Chapter 12
After several nights of torrential rain, the hot summer has officially arrived.
Fang Xiaoyu's mood was as dark and heavy as the shadow huddled against the wall.
There's a feeling that I've abandoned the elderly living alone and the innocent children.
She knew the problem lay in her mindset; she was prone to self-blame and internal conflict.
Just like when you're at work, because you're too responsible, you end up taking on a bunch of unrelated tasks, which is exhausting and you don't even get the compensation you deserve. Later, you learn your lesson from the experience and go from one extreme to the other, keeping your distance from everyone and even trying to marginalize yourself.
Now reason tells her that even if she brings the two of them out, they might not be able to stay there as long as the two of them did. If the three of them are together, they might go hungry twice out of three meals, and if they're unlucky, they might even starve or die of thirst on the road.
Moreover, she explained the pros and cons to the elderly man and did everything she could. Later, didn't she also realize that what he said made some sense?
But that's how people are; even if they are rational and have a clear understanding, it still takes time to calm down and accept things emotionally.
To quickly dispel the misconception that she had abandoned others, Fang Xiaoyu would send a photo to every passing car she encountered, as long as the driver meant no harm, along with some electronic entertainment resources as payment, hoping that more people would spread the missing person information.
However, things are different here than in the real world. Without the help of the internet, you might only encounter one passing car every few days on average, and at best, you might encounter two or three in a day. The chance of meeting a good person is 40/60. With the speed of word-of-mouth dissemination, it would be difficult to spread the news of the missing person in a short time.
Even so, we'll try to pass it on to as many people as possible.
That day, Fang Xiaoyu encountered another passing car in the middle of the road. There were four people in the car: a man driving and three young girls.
Despite the large number of people, even though the other car had a trunk on the roof and its capacity seemed slightly larger than the white car, Fang Xiaoyu still felt a deep sense of respect.
Strangely, none of the four noticed her. Even when her car had pulled up to their left, she didn't attract their attention at all.
She honked her horn to greet them, but no one turned to look at her. Instead, they exchanged cryptic remarks.
Because the car was close enough, the people were talking very loudly and noisily, so she could hear them clearly.
The topic of the argument changed quickly, one moment it was jealousy, the next it was unfair distribution, then it was fighting over the passenger seat, and then it went back to jealousy. The argument got heated and no one knew who started it, one was pulling hair, the other was pulling arms.
Suddenly, their car swerved to the right, and the three people, who were almost twisted into a pretzel, were so frightened that they quickly let go.
The driver started trying to persuade people, one after another. Because his voice wasn't loud, some details were hard to hear, but his pace was neither too fast nor too slow, and he seemed to be in a very stable mood.
However, when he turned his face towards the outside of the car, his eyes showed great impatience.
Fang Xiaoyu had no interest in watching the drama unfold; she just wanted to quickly put the photos into several phones. She honked the horn a few times, thinking that at least the drivers who weren't involved in the argument would hear her.
Unexpectedly, the driver propped his face up with one hand, half of it facing her, but his eyes were looking straight ahead, as if he hadn't heard a thing.
What's going on? This white bike has such a unique design, why doesn't it stand out?
After making several noises and receiving no glances from the four people next door, Fang Xiaoyu finally realized something was wrong.
They seem unable to see themselves?
Fang Xiaoyu quickly looked at the road. The shadow of the white car was still there. She stretched out her hand and saw the shadow of an arm on the ground. She breathed a sigh of relief.
It startled her; she thought she and her car had turned into ghosts without her realizing it.
Physically, they and the car exist, so why can't they see them?
Fang Xiaoyu then thought of the kind people who delivered the oil and medicine.
That day, she climbed up and down, clearly checking that there were no cars around, and when she was climbing the ladder, she didn't seem to hear any engine noise.
Does it look very similar to what it is now?
Kind-hearted people are also in this situation, which is why they deliver things quietly and leave without making a sound.
What's the principle behind this? Space folding?
How can I remove this status?
Fang Xiaoyu hadn't figured it out yet, so she slowed down and followed the four-seater car a short distance behind on its left, trying to observe what was different.
At that moment, the car that had been traveling in a straight line suddenly appeared in Fang Xiaoyu's eyes as if it had been widened and deformed, and the people inside appeared in her lane.
The four people sitting inside showed no unusual expression whatsoever, as if they were completely unaware that anything was different.
They didn't notice anything different and even thought the car was still traveling in a straight line in the same lane until one of them noticed the strange white car behind them and exclaimed "Wow!", attracting everyone's attention.
Fang Xiaoyu noticed that they finally reacted normally when they saw other vehicles, screaming in panic and speeding away.
Having already given up on sending the photos, she chased after him again.
The four-seater car would sometimes drive in the far left lane, and sometimes in the second lane.
