Want to Go to the Bathroom Together?

"Why did you leave the stuff at the station?" He Jiaqing asked in astonishment. Li Banfeng sighed. "It's a long story." Standing in the doorway, Li Banfeng hesitated over whether to step inside. He Jiaqing had already closed the front door behind him. If he refused to enter now, it would be tantamount to an open falling-out. And if they openly clashed right here, could he make it out alive? "Come inside first." He Jiaqing led Li Banfeng into the entryway. Li Banfeng had been trekking all day, his leather shoes coated in mud and water. Taking two steps into the entryway, he left two muddy footprints on the carpet. He Jiaqing glanced at the carpet. Li Banfeng gave an awkward smile and hurriedly kicked off his shoes. His socks were actually hardly in better shape. When tangling with the black bear, muddy water had sloshed inside his shoes, and after drying in the wind along the way, the caked mud had stiffened completely. Li Banfeng slipped into a pair of slippers and handed the feather duster to He Jiaqing. He Jiaqing took the duster, looking puzzled. "A small token of my regard," Li Banfeng said. Holding the feather duster, He Jiaqing shook his head and sighed. "Banfeng, you never can be serious." Li Banfeng put on a straight face. "Bringing a gift when paying a visit—how is that not proper?" He Jiaqing shook his head helplessly and tossed the feather duster into a corner of the living room. That reminded Li Banfeng of something Old Lady Wu had once said back at the welfare home: *Proper households never leave a feather duster in the living room; it invites trivial squabbles.* Now was not the time to dwell on feather dusters. He Jiaqing led Li Banfeng into the living room, and Li Banfeng sat down on the sofa. Though the manor was magnificent, it had no electricity either. He Jiaqing lit the candelabrum on the coffee table and asked about Li Banfeng's journey. "Banfeng, I sent you messages the whole way. Why didn't you reply at all?" He Jiaqing poured Li Banfeng a cup of tea. "When we reached Kudaikan, my phone ran out of battery, and the train broke down so I couldn't charge it. I couldn't see your messages at all." Li Banfeng lifted the teacup to take a sip, but as he brought it to his nose, he caught a fishy stench coming from the tea. "This isn't water from a goldfish bowl, is it?" Li Banfeng frowned. "Nonsense! What do you mean, goldfish water? This is premium tea! If an ordinary guest came, I wouldn't even bear to bring it out!" "So it's fine tea." Li Banfeng raised the cup and went through the motions of taking a sip, but the tea didn't decrease, because he didn't actually drink any. He Jiaqing said, "I heard something happened to the train. I was worried you had nothing to eat, and my heart's been in my throat these past few days." Li Banfeng smiled. "There was food to eat, but the things I saw along the way were just too bizarre. Jiaqing, you still haven't told me: what on earth happened? Where is this place? And who is that person lying in the hospital?" He Jiaqing smiled. "There's so much to it that three days and nights wouldn't be enough to tell. I heard the train arrived yesterday, so why did you only come find me today?" "Well, I was..." Halfway through his sentence, Li Banfeng suddenly heard a noise in the entryway. He Jiaqing looked toward the entryway as well. There was indeed the rustle of pitter-pattering footsteps. One after the other, the two walked to the entryway. They looked around for a moment; seeing no person, they spotted a calico cat huddled under the shoe rack, digging into a cat food bowl. "I saw a black cat earlier," Li Banfeng asked. "How come there's a calico now?" He Jiaqing smiled. "They're stray cats from around here. They used to live in this old house, but when I moved back, I ended up taking over their home. My heart couldn't take it, so I prepare some food for them every day. Besides, with only me living in such a huge manor, having them for company is nice." Li Banfeng looked at the bowl. Inside was an unrecognizable mash; it certainly wasn't fish, yet it gave off that same fishy smell. *Why does everything smell fishy today? Is something wrong with my nose?