The Mysterious Package

Those pants were clearly ruined. Luckily, San Gou had brought a change of clothes.

He still looked a little reluctant to let them go.

"Come on, come on. Shouldn't you be glad you're okay?"

San Gou grimaced. "My dad bought those pants especially for me over the New Year."

"Just ask Uncle San to buy you another pair."

"Who knows what year that'll happen." San Gou clearly didn't have much faith in his father.

Just then, Jiang Yue's phone rang.

"Jiang Yue? You've got a package. I'm coming to your building now. Sorry to trouble you, but could you come down and get it?"

A package?

Jiang Yue rarely shopped online. Whenever the family needed something, his older sister, Jiang Ying, usually took care of it. She did shop online, but always used her own name and phone number, and usually had things sent to her workplace.

When he went downstairs, the courier had just arrived.

The package felt very light, almost weightless. Jiang Yue guessed it was probably some documents or advertising flyers.

But who was so bored they'd send advertising flyers by courier?

Jiang Yue stepped into the elevator and casually tore open the package. A strip of paper, three fingers wide, slipped out.

More accurately, it couldn't really be called a strip of paper. It was a slightly textured piece of yellow talisman paper, covered in strange symbols. Every stroke seemed to hold some deeper meaning.

Things like this were pretty common in the countryside.

They were clearly the paper talismans many rural families hung outside their homes or stuck to their doors to ward off evil and avert disaster.

But unlike the crude talismans found in the countryside, this one seemed to hold some inexplicable mystery. It felt weightless in his palm, yet somehow seemed to contain something more.

Like a genuine piece of jade placed beside a common stone, the difference in quality was immediately apparent.

It didn't even need the stone for comparison. Its unique character was obvious to anyone who wasn't blind.

"There's writing on the back, too. Villa No. 9, Daozi Lane, Elm Street."

Holding the talisman, Jiang Yue felt a little uneasy.

Luckily, there was no one else in the elevator. Otherwise, they might have gotten the wrong idea.

Fortune-tellers didn't exactly have a good reputation.

Especially young fortune-tellers.

As Jiang Yue stood there, stunned, something strange happened.

A faint golden glow suddenly spread across the surface of the talisman. As though driven by some strange force, the talisman slowly rose into the air.

The pale golden glow curled gently around it, and the talisman suddenly dissolved into mist, fading away bit by bit. The symbols on it seemed to pass through the skin of Jiang Yue's palm and seep into his flesh, becoming a mark in his hand.

In an instant, an absurd, indescribable feeling welled up in both his body and mind.

His whole body shuddered, as if both his body and soul had been electrocuted.

For a moment, Jiang Yue seemed to enter a strange world—or perhaps a strange world had entered his body.

Ding!

The elevator's arrival chime rang out, a clear reminder that this was the real world.

When he looked at his palm, the mark had already disappeared.

Yet for no apparent reason, the talisman lingered in his mind, with a few words floating above it:

24 hours.

Jiang Yue was shocked. What was going on?

The words remained in his mind for only a few seconds before vanishing.

After that, no matter how much Jiang Yue prodded or fussed over it, there was no further reaction.

The whole series of events had happened so suddenly that Jiang Yue stood frozen by the door for quite a while, unable to make sense of any of it.

In the end, he could only calm himself down and go inside.

San Gou, who was never one to dwell on things, had already forgotten all about his pants. He sat cross-legged on the sofa, holding the remote in one hand and potato chips in the other, happily watching a variety show called Sailing High, Little Sisters.

You needed a bit of life experience to really get into the show.

As far as Jiang Yue could tell, San Gou certainly didn't have any life experience.

He was probably focused on the young women's thighs and all that pale, white flesh.

Being able to laugh so carefree and foolishly, like San Gou, was its own kind of happiness.

Jiang Yue didn't want to spoil San Gou's happiness, so he decided not to tell him about the package.

He checked the package again. There was nothing else inside. In other words, whoever had sent it had mailed him nothing but a strange paper talisman.

