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"What if you go from loving someone to not loving them anymore?" I don't know why so many questions popped into my head. Zhu Qingyuan thought I was testing him, and he stammered, unable to answer.

As we were talking, we weren't paying attention to our surroundings. Just as Zhu Qingyuan was scratching his head in confusion, a large hand suddenly slapped him hard on the shoulder. Zhu Qingyuan, lost in thought, was stunned for a couple of seconds. I quickly turned around and saw a dark figure, shorter than Zhu Qingyuan, standing behind him.

38. Peeping

As we came to our senses, the dark figure spoke: "Just got back?"

It was Yang Kai! We recognized him immediately. A moment of awkwardness washed over us, because we had just been talking about Yang Kai and his wife. When did he appear behind us? Did he hear what we were saying? We were speechless for a moment. Zhu Qingyuan stammered, "I...we were just taking a walk." His expression seemed extremely unnatural, thankfully it was dark and we couldn't see clearly. The summer night was rather muggy, with a dim light around us. Many bats circled overhead, eating insects and occasionally chirping. I quickly added, "Teacher Yang, what are you doing here?"

"Oh, my father took a cold shower tonight and caught a cold. I went to buy some medicine and saw it was you two, so I just wanted to say hello."

"Oh dear, is the old man seriously ill?" I was really worried about the old man.

"It's alright. He's quite strong-willed. He just has a slight cold, so let him take some medicine as a precaution."

"Then let's hurry back with you and take a look together." Zhu Qingyuan was also very concerned about the old man.

"Thank you, but it's no trouble at all. You two go for your walk. I didn't mean to bother you, I'll go on my way."

We were already quite close to the mansion, and there wasn't much left to see. We couldn't be insincere, so we went back to the mansion with Yang Kai. Seeing that the old man was still just sneezing, we felt a little relieved.

Yang Kai's pat on Zhu Qingyuan's shoulder just now startled us and put us in a difficult position. We didn't know if he had heard our conversation; it seemed he hadn't, as he had just rushed back from the pharmacy. Strangely, Yang Kai always walks very lightly, making it difficult to detect his presence unless you're paying attention. Back inside, our hearts finally relaxed a bit, and Zhu Qingyuan and I agreed to be careful with our words in the future and not let them cause us trouble.

I was too tired last night to take a shower, but I figured it wouldn't matter if I showered the next morning, so I just skipped it.

I woke up very early the next day; it was already bright and sunny. It was still early, and the big pig (my husband) wasn't awake yet. I tiptoed into the bathroom, plugged in the power cord; since there was light, I didn't turn it on. I put out my clothes and toiletries, took off my underwear, and under the bright white light, my skin looked very fair, and my figure was shapely. I felt a little lightheaded. Just as I was about to reach for the water heater, I saw a dark shadow on the frosted glass of the high wall to the north. Upon closer inspection, I saw a dark hand gripping the lower right corner of the glass.

Oh no, someone's spying on me! I quickly covered my chest with my hands, turned my back, and screamed. I threw the water heater faucet down, slamming it against the tiled wall with a loud clang. My scream and the banging woke up Zhu Qingyuan, who was sleeping. He jumped up and rushed to the bathroom, but the door was locked. "Open the door!" he cried, not knowing what had happened to me, as he banged on the bathroom door.

When I came to my senses, I quickly opened the door and rushed into the bedroom, climbed onto the bed, and wrapped myself tightly in a blanket. I was still trembling with fear. Zhu Qingyuan followed me into the bathroom, checked that there was nothing there, and found the faucet still dangling there, swaying precariously.

"Honey, don't be afraid! It's alright now. Calm down. What just happened?"

Still shaken and panting, I poked my head out from under the blanket. "Damn it... someone's trying to spy on me through the window."

Zhu Qingyuan went in again and checked everything, especially the north-facing window, which was tightly closed and covered with window film; there was nothing suspicious. He came in and told me what had happened, then asked, puzzled, "Nothing suspicious? What did you see just now?"

"I saw a black hand clinging to the glass window." I finally calmed down.

"What shape is this black hand? What else do you see?"

"No, just a black hand, a very big palm, but I couldn't see how many fingers it had."

"Hey, I get it now, it must be bats. Look how scared you are. They hang under the eaves during the day. Human hands aren't black, only bats are. Besides, it's hard for a person to climb up the second-floor wall."

