CH 6.1
Sending You Home (1)
August’s sun is burning hot, especially around 4 or 5 p.m. The black asphalt road burns as if it will emit black smoke.
Today was the first day of their return to school for the sophomore year. The students had endured for the whole day. They handed in the class selection form, finished the entire set of practice test papers, and finally were out of school.
The boarding students would directly stay in the school, while the remaining day students could go home.
Ruan Qingmu leaned on the crutches and stood on the side of the main street. He was almost roasted to fainting by the sun.
A string of bell sounds came from behind, and a half-worn bicycle stopped beside him.
A boy wearing a white visor looked at him carefully. “How do you get home?”
Ruan Qingmu turned his head. He turned out to be the boy who sat in front of him, Fang Li.
Although the small boy wore big black-rimmed glasses, his long eyelashes could still be seen.
His lips were shaped like a water chestnut, and it wasn’t easy to distinguish if he was male or female.
In the original host’s memory, he and this boy had been severely bullied by Liu Jun and his gang. If Ruan Qingmu was reserved and gloomy, this Fang Li was even weaker and timider.
Ruan Qingmu felt slightly exasperated. “It’s too hot. I couldn’t get a taxi.”
Based on his previous memory, he could also use a taxi-calling app. But with the high temperature of 36 or 37 degrees, every taxi on the street was packed, and they went quickly along the road. No driver in the taxi-calling app accepted his order even after a long time.
Fang Li bit his lip. “Then…Then I’ll accompany you and go after you get in a taxi.”
Ruan Qingmu felt a little bad. “Thank you, no need. The chances won’t increase even with two people waiting. What’s the point of adding one more person to be a roasted dried fish?”
Fang Li hesitated for a while and could only get on his bike and ride away.
A low-key black Audi stopped across the road diagonally. Qin Yuan opened the car door and got in the back seat.
The air conditioner in the car was turned all the way up. Uncle Yan, the driver, had waited earlier for him. He hurriedly stepped on the accelerator upon seeing him getting in the car.
“School has already finished for today. It’s hot outside, right?”
Qin Yuan sat behind and softly answered, “En, it’s still okay.”
Uncle Yan looked at him from the rearview mirror and suddenly let out a sound of surprise.
“What happened to your school uniform?”
Since he was young, the young master had been strict about his clothes, and it was rare to see him carelessly not fastening the buttons like this. Obviously, two buttons were missing from his school uniform, and a part of his chest was revealed.
Qin Yuan stopped and his brows furrowed. He didn’t know how to answer this.
He was currently depressed when the car drove past the school gate. His gaze swept outward, and suddenly he sat up straight.
Although the blazing sun had slightly set, the intense heat was still hard to bear. A boy with a dazzling white complexion and crutches under his arm stood alone on the side of the black asphalt road.
A taxi with a vacancy sign approached him. He hurriedly lifted his hand from the crutches and vigorously waved.
That taxi finally stopped. He was hopping over, but a man gushed out like a hare from who-knew-where. He rushed from behind to the front, squeezed in the front passenger seat, and the taxi quickly drove away.
As the Audi drove past the school gate, Qin Yuan looked on blankly as Ruan Qingmu’s face flashed past the car window.
When he turned around and looked through the car’s back window, that youth had lifted his hand as if he was pointing a middle finger at the taxi and frustratedly wiped his sweat.
Uncle Yan looked from the rearview mirror and sensed that Qin Yuan had kept on turning his head to look back. He decided to probe and ask, “A fellow student?”
The Audi speedily turned a corner, and that figure standing under the scorching sun couldn’t be seen anymore.
Qin Yuan let out an “en,” finally turned his head back and sat upright.
A small thermos bottle was placed on the back seat, and there was iced mineral water inside it. He touched the bottle in passing and absent-mindedly took a sip, then suddenly started talking.
“Uncle Yan, you have been in our house since I was a child, right?”
Uncle Yan smiled. “Yes, I had come over to your full moon wine1. At that time, I hadn’t changed my profession.”
“Then…Had you seen a red birthmark on my body when I was a child?”
Uncle Yan was stunned. “I had followed you since you were three years old. I have even seen your bare ass, not to mention this birthmark, ah?”
“Has it been there since I was born?” Qin Yuan’s voice was a little strange.
“I’m sure of it; what happened?”
Qin Yuan was silent for a moment.
