When Fatty saw my expression change, he asked in surprise:
"What's wrong, buddy?"
I asked nervously, "Did the old lady say anything to you after she picked up her basket?"
"Not much. I saw she had trouble walking, so I helped her off the bus. She just said I was a good person!"
Fatty even gave a bashful smile after saying that.
I shot him a contemptuous look, thinking, What the hell are you so pleased about? You don't even know whether that old lady's human or a ghost!
Fatty might have been dim-witted, but he was genuinely kind at heart. In this society where people were as insignificant as dust, good people like him really were rare.
Now that he had driven the bus and carried the old lady, he was basically like me, bound to the last Route 13 bus by some unseen force.
I figured I would find a suitable opportunity to explain things to him.
The rest of the night passed without incident.
Early the next morning, Old Wu posted an announcement in the group chat.
Our branch had been named an outstanding collective in the citywide performance awards, and several drivers had been named outstanding individuals, each receiving a 500-yuan bonus.
The news brought me no joy.
It wasn't that I lacked a sense of collective pride. It was that the outstanding individuals were all fat-faced drivers with cushy jobs.
I drove every night, putting my life on the line, yet because I was a fool who didn't say much, I didn't even get a word of praise.
That was society's mockery of honest people.
Naturally, the drivers who had won were delighted, and they started furiously kissing ass in the group chat.
"It's all thanks to Brother Wu's excellent leadership! Half this honor belongs to me, and half belongs to you!"
"Only one team in the whole city gets named outstanding collective each quarter. Brother Wu's leadership skills really give Jack Ma a run for his money!"
Gave Jack Ma a run for his money?
That bit of flattery nearly made me laugh my teeth out.
A boss who did nothing all day but drink tea and listen to the radio was now being flattered into the same league as the richest man in the country.
Old Wu might have felt a little embarrassed too. Finally, amid all the ass-kissing, he replied:
"Oh, Liu Sheng, you're going too far. I couldn't compare with Jack Ma!"
At first, I thought Old Wu still had some shame, but then he followed it up with:
"I'd be about on par with Liu Qiangdong, though!"
I had no words left for these shameless people. I just wanted to get away from them.
I was about to toss my phone aside when I saw someone suggest a big group dinner to celebrate.
Old Wu enjoyed eating and drinking too, so he immediately agreed. In the end, they settled on a group barbecue in the company courtyard that night.
I had absolutely no interest in eating and drinking with them.
If Old Tang were still around, and wasn't a ghost, and was still my buddy like before, maybe it would have been all right.
But looking at everyone in the company now, I didn't have a single friend.
Lu Yiheng, the short, chubby newcomer who had arrived yesterday, saw that the company had won an award and was having a group dinner. With a guileless grin, he said to me:
"Buddy, our company's that impressive? An outstanding collective and everything! Tonight's dinner will be a perfect chance to meet all the drivers!"
I gave a cold laugh and said:
"Brother Lu, a word of warning. Everyone here is a slippery old hand. They could sell you off and still sweet-talk you into smiling about it!"
Lu Yiheng's guileless grin grew even wider.
"Buddy, I'm not a pig. Why would they sell me?"
That convinced me the guy was missing a few screws. Not wanting to waste any more words on him, I lowered my head and started tidying my bed.
Seeing that I hadn't answered, Lu Yiheng came over to help clear my desk and said:
"Brother, whatever else, I can tell you're a good guy!"
When I still didn't respond, he continued:
"My dad was obsessed with having a boy. I have five older sisters, so I'm the sixth child. Everyone around me has called me Little Six since I was a kid. You can just call me Little Six too."
Then he let out another string of goofy chuckles.
I grunted an acknowledgment without saying anything, thinking, Your dad had it rough too. Five kids, and when he finally got the son he'd been hoping for, the boy turned out to have this IQ.
After tidying the dorm room, I went to the canteen with Little Six.
