Chapter 5

• Yang Yu gave a slight smile as well. He did not speak a word, all he did was stare at the rice in his bowl, when his appetite suddenly disappeared.
• The sky had already darkened once they were done with their meal.
• The difference between night in a village and in a city was mind-boggling.
• When night had fallen upon the city, it would still be bright out, with brightly lit streetlights. On the other hand, when it got dark in the village, it was just pure darkness. There were no lamps, and no shops. Once night fell in the village, it would be entirely engulfed in the darkness of night, and the nights were long and dark to boot.
• That was why on such long nights like these, people would need to find something to do, such as the horizontal tango. The reason for the high number of children in this village was because there was nothing else to do at night, so they might as well get down and get dirty.
• “You can sleep in the second sister’s room tonight. I’ll get my husband to chop some wood tomorrow and make you a bed.” That was the bedroom that his aunt had arranged for him. Since the second sister had gone over to the neighboring village and would most likely not return tonight, it was perfect to serve as a temporary bedroom for Yang Yu.
• No one here knew Yang Yu at all, and it was completely dark outside, so there was nowhere he could go. At first, he thought of looking for his cousins to chat with them, to get to know them better, but he was truly exhausted from a day of travel.
• And so Yang Yu, who liked to sleep in the buff, stripped and lied on the bed. Just like that, he drifted off into sleep.
• After an unknown period of time, Yang Yu woke up in a haze. In the dark of the room, he could vaguely hear something downstairs, and then the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. Someone had most likely gotten up to use the washroom, so he continued to slumber.
• After a short while, Yang Yu could somewhat sense someone entering the room and lifting up his covers, before climbing into his bed.
• Yang Yu sorely wanted to get up, but no matter how he tried, he could not. It was as if someone was pinning him in place. As he felt that person’s breath fall upon him, he suddenly heard a shrill scream.
• The light in the room was switched on. Yang Yu too was jolted awake by the shrill scream. Cracking open an eye, he was stunned into silence. On the bed laid a naked woman, who looked to be bewildered as if she had just seen a ghost. Both of her hands tightly clenched the blanket to pull it over her chest. Her entire back, and the rest of her skin above her chest was exposed, as she stared at Yang Yu in fear.
• “Who are you? Why are you in my bed?!” That lady widened her eyes, her fury palpable. “If you don’t explain yourself now, I’m going to scream that you’re a pervert!”
• “Pervert? But I’m not?” Innocence was written over Yang Yu’s face. He had been the one sleeping in the bed in the first place; he should be the one calling the other a pervert.
• “You still dare to say you’re not? You don’t even have any clothes on!” That girl pointed at Yang Yu’s stark naked body. It was then that Yang Yu realized that he was an ant who had run into a mountain. Even if he were to try to explain himself, she would not listen. How could anyone possibly talk reason into a woman? Women were people who could not be reasoned with at all.
• “What’s going on?” With a glazed over eyes, looking like she had only just woken up, Si Xiaoyun had come over to check things out after abruptly woken by that loud scream earlier, and immediately saw that it was her second daughter. “I thought you weren’t coming back tonight? Why did you come home in the dark? That’s so dangerous.”
• “Didn’t I get home safe? Mum, who is he? Why is he in my bed?” The girl pointed at Yang Yu, while her hand held fast to the blanket in order to make sure that it did not slip.
• “Oh, he’s your cousin, he’s older than you. He’s come to our village to teach. Didn’t I tell you that earlier before you left?”
• “Cousin?” The girl looked at Yang Yu with an expression of surprise. Yang Yu laughed awkwardly. “Hi cousin.”
• “You two share the bed tonight. Just for now, okay?” Having finished speaking, Yang Yu’s aunt closed the door and went downstairs back to her room.
• “Mum? Mum?” The girl shouted frantically, but Yang Yu’s aunt did not answer any of her yells. What should she do? Would she really have to sleep next to her male cousin?
• Yang Yu’s middle cousin, Yaxi, looked at Yang Yu helplessly. This was the first time ever that she would share a bed with a man. Earlier, she had nearly laid on top of him while naked. That was the first time she was ever this intimate with a man.
• “Seen enough already? Hurry up and turn away, you hoodlum, I want to put my clothes on!” Yaxi chided him reproachfully. With that, she turned away to face the wall and began to put on a short-sleeved top. Compared to his older cousin’s mature air, and his youngest cousin’s docility, his middle cousin was way more of a firecracker.
• Yang Yu could see his cousin’s silhouette on the wall that he was facing. He mentally gasped. Such a marvelous curvaceous body, and her boobs were rather perky. The sight of this made him drool.
