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Capítulo 6

"No, it won't happen." Huang E patted my head with his wing. "I'm here with you."

I was momentarily stunned. I was very grateful for her kindness, but this guy never considered the consequences of his actions. What worried me was what kind of reputation I would have after these four years.

Being labeled a "plague god" is the best-case scenario; I don't want to be called a "monster" or a "witch" before I even graduate. While burning at the stake isn't common these days, who knows if they'll make an exception for me?

As the night grew darker, I carefully rode down the steep mountain path.

As soon as we turned the corner, the last rays of the setting sun were blocked, and it became as dark as the dead of night. Before I could even realize what was happening, I felt a sudden lurch in the back seat, and I silently cried out in my heart, "Oh no!"

Dusk, also known as the hour of the demons, is the gap between day and night, where the boundary between life and death is particularly blurred.

Looking in the rearview mirror, all I could see was a tattered blue dress and a pink swaddle.

"Get out!" Huang E dutifully shooed them away. "Can't you see I'm here? Get out!"

This guy doesn't understand the meaning of good neighborly relations. If you're going to live here for four years, it would be smarter to build good relationships everywhere. They came here first, we came later, it's already bad enough that we don't pay our respects, let alone act so rudely.

“Huang’e,” I stopped her, “he’s just hitching a ride, don’t be like this.”

"Why are you bending your arms outwards?" she asked, looking hurt. "They're not going to care about you anymore!"

I tried my best to persuade her, using all my words, before she finally believed I didn't mean any harm. To be honest, I really miss the old, heartless monster, at least she didn't care about anything, and I didn't have to coax her.

It's exhausting to coax people.

She sulked, turned her head away, and didn't even care about the uninvited passenger behind her who put his arm around my right shoulder.

"Please..." Her breath carried the stench of decay and death, "My child has a high fever... I need to go to the hospital..."

I really wanted to tell her that she and her child were already dead, and that hospitals only care for the living. But I couldn't bring myself to say it. She didn't know how long she had been wandering this mountain road; she had forgotten everything except that she needed to take her child to see a doctor.

"Okay, I'll take you to the hospital at the foot of the mountain," I replied.

But she seemed not to hear what I was saying, muttering to herself, "It's so dark, and it's been raining non-stop, I can't see anything..."

As she spoke, a torrential downpour suddenly began in the previously cloudless sky.

I wiped the rain off my face; the road in front of me was just a blur through my glasses.

"Serves you right. Humph!" Huang E turned his head away even more forcefully.

I have to admit, she's right.

"...It's been raining like this. I'm so afraid I'll end up riding into a ditch...but the baby keeps crying, and the cries are getting weaker and weaker. I'm so anxious, so anxious..."

Through her grip on my right shoulder, I knew with a chill that something had happened. She was riding too fast, lost control because the road was slippery, and then fell into a ditch.

“I kept screaming for help, but no one came to our aid…no one!” Her voice grew sharper and higher. “So many cars were passing by, so many! They just abandoned us…and let us slowly die!”

The tires slipped; I guess I accidentally ran over something—maybe a small twig or a small rock. Helplessly, I think I'm about to learn what it means to "repeat the same mistake"...

Just then, Huang E suddenly gripped my shoulder tightly, causing me a sharp pain. This momentary lapse in concentration allowed me to regain control of the direction and quickly swerve around that deadly bend.

The uninvited passenger cried loudly, as if being dragged away by something, and gradually left my back seat.

This must be where she's buried. My heart sank. I should be grateful I survived; I shouldn't pity the female ghost who almost seriously injured or killed me.

But she's a mother, and her heart is always with her child.

"Damn it! Grab her!" I yelled. "Keep her in the back seat!"

"...Are you crazy?!" Huang E screamed. "She's trying to kill you!"

"Don't ask so many questions, just hold on to her!" I wiped the rain from my face... or rather, it wasn't rain. "I have to get her to the hospital!"

