"": 200,
"": "",
"": "Footsteps drew closer, and Luo Bin immediately gathered his thoughts.
To his surprise, it was Gu Ya. She stopped outside the door with a food carrier in her hand.
"Xiao Shan! Mom couldn't sleep all night. Thank goodness you're all right. Come here, let me look at you." Gu Ya's eyes were red as she examined Luo Bin from head to toe.
"Mom, what could happen to me? I've been doing what the Village Chief told me." Luo Bin smiled, keeping his tone light.
"I told you Xiao Shan would be fine." Luo Feng approached from behind and stopped beside Gu Ya, his voice easygoing.
"One of the Outsiders died?" His gaze fell on the concrete road. The bloodstains remained; the Village Chief had only removed the body, not cleaned up the pooled blood. Then Luo Feng glanced into the temple.
"Yes, the driver's dead." Luo Bin nodded.
Gu Ya walked over to the table and set down the food carrier. "Eat first. I made your favorites."
"Okay." Luo Bin had barely sat down when
Gu Ya brought out a large bowl of steamed egg custard and a plate of fragrant stir-fried shredded potatoes.
Luo Bin's smile stiffened. His entire face froze.
In his previous life, his favorite foods had also been steamed egg custard and shredded potatoes.
He remembered when his mother had developed dementia. She had forgotten everyone, no longer recognizing a single person. But she hadn't wandered off. Instead, she had stayed in their country home, raising chickens and growing potatoes.
Every day, she had called Luo Bin to ask when he would get off work, telling him she had made egg custard and stir-fried potatoes for him.
But life had been hard. Luo Bin had worked in a big city a thousand miles away. He had little time each day to answer her calls, and the number of times he went home in a year could be counted on one hand.
After he became paralyzed, his father had taken him everywhere seeking treatment, leaving them no choice but to hire someone else to look after his mother.
Then one day, his mother had run out of the house, saying she was going to take her son his food. A truck had hit and killed her. Egg custard and shredded potatoes had mixed with her blood, scattered all over the ground.
Luo Bin cried. Tears ran into the corners of his mouth.
So bitter. So salty.
"Mom..." That single word was choked with grief.
"Mom's here. I'm right here. Xiao Shan, why are you crying?" Gu Ya panicked and hurried to wipe away his tears.
Through his tear-blurred eyes, Gu Ya's face seemed to fade into another.
Kind, gentle, warm, and touched by age.
Time wore so many things thin, but a mother's love only grew deeper.
Luo Bin looked utterly lost, sobbing too hard to speak.
"Mom, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"Your son has failed you. I've never once let you rest easy."
Gu Ya frantically wiped his tears, a sudden ache rising in her heart. She cradled Luo Bin's head, and soon her own eyes filled with tears.
"Don't cry. Xiao Shan, don't cry. I know someone died here yesterday. Making you see things like that is too cruel. I'll have your dad speak to the Village Chief right now. We're not guarding these Outsiders anymore!"
She turned and glared at Luo Feng.
Luo Feng's brows knitted tightly. "That isn't a good decision."
At last, Luo Bin barely managed to regain his senses.
The woman before him wasn't his mother. She was Gu Ya.
The disappointment weighed heavily on him, his chest aching with it.
He said quietly, "Mom, I'm fine. I just suddenly felt awful. Go home with Dad."
Gu Ya said nothing, still staring at Luo Feng.
A woman might be weak, but a mother was strong. Her stance was unyielding.
"I'll go speak to the Village Chief now." Luo Feng gave in.
"Dad, don't." Luo Bin hurriedly shook his head and stood. "The lamp oil is normal. I was just worried I wouldn't have time when darkness fell, so I lit it a little early. As long as the Village Chief doesn't mind that, I can clear myself of suspicion. Don't lose sight of the bigger picture over something small. It's just a dead person. Haven't enough people died in this village? I'm not scared."
Luo Feng held Luo Bin's gaze. "Lighting the lamp early isn't a problem. If the Village Chief had objected, he would have taken you away already. The problem is at our house. There's still less lamp oil than there should be. The Village Chief will stay tonight to observe."
Luo Bin's heart tightened.
The lamp oil at home had decreased?
That wasn't right.
There had been over a dozen Evil Spirits outside the window the night before last, but the lamp hadn't used any extra oil! He had drunk it all himself!
He hadn't even been home. How could there be less oil?
"An indulgent mother spoils her son. He's finally showing some sense. You can't hold him back and let people keep gossiping about him." Luo Feng turned to Gu Ya again.
Gu Ya fell silent.
After Luo Bin repeatedly assured her that he was fine, Gu Ya finally left with Luo Feng.
Only after the two had gone far away did Luo Bin let out a heavy breath. He could think of just one possibility: Luo Feng had tampered with the lamp oil. Had he taken the opportunity to hide some more?
But under these circumstances, wasn't Luo Feng afraid of getting himself burned?
