Chapter 18: Sleepwalking?

  The atmosphere fell into an eerie silence, and suddenly, a faint voice of Huang Xiaoyu calling out to her came through. She hastily responded loudly, then turned around and walked outside. Just as she was about to leave, she couldn't help but turn back and glance at the tall tree branches again, feeling that another dark shadow had appeared. It was really strange, and she suspected that she was seeing things. Huang Xiaoyu found her and scolded her severely. Ji Suoyun teased her for being overly anxious, and she got punched a few times.

  A few people continued to climb up, and on the mountain was an ancient temple, not very big, but quiet. Inside, incense wafted through the beams, making Su Yin's head ache slightly, so she hastily bowed, gave some incense money, and went outside to wait for them.

  The courtyard was very quiet, with several sturdy trees surrounding it, but I didn't know what kind of trees they were. The canopy was extremely lush and almost covered the entire sky above the courtyard. Ji Suoyun looked around boredly, on the left side against the wall was a table, on which there was an inkstone, a pen holder, several sheets of white paper, and a tube of bamboo slips. It seemed to be for fortune-telling for tourists, but at this time, there were no people either.

  Look around, no one. Ji Su thought for a moment, anyway, he was a bit bored now, so he walked over and picked up the bamboo tube to take a look. He casually pulled out a few, and found that each slip had different content, which looked like some kind of literary language, but he couldn't understand what it said.

  With both hands holding the bamboo tube, Ji Su-yin began to shake. The first time, Ji Su-yin shook for half a day, and with one tremble, half of the slips spilled out. In a flurry, she picked up the slips and put them back into the bamboo tube. Clearing her throat and taking a deep breath, this time she shook very seriously.

  One minute later, a sign finally fell down. Ji Suoyun picked it up and looked at it for half a day, but she still couldn't understand it. As it happens, her classical Chinese foundation was actually quite good, except for chemistry, her language scores were the best, but the words on this sign she could all recognize, put together they became words that she didn't recognize.

  "Want me to help?" Ji Suoyu was startled, turned around and found a middle-aged man wearing a blue long gown standing beside the table. The man's face was ordinary, but his demeanor revealed a hint of gentleness, and he was now smiling at her with a warm gaze. Ji Suoyu stared blankly at him, nodded dazedly, and handed over the bamboo slips. The man lowered his head to look at the slips, and Ji Suoyu suddenly thought that she hadn't heard the sound of this person walking just now - when did he come over? She glanced down and saw that his feet were perfectly normal! The man suddenly raised his head and looked at her, and Ji Suoyu was startled, hastily withdrawing her gaze and pretending to listen intently.

  The man's eyes were bright and clear, nothing like what a person of his age should have. When he looked at her, it made people unable to look away. "Your signature is very interesting!"

  What? Ji Su's eyes sparkled: "Is it interesting?" The man nodded and chuckled a few times: "This fortune says that you have no noble person in your fate, success or failure is only up to your thoughts." Ji Su was stunned, her mood suddenly sank by the phrase "no noble person in your fate". She smiled bitterly and looked up at the man: "Then what kind of fortune is this? A bad one?"

  The man smiled and shook his head: "It's not a low-grade contract, nor is it a high-grade contract." She knew it wasn't a high-grade contract, but it wasn't a low-grade contract either. Could it be a medium-grade contract? When she asked the other person, he just shook his head and said he didn't know.

  Just then, Huang Xiaoyu and the others came out, the dusk had already merged, they should go back. Bidding farewell to the men, several people walked down the mountain together. The sunset was beautiful, and the afterglow stretched the shadows of several people very long. Ji Suyan temporarily forgot about asking for a sign, indulging in playful laughter, after all, such things, having heard them was enough, no need to take it seriously.

  In the quiet courtyard behind, a man in green clothes smiled as he gazed at Qiu Su's departing figure, his eyes flickering with ambiguous meaning. How could an ordinary person be worthy of her noble status? He couldn't! The man turned around, hands behind his back, shaking his head and walking away.

  The return trip was much faster, and by the time it got dark, they were back at the inn. After washing away their sweat and dust, the group dressed up neatly and prepared to go explore the night market. The owner of the inn had told them that the summer night markets here were very lively, so they had been looking forward to checking it out all along.

  People came and went, both sides were snack shops. Ji Su-yin grasped a few roasted gluten strips, eating with relish. Huang Xiao-yu grasped a hand-held pancake and gnawed on it. Yan Fen-er used toothpicks to eat sushi. Only Ji Hua-li disdainfully thought these things were unclean and only wanted to eat fruit.