The rain has stopped. The large moon looks down indifferently, as if the recent downpour was a weak lie.

By the time I reached the bottom of the mountain, the rain had long since dried. I couldn't believe it.

But a promise is a promise. I still managed to ask for directions to the hospital in the unfamiliar town.

"We've arrived at the hospital."

The female passenger got off the bus, looked at the hospital, and cried and laughed at the same time. "Baby, we've finally arrived! You're saved! You're saved!" She rushed into the hospital and disappeared into the light.

"...Idiot." Huang E looked at me suspiciously. "Is your brain infested with worms?"

"I can't find any words to refute it." I was quite discouraged myself.

I still managed to find a place to eat and bought a whole case of instant noodles. This mountain road was really too pungent; I didn't have the courage to come down every day and let people "hitch a ride."

When I finished shopping and returned to my motorcycle... I was dumbfounded.

The mother and son were actually sitting in the back seat, smiling at me.

What should I do?

"Uh...you guys need a ride?" I'm already feeling weak, I can't take it again.

"Our benefactor!" she and the child kowtowed together in the back seat. "We are willing to serve you!"

Hmm... what a load of rubbish! I must have a worm in my brain!

While I was desperately trying to persuade them, Huang'e not only didn't help me but also laughed loudly on my behalf, even pleading for the mother and son, "Oh well, you've already taken four, two more won't make a difference..."

"They should be reincarnated! What are they doing following me?!" I yelled.

"They died a violent death, their lifespan hadn't ended." Huang'e shook his head with a scholarly air. "The underworld is short-handed; those who died violent deaths are put on the back of the queue. Azai won't come to collect them for another ten or twenty years..."

It means I have to shoulder this responsibility for one or two decades... I just felt a wave of dizziness.

I'm such an idiot, a moron, and a fool! I brought this mess on myself! Feeling like crying but having no tears left, I turned around and bought a bottle of aged baijiu, then drove them back to school... straight to the Earth God Temple at the back gate.

The local earth god's face changed when he saw me. "...You already had it, fine, but you brought it in from outside! Spare this old man!"

Not to mention He changed color, I was almost in tears too. "Grandpa, I really had no other choice."

"I was counting on you to help me, and you're already causing me trouble on your very first day here!" His voice was already trembling with tears.

I could only offer Chen Gao, my heart aching. Wine is very expensive! That bottle is enough for three days' worth of food!

He drank with tears in his eyes, "Stop causing trouble! My girl... Can't you just focus on your university studies? Do you think this is a shelter for stray animals?..."

I listened to His admonition with my head down, secretly vowing in my heart that I would study hard and obediently in college, ignoring everything else.

"If the sun rises in the west, maybe it will work~" Huang E happily commented.

Aside from glaring at her, I actually felt discouraged.

What will my university life be like...?

(After completing university)

Tang Sanzang

School started with a lot of anxiety.

But to my surprise, the girls in my dorm were all pretty naive, a little silly, and incredibly thick-skinned.

Simply put, "the other side" was a completely impenetrable barrier; the "native inhabitants" tried for three days but were defeated and left in tears in their dorm rooms. I think, in a way, this is also a kind of formidable strength.

So while other dormitories were making a ruckus, our dorm slept peacefully, not because of any misfortune.

This "wind-blowing" game caused widespread panic, but frankly, it's worthless. These bored "native residents" have recently taken to playing "wind-blowing" on living people. Teenage girls are particularly prone to playing around, as their emotions are unstable. The "native residents" make them climb up and down to play "wind-blowing" in the middle of the night, but they don't clean up by dawn, so no one sleeps in their own bed. Anyway, the "native residents" don't bother to remember the details.

I originally intended to just shrank back and pretend I didn't see anything. But the local earth god was particularly rude to the little devil who wanted me to go, and he was furious, demanding that I come up with a plan.

What can I do?

