An Lili's actions unsettled me. I didn't bother to guess what Tong Liu was saying and asked directly, "What did you see?"
"I just saw Hutudao on the street," Tong Liu said excitedly.
Judging from his tone, it was as if he had discovered some new continent. Was it really necessary to make such a fuss?
"Isn't it normal to see him? I gave him a ride out of town, and he said he was going shopping," I said irritably.
"Do you know where he went shopping?" Tong Liu paused for a moment, then continued, "He went to Banyan Tree, to Third Sister's hair salon. Damn, he ordered two of them. This kid is really rich."
"Damn it, no wonder he bought me Red Bull on the way here. He had his own agenda all along. I got lucky." I cursed, then said, "It's understandable that Hu Tudao went there, but what were you doing there?"
"I...I just happened to be passing by."
Tong Liu stammered for a moment, clearly making an excuse, but I didn't press him further. Everyone has their own private life, and there's no need to interfere with others.
"Alright, are you off work yet?" I changed the subject and asked.
"I'm logging off now. I'll take a shower later and then head over to your place when it gets dark," Tong Liu said.
"good."
I hung up the phone and went to the front of the courier station. Just as I was about to clock in, I saw An Lili come out of the office.
When she saw me, her eyes were noticeably evasive. I didn't say anything to her, swiped my card, and went back to my little house.
After what happened with An Lili, I lost interest in going to check out the little house by the wall. Instead, I became very interested in why An Lili had opened that lock. But An Lili clearly didn't want anyone to know about this. If I asked her directly, wouldn't I be revealing that I was spying on her?
After checking all the items I needed for tonight and making sure nothing was missing, I took my clothes and went to take a shower.
When I came back from the shower, I found two missed calls on my phone from Hu Tudao. I tapped on them and called back, and the call was answered shortly after.
"Changming, why didn't you answer the phone just now?" Hu Tudao's slightly annoyed voice came from the other end of the line.
"I just took a shower. Where are you? I'll come pick you up now." Our courier station is about 1.5 kilometers away from the town center, so it's obviously impossible for Hu Tudao to walk over.
"I finished eating on Wuyi Street. I've been walking around all afternoon, and I'm exhausted," Hu Tudao said.
I suppressed the urge to curse, and muttered to myself, "Shopping?"
"You're not going shopping, you're more likely to be going to a brothel!"
"I knew it! This old dog, he's just a big male dog, trying to shop like a girl. So this is how he shops?"
"Sigh, I'm probably completely drained. I wonder if this will affect tonight's ritual?"
After telling Hu Tudao that I was going to pick him up, I hung up the phone, took my keys, and rode my electric bike out of the courier station.
It was already dark when I drove Hutudao back to the small house.
As soon as Hu Tudao entered the room, he lay down on my bed, rubbed his thigh, and said, "I'm exhausted after walking around all afternoon."
My lips twitched, and the muscles in my face twitched violently. If I didn't think about the ritual I would need him to perform that night, I would have slapped him out.
Just then, Tong Liu arrived, carrying two plastic bags, just like last night, filled with beer and peanuts.
When Tong Liu came in, he saw Hu Tudao lying on the bed, slapped him on the butt, and asked, "Today I saw someone under the banyan tree who looked a lot like you. I wanted to call out to you, but I was afraid I would call the wrong person."
Hu Tudao was slapped by Tong Liu and immediately sat up, about to get angry. However, when he saw that it was Tong Liu, he immediately put on a smile, coughed twice, and laughed, "How could it be me? Why would I go back to a place like that? I've been in the commercial street all day."
Tong Liu and I are both from Dafeng Village. His surname is Feng. Because he is the sixth child in his family, his father gave him a simple name, Feng Liu. When he was a child, Tong Liu was very fat, like a bucket, so the villagers gave him the nickname Tong Liu.
Hu Tudao lived in the village next to ours, and Tong Liu naturally knew him too. Back when Hu Tudao was in middle school, he was ambushed on his way home from school, and it was I who took the tall and strong Tong Liu to help him out. So Hu Tudao has always had great respect for Tong Liu.
"Really not you?" Tong Liu looked down at Hu Tu, who was sitting on the bed, and asked with a suspicious expression.
"It really wasn't me," Hu Tudao swallowed, his eyes darting around as he weakly said.
"Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. We still need Hu Tudao's help to send away the ghost tonight," I said, trying to smooth things over so that Hu Tudao wouldn't be overwhelmed and reveal everything, which would embarrass him.
"Yes, yes, yes, we still need to perform a ritual later. Changming, are everything ready?" Hu Tudao nodded vigorously as if he had grasped a lifeline and asked me.
“Ready?” I nodded and said.
"Hu Tudao, you really know how to catch ghosts?" Tong Liu was clearly thinking about what happened last night, and his face was not good as he looked at Hu Tudao and asked.
"Is this even real? You can ask Changming if you don't believe me." Hu Tudao still didn't dare to look Tong Liu in the eye directly, and said softly.
"Hmm." I could only nod now. Although I had some doubts about Hu Tudao, there was nothing I could do. His father wasn't back, and besides, I had already invited him here. What would it mean if I didn't trust him?
"Alright, I'll trust you for now. Send that little girl away tonight." Tong Liu said seriously, patting Hu Tudao's shoulder gently after I said that.
"No problem. After we send him away, we'll chop up that duck tonight and the three of us will have a good drink." Hu Tudao glanced at the duck on the table and patted his chest.
It's 9:30 p.m.
The three of us took those things to the dance studio on the second floor.
Hu Tudao also changed into his yellow Taoist robe. Tong Liu circled around Hu Tudao, pinched his chin, and slowly said, "You look quite imposing in this Taoist robe. I'll get one for myself someday."
"Alright, stop fooling around." I rolled my eyes at Tong Liu, then looked at Hu Tu and asked, "What should we do now?"
"It's similar to that night, offer her tea and three cups of wine to satisfy her hunger first," Hu Tudao said slowly.
I nodded upon hearing this, placed the duck on the ground, put the sweet rice in front of the duck, and set out tea and wine cups. Since the ground was a cement slab, I asked Tong Liu to find me two bricks to secure the three incense sticks.
After arranging the items, I began to offer tea and wine, stood up and bowed, and Tong Liu followed suit.
After waiting a while, I offered another toast and stood up to bow.
A little while later, I offered a toast for the third time and began burning paper money.
Tong Liu and I were both nervously half-squatting on the floor burning paper money when suddenly Hu Tudao started chanting his incantations, which startled both of us.
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