Meanwhile, elsewhere.
“I was just saying it casually.” He Yu didn’t take it to heart.
Soon the two of them arrived at Boss Sun’s flower garden. Next to the flower garden was Jinnan City’s botanical garden, which also had a natural mountain spring inside it; the environment was very nice.
Boss Sun was quite proud of his flower garden. “The soil and water here really are good, everything grown here turns out sturdier than in other places.”
He first carried Second Uncle into a greenhouse flower room and opened the cage. Second Uncle flapped its wings and flew onto the perch, contentedly preening its feathers. Every day it followed Boss Sun to the flower-bird market, which was basically like going to work, and in the evening it followed Boss Sun home again.
Boss Sun let He Yu wander around the greenhouse first, while he himself happily refilled Second Uncle’s food and water, cut open an apple and stuck it on a fruit fork, watching it eat happily.
He Yu took a bundle of red cloth strips, and whenever he liked a flower he tied one on it — tomorrow Boss Sun would dig it up and drive it over to deliver to him.
Meanwhile, in the botanical garden adjacent to Boss Sun’s flower garden, Tang Jing, dressed head to toe in brand names, was carrying an empty large mineral water bucket, while making a phone call with his other hand:
“Five liters should be enough, right?”
“Mm, mm, I understand.”
“I already have a direction to go in.”
……
After a while the call ended, and Tang Jing also arrived at the spot where people drew the mountain spring water.
This place had been artificially excavated and built into a stone well about two meters square, with an opening on the side; the spring water overflowed and flowed out through the opening into the river. It was about two or three meters deep, the spring water was clear all the way to the bottom, and one could see the spring water gushing up from below. Ropes and buckets were tied to the railing of the stone well, for people’s convenience in drawing water.
Tang Jing drew water and filled the mineral water bucket he had brought, then also washed his face with the spring water, not minding that his clothes and watch got wet too.
“Hope it’s useful.” he muttered a few times, then picked up the water and headed down the mountain.
He didn’t know what had happened to him recently — suddenly bad luck had clung to him. He’d hired a master to take a look, and the master said there was a calamity in his fate, but fortunately there was also a benefactor who would help him. If he could find the benefactor, this calamity would pass more easily.
Coming here today to draw mountain spring water to wash away the bad luck was also something the master had instructed. To get rid of the bad luck, he had to come in person.
As for the benefactor, Tang Jing already had a direction to pursue. Earlier, following the master’s guidance, he had gone to buy feng shui plants, and had been tricked by a shopkeeper into almost buying a pot of illegally dug wild orchid — fortunately another customer had tipped him off, and he hadn’t bought it. Later, seeing the news, plus using his own connections, Tang Jing had managed to find out something of the truth. That pot of wild orchid wasn’t as simple as just being illegally dug up — the flower shop owner had inexplicably fallen unconscious and been hospitalized, and afterward kept shouting that there were ghosts, all because of that pot of wild orchid!
Tang Jing thought it over: it was true the master had directed him to go buy feng shui plants, but among all the shops in the flower-bird market, choosing to buy flowers at Old Hu’s flower shop had been his own choice. The fact that he’d taken a liking to that problematic slipper orchid was his bad luck acting up, and the customer who had woken him up to the danger — that person was his benefactor!
It was just that the benefactor wasn’t easy to find. He’d left his contact information with the other flower shop owner, though he had no idea whether that would do any good……
The botanical garden was built on a hillside, and the spring was located even higher up. Director Tang sat in an office year-round and rarely exercised, so carrying ten jin of water downhill was exhausting for him too. He had no choice but to set it down and rest a while, then pick it up and walk a while more.
By the time he reached the entrance of the botanical garden, he happened to run right into He Yu, who was just about to head back.
He Yu had already finished picking out flowers and had just passed by the entrance of the botanical garden, when suddenly he saw a man drenched in sweat looking at him with an excited expression. “Hey, hey! Isn’t this… you?!”
He Yu: ???