* Li Banfeng scanned the entryway once more, his eyes suddenly catching the brightly colored feather duster he had brought. That feather duster had originally been left by He Jiaqing in a corner of the living room, but now it rested beside the shoe rack. Looking from the feather duster up to the shoe rack, his mud-caked leather shoes had become spotless—not only free of grime, but polished to a bright shine. Looking from the rack down to the carpet, the carpet was also spotless, without a speck of dust. The two muddy footprints he had left upon entering were gone as well. "Banfeng, what are you zoning out for?" Li Banfeng smiled. "Just watching the cat." "What's there to watch? You must be hungry too!" He Jiaqing smiled. "Take a seat. I'll go brew a bowl of meat soup for you." Li Banfeng returned to the sofa, picked up his teacup, and poured the tea onto the carpet. He wanted to see how the carpet would react. In less than two minutes, the tea on the carpet dried up, leaving not a single trace behind. He Jiaqing was busy in the kitchen. Beneath a cabinet lay a white cat, sound asleep. On the cutting board lay a skinned animal, about a foot long. He Jiaqing sliced a few pieces of meat from the animal and dropped them into the pot. The slices were cut very thin; He Jiaqing seemed reluctant to part with them. Yet after a moment's hesitation, he smiled. He muttered silently to himself: *Come tomorrow, I won't have to eat this anymore. Come tomorrow, I won't have to stay here.* The broader He Jiaqing smiled, the happier he seemed. He carved off more than half the cat meat from the board and tossed it into the pot. "Banfeng, drink the soup." He Jiaqing set the soup bowl before Li Banfeng. Li Banfeng looked at the meat soup and smiled. "Too hot. Let it cool a bit first." Seeing the empty teacup, He Jiaqing asked, "You really were thirsty. Shall I brew another cup for you?" Li Banfeng shook his head. "No need. I'm not used to tea this fine." After a bit of small talk, He Jiaqing turned to business: "Why did you leave the items at the station?" Li Banfeng forced a wry smile. "I should be asking you! What in the world is that thing? People were tailing me the entire way because of it! If I hadn't checked it at the station, I wouldn't have made it to your house at all!" He Jiaqing was startled. "Even after reaching Yaowanggou, someone was tailing you?" "Yeah! Right outside the train station, two guys claimed they were going to kill me. Scared the wits out of me. I ran around blindly until I finally found a rickshaw puller and managed to get away. Guess how much that puller charged me?" He Jiaqing pondered for a moment. "That depends on whether his cart had fire wheels." "You know about fire wheels too?" Li Banfeng said in pleasant surprise. "He said his cart had fire wheels, and a ride cost five hundred." He Jiaqing nodded. "Five hundred isn't expensive. Anyone with fire wheels is no ordinary person; that's a very fair price." "A fair price?" Li Banfeng grimaced with pained reluctance. "You have no idea how much it hurt to cough up that money." "Don't worry, would I ever let you take a loss? I'll cover it." He Jiaqing took out three thousand yuan on the spot and thrust it into Li Banfeng's hands. Li Banfeng didn't bother being polite; he tucked it straight into his wallet. "Jiaqing, if you're in a hurry, we can head to the station right now and fetch the stuff," Li Banfeng offered, wanting to get out of the house as soon as possible. "No need, we'll talk about it tomorrow morning. Banfeng, drink the soup!" He Jiaqing didn't seem in a rush. Li Banfeng picked up the soup, once again catching a pungent, sickening stench. The calico cat finished eating, walked over to the living room window, and yawned. Li Banfeng put down the bowl and yawned as well. The calico curled up beneath the window and fell asleep. Li Banfeng rubbed his eyes, looking as though he were about to doze off any second. "Banfeng, are you tired?" "A bit..." Li Banfeng rubbed his eyes. He Jiaqing stood up. "I've already got a room ready for you. Come upstairs with me." Li Banfeng followed He Jiaqing upstairs. The second room to the left of the staircase was Li Banfeng's bedroom. The bedroom was spacious, with its windows shut. Vines trailing from the eaves swayed back and forth in the night breeze outside the glass. "It's a little stuffy in here. Can we open the window?" Li Banfeng asked casually. "The hinges are rusted shut; it won't open. If you feel hot, take a bath. There's a bathroom on the second floor, at the end of the hallway." "Forget it, I'm too tired." Without even taking off his clothes, Li Banfeng flopped onto the large bed. The bed was over two meters wide; in all his life, Li Banfeng had never slept in a bed so large. He Jiaqing frowned. "I prepared pajamas for you. Those clothes of yours..." Li Banfeng's clothes were covered in mud. Seeing He Jiaqing look displeased, he quickly stripped them off and changed into the pajamas. He Jiaqing took the clothes from him. "I'll wash them for you." "I'd feel bad putting you to the trouble." "What's there to be polite about between brothers?" He Jiaqing gathered Li Banfeng's clothes. *Damn, he took all my clothes. Fortunately, the key isn't in them.