Chapter 24 - Heading North

Book 2: Divinities

The setting sun shone through the window. Xiang Cheng lay at the end of the bunk, while Chi Xiaoduo made a nest for Si Gui and put it in his clothes.

Xiang Cheng: "How come you also brought it in?"

Chi Xiaoduo smiled and said, "Si Gui found me with one glance on the platform and nestled into my hat. It's alright, they rarely check for this kind of thing in the soft sleeper cabins."

Chi Xiaoduo lay against Xiang Cheng’s body, and Xiang Cheng hugged Chi Xiaoduo with both arms. They faced the window and looked out at the mountains and rivers bathed in the summer twilight.

"What are you thinking about?" Xiang Cheng asked as the train swayed along.

"I was thinking about my college years." Chi Xiaoduo said with a smile, "The last time I took a train was four years ago, when I graduated."

"Was college fun?"

"En." Chi Xiaoduo said, "Every day when my friend went to class, he would also take me there by bike . It would have been nice if we had known each other earlier; I could have been eating more of the tasty things you make for many years now."

Xiang Cheng looked out of the window and said, "I didn't go to college, or even primary school."

"Your handwriting is very beautiful ah." Chi Xiaoduo turned his head and glanced at him.

Xiang Cheng said, "My mom taught me to read and write. I don’t know pinyin, and I can only type using strokes. Before, what she taught me was actually traditional characters. Only later did I slowly learn simplified characters."

Chi Xiaoduo: “.....”

“How long did she teach you?” Chi Xiaoduo asked.

“Until I was eight. After that, I followed my dad to catch...to hunt, and then I never studied again. Everything else came from reading on my own." Xiang Cheng narrowed his eyes slightly, and the red light shone on his heroic brow, as if he was caught in a faraway dream.

"You're so smart." Chi Xiaoduo said, "You learned all the characters when you were eight, you studied on your own in the meantime, and you also have more common worldly knowledge."

"I still don't understand a lot of subjects." Xiang Cheng said, "It’s the problem with not having gone to school much. You college students are the ones who are great; you can calculate things, draw diagrams, and also understand English, physics, and chemistry. You understand so many things."

Chi Xiaoduo laughed and said, "Your mom must also be very smart. Do you look more like your dad or your mom?"

"More like my mom." Xiang Cheng pinched Chi Xiaoduo and said, "After the first time I went away on a long journey with my dad, she had left by the time we got home."

"Ah." Chi Xiaoduo said in surprise, "Did you find her later?"

Xiang Cheng shook his head and said, "I found her when I was seventeen, but she had died by then."

Chi Xiaoduo: “.....”

Chi Xiaoduo didn't ask any further, and the sleeper car was very quiet. Chi Xiaoduo's only wish was for no one to come over. It was dinner time, and Chi Xiaoduo bought boxed meals from the cart and sat down with Xiang Cheng to eat.

The atmosphere had suddenly grown heavy. Xiang Cheng realized this, smiled, and asked, "What about you? When are we going to visit your family?"

"My grandmother has passed away la." Chi Xiaoduo said, "I went back to handle that during college. My parents are divorced, and I don’t know where my dad went, we can’t find him anywhere. My mom remarried and went to Taiwan."

Xiang Cheng nodded, and Chi Xiaoduo said, "My dad used to be a fisherman in the fishing village of Zhuhai. Later, the economy opened up, and the area developed. The family land was acquired by the government, and the demolition fee they gave us was a million yuan. At that time, a million yuan was a lot, it’s probably equivalent to several millions now ba."

"A huge sum of money." Xiang Cheng said.

"En." Chi Xiaoduo said, "We suddenly had a sum of money, and it was not long after the reform and opening up policy took place. In that era, who had any thoughts about saving up for a rainy day, right? It is only now that people have a sense of urgency and know that we need to provide for the elderly and save money. Fishermen like my dad just lived day by day and thought that a little over one million yuan couldn’t possibly be spent in a whole lifetime. "

"And then what happened?" Xiang Cheng asked.

"Later, he picked up bad habits and learned from the bad examples of his friends under similar circumstances in the village. There was so much money, they couldn’t spend it all, so everyone went to gamble. They gambled and gambled, until there was no money left la." Chi Xiaoduo swallowed a few mouthfuls of rice. He had gotten used to eating food that Xiang Cheng had made, so the train food was like pig food now. "My grandmother raised him with great effort, but in the end she was angered to death by him. So then I lived with my maternal grandmother."

