When I opened my eyes again, it was already dark. A fragrant aroma wafted through the room, making my stomach grumble unnaturally.
After sleeping for a day in a semi-conscious state, my body had recovered somewhat, but I still felt a little weak.
Opening the room door, I entered the kitchen and saw a table full of delicious dishes. A figure was busy there.
"Oh my, I didn't expect Brother Zhang could cook so well. It looks like your wife has trained you very well." I teased Zhang Dabiao, who was busy in the kitchen.
"Of course, did you really think your Brother Zhang only knew how to catch ghosts? Eat well for these two days, and then leave here quickly." Zhang Dabiao said after serving the last dish. "By the way, have you contacted your intermediary?"
"No, his phone is off. He's nowhere to be found. I don't know where he ran off to." I explained while sneakily taking a few bites.
For the past few days, I had called Sun Chuang every morning and afternoon, but his phone was always off.
"Could something have happened to him?"
I shook my head. "Probably not. My master said he's doing very well in the south and should have his own connections. How could anything happen to him?"
"Besides, with his personality of running away whenever he encounters trouble, how could he possibly suffer a loss?"
Back then, Sun Chuang ran away when he encountered Fang Huixin's daughter's reanimated corpse. At first, I didn't understand, but then I thought that anyone normal who didn't run away in such a situation would be a complete fool. Of course, he would run!
Just as we were about to start eating, we heard the sound of a gate opening outside the courtyard.
Immediately after, the room door was opened, and a dishevelled "savage" rushed in. Without a word, he looked at the food on the table and began to eat ravenously.
Everything happened too suddenly.
By the time we reacted, half of the dishes had already been eaten by this "savage." He didn't use chopsticks, and he didn't even care about the heat, grabbing the food with his hands and eating as if he hadn't eaten in his life.
My and Zhang Dabiao's jaws dropped.
"What kind of place is this? Why is there a savage here?"
Zhang Dabiao, who reacted first, grabbed a stool and was about to hit the person, but I stopped him.
"Wait a moment, Brother Zhang."
Seeing my strange expression, Zhang Dabiao looked at me curiously. "What's wrong? Do you know him?"
At first, I really didn't recognize him. With his dishevelled appearance, who could tell who he was?
However, after the "savage" had eaten for a while, and due to some accidental movements, I vaguely felt that he might be Sun Chuang.
"He seems to be my intermediary, my master's distant cousin."
"What? Your intermediary is a savage?" Zhang Dabiao asked with surprise. Then, perhaps feeling he had said something wrong, he looked at me apologetically.
Perhaps sensing his name being mentioned, Sun Chuang only looked up at us, made a muffled sound, and then continued to eat without a word until he let out a loud burp and stopped.
Looking at Sun Chuang, who was like a savage, I almost didn't recognize him.
We had only been separated for less than three days, how could he have made himself look like this?
He used to have a buzz cut, but now his hair was almost down to his eyebrows. He exuded a foul stench, his thick gold chain had turned black, and his clothes were tattered. If I hadn't seen the half-black tattoo on his body, I would have barely recognized him.
I tentatively called out, "Brother Chuang?"
Perhaps he was full and had regained his senses. Hearing me call him, Sun Chuang's mouth split open, and he hugged me tightly, then burst into tears.
"Wuwu..."
"I'm finally back, I'm finally alive!"
"Damn it, I'll never run around recklessly again."
"I'll never believe again..."
"Women... are all... liars."
The foul smell emanating from him almost made me faint. I tried to push him away, but the more I pushed, the tighter he held me.
In the end, I had no choice but to let him hug me. It seemed he had suffered a lot, but I couldn't understand how he could have changed so much in less than three days.
And women?
What did he mean that all women were liars?
After comforting him for a while, Sun Chuang finally stopped crying, asked Zhang Dabiao for a cigarette, and lit it.
Zhang Dabiao and I exchanged glances, unsure whether to ask or not.
"Are you two wondering why I look so miserable?" After finishing the cigarette, Sun Chuang looked at us like curious babies and asked.
I nodded. "Indeed. At most, it's been less than three days since we last saw each other. How did you make yourself look so miserable? What have you been doing these past three days?"
Upon hearing my words, Sun Chuang shivered, and the cigarette in his hand dropped to the floor.
"Three days? Why does it feel like a year?" Sun Chuang said with a dazed expression. "No, I need to take a shower first, then I'll tell you in detail."
Looking at the mess on the table, no one had any appetite to continue eating. We cooked some noodles to appease our hungry stomachs and then waited for Sun Chuang's explanation.
While waiting, we resumed our conversation from that morning.
After Zhang Dabiao explained why he was in the coffin, I recounted why I had appeared in the west of the village. Once my body felt better, I would definitely confront him; otherwise, I couldn't swallow this anger.
However, Zhang Dabiao stopped me.
"Brother Zhang, you're saying that Zhao Defu deliberately led me to the west of the village?"
Zhang Dabiao nodded. "It's possible."
"If it was deliberate, he should have told me there was danger! You know, Sui Wan'er almost killed me. If I hadn't been looking for her son's body, how could I have..."
I stopped midway, only thinking about Zhao Defu.
But I forgot one thing: if I hadn't gone, Zhang Dabiao might have suffocated to death in the coffin.
Zhang Dabiao smiled and finished my sentence, "If you hadn't gone, it would have been me who died."
"That... Brother Zhang, I didn't mean that. I meant..."
Zhang Dabiao waved his hand and said, "What you meant is not important. It's just that someone doesn't want you to leave now, and it looks like they want your life."
His words surprised me.
I had only been in Molu Village for three days, how could someone want my life?
"Brother Zhang, this joke of yours is not funny at all."
My words made Zhang Dabiao frown. He looked at me and said, "Do you really think I'm joking?"
Caught off guard by Zhang Dabiao's question, I instinctively replied, "Aren't you?"
Zhang Dabiao's question stunned me. "Could it be Fang Huixin?"
As soon as I finished speaking, Sun Chuang, who had just finished showering, heard Fang Huixin's name, let out a cry of "Ah," and then fainted.