Because of Zhu Miaomiao's disdain, the truck honked twice in protest. Seeing this, Lu Qingjiu quickly comforted her, saying that they were cute and would not argue with Zhu Miaomiao. She said she would give them delicious jelly candy when she got home. Only then did the truck quiet down.
After learning the true nature of the pickup truck, Zhu Miaomiao felt incredibly uneasy inside. She finally reached Wu Xiao's building and practically crawled out. She was quite courageous, but she was terrified of soft-bodied reptiles. The thought of a giant slug beneath her made her feel completely uneasy.
Wu Xiao remained calm and asked Lu Qingjiu if the car was fuel-efficient. Lu Qingjiu explained that it was not only fuel-efficient but also self-driving and could even transform into a sports car, making it a perfect travel and home essential. Wu Xiao glared with envy. After all, a good car was every man's dream, and he didn't care what it was made of.
Zhu Miaomiao stood far away from the pickup truck and didn't even dare to look at it.
Lu Qingjiu and Wu Xiao chatted as they got out of the car and walked towards the elevator in the garage. Wu Xiao lived in a nice apartment, a large flat over 200 square meters. It was said that he was the only one at home besides the cleaning lady, making him a typical golden bachelor.
The elevator reached the twelfth floor and made a soft ding-dong sound. Everyone got out of the elevator. Wu Xiao took out his key and carefully opened the door.
This was Lu Qingjiu's first time at Wu Xiao's house. When the lights came on, he immediately noticed the pile of gadgets on the sofa. Apparently, the real situation was even more serious than Wu Xiao had imagined. He had brought back more than just the few things he'd mentioned from the market. On the contrary, the items on the sofa were likely related to the market.
Wu Xiao felt a little embarrassed when he saw Lu Qingjiu's questioning eyes. He coughed dryly and explained, "Isn't it because there are too many strange things... I couldn't help it."
Zhu Miaomiao exclaimed, "How much did you buy?" She walked to the sofa, picked up a doll-like toy, and gently squeezed it. "What is this?"
Wu Xiao said, "A music box."
Zhu Miaomiao: "Music box?"
Wu Xiao nodded, took the doll from Zhu Miaomiao, then turned the spring behind the doll and put the doll on the ground. The next moment, the cute rag doll began to dance on the ground. Its body was as soft and agile as a human's, and it sang beautiful songs. It didn't look like a doll made of cloth at all, but more like a miniature ballet dancer.
This should have been a very cute toy, but when Zhu Miaomiao thought about where Wu Xiao brought it back from, she felt a little creepy. She trembled and said, "Could it be that it was transformed by a human?"
Wu Xiao: "That shouldn't be the case. I looked inside and it's indeed cotton."
Zhu Miaomiao was still a little scared.
Lu Qingjiu sat on the sofa. As soon as he sat down, he felt as if he was trapped in a soft cloud. All the fatigue in his body was relieved, and he even felt a little sleepy.
"Sake?" Zhu Miaomiao was a little confused when she saw Lu Qingjiu's expression. "What's wrong with you?"
After being called by Zhu Miaomiao, Lu Qingjiu suddenly realized: "No... This cushion is so comfortable to sit on."
Wu Xiao said, "Yes, yes, this cushion is very useful. It perfectly solved my problem of lumbar disc herniation. I'm also thinking about whether I should buy a cushion for cervical spine treatment next time..."
Lu Qingjiu: "Can this also cure lumbar disc herniation?"
Wu Xiao: "Of course not." Nowadays, office workers sit in front of computers every day, and the lumbar and cervical vertebrae are the hardest hit areas for diseases. He bought two of these mats, one of which he placed in the company. After sitting on it, the discomfort in his waist was perfectly relieved and he no longer felt pain.
"How about I give this to you?" Wu Xiao was very generous. "It's really comfortable to sit on."
