Volume 1: Spirit Marriage Chapter 35 Two Young Men

  I went back to the house, Zhang Yunhao was standing at the door looking at me, with a stunned expression. I closed the door and said let's sleep, this time we're really in trouble. Zhang Yunhao looked at the jade pendant in my hand and asked what it was. He wanted to take a look, I said it was sent by a ghost, you can see for yourself. Zhang Yunhao took the jade pendant and examined it carefully, praising: "This is indeed a good thing, real jade, and there's even a faint hint of ghostly energy, probably extremely rare!"

  I put the jade pendant into the wooden box, locked it, and then told Zhang Yunhao about the origin of the Water Saint Child. After that, we discussed how to deal with it. Zhang Yunhao suggested using the Yin-Yang knife, saying that once the precious knife is out, wouldn't it be easy to subdue the little ghost? I said it's not that simple, the little ghost can move and its speed is as fast as lightning, it's not stupid enough to let you cut it.

  After a long discussion, we naturally didn't come to any conclusion. Also, because we had been busy for almost half the night, both of us were tired and our conversation gradually slowed down. We decided to go to sleep and talk about it again tomorrow.

  I had just dozed off when, with a loud "whoosh!", Zhang Yunhao suddenly sat up, startling me awake. I asked him if he was feeling any ghostly presence again. He said no, but that something felt strange. I was annoyed and rubbed my sleepy eyes before sitting up as well. I told him I might as well tell him something - actually, I had slept with a girl before. She was an online friend, and we went to a hotel on the night we met. To be honest, I really wanted to do it with her, but I was too timid and didn't dare take action. My female online friend seemed very innocent, placing a cup between us and saying "you're not allowed to come over". I really didn't cross that line, but I always felt like there was something left undone, my heart feeling stifled. So I kept getting up from bed, and my female friend asked me what was wrong. I just said I couldn't sleep, feeling a bit strange... As I spoke, I looked at Zhang Yunhao and asked: "Are you in the same state of mind as I was back then?"

  Zhang Yunhao immediately opened his eyes and asked, "What happened next? Did you sleep with her?" I replied dejectedly, "Sleep with her? I'm too honest, we didn't even touch each other the whole night." Zhang Yunhao snorted in disbelief. I said, "Believe it or not, but I felt really useless afterwards and kept regretting it." Zhang Yunhao said, "Yeah, think about it, if she's willing to sleep in the same bed as you, she must be willing to do that with you too. But you acted like a gentleman and pretended to be innocent. I bet your female friend never asked to meet up again, huh?"

  I didn't expect this kid to analyze it so thoroughly and speak so accurately. I said okay, a good man doesn't mention his past bravery, you'd better be honest with me, don't suddenly jump up from bed again! Zhang Junhao said he suddenly thought of something very strange, I asked him what it was, he looked at me and asked: "Why did that little devil attack only me but not you back then?"

  Do I need to say this? He thinks you're a homosexual, of course he's going to attack you.

  "Seriously!" Zhang Yunhao said solemnly: "I think there must be something strange about this."

  I said you're being weird too, at the time you were playing the flute, he knew you were unfavorable to him, of course, he came to attack you. Zhang Yunhao said: "I don't think so, is it because you have a yin-yang knife on your body?" I said maybe. Zhang Yunhao asked again: "What about the talisman that little god gave you?" I said it's on me, originally I was going to give it to Uncle Huang Shi, but he didn't want it, so I had no choice but to keep it myself. Zhang Yunhao slapped his thigh and exclaimed: "That's right! I think it's because of the talisman in your hand that the little ghost went to find your mom instead of you, it's because he was afraid of the talisman on your body."

  It makes some sense. I took out the talisman from my pocket and looked at it, is this piece of paper really that magical? Zhang Yunhao took the talisman and looked at it too, saying that this talisman is not simple, one look and you can tell it's from a master's hand, able to drive away ghosts and evil spirits. I deeply believed in his words because this talisman was given to me by Zhong Ling'er, probably painted by Li Shenpo, such a famous and dignified person would naturally give something authentic. I quickly got out of bed, Zhang Yunhao asked me where I was going, I said to give this talisman to my mom, while saying that I opened the door and came to the door of my mother's bedroom, just thinking about knocking on the door, suddenly thought it was so late, if I knock on the door, it would disturb the old man's rest, so I spat out a mouthful of saliva and stuck the talisman on the door.

