Chapter 2: The Mouse Moves House

  "Huh? Why didn't I see any villas yesterday?"

  Ning Feng looked left and right, calculating in his mind, "Judging by the terrain, this village should be near the city wall, by the riverbank. Unfortunately, the sky is too dark, otherwise I could see it more clearly."

  Before Ning Feng's mind could process all sorts of thoughts, the three of them had already entered the Zhuangzi.

  Rumble...

  The accumulated thunder for who knows how long finally burst out in a thrilling and refreshing manner, the electric whip lashed through the night sky, the thunder shook the earth, and for an instant, it was as bright as daylight.

  With this faint light, Ning Feng took in all the scenery of the village.

  Zhuangzi's house is quite large, with a sprawling courtyard, and all the necessary gardens, wells, and other features are present.

  "Hmm..."

  "This is strange..."

  Ning Feng was muttering to himself.

  From that glance, the layout of this villa is really strange. It doesn't look like a waterfront villa, but rather more like a northern cave dwelling that has been trodden on before.

  "Isn't it strange? Doesn't it look bad?"

  Are yaodong and house the same thing?!

  Su Laomu trembled as the thunder struck, seemingly frightened. He clutched his chest, his breathing uneven, yet still managed to say with a smile: "I've made a fool of myself in front of you, sir. Although I've traveled to some places, I'm not well-read and lack experience. Ha ha ha, I must have looked ridiculous!"

  Ning Feng nodded silently, as if he had heard it.

  The atmosphere in the manor was indeed a bit strange, but there was an old and young pair who were enthusiastic without reduction, not wanting to delay for a moment, and directly led Ningfeng to the private school.

  As usual in rural areas, the private school was set up in the ancestral hall, with several rows of desks and chairs. I don't know how they were notified, but after Ningfeng came in, dozens of little boys and girls rushed in from front and back, each taking their seats at their respective positions.

  "Get up!"

  "Haven't paid respects to the master yet!"

  The round-faced girl, apart from the initial snicker, had always been gentle and well-behaved. Now standing in front of the children, her elder sister's demeanor immediately emerged, startling them into standing up one by one, chattering and shouting "Mr." in unison.

  Ning Feng glanced at those children, and his mouth twitched involuntarily.

  What kind of kids are these?

  "What kind of days did they have before Old Su came back, looking at these children so desolate..."

  Ning Feng just took a glance, and the appearance of all the children was already in his eyes. These children were mostly thin-faced, with skin wrapped around their bones, not at all like other children of the same age who had plump, round, rosy faces that made people want to pinch them.

  What stands out is perhaps a pair of big and bright eyes, like two large pearls.

  The only exception was after releasing her eldest sister Wei Feng, the round-faced girl sat in the front row with a chair.

  After seeing Mr., the children reported their names one by one, with a milky voice and seven mouths and eight tongues. Ning Feng listened to his head swelling, and he only remembered the round-faced girl's name.

  Her name is Ting Yu.

  Su Tingyu, sounds like a good name.

  After all the children had been introduced, Ning Feng glanced around and was surprised to see Old Su also move a small stool over, awkwardly perching on it with half his buttocks, and actually sitting down in the corner.

  "What's going on?"

  Ning Feng couldn't help but laugh and cry at the same time, shaking his head and ignoring the old man. With a clang, he put down the book box that had been on his back all along, lifted the cloth covering it, and reached inside.

  "Are you going to take the book?"

  The child's eyes suddenly focused, with an eager-to-learn expression that could move all teachers to tears, shouting "You're indeed 'someone else's student'!"

  "Hmm"

  A muffled sound came from the corner of the private school, Ning Feng looked over and saw Su Laozou scrambling to get up from the ground, he was so absorbed in watching that his neck stretched too long and he actually fell off the stool.

  Except for Ning Feng, no one else even gave it a second glance.

  All the children's mouths were wide open in shock as they stared at Ning Feng, no, it was what he was holding in his hand.

  With a creak, Ning Feng opened it up as if no one was around, placed it on the ground, adjusted its direction, and sat down with a whoosh.

  Coughing, Ning Feng took out a folding stool and sat down in front of the children.

  "As it was said..."

  Ning Feng clapped his hands, and the sound was like a sudden crash of thunder. He began to speak, telling stories of demons, ghosts, gods, and Buddhas that were full of fantastical colors. From the very beginning, all the children were captivated by the tales, listening with relish.