I'm speechless. It was definitely bats. I even saw them eating insects in the sky last night. What a false alarm! But I was so startled just now that I didn't have time to think about anything else. I thought there might be some malicious person. Looks like I was just being paranoid again.

39. The Enchanting Flower in the Well (Part 1)

July is the hottest time of the year, and Pingcheng is also shrouded in scorching heat.

The rainfall this year has been quite good; sometimes it's a bit longer, but when it does fall, it's been quite heavy. As a result, the plants are growing well. Most notably, the vegetables in our mansion's garden are thriving, and we can't possibly eat them all. Grandpa often asks us to pick whatever vegetables we like and cook, and sometimes he invites us to eat with him. Of course, we don't have the time or the cooking utensils, and we mostly eat out, so helping Grandpa out is something he appreciates.

On another sweltering day, Zhu Qingyuan and I helped the old man water the vegetables. This vegetable garden has become one of our main tasks, and also a source of joy in our lives. I've gone from being completely ignorant to becoming knowledgeable about cultivating and watering these vegetables, and Zhu Qingyuan has taught me a lot in this area. Occasionally doing some physical labor to stretch your muscles is a great way to experience life, but we were only doing a small amount of work. Just think about how farmers work in the fields all year round—that's truly exhausting.

What pleased us most were the sunflowers beside the dry well—these graceful "woman flowers" were now flourishing with lush foliage and abundant blossoms. Thanks to our watering, they had grown well, some as tall as a person, each with a large, golden flower head, some large, some small. Zhu Qingyuan had the foresight to pull up many, leaving only five or six scattered, yet from a distance, they appeared as a vast, lush patch. Looking at these flower heads, we felt an indescribable joy; these were the fruits of our labor, grown into such magnificent plants thanks to our care. If it weren't for our initial "pampering," they might have just withered away.

While we were watering the sunflowers, I noticed a yellow tip on the dry well cover, about the length of a finger. Curious, I went over to look. It looked just like the sunflowers next to it before they bloomed—a yellow tip with a bud at the top, the kind about to open. There was a gap of about one centimeter in the middle of the well cover, and the yellow tip was flattened. A green stem was also attached to the bottom of the well cover.

"There's a yellow sprout popping up from the bottom of this well. Is there a sunflower growing down there too?" I asked Big Pig, knowing the answer already. He's much more experienced than me.

"It should be. There was probably a patch of sunflowers planted here originally. Some sunflower seeds fell into the well, and after a few rains, we accidentally splashed water into it once, so sunflowers grew there. There might have been more than one. Because there wasn't enough sunlight inside, they grew slowly."

"How tall do you think the sunflowers are down there? In other words, how deep is the well?"

"That's easy. We can find a thin rod, stick it down, and measure it. Or, we can use a rope to hang a stone down and measure it that way too."

We got right to it. We couldn't find a long pole, and the ones we had were too thick, so we found a rope, tied a stone to it, and lowered it down. We measured it—it was over two meters deep! This dry well is an old well. What was it used for? I thought to myself, and immediately asked Zhu Qingyuan that question.

"Are you stupid? Wells are dug to get water. This old well is probably as old as this mansion. When it was built, there was no water source around, so they had to dig a well on the spot to get water. Later, when tap water came, this well was probably abandoned, and then soil was filled in to raise it, making it look like it is now. Look at this cement cover, it was cast later to cover it up in case of an accident."

"Oh, I see. Should we widen the gaps in this manhole cover so that the sunflowers underneath can grow better and not be squeezed together like dried-up beans?"

Zhu Qingyuan agreed, and we immediately got to work. The two of us put in a lot of effort, and surprisingly, the manhole cover, despite its thickness, was relatively easy to move. Because we used a little too much force, we moved it about ten centimeters, which was quite unexpected. At that very moment, there was a soft "bang" from under the manhole cover, and something popped out, hitting the back of my hand. It was icy cold. I thought it was a snake or lizard hiding under the cover; if it had bitten my hand, I would have been dead…

40. The Enchanting Flower in the Well (Part Two)

The moment I touched that icy-cold thing, I got goosebumps and panicked, so I sat down on the ground.

"Did you slip and hurt your hand? Why did you suddenly sit on the ground?" Zhu Qingyuan turned around quickly, thinking that I had scratched my hand while breaking the manhole cover.

Strange, as soon as I sat down, there was nothing on my hand. That cold thing left my hand. Did it bite me and run away? But it didn't hurt. I quickly checked my hand, looking left and right but didn't find any marks.

