“Damn it, so it’s you, you long-haired beast causing me trouble!” Enraged, Liu Dashao quickly picked up a stone by the roadside and hurled it at the crow. The crow easily dodged the stone, flapped its wings twice, and suddenly dove straight at Liu Dashao.
In this critical moment, Liu Dashao instinctively squatted down to avoid the crow’s attack. With a “plop,” something landed on his head. Without a doubt, it was another fresh pile of bird droppings, still warm. Liu Dashao hurriedly brushed it off, his entire body covered in goosebumps, feeling both disgusted and terrified. When he looked up again, the crow had already flown off wisely while Tian Guoqiang and Xiao Mazi were picking up stones to throw.
“Bad luck, damn bad luck!” Liu Dashao spat toward the direction the crow had flown, grumbling in the old Northeast dialect.
“Ah! Dog Young Master, I’m not trying to rub it in, but you really are unlucky,” Tian Guoqiang said, pulling out a few sunflower seeds from his pocket, tossing them into his mouth, cracking them with his front teeth, and mumbling as he spoke, “You leave the temple, encounter a little ghost carrying a lantern—that’s you. You buy a statue of Guan Yu, get mysteriously shoved, and break the item—that’s you too. Now, the person who got pooped on twice by a crow is still you!”
“Tian Guoqiang, don’t enjoy my misfortune!” Liu Dashao pointed his finger and warned, “If anything happens to me, none of the rest of you will escape either!”
“Besides, even if a person dies, they still hang by the neck. At most, those old ghosts and little ghosts can kill me and turn me into one of them. Once I become a ghost, I won’t be afraid of them anymore. I swear, if I don’t torment them to death, my name isn’t Liu Dashao anymore!”
“Alright then! Dog Young Master, your courage has grown!” Tian Guoqiang laughed.
“My courage has always been strong,” Liu Dashao lifted his head proudly.
“Okay, okay, we won’t listen to your nonsense anymore. Don’t blow all the cows in the village away. The old cowherds will never forgive you,” Tian Guoqiang patted his hungry stomach, looked at the evening glow, and yawned, “It’s getting late. I’m heading back first. See you tomorrow! Remember to be careful tonight! Before going to sleep, better put a weapon under your pillow. If anything happens, don’t care whether it’s a human or a ghost—just grab it and hack away. Who cares, stab in with a white blade and pull out with a red one.”
“That’s all you’re capable of! As for me, even if I sleep naked, ghosts won’t dare touch me. If a female ghost prettier than a swallow comes, I’ll deal with her right there!” Liu Dashao joked with a grin.
After hearing their conversation, Xiao Mazi stepped forward and punched Liu Dashao lightly, “Hey, Dog Young Master, that’s not fair. I haven’t even held a girl’s hand yet. If you meet a female ghost, at least let me touch her. Hehe, I wonder what it feels like!”
“Get lost! With your face full of pimples, you won’t ever get a beautiful woman in this life. Of course, if you don’t mind, Old Maiden’s door can always be open to you,” Liu Dashao teased with a wink.
“Old Maiden?” Xiao Mazi was puzzled for a moment before realizing, “Oh hell, she looks like a hippopotamus. You can have her!”
“I can’t do that. A friend’s wife should never be touched. How about you ask Tian Guoqiang? I remember he’s into that kind of thing. He even stared at a widow bathing without blinking…”
“Dog Young Master, we’re not done yet!” Tian Guoqiang almost jumped up.
The three of them immediately got into a playful tussle. Though they were laughing out loud, each of them carried a heavy burden in their hearts, though none of them showed it.
An indescribable fear had already cast a deep shadow over the hearts of these teenagers.
In the evening, the sun dimmed. The red glow was no longer dazzling, and the golden light no longer radiant. In the courtyard, Liu Laoshi was wearing a coat, carrying a wooden bucket and a bamboo pole, busily tinkering with something. Wang Guihua followed behind him with a rag, wiping here and there, never ceasing her cleaning.
“Little brat, you’re back!” Seeing Liu Dashao walk in step by step, Liu Laoshi’s aged face broke into a bright smile.
“Uh-huh,” Liu Dashao nodded.
“Later, help me tidy up this house. It hasn’t been cleaned in over a year. I’m afraid it’s full of cockroaches and mice.”
“Dad, you can rest assured! Our family situation is already not great. Mom locks all the food in the big cabinet. We even have to find two keys to open it when we’re hungry. I bet any rat that comes in here would leave wiping its tears,” Liu Dashao replied.
“Besides, I’ve been running all day today. I’m so tired my legs are almost broken.”
“You always have so many excuses! If you don’t work later, there’ll be no dishes for dinner tonight!” Liu Laoshi frowned and handed the bamboo pole to Liu Dashao.
“Attach a chicken-feather duster to it first and sweep the cobwebs off the ceiling.”
Swallowing hard, faced with the choice between doing nothing and having no dinner, Liu Dashao resolutely chose the latter. He reluctantly took the bamboo pole and sluggishly walked toward the house.
“If the child is truly exhausted, why don’t you let him have some rest? You’re so cruel!” Wang Guihua, who cherished her son the most, looked at Liu Dashao’s back with a pained expression and said.
“You, what should I say about you? This child mustn’t be spoiled. Look how you’ve spoiled him since he was little, and now look at what he’s turned into,” Liu Laoshi said earnestly.
“But…”
“Enough said. A bit of work won’t kill him.”
“Ah!” At that moment, Liu Dashao suddenly stumbled halfway, nearly falling to the ground. Two large beads of sweat rolled down from his temples, and a sharp, burning pain shot from his waist, as if someone were sticking needles into his flesh.
Fortunately, the pain came quickly and left just as fast. Within a breath, it vanished without a trace. Therefore, Liu Dashao didn’t think much of it. He casually replied to his loving mother and stepped across the threshold.
As he entered the house, a cold breeze poured down from above, an unusual chill that made Liu Dashao’s hair stand on end and a chill creep up from the depths of his heart.
He shivered violently and looked up.
There was a hole in the roof, letting in the wind.
“Tch!” Liu Dashao spat angrily and walked inside.
“Dad, you should really take a look. The roof has a hole in it. What’s the point of cleaning?”
“Where?”
“Right above your head!”
“Shit! How did this tile break? Guihua, bring me a ladder. I’ll fix it…”
As his father rushed off to work, Liu Dashao finally caught his breath. He picked up a large teacup, poured himself a cup of cooled tea from the pot, and gulped it down until his belly was round like a small watermelon. No wonder—he hadn’t had a drop all day after climbing mountains, walking, and riding a tractor. Now, his throat was nearly dry and burning.
“So refreshing!” Putting down the teacup, Liu Dashao said with his eyes half-closed. Then he took a mirror in the living room and started combing his hair like a dog fussing over its fur. However, as he pulled the comb through, he unexpectedly noticed from the mirror a white shadow flash by behind him.
When he looked again, the shadow was already gone.
“Must be my eyes playing tricks on me…” Liu Dashao chuckled self-deprecatingly, put down the comb, and went to clean the cobwebs from the ceiling.
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