51

Capítulo 7

"This... I don't know how to explain it."

She stood beside me, her eyes filled with such sorrow that I felt embarrassed. "Xiao Zhi, you said you were in a car accident... why are you the only one coming to school by yourself? Why didn't your father come to help you move?"

I was speechless. Strange, I arrived before them, how did they know? After a moment's thought, I understood. It must be that the gossipy guards remembered me well. Come to think of it, it made sense—my head and face were wrapped in bandages, I looked quite odd.

“…My dad remarried.” I tried to be honest. “He even has a child, a boy. And I don’t get along with my dad.”

She...she...she actually cried!

"He took care of me!" I panicked completely. "Really, and I'm so old, this injury...it's very small, it just looks serious when it's bandaged up..."

I wanted to convince her, so I removed the gauze. It really had all healed, leaving only some fine red scars.

But when she saw my scars, she simply burst into tears.

What... what exactly is going on?

That day, she helped me back like she was helping a patient. Before leaving, she even burned joss paper for me and kept crying.

I have absolutely no idea why she's crying. What's wrong with her?!

The next day, Huang Echao excitedly told me about the gossip that had spread throughout the entire school, and I almost fainted.

My few simple words have been turned into a soap opera by them. They insist that the injury on my face was definitely not from a car accident, but was obviously a woman's fingernail mark. They claim that my stepmother must be bitter towards me, and that I only went up the mountain to study to avoid causing trouble for my weak and useless father and to avoid family turmoil.

After they found out I was using student loans to study, the plot became even more dramatic, almost like a 9:30 or 12:30 TV drama!

Even my muttering to myself and staring into the void were interpreted as "missing my deceased mother" and "lamenting my own fate"...

What the heck?!

My roommates were even more determined to keep me by their side. Anyone who dared to call me a freak would be met with their sharp and exceptionally fierce rebuttal.

"Everyone's a little weird! I don't even mind that you're weird about ironing banknotes, so why are you complaining about my Xiaozhi?!"

I was so embarrassed I wanted to crawl under the table, but Huang E didn't care about my feelings at all. He laughed so hard he fell off my shoulder and onto the ground.

Awkward as it may be, I still felt their warm intentions. Those who attend this expensive private university are usually girls who aren't particularly diligent in their studies, come from middle-class families, but aren't wealthy enough to afford to go abroad and splurge. They are rather superficial and undisciplined, with a much greater interest in beauty and makeup than in textbooks. But this doesn't detract from the fact that they are good people.

I used to think that men were like carnivorous beasts, always competing and hunting, while women were more like herbivorous social animals, happy to live peacefully as long as it didn't involve their spouses or offspring.

Now they treat me like a sick and weak young animal, taking me with them.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? But my university life started off well thanks to my incredibly thick-skinned roommates.

However, the saying "a good start is half the battle" is absolutely true, but unfortunately it only guarantees half the success... the other half...

It's all because God likes to play tricks on me.

After being sick for more than half a month, I finally recovered—or rather, I adapted to the "wind-cold" and was finally able to get up and go to class.

Huang E doesn't really like my roommate, and she thrives in this gloomy environment, always going out and having a blast. But I've noticed she seems to have an irrational euphoria, and she rarely seems to be angry with me.

I think that after so many years of rest and childbirth, she has gradually recovered to a point where she no longer needs to rely on me. But I always feel that it's not that simple.

I called her over reluctantly and absentmindedly. "...You haven't been eating much lately," I said, observing her cautiously.

"You are sick, and I am still drawing on your life force? Isn't that impolite?"

…Don't tell me that after more than ten years of getting along, you suddenly know how to write the word "etiquette".

"Did you take a life?" I asked sternly.

“Oh, if I did such a thing, wouldn’t that old geezer come and tell you?” she said indignantly. “Unless you order me to kill someone, I can’t kill anyone.” She added dejectedly, “I have to rely on your killing intent.”

I asked her again and again, but to no avail. I let her go, and she sped away as if she had been granted a pardon.

I looked in the direction she was looking... and saw a handsome boy.

He had delicate features, but seemed a bit weak. But then I saw him suddenly salivate, as if he'd spotted something delicious.

It took me a while to realize that this was an emotion and reaction of desolation. I knew we were somewhat mixed up, but for it to be so intense that I reacted as well was truly remarkable.

That was a "Tang Monk's flesh".

But why does our school have these delicacies that make monsters and weirdos drool?!

I turned away dejectedly and went to class, deciding to put this person out of my mind. What does it have to do with me? The campus is so big…

But what almost withered me was that this boy was not only in the same department as me, but also my classmate. There were so many seats available, yet he insisted on sitting next to me.

The desolation returned to my left shoulder, because the boy was sitting to my left and even gave me a friendly smile.

The large horde of "native inhabitants" who had been following him with longing also turned their heads curiously, creating quite a spectacle. He had actually lived to this age! It was truly a miracle among miracles.

These "native inhabitants" were blissfully enjoying his carefree energy, completely oblivious to his presence. I thought my roommates were already pretty thick-skinned, but I never imagined there was someone as thick-skinned as him, like the double submarine cable.

I stared in disbelief as he pulled out his textbooks, then a Bible and a Diamond Sutra, and placed them on the table. The "aboriginal" grumbled, moving a little further away from him, while Huang E muttered unhappily, pressing against my neck but stubbornly refusing to leave.

"...Is there something on my face?" he asked very politely and gently, touching his face as he did so.

"No, no." I hurriedly pulled out my textbook... only to realize I'd brought the wrong one. Great, being sick for so long resulted in me even bringing the wrong textbook!

"You forgot to bring it?" He smiled. "Let's look at it together. I've never seen you before. I'm Tang Chen."