Lu Qingjiu quickly declined, stating that he had absolutely no need for it. Since returning to the countryside, his lumbar and cervical spine problems had been significantly alleviated, and he currently felt no discomfort. While Lu Qingjiu and Wu Xiao were talking, Bai Yuehu had already walked over to the table and picked up the eye-catching red apple. The apple looked incredibly tempting, the size of a fist, its rosy red skin imperfectly blemish-free. If you held it close to your nose, you could even smell the rich, refreshing aroma of the apple.
Lu Qingjiu watched from the side, and before he could say anything, he saw Bai Yuehu take a bite. The next moment, two neat rows of teeth marks were left on the apple. A little juice oozes out of the yellow flesh, indicating that the apple is very juicy.
Zhu Miaomiao swallowed her saliva and asked softly, "Is it sweet?"
Bai Yuehu glanced at her, said nothing, and passed the apple in her hand to Lu Qingjiu's mouth. Lu Qingjiu also took a bite and immediately showed a look of surprise. This apple tasted great, sour and sweet with a rich aroma. The flesh was crisp and juicy. After eating it, the whole mouth was filled with the sweet taste of apple.
"It's delicious." Lu Qingjiu said.
Zhu Miaomiao swallowed even harder, but she was not brave enough to compete with Bai Yuehu for it, so she could only watch helplessly.
"Delicious, right?!" Wu Xiao was in a great mood after receiving Lu Qingjiu's praise for what he bought. "You ate the apple until only the core was left, and it grew back overnight!"
"Is it really that good?" Lu Qingjiu asked, "Then if I buy a few more, wouldn't it be enough to last a lifetime?"
Wu Xiao said, "Alas, I only bought this one. When I went back the second time, the kid selling apples had disappeared."
Then they started a heated discussion. Wu Xiao introduced many items with magical effects. Lu Qingjiu listened with great interest. Finally, when it was almost twelve o'clock in the evening, Wu Xiao yawned and showed his sleepiness. Lu Qingjiu suddenly realized that their purpose seemed to be wrong - they were obviously here to help Wu Xiao solve the problem, but it turned out to be a product recommendation meeting.
"Okay, okay, let's not talk about this for now." Lu Qingjiu sat on the extremely soft cushion, enjoying the feeling of his lumbar spine being massaged. "Yuehu, please help Wu Xiao find out what's going on with the noise in his ears."
Wu Xiao had just generously given his apple to Bai Yuehu, who was chewing it with relish. After hearing Lu Qingjiu's words, he raised his eyes and looked at Wu Xiao.
When Wu Xiao was looked at by Bai Yuehu, he immediately became nervous.
"What are your sleeping habits?" asked Bai Yuehu.
Wu Xiao asked, "Habit? What habit?"
Bai Yuehu said, "It's something I always take with me when I sleep, no matter where I am or what time it is." He paused for a moment and said, "You shouldn't have heard this sound when you were taking a nap at the company, right?"
After being reminded by Bai Yuehu, Wu Xiao seemed to remember something: "Yes, there was indeed no such sound when I was taking a nap!"
"So what do you usually wear when you sleep?" Zhu Miaomiao asked.
Wu Xiao thought for a moment and said, "My sleep quality is quite poor. If I had to mention something I would bring with me, it would be an eye mask and earplugs."
Bai Yuehu said, "Let me see."
Wu Xiao nodded and went into the bedroom to get his eye mask and earplugs.
"But I bought this online, not at the market." Wu Xiao was a little nervous. "Is there any problem?"
Bai Yuehu picked up the eye mask, looked at it, and put it down casually. Then he picked up the earplugs. The earplugs were the most common noise-canceling earplugs, placed in a small plastic box, and looked no different from ordinary earplugs.
But Bai Yuehu's frown seemed to indicate that there was something different about the earplugs. He opened the small plastic box and took the earplugs out.
Bai Yuehu held the small earplug in his hand. He turned to Wu Xiao and said, "Go get a bowl of water."
Wu Xiao hummed, and quickly rushed to the kitchen to scoop up a bowl of water, placing it in front of Bai Yuehu. Bai Yuehu pinched the earplugs and gently placed them in the water.