Director Tang, exhausted from carrying water down the mountain, was panting hard, but was still delighted to see He Yu. “That time buying flowers! You said that pot of wild-dug orchid had something wrong with it, so I didn’t buy it!”
He Yu remembered now. Oh, it was the Director Tang that Boss Sun had mentioned before.
Looking closely, Director Tang really did have a gray-black malicious qi coiling around him. Seeing this, his going to a master wasn’t entirely superstition — he must have sensed that something was wrong on his own. However, the malicious qi on him wasn’t serious; it had no roots and was quite scattered, at most it would cause some minor unlucky incidents, not enough to endanger his life or fortune.
Tang Jing was very enthusiastic. “If you hadn’t said that one sentence, it would be me lying in the hospital right now. Which way are you headed? I’ll drive you there!”
“No need, I can just take the bus back myself.”
“No, don’t! Meeting is fate — since we’ve run into each other, you really should let me thank you properly…”
Tang Jing asked where He Yu was headed, and since the two of them were going the same direction, he grew even more enthusiastic.
He Yu thought about it and didn’t refuse again. Having a ride was pretty nice too.
Tang Jing put the mountain spring water in the trunk, invited He Yu to get in, and got into the driver’s seat himself, starting the car.
The car made a sound, then died.
He started the car again, it died again, again……
He Yu said nothing. Director Tang’s bad luck was really acting up fast.
Five minutes later.
Tang Jing looked embarrassed. “Um, this car was fine when I came here. Should we just call a cab back?”
The botanical garden’s location was a bit remote, and it wasn’t easy to get a cab there. In the end the two of them decided to take the small tourist train back.
Tang Jing carried the mountain spring water back out, locked the car, and would have someone come tow it tomorrow.
After walking fifty meters, Tang Jing had switched hands carrying the mountain spring water ten times.
He Yu watched him struggling and grunting along with difficulty. “Let me carry it for you.”
“Oh, no need, I can manage myself, I can manage! The station isn’t far either.”
Tang Jing was drenched in sweat, hunching his back as he shuffled another fifty meters, gritting his teeth. “The station… huff... what’s left… huff, huff... isn’t far… probably.”
The phone’s map navigation sweetly announced by voice: “Remaining distance ahead: 1453 meters.”
Tang Jing: Despair.
He Yu: “I’ll carry it.”
“No need, no—… huh?” Tang Jing felt embarrassed to let He Yu help, but felt that the moment the other man reached out, somehow, the mountain spring water was already in He Yu’s hand.
“Thank you, thank you!” Tang Jing was very embarrassed. He had originally wanted to repay He Yu, but instead the car had broken down, and now he was even troubling the man to carry water for him.
He Yu carried the water bucket with ease, while Tang Jing, carrying nothing, was already starting to pant by the time they reached the train station.
“It’s still… being young… good… health… haha…”
There was also a young man with a buzz cut at the station, playing on his phone while waiting for the train. Hearing Tang Jing’s labored panting, he looked up and laughed. “Bro, you really need to work out.”
Tang Jing slowly caught his breath. “Yeah… sitting in front of a computer all the time, my body’s completely wrecked.”
Both of them had easygoing, friendly personalities, and by the time they’d waited for the train they were already chatting away. One said that once he got back he’d sign up for a gym membership, and the other said that kind of thing was usually a one-time-use item — go once and then it just collects dust after that.
The train arrived quickly.
The buzz-cut young man greeted the two of them. “I just got off a flight not long ago, I’m going to sit in the back and sleep for a bit.”
He found a seat toward the back of the car, and though he said he was going to sleep, once he sat down he took out his phone first and started playing with it. He’d only been on it for less than two minutes when his phone rang.
There were quite a few other people in the car too, all seated separately, seemingly strangers to one another. Some were slumped over asleep, some wore face masks, some held small children, some sat blankly with their luggage, some played on their phones… each quietly and politely spending their own time, none of them wanting any interaction with the others.
