Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Driving from the city to the notorious Suburban Haunted House took over an hour, even without traffic and with all green lights. Xin Yi watched as the concrete jungle transformed into a landscape filled with trees, and he couldn't shake the feeling that this suburb was still underdeveloped. He maintained a dismissive attitude towards this so-called "Top Five Haunted Places in the City," or rather, he held a skeptical view of all things supernatural. His upbringing had instilled in him a disbelief in ghosts; he believed that when a person died, their spirit ceased to exist, leaving no room for notions of past lives.
So when he heard from Song Buxian that his younger brother had decided to skip work during his holiday to explore this Haunted House, he immediately thought the kid was up to no good. On his way to pick him up, Xin Yi mentally rehearsed everything he wanted to say to steer Song Bunan away from such strange pursuits.
After parking on a narrow road where he couldn't get any closer, he called Song Buxian to ask whether he should go in or if his brother would come out. A soft voice on the other end asked him to hold on for just a moment, saying they would be right out.
The voice sounded youthful and carried a certain warmth that made it feel oddly familiar, as if they had known each other for ages despite the polite language used.
While waiting by the car, Xin Yi lit a cigarette and surveyed the surroundings filled with poplar trees and low shrubs. The path leading to the old house could hardly be called a road; uneven stone slabs were haphazardly laid among the bushes, creating a rough entrance. If it weren't for the weathered sign at the entrance reading "Dragon Garden," he might have spent quite some time searching for it.
Dragon Garden? The name sounded vaguely familiar. After extinguishing his cigarette in the car's ashtray, Xin Yi tried to recall where he had heard of this place. Although it was now suburban, about twenty years ago it had been a villa area. Despite being right next to the highway, many wealthy individuals had bought villas here as vacation homes. The Long Family, quite famous in the city back then, had even purchased land meant for new villas and built themselves a sizable castle instead. The low shrubs surrounding them were likely remnants of the lush greenery planted back then.
Song Bunan didn't keep him waiting long; soon enough, Xin Yi heard rustling from the bushes and saw a young boy with a backpack running towards him. The boy seemed out of breath as he reached the car, leaning on his knees and panting heavily, sweat dripping down his forehead like rain.
"Sorry for making you wait... It’s... quite far away, I can't run fast," he gasped between breaths. Xin Yi could hear the strain in his chest as he spoke. After handing over some paper and water from the car, Xin Yi noticed large bruises and scabs on the boy's arms when he thanked him.
"What happened to your arm?" This question made Song Bunan look up; perhaps due to exhaustion from last night’s activities, he felt discomfort creeping back into his chest after just running a few steps. Upon realizing his arm's condition after being asked, he replied, "I don't know; I probably bumped into something last night. It's not serious; I can just put some medicine on it when I get home. By the way, are you Xin Yi?"
After confirming his identity, Song Bunan leaned against the car while trying to open the passenger door but felt dizzy instead and opted to sit in the back seat.
Xin Yi wasn't much of a talker; seeing how exhausted Song Bunan looked, he handed him a pillow from the front seat. "Use this."
Lying back in the rear seat, Song Bunan felt increasingly dizzy. Besides pain in his chest, his back began acting up too. Habitually reaching back to feel around, he found wetness there and frowned as he tried to suppress his dizziness while struggling to pull out his phone from his bag but couldn't due to trembling hands. He leaned against the seatback and said, "Xin Yi Ge, can you help me with something?"
Noticing something was off with Song Bunan's voice from the back seat, Xin Yi pulled over and turned around. He saw that within moments, Song Bunan's face had turned pale; his lips lost all color as blood stained his fingers gripping the seatback. Rushing to check on him in the back seat, Xin Yi urged him not to move while trying to help him lie down but was met with resistance.
"I can't lie down. Xin Yi Ge, take me to City Third Hospital and find Doctor Jiang Xiaoyan for me. Also call my brother and tell him my back is acting up again... I'm dizzy and my hands are shaking; I can't use my phone right now..."
After getting Song Bunan to the hospital, Xin Yi saw horrific wounds on his back: pale skin marred by scars left from healed injuries—several raised scars crisscrossing over each other with some splitting open at their edges where dried blood pooled in their grooves. As the doctor cleaned them up, fresh flesh peeked out slightly while Song Bunan trembled from both pain and shock.
The doctor was relatively young; after settling Song Bunan into a hospital room, they instructed Xin Yi to turn him onto his stomach. Just then, Song Buxian walked in and greeted Doctor Jiang before being interrupted by her scolding: "Is this how you take care of your brother? You don’t know what condition he's in? A split wound is one thing; how could he catch a cold and develop a fever? If this continues, I’ll call your parents!"