“Uncle Yan, you were in the field army and have seen a lot. Looking at my birthmark, does it look like –” He asked with difficulty, “Does it look like a snake bite scar?”
They happened to be at a red light. Uncle Yan steadily stopped the car and turned back to look at him.
Qin Yuan pulled down the shirt a little and revealed the red triangular dot. Uncle Yan carefully looked at it and then laughed. “After hearing you mention it, it does really look like a bite mark left by a viper. But if a snake really bit it, it wouldn’t be this smooth and wouldn’t be this color.”
Qin Yuan lightly let out a sigh of relief.
He also knew it was a birthmark. It was smooth and glossy, with no scars and bumps left by a wound. The only possibility was that he had carried it since in his mom’s womb.
It had been on his body since he was little.
“What is going on? Why do you suddenly come up to ask this?” Uncle Yan was a little curious.
“Nothing, it’s just that I kept on dreaming about something recently.” Qin Yuan was gloomy. “I dreamt of a pitch-black surrounding as if inside a cave, and there was no light all around.”
The green light came on, and Uncle Yan started the car. “A nightmare?”
“Afterwards, something slippery leaped from the darkness and bit me.” Qin Yuan lowered his voice and involuntarily touched the red dot on his chest. “Just right here.”
Uncle Yan laughed out loudly. “You children must have watched too many wuxia2 tv series to dream of something like this. Something about vipers and concealed weapons. Then what happened?”
Qin Yuan softly said, “Then, the wound was numb and itchy, and I was fainting.”
“And then?”
Qin Yuan answered with an irrelevant question. “Uncle Yan, have you had the same dream repeatedly?”
Uncle Yan nodded. “Occasionally will, but the details won’t be entirely the same. It will be like this if there’s a lot of pressure; it’s normal. After all, you will take the college entrance examination soon.”
Qin Yuan was silent.
This dream was totally strange, and it only started appearing during the summer break.
He didn’t take it seriously at first and felt that it was academic pressure or childhood psychological trauma until he heard those scalp tingling words today.
Footnote:
1 Full moon wine: a banquet set up one month after the baby is born.
2 A genre of Chinese fiction or cinema featuring itinerant warriors of ancient China, often depicted as capable of superhuman feats of martial arts.
August’s sun is burning hot, especially around 4 or 5 p.m. The black asphalt road burns as if it will emit black smoke.
Today was the first day of their return to school for the sophomore year. The students had endured for the whole day. They handed in the class selection form, finished the entire set of practice test papers, and finally were out of school.
The boarding students would directly stay in the school, while the remaining day students could go home.
Ruan Qingmu leaned on the crutches and stood on the side of the main street. He was almost roasted to fainting by the sun.
A string of bell sounds came from behind, and a half-worn bicycle stopped beside him.
A boy wearing a white visor looked at him carefully. “How do you get home?”
Ruan Qingmu turned his head. He turned out to be the boy who sat in front of him, Fang Li.
Although the small boy wore big black-rimmed glasses, his long eyelashes could still be seen.
His lips were shaped like a water chestnut, and it wasn’t easy to distinguish if he was male or female.
In the original host’s memory, he and this boy had been severely bullied by Liu Jun and his gang. If Ruan Qingmu was reserved and gloomy, this Fang Li was even weaker and timider.
Ruan Qingmu felt slightly exasperated. “It’s too hot. I couldn’t get a taxi.”
Based on his previous memory, he could also use a taxi-calling app. But with the high temperature of 36 or 37 degrees, every taxi on the street was packed, and they went quickly along the road. No driver in the taxi-calling app accepted his order even after a long time.
Fang Li bit his lip. “Then…Then I’ll accompany you and go after you get in a taxi.”
Ruan Qingmu felt a little bad. “Thank you, no need. The chances won’t increase even with two people waiting. What’s the point of adding one more person to be a roasted dried fish?”
Fang Li hesitated for a while and could only get on his bike and ride away.
A low-key black Audi stopped across the road diagonally. Qin Yuan opened the car door and got in the back seat.
The air conditioner in the car was turned all the way up. Uncle Yan, the driver, had waited earlier for him. He hurriedly stepped on the accelerator upon seeing him getting in the car.
“School has already finished for today. It’s hot outside, right?”
Qin Yuan sat behind and softly answered, “En, it’s still okay.”
Uncle Yan looked at him from the rearview mirror and suddenly let out a sound of surprise.
