Chapter 31 Qing Shui Town 03

  Gu Yin stood at the foot of the bed, looking at Qin Fei's quilt on the ground, with a subtle expression. Looking at the lump on the bedside that looked like a sleeping bag, he had an eerie feeling as if a small animal had made a nest in his own territory.

  However, Gu Yin was very clear that he was not a person who could be approached by small animals, whether in his past life or this life. Almost no animal would like to stay near him. On the other hand, Yuan Qing was quite popular among small animals, and he often saw him being teased by those little creatures with a helpless expression.

  Gu Yin withdrew his gaze from Qin Fei's bed and got up.

  Qin Fei came out of the bath to find Gu Yin lounging against the headboard. The quilt only covered his lower body, and due to his sitting position, the opening of his pajamas was slightly ajar, revealing a pair of collarbones and a small patch of chest, subtly outlining the contours of his muscles. Qin Fei estimated that Gu Yin's physique probably wouldn't be inferior to Gu Wenkai's, unlike himself, who looked like a weak white chicken when naked.

  Qin Fei quietly tightened the collar of his pajamas, walked quickly to his bed and got in, then sat up straight and put on his jacket before calmly starting to watch TV.

  However, Qin Fei couldn't stay quiet for long, as Gu Yin was holding the remote control and kept switching channels, staying on each one for less than five minutes. Qin Fei couldn't help but look at Gu Yin on the bed and said, "Just watch one channel, it's just to pass the time before sleep."

  Gu Yin glanced at Qin Fei with a faint smile and finally stopped on a Go explanation channel.

  Qin Fei: "......"

  Qin Fei understood a bit of Go, but he was completely uninterested in this dry and tasteless explanation. Before long, he couldn't help but start to feel drowsy. After yawning and bidding Gu Yin goodnight, Qin Fei lay down and snuggled into his quilt to sleep.

  Gu Yin didn't turn off the TV and go to sleep until after 10 o'clock. After turning off the TV, the room was quiet, and Gu Yin lay down for a while before hearing intermittent light coughing sounds coming from under the bed.

  Qin Fei's physical condition was not good, and he would easily catch a cold at night. Although the air conditioner was turned on in the room, he still covered himself with his clothes under the quilt, but the floor was still colder than the bed, and his body didn't have much warmth to begin with, so when he couldn't sleep, it was okay, but when he fell asleep, he felt a bit chilly.

  A faint coughing sound came intermittently, stopping and starting. Gu Yin, who was lying on the bed, finally couldn't bear it anymore and sat up, turned on the bedside lamp, and stared at Qin Fei's quilt on the floor.

  Qin Fei curled up into a ball in the quilt, his head almost completely buried in the quilt, which was puffed up like a mountain bag.

  Is it that cold? Gu Yin frowned at Qin Fei's quilt package and soon heard the other party's slight cough.

  Gu Yin got out of bed and patted Qin Fei through the quilt, saying: "Get up and go to sleep."

  Qin Fei curled up in the quilt and stopped responding. Gu Yin listened carefully and found that Qin Fei's breathing sounded very even, and he was actually fast asleep.

  So, with a cough that kept stopping and starting, you actually slept quite well?

  Gu Yin's face was expressionless as he stared at Qin Fei's quilt, then reached out to unbutton the quilt cover and pulled him out from under the covers, grabbing his arm and hauling him onto the bed.

  After being tossed about like that, Qin Fei finally woke up, dazed and confused, opening his eyes to look at Gu Yin, "What's going on?"

  "Sleep!" Gu Yin threw the quilt that Qin Fei had been using onto him and then turned over to go back to sleep himself.

  But after dragging Qin Fei onto the bed and turning off the bedside lamp, Gu Yin soon began to regret it. Qin Fei was afraid of the cold, and as soon as he fell asleep, he instinctively burrowed into a warmer place. Gu Yin lay down for not long before Qin Fei abandoned his original quilt and occupied his instead. He pushed the person away, but it wasn't long before the person rolled back into his arms again. Back and forth, Gu Yin didn't even know how many times he had been tossed around before he finally fell asleep.

  The next morning, waking up to see Qin Fei still snuggled in his arms for warmth, Gu Yin found it utterly unbelievable that he was able to fall asleep the night before, and with a pretty good quality of sleep at that.

  Gu Yin never slept in the same bed with anyone, as long as someone was on his bed, his sleep would be very light. He was too defensive against people, except for Yuan Qing, he had not met anyone who could let him put down his guard. But unexpectedly, last night sleeping with Qin Fei on the same bed, he could still sleep so soundly.

  But this person is not Yuan Qing after all.

  Gu Yin touched the soul stone hanging from his neck, took a deep look at Qin Fei who was still fast asleep, and pushed him away before getting up to wash.

  Qin Fei woke up to find himself lying in bed, vaguely remembering Gu Yin picking him up from the ground and putting him on the bed. Qin Fei rubbed his eyes, looked around the room, but didn't see Gu Yin's figure anywhere, nor were there any signs of Gu Yin having been there, and the bathroom was quiet too, so he guessed that Gu Yin had already left.

  After Qin Fei packed up, he went downstairs and asked the landlady of the inn, only to confirm that Gu Yin had indeed left early. Moreover, he left a message, letting Qin Fei know that if he wanted to leave, he could directly check out.

