Chapter 59: Zhongshan Country [6]
Zhang Qiu opened the sleeping bag in the dark and put Xiao Jiang in first. Xiao Jiang was in a daze of sleep, holding Zhang Qiu’s collar by one hand and calling Daddy.
“Good boy Xiao Jiang, Daddy’s here.” Zhang Qiu whispered, patting his son on the back.
Xiao Jiang was sleep-talking and fell sound asleep.
Zhang Qiu got in and when he thought it was Li Shu’s sleeping bag, he was so excited that he twisted and turned, feeling comfortably warm. Suddenly there was a quiet voice next to him. “You said I was vulgar. Now you should look in the mirror and see the s.l.u.tty on your face.”
The frightened Zhang Qiu shivered when the voice came along with a rustling noise of a person’s shadow at his side. With a shock, it was Qi Xi’s enchanting and bewitching face. Zhang Qiu slapped his hand on Qi Xi’s nearing face to push him away. “What are you doing?”
“The chair is too uncomfortable. Let me sleep with you.” Qi Xi pushed Zhang Qiu’s hand lightly. “Good Xiao Qiu, move a bit for this XianNan.”
Zhang Qiu moved aside with a soft heart. Suddenly he felt a chill behind his back. He subsconciously stretched out his foot and kicked Qi Xi’s foot. Qi Xi cried loudly. The sound was quite loud and the bodyguards over there awoke and looked their way with flashlights.
“We are just joking around, joking around.” Zhang Qiu laughed awkwardly, “Everyone please go on, go on sleeping.”
Qi Xi rubbed his stomach beside him and whispered, “Xiao Qiu, you almost kicked my little Xixi. Fortunately, LaoZi dodged it fast. You are the sort to be ruthless after the deed. You called me little baby when you used me. After you have no use of me, you mercilessly destroy flowers with your hand…”
Zhang Qiu really wanted to put his foot in Qi Xi’s mouth, who talked nonsense all day. When did he call Qi Xi little baby?
“Don’t force me, Qixi——are you sleeping or not?” said Zhang Qiu with grinding teeth, feeling a cold stare behind his back. He and his family’s Xiao Shushu had a hard time getting back together. This branch Qi Xi always wanted to stick in between them. He definitely owed Qi Xi in his last life.
Qi Xi mumbled a sentence, then thought of something and suddenly said with a grin, “Good Xiao Qiu, you really reminded me that this room has not just a bed…” The last sentence was said very quietly.
With Zhang Qiu’s proximity, he still heard it clearly. After a while, he knew what Qi Xi was planning. This man freaking do not value his life!
“Hey!”
Qi Xi’s figure was already hidden in the darkness. Zhang Qiu lowered his voice and said, “There are so many people over there. Are you looking for death?”
“Xiao Qiuqiu is worried!”
“You’d better go and die!” Zhang Qiu was too lazy to deal with Qi Xi, turned over and yawned. Xiao Jiang rolled into his arms and he soon fell asleep.
In the darkness, Qi Xi waited a long time until the others breathed evenly and changed his appearance. A small ball of dark shadow quickly shuttled through the crowd and headed straight to the bed behind the bodyguards. Li Shu on the chair suddenly opened his eyes and stared coldly at the dark shadow. The dark shadow fell on the ground and turned stiff. Li Shu grinned and closed his eyes again.
The shadow relaxed, lightly jumped into the bed and slowly drilled into the quilt, familiar with the way to the other person’s arms. He stretched out his tongue and licked the other person’s chin, and soon he fell asleep.
Zhang Qiu was woken up by Xiao Jiang. Xiao Jiang was sleeping in nice and warm. His cheek blushed and said embarra.s.singly, “Daddy, I need to pee.”
“Okay, put on your clothes.” Zhang Qiu wrapped his son in clothes and carried Xiao Jiang off the bed.