"Get up! Your hand isn't hurt!" Zhu Qingyuan saw me looking at my hand and turned it over to examine it as well, but didn't find anything. Strange, if it wasn't a snake, what could it be? Then, looking at the large gap in the center of the manhole cover, he immediately understood. It turned out to be a much longer sunflower that hadn't emerged and was bent over under the manhole cover. When I moved the cover, it bounced onto the back of my hand; it really did look like a snake.

I was too embarrassed to explain to Zhu Qingyuan, otherwise he would say I was a coward. So I just said that I slipped and my hand wasn't holding on properly. We wanted to know why the manhole cover was so easy to move, so we peered down into the center of the cover and felt a dampness rising from it, a chilling atmosphere. Upon closer inspection, we realized that the manhole ring was made of thin bricks, and with so many people walking on it, it had become very smooth, which explained why it had moved so wide. At that moment, two sunflowers stood in the well, the one that had bounced back higher, with thick stems and small, yellowish leaves, clearly lacking sunlight.

I've seen some movies and heard ghost stories, all saying that dead people are buried in dry wells. I never imagined that two tall sunflowers would sprout from the dry well in our mansion. I thought there were wandering ghosts there, but it seems it's all just made-up stories. So Zhu Qingyuan and I started discussing it:

"Big Pig, everyone says that there are vengeful spirits in dry wells. Do you believe in this?"

"I don't believe it. That's all made up by a bunch of novelists to fool cowards. Look at this dry well, how could there be any vengeful spirits here?"

"I don't think so either. If they did, they would have stolen our souls long ago, hehe..."

"If it were true, I would be a protector of flowers, doing my best to protect my little pig. To die under the skirt of a beauty, even as a ghost, would be romantic!" He grinned wickedly.

"You're just being glib, I don't need your protection!"

Considering that Yang Kai's wife was also a painter who originally loved sunflowers, the sunflowers in this well must have formed an inextricable bond with her. Even though the sunflower seeds are buried deep in the dry well, they still chase the sun and yearn for sunlight, just like the five or six sunflowers next to them. Let's act as messengers of sunlight.

We exchanged a glance, and this time we didn't use much force, closing the well cover a little, leaving two or three centimeters open so the sunflowers wouldn't have to grow under the pressure. We hoped the two sunflowers in the well would also grow flower heads, after all, they could now see the sun and absorb its essence. After we finished our work, we dusted our hands off and went to check on the old man. The water should have been used up long ago, but the old man didn't make a sound. When we turned the corner, oh my god, the old man was sitting on the ground, wearing a straw hat, one hand supporting him on the ground, looking like he was about to collapse.

What happened to the mute old man? We rushed over and helped him up. We quickly realized what was wrong; it was too hot, and he had suffered heatstroke. He had almost fainted while sitting on the ground. Luckily, we arrived in time and helped him up and walk. Yang Kai probably heard the commotion and saw us helping the old man, so he also rushed out to help. He looked at the manhole cover, stared blankly for a moment, and when he saw two pointed protrusions on the cover, and that it had been widened a bit, he was initially surprised, then gritted his teeth, lowered his head to help the man, and said nothing. Seeing that he didn't criticize us either—letting those two sunflowers get some sunlight is a good thing—we didn't speculate further, not knowing the details.

The old man can't stay still. After resting for a whole afternoon due to heatstroke, he was tending to his vegetable garden again in the afternoon. It seems that this is where his life and joy lie. We couldn't stand the sun, so we went to enjoy the air conditioning in the room. We could hear the cicadas chirping all around us; the sweltering heat was just right.

In the evening, I wanted to get a new hairstyle, and Zhu Qingyuan went with me.

I want to test Zhu Qingyuan: "Big Pig, after being with you for so long, what hairstyle do you think would be best for me this time?"

"Well, I'm the most qualified to say on this. You have long hair, so I think your hairstyle this time should be a bit poetic. It would be best described by Li Bai's poem, 'My white hair is three thousand feet long, because my sorrow is as long as it is.' So, all you need to do is dye your hair white, haha..."

"You pig-headed idiot! Now you look like the White-Haired Girl! -- You're a ghost!" I chased after him, ready to hit him.

"Hehe, I was just kidding. Listen carefully, I can read your mind, you'll definitely take my advice: dye your hair half purple—that's our Zi'er's signature! Add a few more grape curls at the ends, it'll make you look youthful, energetic, and very classy!"