• “Don’t you dare touch me tonight!” While she had already put some clothes on, she was still wary of the cousin before her. Fortunately for her, they only had to do this for tonight.
• “What if I did?” Yang Yu chuckled, deliberately provoking her.
• “You dare? Then I will skin you!” Yaxi widened her eyes as she spat those words out with gritted teeth. “I said it, I’ll do it, even if you’re my cousin.”
• Once she had finished speaking, she strode over to the bed, burrowed under the covers and fell fast asleep.
• Yang Yu switched off the light and laid on the bed as well. The room was plunged into darkness again.
• After 15 minutes had passed, Yaxi was still tossing and turning in the bed.
• “Your presence is making me feel awkward. I can’t sleep because of that!” Yaxi softly said as she turned back to her side.
• “Why don’t I hold you then?” While Yang Yu may only have been here for less than half a day, his heart was already moved by his three cousins’ beauty now that he had set eyes upon them. Besides, no matter how hard a man tried to hide his true lustful nature, when met with such an enticing creature like Yang Yu’s cousin — such ethereal creature that you would not be able to find anywhere even if you were to hunt through a metropolis —he could not care less about abiding some silly societal morals anymore. He just could not bring himself to be concerned with such matter at the moment.
• “You have a death wish? Go and die! Can you act like an elder cousin, please?!” Yaxi harrumphed before she turned around and continued to feign sleep.
• Yang Yu sneakily nudged his head closer, and, with his mouth by her ear, he whispered, “Yaxi, you were so beautiful just then.”
• The moment Yaxi heard this, she grabbed a pillow and flung it at Yang Yu. Right then, an extremely odd, extremely strange, extremely creepy sound emanated in the direction of the mountain at the back of the village. It made the hairs on Yang Yu’s neck stand on end. “Yaxi, what’s that sound?”
• “Quit making a big deal about it. That’s a mountain ghost. Don’t ever go to the mountain at the back at night. If you were to meet that mountain ghost, you won’t live,” Yaxi said.
• “Mountain ghost?” As Yang Yu repeated those words, he found this laughable. Supernatural beings did not exist, so it had to be the roar of some wild animal. Despite that, that sound had indeed been very creepy. It was well and utterly frightening. In the pitch black darkness and complete silence of the night, the sound was even more horrifying.
• Yang Yu was so frightened by this that he burrowed back under the covers. Since this was a village, it had many completely different things that a city lacked, and legends that were even scarier and creepier.
• Yang Yu drifted off back to sleep once again. He was unsure how long he had slept when he was suddenly awakened by the urge to pee. It was still dark outside, but Yang Yu could not stop himself from getting up to pee. Since the washroom was downstairs, he gently got up and crossed over his cousin’s body.
• He rubbed his eyes blearily. With the aid of the weak moonlight, he began to make his way downstairs.
• There was a patch of weeds by the clothes washing area in the yard. Yang Yu could not be bothered to walk any further. Since he was a man, he was not picky about where he peed. Besides, it would not be a big deal to nourish the weeds while he was at it. And so, he whipped it out and began to pee as he stood there, letting the wind breeze by.
• The moonlight was weak, and Yang Yu was only half-awake. The village was very quiet as well. He casually turned his head to the left to look at the neighboring house. There were no walls or fences between neighbors in a village, so all of the houses were completely unseparated, with no walls in between. This also made it easy to visit each other in their daily lives.
• Had Yang Yu not turned to his head to look, he might have been alright. However, now that he did, Yang Yu nearly had the life scared out of him; he saw an old woman sitting on the stone board in the yard next door. Yang Yu thought that his eyesight was failing him, so he rubbed his eyes, and then looked again.
• He felt even more regretful that he had done so now. Not only was there an old woman sitting there, she was staring motionlessly in widened eyes at Yang Yu.
• Yang Yu’s soul had already fled his body in fright. He gulped once. It was the middle of the night and there was someone sitting there. Was she a ghost or a human? And it was an old woman on top of that. Yang Yu began to chant internally, ghosts don’t exist, ghosts don’t exist. Then, he gathered up his courage and walked a few steps towards her. “Granny, why haven’t you gone to bed yet?”
• That old woman’s face had no expression on it, and she did not reply to Yang Yu either. Seeing that she had not responded, Yang Yu felt even more unnerved now. People get deaf when they’re old, so maybe she didn’t hear me? Just as Yang Yu thought about turning to leave, he heard the old woman mutter. “I’ve waited for 7 days. Finally, a young one has come. This is destiny.”
