Green Crab

Even Song Zhou ate with great enjoyment.

Lu Ao had not expected him to be so down-to-earth and was briefly surprised.

Seeing him stare, Song Zhou smiled again. "What are you looking at me for?"

Lu Ao shook his head. "Drink."

"It's been a long time since I last had a late-night meal and beer. I have you to thank for treating me today."

"If you like it, come again next time."

"Alright, I'll remember that." Song Zhou raised his beer can and lightly clinked it against his. "I offended you quite a bit a few days ago. Please forgive me."

"It's fine."

The two of them cleared the entire table of food. Lu Ao lazily leaned back in his chair, not particularly wanting to move.

Song Zhou, on the other hand, was fine. Despite eating so much, he remained as calm and unruffled as when he had arrived.

Lu Ao could not help asking curiously, "Is Mr. Song human?"

Song Zhou shook his head. "No."

Seeing how swiftly he denied it, Lu Ao found it awkward to press further for fear of being rude.

Song Zhou looked at him leisurely. "Aren't you going to guess what my true form is?"

Chapter 14: Green Crab

Lu Ao looked at Song Zhou.

Song Zhou generously let him look, amusement in his eyes.

Lu Ao looked for quite a while, feeling rather bewildered, before slowly turning his head back.

To be honest, he had still been an ordinary human just last month. He had no idea what true forms these nonhumans had.

Perhaps Lu Ao's expression was too confused, completely at odds with his usual temperament.

Song Zhou laughed for a while, then stopped teasing him. "It's Song Zhou."

"Hm?"

Song Zhou said, "My true form is Song Zhou."

Lu Ao was stunned for a moment before suddenly understanding. "Song Zhou, as in Central Prefecture, Min Prefecture, and Song Zhou?"

For most dynasties in China's history, administrative regions had been divided into prefectures. Now, more than two hundred years after the founding of New China, those old prefectural systems had completely faded into history.

Song Zhou nodded, his eyes full of amusement. "You catch on quickly. But there is only one Song Zhou—no Central Prefecture, Min Prefecture, Lian Prefecture, or any other prefectures."

Lu Ao's eyes widened slightly. So Song Zhou's true form was an entire stretch of land? And only this one piece of land had become sentient?!

Song Zhou did not seem inclined to say more. He glanced at the sky. "It's too late. I should go back now."

Lu Ao came back to himself and stood up. "I'll see you out."

"No need. I'm leaving now." Song Zhou rose and walked toward the courtyard gate. Once outside, he paused and smiled at Lu Ao. "Goodbye."

Lu Ao waved somewhat awkwardly. "Goodbye."

Song Zhou's figure faded and soon vanished, like wisps of cloud dispersing into the air.

Lu Ao stared at where Song Zhou had been standing, feeling strangely lost.

After a long while, he took the dishes back inside, washed them clean, put them into the sterilizing cabinet to dry, then returned to his room to shower.

Even after returning to his room, Song Zhou remained on his mind.

It was normally time for him to sleep, yet he could not fall asleep at all that night. He simply opened the website Song Zhou had sent him earlier, logged onto the forum, and searched for Song Zhou's name.

There was only one post related to Song Zhou on the forum. It merely mentioned in passing that the person in charge of the China branch of the Anomalous Personnel Affairs Regulatory Agency was Song Zhou.

Other than that, he could find no further information.

He backed out and searched the entire internet instead.

The first result was Song Zhou's encyclopedia entry.

Song Zhou, abbreviated as "Song," an ancient Chinese region, prefectural seat: Lingmian Prefecture.

What followed was an extremely comprehensive introduction to Song Zhou as an ancient place name.

Lu Ao still found it hard to imagine that such a vast region could have taken human form.

Lu Ao spent the entire night thinking about Song Zhou and only fell asleep very late. The next day, he woke early again to fish.

His fishing skills were average, and so was his catch. Distracted all morning, he caught only a few fish and did not deliver them to the market to sell until nearly nine.

He happened to run into Lin Gongshang at the market.

The moment Lin Gongshang saw the dark circles under his eyes, he was startled. The cigarette dangling from his mouth nearly fell. "Fuck, what did you do last night? You look completely drained."

Lu Ao glanced at him.

Lin Gongshang chuckled, bumping him with his shoulder and lowering his voice. "Don't tell me you watched too many porn flicks? Too much jerking off will kill you, you know."

Lu Ao had no desire whatsoever to discuss such filthy nonsense with him and changed the subject. "Why are you here so early? How many fish did you catch this morning?"

Lin Gongshang looked disgruntled. "Not many. The tide was bad this morning, and the water was too murky."

Then he asked, "What about you? How many fish did you catch?"

Lu Ao looked at him expressionlessly and gave a number. "Twenty-six jin."

Lin Gongshang was instantly green with envy, his eyes sweeping over Lu Ao again and again. "Twenty-six jin? You must have made at least four hundred yuan, right?"

"Three hundred sixty."

"Three hundred sixty is still a lot. We didn't make any money at all this morning." Lin Gongshang suppressed the sourness in his heart and consoled himself. "Forget it. I can't compare myself to someone like you. We're planning to dig for green crabs later. Are you coming?"

Lu Ao had originally planned to buy geese, but hearing this, he paused and asked, "Where are you going to dig?"

"By the river, I guess."

Chongxin Village was a large village, and only one river ran through it. Whether people from Lin Family Village or Lu Family Village mentioned the river, they meant the same one.

Lu Ao nodded. "Alright. When are we leaving?"

"Ten, they said." Lin Gongshang took out his phone and checked it. "Soon. We'll gather at Brother Zhang's place, then head out once everyone's there."

"I'll go over after breakfast."

"Alright, then I'm heading back first too. Hurry up."

Lu Ao answered.

By the time Lu Ao put away his things and rode over to Lin Manzhang's house with his bucket and other supplies, everyone else had already arrived, including Lin Qiyan. They were all drinking tea.

When they saw Lu Ao, everyone greeted him.

Lin Manzhang smiled and poured him a cup of tea. "Have some tea first. We'll be leaving soon."

Lu Ao did not stand on ceremony. He sat down, picked up the slightly hot tea, and took a sip. The faint bitterness slid down from the tip of his tongue, followed by a rich fragrance that spread through his mouth.

He narrowed his eyes contentedly.