* "Jiaqing, after all that's happened, you still haven't explained things to me," Li Banfeng said with a yawn. "Get a good night's sleep first. I'll tell you everything tomorrow." Lying on the bed, Li Banfeng squinted at He Jiaqing and suddenly asked, "Teacher Song has a birthmark on her peaches. Have you seen it?" He Jiaqing chuckled. "Of course I have. Do you want to see?" Li Banfeng chuckled too. "I do, but I doubt Teacher Song would let me." "You lecher!" He Jiaqing took Li Banfeng's dirty clothes and left the bedroom, shutting the door behind him. From Li Banfeng's pocket, he pulled out his wallet. The wallet contained Li Banfeng's ID. With that ID, he could retrieve the checked luggage from the train station. Downstairs, He Jiaqing went to the kitchen and dumped the untouched meat soup into the slop bucket. The soup wasn't edible—because it contained seasonings. He seized the cat carcass from the cutting board and tore into the raw meat right off the bones, blood trickling drop by drop down the corners of his mouth. *Never again will I have to eat this. Come tomorrow morning, never again.* *Just now, when Li Banfeng suddenly brought up that birthmark, he nearly caught me off guard. That dirty scoundrel—if I hadn't reacted quickly, I would have given myself away right then.* In truth, he had given himself away long before; he just hadn't realized it. He Jiaqing actually knew that Li Banfeng had seen Teacher Song's birthmark. That was Li Banfeng's final test. From the moment he stepped through the door, Li Banfeng had spotted the flaws. The man living in this manor was not He Jiaqing. He hadn't even recognized Li Banfeng's backpack. That backpack was a gift He Jiaqing had bought from a street stall for Li Banfeng. Who on earth was he? Where was the real He Jiaqing? Now was not the time to ponder those questions; what he needed to consider was whether he could make it out alive! Li Banfeng opened his eyes and looked at the candelabrum on the table. *His house has no electricity, so how could he charge his phone? And without a charged phone, how could he keep sending me messages?* Li Banfeng sat up and looked at the slippers on the floor. His filthy socks had left a good deal of grime on the slippers, but now that grime was gone. He recalled something Ma the Fifth had said: *Dwelling spirits love cleanliness; whenever they encounter something filthy, they find ways to clean it up.* There was a dwelling spirit in this house. Then he remembered the peddler's words: *If a dwelling spirit is abandoned, it turns into a vengeful spirit. It lures people to stay in the house, and as long as someone spends a night inside, they become the dwelling spirit's prisoner. Unless someone else comes to take their place, the dwelling spirit will keep them trapped until death.* And another phrase: *Scrying Cultivators like to set hooks on phones...* This man was a Scrying Cultivator. He knew what was happening around Li Banfeng, and he had been able to text him constantly, all because he was a Scrying Cultivator—because he used a Scrying Cultivator technique to track Li Banfeng's phone. That was the Clairaudience the peddler had mentioned. He had lied, luring Li Banfeng all the way to Puluo Province. Trapped by the dwelling spirit, he had become its prisoner, and he had tricked Li Banfeng into coming solely to serve as his replacement! Li Banfeng climbed down from the bed, reached for the window, and gave it a cautious jiggle. The window wouldn't budge. Li Banfeng had already crossed the threshold as a Dwelling Cultivator and a journey cultivator, his strength far beyond ordinary men, but he could sense with absolute clarity that he couldn't force the window open—the power of a dwelling spirit held it fast. If escaping through the window wasn't an option, then through the door? The man impersonating He Jiaqing wouldn't let him out. Even if it cost him his life, he would never let Li Banfeng leave. *Could I take him in a fight? Hard to say. Odds are I couldn't beat him, but he probably isn't sure he could subdue me either.* *Even though he's a dark energy user whose cultivation undoubtedly surpasses mine, under the dwelling spirit's control, he likely suffers certain restrictions. Otherwise, he could have simply tied me up, tossed me in the house, and waited until daybreak.* *Yet even if I could defeat him, would I definitely be able to get out? If I can't open the window, chances are I can't open the door either. When the time comes, if this fake He Jiaqing and the dwelling spirit team up against me, I won't stand a ghost of a chance.* In the midst of his thoughts, Li Banfeng heard a faint rustling and scuffling. Stepping out of the bedroom, Li Banfeng found that the sound was coming from the bathroom. It was the patter of a cat's paws. Li Banfeng recognized it. *There's a way.* Li Banfeng walked to the bathroom door, a barely perceptible smile touching his lips. Suddenly, He Jiaqing appeared beside him. "Banfeng, you're not asleep?" Li Banfeng smiled. "I was, but my bladder woke me. I need the bathroom—want to go together?"