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 underdeveloped. He maintained a dismissive attitude towards this so-called "one of the five most haunted places in the city," or rather, he held a skeptical view of ghosts and spirits in general. His upbringing had instilled in him a disbelief in the supernatural; when people died, their essence simply ceased to exist—there was no such thing as past lives.
So when he heard from Song Buxian that his younger brother had decided to skip work during his break to explore this Haunted House, he immediately thought that the kid must be 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 bizarre pursuits.
After parking on a narrow road where he could get no closer, he called Song Buxian to ask whether he should go in or if Bunan would come out. A soft voice on the other end asked him to wait a moment, saying they would be out shortly.
The voice sounded youthful and somewhat endearing, creating an impression of familiarity despite its polite tone. It wasn't that the boy spoke unclearly; rather, there was an inexplicable warmth in his words, as if they had known each other for ages.
As he stood by the car waiting, Xin Yi lit a cigarette and surveyed the surroundings, which were dominated by poplar trees and low shrubs. The path leading to the old house hardly qualified as a road; uneven stones were haphazardly laid among the bushes, creating a rough opening. If it weren't for a weathered sign at the entrance reading "Dragon Garden," it would have taken him quite some time to find it.
Dragon Garden? That name sounded familiar. After extinguishing his cigarette in the car's ashtray, Xin Yi pondered where he had heard it before. Although it was now suburban, about twenty years ago this area had been a villa district. Despite being right next to the highway, many wealthy individuals had bought villas here as vacation homes. The famous Long family had even purchased land meant for new villas and built themselves a sizable castle instead. The low shrubs around him were likely remnants of landscaping from back then.
Song Bunan didn't keep him waiting long; soon enough, Xin Yi heard rustling from the bushes and saw a small boy with a backpack running toward him. The boy clearly hadn't stopped running; when he reached the car, he bent over with his hands on his knees, panting heavily as sweat dripped down his forehead like rain.
"Sorry for making you wait... It’s... quite far, I can’t run fast," he gasped, struggling for breath. Xin Yi could hear his chest wheezing as he spoke. After retrieving some paper and water from the car, Xin Yi handed them over just as Bunan thanked him and revealed large bruises and scabs on his arms.
"What happened to your arm?" This question made Song Bunan look up; perhaps due to exhaustion from last night’s activities, he felt unwell after just a short run today. 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’ll 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 for the back seat.
Xin Yi wasn't much of a talker and noticed how exhausted Bunan seemed; he handed him a pillow from the front seat. "Use this."
Lying in the back seat, Song Bunan felt increasingly lightheaded. Besides pain in his chest, discomfort spread across his back as well. Habitually reaching back to touch it confirmed his fears—his hand met something wet. Frowning through dizziness, he tried to pull out his phone but couldn’t manage due to trembling hands. " Xin Yi -ge, can you help me with something?"
Noticing something was off with Bunan's voice from the back seat, Xin Yi pulled over and turned around. In just that short time, Bunan's face had turned pale; his lips lost all color while blood stained his fingers gripping the seat back. Rushing to check on him in the back seat, Xin Yi urged Bunan not to move and attempted 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. Then call my brother and tell him my back is acting up again... I'm dizzy, 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 crisscrossed across his back—some were split open at their connections with skin while dried blood pooled in their crevices. The doctor cleaned them up gently revealing tender flesh slightly protruding as Bunan shivered from alcohol swabbing against his wounds.
The young doctor settled Song Bunan into a hospital room before asking Xin Yi to turn him onto his stomach. At that moment, Song Buxian walked in; after greeting Doctor Jiang briefly, he was cut off by her reprimanding tone: "Is this how you take care of your brother? You don’t even know what condition he's in? A split wound is one thing—how did he end up catching a cold? If this continues, I’ll call your parents!"
Standing beside them supporting Bunan's head so he wouldn’t suffocate against the pillow made Xin Yi feel bewildered—they seemed very familiar with each other. Meanwhile, Song Buxian stood behind her looking helplessly resigned: "He went out playing by himself; I couldn't reach him all night until now—what could I do?"
"Making excuses now?" Doctor Jiang shot an annoyed glance at Song Buxian who looked utterly defeated. Meanwhile, Song Bunan stirred awake at some point during their conversation; noticing where he was brought a soft whimper from him. Xin Yi felt a cold hand grasping gently at his wrist; looking down at Bunan’s flushed face from fever revealed a smile as he said softly: " Xin Yi -ge, I’m fine lying like this; you don’t need to hold me up—thank you."
The boy smelled faintly of milk and had chubby cheeks perfect for pinching. As Xin Yi gently withdrew his hand and started moving toward the door of the ward, he heard Song Bunan say cheerfully: "Auntie Jiang! I'm back again!" The child laughed heartily until an "ow" escaped him—likely because Doctor Jiang had playfully tapped him on the head.
"Still laughing? Do you even realize you have a fever? This wound isn’t too serious this time; once Auntie finishes bandaging it up you can sleep for a bit before going home with your brother—but you mustn't run around anymore with this unpredictable weather!"
As they chatted in the ward, Song Buxian quickly pulled Xin Yi outside against the wall looking like he'd just come back to life. Feeling queasy from seeing those wounds made Xin Yi ask what happened.
Song Buxian shook his head: "He has issues since childhood; after all these years nothing has improved—it opens up easily whenever it feels like it. Catching a cold and getting feverish must be because of last night's adventure in the suburbs; once he's better I'm definitely going to give him an earful about this! You’ve been through quite enough already—go home and rest for now; I'll wait for him."
Xin Yi refused that suggestion of resting alone and sat beside Song Buxian on a bench outside the ward while thoughts of Song Bunan's grateful smile lingered in his mind. Rubbing fingers still retaining their soft touch together made Xin Yi ask: "Does your brother often go exploring?"
Leaning back casually against the chair's backrest, Song Buxian shook his head: "That little rascal hasn’t gone exploring before—not even once at that Haunted House! I don’t know what got into him this time that made him suddenly want to run off into that house in the suburbs. My parents are still away; when they return knowing about this they'll either kill me or make my life miserable! Thankfully they won’t be back for another two months—I need to find something for that 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, his eyes narrowing in suspicion as he sized him up. Xin Yi knew that the next thing out of his mouth would not be pleasant, so he quickly added, "It's perfect since he's right here in the company. You can keep an eye on him, and no one will say you're giving your brother special treatment."
"The company is all mine. Even if I opened the front door, there wouldn't be a problem. But 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 send that 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 just met today."
After saying this, he saw Xin Yi revert to his usual indifferent demeanor at work and seriously state, "He's quite polite and shouldn't be stupid."
Song Buxian couldn't help but mock him without restraint: "You're mistaken; what he lacks the most is brains."
Song Bunan, upon learning that his brother had sent 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 go 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 hang out often."
Cheerfully adding Xiao Mei on WeChat, Song Bunan noted down the name. He initially wanted to chat a bit more but received a call saying the car had arrived outside. Xiao Mei smiled and said, "Go ahead; just leave me the flashlight."
As Song Bunan grabbed his bag and dashed out the door, he waved goodbye to Xiao Mei but caught a glimpse of a shadow behind him in the small room.
It was just a fleeting image that he dismissed as a trick of his eyes. He hurried down the stone path without hearing Xiao Mei say to the room behind him: "Useful."
Comment 0 Comment Count