Suddenly, a series of unusual noises came from the Mountain God Temple, along with angry shouts and curses.
Luo Bin snapped to attention and ran toward the Mountain God Temple across the road.
On the ground, Zhang Li had been kicked into a heap, blood at the corner of his mouth.
Zhu Qianqian hid behind the mountain god statue, frightened and at a loss.
Gu Yiren sat with her knees hugged to her chest, leaning against a pillar with her head lowered. Her cheeks were red from being pinched.
Before them stood a man around thirty, burly and fat, nearly six feet tall.
He had a round face, small eyes, and freckles. Plain-looking, he kept eyeing the two women with ill intent.
Zhang Li had only just propped himself up when,
with a flying kick, the man sent him hurtling toward the entrance of the Mountain God Temple.
"What are you doing?" Luo Bin had just stepped inside. His expression changed sharply as he shouted.
The Village Chief's first requirement had been that no one be allowed to contact or take away the Outsiders.
He had only been distracted for a moment, and a villager had already come in and attacked someone?
"Luo Shan." The fat man beamed, his eyes squeezing into slits. "You gave your big brother a fright."
Luo Bin's heart stirred. This fat man knew the original owner of his body?
In an instant, he worked out part of the situation and smiled back. "Bro, you scared me too. I was wondering who it was. The Village Chief gave me strict orders not to let anyone else into the Mountain God Temple. You're putting me in a difficult spot."
"The Village Chief can say what he likes. You can just pretend you didn't see me come in, right?" the fat man said solemnly. "That fellow who died yesterday had it pretty rough. It's been ages since the Evil Spirits ate someone's brain clean out. Anyway, once the Outsiders have been in the village for three days, they can settle here. There's no problem with me taking these two in ahead of time, is there? Otherwise, I doubt they'll survive."
"Tell me, Luo Shan, nobody else dares get involved with the Outsiders, but I do. Doesn't that make me kindhearted?" His face was full of teasing amusement, and he even looked rather pleased with himself.
Zhang Li's face turned ashen.
When the fat man first came in, he had gone straight over to pinch Gu Yiren's face.
Zhang Li had gotten angry. Then, merely for showing that anger, he had been knocked to the ground.
He had thought the man guarding the Mountain God Temple had come in, and would at least drive this thug away.
He had never imagined the two were in league.
"Extremely kindhearted," Luo Bin answered with a nod.
"Exactly. I'm a good man! Pretty boy, what are you getting so angry about? Let me tell you, women and children are the biggest trouble in this village. They're the easiest for Evil Spirits to deceive."
"I'll help you look after them. You'll have an easier time surviving."
The fat man walked straight toward Gu Yiren and reached for her arm.
Zhang Li's eyes reddened as he tried to push himself up.
Luo Bin took two quick steps forward and seized the fat man's shoulder first.
The instant the fat man turned his head in surprise, Luo
Bin drove his right knee sharply upward.
Something ruptured without a sound. The fat man's face twisted grotesquely.
Luo Bin clenched his fist and swung hard.
The fat man crashed to the ground, one hand clutching his crotch and the other his nose, squealing like a pig being slaughtered.
Luo Bin rubbed his knee, then shook out his hand.
Zhang Li stood frozen, stunned and bewildered.
Then the fat man struggled to get up, spewing curses about being crazy and getting fucked.
Luo Bin kicked him hard in the lower abdomen. He screamed again and fell back down.
Luo Bin barked coldly, "The Village Chief's word is the rule. You're telling me to ignore his orders. Am I crazy, or are you?"
"What exactly are you going to fuck? I'll tell the Village Chief every last detail of your handiwork."
The fat man's expression changed again.
He was furious, but even more frightened. His small eyes widened into circles.
He couldn't understand it. Luo Shan usually trailed after him, calling him "bro" at every turn. Why had his personality suddenly changed?
Maybe... the Village Chief had been too strict? So Luo Shan didn't dare listen to him?
Yes, that had to be it!
Luo Bin watched him coldly.
If it had been someone else, like Luo Feng or the Village Chief, he certainly wouldn't have dared say much. The more he said, the more mistakes he would make.
But birds of a feather flocked together. The original owner had been a useless good-for-nothing. How many decent friends could he have had?
Someone who lusted after women and preyed on their helplessness was even worse. Taking this chance to draw a clear line between them was the best solution.
Just then, the fat man stood, clutching his crotch, and grimaced as he headed out of the Mountain God Temple.
At the doorway, he stopped and turned back. "Luo Shan, I didn't think things through today. I shouldn't have made you cross the Village Chief. I won't hold it against you."
"Ow..." The fat man tugged at his crotch again, then hurried away.
Luo Bin froze. He had beaten the man, and somehow beaten a sense of loyalty into him?
The man didn't feel betrayed?
Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the woman with the tear mole crouching on the floor.
Their earlier exchange of looks flashed through Luo Bin's mind again. His heart thudded, sweeping away some of his tangled thoughts.
How could she help him?
Before you continue