Outside the door of the room, the sky was still gray. As soon as the cold wind blew, Zhang Qiu was wide awake. He came downstairs with Xiao Jiang wrapped in a ball. Suddenly, there was a strong wind behind him. Without thinking, Zhang Qiu bent down and grabbed the tail of the thing that had rushed out at the same time. The thing in his hand cried out painfully.
“Xiao Qiuqiu, quickly let go. You’re going to pull my tail off.”
“Qi Xi?” Zhang Qiu stared at the small ball of thing in his hand. It was the size of a kitten, the soft furred top looked like the head of a cow, and there was one horn in the middle. This was in fact the true form of Xiezhi. However, because it was in young form, it was still quite cutely ugly without the Xiezhi’s domineering and strong aura. Zhang Qiu let go.
The cub fell to the ground and instantly became human. Qi Xi was smooth and poised. He licked his lips satisfactorily. “I slept very well last night.”
Zhang Qiu felt only a headache. “I’m going to have a sty. Please go back and dress quickly.”
“People without nightlife are apt to be grumpy. Tsk tsk tsk, I empathize you.” Qi Xi smilingly went back to grab his clothes, following behind Zhang Qiu.
Zhang Qiu:…
He hadn’t killed Qi Xi yet truly because of his own good-temper and well-cultivated.
Zhang Qiu held Xiao Jiang for him to pee. Qi Xi whistled beside him. Hearing that, Zhang Qiu wanted to hit someone again.
Qi Xi looked happy and said with a grin, “The last time I came back from Xinjiang, I’d become a cub. I didn’t think it would be of any use. You didn’t know my Xiao Rongrong like me to rub against him while he was sleeping——”
“Stop it, there is a minor here.”
“Yo! I’ve forgotten Xiao Jiang. Forget it, this wonderful night life with my Xiao Rongrong had better left for me to enjoy it.” Qi Xi’s face showed satisfaction.
After Xiao Jiang finished urinating, Zhang Qiu wrapped him up tightly, and Xiao Jiang lay sleepily on Zhang Qiu’s shoulder to continue to sleep. Zhang Qiu stared at Qi Xi who followed them back. “You came down to pee with Xiao Jiang?”
“No, Xiao Rongrong was so pa.s.sionate last night that I came out to cool off.” Qi Xi grinned. “And, show off in front of people who don’t have nightlife.”
Zhang Qiu:…
It seemed not too late to kill Qi Xi.
By the time they got back, the people in the room had woken up.
“So early?”
“It’s already seven o’clock.” Ling Dang said at the side.
Zhang Qiu was shocked. He looked out of the window and saw that it was still gray. Now it was only autumn, how could it be as cold as early winter?
Qi ZhiRong had woken up but did not look like he was in good spirits, sitting beside the bed with a thin layer of crimson on his face. At first, Zhang Qiu did not want to be crooked, but Qi Xi just talked to him. Now when he saw such a look on Qi ZhiRong, he thought that Qi Xi had something in the night.
The bodyguards packed the sleeping bags. Zhang Qiu quickly folded Li Shu’s sleeping bag and handed it to Li Shu with a smile.
“Thank you for your sleeping bag. I slept very well last night.”
“No, you take it.” After Li Shu finished saying, he went downstairs.
At this moment Qi Xi came over, with a gossiping face said: “He should not have two possibilities. First is cold shouldering you; second is reluctant to be cold to you.”
Zhang Qiu stared at Qi Xi expressionlessly. Qi Xi waved his hand repeatedly. “It must be the second kind. Don’t look at me like that.”
“Qixi, did your many words cause people to die?”
“Did did did.” Qi Xi’s words had not yet been finished and he was gone.
The sleeping bag in Zhang Qiu’s hand felt a little heavy in his heart. Is it the first or the second kind?
Qi ZhiRong’s people had already started the cars. After Zhang Qiu settled the money to the owner, they drove on the road. They had been following Qi ZhiRong’s cars. Soon, they reached the town. Qi ZhiRong’s people came down to buy breakfast to go. Zhang Qiu’s group directly got off to eat.