  Zhang Yunhao followed me out and asked, "What's going on? Why did you stick the talisman on your mom's door? Do you suspect that she's a ghost too?" I kicked my foot forward and said, "What kind of nonsense are you talking about? If my mom is a ghost, wouldn't I be a little ghost too?" I used this spirit talisman to stick it on the door, ghosts can't get in, right? Zhang Yunhao suddenly realized and said, "I didn't expect that Knife Brother would be so filial." I said, "Of course, being filial is the foundation of humanity. If a person doesn't understand filial piety, can they still be considered human?" Sheep have the virtue of kneeling to nurse their young, ravens have the righteousness of returning kindness, let alone humans. Zhang Yunhao nodded seriously and said, "Hmm, it sounds like you're making sense."

  After getting on the bed, we discussed again. Since the talisman has such a great effect, shouldn't we get more of them? And since we want to get talismans, we have to go find Zhong Ling'er.

  I finally found a reason to go see Zhong Ling'er, and I was so excited that I couldn't sleep all night.

  Later on, I fell asleep in a daze.

  The next day, we were woken up by our mother.

  When I came out of the house, I wanted to give the charm to my mother and ask her to carry it with her in the future. However, when I arrived at my mother's bedroom door, I found that the charm was gone. Just as I was about to ask my mother, she spoke up first, saying that kids these days are really naughty, and yesterday someone had posted a charm on the door, if she finds out who did it, she'll cut off their hand!

  I stared at Zhang Yunhao, wanting to say something but swallowed my words instead. After a while, I asked, "What about Zhang Fu? Where is he?" Mother said he had been cremated.

  After dinner, my mother asked me to herd cattle. I was thinking of going to see Zhong Ling'er, but I didn't have the mood to herd cattle? However, it's hard to disobey my mother's orders. At home, I'm the youngest, if I don't herd cattle, who will? But if I herd cattle, I won't be able to go to Zhong Ling'er's place. I worry that if I leave, the naughty cow will steal food from the fields again, what should I do?

  However, a solution was always found. The ox in my home is a draft ox, with a small wooden stick inserted between its nostrils, which can be led by a rope. I then found two very long ropes and asked Zhang Yunhao to drive the car.

  Zhang Yunhao had just jumped onto the car when his mother came out, enthusiastically trying to persuade him to stay: "Child, are you leaving already? Since you've come, why not play for a few more days?" Zhang Yunhao was taken aback, looking at me awkwardly, unsure of what to do. I explained that he wasn't leaving yet, just going for a drive with me to herd cattle. His mother finally understood and laughed: "That's great, you can stay here and play until Xiaodao goes off to school." Zhang Yunhao asked me where I was going to school, and I replied that it was a pretty bad second-rate university. Zhang Yunhao responded with an "oh" and said that wasn't too bad, it was still a key university.

  I drove the cattle to a piece of abandoned land by the roadside, full of wild grass, and asked Zhang Yunhao to stop the car. He jumped down from the car and said, "Your mother just said that, I'm embarrassed to stay in your house anymore." I said my mother didn't mean anything else, thinking you were leaving, so she was trying to keep you here. She hoped you would stay at my house longer and accompany me. As I spoke, I took out the rope and asked him for help. We put the rope around the noses of the two cattle and tied the other end of the rope to a big tree by the soil. After finishing, I patted my hands and laughed: "I'm really smart, now the cattle can stay here for a day without any problem."

  We got on the car and came to Zhong Ling'er's house again. I told her about Shui Shengzi and what happened last night, and asked for the Ling symbol. Zhong Ling'er's face was very heavy, looking at us and asking: "Did you really see Shui Shengzi?" Zhang Yunhao said of course we saw him, look at my forehead which was injured by Shui Shengzi.

  "Damn it!" I cursed: "That was done by my mom."

  "Oh," Zhang Yunhao hastily said: "I was wrong, it was your mom who did it. Right, why did your mom hit my head with a stone at that time?"

  I'm so angry, this matter wasn't discussed last night, but today I came to Zhong Ling'er's place and you're here to stir up trouble for me, it's simply humiliating! In a huff, I said isn't the Water Saint not capable of hurting him? Like air, my mom was originally going to hit the ghost with a stone, but ended up hitting you instead.

  "That's right, that's the situation!" Zhang Yunhao said to Zhong Ling'er: "After we've told you this, you should believe us and know how formidable the Water Sage is. Today, our purpose in coming here is to get some talismans from your family..."

  "Others don't get old." I hastily reminded Zhang Yunhao. Zhang Yun continued, "People don't get old, generations get old..."

  "Stop your sweet talk," Zhong Ling'er asked coldly, "What exactly are you here for?"

  I hastened to say: "It's come to ask for your advice on how to deal with Water Saint Child."

  Zhong Ling'er asked Zhang Yunhao, "Ordinary objects can't hurt the Water Saint Son at all. Since the Water Saint Son grabbed your neck, how did you manage to escape later?"