Chapter 12: On the Road with Zhong Ling'er

  On the road, I was thinking about what to say if I met Zhong Ling'er and how to tell Li Shenpo about it. But Li Shenpo's personality is a bit strange, I feel like she's a difficult person to get along with.

  As soon as I arrived at Li Shenpo's house and got off the motorcycle, a girl came out of the house. My heart skipped a beat, it was Zhong Ling'er.

  I forced a smile and walked over, pretending to be casual, asking: "Is your mother at home?" Zhong Ling'er said no, then asked me what I wanted. I was taken aback, how convenient, so I asked where Li Shenpo had gone, Zhong Ling'er said: "I don't know either, my mother just said she's going to a distant place."

  "Far away?" I hastily asked: "How long will you be back?"

  "Maybe in about half a month."

  I understand now, Li Shenniang is with my father, they left together with that old Song. I reckon this time it's old Song who took my father and Li Shenniang away. Where did they go? What kind of thing is it that made them leave in such a hurry? Is it because of that thing ten years ago? What is the relationship between these three people?

  How many more secrets is Father hiding from Mother and me?

  "Did you come to find my mother for something?" I told her about Dahei's affair and the strange snoring sound I heard in the mountain cave today. "I originally wanted to ask your mother to help me figure out if Dahei's soul is really in the mountain cave, and what that snoring sound is all about, whether it's human or ghost..." Then I looked at Zhong Ling'er, hoping she could help me resolve these doubts. However, Zhong Ling'er just said lightly: "My mother also told me about this matter, she said if that person's soul can't be summoned back, let's talk about it when she comes back..."

  "But your mom won't be back for another ten or half a month." I blurted out.

  "I know." Zhong Ling'er looked at me and said, "Since Da Hei's soul hasn't been summoned back, it would be pointless for you to go. Moreover, the strange things in that cave are not something you can understand. It's best if you don't go."

  Zhong Ling'er is treating me as an ordinary person. As for an ordinary person, they naturally have no way to deal with those supernatural things.

  "Can... you go take a look?" I asked tentatively.

  "No." I didn't expect Zhong Ling'er to refuse me outright.

  Is it that her skills are not enough, so she doesn't dare to act rashly? She is not Li Shenpo, she is just Li Shenpo's daughter, how can she be compared with Li Shenpo? However, last time the red-clothed female ghost came to me for my life, wasn't it her who cured me? Since she was willing to help me behind Li Shenpo's back, why doesn't she want to help Da Hei this time?

  "Please help me," I begged, and told him about the brotherly bond between Dahei and me, as well as his mother's heartbreaking tears. Finally, I said: "Now that your mom is gone to a faraway place, only you can help us. If you can help us find Dahei's soul, please do it this once."

  Zhong Ling'er stared ahead with a blank expression, her face devoid of any joy, anger, or sadness. She didn't utter a word, and seeing her like this made me feel that she was even more difficult to communicate with than Li Shenpo. It seemed hopeless to seek help from her, so I was about to leave when suddenly I heard her say: "Alright, I'll give it a try."

  I was overjoyed and thanked her repeatedly, so excited that I almost hugged her and kissed her.

  Zhong Ling'er said that if we want to find Da Hei's soul, we need something that Da Hei used before and a kerosene lamp, and we also need to know his birth date. I said that there are many things that Da Hei used before, such as clothes and schoolbags, and as for the kerosene lamp - I remembered the time when Da Hei's father took a kerosene lamp into the cave and it was blown out by the wind, so I asked Zhong Ling'er if we could use a flashlight instead. Zhong Ling'er gave me a white eye, her eyes were very sharp, without her saying anything, I knew that a flashlight wouldn't work.

  As for Da Hei's birth eight characters, I think this can be asked from Da Hei's parents.

  Zhong Ling'er seemed to be thinking of something, and then she went into the house. About five or six minutes later, she came out with a small yellow backpack on her back. I was curious about what was inside, but then I remembered that many girls like to carry a small bag when they go out, which usually contains things like mirrors, combs, tissues, and so on. I guessed that Zhong Ling'er's backpack probably had similar things in it.