As we crossed the company courtyard, I saw two drivers carrying a large copper clock into the office building. Old Wu stood beside them, beaming and repeatedly instructing them:
"Put it in the ground-floor lobby. Careful, careful! That clock's expensive!"
As I passed Old Wu, I asked, "Brother Wu, where did you get that big copper clock?"
Old Wu's mouth stretched into a huge grin, his eyes almost disappearing.
"Well, we were named an outstanding collective, weren't we? The head of the city's bus group personally sent people to deliver it!"
I took a closer look at the clock. It was a freestanding clock made of red copper, in what looked like a Republican-era style. Anyway, one glance told me it was an old thing with plenty of years behind it.
Without thinking much, I said:
"Brother Wu, that copper clock's so old, and they still gave it as a gift? Besides, giving a clock sounds like sending someone to their grave. That's unlucky. What was the group's boss thinking?"
Old Wu's face changed immediately. He gave me a sidelong look and said:
"You haven't even grown your fucking pubes yet. What the hell do you know?"
Then he explained heatedly:
"The word 'clock' can also be understood as 'finally.' I reckon the boss meant we'd finally been named an outstanding collective, and he was very pleased!"
Old Wu was obviously forcing an explanation. Most bosses talked their way to the top, after all.
I wasn't in the mood to argue, so I nodded and went to the canteen with Little Six.
Preparations for the big barbecue that evening were in full swing, with many canteen workers busily threading skewers nearby.
Little Six practically drooled at the sight of the meat skewers. He nudged me and said:
"Buddy, how many bottles of beer can you handle?"
Chewing my food, I mumbled, "Two's just right, three gets me floating, four leaves puke all along the road."
Little Six nearly doubled over laughing and said:
"Buddy, are you from the northeast? There are loads of beer bottles in our room. I thought you could really drink!"
I pointed my chopsticks around us to tell him to keep his voice down, then lowered mine and said:
"Little Six, we're roommates now, and we work alternating shifts on the same bus. There are a few things I need to tell you!"
Little Six stopped laughing and nodded earnestly.
"Go ahead, buddy!"
"This last Route 13 bus we drive isn't something just anyone can drive. There's been an incident. Those passengers who ride in the middle of the night, don't engage with them if you can help it. Especially that old lady who left her basket behind."
Afraid he wouldn't grasp it, I added quietly, stressing every word:
"This. Bus. Had. An. Incident!"
Little Six picked up a piece of fatty meat and put it in his mouth, then nodded solemnly.
"Buddy, we both know what's what. You don't have to spell it out. I get what you mean. It's hard to see the road on night shifts, and talking to passengers is distracting and unsafe. But don't worry. I'm an experienced driver. My skills are top-notch!"
Hearing that, I completely gave up hope on Little Six.
In my thirty-odd years of life, he was the first person I had met who was this stupid.
After dinner, Little Six and some drivers who were off duty were called away to help organize that evening's gathering.
I hadn't seen Master Liu Yunbo for several days, and I had been feeling uneasy the whole time, especially since the bracelet he had given me had somehow started rotting.
At sunset, I hurried to the residential complex at 2368 Huaiyuan Road again, praying the entire way that Master Liu Yunbo would be home.
The blind old man was still sitting at the entrance, but that woman was nowhere to be seen.
I rushed up to the third floor. To my surprise, Master Liu Yunbo was standing right outside his door.
Master Liu gave me a kindly smile as I came up. My sixth sense told me I could be saved!
Once inside, I gave him a detailed account of the strange events on the night of the fifteenth.
Liu Yunbo paced slowly around the room. After hearing me out, he smiled and said:
"Your situation has become very serious. There's definitely nothing wrong with the bus. An evil thing in the reservoir is trying to exchange lives!"
I nodded hard.
"Master, please show me a way out. Please find some way to let me stop driving that bus. Last time, I came that close to becoming a corpse in the newspapers!"
Liu Yunbo waved his hand and said:
"I told you before. Once you've driven that bus for the first time, you can't easily walk away. That bracelet I gave you warded off disaster for you. After blocking such a great calamity, I imagine it must have been corroded by the evil presence."
