Chapter 35
Chapter 35
During labor duty the next day, they really did dig up even more bones from the dead.
The teacher gathered them into a pile and burned them in one go.
Chen Daji was terrified the skull he’d kicked away would come to him at night to settle the score.
So he climbed over the wall, tucked it into his shirt, and brought it back.
Unfortunately, when he climbed back over, he landed face-first-an absolutely classic faceplant.
Not only was his mouth full of blood, the skull in his arms was crushed to pieces under him.
Chen Daji looked like he was about to cry. He asked Hua Jiunan miserably,
“Old Jiu… even if I return it and make amends, the one I smashed up like this won’t forgive me, will he?”
That was a question Hua Jiunan really couldn’t answer.
He hesitated for a long time before finally saying, “I honestly don’t know.”
“Or… or tonight I can help you ask him directly?”
Chen Daji froze, then wiped his blood as he laughed and cursed, “Old Jiu, you little punk, stop trying to scare me. I don’t believe you can do Guoyin.”
Guoyin was a northern saying.
It meant having the ability to travel to the underworld and communicate with the dead.
What Chen Daji didn’t know yet was that Hua Jiunan really couldn’t do Guoyin… but he could see ghosts.
Hu Wa, listening from the side, leaned in mysteriously.
“Brother Daji, you don’t know? Jiunan’s grandma is a spirit medium disciple. She’s amazing!”
“Our village has had filthy things show up more than once, and every time, she was the one who cleaned it up!”
Hu Wa paused, then continued with lingering fear, “There was one time Brother Jiunan and I were hurrying along the road at night to the town to buy medicine, and we got latched onto by filthy things.”
“If Brother Jiunan hadn’t grabbed me and run, I would’ve been eaten!”
Chen Daji’s interest shot through the roof. He didn’t even bother wiping the blood at the corner of his mouth anymore.
“Seriously? Seriously? Hurry up and tell me!”
Hu Wa had just opened his mouth when Hua Jiunan cut him off.
In this day and age, who still believed in monsters and demons and all that supernatural stuff?
Hua Jiunan didn’t want people treating him like some kind of oddball.
Hu Wa was afraid Hua Jiunan would get mad, so he shrank back and stopped talking.
But Chen Daji had a hide as thick as a wall. He kept pestering Hua Jiunan, insisting he tell him something.
Hua Jiunan had no choice but to share a few stories-things he’d heard about Old Li dealing with the unseen.
He had no idea those stories would leave a deep mark on Chen Daji.
In the future, Chen Daji wouldn’t go down any heroic, fight-your-way-through-life path like the ones in those stories, but he would become an outstanding people’s police officer.
Time flew by.
In the blink of an eye, it was Friday.
The six boys in the dorm had long since gotten used to each other.
That night, Chen Daji suggested they all have a drink together.
“We can sleep in tomorrow anyway. Once we wake up, we can head straight home.”
“Sure, sure!” Hu Wa was the first to agree.
“One time I secretly drank my dad’s liquor. Afterward I got all woozy-felt comfortable as hell.”
Boys of fifteen or sixteen were curious about everything and wanted to try it all.
They thought of themselves as grown men-real men.
And if they were real men, then naturally they couldn’t let anyone look down on them.
So what if they drank a little?
Chen Daji paid for it.
They picked three of them to go buy beer at the school’s little shop.
Those guys were smart: to keep teachers from catching them on the way, they brought thermoses.
After buying the beer, they poured it straight into the thermoses and carried it back.
Everything went smoothly.
Back in the dorm, they poured the beer into their rice bowls.
One sip of beer, one bite of spicy strips.
After a few bowls, the atmosphere gradually warmed up.
Someone suggested that since they were all in the same dorm, they should swear brotherhood.
They were already buzzed, so they all agreed.
Hua Jiunan, with the best grades, was chosen as the Big Brother.
Chen Daji, with the most money, became the Second Brother.
The other four, though-none of them accepted the others. Every one of them wanted to be the Third Brother.
Honestly, to a guy, “Third Brother” sounded way better than “Second Brother.”
When they couldn’t settle it, Hu Wa suggested a contest of guts:
They’d go together to the back playground and dig up dead people’s bones.
Whoever dug up the most would be the Third Brother!
They were young, and they were half-drunk-who was afraid of who?
So the four of them walked off toward the back playground with their arms slung over each other’s shoulders.
Hua Jiunan still had a shred of sobriety left.
He vaguely felt this would bring trouble and wanted to stop them.
But Chen Daji grabbed him.
That guy was so drunk his tongue felt thick.
“B-B-Big Brother! Don’t worry about them!”
“A few days ago I kicked a skull like it was a ball, didn’t I? Nothing happened!”
“A-A-And even if something does happen, worst case I’ll pay compensation, alright?”
“My dad said as long as I don’t beat up the principal, he can smooth over anything I do!”
Hua Jiunan was already dizzy himself. With Chen Daji talking like that, he stopped trying to intervene.
He simply took off his clothes, climbed onto his bunk, and fell fast asleep.
Chen Daji muttered to himself for a bit longer, and when Hua Jiunan still didn’t respond, he soon fell asleep too.