Chapter 18
The village was shrouded in a faint shadow under the heavy rain. The old trees were swaying in the wind, and the colorful ribbons hanging at the door were like spinning dancers.
He Chenzhou's house is the tallest and largest here.
Pushing open the heavy wooden door, a mixture of the aroma of aged wood, herbs and smoke hit me in the face. The house was pitch black, with only the occasional lightning outside the window briefly illuminating the interior outline.
He Chenzhou called out twice in a low and strange language, then turned on the flashlight on his mobile phone, groped his way to the stone wall, and fiddled in a groove for a few times.
There was a soft "click" sound.
An ancient oil lamp hanging from the roof beam was lit, emitting a dim, flickering glow that barely dispelled the darkness at the door and slowly revealed the scene inside the house to the people.
In the middle of the main room, beside a low, wide wooden table, huddled a hunchbacked old man in a dark blue homespun robe.
He had his back to the door, some distance from the edge of the table, and was huddled into a ball. As he coughed intermittently and deliberately, his thin body swayed slightly. From a distance, he looked like a small boat swaying in the dim light.
He Chenzhou walked forward quickly and whispered a few words in that strange language. As if injected with vitality, the "boat" immediately stopped shaking.
The old man's movements were a little slow, but he struggled to slide down from the table with extraordinary agility. He deliberately staggered when he landed, then opened his arms, hugged He Chenzhou's waist, and buried his face in his muddy and rags and rubbed it.
He was very short, with his head only reaching He Chenzhou's chest. From the perspective of Tang An and the others, the hugging posture seemed particularly affectionate, even a little childish.
"Hey hey... that's my spot!" Roy immediately shouted in dissatisfaction, rushing forward and trying to pull the old man off He Chenzhou. He then took the opportunity to hug He Chenzhou's waist, put his face against his chest, and said to the old man earnestly, "Old man, no matter how horny you are, you have to be careful. You are probably more than forty years older than Xiaozhou."
He Chenzhou sighed, a rare hint of helplessness and a sense of neither laughter nor tears in his tone: "Baby, he is my grandfather."
The air froze instantly.
Except for Grandpa He, who was wrongly accused and was so angry that he was blowing his beard and glaring, the whole audience fell into an eerie silence.
Roy's face flushed red, and he quickly buried his head in He Chenzhou's chest, pretending to be dead. A muffled voice came out: "...Why didn't you say so earlier?"
Tang An and Chi Ying, who were still confused by the situation, looked at each other tacitly and complained silently in their hearts.
You didn't even give people a chance to ask.
After this big misunderstanding, Roy instantly became as quiet as a quail, following He Chenzhou closely. After being arranged to sit on a wooden block covered with animal skin mats, he put his hands on his knees, stood straight, and except for the occasional cautious nod and a mosquito-like "hmm", he didn't dare to say another word.
Grandpa He sat back at the main seat at the low table with a huff, took a sip of water from a bamboo cup handed to him by He Chenzhou, and calmed down.
He claimed his Chinese name was He Haitian and that he was a member of the Shenshan tribe.
As for why I didn’t lie on the table when I had a bed, it was because I recently watched a video and learned that this method can treat lumbar disc herniation.
"Tomorrow is the annual worship day for the sacred mountain. Your grandmother is at the ancestral hall helping with the preparations and won't be home."
He Haitian's eyes swept over the people in front of him, finally landing on He Chenzhou and Luo Yi, with a kind smile on his face: "Chenzhou is filial. He knows to bring his friends back to see grandpa. Unlike your disappointing father, who loved running outside since he was a child, and..."
The old man paused, as if recalling some unpleasant past event, and said with a complaining tone: "He also brought back a foreign wife with blue eyes and blond hair. I was so angry that I forgot the rules of our ancestors!"
Roy, pretending to be an ostrich, couldn't help but look up at He Chenzhou quietly, asking with his eyes.
Are you talking about auntie?
He Chenzhou finally spoke, his voice calm and composed: "Grandpa, didn't you say in the video yesterday that you had a viral cold and your throat was so hoarse that you couldn't utter a word?"
His gaze slowly shifted downwards, landing on the old man's crossed legs. "You were crying, saying you accidentally broke your leg while collecting herbs in the mountains, and the pain was so severe you couldn't get out of bed... Where is the wound? Can I see it?"
He Haitian: “…”
The smile on the old man's face froze instantly.
Tang An and Chi Ying looked at each other in tacit understanding again.
Pretending to be sick.
Seeing that He Chenzhou seemed to be going to continue to sabotage him, He Haitian finally lost face and, like a naughty child, he leaned over and pretended to sit on the ground: "Oh, you unfilial grandson! You only know how to expose your grandfather's shortcomings! You always say that you are busy with work. How long has it been since you came back to see me and your grandma-"
He Chenzhou sighed helplessly and rubbed his brows: "Don't you try to video chat with your parents every day?"
"How can that be the same?!" He Haitian pounded his leg. "A cell phone is cold! You can't touch it! It's not as good as a living person..."
He Chenzhou could only look at Roy for help.
Roy received the signal and took a deep breath, as if he had made up his mind.
He stood up, walked in front of He Haitian, squatted down properly, raised his face, and showed what he thought was the most well-behaved and harmless smile.
"Hello, Grandpa," his voice was soft and gentle, filled with sincerity. "I'm your grandson's boyfriend. My name is Roy."
He Haitian's expression froze. He suspected his ears were damaged by the rain and scratched them tremblingly. "What?"
