Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Just then, someone else came running out from the ticket gate. It was a middle-aged man.

The moment he got on the bus, he greeted Master Yu.

“Hey, Daliang. How’s your old man doing?”

From the look of it, this Daliang and Master Yu were longtime neighbors.

Daliang let out a long sigh. “I’m afraid he’s not doing too well. My brother told me to come home and get things ready.”

Master Yu’s expression turned a little sorrowful at that, but he still raised a hand and patted Daliang on the shoulder. “The old man is ninety-nine. That’s a long life.”

That was probably the only thing anyone could say to comfort the children of someone on their deathbed.

Daliang forced a faint smile. “Yesterday, when the old man was still lucid, he heard I was going back to Tongxiang. He even said, ‘Take Second Boy’s bus back. Second Boy drives the steadiest.'”

Master Yu burst out laughing with him. It seemed he was the “Second Boy” the old man had been talking about.

No sooner had Daliang taken his seat than another man came running aboard, this one wearing a construction-site safety helmet.

He was drenched in sweat and had cash clutched in his hand, asking Zhu Xuan to help him buy a ticket too.

The bills were soaked through with the sweat from his palm, but from start to finish, he never took off his helmet.

After Zhu Xuan checked his ticket, she walked over to my side.

Thirty-six people.

The two of us stared fixedly at the door by the ticket gate.

At three fifty sharp, Master Yu closed the bus doors on time. Even after the wheels started moving, no one else came running out.

Zhu Xuan let out a long breath. “Thank goodness. The seal’s been lifted!”

Because Master Yu’s bus had always left the city at full capacity, there was no second stop within the city.

Zhu Xuan cheerfully went through the bus checking the luggage, and Master Yu seemed to relax a lot as well.

But a faint unease lingered in my heart. If everything had gone back to normal, then why were there only thirty-six people?

Shouldn’t it have been just like before, filled to capacity from the start?

Just then-

“Conductor!”

Someone called from the back of the bus. “I haven’t bought a ticket yet. Can I pay for one now?”

I whipped my head around. The one speaking was a young man who looked a lot like a college student.

He took off his earphones, and when he saw Zhu Xuan’s stunned expression, he looked a little apologetic. “Sorry. I was on a video call as soon as I got on and almost forgot.”

“How is that possible? When I was checking tickets just now, where were you?” Zhu Xuan’s voice had gone tight with urgency.

“I was right here. Maybe because I had my head down looking at my phone the whole time, you didn’t notice me, and I didn’t notice you either.”

Zhu Xuan froze completely. The young man took out his ID card and handed it to her, but she didn’t even know to take it.

It wasn’t until Master Yu honked the bus horn twice from the front that she finally snapped out of it.

Zhu Xuan quickly issued the young man a replacement ticket. On her way back, she stumbled over her own feet and nearly fell.

Master Yu, on the other hand, remained calm. He took out a square wooden box and handed it to Zhu Xuan.

Zhu Xuan carried the box over to me. There were no stones left inside, only a small red cloth bundle.

Inside that red cloth bundle was the ticket used to anchor the bus.

I took out the red cloth bundle and tucked it into my pocket.