A Chance Encounter

Rain poured in torrents on the outskirts of Qingsha City.

A motorcycle burst through the curtain of rain and sped into a farm.

It stopped outside a single-story building on the farm. A figure climbed off the back and ran into the building in a few strides.

Swish-

The curtain at the entrance to the slaughterhouse lifted, and a person in a raincoat hurried inside.

The farmer, who was sharpening a knife beside the worktable, paused in surprise and asked instinctively, "Who are you looking for?"

The newcomer pushed the raincoat's hood back, revealing a young face, around seventeen or eighteen years old.

He had slender brows and eyes and wasn't particularly handsome, but carried himself with a calm and maturity beyond his years.

It was Cheng Sheng, who had flagged down a motorcycle taxi and rushed over as soon as he received the farmer's message.

"We just spoke on the phone."

Cheng Sheng held up the phone in his hand and waved it at the farmer, who immediately realized who he was. "Oh, it's you...

"With rain this heavy, I thought you wouldn't come."

Cheng Sheng shook his head without speaking.

He had waited a full ten days for this bit of black goat blood, checking with the farmer every day. Now that the man had finally agreed to slaughter a goat, Cheng Sheng would have come even if it were hailing, never mind a downpour.

"Really, you didn't have to come all this way. For a little extra money, I could have had someone bring it into the city for you..."

The farmer chatted with Cheng Sheng as he sharpened his knife.

Cheng Sheng walked a couple of steps farther inside and looked around the small farm slaughterhouse.

The building was rudimentary, with a cement floor and a row of hooks nailed to the wall. A drainage ditch ran along the corner on the left, where a plump woman was heating water. She was probably the farmer's wife. When she saw Cheng Sheng looking at her, she smiled at him.

As for the black goat Cheng Sheng had been longing for, it lay on the floor, trussed up tight.

Cheng Sheng walked over and stroked the goat's head. The goat docilely licked his fingers and gave a "Baa," apparently unaware of the fate that awaited it.

"Do you have a bottle?"

After checking that there was nothing wrong with the black goat, Cheng Sheng stood up and asked the farmer.

The farmer stopped sharpening his knife, thought for a moment, and pointed somewhere. "Will a drink bottle do?"

"Yes."

Cheng Sheng wasn't picky.

The bottle was for holding the black goat's blood.

He walked to a corner of the room, picked up an empty drink bottle someone had tossed on the floor, and squatted beside the drainage ditch to wash it thoroughly with rainwater.

Then all he could do was wait. Cheng Sheng chatted with the farmer now and then.

After a few exchanges, he could tell that the couple were both quite down-to-earth.

The farmer kept bringing up his son, pride in his voice as he said the boy was about Cheng Sheng's age, got excellent grades, and would be taking the major exam next year...

He also asked about Cheng Sheng. When he learned that Cheng Sheng had just failed the major exam... the farmer chose to end the conversation and concentrate on sharpening his knife.

"All right."

A few minutes later, the farmer finished his preparations and called the woman heating water over. Together, they lifted the trussed-up black goat onto the chopping block, its head facing outward, with a wooden basin beneath it.

Cheng Sheng kept his eyes fixed on the black goat's neck. In just a little while, the goat blood he wanted would flow from there.

The slaughter was exceptionally simple. The farmer had the woman hold down the goat's body, then thrust the sharp knife cleanly into its neck. The black goat began to convulse violently...

The moment the blood began to flow, Cheng Sheng quickly stepped forward, holding the neck, and began catching the black goat's blood.

The farmer was surprised to see what he was doing, but didn't stop him.

Once the black goat stopped kicking and its body went completely limp, the farmer let go and said, "Which cut do you want? Let's get this straight first..."

Before he could finish, he looked up and discovered in astonishment that the boy in the raincoat, who had been standing right in front of him, had vanished at some point. Only a twenty-Nan Currency note lay quietly on the slaughterhouse floor.

"Driver, let's go!"

As soon as Cheng Sheng had the goat blood, he left the building and called to a mustached man in a raincoat, who was smoking under the eaves by the entrance, to leave.

The man was the motorcycle taxi driver who had brought him here. It was hard to hail a ride in the rain, so Cheng Sheng had paid him extra to wait.

"Driver."

After climbing onto the motorcycle taxi, Cheng Sheng held the bottle of black goat blood close to his chest with one hand and gripped the rear rack with the other. He shouted, "I'm keeping you on. Take me to a few more places..."

Vroom-!

The motorcycle gave a low roar and shot forward, as if in response to Cheng Sheng's words.

Cheng Sheng's body bounced and swayed with the speeding motorcycle. Heavy rain beat against his raincoat with a continuous, crisp patter. Some of it drifted inside and trickled down his neck, bringing a faint chill.

The black goat blood needed for the ritual couldn't be stored for long. Cheng Sheng had to complete the entire ritual within two hours.

Fortunately, he had already prepared the other materials needed for the ritual.

It was just the offerings...

Thinking of the offerings he had prepared, Cheng Sheng muttered inwardly, I wonder how many are still alive.

An hour later, at the entrance to Qingsha City No. 3 Middle School.

Cheng Sheng climbed off the motorcycle taxi, laden with packages of all sizes.

He had a backpack on and carried something in each hand, one large and one small, both wrapped in gray oilcloth. There was no telling what was inside.

It was nearly five in the afternoon, just when classes at No. 3 Middle School let out, and the school gate was crowded with parents who had come to pick up their children.

Although Cheng Sheng looked a little strange, he didn't particularly stand out among the crowd of parents in raincoats.

"I need to go around the back."

Cheng Sheng pushed through the crowd and ran toward the back of the school.

Just then, a red jeep suddenly came speeding along, sending up a splash of water that landed squarely on him.

Cheng Sheng shifted the thing in his left hand to his right, "laboriously" wiped the flecks of mud from his face, then frowned and looked in the direction the jeep had gone.

The red jeep, whose occupants had no manners at all, had stopped on the road directly opposite the school gate. A door on one side was open, and someone was walking toward it.

Cheng Sheng stared at the figure getting into the car for a while, his expression slowly turning blank.

"Cheng Yue?"

He wasn't mistaken. The school uniform, the high ponytail, and the familiar rabbit charm on the backpack... it was unmistakably his younger sister, Cheng Yue!

What was Cheng Yue doing?!

Whose car was she getting into?!

Remembering how Cheng Yue had been coming home at eight or nine every night some time ago, Cheng Sheng was suddenly seized by an urge to go over and find out what was going on.

But before he could take more than a few steps back, the conspicuous jeep had picked up Cheng Yue and roared away.

The rain poured down on Cheng Sheng's face, blurring his vision a little.

Cheng Sheng looked in the direction the jeep had gone and instinctively pulled his phone from his pocket. A few seconds later...

"Forget it."

Cheng Sheng turned away without looking back and quickly put his phone back in his pocket.

How could he possibly have time to worry about Cheng Yue now?!

Even if he called Cheng Yue, with her personality, she would never tell him the truth...

No, she wouldn't even answer his call!

Cheng Sheng put the matter out of his mind and, carrying the things in his hands, continued running swiftly toward the back of the school.