Wu Xiao immediately became nervous upon seeing this: "Is there something in my earbuds?"
Bai Yuehu nodded.
After the earplugs were submerged, they floated on the surface due to their light weight. Everyone's eyes fell on the submerged earplugs, and the atmosphere became tense. After about two or three minutes, some strange changes began to appear on the earplugs. Small black spots gradually appeared on the originally light green surface. Zhu Miaomiao leaned over to take a closer look and exclaimed in horror, "This...isn't this a bug?"
Bai Yuehu said, "It's a bug."
These bugs are smaller than sesame seeds. If you look closely, they look like tiny fleas. They are forced out from the inside of the earplugs by the water and are densely attached to the outside of the earplugs.
Wu Xiao was horrified. Thinking of how he had once put such earplugs in his ears, he couldn't help but reach out and cover his ears. He trembled and said, "These are the things that are whispering in my ears?"
Bai Yuehu said, "Almost."
Wu Xiao suddenly felt dizzy: "Then I might also have these things in my ears..."
Bai Yuehu said, "No, they can't survive on a human body." He looked towards the bedroom. "These bugs must have another source. Did you bring something back from outside and put it in the bedroom?"
Wu Xiao said, "...I brought back quite a lot of things."
Bai Yuehu walked into the bedroom, looked around, and quickly found his target - the pillow with a bamboo pattern on Wu Xiao's bed.
Wu Xiao followed Bai Yuehu's gaze and quickly explained that he had indeed bought this pillow at the market. He had been having trouble sleeping for a while, but after using this pillow, his sleep improved immediately. There had been no strange noises at the time, so Wu Xiao felt relieved. Furthermore, he had changed rooms to sleep, but the noises persisted, so he didn't suspect the pillow.
Bai Yuehu picked up the pillow, tore open the outer fabric to reveal the cotton inside, then reached into the cotton and took out large clumps of cotton.
After the cotton fell to the ground, the other three people quickly noticed that there seemed to be something hidden inside the cotton. Lu Qingjiu bent down and found a small milky white particle inside the cotton. He picked up the small particle with his hand and said, "What is this..."
Bai Yuehu said calmly, "Insect eggs."
The expressions of the three people changed, and Lu Qingjiu quickly threw the insect eggs in his hand to the ground.
"It's okay, these insect eggs will not hatch under normal circumstances." said Bai Yuehu.
Wu Xiao was so frightened that he lost consciousness. He didn't dare to imagine how many bugs had hatched from his pillow while he was sleeping, crawled into his ears through his ear canals, and made strange noises in his ears every night.
Zhu Miaomiao, the girl who was afraid of insects, had a face that was no better than Wu Xiao's. Her voice was distorted as she spoke: "Then, then under what circumstances will these insects hatch?"
The White Moon Fox calmly picked up an egg, examined it carefully, and said, "They seem to feed on dreams."
This is similar to a dreamcatcher, but it captures nightmares. These bugs don't distinguish between good and bad dreams; they devour them all. Without dreams, sleep quality does improve, but as more dreams are devoured, bugs begin to hatch. Because bugs can't parasitize the ear canal, Lao Shu didn't notice Wu Xiao's abnormality, forcing him to endure the noise pollution for over a month.
Compared to Wu Xiao and Zhu Miaomiao who seemed to be on the verge of collapse, Lu Qingjiu was the calmest one. He even had the mood to ask Bai Yuehu what these insects wanted to do by crawling into Wu Xiao's ears and why they kept making noises.
Bai Yuehu thought for a moment and looked at Wu Xiao: "Do you want to know?"
Wu Xiao said in a trembling voice, "Tell me..." The situation was already bad enough at this point, and he didn't believe there was anything else he couldn't accept.
White Moon Fox said, "They are mating inside your ear canal."
Wu Xiao: “…”
The White Moon Fox's tone was calm, but the words she spoke nearly made Wu Xiao faint: "Voice is a way for males to attract females. Although the temperature in the ear canal isn't suitable for long-term survival, it's a good place for laying eggs. As long as mating is successful, your ear canal will hatch densely packed with eggs..."
