass that can make people bleed, this is the soul of Yin Xun.

Lu Qingjiu thinks of Yin Xun's bright smile and the white tiger's teeth on his lips.

What was Yin Xun thinking when she was smiling, what was she thinking when she was in tears, and when she was thrown to the ground by her mother and completely abandoned, did she give birth to a weed that could not be seen.

And the crow standing on a dead tree, calling Lu Qingjiu's name

Lu Qingjiu sighed deeply as he said, "There's a crow calling my name in there."

Bai Yuehu looks on quietly as Lu Qingjiu.

"I thought before that the crows were calling my name in order to take me away." Lu Qingjiu said, "Then I thought about it." He spoke with some bitterness in his tone, "Do you think it's possible that the raven was calling my name while I was away"

Bai Yuehu knew the answer to Lu Qingjiu's question, but he did not expect Lu Qingjiu to guess it so easily. Bai Yuehu had always liked intelligent people, and he found himself liking the young man in front of him, Lu Qingjiu, even more. He looked at Lu Qingjiu with soft eyes, thinking that it would be a pleasure to swallow the man in front of him, as he did with all his favourite things. But if he swallowed it, would the young man's wheat-coloured, smooth skin be scratched by the sharp teeth, which he would find a pity, Bai Yuehu noticed, it was about a slightly different kind of liking from appetite, very new.

" Bai Yuehu " Lu Qingjiu was a little creeped out by Bai Yuehu's stare, and for some reason, goosebumps rose on his arms, as if his body's instincts were telling him that the person in front of him was very dangerous, even though his mind was not aware of it.

Bai Yuehu smiled, his smile beautiful, his narrow phoenix eyes curving in a confusing arc as he said, "But you're back."

Lu Qingjiu looked at his smile and suddenly understood why there were so many scholars in Liaozhai Zhiyi who were bewitched by fox spirits. Luckily, he managed to steady his mind and whispered, "Yes, it's a good thing I'm back."

"Go to sleep." The next moment, Bai Yuehu curbed the smile on his face and returned to his usual languid appearance, "It's late."

"Yeah, it's late." Lu Qingjiu looked up at the sky, it was another clear night, as all nights are, "Good night."

"Good night." Bai Yuehu said.

Lu Qingjiu turned to his room, but Bai Yuehu stood in the courtyard for a long time, lost in some kind of contemplation.

In the morning, the heat wakes people from sleep and Lu Qingjiu gets up to make breakfast and sees Yin Xun in the garden, who is at war with Xiao Hua.

Xiao Hua, when Kang's identity had been revealed, no longer cared, and turned on Yin Xun with the quality of 18 companies, using words so sharp that Lu Qingjiu, who was standing nearby, was dumbfounded.

However, Yin Xun is obviously much thicker than Xiao Hua and refuses to let go of Xiao Hua's hug, with the air of someone who is as strong as you are, and the breeze brushing the mountain.

Xiao Hua said, "Yin Xun, don't be shameless, stop holding me, I'm so hot."

Yin Xun: "Wine, are we going to have cold noodles for lunch?"

Xiao Hua: "Fuck you"

Yin Xun: "Hey, kids are not allowed to swear."

Xiao Hua :""

Lu Qingjiu listened in amusement. With Yin Xun's identity taken care of, the family is back to its usual harmony.

Bai Yuehu returns to his rocking chair, lazy as an old man in his eighties, while Yin Xun carries Xiao Hua to feed the chickens in the front yard, only to cry out in alarm as he feeds them: "Hey, Xiao Hua, Xiao Hua, what's wrong with you, wake up!"

Xiao Hua, who had been cursing earlier, lay motionless in his arms, his eyes still shut tight after being picked up by Yin Xun, and his breathing was very weak, as if he might die at any moment.

Yin Xun saw the situation and rushed to the house with Xiao Hua in his arms and asked Lu Qingjiu what was wrong with Xiao Hua, Lu Qingjiu looked at the situation: "I don't know, ask Bai Yuehu, he should know better."

Yin Xun said sheepishly, "You'd better go. I ate Bai Yuehu's chicken leg yesterday, so I don't dare to talk to him today."

Lu Qingjiu thought about it, hugged Xiao Hua and went over.

After hearing Lu Qingjiu's words, Bai Yuehu, whose eyes were closed, lifted his eyelids, looked at Xiao Hua and three words came out of his mouth: "Heatstroke."

Lu Qingjiu was shocked at the words, "Heatstroke Dangkang can still get heatstroke then what?"

Bai Yuehu said, "I think it's hopeless."

Lu Qingjiu :""

Fittingly, his line was, "Red-hot it is."

Lu Qingjiu: ""Why are you so skilled? How many times have you secretly simulated the way to eat it in your mind?

Author's Note: The final heat stroke stunt comes from the Huanong brothers eating bamboo rats for a hundred reasons

Bai Yuehu: This Dangkang is suffering from heatstroke, eat it, this Yin Xun is depressed, eat it, this Lu Qingjiu is beautiful, eat it.