  "Cough cough cough"

  It seems like there's a coughing sound coming from the corner, but I'm ignoring it.

  Just as Ning Feng was getting to the exciting part, a monk held up his scripture and recited incantations, summoning the Vajra Demon-Subduing Divine Power. The Taoist, not to be outdone, flew sword pellets from his mouth that struck each other thousands of miles away...

  In the meantime, don't forget to take out paper and pen, write down words such as "monk", "Taoist priest", "flying sword" and so on, pass them around to fellow disciples, it seems that today's lesson is over.

  "Cough cough cough~~ Cough cough cough~~~"

  The louder the cough, the more pitiful the sky is. The one who coughed so loudly that the dust on the roof fell down.

  The young man reluctantly stopped and looked towards the coughing sound: "What advice does the old gentleman have?"

  Can't stop coughing, always worried that if I continue coughing, all my internal organs will come out.

  Su Lao Mou's face was strange, and he asked: "Sir, why don't you talk about the Four Books and Five Classics?"

  "The Four Books and Five Classics?"

  Ning Feng shook his head and smiled sarcastically, "In this world where gods and ghosts are everywhere, the Four Books and Five Classics are only good for wiping your butt, what's the point of studying them?"

  "The sky is clear and bright, where did these evil spirits come from? Who has ever seen them with their own eyes?"

  It seemed to express great disagreement with Su Lao's words, a loud rumbling sound shook the sky and earth, followed by a heavy downpour of rain, dense like billions of pearls rolling off a jade plate.

  Su Lao shrunk his neck and looked at Ning Feng, waiting for him to respond.

  The sky was darkening, and his face was now shrouded in shadow, making it somewhat difficult to discern.

  "I've seen it!"

  Ning Feng did not hesitate, and three words fell to the ground with a loud noise.

  A flash of lightning illuminated the private school, making it momentarily bright. Ning Feng clearly saw Su Lao's strange expression, and the disciples in attendance were as silent as cicadas in winter.

  "When I was seven years old, I saw a great monk with the Buddhist name of Da Nu..."

  Ning Feng was indeed very good at telling stories, speaking fluently and vividly, whether it was Old Su or Su Tingyu or those children, they all listened with rapt attention.

  "Does the monk know what the doll is thinking?"

  "I don't believe it." Xiao Ning was not good at deceiving at all.

  "You're thinking of a monk with a shiny bald head, like that donkey next door."

  The furious Zen master laughed and said, "Xiao Ningfeng's eyes blinked continuously, he really thought so."

  ……

  "Do you want to eat Chen's Baozi in the county town?"

  Xiao Ning didn't answer, he was busy wiping his mouth.

  "Wait for the monk to come down."

  Dà nù chán shī yī zhuǎn shēn, chū le yuàn zǐ, xiǎo níng fēng hái méi bǎ kǒu shuǐ cā gān, réng zài ào wù zhe méi lái dé jí shuō tā yào liǎng gè ne, dà nù chán shī jiù yòu diǎn chén bù rán de zǒu le jìn lái, shǒu shàng ná zhe liǎng gè rè téng teng de bāo zi.

  That aroma must be from Chenji, the freshly baked big buns from Chenji in a county town hundreds of miles away.

  ……

  Later, Ning Feng realized that Da Nu Chan Shi was performing Buddhist magic in front of him: "He Xin Tong", "Shen Zu Tong"!

  "Didn't you have a master?"

  A little kid asked excitedly with a look of excitement on his face.

  Out of curiosity, ignored her elder sister's stern gaze.

  Ning Feng spread his hands and shook his head: "The monk won't accept it, he just wants me to hit the wooden fish..."

  He gestured to the size, and then said: "A wooden fish of this size, the monk said that as long as I am willing to follow him to recite scriptures for ten years, knock on the wooden fish, no matter what worldly splendor, the great monk will bring it in front of me."

  "The Grand Master performed his magical skills just to tell me he had the ability to do so."

  "Scold him, beat him, curse him, and still the monk won't get angry."

  "He just wants me to knock on wood"

  Ning Feng said this with a seemingly endless sigh of emotion, vastly different from his previous enthusiastic and vivid storytelling.

  The great monk Dà Nù was a master of great magical powers, but when his senior disciple came to him to demonstrate his abilities, he refused to accept any disciples or pass on his teachings, and instead only wanted him to strike the wooden fish...

  Many years have passed, but Ning Feng still thinks about that entanglement, and a breath of air is still stuck in his chest.