The buzz-cut young man covered the phone’s mouthpiece, his low voice blurred within the train car:
“I’ve arrived, I’m on the train… someone’s sleeping… there’s still time… tomb-sweeping… you come next year…”
He Yu glanced across the train car, and his gaze suddenly stopped. Near the buzz-cut young man was a person wearing a blue-gray coat.
Luo Jiuyin sat in his seat, unconsciously putting on a smiling face, his body stiffening slightly.
How could He Yu be here?! Although he’d used the bronze mask to change his face, at such close distance, He Yu’s senses would still be quite accurate.
This time he’d originally only planned to come take a look, without intending direct contact. If he’d known, he should have disguised himself too…
He Yu looked at Luo Jiuyin, not making out his face clearly at all — he only saw an enormous, dark, deep whirlpool.
Such heavy yin-baleful qi!
How was this person still alive?
He Yu blinked, his vision returning to normal, and finally saw the person clearly.
A beautiful person!
But one glance showed there was trouble attached to him. He Yu hated trouble more than anything — even good looks wouldn’t excuse it!
He took Tang Jing and sat down in the seat farthest from this person.
Tang Jing, having broken out in a sweat from exhaustion earlier, was now feeling slightly carsick; sitting in the inner seat, he opened the window and let out a breath of relief.
Jinnan City was a mountain city; the name “Jinnan” referred to the area south of Little Jin Mountain, and the outskirts were well suited for hiking. The small train passed through mountain forests; at this moment the dusk light was a dim yellow, the mountain scenery gentle, with streams occasionally visible flowing by. By autumn, when the mountains were covered in red leaves blazing like fire clouds, the scenery would be even more beautiful.
There were many hiking routes on the mountain developed around the small train’s stops, for the convenience of visitors.
The buzz-cut young man hung up his phone, looked at the scenery flying past behind the window, yawned, and closed his eyes to sleep as well.
At the next stop, a middle-aged man carrying a backpack boarded the train car — regular features, thick eyebrows, big eyes, the kind of face that easily inspired goodwill, the type who in a spy film would obviously be cast as the professional hero, especially suited to play the role of “benefactor.”
The benefactor scanned the train car and, upon seeing Tang Jing, paused slightly in surprise.
The middle-aged man chose a seat diagonally behind the two of them, not too far and not too close, sat down, and took out his phone to start typing furiously:
“What’s going on?”
“Did you all arrange for someone else too?”
“Tang Jing already has someone with him! The two of them seem to get along really well.”
Tang Jing was sitting on the inside, separated by another person, making it hard for him to find a chance to get close and strike up a conversation.
The master replied quickly: “I’m certain he went out alone today to draw spring water. That person must have been someone he ran into along the way. You go see what’s going on.”
He had arranged for Tang Jing to draw mountain spring water to wash away the bad luck specifically to set up this scene of Tang Jing finding his benefactor. They had tampered with Tang Jing’s car, so that it would inevitably break down. It wasn’t easy to get a cab from the botanical garden, and the most convenient way back to Tang Jing’s home from there was this small train. Timing it precisely, their arranged “benefactor” could have a chance encounter with Tang Jing on the train. This way it also wouldn’t easily arouse Tang Jing’s suspicion.
The middle-aged man cautiously observed the interaction between Tang Jing and He Yu for a while.
Damn it! The rich fool had mistaken the wrong person for his benefactor!!
……
He Yu was feeling a bit drowsy; Tang Jing noticed and quietly fell silent. Before long, He Yu had closed his eyes and dozed off.
The small train slowly started moving; the next stop was a somewhat longer one, and along the way it would also pass through a tunnel through the mountain.
Amid the sound of the train running, He Yu had a dream.
This was a gray dream. Underfoot was earth and stone, around him were withered, dead trees, and from the sky fell ash like snowflakes, like paper ash after something had been burned, with all things covered in a layer of gray smoke. A jackdaw flew off from a dry, sharp branch, its wings too covered in a layer of ash. Dim, cold, deathly silent — unsettling.