"Sir, you're the head of this district, who's more powerful than you?" I quickly flattered him. "If you give the order, would they dare disobey? How could a lowly, useless woman like me possibly have a say in it..."

"Don't forget, you've crammed six troublemakers under my wing!" He raised his voice. "You've given me so much trouble! Girl, back in the day I was just a district head in this cemetery... Ever since I crossed from Tangshan to Taiwan, this has been a cemetery! Those who have moved are still visible, but how many are still here? If it weren't for these old friends, wouldn't I have just gone to the columbarium to retire? This is just a joke, but do humans understand? They understand nothing!"

He grew angrier as he spoke, “Do you know how difficult it is to maintain this school’s record of no suicides? Haven’t I managed to hold on until today? Go tell those girls it’s just a joke, don’t scare them into thinking they’re crazy. Even an old man gets tired, understand?!”

Then He kicked me out with a big kick.

…What does this have to do with me? How am I supposed to explain this?

When Huang E, who had gone out to have a wild time, came back, he was furious. "I'm going to tear down that old man's temple!"

I rushed over and hugged her, trying to calm her down. "Don't panic! It's because the Earth God is here that this haunted school, which is practically a century-old tomb, has maintained a perfect record of zero suicides."

I have to study here for another four years! Please!

Finally, I humbly begged my uncles, aunts, grandfathers, and grandmothers, sacrificing my precious health and enduring the looming threat of the desolate land, before they reluctantly agreed to remember to tidy up after the "big wind blows".

Fortunately, they soon started playing other things, or I would have died of illness.

However, this has two serious side effects.

The first thing was that I had a meeting with the "original inhabitants". I felt too much "wind evil" and became very sick. I couldn't even go to the welcoming party.

Secondly, although I tried to avoid being noticed, my roommates would occasionally catch me muttering to myself or staring blankly into space. Within a few days, the reputation of me as a "weirdo" spread like wildfire, which made me very sad.

“They said you seem a bit mentally unstable.” Huang E said with a face full of sympathy, “The bandages on your head and face might be self-harm rather than a car accident.”

I sighed, but it sounded more like a sob.

Oh no, these four years of mine are destined to be utterly miserable... When will this unfortunate life ever end?

Despite the sadness, when the second year of junior high started, I was still feeling weak and trembling as I climbed out of bed. There were some advantages to starting school, though. There were a few food stalls near the back gate, and I bought half a braised chicken and, after much persuasion, a bottle of rice wine from the suspicious stir-fry vendor.

She walked hunched over, like a little old woman, coughing and panting as she made offerings at the Earth God Temple.

"Rice wine!" The Earth God frowned in disgust.

"Please bear with me." He listlessly lit incense. "I'm feeling really unwell."

“Girl, your constitution is too weak.” He shook his head. “Raising ghosts is not the right way after all.”

"Who said I was a ghost?" Huang E followed this time, charging forward with an imposing aura. "You old codger, you look down on me?"

"I've been the local ruler for a hundred years, and I don't need to be afraid of a single evil bird!" The local earth god's voice also grew louder.

I was so tired that I didn't even have the strength to mediate the fight.

Just as things were getting heated, one of my roommates, whom everyone calls Xiaoting, curiously walked over. Strangely enough, as soon as she approached, the two of them stopped arguing.

"...Are you worshipping the Earth God?" She looked at me, then at the half-eaten braised chicken on the offering table.

I chuckled dryly. I knew a normal college girl wouldn't do that. "...It's because of my family upbringing. My mom used to do the worship..." I racked my brains, but unfortunately, I had a fever and couldn't come up with a reasonable explanation.

"Before?" Her eyes widened. "Then why isn't your mother worshipping now?"

After a moment of silence, she said, "Uh, my mother passed away when I was in junior high school."

She covered her mouth, "...I'm sorry, I don't know." After a moment of silence, she continued, "You've never talked about yourself."