Chapter 20: Wake Up

Huang Wei was working steadily when suddenly she heard a voice behind her: “Stop working.”

Cheng Luyun’s voice was crisp and impossible to ignore. Huang Wei turned her head and saw her standing behind her. Cheng Luyun wore a straw hat; shadows from the hat fell across her face, making her complexion look somewhat dark.

Huang Wei’s heart skipped a beat. Could it be that because she’d built the seeder, preventing Cheng Luyun from messing with her, Cheng Luyun was now upset?

Yesterday when she’d used the rotary tiller, Cheng Luyun hadn’t said anything! But thinking more carefully: today Cheng Luyun had made all the seeders break, which in a sense, was a sign of dissatisfaction with what Huang Wei did yesterday. In that case, what she did today truly might have angered her.

A miscalculation…

Huang Wei never claimed to be especially smart. Apart from her observation and hands-on skills and a bit of cunning, she wasn’t all that bright. If she were really clever, she’d be living well in the real world. But in reality, her life was a mess. Not only was she not clever, she was a hopeless romantic.

At that moment, Huang Wei felt like running. Cheng Luyun’s “Stop working” sounded to her ears like “Go die.”

She thought her life was over. She stopped her task and wiped the sweat from her face, meeting Cheng Luyun’s eyes. Inside, she was wondering: for the sake of all those meals she’d cooked, maybe Cheng Luyun could grant her a quick and painless death, without suffering.

But after they’d stood there a moment, Cheng Luyun suddenly let out a “pfft” laugh. It was a genuine laugh—much more than her usual gentle yet false smile. It held something she normally lacked, even her brows and eyes carrying a hint of mischief. This smile was much prettier than her usual one, her whole face coming alive.

Her unexpected laughter made Huang Wei’s expression look even dumber.

Cheng Luyun’s laugh was so beautiful…

As a hopeless romantic, Huang Wei thought this, and at the same time knew her life was safe for the moment.

“What are you spacing out for?”

Cheng Luyun asked her. Huang Wei, sensing Cheng Luyun was in a good mood, countered: “Then what are you laughing at?”

Cheng Luyun looked at her, her gaze resting on Huang Wei’s face. Huang Wei realized there must be something on her face. But without a mirror or phone, she had no way of knowing what. She pulled off her glove, wiped her cheek, then looked at her hand. Her palm was black. Clearly, that was what Cheng Luyun had been laughing at.

Seeing her staring at her palm, Cheng Luyun guessed Huang Wei had figured out the reason. Her laughter subsided. The big genius who’d just made her a little angry now stood there with that blank, silly look and a black-streaked face—it really had made her want to laugh. Once she’d stopped, Cheng Luyun said, “Let’s go home.”

That caught Huang Wei off guard. She looked back at the large unseeded area. “No more sowing?”

Her tone was a bit silly, looking like she might actually keep going. Cheng Luyun shook her head. “We’ll have the villagers help out later. You’re not in great health—so thin and frail. What if you fainted in the sun?”

Huang Wei was not thin and frail! Those words made her mad. She was not thin and frail. Among women, she had a well-proportioned figure. Not plump, but definitely not thin and frail. But by the villagers’ standards, seeing her as a man, then indeed—she was as thin and frail as a little chick.

In the countryside, a man of her build wouldn’t even find a wife.

Let alone a wife as beautiful as a painting like Cheng Luyun—matchmakers probably wouldn’t even set foot on Huang Wei’s threshold.

But now that she didn’t have to keep working, Huang Wei was too happy to nitpick Cheng Luyun’s words. She lifted the seeder onto the path, pushed it along, and headed home.

After arriving home, Cheng Luyun and Huang Chengcheng went inside first. Huang Wei called out, “I’ll go return the seeder!” As she said this, she was in the front yard with the seeder, and in the same breath, began taking it apart piece by piece.

Right in front of Cheng Luyun, Huang Wei disassembled the thing into components, then lugged the parts out the door. Cheng Luyun didn’t follow. Huang Wei hadn’t caused trouble or run off during that earlier hour and a half; she surely wouldn’t bolt just to return some things.

Huang Wei carried the parts along the road and went door-to-door returning them, reassembling them as she went. She put them back exactly as she’d taken them apart. For others, this might be hard, but for Huang Wei it was too simple. She’d grown up handling farm tools and had astonishing observation skills. Piecing it all back together was just like a puzzle—not hard at all.

After returning everything, she waved goodbye and headed off. These villagers were truly easy to deal with, much easier than the ones she grew up with. Of course, Huang Wei felt Cheng Luyun behind her was a big part of the reason.