Their group caught attention, sitting at the vendor’s stall, especially Qi ZhiRong’s bodyguard which still dressed in formal clothes, seemingly like the mafia collecting protection fee. When the stall owner packed the soups, they were all big portions, hoping to send these people away. The owner even trembled when he brought the meals towards Zhang Qiu’s group.
Zhang Qiu felt sorry and quickly said, “We are here taking a trip and having fun, not bad people.”
As soon as the owner saw that Zhang Qiu even brought a child, he was relieved and relaxed.
Zhang YuShui, drinking soup, casually asked, “Boss, why is it so cold here? We didn’t bring much thick clothes when we came out.”
“Who knows what happened to this d.a.m.n weather? Four, five years ago, it suddenly seemed like this…”
Four, five years ago?
Zhang Qiu looked at Zhang YuShui, and Zhang Yu Shui nodded his head, which meant that the weather was not right. After eating breakfast they got on the vehicle, and Zhang YuShui then said, “The more northward we go, the colder it is. I can’t say what exactly, but it’s really not a common weather problem. There’s Yin Qi in it.”
“What kind of Yin Qi can change climate…” Zhang Qiu remembered the thousands skeleton’s grievance in the Mount Qinling had not make the weather change, so it could be a.s.sume that their final destination was not simple.
As everyone thought about it while Pei Qing accelerated to catch up with the cars in front and said, “This Qi ZhiRong must know the route, but why did a top-notch rich and powerful person like him want to send a group of people here and why would he be on board? Right, didn’t you say he was hurt? Why did he look good today?” The latter was said towards Qi Xi.
Mentioning this, Qi Xi also worried about it. He frowned and said, “I checked him last night. He had no wound, no trauma. Maybe it was an old disease. Xiao Rongrong is really mysterious.”
“You checked him last night?” Pei Qing eyebrows were raised high. Qi ZhiRong was lay next to so many people last night, but Qi Xi could still find the opportunity to “check” him. This spirit (of Qi Xi) made him felt inferior.
Everybody chatted in the car. Xiao Jiang was in good spirit after ample of sleep but also bored. He leaned over the window and looked out at the scenery. After that, he pulled Zhang Qiu’s sleeve and pointed to one place. “Daddy, the darkness over there seems tasty.”
“What darkness?” Zhang Qiu leaned over the window and looked in the direction his son pointed. There was not even a field ah!
Ling Dang looked over and his shoulder trembled. He whispered, “So terrible.”
Zhang Qiu still couldn’t see anything. After careful study: could the sky be too gloomy? It was much darker than anywhere else, but it was as much as to frighten Ling Dang, because Xiao Jiang said it was tasty.
“It’s coming soon.” Zhang YuShui, who was sitting behind him, looked out of the window. Seeing that Pixian Hui w.a.n.g was curious, he said,”It’s too unusual that there’s a very dense Yin Qi gather in the sky over there. But Ling Dang, you are a thousand-year-old ghost too. It is reasonable to say that this kind of environment should be beneficial to you.”
Being said like that, Ling Dang turned red. He really made the ghost lose face. Indeed, he was timid and likely to be frightened. He even dared not steal things from the other ghosts in the tomb before.
“My Ling Dang is kind-hearted and does not like to walk the crooked path.” Pei Qing added with a smile, “I love the Ling Dang, who is as timid as a rabbit.”
“Gege!” Little Ling Dang whispered shyly and irritably.
Obviously talking of relationship, in the end the atmosphere became slightly sticky. Sitting behind, pitiful Zhang Qiu hugged Xiao Jiang. When will your Dad get back his memory? I don’t want to eat dog food anymore!
Zhang YuShui smiled. That indeed was true. If he hadn’t known Ling Dang, he would not have thought Ling Dang was a thousand-year-old ghost.