Roy leaned forward and shouted into his ear: "Roy—"
Before He Chenzhou could stop him, He Haitian jumped up, picked up a shiny rattan cane at hand, and hit the man on the butt.
"——The evildoer on the sacred mountain has transformed into a human to harm my grandson!!!"
"Monster! Scourge! Shameless beast! Wait till you beat me!" The old man yelled with all his might, waving his cane. His movements were so agile that he didn't look like the patient with lumbar disc herniation and broken leg at all.
Roy cried out "Woo-woo!" and scurried off, dodging around the low table and the fire pit. He begged He Chenzhou for help as he dodged, "Husband, help me! That old man is so fierce!"
It was obviously the first time that He Chenzhou faced his grandfather in such a fierce state. He was at a loss for a moment and could only rush forward to try to separate the two.
"Grandpa! Grandpa, calm down! Let me explain..."
"What the hell is the point of explaining?! How can two men be together? You have disgraced our ancestors!" He Haitian was furious and waved his cane vigorously.
Tang An's eyes were filled with deep sympathy for He Chenzhou: "...I thought the old man knew about your relationship with Roy."
Judging from his reaction, he is obviously completely clueless and extremely resistant.
Chi Yingze crossed his arms, his tone full of gloating: "What a blessed mouth."
He Chenzhou's lips trembled as he looked at the chaotic scene before him and muttered, "Roy's mouth..."
Taking advantage of the chaos in the house, Tang An and Chi Ying quietly withdrew from the battlefield and slipped out of the house.
It was still pouring rain outside, so the two of them hid in an empty shed next to them where firewood and hay were stored, and they were finally able to temporarily isolate themselves from the noise inside the house and the invasion of wind and rain.
The shed was filled with the smell of hay and soil. The farce in the house just now completely distracted Tang An's attention. He took out his cell phone to check the time.
There are less than twenty minutes left until Chi Ying turns into a dog.
"We'll go back to the car when the rain stops."
Chi Ying caught the raindrops running down the eaves, the water dripping down his slender fingers. He completely lost his image as an elite and overbearing city boss. "How many times has this happened?"
Tang An: "...seven."
The raindrops hit the roof with a sound like the drumbeat of a countdown.
Neither of them spoke again, silently waiting for the rain to subside, or for the inevitable change.
The fierce quarrel in the house seemed to have finally subsided, and then Tang An's cell phone began to vibrate wildly.
【Giselle】Cat Peek.jpg
【Gisele】Where is everyone???
【Giselle】Wow wow wow Xiaozhou's grandfather is so fierce and scary qwq
【Gisele】Where have you been? It's raining so hard outside!
Tang An took a deep breath and typed a reply quickly: The rain is starting to get lighter, we may have to leave first.
As soon as the message was sent, it seemed as if God was laughing at his lie.
“Crack—”
A pale flash of lightning tore through the night sky, instantly illuminating the sky and the earth as bright as day. The thunder that followed was deafening. Under the dazzling lightning, a slender figure ran out from the door of the main house.
Under the lightning, the other person's face was illuminated with a pale color, and his long wet hair stuck to his cheeks, making him look like a water ghost crawling out of the rainy night.
Tang An: “…”
Roy braved the pouring rain, trudging towards the woodshed. He squeezed in and squatted beside the two men curiously, raindrops dripping down his delicate jawline. "What are you doing hiding here? Are you performing some mysterious ritual? Can I join in?"
The sound of rain outside not only did not decrease, but it became louder after the thunder. The raindrops as big as beans hit the ground, splashing high with water.
Tang An's lies were ruthlessly exposed by reality. He could only bite the bullet and lie expressionlessly: "...We are like mushrooms, absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, the essence of the sun and the moon."
Chi Ying: “…”
He covered his face silently.
Roy's beautiful eyes suddenly widened, as if he had heard some wise words: "New type of performance art? Immersive experience?"
He immediately stood up, looked around the small woodshed seriously, and said seriously, "I see, mushrooms also have a certain territory? Then I'll take root nearby."
After saying that, he actually turned around and prepared to rush back into the rain to find another Feng Shui treasure land.
Tang An just breathed a sigh of relief.
A few seconds later, a face covered with deep wrinkles of time, like the bark of an ancient tree, suddenly appeared in front of him and Chi Ying without any warning.
He Haitian had followed them out at some point. He put his hands behind his back, and in the dim light, he looked at them with his cloudy yet sharp eyes. He asked quietly, "Are you two also gay?"
Tang An and Chi Ying: “???”
He Haitian didn't wait for their reply. He turned around and looked at the heavy rain outside the tent. His voice was filled with deep melancholy and confusion: "Chen Zhou said you are, and they are too. What's wrong with this world..."
He shook his head, as if trying to shake off this troublesome matter, and turned back, "By the way, you guys..."
The man and the dog looked at each other.
He Haitian's cloudy eyes suddenly widened, and his eyeballs seemed to be bulging out.
He raised his trembling finger and pointed at the dog sitting in the pile of clothes. His lips trembled and a "ho ho" sound came from his throat.
"Monster, monster..."
Before he could finish his words, He Haitian rolled his eyes and fell straight back.
Beside him, Tang An's hands were still stretched out in the air in vain, and he had no time to hold on.
He looked at Grandpa He who had fainted on the ground, and then at Erha who stood at his feet with a confused look on his face. He felt his vision go dark and there was only one thought left in his mind.
Is it too late to run now?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
