Chapter 40: Ghost Talk
An Guoming hurried home to get help, while An Ning obediently sat on a bundle, looking up at the stars.
However, she heard the sound of footsteps. ’Six feet?’
An Ning hadn’t yet extended her spiritual power when a bark sounded from up ahead. She knew who it was.
Da Huang and his owner.
’No wonder there are six feet.’
Jiang Xia hadn’t gone up the mountain today. After returning from the fields and eating dinner that evening, he had nothing better to do, so he decided to head up the mountain to reinforce his wild boar trap.
Just as he came down from the mountain, Da Huang started whining restlessly beside him. In the pitch-black darkness, Jiang Xia patted the dog’s head with one hand, his other hand tightening its grip on the machete he carried.
’On a night like this... don’t tell me I’ve run into a ghost?’
It wasn’t that Jiang Xia had a guilty conscience. Rather, he had witnessed some truly bizarre things as a child, which left him with a healthy dose of respect for mysterious, unknown forces.
AHEM, AHEM—
Jiang Xia cleared his throat and started muttering something under his breath.
Sitting on the bundle by the roadside, An Ning raised an eyebrow. ’Lord Lao Zi of the Great Monad? The Buddha? What are those? And why would they protect you?’
In the black of night, An Ning sat cross-legged on a dark bundle. From a distance, it looked like the upper half of her body was floating in mid-air.
The sight made Jiang Xia’s calves start to tremble.
"Um... I’m just passing by. Really, just passing through."
Jiang Xia averted his gaze, refusing to look in An Ning’s direction, and quickened his pace, tugging Da Huang along.
"Jiang Xia."
The moment An Ning said his name, Jiang Xia broke into a dead sprint.
’I’m screwed! She knows my name!’
"Ah— Huh?"
Jiang Xia stopped again. ’That voice... it sounds a little familiar?’
He turned around, walked back a few steps, and in the moonlight, finally saw An Ning’s face clearly.
"Phew—you scared the life out of me. I really thought I’d seen a ghost."
"Seriously, what are you doing out here in the middle of the night instead of sleeping? Trying to scare people?"
An Ning got off the bundle and asked curiously, "Are you afraid of ghosts?"
"Who says I am? It’s not fear. It’s... reverence."
"Besides, if you ran into one, wouldn’t you be scared?"
Jiang Xia’s words made An Ning chuckle to herself. She replied in a casual tone:
"I’m not afraid. If ghosts really do exist, that just proves the death of the physical body isn’t the end. It means that after we stop breathing, we can continue to exist in the world as a ghost. That’s true immortality. What’s there to be afraid of?"
Jiang Xia was, once again, rendered speechless by An Ning. What she said made perfect sense.
For a moment, he couldn’t think of a comeback. ’And now that I think about it... she’s right. Why *am* I scared?’
"You know, you’ve got a point. If I run into a ghost and can’t beat it as a human, I’ll just wait until I’m a ghost and fight it then."
Jiang Xia gave the possibility some serious thought, prompting An Ning to give him a few extra glances.
’This man’s mind doesn’t work right.’
’If you can’t beat it as a person, then according to the law of conservation of energy, you won’t be able to beat it as a ghost either.’
Their thoughts diverging, the two of them stood in the pitch-black night, out in the middle of nowhere, and began discussing the topic of ghosts.
Luckily, it wasn’t long before the sound of hurried, scattered footsteps approached from the distance. The An family had arrived.
Jiang Xia wasn’t one to interact with others, but when it came to An Ning, his competitive spirit couldn’t help but flare up.
"We’re leaving, Sika Deer!"
Jiang Xia patted the quiet Da Huang beside him, and the man and his dog ran off in another direction.
An Ning wrinkled her nose and muttered to herself, "I’m no sika deer, you big brother of Da Huang."
"I’m here, Little Sis."
An Guoqing had run the fastest, and as soon as he saw An Ning, he got to work.