"Brother, big brother, please stop talking." Wu Xiao discovered for the first time how terrified he was of insects. Thinking of the scene Bai Yuehu described, his scalp went numb and goose bumps appeared on his arms. "I really can't take it anymore."
Zhu Miaomiao has already covered her ears.
"How can I clean this stuff out?" Wu Xiao was going crazy. "I feel like my head is itchy now..."
I had heard before about cockroaches accidentally crawling into people's ear canals, and I thought it was a joke at the time. But now that it has finally happened to me, Wu Xiao almost wanted to rush to the bathroom and put his head in the basin to wash it thoroughly.
White Moon Fox said, "It's okay. They probably haven't laid eggs yet. Your ears are still clean."
Wu Xiao said, "Brother, but you didn't look at my ears."
Bai Yuehu glanced at him and said, "I don't really want to see it."
Wu Xiao: “…”
Lu Qingjiu coughed dryly beside him and suppressed the smile on his lips.
Bai Yuehu then briefly told Wu Xiao how to get rid of the bugs. It was actually quite simple, just burn them. However, Bai Yuehu was very interested in the person who sold Wu Xiao the pillow and asked him about it in detail. Wu Xiao didn't dare to hide anything at this point and told him everything about how he bought the pillow.
He bought the pillow at the market, and it wasn't cheap. The seller was a beautiful woman who noticed his poor sleep quality and strongly recommended it to him. Wu Xiao, half-believing and half-doubting, bought the pillow home, but it turned out to be surprisingly effective. He never saw the woman again. This was normal for a busy market, so Wu Xiao didn't think much of it and put it behind him.
"What does that woman look like?" asked Bai Yuehu.
"She's quite pretty," Wu Xiao said. "But she doesn't have any special features. If I must say... she has a very beautiful zither on her back."
Bai Yuehu's expression was slightly solemn. He asked, "When does the market start?"
Wu Xiao said, "The 25th of every month, which is probably next Tuesday."
Bai Yuehu said, "Take us there when the time comes."
Wu Xiao didn't expect that Bai Yuehu was actually interested in the market. He didn't dare to ask any more questions. He nodded and agreed quickly. He also enthusiastically gave the apple to Bai Yuehu and asked Bai Yuehu to help him see if there was anything else in the house that could not be used so that he could throw them away.
White Moon Fox said, "These things cannot be bought and sold with humans casually. You'd better not go to the market again. It's easy to get into trouble."
Wu Xiao agreed obediently.
Lu Qingjiu asked, "Then is it certain that there is nothing in Wu Xiao's ear canal?"
Bai Yuehu shook his head, indicating that there was indeed nothing. However, Wu Xiao was still worried and said that it didn't matter even if there was a little. After hatching, those insects couldn't survive in his body anyway. If he heard the sound again, he just needed to change the bedding and there would be no problem.
Wu Xiao almost cried when he heard this. He didn't want his ear canal to become an incubation ground.
After agreeing on a time with Wu Xiao, the three of them left. Lu Qingjiu originally wanted to send Zhu Miaomiao home, but Zhu Miaomiao insisted on taking a taxi.
"No, I can't ride the slug car anymore, I will die." Zhu Miaomiao pointed at the goose bumps on her arms and cried.
The pickup truck was right next to her. After hearing her words, the horn honked twice listlessly, and the two round headlights dimmed.
Zhu Miaomiao asked, "What's wrong with it?"
Lu Qingjiu said, "It's sad because of you."
Zhu Miaomiao: “…”
“Think about it, how many times has it picked you up from the train station and taken you home, and transported so many things for you? It’s been so hardworking and never complained about the hardship or tiredness.” Lu Qingjiu defended her lovely little truck with great sorrow, “Even if you dislike it so much, it still wants to take you back home safely.” The sentimental Zhu Miaomiao’s eyes flashed with tears at Lu Qingjiu’s words, and she actually felt that she was really a heartless scumbag.
