"Here's a difficult problem, a huge life choice right in front of me. Could you give me some time to digest it?"
Chang Ye smiled. "Sure! You still have a chance to change your mind before you walk into the civil service exam hall."
"Have some tea. It's Tashan tea—not famous, and the hand-processed leaves don't look very pretty either, but it smells wonderful..." Lin Xiaosu raised his teacup toward Chang Ye.
Chang Ye took a light sip, her gaze drifting toward the silent mountain village outside. At this hour, though the village was quiet, the lights of countless homes were still glowing.
Chang Ye said, "There are quite a lot of people in this little mountain village of yours."
"That's probably the advantage of a suburban village. There's more or less enough work to support people here. Rural people don't actually ask for much. As long as they can survive, no one wants to run away. But the villages farther down are different. The young people have to leave to find work. On ordinary days, apart from three old men and a dog, you probably won't see anyone else. That's the helplessness of life. Their hometown can't accommodate their bodies, while a foreign land can't settle their souls..."
"The hometown can't accommodate their bodies, while a foreign land can't settle their souls... That's profound!" Chang Ye slowly turned her gaze toward him. "So over the next week, you'll be torn over whether your life should settle your body or settle your soul. Is that right?"
Lin Xiaosu smiled faintly. "There's a question I've always wanted to ask you."
"Ask."
"The weather's getting warmer. Aren't you uncomfortable, wrapped head to toe in a layer of human skin?"
Chang Ye stared at him, her eyes glittering.
Lin Xiaosu looked at her calmly.
Chang Ye sighed softly. "You're the first person to notice that I'm wearing human skin while I've been out in the world."
"If I hadn't noticed, would you have been a little disappointed? After all, I'm different from other people. The only thing I have to make a living with is probably these eyes."
"That's true." Chang Ye said, "It isn't that I deliberately hid my real appearance. I had no choice. I'm a Poisonous Person. If I didn't wear this skin and you accidentally touched my own, you would die."
Lin Xiaosu's heart jolted. "This is the other side of Gene Modification, isn't it?"
"Yes. Gene Modification breaks the laws of nature. If you gain something, you will inevitably lose something..."
"Xiaosu..."
His mother's voice came from downstairs.
Chang Ye lowered her voice. "Your mom?"
Lin Xiaosu nodded lightly.
"Should I make a run for it?"
"Run? She's already outside the door. Where are you going to run?"
"Then what do I do?" Chang Ye panicked and glanced at the window. There were iron bars outside it. Not exactly suitable for climbing out.
"Say you're my classmate."
"What if she mistakes me for your girlfriend and gives me a red envelope with ten thousand and one yuan in it?"
"In your dreams. She gave you ten thousand last time, and now you want it back?" Lin Xiaosu shot her a look and opened the door.
The moment the door opened, his mother's eyes went wide.
She had never expected him to be hiding a beauty in his room!
And not just any beauty, either. That face, that figure, that fiery charm...
"Hello, Auntie. I'm Xiaosu's classmate. I heard he was taking the civil service exam, so I came to see him..." Chang Ye smiled sweetly.
Wisps of cloud passed across his mother's face, turning into rosy sunset clouds. "That's wonderful! You haven't eaten yet, have you, dear? Auntie will cook for you two. You chat, you chat..."
She happily withdrew from the room and thoughtfully shut the door behind her.
A moment later, Lin Xiaosu's phone chimed with a text message. Chang Ye glanced over and saw the message from his mother: Should we give the girl a red envelope?
"Yes, yes! Ten thousand and one. One in ten thousand—that's lucky!" Chang Ye said.
"Your miserly behavior is dragging down your image a bit. Aren't you afraid it'll affect my decision?" Lin Xiaosu glared at her and replied with two words right in front of her: No need!
Still, that little farce brought them closer. Hidden Dragon, that mysterious organization so lofty it seemed unimaginable, suddenly appeared to have gained a touch of warmth.
Perhaps that had been Chang Ye's real purpose.
The next moment, Chang Ye and Lin Xiaosu went downstairs. His mother tried to keep her for quite a while, but Chang Ye insisted on returning to the city. His mother even told Lin Xiaosu to see her off. Chang Ye told her that she had driven there and parked at the bend in the road. Lin Xiaosu escorted her to that corner. Chang Ye smiled softly at him, tapped off the ground with her toes, and landed atop a tree. The branch sprang back, and she vanished without a trace.
This was the second time she had displayed her skills before Lin Xiaosu.
Truly thrilling. Perhaps she was using this method to tell him: Come on. Our group has endless wonders...
The next day was April 13.
As the sun set, cowbells rang through Old Tashan Village, crisp and melodious.
Lin Xiaosu made his way up the mountain path, listening to the crowing chickens, barking dogs, and warm bustle of ordinary life. A few emotions stirred in his heart.
The rural life his elders had talked about had already changed in his perception.
The sounds of chickens and dogs that generations had known so well had actually become a luxury in modern villages.
Only suburban villages still preserved that most primitive rural scene.
The villages farther down no longer had any young people.
There were only a few elderly people, leaning on oversized canes as they walked from one end of the village to the other. Once night fell, even the dogs stopped barking.
Some said the countryside was aging step by step toward death.
Others said this was progress, that urbanization was the direction of the future...
Lin Xiaosu had gone out into the city and come back again. To be honest, he quite enjoyed this kind of rural life, but the road ahead of him ultimately did not lie here...
Willow Forest Temple was quiet, as quiet as ever.
Second Uncle came out from inside. When he saw Lin Xiaosu, his eyes brightened slightly. "Don't tell me your Second Aunt is acting up again."