What kind of bizarre stunt was this?

He checked the sender information. There was none!

That was a pretty wild move. Who sent something without leaving a name or address?

Weren't courier services pretty reliable these days? How could they be so careless?

Jiang Yue took out his phone and looked up the tracking number.

The result said no such number existed!

If he couldn't even find the tracking number, calling the courier company probably wouldn't get him any answers. That was about where the trail ended, and it would be hard to pick it up again.

If he wanted to solve the mystery, he'd probably have to...

Villa No. 9, Daozi Lane, Elm Street.

Jiang Yue silently memorized the address.

He knew Elm Street. It was one of Star City's top three commercial districts.

But Villa No. 9, Daozi Lane was way beyond the experience of a kid from an ordinary family living in an apartment building.

What puzzled him even more were those words.

24 hours?

What did they mean? Were they revealing a clue or warning him of some kind of danger?

Or was he supposed to go to Villa No. 9, Daozi Lane within 24 hours?

"Second Brother, what was that package?" San Gou asked casually.

"Advertising flyers." Jiang Yue answered just as casually.

"Who's got money to burn on that? They're no good for wiping your ass, either. They'd chafe. And they still paid to send them by courier?" San Gou scoffed.

Jiang Yue didn't respond.

It was already past twelve-thirty. There wasn't enough time to go out, buy groceries, and cook.

Jiang Yue went into the kitchen and made two bowls of noodles. He ate them with the snacks and braised food his aunt had stuffed into his bag, and they hit the spot.

One bowl of noodles was enough to make San Gou very satisfied with life in the city.

"Second Brother, why don't you let me stay in the city? I really don't want to go back to town."

"Are you asking for a beating?"

"Second Brother, hear me out. If you take me in, I'll work like a horse for you from now on." San Gou shamelessly pressed his case.

"I'm not used to making kids work. Go back to town and study properly."

"You might as well kill me. Just looking at books gives me a headache. I can't tell whether I'm reading them or they're reading me."

"Why don't you say that to Big Sis later?" Jiang Yue asked with a faint smile.

"Please, no..." At the words "Big Sis," San Gou's face went green.

San Gou's big sister was Jiang Yue's own older sister. She was three years older than Jiang Yue and had left school two years ago, after the family's circumstances changed, to enter the workforce. She now worked at a real estate agency.

San Gou was fearless and reckless, but he was terrified of Big Sis.

If their aunt could barely be called a strong woman, Big Sis was a strong woman plus.

The women of the Old Jiang Family had inherited the same fierce streak: they had a grit that rivaled any man's.

Their aunt's toughness mostly came out in her words. Once she got going, she never let up.

Big Sis, on the other hand, usually kept a low profile. But if you really made her angry, she'd actually beat you up.

San Gou had never been beaten by his own father, their aunt, or even Jiang Yue, but Big Sis had given him a thorough beating.

San Gou was a troublemaker at school, but Big Sis usually didn't get involved.

The time she did beat him, it was because San Gou had gone too far.

For some reason, he'd put a snake in a female classmate's schoolbag. The poor girl had been so scared that she wet herself on the spot, spent several days in the hospital, and nearly suffered a mental breakdown.

Their aunt had to look after her in the hospital for days, cleaning up after her and losing sleep.

When Big Sis got the call, she immediately dropped what she was doing, borrowed a colleague's car, and drove over a hundred miles to the school in town.

She even picked a switch along the way. As soon as she parked, she chased San Gou all around the school, beating him until he rolled on the ground and begged for mercy.

After seeing it with their own eyes, the girl's parents were too embarrassed to keep making a fuss. In the end, they accepted some compensation, and that settled it.

San Gou never stopped being a troublemaker, but at least after that he learned what it meant to cross a line. From then on, he both respected and feared Big Sis.

If he told Big Sis he wanted to quit school, who knew if she'd give him another beating?

The Jiang family had strict rules. Older siblings disciplining younger ones was only natural, and beating them was perfectly justified.

