The Elder suddenly turned around, appearing even more startled than Cheng Jun, even carrying a hint of panic. “You? You? How is it you? Another one has come, leave quickly, leave quickly…”
Seeing the Elder’s strange emotional state, Cheng Jun stared blankly at his old-fashioned blue robe, yet inexplicably felt a sense of familiarity. Though his heart was unsettled, after not seeing him for 15 years, he now desperately wanted to know where Lin Feng was. Perhaps this Elder knew.
The Elder was advanced in years, so Cheng Jun approached respectfully and tentatively asked, “Grandpa, my name is Cheng Jun, I’m Lin Feng’s classmate. Do you know where Lin Feng is now?”
“You’re also his classmate?” Upon hearing Cheng Jun’s words, the Elder’s expression changed drastically. “Don’t ask anymore, leave quickly! This is not a place you should be!”
Seeing the Elder react so strongly to his words, Cheng Jun felt a secret delight—the Elder must also know Lin Feng—but several more layers of doubt arose in his mind. “Why did he say ‘also’ my classmate? Could it be that other classmates have come looking for Lin Feng?”
Cheng Jun certainly couldn’t leave just like that. “Why? I really am Lin Feng’s classmate. Have other classmates also come looking for Lin Feng? Where did they go?”
“Don’t ask anymore, get out! Do I have to chase you away myself, an old man?” The Elder’s expression turned unpleasant. Seeing Cheng Jun standing motionless, he grew angry and scolded, “Hmph! I don’t know any Lin Feng. Get out now! Go away!”
“If you don’t tell me, I won’t leave!” Cheng Jun still didn’t move.
Just then, a shrill cat’s cry suddenly pierced the air, followed by a loud slamming of the door. Inside and out, gusts of yin wind rose, rustling and howling like ghosts wailing and moaning.
As the yin wind swept through, the oil lamp flickered several times, on the verge of being extinguished by the wind. The Elder hurriedly covered the flame with his hand while quickly picking up the broken glass lampshade to cover it.
“Hurry and leave, or it’ll be too late!” The Elder was so anxious that sweat beaded on his forehead. He took out a bundle of spirit threads, repeatedly muttering something under his breath.
“I don’t believe it. Could there really be ghosts here?” Cheng Jun simply sat down, picked up a stack of spirit paper, and even helped burn it.
“What am I afraid of?” Cheng Jun retorted.
The Elder’s expression was grim as he stared blankly at Cheng Jun. But strangely, after Cheng Jun burned several stacks of spirit paper, the ghostly howls of the yin wind subsided considerably. The oil lamp flame flickered a few times and then steadied. The dim yellow light passed through Cheng Jun’s eyes, illuminating his forehead with a fiery glow.
The Elder gave Cheng Jun a few more curious glances and muttered under his breath, “Young people truly are full of vigor!”
“Earlier, when you said ‘Feng’er,’ you meant Lin Feng, right?” Cheng Jun asked.
The Elder pursed his lips, neither answering nor denying it.
“Where is he?”
“He died long ago!”
“What? He’s dead?” Cheng Jun was stunned, frowning and opening his mouth wide as he stared at the Elder. “Grandpa, what kind of joke is this? How is that possible?”
“Do I, at my age, look like I’m joking? Would I lie to you about something like death?” The Elder’s face darkened.
“Impossible, impossible…” Cheng Jun simply couldn’t believe the elder’s words, repeating “impossible” several times. He opened his phone and handed it over, saying, “Elder, you must be mistaken. I received a WeChat message from Lin Feng just yesterday. He asked me to wait for him at Yidu Primary School. Look!”
The elder took Cheng Jun’s phone, glanced briefly, and said with certainty, “This person is definitely not Lin Feng! It’s likely someone impersonating him!”
“No! It is Lin Feng. How can you claim someone is impersonating him?”
“Then how are you so sure this person isn’t an imposter?” The elder didn’t answer but instead questioned Cheng Jun.
“Our childhood code phrase.”
“Code phrase?”
“Yes, this kind of code phrase is only known to him and me!”
“Oh?”
“Back then, the internet was just emerging. We created simple codes so we could find each other online in case we lost contact. Lin Feng, I called him Crazy Demon Moth, and his code was…” Cheng Jun hesitated at this point.
Wise with age, the elder could tell from Cheng Jun’s expression that he was concerned about the privacy of this code phrase. He said, “Don’t worry. At my age, I won’t gossip to outsiders. Besides, I have no interest in such newfangled things as the internet!”
Having his thoughts seen through, Cheng Jun felt somewhat embarrassed and awkwardly replied, “Heh, grandpa, that’s not what I meant…”
“Whether it is or isn’t doesn’t matter. Get to the point.” The elder spoke with straightforward decisiveness.
“His code is LFFYEZ1558… So, as long as these keep appearing, it represents Lin Feng’s coded message. And my code is CJGG5598…”
The elder frowned, looking as if he only half-understood. Cheng Jun wasn’t sure if he had grasped it but continued explaining a few more sentences before being interrupted by the elder. “Alright, no need to say more!”
“Now you should believe me, right?”
The elder, his face full of wrinkles, gave Cheng Jun a complex look tinged with sorrow. “Originally, I didn’t want to bring this up, but you insist…”
“What is it?” Sensing the elder’s unusual demeanor, Cheng Jun asked urgently.
“Since you’re Lin Feng’s classmate, you must know about what happened in Yidu 15 years ago, right?” The elder looked at Cheng Jun with a somber expression.
“15 years ago? Are you referring to that terrible plague?”
“Exactly.” The elder paused for a moment, staring at the oil lamp’s flame as if his gaze traveled back 15 years. “It was a calamity for Yidu. Over a thousand people died tragically, more than a hundred children…”
The elder was too grief-stricken to continue. Cheng Jun, affected by the emotion, felt a pang of sorrow in his heart.
He glanced at the elder and continued, “For us people of Yidu, it was indeed a devastating disaster. But both Lin Feng and I were survivors. We both drew colored chalk!”
“Hmm, but he did die in that plague!” The elder interrupted Cheng Jun.
“Impossible! I remember it very clearly.” Recalling the past, Cheng Jun couldn’t remain calm. “Fifteen years ago, 13 students in our class were infected with a strange plague and quarantined at Yidu Clinic.”
“But at the time, the special pills were extremely limited, only enough to save ten people. Chen Hao, Miao Rui, and Wang Xu unfortunately drew white chalk. The other ten, including me, should all have been survivors.”
“So it turns out you don’t know everything that happened afterward. If I’m not mistaken, after you were revived, your entire family moved away from this place.”
“That’s right. I was the first in our class to wake up. At that time, the other students were still unconscious. On the very day I recovered, my parents immediately took my sister and me and moved to the south. Are you saying something else happened later?”
“Yes.”
Cheng Jun looked at the Elder with a face full of questions. “Could it be that Lin Feng…?”
“Only nine students from your class actually survived. Although Lin Feng and six students from other classes took the medicine, it had no effect, and in the end, they also died.”
“How is that possible?”
“Nothing is impossible, especially for children. Their bodies aren’t as resilient as adults’. At that time, although the medicine was highly effective, it couldn’t guarantee a cure for everyone. In fact, that year, nearly a hundred people at the Yidu Clinic didn’t respond to the treatment.”
“At the time, the Yidu Clinic should have kept such matters confidential. How could you possibly know all this so clearly?” Cheng Jun voiced the doubt in his heart.