Lin Xiaosu shook his head lightly. "Second Uncle, do you have to wait until Second Aunt gets sick before you go home? Even ancient doctors knew that prevention mattered more than treatment."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean I'll keep watch tonight, and you can go home and spend time with Second Aunt."
Second Uncle looked at him with open suspicion. "I don't quite believe you brat suddenly became so considerate."
"Then I'll leave?"
Second Uncle's expression immediately came alive. "You're already here, so leave my ass! You're keeping watch tonight! But..."
"But what?"
"Tonight is another Astrological Shift Day. What exactly are you planning, kid?"
"Fine, fine, I'll be straight with you. I suspect Hu Ya's body is so strong because of the energy seeping through on Astrological Shift Days. So whenever there's an Astrological Shift Day, I come up the mountain. I want to try my luck at having that energy seep into me too."
"Now that's more like it!" Second Uncle's old face bloomed like a chrysanthemum. "That girl's physical condition isn't something ordinary people can handle. I'm very pleased that you have such thoughts, kid. Fine, Second Uncle will give you this opportunity. Get yourself a strong body so you can handle her..."
Having made his position clear, he reiterated the procedure to Lin Xiaosu, then happily headed down the mountain to meet Second Aunt for their magpie-bridge date.
Lin Xiaosu stood on the platform of Willow Forest Temple, rubbing his nose.
Second Uncle, wasn't that interpretation a little off?
It was true that he was seeking an opportunity, but he really had no intention of handling that girl of his.
Was handling his girl really that hard?
It wasn't as though he would fight her.
And there was a secret he didn't know whether he should mention. Personally, he felt that his girl had always been playing hard to get with him. As long as he used a few little tricks and took some forceful measures, he could make things thoroughly ambiguous with her...
The moon was bright and the stars sparse tonight. Azaleas dotted the mountain under the night sky.
Spring had passed, and the chirping birds and singing insects were perfectly suited to little creatures spending the night entwined together.
Lin Xiaosu sat on the platform, using his Heavenly Dao Insightful Eye to observe the spring scenery across the mountains. It was not merely the spring scenery of the season; there was truly spring scenery in the more suggestive sense as well. For instance, in the deep pool below the platform, he saw two frogs stacked one atop another. Their croaking probably amounted to the human equivalent of moaning and panting...
When he raised his gaze, the darkness of night seemed not to exist. With one look spanning ten miles, he saw the small river west of the village. Anna appeared right on schedule. Her husband truly worked hard—during the day, he carried vegetables with a shoulder pole; at night, he used that same pole to keep watch for his wife. Once Anna finished bathing, he would probably have to start work, laboring happily...
Chickens crowed, dogs barked, and the warmth of ordinary life rolled on, scene after scene, day after day...
"Hi!" Hu Ya's habitual call announced her arrival.
Her father went down the mountain, and she came up.
Her father accompanied her mother, while she came to accompany Lin Xiaosu.
That seemed to carry a certain special meaning, so Hu Ya's cheeks were a little flushed.
She had brought dinner, and it was quite a feast: meat, fish, and alcohol.
The meat was proper cured pork, the fish were small fish from the Yishui River, the vegetables were grown in her family's own fields, and the liquor was local strong baijiu, Chu Countryside Spring.
Hu Ya ate and drank with him. Although Lin Xiaosu did not drink much, she drank with great gusto. At least eight-tenths of the bottle went into her belly.
That drinking capacity...
"In a few days, you'll be taking the exam, right?" Hu Ya asked.
"Yeah. Six days."
"Can you really get in?"
"I don't know. My mom found a lot of powerful backers, but I have no idea whether they'll help."
"Tch! Didn't she just go looking for Guanyin Bodhisattva?" Hu Ya scoffed. "If that worked, I would've gone to college with you back then."
"No way. You prayed to Buddha back then too?"
"I didn't pray. My mom did. She dragged your mom along with her. Your mom prayed for you to get into a top-tier university, while my mom couldn't tell good universities from bad ones. When she made her wish, she pointed at your mom and told the Bodhisattva... Let my daughter be just like her son! The monks beside her nearly died laughing..."
Lin Xiaosu laughed.
Hu Ya looked a little dejected. "I strongly suspect the Bodhisattva at Qingyuan Temple misunderstood what she meant. My mom wanted me to be like you, but the Bodhisattva might have heard it as having the same physical fitness. She worked hard to build up my body, making me less and less like a woman..."
"Who said you aren't like a woman? I think you're quite like one..." Lin Xiaosu grabbed her hand and pointed here and there. "For example, here..."
His finger pressed down. Hu Ya suddenly shuddered. That touch seemed to have hit the right spot...
The atmosphere in the temple became a little strange.
Hu Ya slowly rolled her eyes. "You really want to make a move on me?"
"I just wanted to correct your way of thinking, so you won't keep believing you aren't like a woman. It was purely out of kindness."
"We're so familiar with each other. Aren't you embarrassed to make a move?"
"What obstacle is there? Your dad and mom are even more familiar with each other than we are. Why don't you ask your dad whether he's embarrassed to make a move on your mom..."
"That does seem to make some sense... Want to try it?"
Lin Xiaosu became excited...
Hu Ya sprang to her feet. "My god, your eyes have turned green. I'm leaving!"
The moment was interrupted once again, and they returned to idle chatter. Amid their casual banter, the moon rose high overhead.
Tonight was April 13. The moon was already nearly full, making the solar lamps in the temple seem to lose some of their brightness.
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