  Qin Fei did not check out and added two more days of accommodation fees. He planned to wait for Zhang Zhixin to arrive here.

  "By the way, I wanted to ask, why are private cars from outside the town unwilling to come here?" Qin Fei recalled the hesitation of those private car drivers when mentioning Qing Shui Town and asked the boss's wife tentatively.

  The boss's wife raised her eyes and glanced at Qin Fei with a lukewarm expression, without revealing the kind of emotions those private car drivers had, but also not very talkative. She simply said: "Because in their eyes, Qing Shui Town is just an unlucky place."

  "Because of those bad rumors?" Qin Fei asked.

  "I suppose so."

  "What are all these rumors?"

  The boss's wife paused while organizing the account book, "Actually, it's not just a rumor, but also a fact that is in plain sight. Qing Shui Town was divided into two towns by the Qing Shui River, with our town being the East Town. If you head west and take a look at the West Town on the other side of the Qing Shui River, you'll probably understand what's going on."

  Qin flew out to eat breakfast and then took a bus to the place where the hotel owner's wife said.

  After passing by five or six stations, Qin Fei arrived at Qing Shui River. The station where Qin Fei got off was on a straight asphalt road along the Qing Shui River, and after getting off the asphalt road, there was a lawn covered with withered grass, and after crossing the lawn, it was the Qing Shui River.

  The Qing Shui River doesn't live up to its name at all, the water is not clear and transparent, but instead presents a murky dark green color, I don't know what kind of pollution caused this.

  Qin Fei walked to the riverbank and looked towards the opposite side. On the other side of the river, there was a large expanse of cultivated land. Beyond that black soil, was Qing Shui Town's West Town, which the boss's wife had mentioned to him.

  Qin Fei was taken aback when he first saw the so-called Western Town. It was a cluster of flat houses that looked extremely poor.

  The eastern part of Qing Shui Town may not be as prosperous as the city center, but at least the houses are relatively neat and tidy. However, the western part of the same town seems to have fallen behind the eastern part by an era, looking poor and desolate to the point of being unbelievable.

  Although it is the same small town, separated by a river, it has become two worlds.

  Qin Fei looked at the flat house for a while, and gradually furrowed his brow. The flat house seemed to have been seen by him very early in the past, at that time it was also a piece of flat house, and it was also a black and shiny cultivated land... But in his memory, he had never been to H city, let alone this small Qing Shui town in H city.

  Is it mixed up with some other place?

  Qin Fei thought for a long time, but ultimately still couldn't think of anything, and could only temporarily put this question aside, turning to think about why the west town and east town of Qing Shui Town had such strange and distinct differences. They were all the same small town, even if there was biased development, it was impossible to be biased to the point of differing by an era's worth of development.

  Qin Fei's gaze followed the direction of the river and saw a stone bridge not far away, so he lifted his feet and walked towards the stone bridge. He planned to take a look at the town on the other side.

  "Hey! Young man, where are you going?" Qin Fei had only taken a few steps when he heard someone calling out to him.

  As he looked around, Qin Fei saw an old man standing by the side of the road, holding a broom and wearing a bright orange vest. Qin Fei guessed that this old man was probably one of the town's sanitation workers.

  "I'll go take a look over there." Qin Fei pointed to the west town on the other side of the river and said to the old man.

  "Don't go! That place is no good." The old man waved his hand at Qin Fei and advised sincerely.

  Qin Fei took a glance at the Xizhen on the other side, turned around and walked to the old man's face, asking: "What's going on over there? Isn't that also Qing Shui Town? Why is it so different from this side of Qing Shui Town?"

  "That side is also Qing Shui Town, but it's not possible to do anything about the big difference between that side and this side. The reason is that it's impossible to carry out construction work on that side." The old man sighed and said, "More than ten years ago, the people above wanted to build a road and streets for the other side, but after the construction team entered, several workers had accidents not long after. The leader of the construction team said that the land was not clean and gave up the project. Later, the leaders of the town found five or six more construction teams, but they also stopped work due to accidents and finally withdrew from Xi Town."

  "How could this be?" Qin Fei asked.

  "It's said to be haunted." The old man lowered his voice, "I think it was over a decade ago, I don't remember the exact year, but something seemed to have happened in Xizhen. A Taoist priest came and told the town head that rituals needed to be performed on that land. After that, every year for several years, they would hold grand rituals. Later, the town head changed, and the new one didn't believe in it, so the rituals stopped. Not long after the rituals stopped, there were incidents where construction teams couldn't start work."

  "There's more..." The old man leaned in closer to Qin Fei, "Lately, I've heard that there have been more deaths over there, and they died horribly. So, young man, unless it's absolutely necessary, don't go over there, or you'll be asking for trouble."

  Is he dead? The one Zhang Zhi Xin mentioned before? Qin Fei looked thoughtful and gazed at the western town across from him.

  "The people in the town don't want to talk about what's going on over there. I'm only telling you because you look like a good person, so I said a few more words." The old man picked up his broom and started walking back and forth, stopping after a few steps and saying to Qin Fei, "Don't go across the street, okay? This morning a young man went over there and completely ignored me. He hasn't come back yet."

  Qin Fei was taken aback and instinctively thought that the old man was talking about Gu Yin who had left without saying goodbye.

  After a moment's pause, Qin Fei nodded towards the old man, "I understand, I'll just stay here and watch for a while, not going over."