"Is your paternal grandmother still there?" Xiang Cheng asked, "It’s not easy for an old person, so she probably has to rely on you."

"She was angered to death." Chi Xiaoduo said, "Literally, she died due to how angry she was."

Xiang Cheng: “.....”

"When she heard that my father had squandered all the money, that creditors had come to take the house, and that he owed hundreds of thousands of yuan, she hanged herself." Chi Xiaoduo said, "She hung herself from the electric fan. I didn't know anything that day, I just heard my mom quarreling with the creditors, and my mom left immediately. I was still playing inside, and when I came out I smelled something really bad. Grandma's tongue was sticking out, and I had nightmares for many months."

Xiang Cheng twisted open the water bottle and poured some for Chi Xiaoduo.

"You can’t just rely on money." Xiang Cheng said, "My dad often said that all money is just worldly possessions, you have to see what you want to do first. Without ideals in life, it's like being part of the walking dead."

Chi Xiaoduo said, "They say that, but it's difficult to do so in reality, no one can escape from this circle. Living in the countryside, there’s green mountains and blue waters and nothing to trouble you, but life is not as convenient as in big cities. "

"If you were to live in the countryside, would you go?" Xiang Cheng asked.

"Depends who I’m with." Chi Xiaoduo thought for a while and said, "It also depends on what work I can find. I haven't figured out what to do next. I don't have friends there."

Xiang Cheng looked out of the window and said leisurely, "There are good things in the countryside. Tall mountains, big rivers, mountain spirits, wild beasts, animals, and nature; those are all people’s friends."

"Do you believe that there are ghosts in this world?" Chi Xiaoduo turned his head and suddenly asked, "My maternal grandmother said that there are many spirits in this world. They are the creatures who originally lived on this earth, and they watch us quietly from many corners."

"I believe it." Xiang Cheng thought for a moment and said, "I am not cultured, and I don't know the scientific principles of ghosts, gods, and spirits, but I believe they exist."

"En." Chi Xiaoduo said with a smile, "You took the time we spent studying to travel, and you have been to many places, so you must have heard a lot of legends."

Xiang Cheng put away his boxed meal and said to Chi Xiaoduo, "I was in Xiangxi once..."

Chi Xiaoduo: “.....”

Chi Xiaoduo's expression instantly changed, and his scalp grew numb. He thought, I was wrong, and I shouldn’t have mentioned anything about ghosts, gods, and spirits. But his fear was totally unable to win out against his curiosity, and he looked forward a bit to Xiang Cheng’s story.

Xiang Cheng realized it and hurriedly said, "I'm sorry, I'm kidding. I forgot that you’re afraid of this kind of thing."

"I’m….I’m not," The corners of Chi Xiaoduo’s mouth twitched, and he said, "I'm actually not afraid, really.“

Xiang Cheng threw away the box, and Chi Xiaoduo sat on the bunk, thought of the rumor of those "Xiangxi ganshi" that had spread all over China, and his entire back broke out in goosebumps. His thoughts went from the ganshi to the zombies in a Cantonese feature film, and then he started thinking about ghosts. More and more, he couldn’t sit still, thinking, why hasn’t Xiang Cheng come back yet!

The door of the sleeper compartment was pulled open with a pala, and Chi Xiaoduo saw a blue and black face. He let out a “WA!” and a deathly scream, which terrified the people inside and outside. Xiang Cheng immediately threw away his cigarette butt and rushed in to see Chi Xiaoduo and a man and a woman, a couple, outside.

"Are you okay?" Xiang Cheng asked.

"I’m fine." Chi Xiaoduo was still stuck in a state of lingering fright and said, "I scared myself."

"Are you okay?" The boy reached a hand over and touched Chi Xiaoduo's forehead. Chi Xiaoduo held the pillow and fell onto the bunk to breathe. The girl came in with a smile and said, "You don’t feel good?"

Chi Xiaoduo had just seen a corpse’s face, but he must have overthought things and just gotten scared. When Xiang Cheng came back, he took out some fruit and gave it to the two people to eat. The boy nodded and thanked him. Chi Xiaoduo hugged the blankets, scooted closer to Xiang Cheng’s side, and asked, "What did you see in Xiangxi?"