• Seeing that the old woman had spoken, Yang Yu stilled his footsteps again, even though he was not sure of what the old woman had talked about.
• “Young man, this old lady’s legs aren’t quite well. Could you help me back to my house?”
• Although Yang Yu did not know her, he had grandparents too. While they both had already passed away, Yang Yu still loathed that he had not fulfilled them enough filial duty when they were still around. Naturally, he did not think twice about fulfilling the old woman’s request, as he proceeded to walk over to help her.
• Yang Yu extended his right hand to support the old woman’s body, but he felt a coldness to her. He was curious about this. Just as he reached out his left hand, the old woman abruptly placed her hand on Yang Yu’s. Instantly, a chill assaulted him and burrowed straight into his body, making him faint on the spot.
• Mornings in the village were especially refreshing. When the rooster crowed for the third time, the sky was more or less lit up completely. The villagers began to get up one by one. Those who worked in the mountain went to the mountain, and those who herded cows went to herd cows. Even if they had nothing to do, no villager would sleep in.
• Yang Yu’s aunt was already up at the first light of day. The moment she opened the back door, she was immediately shocked to find Yang Yu sleeping soundly amongst the weeds in the backyard.
• “Silly little boy, how could you sleep here? Did Yaxi chase you out last night? Now that I think about it, this middle daughter of mine has quite the temper. How would she agree to sharing a bed with a man?”
• Following that line of thought, Yang Yu’s aunt was not surprised by this. She could only shake her head helplessly. This middle daughter of mine is such a spitfire, what man will marry her in the future? She then went and patted Yang Yu’s shoulder. “Yang Yu, wake up, don’t sleep here,” she yelled.
• Yang Yu had been deep in sleep when he was suddenly loudly woken up by her. He cracked open two bleary eyes to find that the sun was already up in the sky. He then took in his surroundings, and realized that he was sleeping amongst some weeds. Confusion was spelled on his face. “Why am I sleeping here?”
• “Is it because Yaxi chased you out last night? That girl. I’m going to tell her off right now. Such irresponsibility. You should get up and go upstairs to sleep. I’ll make some rice porridge for you two to eat,” Yang Yu’s aunt said.
• Yang Yu wracked his brains to try and remember what happened last night. His head might feel a bit heavy, but at last, he finally recalled it. “I was helping the old lady next door back to my house when I suddenly fainted. When I woke up, I found myself here.”
• “Old lady? Which old lady?” Shock crept upon his aunty’s face.
• “The one next door. Her legs weren’t well either.” As Yang Yu spoke, he pointed to the house next door, but he then realized that his aunt’s face had now turned white. “Auntie, what is it?”
• “The old lady next door slipped and broke her legs, passing away seven days ago. Three days ago, her funeral was held and she was buried. Are you sure you’re not mistaken?” Yang Yu’s aunt’s lips were dry and chapped, her complexion unsightly. She was certainly very frightened by what Yang Yu had said.
• However, Yang Yu was even more drained of color than his aunt. Now that his aunt had spoken about this, it was only then that Yang Yu remembered that the old woman from last night had been stark white. When she sat on the stone board, both of her legs had been dead straight, and when he went to help her, her entire body was as cold as a corpse. Moreover, when she leaned against him, she was completely unable to stand up. Add on the fact that it had been the 7th day of the 7th lunar month yesterday… Did I actually run into a ghost yesterday? Yang Yu’s expression was even stiffer now, cold sweat rolling off him in rivulets. However, he pretended to be calm so as not to scare his aunt.
• “No, no. My eyes were playing tricks on me. It was just a pile of firewood. Ahaha!” It was evident that Yang Yu was acting unnaturally.
• “You scared me to death!” It was only then that Yang Yu’s aunt let out a sigh of relief. While the old woman next door had been a strange one when she was alive, she was not strange enough as to haunt them beyond the grave, right?
• Today was the day that Yang Yu was to report to the school, and in addition to the severe scare earlier, he could not go back to sleep, so he got up and ran one lap around the village via the village paths. Running was a routine that Yang Yu had always kept. The village in the morning was rather comforting. The air was clean and fresh, the surroundings were quiet, the birds chattered and the flowers’ fragrance was in the air. Droplets of dew hung off the grass, clear and glistening.
• As he ran down this winding and twisting path, countless women threw seductive looks at him. Some of them even could not take their eyes off him as they gossiped about whose son he was. The village had not had such a healthy, handsome and manly young man in a long time.
• The women in this village loved to gossip. Just like that, word spread out to a handful, and that handful soon spread it to the others. Instantly, all of the girls and women in the village were whipped into a frenzy.