"Hehe, you're just like me, exactly what I wanted. The grape rolls were your idea, I'll take it. When did you become so aesthetically pleasing?"

"I was just secretly learning things, all thanks to the magazines you brought back. Haha..."

I was getting my hair done while Zhu Qingyuan sat to the side reading a magazine, it seemed to be a collection of stories. I noticed he seemed lost in thought as he read, occasionally glancing outside but avoiding my gaze. Perhaps it was taking a while; Zhu Qingyuan waited quite a bit, and I was almost finished. One barber, having run out of customers, also got a shave. Suddenly, I heard a scream of "Ouch!" from Zhu Qingyuan…

41. To merge into one

Whether it was Zhu Qingyuan who was distracted or the barber who was distracted, Zhu Qingyuan's face was accidentally cut, and a trickle of blood seeped onto his face. I quickly went over and wiped it clean for him, and the barber apologized profusely.

"It's okay, it's okay, I was just daydreaming. You can finish scraping the last two strokes." After the bleeding stopped, Zhu Qing seemed very natural, but it made me incredibly nervous.

As soon as I stepped out of the hair salon, I asked Zhu Qingyuan why he was so distracted today and so careless.

He pulled me aside, looked around to make sure no one was watching, and said with a serious expression, "I just read a story that really inspired me. Remember the story Yang Kai told us about Gai Tianli? He said Gai Tianli's teacher and wife were both painters, and Yang Kai and his wife are also painters. How similar they are!"

"Yes, I wouldn't have remembered if you hadn't mentioned it. Now that you've brought it up, it seems like quite a coincidence. So, what inspiration did you get from it?"

"I just saw a similar story, and I was thinking, is Yang Kai actually Gai Tianli's teacher? Is Yang Kai talking about himself? Otherwise, why does it sound so familiar?"

“Hmm, let me think… I feel something’s not right. The story he told wasn’t about his teacher lying in a pool of blood, and his wife hiding in the window frame in fear.”

"But lying in a pool of blood doesn't necessarily mean you're dead. Didn't he leave out the rest of the story? I'm interested in what happened next, especially since Gai Tianli seems to have disappeared."

"Wait a minute, Gai Tianli's teacher should be in his fifties or sixties by now, while Yang Kai looks to be in his early forties. They don't seem to be the same person, do they?"

“Your suspicions are valid. He said the story took place many years ago, when Gai Tianli’s teacher was a famous painter. Now, many years have passed, and his teacher should be in his fifties or sixties, which doesn’t match Yang Kai’s age. But it’s hard to say. Artists can become famous in their thirties. If it’s been ten years or so, then it’s still possible that Gai Tianli’s teacher and Yang Kai are the same person.”

"What you're saying is making me dizzy and confused. So what if they are one person?"

"It's nothing. I just want to know how things went for Gai Tianli afterward. His relationship with his teacher's wife is still a mystery."

"If his teacher and Yang Kai are the same person, then Gai Tianli has no chance!" I blurted out without thinking much.

"But we haven't seen Yang Kai's wife since we moved in. And last time we even guessed that Yang Kai might be having relationship problems with his wife, and Yang Kai even got drunk because of it. Is there something interesting going on here? To put it bluntly, has Gai Tianli gotten involved again?"

"I don't understand, it's too complicated. It seems that Gai Tianli is a key figure."

"Hey, never mind. I got distracted thinking about these things today and even scratched my face. Let's stop guessing. Given time, we'll definitely find out the truth. Even if it's not true, the whole story will come out."

So, we walked back slowly, some things weighing on our minds, not saying much, feeling rather heavy. When we reached the fork in the road, Zhu Qingyuan took my hand and said, "Don't think so much, it's none of our business. Life should be more about being happy. To cheer you up, I'll tell you a joke about 'the newspaper and the woman':"

The owner of a newspaper posted a quiz in his paper, offering a trip to Bali to the correct answer. The quiz question was: 'Why do some people compare newspapers to women?'

As it turned out, a woman won the grand prize. Her answer was: "Because every man has his own newspaper, but he still can't help but steal glances at the newspapers in other people's hands."

Seeing that I didn't laugh, Zhu Qingyuan came up with another idea: "Zi'er looks beautiful tonight because she got a new hairstyle and will be my beautiful bride. To commemorate this, I want to tell a dirty joke that only the two of us can hear, hehe, is that okay?"

"I don't want to hear it! And those dirty jokes, you old lewd man."