Xiang Cheng: “.......”

Chi Xiaoduo said, "Go on ba, or else I'll be more afraid."

"I went to Xiangxi." Xiang Cheng said, "I heard that someone had seen a mountain monster in the mountains. It had quickly run away, like the legendary Shennongjia wild men."

"It definitely wasn’t that!" Chi Xiaoduo said.

The couple on the opposite bunk looked at them curiously. Chi Xiaoduo said, "Keep talking ah, once you’re done, I won’t be afraid anymore."

Xiang Cheng thought for a while and replied, "There was a ganshi."

Chi Xiaoduo quickly shrank back, his metaphorical fur about to explode out again. By contrast, the couple on the opposite bunk was very interested, and the girl listened carefully.

"Once, I was hitchhiking." Xiang Cheng said, "We were driving at night, and at midnight, the driver turned on the high beams and saw a team of people behind him at the side of the road. They were walking slowly, and I rolled down the window, but the driver told me not to say anything, otherwise there would be trouble. Those were ganshi. "

Everyone there: “.....”

Chi Xiaoduo imagined that picture: On a dark road, a car drove past, and the high beam shone on a group of people walking strangely at the side of the road who didn’t even turn their heads back to look at anything. It was entirely chilling.

"They weren’t jumping around?" Chi Xiaoduo said.

"Of course not." Xiang Cheng said, "Their knees could bend, and the way they walked was no different than the way a normal person does."

"How many people were there?" Chi Xiaoduo asked curiously.

"Six." Xiang Cheng replied, "There were only ten, or three, or six, or nine, ganshi walking in front."

Chi Xiaoduo gripped the quilt. A bird's head peeked out of the quilt and looked at Xiang Cheng sideways.

The boy laughed, shook his head, and said nothing.

Xiang Cheng said to Chi Xiaoduo, "The driver said that if you drive to the countryside and encounter such a group that walks slowly, doesn’t look around, aren’t holding anything in their hands, and don’t talk, you should never stop or ask them if they need any help."

As soon as Xiang Cheng said that, Chi Xiaoduo wasn’t so afraid anymore and asked, "Why can they move around?"

Xiang Cheng said, "It’s similar to parasites. Taoism has the theory of “three corpses.” They occupy the upper, middle, and lower dantians, the corpses Ju, Zhi, and Ji. If you put this kind of parasite on someone, you can use some special plants placed on long bamboo poles and wave them around, so that the dead corpses can move again."

"Can you make them dance?" Chi Xiaoduo said with a smile.

Xiang Cheng thought for a while and replied, "I haven't tried. I can try it if I have the chance."

Chi Xiaoduo asked, "What happened later?"

"Later, of course, our car just drove away." Xiang Cheng said.

Chi Xiaoduo asked, "What would happen if the corpse suddenly turned its head and looked at you?"

Xiang Cheng: "Don't say that, it’s too terrifying."

Chi Xiaoduo laughed and said, "Alright la, just kidding. Was that a real story? Tell me if it was a real story. "

Xiang Cheng said, "I read it in Story Collections."

Everyone laughed. Chi Xiaoduo said, "You really like reading Story Collections."

"It’s like a manual." Xiang Cheng said casually.

Chi Xiaoduo laughed again.

The boy of the couple said, "During our internship, it was often rumored that the morgue kept losing bodies. Why don't I tell you guys a story?"

"Shut up for Laoniang!" The girl’s metaphorical fur exploded out.

“Okay, okay, I won’t say anything." The boy hurriedly said.

Chi Xiaoduo laughed loudly.

"Was that also from Story Collections?" Chi Xiaoduo elbowed Xiang Cheng and joked.

Xiang Cheng didn't say anything; he pointed at the pillow and motioned for him to lie down, stop talking.

So this matter was temporarily broken off. Night fell, and Chi Xiaoduo found the study materials for Xiang Cheng to look at. Xiang Cheng's expression grew a bit strange.

"Weren’t you going to take the exam for a national tour guide?"

"Where did you find this?"

"Wang Ren helped borrow it for me." Chi Xiaoduo said, "There are also notes on scenic locations in there ne."

Xiang Cheng looked so miserable and said, "I really have to thank President Wang."

