Outside stood three thatched cottages and an old man whose teeth had nearly all fallen out. He looked ready to be buried at any moment.
Meng Chuan led Chen Nan toward him. A glimmer seemed to flash deep in the old man's Zhuo eyes, then vanished.
"Sir," Chen Nan called to him.
"Wa bi ba bu," the old man said. Chen Nan looked baffled. He couldn't understand a word.
Had the language changed in ten thousand years too? Chen Nan suddenly wondered, glancing at the handsome ghost beside him.
He understands me, and I understand him. Is he a ghost from ten thousand years ago?
"This gentleman said, 'Who are you calling old, you little brat?'"
Meng Chuan stepped in as interpreter at just the right moment.
"..." Chen Nan's head filled with question marks.
What are you talking about? You're a ghost from ten thousand years ago, yet you understand today's language? And the old man clearly said three words. How did you turn them into fifteen?
Then Meng Chuan looked at the old man and translated Chen Nan's words for him.
"The kid says, 'Hello, sir! You look remarkably hale and hearty!'"
Hearing that, Chen Nan suddenly wanted to beat this ghost up. I can understand everything you say. Why the hell are you translating for me?
He looked at the old man again. The man looked as though he might tumble into the grave Chen Nan had just crawled out of at any second. How could you call him hale and hearty?
"Yi gu bi gu," the old man said. Chen Nan still couldn't understand him. Meng Chuan thought the poor fellow deserved some pity: he couldn't even understand human speech anymore.
"The gentleman says you have a good eye, young man. He asks whether you'd like