Standing by holding Song Bunan's face up so he wouldn't suffocate against the pillow made Xin Yi feel somewhat dazed; they seemed very familiar with each other. Meanwhile, Song Buxian stood behind looking helpless and resigned: "He went out playing by himself last night without contacting anyone until now; what could I do?"
"Being stubborn again!" Doctor Jiang shot an irritated glance at Song Buxian who shrugged helplessly. Meanwhile, Song Bunan stirred awake at some point while lying on the bed; noticing where he was made him mumble softly. Xin Yi felt a cold hand grasping his wrist gently; looking down at Song Bunan's flushed face due to fever brought forth a smile as he said softly: "Xin Yi Ge, I’m fine lying like this; you don’t need to support me anymore."
The boy smelled faintly of milk and had chubby cheeks that looked delightful to pinch. As Xin Yi gently withdrew his hand and started stepping out of the hospital room, he heard Song Bunan say cheerfully: "Aunt Jiang, I'm back again." The child laughed heartily until an "ow" escaped him—likely because Doctor Jiang had tapped him on the head.
"Still laughing? Do you know you have a fever? This wound isn’t serious this time; once Auntie finishes bandaging it up you can sleep for a bit before going home with your brother. The weather has been unpredictable lately; no running around understood?"
As they chatted in the ward, Song Buxian quickly pulled Xin Yi outside and leaned against the wall as if relieved to be alive. Xin Yi felt queasy thinking about those wounds and asked what happened.
Song Buxian shook his head: "He’s had issues since childhood; after all these years nothing has improved—his wounds keep splitting open randomly. Catching a cold and developing a fever must be because of last night's adventure in that chilly suburb; once he's better I’ll definitely give him an earful about it! You’ve been through quite an ordeal too—go home and rest first; I’ll wait for him here."
Refusing to leave early despite being urged otherwise, Xin Yi sat beside him on a bench outside the ward but couldn’t shake off thoughts of Song Bunan’s grateful smile when thanking him earlier. Rubbing fingers still retaining their soft touch together with curiosity about whether Song Bunan often went on adventures led him to ask: "Does your brother always go exploring?"
Leaning back casually against his chair with limbs sprawled out awkwardly like someone who didn’t care much about appearances anymore, Song Buxian shook his head: "This little guy hasn’t gone exploring before—he hasn’t even been to any Haunted Houses! I don’t know what got into him this time that made him suddenly want to run off into that house in suburbia for fun. My parents are away right now; when they return knowing about this incident will either lead them to kill me or make my life miserable! Thankfully they won’t be back for another two months—I need to find something for this little rascal to do during this time..."
"I need an assistant. Are you willing to let him come?" Xin Yi's words made Song Buxian sit up straight, casting a skeptical glance up and down at him. Xin Yi knew that the next thing this person would say wouldn't be pleasant, and he quickly added, "It's just right here in the company where you can keep an eye on him, and no one will say you're giving him special treatment because he's your brother."
"The company is all mine. Even if I opened the front door, there wouldn't be a problem. But what about you?" Song Buxian flashed a strange smile and raised an eyebrow at him. "You've scared off how many assistants because of Picky? If you bring this little thing over, will I even get to see him in one piece? By the way, why are you suddenly so concerned about my brother? You only met him today."
After saying that, he saw Xin Yi revert to his usual unyielding demeanor at work and seriously say, "He's quite polite; he shouldn't be stupid."
Song Buxian couldn't help but mock him without reservation: "You're wrong. What he lacks most is brains."
Song Bunan, after learning that his brother had brought a friend to pick him up, immediately informed the boy about it. The boy nodded in response, "From Ze Li's entrance is the way you came in; just walk straight."
After sincerely thanking him, Song Bunan smiled and said, "I'm Song Bunan, 23 years old. What about you?"
The boy raised an eyebrow at him and handed over his phone, which displayed a QR code. "I'm Xiao Mei. Let's add each other on WeChat; come play often."
Cheerfully adding Xiao Mei on WeChat, he saved the contact with that name. He initially wanted to chat a bit more but then received a call saying the car had arrived outside. Xiao Mei smiled and said, "Hurry up; just leave the flashlight with me."
As Song Bunan grabbed his bag and dashed out the door, he waved goodbye to Xiao Mei outside the small room but caught a glimpse of a shadow behind Xiao Mei inside as he turned away.
It was just a fleeting image that Song Bunan didn't pay much attention to, thinking it was just his imagination. He hurriedly ran onto the stone-paved road without hearing Xiao Mei say to the room behind him: "Useful."
Comment 0 Comment Count