I nodded hard again. So that was what had happened. No wonder the beads had started rotting. They had absorbed the evil presence after saving my life.
I handed the bracelet to Liu Yunbo and asked anxiously:
"This bracelet's ruined now. What am I supposed to do from now on?"
Just like last time, Liu Yunbo turned and entered the bedroom. Before long, he came out with a piece of white linen that looked covered in bloodstains. He handed it to me and said:
"Go tie this cloth to Liu Qingzhu's door on the eighth floor!"
At the name Liu Qingzhu, my head suddenly buzzed.
"What? Tie it to Liu Qingzhu's door?"
"Yes. It's fine. He isn't home. What you've run afoul of is a ghost that drowned ten years ago. This old thing happens to be a ghost that burned to death ten years ago. I'll find a way to make the two counteract each other, and you won't have any more trouble driving!"
As if suddenly enlightened, I nodded, gritted my teeth, took the bloodstained strip, and headed upstairs.
I had been to Liu Qingzhu's home once before. It was the middle door on the eighth floor.
I stood outside for ages without daring to act, terrified that, just like the first time, the door would suddenly open and some hand would reach out and grab me.
I swallowed nervously, tied the strip to the door handle with trembling hands, then bolted as fast as I could.
After seeing Master Liu Yunbo and tying the bloodstained cloth in place, I finally felt reassured. Despite Old Wu's objections, I still took the bus out right on schedule.
Although passing the reservoir still left my heart pounding, the trip went safely, with no actual danger.
Since the near accident the other night, no one had dared take the bus into town these past few days. Driving the empty bus toward the paper mill, I even saw villagers in groups of three or five heading back in ox carts.
It made sense. They had nearly lost their lives. I really had left them deeply traumatized.
When I returned to the company, the courtyard was brightly lit. They had probably gone through several rounds of drinks and were mostly drunk by then.
Apart from those still battling it out at the tables, many could no longer stand steadily. Some had even crawled under the tables and were snoring away.
Seeing me return, Little Six came over and grabbed me.
"You're finally back! Come on, come on. The two of us have to have a drink."
He pulled me over to sit at Old Wu's table.
Old Wu was already so drunk he was talking nonsense, calling someone his younger brother one moment, his older brother the next, then switching to uncle.
After another round, Little Six got up to use the toilet in the office building. When he returned, he grinned at Old Wu and said:
"Brother Wu, that big copper clock they delivered today isn't much good. It's stopped. Even the pendulum isn't swinging."
Old Wu glared and pointed at the office building.
"Impossible! The head of our bus group gave me that! You-you're drunk and saw it wrong!"
At that, Fatty stood up unsteadily, looked at Old Wu, then pointed toward the office building and said:
"Brother Wu, even if I'm pee-shy, I still have to use the toilet inside. I'll take a look myself while I'm there."
Everyone burst out laughing.
Fatty's pee-shyness was famous around the company. When we ate skewers by the roadside late at night, there were no toilets, so everyone would find a small tree or a corner to piss in. Only Fatty was afraid of being watched and had to find a toilet, however far away it was.
Fatty got up and left, and we kept drinking.
Before long, a sudden "Aah!" rang out. The heart-rending scream jolted the whole courtyard of drunks awake.
We hurried toward the sound and ran into the office building. In the ground-floor lobby, Liu Sheng was trembling in a huddle off to one side, pointing toward the copper clock.
Following his hand, we saw a large smear of blood on the clock face. Someone was kneeling in front of it, head hanging, a mangled mess of blood and flesh. Clearly, he wasn't going to survive.
From behind, he looked exactly like Fatty, who had just left the table to take a piss!
While we stood there too shocked to speak, someone emerged from around a corner of the lobby.
Staggering, he cursed, "Who the fuck's screaming in the middle of the night?"
The sight of him scared every one of us witless. It was none other than Fatty. Two Fattys!!??