At the mention of Big Sis, San Gou fell quiet too, eating his noodles distractedly.

As they were eating, Jiang Yue's phone rang again.

"Hello? Li Yue?" The call caught him by surprise. It was his school deskmate, Li Yue. She was so shy that she'd blush even when she looked someone in the eye. As far as he could remember, this was the first time she'd ever called him.

"It... it's me..."

"Are... are you okay?" Li Yue stammered.

"Huh? I'm fine. I'm having lunch." Even over the phone, Jiang Yue could sense how nervous Li Yue was.

"Oh, then never mind. Beep, beep, beep..."

Jiang Yue stared blankly at his phone. That call had come out of nowhere and made no sense.

Li Yue had actually called him! That was rare. Jiang Yue had assumed something major had happened. But she'd only said those two sentences, then hung up?

To put it in slightly crude terms, it was like taking your pants off just to see that?

Ding!

A WeChat notification popped up on the screen.

It was from Li Yue.

"I just saw the news on my phone. A landslide near Mount Dajin buried a bus. I was worried you were on it."

Jiang Yue understood. All right, that made sense.

His deskmate really did have a good heart.

But that had happened yesterday. How long was her reaction time?

Maybe she'd only just seen the news? How focused was she on studying? Was she working that hard even during the holiday?

"I'm fine. I caught a ride back to the city this morning. Thanks for caring, deskmate."

He sent the message, put his phone down, and went back to his noodles.

San Gou slurped his noodles with a strange grin on his face, staring at Jiang Yue.

"What? Can't eat?"

"Not bad, Second Brother. You're pretty good at acting. Didn't even blush."

"What's wrong with you? Why would I blush out of nowhere?"

"Heh heh. Your girlfriend?"

Pfft!

Jiang Yue nearly spat out the noodles he'd just taken into his mouth. The kid hadn't even grown hair in all the right places, and he was already trying to act like a ladies' man?

San Gou got even more excited. He slapped his chopsticks on the table. "See? That's what a guilty conscience looks like. Second Brother, tell me what my future sister-in-law looks like. Is her skin fair? Does she have a big butt?"

Jiang Yue looked at his bowl, then at San Gou's forehead.

"San Gou, believe me, I'll dump this whole bowl of noodles on your head."

"A gentleman uses words, not fists. You can't pick on someone smaller than you." San Gou scooted his butt back, keeping a safe distance.

"You little brat. Looks like I'd better send you back soon."

"If you send me back, I'll tell Big Sis you sneak cigarettes." San Gou grinned mischievously.

"Even if you tell Big Sis, it won't matter..."

All right!

Actually, it would matter.

Jiang Yue gave in.

He really couldn't let his sister find out. Otherwise, if she went berserk and turned into a demon, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Jiang Yue wasn't much of a smoker. He could even say he wasn't addicted at all. He only had one from time to time because something was weighing on his mind.

You'd think a student wouldn't have much to worry about besides school.

But it was exactly the opposite. Jiang Yue had never been bothered by his studies. His parents had both disappeared, but they were highly educated, and their genes were still strong.

That was especially obvious in Jiang Yue.

Ever since he was little, Jiang Yue had had one remarkable ability: he never forgot anything he'd seen.

From kindergarten to the present, he'd breezed through school like a cheat code.

Other people succeeded through one percent talent and ninety-nine percent hard work.

When it came to Jiang Yue's academic achievements, it was one percent hard work and ninety-nine percent talent.

From childhood to adulthood, he'd never met a single opponent in school who could keep up with him.

He was clearly heaven's favorite in that regard.

His worries came from his family.

His mother had vanished under mysterious circumstances, and his father had left home without explanation.

Anyone Jiang Yue's age would have found that hard to bear.

All these years, Jiang Yue had never confided in anyone or let the slightest hint of negative emotion show in front of others.

But deep in his heart, there was always a knot that the sunlight could never reach.

Everyone thought he'd accepted his fate long ago, but—

Jiang Yue had never, ever accepted it.