"No need for thanks." Chi Xiaoduo said, "Read it ba."

Xiang Cheng: “.....”

Xiang Cheng could only flip open the study materials and read them on the train. Chi Xiaoduo chatted with the couple on the opposite bunk. The boy had graduated from Guangzhou, became a doctor in Beijing, and returned to the Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine to take the exam for part-time graduate students. It just so happened that they had a holiday in June, and after the exam, he took his girlfriend back to his hometown of Luohe to see his parents. After seeing his parents, they were going back to work in Beijing.

Xiang Cheng’s head was spinning from reading the study materials. He waved his hand and said, "I’ll stop for now, I don’t like studying."

Chi Xiaoduo stared at Xiang Cheng, and Xiang Cheng could only read some more.

At ten o'clock at night, everyone turned off the lights and went to bed. It took thirty hours to get to Beijing, and with the price of a soft sleeper ticket, you could buy a plane ticket instead. Chi Xiaoduo thought, why bother? Wouldn’t it be better to have decided to take a plane earlier?

However, being together with Xiang Cheng, he was still very happy. Chi Xiaoduo lay in the lower bunk, and at night, everyone was quiet. He thought of the ganshi they had talked about during the day, and Chi Xiaoduo was a bit afraid again. After listening to the ghost story, the lingering fear was like a toothache; it was faintly discernible, but you couldn’t grasp exactly where it was, or when exactly it started up, but it always made people feel that their bladders were swollen.

"Si Gui." Chi Xiaoduo carefully touched the bird's head.

Si Gui popped its head out of his clothes and took a keen look at Chi Xiaoduo.

Chi Xiaoduo thought, what kind of bird is this? Back when he was a student, he had really enjoyed bird-watching, but he had never seen a kind of bird like Si Gui before. It was like an albatross, but it was very small, like a miniature kind. Two feathers stuck out at a slant from its tail, and Chi Xiaoduo’s fingers picked at its tail. He wanted to turn it over and check whether it was male or a female, but he was stared at by Si Gui.

Chi Xiaoduo slept while hugging it, and the train chugged away. Later in the night, Xiang Cheng leaned out of the upper bunk with great difficulty, reached down one hand, and pulled up the quilt for Chi Xiaoduo.

When the train made its halfway stop, the bright yellow light on the platform shone in. It was quiet all around, with just the snores from the opposite bunk. A dark shadow appeared in the light of the carriage from the gap between the curtains.

Chi Xiaoduo opened his eyes and saw the silhouette of a head reflected at the end of his bed, swaying slightly. It was like a person spying on them from the platform, with their head blocking the platform’s light.

Chi Xiaoduo: “.....”

Xiang Cheng hadn’t fallen asleep and was staring at the ceiling.

Chi Xiaoduo's first reaction was to sit up and turn his head to look back. At the moment he looked back, it seemed as though something outside had quickly left. Chi Xiaoduo suddenly felt his hair standing on end, and his heart beat faster. He thought, that was the conductor ba? Or someone at the station selling ramen? Really terrifying.

Chi Xiaoduo wanted to go to the bathroom. When the train stopped, he closed the door and left the compartment to get some air. When he was in the hallway, he saw the male doctor from the opposite bunk get into the train.

"You went out la." Chi Xiaoduo leaned against the window, glanced at him and then looked out of the window curiously.

The male doctor looked at Chi Xiaoduo strangely, nodded, and replied, "En."

Chi Xiaoduo's eyes blurred, and on the window, a green and terrifying face was reflected in the night. He nearly had a heart attack and tried hard to suppress his scream. That vision had only appeared for a second before it was already gone.

What was going on?! Chi Xiaoduo closed his eyes tightly. He must not have woken up yet... Was he the one who had looked in through the train window just now? No... who was snoring?! Was it Xiang Cheng?

Chi Xiaoduo felt a chill. Did I see a ghost?! Fuck! Chi Xiaoduo was frightened to his wits’ end. Suddenly, another person appeared in the reflection of the window.

"AIYA--" Chi Xiaoduo shouted.

Xiang Cheng: "Don’t shout."

Chi Xiaoduo was so frightened that his whole body had gone soft; he leaned against the window and gasped.

"What's the matter?" The train had started again, and the conductor came and opened the door of the bathroom.

"Nothing." Chi Xiaoduo said, "I had….had a nightmare."