By three o’clock in the afternoon, the weather had turned gloomy, as if it could squezzed out water, but it did not rain. The cars in front of had stopped at the door of a small hotel. It looked as like they were going to rest for a night. The bodyguards got out of the cars and when they saw that Zhang Qiu’s group, their faces were scrunched up. Probably annoyed they had tagged along.
Zhang Qiu remembered Senior Brother saying that Zhongshan Country was a country made up of a few etnic groups. It was probably originated here first, and then became more and more large. At its most glorious time city was built in the current Shijiazhuang prefecture.
After driving for several days, everybody was very tired, and plus they did not have a good rest in the dormitory last night. Zhang Qiu took a hot bath holding chubby Xiao Jiang, planning to go to bed early. When it was night, he dazely heard indistinct shouts.
Come, come here ah!
Hee-hee, don’t sleep, play kissing with your servant[1].
[1 Nujia = your servant (humble self-reference by young female)]
A series of alluring gasps seemed like drilling into the ears. Zhang Qiu turned over and thought that the sound insulation of this hotel was really poor. Which era it is still calling oneself your servant….
Don’t sleep, your servant——ah!
In front of him was a low gasping sound, and suddenly there was a shrill scream. Shocked, Zhang Qiu sat up from the bed and happened to see a deathly pale face of a woman with disheveled hair, leaning in front of him. It just a few centimeters away, and his heart suddenly stopped in shock.
Ahhhhhhhh!
The woman amplified her mournful scream. Zhang Qiu thought: it was very inconsiderate of you when you scream while I was the one frightened and not screaming.
It ought to be said that as the female ghost’s voice was getting more and more mournful, her figure retreated a little. Zhang Qiu looked at its back. Xiao Jiang was standing behind the female ghost with his claws grasping the female ghost’s ankle. He looked quite annoyed and while keeping a straight face, he rolled up the female ghost rolling like rolling a quilt.
“It’s so noisy.” Xiao Jiang very quickly twisted and rolled the female ghost and in a flash, it turned to the size of a fist.
Zhang Qiu saw his son’s eyes staring at the fist-sized ghost with a ravenous expression, and he quickly stopped, “My good son, you don’t want to eat it, do you? This one is going to upset your stomach after eat——”
Before he finished, there were knocks at the door.
Zhang Qiu heard Li Shu’s voice faintly and immediately threw Xiao Jiang down to open the door. As expected, Li Shu stood outside the door, frowning. “What happened just now?”
“A ghost came while we were sleep.” Zhang Qiu’s brain flashed an idea and promptly he said miserably, “But I’m frightened to death. You see, this female ghost is too fright——”
“Burp.” Xiao Jiang belched satisfactorily.
The female ghost?!
Zhang Qiu’s face turned blank. Son, your dad wants to let your big Daddy in by pretending to be weak. As a result, you ate the important prop!!!
“Daddy, don’t worry, I’m here.” Xiao Jiang thumped his chest and when he saw Daddy’s face was not looking good, he quickly stressed, “No stomach trouble! Really!”
Li Shu stood in the doorway listening and said, “It’s good that nothing happened.” With that, he walked away.
Walk away! Walk away!
Zhang Qiu closed the door in a fierce manner and turned his head to look back at Xiao Jiang. Xiao Jiang looked very happy, sitting on the bed with his little bird exposed, and he said in bold and confident manner, “I will protect Daddy. Daddy can rest a.s.sured and go to sleep quickly.”
Son, I really don’t know what to say to you.
Zhang Qiu hugged Xiao Jiang in his arms and patted Xiao Jiang’s bare b.u.t.t. The little kid’s pants still had not dried, and now he was sleeping naked.
“Next time you are not allowed to eat these things, it is unclean. Who knows if there are any side effects?” Zhang Qiu kissed his son with a big mouthful on his soft cheek. “Good boy Xiao Jiang, sleep well.” He thought of Li Shu coming here over the ruckus, it showed that Li Shu was still worried about him.
Hehehehe.
