Volume 1: Spirit Marriage Chapter 42: The Guidance of Huang Pizi

  The Water God didn't come to strangle me or spit water at me, but instead sat down next to me and said this was his world. At that moment, I wasn't afraid of him anymore, and sneered at him, saying you're too full of yourself, what's the meaning of your world, your world is in hell. The Water God said yes, this is indeed hell. I said you're talking nonsense, this is the mortal realm. The Water God slowly said: "You might not believe it, why don't you go into the water and take a look?" I said do you think you can trick me into going into the water? I'm not that stupid. The Water God raised his voice and said: "You're already dead, do I need to trick you into going into the water again? I want you to go down and see if your corpse is at the bottom of the water."

  I was shocked beyond words, am I dead?

  What a joke!

  I sprang up with a start, looked around and found that this was the place I was familiar with, the stream, the flowing water and the winding road, as well as the continuous mountains opposite... But everything looked gray and hazy, like a morning with thick fog all over the sky, giving people a feeling of extreme gloominess and depression.

  The Water Saint also stood up and said, "This is my world, the world I've lived in for eighteen years." I looked at him and asked, "You're eighteen? Why did I see you two days ago when you were only seven or eight, how did you suddenly become eighteen?" He replied, "I die once every seven days, and within those seven days, I grow from a baby to an adult."

  So that's how it is.

  This ghost actually told me the truth, and also dared to be fearless, nor did he launch an attack on me. Is it really as he said that this is his world, and I have already... died?

  I couldn't believe what was happening, I glanced at the calm and peaceful pond, then scrambled onto the road and ran home in a panic. I felt like I was floating, as if I were sitting in a car, with everything around me moving backwards. This feeling was too strange and also terrifying, so I stopped running and turned back to look, and saw that Shui Shengzi was still sitting by the pond, smiling at me in a way that wasn't quite a smile.

  "Do you want to go home? You don't have a home anymore, just like me." He sneered: "You'd better stay here and keep me company obediently."

  Damn it! I cursed and continued walking forward.

  I walked for a while, and I found something was off again. The Water Saint appeared in front of me, including that damn water pool! The Water Saint smiled at me and said, "Don't go any further, you can't escape my palm." I cursed silently, have I encountered a ghostly wall? You old thief, wait for me to get out of here, I'll capture your soul and lock it up, let you taste the flavor of being imprisoned! Thinking of this, I started running.

  As I ran, the front suddenly darkened, as if a layer of black fog had drifted over, and the road just one meter ahead was no longer visible. Soon, I was heavily surrounded by this black fog.

  I'm anxious, am I really going to be trapped here to death? Suddenly terrified, I loudly shouted towards the sky: "Mom... Dad..."

  Suddenly, a faint sound came from behind me. I turned around and saw a small animal emerging from the dark fog. It lifted its head and looked at me as if it wanted to talk to me.

  It turned out to be a yellow-skinned kid.

  This yellow-skinned monkey is about thirty centimeters long, with a long tail that turns upwards, its whole body covered in black fur, and a pair of eyes shining brightly.

  I thought to myself, this yellow skin looks so familiar, haven't I seen it before? After thinking for a while, I finally remembered that the yellow skin that appeared on the night I had a blind date with Wu Lele was very similar to this one, probably the same one!

  How did it get here? What does it want to do again?

  I was stunned, and Huang Pizi suddenly stretched out one leg to wave at me, then turned around and walked away, taking two steps before turning back to look at me.

  Does it want me to follow it?

  I hesitated for a moment and then followed him.

  Huang Pizi walked relatively slowly, and every few steps he would turn his head to look back at me, as if to see if I was keeping up. As I walked, I thought to myself, where is this little guy taking me anyway? Why hasn't that despicable Shui Shengzi appeared yet? Hasn't he discovered Huang Pizi? Or perhaps he saw him but didn't want to bother with it?

  As I walked, the black fog gradually dispersed, and what was in front of me became clear and bright. Suddenly, a beam of light shone over, stinging my eyes. I quickly closed my eyes, feeling my body sink a lot. When I opened my eyes again, a familiar face appeared before my eyes - it was my mother!

  And I was actually lying in bed!

  Her mother's eyes were red and looked like they had been crying. She looked very tired. When she saw me open my eyes, she immediately called out: "Child, you're awake?"

  "Are you awake?" someone asked as they walked over, I saw it was Wu Lele, she was smiling at me.