  After getting on the car, Zhong Ling'er sat behind me. I smelled a faint fragrance, which was the body scent of Zhong Ling'er, similar to rose fragrance, and I felt extremely delighted. Finally sitting together with my beloved goddess, I got excited to the extreme, so much that my heart kept jumping non-stop, almost trembling as I asked: "Are you seated properly?" Zhong Ling'er said she was, and only then did I start the motorcycle.

  Racing against the wind for a while, I felt extremely joyful in my heart, and I really wanted this road to go on forever.

  Jing Ling'er sat behind me, not making a sound, and her seat was about a meter away from mine, as if she didn't want to touch me. I thought that on the bus, what's the big deal if we touched a little? As I thought about it, my body involuntarily leaned back slowly, and suddenly my right shoulder was tapped, scaring me so much that I subconsciously shouted: "What are you doing?" Jing Ling'er asked with great displeasure: "Can't you just stay still?" Only then did I realize I had lost my composure, and my face felt burning hot.

  As we approached our village, I suddenly heard someone scolding loudly in front of us. It was the voice of Liu Daxiang, a woman from Northeast China who had moved to our village. She was tall and sturdy like a man, with a very loud voice. I drove my motorcycle over to where she was standing at the edge of a field, her hands on her hips and scolding loudly. I thought to myself, "What's wrong with Liu Daxiang now? Her scolding is really loud!" Clock Ling'er saw her and thought our village was some kind of barbaric place. I wanted to persuade her to stop scolding for two reasons: first, to remind her to pay attention to her image; second, to show Clock Ling'er that I'm actually a civilized person. If I could persuade Liu Daxiang to stop scolding, maybe Clock Ling'er would look at me in a new light. So I asked Liu Daxiang, "Liu Daxiang, what's wrong? Why are you so angry?"

  Aunt Liu saw me and suddenly glared at me with wide eyes, pointing at me and shouting: "Little Knife you rascal, how did you herd the cattle, eating all of my family's green vegetables!"

  I was shocked and looked at the patch of soil next to Liu Dabai, only to see that the cabbage in it had been ravaged by something, looking messy and disheveled. I felt embarrassed and wanted to find a hole to hide in immediately, having lost face in front of Zhong Ling'er. I forced a smile and said, "Sorry... where's my cow?" As I spoke, I looked around nervously, and Liu Dabai said gruffly, "I'll have your cow slaughtered!" I quickly explained that it was my family's cow that had caused the trouble, and promised to get my mother to compensate for her losses. As I spoke, I started up the car and made a quick escape.

  Glancing at Zhong Ling'er through the rearview mirror with a gloomy face, he found that she was secretly smiling and licking her mouth in schadenfreude.

  All I want to say is: I bought a watch last year! My grandma, this time it's too embarrassing, and my mother found out about it, she must beat me up!

  But for now, I need to find the cow from my house.

  I ran into Uncle Qin, and I saw that his face didn't look too good. I asked him if he had seen my family's cow, and he glared at me saying: "You're looking for a cow? I'm also looking for a cow!" I asked him whose cow he was looking for, and he said: "Of course it's my family's cow!"

  Liu Dajie followed up and said that the cow in our house had been driven back by my mother, while saying this she looked at Zhong Ling'er behind me, jokingly saying: "Your mom told you to herd cows, but instead you're flirting with girls. This time you've ruined my family's vegetables so badly, even if we slaughter your family's cow it won't be enough to compensate - where is this girl from?"

  I had been thinking of apologizing to Liu Dajie, trying to calm her down, but unexpectedly she shifted the focus to Zhong Ling'er, and I was at a loss for words, only stuttering out: "It's... it's from Li Village." After that, I got on my motorcycle and left.

  Because the cow was driven back by my mother, this time it's settled, I originally wanted to take Zhong Ling'er to Da Hei's house without going back first, but I'm worried that my mother will worry about me not seeing her, so I had to go home with a hard scalp.

  I parked my motorcycle in front of the house and was about to go to the back of the house to see if my mother had really driven our cows back, but I saw my mother walking out from behind the house with a smile on her face. I was stunned for a moment, what's going on? By rights, my mother should be furious and thundering, why is she so happy instead?