Chapter 53: Hands in the Water For now, for you, and for ZT brother's diamond reward, I'll add more content.

  I walked up to the old man and politely asked, "Sir, is there anything else you'd like to say?" The old man stared at me and asked, "Young man, have you forgotten something?" I was perplexed and said that I hadn't forgotten anything. Was it something I had dropped or perhaps I had left without bidding farewell to the old man? The old man continued, "Didn't you say you were going to treat my illness?" I replied that I did, and he asked how I planned to administer the medicine to him. I said I would burn it for him, and he asked, "How will you burn it for me? Do you know my birth date and time?"

  I was momentarily stunned, scratched my hair, and forced a smile, saying "Sorry about that, I forgot about this matter", then asked the old man for his birth date and time. The old man claimed his surname was Yan and his name was Dahai, then told me his birth date and time, which I carefully remembered in my heart, planning to burn some herbs for him tomorrow.

  After getting on the car, Zhang Yunhao asked me what I was doing just now, talking to myself in the air, was I performing a stand-up comedy? Brother Ge also looked surprised, it's clear that he wanted to ask if I had seen a ghost. I calmly said nothing, then asked him what he said to Fan Feng at the entrance of the cave, which made Fan Feng change his mind about following me into the cave. Zhang Yunhao said: "Actually, I didn't say anything, I just said you are gay." I warned him to stay away from me in the future, my fist is itching a bit.

  After returning to the apartment, I asked Zhong Ling'er what a birth symbol was. Zhong Ling'er asked me why I was asking this. I told her about the old man I met in the cave earlier. Zhong Ling'er handed me a paper and said that as long as I wrote the old man's name and eight characters of his birth date on it, it would be fine, then burn it with the herbs.

  I always feel that this is a bit of a joke, and I don't know if it will work or not. If it's possible to do things like this, then my father can just burn some paper money for the ghosts to get medical treatment, right?

  After taking a shower, Zhang Junhao suggested that we go eat supper. Actually, none of us had eaten dinner yet and were all hungry, so everyone agreed.

  We found a big restaurant and sat around the table. Wu Lele wanted to eat chicken, but the boss said there was no chicken. Wu Lele said if there's no chicken, she won't eat and left! We followed her again, finally entering an old Hunan restaurant. The landlady said they had a signature dish called Dong'an Chicken, which is very delicious. Wu Lele said let's just eat here then.

  After sitting down, I asked Zhang Yunhao what had happened after he entered the cave. Zhang Yunhao took a sip of tea, stretched out his hand and paused in mid-air, saying: "What can I say! If I tell you, you won't believe me." I said that seeing him still alive now, I don't believe it either. Zhang Yunhao took another sip of tea and said, okay, then I'll tell you about my thrilling, exciting, and near-death experience, if you think it's interesting, don't interrupt me halfway through.

  Then Zhang Yunhao spoke up.

  At the entrance of the cave, Zhang Yunhao rushed in with a swift step, curiously walking towards the inside. When he reached the end, he saw the passage leading to the limestone cave. He had only taken two steps forward when suddenly a dark shadow rushed towards him violently. Because his eyes hadn't adapted to the darkness yet and the other person's speed was too fast, he was completely caught off guard, and both of them were knocked down by each other. Only after he stood up angrily did he realize that the one who had bumped into him was Niu Niu.

  Niang Niang also quickly got up from the ground, glanced at Zhang Yunhao, and then turned around to crawl into the cave. Zhang Yunhao was extremely surprised and chased after her. After entering the limestone cave, Nian Niang turned back to look at Zhang Yunhao with a terrified expression as if she had seen a ghost, and jumped into the water in a panic.

  Actually, Niu Niu wanted to run to the other side of the waterway, but her feet slipped and she fell into the water with a splash. The poor girl was flustered and struggled in the water, about to sink, when Zhang Junhao quickly took off his clothes and jumped in without hesitation. He swam to Niu Niu's side, grabbed one of her arms and tried to pull her towards the shore, but suddenly Niu Niu let out a sharp cry and her body sank rapidly into the water. Zhang Junhao hurriedly went to hug Niu Niu, but ended up hugging air, and in the blink of an eye, Niu Niu had disappeared underwater.

  Zhang Yunhao wiped the water off his face, looked around and was about to get ashore, but then thought, watching a living person sink into the water without doing anything is no different from not saving someone who is dying. Moreover, although Nian Nian is cold-blooded, she is still a beautiful woman, it's a pity if she dies (these are Zhang Yunhao's words). So, Zhang Yunhao took a deep breath and dove into the water headfirst.