Zhang XiaoJiang had just eaten a fill, hidden in Daddy’s arms with a round stomach, asleep. Zhang Qiu heard the noise, smiled and kissed his dear son. He also fell asleep again, as if the ghost had just been an insignificant episode.
Early the next morning, there was a loud noise at the hotel entrance. Xiao Jiang turned his body over the noise; the b.u.t.t facing the window and head under the pillow.
Zhang Qiu yawned and heard knocking at the door.
“Xiao Qiuqiu, something big happened. Open the door, open the door!”
It was Qi Xi’s voice. He’s really too lazy to open the door. But if he did not, Qi Xi would continue knocking until he open, Zhang Qiu patted Xiao Jiang, who was about to wake up after the noise. “Be good, Daddy go and have a look.”
He got out of bed and opened the door. Qi Xi was wearing his flashy nightgown and looked very high spirited. He pushed the door and went in. Upon seeing Xiao Jiang, a bulging bundle on the bed, he lowered his voice, but he looked about to gossip.
“Hahaha, I’m going to laugh to death. Did you hear the noise outside the hotel just now?” Qi Xi took out his mobile phone and said, “Look at it yourself.”
Zhang Qiu didn’t want to cooperate with Qi Xi’s gossip; he might as well go to bed. As a result, he was stunned at the sight. Six bodyguards brought by Qi ZhiRong were shown in the photo; they were naked and looked embarra.s.sed as they blocked the important place walking towards the hotel.
“What’s happened?”
Qi Xi sat in the chair with his legs crossed and looked around the room. “Your room smells dirty.”
“It’s very clean ah!” Now he’s a single father, he had no time for nightlife. It didn’t smell much.
“Hihihi, Xiao Qiuqiu, how dirty.” Qi Xi smiled and said, “Lat night, your room was haunted by a female ghost, right? Their rooms too, but they all won the bid. They all went out fooling with the female ghost and were teared naked. I heard that they woke up in the field graveyard this morning…”
Qi Xi supported his chin and said happily, “Fortunately, I went into Xiao Rongrong’s room last night and everything was fine.”
Just then, there was a knock at the door and Zhang Qiu opened the door to see his Er-ge and Er-sao.
Pixian Hui w.a.n.g looked around. “Didn’t Li Shu come last night? Not staying?” That’s why they didn’t come.
Zhang Qiu gave a “hard to explain in a few words” expression, and Pixian Hui w.a.n.g laughed. “Having heard the ruckus and came here immediately, showed that you are not the same.”
“Your room, too?” Zhang Qiu asked and saw that Er-ge’s expression was not very good.
Whoever was doing it and was interrupted halfway by the female ghost would not be happy. Zhang YuShui faintly smiled, “It’s all cleaned up.”
Zhang Qiu felt hairy when he saw Er-ge’s smile and lit the candle for the unknown female ghost.
“Fortunately, those female ghosts have no harmful thoughts——”
“No.” Zhang YuShui shook his head. “Qi ZhiRong’s bodyguards were strong and energetic, so they escaped the disaster. Even so, if they were tricked again tonight, they would be dead.”
“Why on earth do these female ghosts come to take their lives?” Zhang Qiu asked, and saw Er-ge staring out of the window. Qi Xi said lazily beside him, “The sky is heavy again. It’s really dull!”
Could it be related to the place where the Yin Qi gathered?
In the morning after properly dressed, Zhang Qiu came down to breakfast with Xiao Jiang in his arms. Qi ZhiRong’s bodyguards were also there. They seemed to be wilting and there were dark circle under their eyes. Even Zhang Qiu did not have to look at their faces and felt a ma.s.s of lethargy on them.
Zhang YuShui laughed, and those men swept their eyes over looking imposing. Because they lacked spirits, it was not at all fierce, but there was a kind of miserably “strong in appearance but weak in reality” feeling.
“For the sake of my fellow travelers, I have here a shield talisman for protection. It can keep you safe and sound. Now after the favorable discount, it is only 8,888, how about that?”