On the way home, she ran into the players again.

They hadn’t lost anyone else; still four of them. Huang Wei had changed her mind—for now, she didn’t want to stir up trouble. After all, Cheng Luyun wasn’t planning to kill her, which she knew. She intended to just walk past the players, but one of the girls grabbed her wrist.

Forced to turn back, she faced the girl. Her almond-shaped eyes were wide with anger, yet she still lowered her voice and asked: “Have you been to the back mountain?”

The answer was of course no. In all her time here, the furthest she’d gone was to the fields. How could she have been to the back mountain? Day after day, she’d been with Cheng Luyun the whole time—she’d only just now been apart for a short while.

Huang Wei honestly shook her head. Seeing her expression, the girl’s eyes flickered with doubt, but then it sank into something heavy. The girl released her wrist; Huang Wei flexed it—she’d gripped it so hard it hurt. The girl looked at her and still gave a warning: “Don’t go to the back mountain.”

With that, the players left. Huang Wei frowned slightly, shaking her wrist. That girl was strong, as expected of a player.

But the players told her not to go to the back mountain without explaining further, and the girl’s expression was full of hesitation, as if there was something incredible there.

If someone were naturally curious, they’d probably rush off to the back mountain to investigate.

As the saying goes, curiosity killed the cat. Huang Wei wasn’t the overly curious type. Especially since Cheng Luyun seemed to have no intention of harming her, Huang Wei wanted to keep things calm and just hunker down for now. She shook her head and headed home.

Along the way, she exchanged greetings with villagers. Though Huang Wei knew in her heart that they were all ghosts, they were so enthusiastic she couldn’t just pretend she didn’t see them.

When she’d set out, she’d been carrying many things. The return trip was light and easy. She was about to reach home, Sister Cui’s house already in sight. But in the next instant, Huang Wei stopped in her tracks. She’d just seen something crawling along the wall of Sister Cui’s house and disappearing around the back.

Huang Wei’s eyesight and observation were excellent. Though she’d only met Sister Cui once or twice, the figure that just vanished along the wall—she recognized it instantly as Sister Cui. Huang Wei’s face went pale. She couldn’t help but lower her head, yet the scene she’d just witnessed kept replaying in her mind.

It was Sister Cui—with Sister Cui’s face, wearing the same outfit from this morning. Her body faced outward, her face facing outward. Her arms and legs were bent inward like a spider’s limbs, palms gripping the wall.

She’d crawled up the wall in an extremely eerie posture, her movements just like a spider’s.

Sister Cui’s eyes showed no pupils—only blank, white-white orbs.

Huang Wei had never regretted her keen observation as much as she did now. If her eyesight had been poor, she probably wouldn’t have even caught that fleeting glimpse of Sister Cui. But that posture was too bizarre and sent a cold sweat through her. Until now, the only latent threat in Huang Wei’s mind had been Cheng Luyun, plus the Little Boss Huang Chengcheng who didn’t show her power openly. She hadn’t paid much mind to the other villagers. That was because they’d acted so timid, so cowed by Cheng Luyun behind her that they didn’t dare make any moves.

But seeing Sister Cui like this, Huang Wei understood. Those villagers, though they fawned over her out of fear of Cheng Luyun—each and every one of them was a ghost that could easily kill her. Even that Huang Wu she’d disliked so much had actually killed a player.

If players could be killed, what chance did an ordinary person like her have?

Sweat beaded in Huang Wei’s palms. She slowly clenched her fists and swallowed the excess saliva pooling in her throat. Her legs felt weak; she dared not step forward. That was the wall something like that had just crawled across. Huang Wei couldn’t bring herself to walk past Sister Cui’s house.

But she had to go back. Cheng Luyun and Huang Chengcheng were at home waiting for her.

After thoroughly steeling herself, Huang Wei walked past Sister Cui’s gate and returned home. She looked at the door and reached out to knock. The next second, Cheng Luyun opened it from inside. Her face still bore that gentle smile. Even though she knew it was fake, Huang Wei still breathed a sigh of relief.

She was about to speak when Cheng Luyun said: “Brother Wei didn’t bring a key? Coming home and making me open the door.” As she spoke, she pulled a key from her pocket and handed it to Huang Wei. Huang Wei paused and took it. The cold key fell into her palm, and she heard Cheng Luyun say: “Hold onto it, Brother Wei. Next time you go out, come home a little earlier.”

“Okay…” Huang Wei had just responded when her vision went dark. She lost consciousness. In a daze, she heard someone calling her: “Hey, wake up… Wake up…”

She jolted awake to find a group of oddly dressed people surrounding her.