And he even has the surname Tang? That's ridiculous. "...Lin Hengzhi. Thank you."

He moved closer to me, which nearly made Huang E laugh out loud. She let out a series of strange moans, which made me blush.

“Shut up!” I yelled at her in my mind.

"I...I can't resist~ It tastes so good~ Mmm~"

I grabbed the Diamond Sutra that Tang Chen had placed on the table and slammed it down on her without any hesitation.

Tang Chen stared at me, and I scratched my face awkwardly. "...I grabbed the wrong one. There seems to be a mosquito."

"Using the Diamond Sutra to swat mosquitoes?" he laughed.

The desolate creature I had knocked over stubbornly climbed onto my left shoulder, "You're so annoying, move over here... Hmm~"

I swear, from now on I'll make sure I get the class schedule right and bring the correct textbooks. Most importantly…

Stay far away from Tang Chen.

But my vows are often reversed, and I feel that God is taking pleasure in my suffering.

Everything was fine until I went to make offerings, and I was horrified to find Tang Chen burning joss paper.

"Come and offer your prayers?" he asked cheerfully.

I nodded stiffly. He waved to me before happily walking away with the flowers and fruit.

Turning around, the Earth God stood there, mouth agape, staring blankly at the sky. After a long while, he finally spoke, "...Is he a newborn this year?"

I nodded sadly.

"Why didn't I know?" He seemed terrified. "Everyone's covering their tracks, and no one told me?! Am I having a run of bad luck this year? Or am I cursed with bad luck?" He started tugging at his beard. "Having a troublemaker like you is already too much, and now there's this Tang Monk flesh to worry about?! My perfect zero-suicide record is just...!"

I wanted to tell Him to accept the situation and move on, that there would always be a beginning. But I didn't dare say it.

"You little brat, you actually knew and didn't tell me!" He started scolding me.

"Grandpa, this has nothing to do with me!" I exclaimed in alarm.

"I don't care about that!" He started acting unreasonably. "You go and protect him! If he's going to die, he should die outside, not in my jurisdiction! I've been in charge of this area for over a hundred years, and not a single vengeful ghost has ever appeared! If you don't care, then take your horde of little ghosts back with you!"

When the old man becomes unreasonable, he's more stubborn than an ox; I'm truly at my wit's end.

If I take half a dozen back with me, I'll have to dry the bone marrow completely, and I can't exactly set up an altar in my dorm.

"...Why do I feel like the mother in 'Orphan Tears' who knocks out teeth and sells her hair?" I really cried.

"I've never read 'The Orphan's Tears'!" the Earth God replied in a very bad temper. "Protect him!"

Thus began my arduous college life.

(The End of Tang Sanzang's Story)

The Six Worries of the Desolate

The great responsibility that the Earth God entrusted to me plunged my university life, which had just begun to show signs of hope, into an abyss.

I'm in need of protection, so who can I protect? ... But these aren't the worst parts. The real tragedy isn't entirely because he's a man.

Of course, I've lived almost entirely among women in the past. Elementary school goes without saying, junior high had separate classes for boys and girls, and vocational high school was almost entirely girls. But that's not the main point. The biggest point is that I fundamentally lack the ability to socialize.

I have quite a bit of experience communicating with the dead... The problem is he's still alive, and my job is to keep him from dying at school.

This is really difficult for me.

We're classmates, we often go to class together, but I can only watch him from afar, helpless.

I don't know where I went wrong, but I often have problems when I'm looking at someone. My three roommates, who are good at writing scripts, actually helped me create a dramatic unrequited love story, happily telling me a ton of information about him and racking their brains to get us together.

"...I don't like him!" She was truly on the verge of tears.

“Oh, we get it~” Xiaoting winked at me, “In college, ‘love’ is a required course.” Then the three of them looked at each other with a “satisfied” expression, which made me feel even more powerless.

Even Huang E got involved, leaving no stone unturned. I even know Tang Chen's height, weight, measurements, and what size underwear he wears.

“…Desolation!” I exclaimed angrily. “You know perfectly well that’s not how it is…”

“What’s wrong with that?” she said matter-of-factly. “If you really manage to get him, I’ll have an even better chance of sleeping with him! If we work together, what male in the world can’t we handle?”

I stared at her, mouth agape. She was really "thinking" too loudly; she was preoccupied with deciding whether to steam or braise it... maybe pickling it would make it last longer and taste sweeter.

"...I thought the ferocious bird only sucked blood." I was stumped.

"What a waste to just suck blood?" she replied absentmindedly. "The flesh left after bleeding is still delicious. Tang Sanzang's flesh, of course I want to enjoy it all by myself. I'll fight anyone who tries to share it with me..."

…After all, she was a monster.

"Don't even think about it." I crushed her dream. "I didn't intend to kill him anyway."

She immediately lowered her head in dejection. But she quickly rallied. "Then you should marry him."

“…What did you say?!” I almost shouted.

“Once you marry him, you’ll want to kill him. I guess humans are pretty much like spiders, right? After mating, female spiders eat the males. Human women are the same; after marriage, murderous intent often crosses their minds, but they just don’t act on it.” She tilted her head and looked at me.

For a moment, I was speechless, feeling both amused and exasperated. Although she was an evil monster capable of seeing into people's hearts, in some ways, Huang'e was unexpectedly innocent. She could see through human secrets and inner thoughts, but she never understood that complexity.

She loved to gossip endlessly, gossip that smelled sinful, but she was only attracted by the smell and probably didn't understand why it was sinful.

It's as if I'm facing a very clever and capable child, utterly devoid of morality. Innocent yet cruel.

Perhaps it's because I've grown up and matured day by day. But she remains that innocent yet cruel monster. I'm only occasionally kind to her, yet she pours her heart out to me like this, completely like a child.