The conductor said, "Be a bit quieter."

Chi Xiaoduo, his back drenched in cold sweat, entered the bathroom. When he came out, Xiang Cheng was smoking in the space between compartments and waved at him.

"What did you dream about?" Xiang Cheng asked, "Your eyes are a little red, let me see."

Chi Xiaoduo walked over, and Xiang Cheng lowered his head. He gently pulled open Chi Xiaoduo's eyelids with his fingers, and looked attentively at his clear pupils.

Chi Xiaoduo’s entire face turned bright red, and he said, "I just woke up, so my eyes have some..."

"There’s no gunk there." Xiang Cheng said, "Your eyelashes are very long, like a girl’s. You are very handsome."

Chi Xiaoduo was greatly embarrassed and turned his head just slightly. Xiang Cheng patted him on the arm and frowned.

"Yi." Chi Xiaoduo said, "Look over there, what's that?"

Xiang Cheng: “....”

“What?” Xiang Cheng looked outside the train window.

In the wilderness, a young man in red stood in front of a shabby house, facing the railway tracks far away.

"That kid." Chi Xiaoduo said, "Did you see him? Wearing red. "

"En." Xiang Cheng frowned and asked, "What else?"

"There was a house ah." Chi Xiaoduo said, "The lights were even on."

As the train curved, Xiang Cheng turned his head slightly. He closed his eyes as his fingers twisted into a seal, and then suddenly reopened his eyes. His pupils contracted slightly and then lit up with a white light deep inside.

The white light flashed away, and the world turned black-and-white like a film, showing a grave in the wilderness in the distance.

Xiang Cheng: “....”

"A house." Xiang Cheng nodded and replied, "Sleep ba."

Chi Xiaoduo thought of the male doctor, and his heart was full of trepidation, and he slept trembling in fear. He raised his head again in the middle of the night and fearfully looked at the opposite bunk. The male doctor was sleeping facing the wall and was very quiet.

His cellphone screen lit up; Xiang Cheng had sent a text message.

[Can’t sleep?]

Chi Xiaoduo looked up at the upper bunk, and Xiang Cheng lightly came down and sat at the end of the bed. Chi Xiaoduo sat up, but Xiang Cheng signaled him to lie down and be still. He then held his feet, massaging his feet gently through his socks.

It felt so nice... The strength he used was just right. Chi Xiaoduo lay there scrolling through his phone for a while, and he felt that Xiang Cheng stayed there for the whole time. After an unknown amount of time, he muzzily fell asleep.

The next day, when Chi Xiaoduo woke up, he heard Xiang Cheng talking to the girl on the opposite bunk.

"You snore when you sleep." Xiang Cheng said.

"Me? I don’t snore ah." The girl said, "A-Gui snores, right?"

The girl teased her boyfriend, and the male doctor smiled and said, "I never snore."

"Here's something for you." Xiang Cheng opened his notebook, took out a piece of yellow paper, and handed it to the girl.

The girl: “....”

The girl and the male doctor's expressions changed. The male doctor started laughing and said, "Handsome Ge, what's this for? Are you a Taoist?"

Chi Xiaoduo: “???”

Chi Xiaoduo woke up in an instant. He peeped out from under the small table, and Xiang Cheng was holding a piece of yellow papyrus in his hand. The girl and the male doctor looked at each other, for a moment neither taking it or rejecting it. Xiang Cheng didn't speak and kept that pose.

The girl leaned forward and took over the papyrus.

"A doctor helps the world and saves people." Xiang Cheng said, "You must be careful in everything. In sum, conduct yourself well."

The male doctor's expression didn’t look very good; he seemed to want to curse with some dirty words, but he didn't dare to speak. The train stopped, and the conductor came to inform them that they had arrived at Luohe. The girl said, "Thank you,” and they left with their luggage.

"What did you just give him?" Chi Xiaoduo pulled off the quilt and asked in surprise.

Xiang Cheng didn’t expect Chi Xiaoduo to have already woken up and glanced at him.

"My phone number." Xiang Cheng replied.

"Why give him your phone number?" Chi Xiaoduo asked.