If this man was not his Er-ge, Zhang Qiu would really scold the huckster when he heard the price.
Sure enough, the group of people aggressively scolded him a swindling huckster; then scoffed. But there were also people who believed, and they would come quietly after that, and asked with a good att.i.tude, “Master, I—I’ll take two.”
Zhang Yushui looked sideways at the visitor— a silly man. Although the man had some blood on his hand and should have touched people’s lives, but he was an upright and dignified man. He was not a bad person.
“This young man has a good life, here the two talismans. Also, this one is a gift. When you go back, boil this with water and drink.” Zhang YuShui handed out the talisman papers.
The silly man accepted the talisman paper with both hands respectfully. If Zhang Qiu did not know the man, he really thought it was Er-ge’s arrangement. The man took the talisman paper and smiled holding his mobile phone. “Master, can I transfer through AliPay[2]?”
[2 AliPay like PayPal]
“Can!” Zhang YuShui was smiling. It was all money, how could he refuse?
The two ended the deal very quickly. The man’s friend was still urging him, and after walking a few steps, someone deliberately shouted, “Fool, he deliberately deceiving you out of money. You said you are well-off, why are you not properly handle this and what had the team said? Fight against feudalistic superst.i.tion…”
“Also must retain life in order to take a wife. My grandma said these need faith. You said anti-feudalistic superst.i.tion. Then why didn’t you say that when those ghost seduced us out last night…”
The other person choked up, but still thought that 8,888 was too expensive.
Zhang YuShui was in a good mood when he opened the shop. He pinched his Xiao Jiang’s face and said, “Er-bobo[3] takes you to eat delicious food, good boy Xiao Jiang.”
[3 Er-bobo = second uncle through paternal line]
“Bobo, can you buy a lot of food?” Xiao Jiang admired Er-bobo very much now. A few words and two pieces of paper fetched a lot of money. Money = delicious food. A lot of money = a lot of delicious food.
Xiao Jiang, shaking his short legs happily, approached him affectionately. “Bobo, can you teach me with this paper? I also want to fold paper for delicious food.” At the end, he added a sentence happily, “Give Daddy to buy a lot of delicious food!”
“This is not paper folding.” When Zhang YuShui said this, he felt around Xiao Jiang’s melon head carefully. “I think your skull is exquisite, actually a good young successor.”
Zhang Qiu couldn’t help but saying, “Er-ge, you don’t really want to teach Xiao Jiang to learn this, do you? My Xiao Jiang is a zongzi. Wouldn’t these things hurt the zongzis when they touched it?”
At the thought of Xiao Jiang as a little zongzi of “evil path” with imposing and majestic appearance of getting rid of devil and defending moral principles, Zhang Qiu felt that his brain capacity was insufficient for fantasy online novel.
“You forgot who his dad is? When we went to Ah Yan’s tomb, Li Shu used the seven-star bronze coin sword very smoothly. In conclusion, Li Shu is not the usual zongzi, nor is Xiao Jiang. Even if Li Shu had no spiritual soul, what flows through his vein is the Divine Vein. Xiao Jiang naturally inherited a part of it, not to mention your innate skill as a Zhang family member. But it depends on you, if you don’t want to do that, then forget it.” The more Zhang YuShui looked at Xiao Jiang, the more he cherished him. He followed Pixian Hui w.a.n.g with Xiao Jiang in his arms and said, “Don’t we look like a family of three?” Moving closer, he said that.
Zhang Qiu listened to him very clearly. Er-ge was a phoenix. It should be reasonable that Pixian Hui w.a.n.g could also have children.
Little Phoenix egg or something.
With such a change of subject, Zhang Qiu forgot about the matter of Xiao Jiang learning magic. Anyway, it was not a rushing matter.
T/N: Okay first, I changed some terms if you notice. Second, spiritual soul means having another soul aside from your human soul, kinda like having an animal spirit along human spirit in a flesh. I don"t really know if the translation is right but the meaning is spot on I think.
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