  In the water, he felt around for a while, but didn't feel anything. Just as he was about to swim up to the surface, something bumped into his head. He reached out and touched it, and it was a foot! His hand instinctively grabbed onto the foot (at this moment, Fan Feng happened to fall into the water, so the foot he grabbed belonged to Fan Feng). As soon as he grabbed the foot, another foot kicked towards his hand with great force, kicking him several times in a row. One of the feet even kicked him on the head. Zhang Junhao was furious and, in a fit of rage, hugged the leg tightly and pulled it downwards with all his might. Unexpectedly, the person above increased their strength, and he temporarily lost his grip, allowing the foot to slip out of his hands. He was extremely angry and wanted to swim up to see whose dog leg it was, but unexpectedly, a hand grabbed onto his leg from below and pulled him down with great force.

  The hand's strength was too great, he had no power to fight back, and was dragged down by the hand. Because he had been in the water for too long, he almost suffocated. Just when he could no longer hold on, the hand holding his leg let go, and he hurriedly swam upwards, effortlessly breaking through the surface of the water.

  Zhang Yunhao was like he had been reborn, panting heavily with his mouth open wide, and then he looked around in all directions. As soon as he took a look, he was shocked to find that he was in what seemed to be a pool of water, one side of which was a stone wall, while the other side was empty land, and on this empty land, there was currently someone standing.

  It's Niu Niu.

  Niu Niu also stared at Zhang Yunhao in surprise.

  As soon as he saw someone, and a beauty at that, Zhang Yunhao felt much better and swam ashore. Niu Niu looked at Zhang Yunhao like she was looking at a monster, while Zhang Yunhao sized up the surroundings and asked where they were. Niu Niu ignored him, so he turned his gaze to sizing her up instead.

  Niuniu's clothes were all wet, clinging to her body, perfectly outlining her slender figure. Seeing Zhang Yunhao's lecherous gaze, she shouted at him: "What are you looking at? Get away from me!" Zhang Yunhao was furious, if he hadn't saved Niuniu, he wouldn't have fallen into the water and ended up in this godforsaken place. This girl not only didn't show gratitude but also spoke rudely, it was really detestable. However, Zhang Yunhao didn't get too angry, he remembered the hand that grabbed his leg and pulled him underwater earlier, and asked Niuniu if she was the one who did it. Niuniu coldly retorted: "Pervert!"

  Zhang Yunhao also felt that it was unlikely to be Niu Niu. But if it wasn't Niu Niu, then who could it be?

  He didn't think much about it and instead thought about how to get out.

  Suddenly, Niu Niu's face changed, her eyes staring motionlessly at the water surface. Zhang Yunhao asked her what was wrong, and Niu Niu finally gave a friendly response, pointing to the water surface and saying: "Look, the water is rising." Zhang Yunhao was also shocked, if the water rises here, it may flood this place, and when that happens, they will be trapped with no way out but to wait for death.

  They were eager to leave, but how? Zhang Yunhao suggested that they should go out the same way they came in. Judging from their descent earlier, it only took them a few seconds to get here, so the exit should be right above them. So, Zhang Yunhao encouraged Naiya to dive into the water and asked her to follow him. The two of them swam together and finally managed to swim out of the water surface smoothly.

  At this point, Zhang Yunhao took another sip of tea and let out a sigh of relief: "I thought I was done for, but it seems the King of Hell isn't collecting me today. Looks like Brother Hao is destined for great fortune and longevity."

  I know he skipped the part where he saw Jing'er, and didn't bring it up now. He just said you two are really bold, haven't you thought about what grabbed your leg and pulled you into the water? Are you still daring to go into the water? Zhang Yunhao glared with his eyes and said how could I not have thought of that? At the time, I suspected it might be a water ghost. Later, I thought that thing dragged me underwater but then let me go, maybe it was intentionally leading me there? I said probably that monster is lonely and wants to find two people to accompany him.

  During this time, the waiter had already served the dishes one by one. Wu Lele brought that so-called Dong'an chicken to the front and couldn't wait to take a bite, praising it nonstop. I said how come you like eating chicken so much, are you a yellow weasel in disguise? Wu Lele gave me a white eye and said you're the yellow weasel. We were speaking in local dialect, and at this time, a young man sitting next to our table looked over and asked where we were from. I told him honestly, and he said that he was from the same place as me. After asking further, it turned out that he was actually from the same village as me, called Zhaojia Chong, which is relatively close to Wucun, and also counts as a neighboring village of ours.

  The young man called himself Zhao Dongyang, and he was also from the same school as us, one grade higher than us.

  When I saw him alone, I called him over to eat together. He didn't hesitate and also brought the dishes from his table over. He asked Zhang Yunhao where the place he mentioned earlier was. Unexpectedly, Zhang Yunhao chuckled and said casually: "I just told a story, do you believe it?"