  The sky was already bright, and I found that the clothes on my body had been changed. With great effort, I sat up and asked how I ended up in bed. Didn't I fall into the water tank? My mother said it was all thanks to Lele. She saw that I hadn't returned home for a long time, so she went to Zhong Ling'er's house to pick me up. On the way, she heard the sound of my motorcycle horn, but didn't see me. In the end, she found out that I had fallen into the water tank and it was her who carried me back.

  I thanked her hastily, if it wasn't for her pulling me out of the water and carrying me back home with great effort, I'm afraid I would have drowned in the water already. Wu Lele smiled and said: "It's nothing, didn't you also save me? If it wasn't for our ghost marriage, I'd still be sleeping now, but you're so heavy, carrying you almost killed me."

  It's true that she is a girl, delicate and tender, yet she carried me, a big man, back home on her back, the hardship can be imagined.

  I remembered Shuǐ Shèng Zǐ and also thought of Huáng Shěn, asking Zhāng Jūn Hào if he had returned. Wú Lè Lè said he came back last night. I asked where he went, Wú Lè Lè said Huáng Shí Shū called him to eat dinner. I got out of bed, not even calling me for dinner, really infuriating! Saying I'm going to Huáng Shí Shū's house for dinner too, while speaking and walking outside, my mother heard the noise and immediately ran over from the kitchen to block me, saying that dinner at home is ready, and a chicken has been killed, telling me to eat first.

  Every time Wu Lele comes, as long as he eats at my house, my mother kills a chicken. I once suspected that it was because Wu Lele had said that my mother's cooked chicken is extremely delicious.

  At the dinner table, Wu Lele only ate chicken and barely touched other dishes or rice. I found that she didn't even eat them, but instead devoured half of a whole chicken by herself.

  Before I finished eating, Zhang Yunhao arrived. Seeing that I was awake, he asked me what had happened and why I had rushed into the water. I said it was nothing, just that it was too dark at night and I had made a mistake. Then I asked him to help me retrieve my motorcycle. Wu Lele also wanted to go, so we got on Zhang Yunhao's car.

  After the car started, I told them the truth. Zhang Yunhao was half-believing and half-doubting, saying that since you were dragged into the water by Shuishengzi and drowned to death, and then went to the ghost world, how could you still come back? You know, that's a one-way road with no return. In fact, I'm also quite curious about this. It's rare to hear or even never heard of people being able to die and come back to life again. The reason why I was able to walk back from the Ghost Gate was because I received guidance from that yellow-skinned monkey.

  As soon as I mention Huang Pizi, my heart suddenly surges up. Since the night of the spiritual wedding with Wu Lele, Huang Pizi has been appearing in my life, sometimes terrifyingly, sometimes warmly. It seems that Huang Pizi has always been helping me. For example, when I was with Zhong Ling'er in the cave at Fengmenkou, Huang Pizi helped me kill the poisonous snake. When I didn't have tuition fees, Huang Pizi sent me gold. And last night, in the ghost world, Huang Pizi showed me the way back home... Why does Huang Pizi want to help me?

  Am I also a yellow-skinned monkey?

  I was startled by this guess.

  When I arrived at the Shui Tan, I looked over to where the Water God sat last night and found that it was a pile of broken stones, very dry, without any signs of someone having sat there. The stream was big, falling from the stone into the water pool, stirring up waves and making a gurgling sound. The creek water was clear, I could clearly see my motorcycle lying in the water.

  Recalling last night's events, it feels like a dream.

  I and Zhang Yunhao spent a lot of effort to get the motorcycle out of the water, the throttle was already unresponsive, I cursed, damn Water Saint, if I catch you, I'll skin you alive!

  Call Dahei to ask if the agricultural vehicle at his home is available, but Dahei said he was in town and had been following his father to transport goods for people these days, and it's estimated that he won't be back until two days later.

  No wonder I haven't seen that kid for a while now.

  I and Zhang Yunhao made a great effort to push my motorcycle to the side of the road, I patted my hand and said let's wait for the agricultural vehicle from Da Hei's house to come back and then we'll talk about it, first let this motorcycle bask in the sun by the roadside.

  After getting on the car, I said to Zhang Yunhao, "Let's go to Huang Shi's house and take a look. Then we'll discuss how to deal with Shui Shengzi." Zhang Yunhao looked into the rearview mirror and smiled, saying, "Knife brother, your goddess has arrived."