"To let them keep in touch with us." Xiang Cheng patted Chi Xiaoduo's knee and said, "Are you getting up? I'll go buy you breakfast. "

Chi Xiaoduo was still a little confused and kept feeling that there was something off. In his impression, Xiang Cheng never took the initiative to chat people up. Even when he went to the canteen to buy cigarettes, he just said, "Hongmei,” and then there was the process of counting out money and sorting out change.

He actually knew how to ask a stranger on the train, "Do you snore when you sleep?"

Chi Xiaoduo couldn’t help feeling a little afraid when he thought of that boy snoring last night, but now it was daytime, and his fear had been eliminated. No one else came to take the opposite bunk again.

Chi Xiaoduo pondered this over and over again, his thoughts going crazy, and he suddenly suspected that Xiang Cheng had a crush on the girl.

"Did you take this chance to hook up with her?" Chi Xiaoduo asked.

"En." Xiang Cheng listened to music with a book spread out in front of him as he cut the apple in his hand, the corners of his mouth slightly curving up.

En! En! ENENENENENEN!! AHHHHHHHHH! Chi Xiaoduo's heart erupted. When he wanted to interrogate him some more, Xiang Cheng stuffed the apple into Chi Xiaoduo's mouth.

Chi Xiaoduo said, "This is very immoral, okay! She’s with her boyfriend ah! "

"Yes." Xiang Cheng said absently, "Immoral."

Chi Xiaoduo asked, "Do you like her?"

"No." Xiang Cheng finally replied, facing him, "Don’t imagine nonsensical things."

Chi Xiaoduo had to stop asking questions. Looking at Xiang Cheng, he didn't seem to really care about the girl. No, ever since he met Xiang Cheng, Xiang Cheng had never seemed to care much about anyone, as if there were no such thing as a friend in his world, and everyone was a stranger.

Of course, besides Chi Xiaoduo. But Chi Xiaoduo kept suspecting that he was just a close roommate to Xiang Cheng, a person who was living with him every day, or that he saw him as a little brother to take care of. Some straight men were just like that; they behaved and treated their good bros like lovers, but finally, they would run off on their own to date someone.

What was even trickier was, dating someone was one thing, but they would even take their bro with them, and even after they got married, they would pull their bro with them to buy a house together. It was completely incomprehensible. Chi Xiaoduo wondered if Xiang Cheng liked him, but if he did, why didn't he confess? His hints were obvious enough.

What if he really saw him as a little brother, then what?

Chi Xiaoduo thought for a long time, feeling sad, then sweet, then angry, then crazy. Hell was breaking loose in his heart, and he hated that he couldn’t grab Xiang Cheng's neck, shake him, and forcefully ask do you like me or not ah, if you like me, say it faster ah.

Xiang Cheng: ".....”

Chi Xiaoduo: "......”

"Right." Chi Xiaoduo said, "Do you..."

Chi Xiaoduo almost was about to ask, "Do you have someone you like", but they were together every day; if Xiang Cheng had someone that he liked, Chi Xiaoduo would definitely know. Of course, he didn’t have one, and his answer would also be that he didn’t have one. Chi Xiaoduo nimbly changed his question and asked, "Do you plan to marry, settle down, and start a family?"

"No one wants me." Xiang Cheng said.

"I want you ah." Chi Xiaoduo said.

"So aren’t I with you right now?" Xiang Cheng said this without even raising his head from reading his book.

Chi Xiaoduo laughed and kicked him again. Xiang Cheng grabbed Chi Xiaoduo's ankle, and Chi Xiaoduo couldn't move anymore. Chi Xiaoduo wanted to climb over and tuck himself into his arms, and Xiang Cheng generously released his hand and held him in his arms.

There were many times where Chi Xiaoduo was unable to hold back and wanted to ask “do you have someone you like?” but it really was too direct, and his best friend's ferocious expression came to mind: Don't take the initiative! No matter what! You have to wait for him to say those last words! You can't say it! No chasing in the other direction! We must put an end to chasing!

So, Chi Xiaoduo just had to bear it. They said that if you were too active, too anxious for favor and worried about its loss, phoenix men wouldn’t take you seriously in the future. However, Xiang Cheng wasn’t a phoenix man, but according to his best friend's logic, a man who kept a bird called "Phoenix" was of course a Phoenix man.

Chi Xiaoduo was about to be killed by playing himself. When he was calling his best friend, Xiang Cheng came back after smoking and said, "Get ready to get off."