Chapter 34
Chapter 34
In high schools during the nineties, the first lesson of the new semester wasn’t military training, but labor.
It was an entire week of labor classes.
The students were all children from the mountains, so no one found it particularly hard, and no one complained.
During this process, Hua Jiunan met his lifelong best friend and the other protagonist of this book, Chen Daji.
His family belonged to the group of people who had struck it rich first.
It was said that the only reason Chen Daji could attend high school was that his father had donated fifty thousand yuan to the school.
One must realize that for the working class at this time, a monthly salary was only about five or six hundred yuan!
As a child of a wealthy family, Chen Daji was naturally used to being arrogant.
Unfortunately, on the first day of school, he picked a fight with Hua Jiunan.
Old Li had educated him well: do not bully others, but never allow yourself to be bullied by others either!
And so, after a brief duel, Chen Daji was in a sorry state: bruised, swollen, and whimpering.
With his meager skills, how could he possibly be a match for Hua Jiunan, who had practiced Ancient Martial Arts since childhood?
And that was with Hua Jiunan holding back; otherwise, Chen Daji would have been hospitalized for at least half a month.
As the saying goes, no discord, no concord. From then on, Chen Daji admired Hua Jiunan to no end, following him around like a little sidekick.
This kid constantly had a pack of cigarettes worth dozens of yuan in his pocket.
Whenever the teacher wasn’t looking, he would sneak a smoke, blowing out smoke rings that were large and perfectly round.
While smoking, Chen Daji would stare at the girls nearby with a mischievous grin.
“Jiunan, look! So many beauties!”
“Let me tell you, when buying a cow, you want one that hugs the ground; when taking a wife, you want one with a big backside.”
“Li Yun in our class is the best fit for a wife!”
“If you marry her, she’s sure to give you a son!”
Hua Jiunan was speechless, not knowing how to respond for a moment.
Just then, Li Yun-who had just been praised by Chen Daji-suddenly let out a scream.
She collapsed onto the ground.
The other girls around her instantly scattered in a panic.
“There’s a ghost!”
Hua Jiunan was startled. What kind of ghost was so fierce that it dared to appear in broad daylight?
The male students were bolder. Led by Hua Jiunan, they slowly gathered around.
Upon closer inspection, they realized it was a false alarm.
It turned out to be a yellowed human skull that the students had dug up.
Seizing the opportunity, Chen Daji naturally wanted to show off his masculine courage in front of the girl he liked.
“What’s there to be afraid of with this thing? Out you go!”
He raised his foot and, with a *whoosh*, kicked the skull over the wall.
A local student remarked, “Our school was built on an old graveyard. It’s normal to dig up bones; it’s fine.”
This was indeed the case in reality: most old graveyards that were leveled for reuse were turned into military barracks or schools.
Young people were full of vigor and possessed strong yang energy. Especially when hundreds or thousands of them gathered together, even the fiercest filthy things wouldn’t dare show their faces.
After the day’s labor class ended, the students washed up and went to bed.
Before falling asleep, Chen Daji, who slept in the bunk below Hua Jiunan, felt a bit uneasy.
“Jiunan, do you think that thing I kicked during the day will come back for revenge tonight?”
“If it comes for me, can I settle it by paying some extra money?”
“Damn it, I don’t even know if the money I brought is enough to pay it off!”
Hua Jiunan chuckled inwardly. Why try to be a hero with such little courage? Besides, filthy things wanted lives, not money.
Before long, everyone was fast asleep.
Only Hua Jiunan, preoccupied with thoughts of home, couldn’t fall asleep no matter what.
The school was built halfway up a mountain, surrounded by wilderness. It didn’t feel like much during the day, but at night, all sorts of strange cries rose and fell in succession.
Hua Jiunan tossed and turned in bed. When his ear brushed against the pillow, he suddenly felt that something was missing.
He reached out to check and found that his earring was gone!
Deaf Granny had told him that the earring was a very important item. He could not lose it under any circumstances!
Hua Jiunan hurriedly got out of bed, dressed, and went outside to search.
Fortunately, the school was simple; the student dormitories were a row of single-story houses, and there was no dormitory supervisor watching over them.
It was a rare windless night, and the weather was clear. The snow under the moonlight was a silvery white, so bright it was dazzling.
Since he hadn’t been anywhere else, Hua Jiunan headed straight for the back playground where they had worked during the day.
The earring, shimmering with a faint light, was exceptionally conspicuous against the white snow.
Hua Jiunan picked it up, put it back on, and let out a long sigh of relief.
Thankfully, it wasn’t lost!
After Hua Jiunan left, the originally silent back playground suddenly became lively. The sound of chirping discussions broke out.
There were men and women, young and old. But there were only voices; no shadows could be seen.
“What was that thing just now? The pressure was so suffocating!”
“It’s a good thing someone picked it up, or we would have been in trouble!”
“Sigh, dead for decades and the Underworld still won’t take us. When will this ever end?”
“My head was kicked away by a kid today. I’m definitely going to scare him later!”
“Forget it! We can’t withstand the clash of yang energy; our souls would be scattered!”
“Quiet down, everyone. The Daoist Master is here!”
Under the moonlight, a ghost dressed in Daoist robes rose from the ground. If he weren’t floating in the air, he would have looked no different from a living person.
He had a white beard and silver hair, with a face full of kindness. Not only was he not frightening at all, but he also emitted a calming aura.
The Daoist gazed silently in the direction Hua Jiunan had left, lost in thought.
After a long while, he began to recite the Scripture of the Supreme Unity Savior of Suffering and Distress for Salvation.
He did not stop until the rooster crowed at dawn.