  Several people walked and ate while looking around, until they had eaten their fill from one end of the street to the other. After turning a corner, the snack street suddenly became a flower and bird market. Along the way, there were many children and old people, and the shops were all decorated with flowers and birdsong. Ji Suyan had always loved fluffy animals! This time she saw so many, she almost wanted to buy a few back to raise.

  But they were all vetoed by the three of them. When she picked up a small hamster, the three of them screamed in unison. She hadn't even said a word when she was ordered not to raise any fluffy creatures, especially mice! But this is a hamster, okay?! The protest was ineffective, and Ji Su was ruthlessly dragged away.

  Ji Huali disliked the smell of the market, and a few people quickly finished their stroll. On the other side of the street, near the riverbank, there were many people running at night, dating couples, and pedestrians taking a walk.

  A few people walked slowly along the riverbank, blowing in the river wind, chatting idly. Ji Suoyin pulled down a dogtail grass by the roadside, folded it into a ring with a few folds, and gave it to Yan Fen'er. Huang Xiaoyu liked it very much, grabbed her and asked her to teach her, and she was also enthusiastic about teaching. The few people took turns putting rings on each other, reciting wedding vows in a mock manner, and finally shouted in unison: I do! The four of them laughed together, fooling around until late at night, eleven o'clock or more, before returning to the hotel to rest.

  The whole day was spent very fulfilling, and several people were so tired that they fell asleep as soon as they touched the pillow. Ji SuYin snuggled into Huang XiaoYu's arms, hugging her arm as she drifted off to sleep. Gradually feeling light and lazy, Ji SuYin reluctantly opened her eyes.

  For the fact that she would come to strange places in her dreams, Ji Suyan's nerves were slowly being trained to be more numb, so now she just reacted a bit slower and then sighed in her heart: Oh! This is in a dream! What else could she do? In dreams, the brain was chaotic, sometimes the thinking route was abnormal, some things you subconsciously felt would happen, and then they really happened.

  For example, now she recalls in her mind the empty space where she stopped to rest during the day, and when she opens her eyes again, that flat ground really appears before her!

  Staring ahead, a dark mass, that's where I went during the day. Tonight the moonlight is very bright, the sixteenth moon seems even fuller than yesterday, stretching out my hand, I can vaguely see the lines on my palm.

  She wiggled her toes, feeling the warmth left by the scorching sun during the day. She had always found it strange that dreams were supposed to be numb, yet she could feel the cold and heat, and it felt unusually real, as if she was experiencing it firsthand. Unbelievable! Ji Suoyun looked up at that place, feeling a cool breeze blowing in, with frogs croaking and insects chirping around her, both quiet and lively. She didn't know why she came here, but Ji Suoyun felt like she had to go inside, as if there was something very attractive to her, making her involuntarily lift her legs and walk forward.

  The grass was soft and fluffy underfoot, the blades tickling her calves and feet, so itchy! Slowly, the grass grew taller and taller, until she burst out, Qi Su stood in the open space, the moonlight blocked by the dense branches.

  It took a while for her eyes to adjust, and she could only see a little bit. Looking around, the atmosphere was different from the gloomy silence of the daytime, and it felt terrifying and eerie. The croaking of frogs and the chirping of insects had all disappeared, and it was so quiet that she could only hear her own breathing.

  Suddenly, her back turned cold, and Ji Su's voice quickly turned around, startled to take a step back, with her arms wrapped around her shoulders, staring wide-eyed at the woman who appeared behind her.

  The woman stood with her back to her, her long hair hanging down to her hips, wearing a white cambric nightgown, which was very conspicuous in this environment. The woman stood still, motionless, like a sculpture.

  Ji Su-yin didn't dare to blink, afraid that the woman would suddenly turn around and strangle her. After waiting for a while, the woman still didn't move, Ji Su-yin swallowed hard with difficulty, too tense to the point of stuttering, her voice weak and without confidence: "Y-you... who are you? ... Y-you're doing what here?"

  The woman's head moved slightly, but still didn't turn around. Ji Su was startled and almost let out a shrill cry, thinking she would see a terrifying female ghost face.

  A faint voice slowly came: "Why did you come here?" Ji Su was taken aback, not reacting in time: "Ah?......Oh!......I don't know how I ended up here either. Who are you? How are you here?" She couldn't help but ask again, but the woman still didn't answer her: "You shouldn't have come here! Go back quickly!"

  Ji Su's voice was somewhat inexplicable: "What?" Suddenly, the sound of rustling leaves came from above Ji Su's head, extremely abrupt. Ji Su reflexively looked up. In the darkness, two green flames flickered, and Ji Su didn't know what it was. Before she could react, the ghost fire suddenly rushed towards her, and in an instant, she thought her heart would stop beating.