“What happened to your school uniform?”
Since he was young, the young master had been strict about his clothes, and it was rare to see him carelessly not fastening the buttons like this. Obviously, two buttons were missing from his school uniform, and a part of his chest was revealed.
Qin Yuan stopped and his brows furrowed. He didn’t know how to answer this.
He was currently depressed when the car drove past the school gate. His gaze swept outward, and suddenly he sat up straight.
Although the blazing sun had slightly set, the intense heat was still hard to bear. A boy with a dazzling white complexion and crutches under his arm stood alone on the side of the black asphalt road.
A taxi with a vacancy sign approached him. He hurriedly lifted his hand from the crutches and vigorously waved.
That taxi finally stopped. He was hopping over, but a man gushed out like a hare from who-knew-where. He rushed from behind to the front, squeezed in the front passenger seat, and the taxi quickly drove away.
As the Audi drove past the school gate, Qin Yuan looked on blankly as Ruan Qingmu’s face flashed past the car window.
When he turned around and looked through the car’s back window, that youth had lifted his hand as if he was pointing a middle finger at the taxi and frustratedly wiped his sweat.
Uncle Yan looked from the rearview mirror and sensed that Qin Yuan had kept on turning his head to look back. He decided to probe and ask, “A fellow student?”
The Audi speedily turned a corner, and that figure standing under the scorching sun couldn’t be seen anymore.
Qin Yuan let out an “en,” finally turned his head back and sat upright.
A small thermos bottle was placed on the back seat, and there was iced mineral water inside it. He touched the bottle in passing and absent-mindedly took a sip, then suddenly started talking.
“Uncle Yan, you have been in our house since I was a child, right?”
Uncle Yan smiled. “Yes, I had come over to your full moon wine1. At that time, I hadn’t changed my profession.”
“Then…Had you seen a red birthmark on my body when I was a child?”
Uncle Yan was stunned. “I had followed you since you were three years old. I have even seen your bare ass, not to mention this birthmark, ah?”
“Has it been there since I was born?” Qin Yuan’s voice was a little strange.
“I’m sure of it; what happened?”
Qin Yuan was silent for a moment.
“Uncle Yan, you were in the field army and have seen a lot. Looking at my birthmark, does it look like –” He asked with difficulty, “Does it look like a snake bite scar?”
They happened to be at a red light. Uncle Yan steadily stopped the car and turned back to look at him.
Qin Yuan pulled down the shirt a little and revealed the red triangular dot. Uncle Yan carefully looked at it and then laughed. “After hearing you mention it, it does really look like a bite mark left by a viper. But if a snake really bit it, it wouldn’t be this smooth and wouldn’t be this color.”
Qin Yuan lightly let out a sigh of relief.
He also knew it was a birthmark. It was smooth and glossy, with no scars and bumps left by a wound. The only possibility was that he had carried it since in his mom’s womb.
It had been on his body since he was little.
“What is going on? Why do you suddenly come up to ask this?” Uncle Yan was a little curious.
“Nothing, it’s just that I kept on dreaming about something recently.” Qin Yuan was gloomy. “I dreamt of a pitch-black surrounding as if inside a cave, and there was no light all around.”
The green light came on, and Uncle Yan started the car. “A nightmare?”
“Afterwards, something slippery leaped from the darkness and bit me.” Qin Yuan lowered his voice and involuntarily touched the red dot on his chest. “Just right here.”
Uncle Yan laughed out loudly. “You children must have watched too many wuxia2 tv series to dream of something like this. Something about vipers and concealed weapons. Then what happened?”
Qin Yuan softly said, “Then, the wound was numb and itchy, and I was fainting.”
“And then?”
Qin Yuan answered with an irrelevant question. “Uncle Yan, have you had the same dream repeatedly?”
Uncle Yan nodded. “Occasionally will, but the details won’t be entirely the same. It will be like this if there’s a lot of pressure; it’s normal. After all, you will take the college entrance examination soon.”
Qin Yuan was silent.
This dream was totally strange, and it only started appearing during the summer break.
He didn’t take it seriously at first and felt that it was academic pressure or childhood psychological trauma until he heard those scalp tingling words today.
Footnote:
1 Full moon wine: a banquet set up one month after the baby is born.
2 A genre of Chinese fiction or cinema featuring itinerant warriors of ancient China, often depicted as capable of superhuman feats of martial arts.
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