Lu Qingjiu patted the light of the pickup truck and continued, "If it had eyes, it would have been shedding sad tears right now. But it doesn't matter. I think it will understand your dislike for mollusks. Come, let me call a taxi for you."
"No need." Zhu Miaomiao finally couldn't stand the extremely sad atmosphere anymore, and hugged the rearview mirror of the pickup truck and started crying. "I'm sorry, pickup truck, I shouldn't have looked down on you. Even if you are a slug, you are just a slug! Why am I so shallow that I look down on you for such a small problem!"
Lu Qingjiu smiled faintly beside him. Bai Yuehu glanced at Lu Qingjiu. He had never noticed that Lu Qingjiu had a naturally dark complexion before.
"Do you still need a taxi?" Lu Qingjiu asked.
"No." Zhu Miaomiao wiped away her tears and climbed onto the passenger seat of the van. "I won't dislike the van anymore."
Lu Qingjiu said: "Okay, let's go home."
"Beep, beep, beep!" the minivan honked cheerfully again. The three of them drove forward and sent Zhu Miaomiao home. After Zhu Miaomiao arrived home, she even took some of the minivan's favorite jelly candies from home and started feeding them, which greatly strengthened the bond between the two. Lu Qingjiu watched from the side, his expression kind, like an old father watching his children quarrel.
After seeing Zhu Miaomiao off, Lu Qingjiu and Bai Yuehu also planned to return to the hotel.
"Why does Zhu Miaomiao have to like pickup trucks?" Bai Yuehu asked from the passenger seat.
"Because..." Lu Qingjiu gripped the steering wheel, "Because it can save a lot of taxi fares?"
White Moon Fox: "..."
Lu Qingjiu said, "It'll cost at least twenty yuan to get from Wu Xiao's house to Zhu Miaomiao's." He began to calculate the bill seriously. "And if she's afraid of pickup trucks, she'll have to take a taxi to our house in the future, which will be expensive, hundreds of yuan..." He turned his head and glanced at Bai Yuehu. "I can buy dozens of candied haws with that much money."
Bai Yuehu fell silent instantly, no longer dwelling on the matter, and even felt that Lu Qingjiu had made the right decision.
The pickup truck honked twice, agreeing with Lu Qingjiu's words.
"We're going to the market next Tuesday, and we have to tell Yin Xun how we're going," Lu Qingjiu said. "Tell him we have to postpone it for two days."
Bai Yuehu hummed.
Yin Xun, who was at home, soon received a call from Lu Qingjiu. After learning that Lu Qingjiu's return time was delayed, he cried sadly, saying that he had almost finished eating the meatballs, and if Lu Qingjiu didn't come back, he would have to eat instant noodles. Lu Qingjiu quickly comforted him, saying that there were still many frozen foods such as dumplings and buns in the refrigerator, and asked Yin Xun to hold on for two more days. They still had some things to do here, and when they returned, they would bring Yin Xun a gift as compensation.
Although Yin Xun was very sad, he could only agree. Lu Qingjiu said, "Why don't we buy something when we go to the market on Tuesday? I think the things there are quite interesting."
Bai Yuehu nodded in agreement.
After spending a few more days in the city, Lu Qingjiu took Bai Yuehu to eat at all the famous restaurants around. He let Bai Yuehu try all the food, whether delicious or not. This also increased Bai Yuehu's life experience and prevented him from being abducted too easily.
On Tuesday, Lu Qingjiu got up early and drove a truck with Bai Yuehu to pick up Wu Xiao and Zhu Miaomiao.
Originally, I didn't plan to bring Zhu Miaomiao with me, but Zhu Miaomiao insisted on seeing the world, so I had no choice but to bring her along.
Several people got in the car and, under Wu Xiao's guidance, quickly drove out of the city and arrived at the desolate suburbs. If Wu Xiao was not very familiar with the route, no one would have thought that there would be a market with so many people in such a remote place.
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