"It's about an advertisement, hehe, it's super funny, don't you really want to hear it?" Seeing that I remained silent, he started talking:

John works in live advertising, but he rarely tells his friends what he does. He and his girlfriend have been dating for a long time, and all she knows is that he works at an advertising agency. On their first night living together after their engagement, they were both overjoyed and admired each other.

My girlfriend asked, "What exactly do you do at the advertising company?"

John said happily, "Advertising! Being with you is like making money. Every time you see an ad, the company has to pay me." His girlfriend helped him take off his T-shirt, revealing the word "NICK" on it. John said that Nike would pay $10 for the advertising.

Then, his girlfriend helped him take off his trousers, revealing the "Puma" logo on his leg. John happily said that Puma would pay $20 for advertising.

Finally, John took off his underwear, and his girlfriend was shocked to find the word "AIDS" on his penis.

His girlfriend was shocked and furious, exclaiming, "Why didn't you tell me you had AIDS before?!"

John replied calmly, “Don’t rush, this is an Adidas ad, it will be fully revealed in a minute. Adidas will pay me $50.”

Oh my god, it's this kind of advertising joke! Men really have a good laugh even when they're not doing anything productive!

42. The bird was startled.

In August in Pingcheng, the weather was already quite mild, not so hot anymore. It seemed to know how to take care of us; the days were nice, and every few nights it would rain. There was no rush to get to or from get off work, so the sweating was refreshing, relieving the heat and making for a good night's sleep – truly wonderful. With the heavy rains, snails invaded our nest a few more times, but we'd gotten used to it.

With abundant rainfall, the vegetable garden doesn't need much watering anymore, saving the old man a lot of effort, and reducing our opportunities to work.

One day, while watching TV, I saw a story about rats in a certain place becoming so clever they stole things from humans. The story took place in a sparsely populated, relatively wealthy manor in a rural area of a certain country. A family running a small business was frequently targeted by thieves. Sometimes they'd steal a handkerchief, sometimes a bag of biscuits, sometimes a piece of clothing or shoes. They didn't have cats or dogs, and at first, they didn't suspect rats, assuming it was a thief. They found it strange that the "thief" only stole small, inexpensive items, so the owner didn't think much of it and didn't take any action. Later, money was stolen, small amounts of ten or eight dollars frequently going missing. It wasn't their child, as their child was only two or three years old. So who could be doing it? The owner observed for a while but still couldn't find a suspicious "thief," feeling puzzled, but still not thinking of calling the police. Then, their cell phone was stolen, and worst of all, even their keys were gone! In a panic, they immediately called the police and changed the locks on important doors. The police also investigated for a while but found no suspicious person, and the small items continued to disappear. This was strange, so the owner decided to go out for two days and have the police keep watch at the house.

One quiet night, almost midnight, the sound of "thieves" moving about was heard. The police officers were awakened and quietly blocked the doors and windows, taking out their weapons for self-defense. The "thieves," however, didn't enter from outside; they were already inside, making a lot of noise. It seemed there were several of them. One darted up the stairs to act as lookout, while the others didn't rush to steal anything, instead sitting on the sofas and chairs, making noise everywhere. Apparently, the homeowner's bedroom was upstairs, so the noise from the living room was less noticeable. The cunning "thieves" were thorough, leaving few traces. They first moved food, then tried to take a child's toy, which made a series of noises. The police quickly turned on all the lights, and the "thieves" abandoned their loot and vanished in a flash. The police discovered that the "thieves" were actually rats, all running into the fireplace. Upon investigation, they found a large rat hole leading down to a dry well in the yard. Opening the long-abandoned well revealed it filled with all sorts of items the owner had discarded. A nest of mice, each the size of a litter of kittens, lived a leisurely life.

Such stories are no longer considered strange or unusual; they've appeared in many places. But actually living next to rats is probably quite frightening. Aside from the theft, the worst part is having things chewed up by the rats, and their sudden appearance might make you think it's haunted. Fortunately, although the Mona Lisa Mansion where we stayed had a dry well, we didn't find any rats. Otherwise, we probably would have been in serious trouble.

What's truly terrifying isn't a few rats. Once a place is suspected of being haunted or possessed by something supernatural, its reputation suffers. Even if there are no rats, strange insects, or poisonous snakes, the slightest abnormality will trigger people to jump to conclusions, spread rumors, and turn even the cleanest place into a sinister and terrifying place.