After chasing for a while, as they were getting close, Fang Xiaoyu turned the steering wheel to the right and moved to the right side of their car, which was the third lane from the left.
Then I heard someone inside shouting, "The white car has suddenly disappeared!"
"Oh my god, it's all over."
"That's terrifying!"
Fang Xiaoyu raised an eyebrow and went back to the back of the four-seater car, pretending to be in hot pursuit.
The people inside started screaming in panic again, and because the volume was so high, the car swerved into other lanes several times.
Fang Xiaoyu tried to scare them a few more times, but the four-seater car only managed to switch between two lanes. There was even one time when they were about to enter the third lane, with no cars in front of them and the sound barrier still far away, but they still managed to force the car back into the two-lane range.
Fang Xiaoyu: ...So that's how it is.
She realized that the road they saw was different from the road she saw.
She saw the highway as having four lanes plus one half-lane on each side, while the other person saw only two lanes from beginning to end.
If the two overlap, they can see each other; otherwise, they will suddenly disappear from each other's sight. They thought they were seeing ghosts, but it was actually just that they belonged to different spaces.
This disappearance is different from the disappearance of the two mentors and Teacher Xiao. Because at that time, they were either in the same lane or did not move from each other.
After figuring things out, she was satisfied and stopped trying to scare people. She drove her little white car past the unsuspecting four-seater car and caught a glimpse of several girls exchanging glances. The last thing she heard was different voices whining and coquettish.
Their ultimate goal was simply to get a better allocation of resources. The arguments and jealousy were all an act.
"Huh? Someone sent me a photo remotely?"
"Me too, I forgot to turn off the settings."
"Is it a ghost?!"
"Could it be that car from earlier?"
"I dare not order it."
"Let me see."
"What is this? A missing person poster?!"
...
Being coquettish isn't just for women; men can do it too.
However, appropriate actions are charming, while excessive actions are just greasy.
In a valuable red sedan, a man who looked honest sat in the passenger seat, constantly adjusting his posture, sometimes crossing his left leg and sometimes his right, trying to attract the attention of the woman driving the car.
However, the female driver seemed to only have eyes for the road ahead, never looking to the side, which greatly discouraged him, as he couldn't let her appreciate his long legs.
Finally, the phone alarm went off. The woman parked the car, and the honest man quickly helped her open the car door and adjust the seat. Then he snatched the rice cooker from her, saying, "Let me do it. You've been driving all day, you must be tired. Go and rest. I'll call you when the rice is ready."
The female driver thanked him, draped a thin blanket over her stomach, and began to close her eyes to rest.
While preparing the meal, the honest man subtly observed her eyes, nose, and lips, noticing her slight frown before quickly looking away and focusing on cooking.
The female driver, drawn by the aroma of food, woke up on her own without being called. As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw the honest man standing too close. She couldn't control her expression and instinctively tried to move away.
The honest man tactfully took two steps back and handed over the bowl of rice he had filled: "I was just about to call you for dinner, but I didn't expect you to wake up on your own. Are you hungry?"
The female car owner hesitated for a moment but still took it, thanked her, and said, "You don't need to go to such lengths next time; I can serve myself."
The honest man smiled sheepishly: "I can't drive. It's all thanks to your hard work that I can only do these small things. You're not afraid of trouble at all."
"It's not that I'm afraid of the trouble," the female car owner said hesitantly, "Fine, anyway, I don't like other people touching my dishes, so from now on I'll serve myself, okay?"
The honest man finally showed a hint of hurt, but still agreed.
The female driver breathed a sigh of relief, her expression softening. Realizing she might have been too harsh, she tried to make amends by praising, "The rice is very well cooked; the amount of water was just right."
The honest man instantly came back to life, his eyes lighting up: "Right? If you like it, eat more. Look how thin you are."
The female driver had no answer to that.
Because of driving for long periods, my physical activity level has decreased drastically, and with him always around, it's inconvenient to do anything. In particular, it's difficult to do the exercises I used to do, for fear of sweating too much, getting wet, or exposing any part of myself and attracting unwanted attention or serious instruction.
The food is simple now, but the fat on her waist and abdomen has obviously increased. She even dreams that the scale shows that she has gained ten pounds.
Thinking of this, I suddenly lost my appetite, but fearing that the other person might overthink it, I could only force myself to eat a few more bites.
However, the honest man served too much rice, a full bowl, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't finish it. In the end, I could only leave a small half bowl.
She had just put the rice down, intending to say she would reheat it for later, when the honest man, quick-witted and agile, poured the rice from his bowl into his own and ate it in a few bites.
Noticing the female driver's unusual expression, he chuckled and said, "It's alright, I wasn't full anyway, so there's no need to waste food. I'll make you something fresh next time."
Female car owner: ...
She suppressed her temper, turned her head to the side, and decided to avoid seeing it altogether.
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