Except for the person across from him.
That person’s face was blurred; only a pair of eyes could be seen clearly. The irises were large and black, the whites pure and clean — in this dream full of gray smoke, they appeared so clean.
“Who are you?” He Yu asked.
The person across from him didn’t answer, only looked at him with that pair of black-and-white eyes.
“What’s your name?” He Yu asked again.
The person across from him opened his mouth and said something, but He Yu couldn’t make out what he was saying.
He felt that this person, and what he was saying, were very important to him, so he tried hard to listen.
The person repeated it over and over, and He Yu gradually began to hear his voice, though it was still very indistinct.
……
Just as the train’s speed picked up, two people in the car — one in front, one behind, one wearing a face mask and one who’d been slumped over asleep — suddenly pulled out knives. “This is a robbery!”
The middle-aged man: ……
“Did you all arrange for a robbery too?! This isn’t part of the script we agreed on!”
The master:
“No.”
“You’ve genuinely run into real robbers.”
The middle-aged man: ……
What kind of situation was this?!
The middle-aged man shrank his head down. He wasn’t an exorcist, just a con man from the jianghu who’d been recruited by the Descent Cult as a peripheral member and had learned a few unorthodox little tricks. Faced with someone holding a knife, he was scared too…
He Yu and Tang Jing were sitting toward the front. In front of them was a woman with a child.
The robber standing in the back oversaw the whole situation, while the robber in front went through robbing people one by one.
“Hand over your money!” The robber gestured with his knife at the woman with the child in front.
The woman fumbled tremblingly for her wallet, which had only a little loose change in it.
“You trying to fob off a beggar?!” The robber spat, threw the wallet on the ground, and said viciously.
“I— I don’t have money…” the woman stammered.
The robber sneered, pointing the knife at the child’s face. “No money? You’re taking your kid to see a doctor without bringing money?”
He’d already been on the train and had heard the woman on the phone saying she was taking her child to the hospital.
“No, no…” The woman looked at the knife, terrified, pushing the child behind herself.
The buzz-cut young man in the back row had already woken up, watching this scene with a deep frown. The two robbers were positioned one at the front and one at the back of the car; he was sitting toward the back, and the rear robber happened to be not far from him. He could probably subdue the one near him, but the one in front would certainly take a passenger hostage. At that point, things would get complicated.
Seeing what was happening up front, all he could do was quietly grow anxious.
The child was too scared to cry. Tang Jing couldn’t bear to watch and couldn’t help but speak up. “She doesn’t have any money either, let her go.”
The robber glared viciously over at him, and upon spotting Tang Jing, grinned savagely. “Well, well, a fat sheep. You want to play hero, huh? How about I start with you first?”
He’d noticed Tang Jing the moment he’d gotten on the train — head to toe in brand names, and the watch on his wrist was obviously expensive.
He Yu was still half-sunk in his dream; he was just about to make out what the person in the dream was saying, straining to keep the dream going, but outside it kept getting noisier and noisier, and he was gradually being pulled from the dream back into reality.
“So noisy!”
“You think I’m noisy, huh?” The robber walked over knife in hand, ready to make an example of these two troublemakers first.
“Don’t! He’s still half-asleep, don’t mind him, I’ll give you money!” Tang Jing’s face went pale.
“Wallet, watch, hand them all over!”
The robber’s face was ferocious, the blade of the knife waving back and forth right in front of He Yu’s face.
Tang Jing deftly took off his watch while saying, “Okay, it’s all yours, just don’t hurt anyone.”
“What else is valuable? Where’s your phone? What’s that around your neck? Don’t even think about fooling me!”
Having taken Tang Jing’s wallet and watch, the robber still wasn’t satisfied, and sneered as he moved to slap the flat of the knife against He Yu’s face. “You two know each other, right? Try to fool me and I’ll cut off his ear, then give you…”
He Yu was completely pulled out of the dream now. His face expressionless, he reached out and grabbed the robber’s wrist.
Crack—