"I’ll take two bundles, our little brother can take one, and Dad can take one. You get the luggage, and Second Brother can get that box."
"If I’d known you two were coming home today, I’d have told you not to pack so much."
An Ning strongly agreed with An Guoqing. She hadn’t used a single item that Lin Cuihua had packed for her.
By now, An Guoqing had already sprung into action. An Sancheng and An Guoping, who arrived after him, also came over and started grabbing the bags.
An Ning looked at the box, which was filled with steel rebar, iron blocks, and bearings. ’Can’t count on Second Brother for this one,’ she thought.
"I’ll take the box. Second Brother won’t be able to carry it."
An Ning hoisted the luggage onto her back, hugged the small box to her chest, and fell in line with her family as they carried everything away.
It was nearly midnight, and the streets were deserted. The family moved everything back to the An home in silence.
"Let’s all get some rest for now," An Sancheng said, patting one of the bundles. "We’ll talk tomorrow."
Everyone agreed. An Ning unpacked her luggage, which was still just as it had been packed, quickly washed her face, and lay down on the warm kang bed. She was asleep in moments.
An Ning woke up the next day to an enticing aroma.
Her eyes still heavy with sleep and her hair a tangled mess, she stumbled out of her room and asked groggily, "Mom, what’s that you’re making? It smells amazing."
Looking at the still-listless An Ning, Lin Cuihua deftly slid a fried egg onto a plate, turned, and handed it to her.
"It’s a fried egg. Here, eat this first."
An Ning broke into a sweet smile and cheerfully took the plate. She lowered her head and inhaled the scent ecstatically.
"It smells amazing!"
"Of course it does. I used both lard and sesame oil."
Lin Cuihua handed An Ning a pair of chopsticks. An Ning took them and devoured the fried egg in a few bites.
’It was just so incredibly delicious!’
’A hundred times better than a boiled egg.’
Finishing the fried egg revived An Ning’s spirits considerably. She yawned, stretched, and walked outside to the hand-pump well to fill a basin with water.
The icy well water shocked her fully awake.
An Ning cupped the water in her hands and splashed it on her face. As she washed, her spiritual power nearly shot out of her body.
CLUCK—CLUCK CLUCK.
The family’s large rooster had wandered over to An Ning’s side at some point. She looked up and found herself eye-to-eye with its chicken head.
An Ning flicked the rooster’s comb with a finger.
"You were this close to ending up in the stew pot."
Whether the rooster understood her or not, it hopped back several steps, watching An Ning with a wary eye. Then, it turned, flapped its wings frantically, and scurried away.
An Ning shook her head as she watched it go, then splashed her face a couple more times. Before she could stand up, a towel was held out in front of her.
"Hurry and dry your face. Dad’s looking for you."
The speaker, An Guoming, didn’t dare to make eye contact with An Ning. An Ning took the towel and wiped her face.
"What does Dad want me for?"
An Guoming’s gaze shifted evasively. "I don’t know. You should just go!"
"You seem awfully guilty, Second Brother."
An Ning went to find An Sancheng, while An Guoming clutched his chest.
"So pathetic," he muttered. "I’m her older brother. What have I got to be afraid of!"
He was, in fact, a little guilty—he had tattled on her, after all. But he didn’t regret it.
An Ning pushed open the door to the west room and called, "Dad."
"Come in, my girl. Sit here."
An Sancheng patted the kang bed, and An Ning obediently sat down, waiting for him to speak.
An Sancheng thought for a long while, but he still didn’t know how to begin.
"My girl... your second brother said you’re incredibly skilled at fixing that machine. And that some director wanted to find you a mentor?"
"That’s right. But don’t worry, Dad, I already refused. I’m not going to leave the village."
"No, that’s not what I meant. What I want to ask is... how do you know how to do all that?"
It was this question again. An Ning had made a splash this time for two reasons: one was to secure the supply source for her second brother, and the other was to reveal some of her own abilities.
"Dad, if you read this newspaper on the wall one time, could you remember it all?"