  Su Lao Mou was speechless, let alone him, even those foolish descendants of his couldn't help but hear that Ning Feng's words were necessarily true experiences.

  He really saw gods and ghosts.

  "Alright, let's continue with the story."

  Ning Feng scribbled down the two words "Great Anger" and passed them on, collecting his emotions: "After speaking of immortals and Buddhas, let's talk about ghosts and monsters, which are also things I've personally experienced."

  "That year, Mr., I climbed Peach Mountain and encountered a ghost as soon as I went up the mountain..."

  Inside the private school, there was only the sound of breathing rising and falling, or holding still for a long time without making a sound, or rapid ups and downs like tense emotions.

  In the story, Ning Feng climbed up Peach Mountain and saw from afar a tree with a slender woman hanging from it. As for her face, there was no way to see it - could one possibly look at the face of a hanged ghost?

  He didn't want to look either, but no matter where he went, as soon as he raised his head, the female ghost would definitely be hanging in front of him.

  "Miss, I bid you farewell."

  Helpless, Ning Feng bowed and said straightforwardly: "Miss, what is it that you want? Just say it directly."

  He just said it casually, who knew the female ghost really responded.

  "Ah, this is a ribbon."

  A celestial maiden scattered flowers, and a bundle of silk ribbons descended from the sky, almost burying Ning Feng.

  "I want you to tie ribbons on every single tree on Mount Peach..."

  ……

  Ning Feng curled up his lips, and his emotions were so complicated that he couldn't say anything. He said to the children who were listening intently under the private school: "After messing around for half a day, it turned out that the female ghost just wanted me to do that, and then she could change places every day and continue to hang around."

  "Ah!"

  The children's mouths were wide open, and they could fit a small fist in them. Unexpectedly, the female ghost didn't rob money or seduce men, but instead followed her husband for half a day with this purpose.

  Their little brain isn't quite enough, didn't think of too much, just felt like there's a kind of inexplicable familiarity, like something else.

  Before the children could turn around, Ningfeng continued with the second half of the story.

  He naturally refused the female ghost's unreasonable request. The peach trees on Peach Mountain were not as many as 800,000 or even 1 million, but if he really had to do that, it would be better for him to choose a suitable one himself, kick his legs and hang himself, which would be much easier than coming here.

  Busyness can't help, but it doesn't prevent Ning Feng from chatting with the female ghost.

  Ning Feng enthusiastically described to the children how the female ghost was a noble lady, and how she encountered a violent man, suffered humiliation, and ended up hanging herself.

  Miss Guan loved to swing on swings before she died. On the peach mountain, it's either peaches or monkeys, and I'm tired of looking at them early on. I just think about changing one tree to hang from every day, and that's what swinging is all about.

  "Sir, sir, what does the female ghost look like? Is it scary?"

  The excited kid once again disobeyed his elder sister's authority. Didn't you see that Su Tingyu's face turned even redder with anger?

  "If you don't look at his face, he's not scary at all."

  Ning Feng answered very seriously, starting to talk about how the female ghost's clothes were disheveled, torn into strips that couldn't cover anything...

  "Cough cough cough~~~~cough cough~~"

  Su Lao Mou coughed with great effort.

  "Hmm..."

  Ning Feng opened his mouth slightly, looking a bit embarrassed, and suddenly realized that this wasn't suitable for children.

  "Let's change the subject."

  Just as Ning Feng was about to say something else, the rain outside grew even heavier. The raindrops pounded against the roof and splashed into the courtyard, making a sound like hailstones.

  "When will this rain stop?"

  Ning Feng subconsciously raised his head and looked out the door, his eyes suddenly dazed.

  "Water light?"

  He had just stared his eyes wide when everyone in the private school found something was wrong and looked outside together.

  Rumble, rumble, rumble...

  The sound of water was loud and clear, a huge wave came crashing over, covering everything in its path.

  "It's flooded~~~~"

  Su Lao Mou Jiang let out a strange cry, rolled over on the spot, and with a "pop" sound, his outer garment fell off. A large grey rat stood up on its hind legs and let out a shrill cry.

  In the blink of an eye, tables and chairs were overturned all over the floor, dozens of big and small mice scurried back and forth, and the private school was in a state of utter chaos.

  "Ah!"

  "What's going on?"

  Ning Feng felt that his own brain had also been infested with mice, running wildly in all directions, what's with Su Jia Zhuangzi, it was clearly a nest of big rats.