The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 43: Burial

Although a terrible homicide had happened in Huazi’s house, the five of them were too hungry and exhausted to care. They took all the mattresses and pillows in the bedroom to the living room and made beds on the floor. Then they blocked all the doors and windows and retired to bed.

Fat Jun didn’t care if he was taking up space like a giant ball and insisted on sleeping right in the middle of everyone. Officer Huang took the leftmost spot voluntarily to act as a guard, and Wang Zikai lay down next to him because the blanket on the right side was the red one for newlyweds from the wedding room, and he found it too feminine for his sensitive masculinity. In the end, they slept in the order of Officer Huang, Wang Zikai, Fat Jun, Gao Yang, and finally Qing Ling from left to right.

Gao Yang was going to be a gentleman and slept on the rightmost spot, but Qing Ling insisted on taking it. And her right hand had never let go of her Tang Dao.

Lying on the red pillow under a red newlywed blanket, Gao Yang rolled to the side to look at Qing Ling. Her breathing was even, but her brows were still furrowed—it was clear that she hadn’t fallen asleep and was ready to fight at any moment.

Strangely, Gao Yang felt as if this was his wedding night, and his bride was lying by his side with a long blade in her grip. Came morning, they would go kill enemies side by side...

Slap! Fat Jun rolled over, and his fat hand landed on Gao Yang’s face.

Gao Yang suppressed the urge to kick him. Instead, he simply pushed his hand away.

Later that night, the five of them gradually fell asleep, and at some point, Gao Yang felt someone gripping his hand while he was in the limbo state between sleep and awakeness.

Surprised, his eyes fluttered open.

Fat Jun’s and Wang Zikai’s snores rose and fell in the dark. He looked at his right hand and found a cool, fair hand holding it tightly. He turned to the girl by his side.

In the dark, Qing Ling’s body was stiff, and her eyes were wide and glinting faintly.

“What’s wrong?” Gao Yang asked softly.

“Nothing.” Qing Ling acted calm, but her voice was trembling.

Gao Yang realized immediately. “You’re...the younger sister?”

Her silence was answer enough.

Gao Yang didn’t know what to say. Little Qing Ling had always hated men, yet she had just grabbed onto his hand. She must be terrified.

“Maybe you should...go back.” He wasn’t sure how he should communicate with Qing Ling’s other self. “This isn’t a place for you.”

“I know. Sister told me everything that happened,” Qing Ling said. “She hadn’t slept at all even with her eyes closed. I wanted her to rest for a while.”

Gao Yang was a little confused. “Even though your sister’s personality is taking a break, isn’t the body still awake?”

“Are you telling me what to do?”

“I wouldn’t dare...”

“I know that better than you do, so I have to fall asleep for her now...” Little Qing Ling took a deep breath and tightened her grip on Gao Yang’s hand. “Don’t bother me. I’ll fall asleep at once.”

“Okay.”

After a while, Gao Yang could sense that she was still awake. Feeling sleep slipping from his reach as well, he turned to face her.

“What are you doing?!” As expected, Little Qing Ling opened her eyes wide, alert. “I’m warning you, don’t get any funny ideas, or I’ll castrate you.”

“That won’t happen,” Gao Yang said awkwardly. He wasn’t a monster, and his mind was nowhere near such thoughts under the circumstances. “I don’t know if we’ll get out of this alive. Since there may not be another chance to say this, I’d like to apologize to you.”

“For Li Weiwei?”

“Yeah.”

“My sister killed her. It has nothing to do with you.” Qing Ling didn’t turn to face him.

“I know. But if not for me...”

“Enough already. Don’t make yourself into a drama male lead.”

Little Qing Ling shifted closer to him and rested her head on his pillow. Then she tucked her long legs in and pressed her back to his chest. Gao Yang could smell her shampoo, and Qing Ling even went on to grab his arm and put it on her waist. Finally, she settled down.

“Stay like this.” Qing Ling took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Don’t move.”

“Don’t you hate men?”

“You’re not a man in my eyes.”

“I think you’ve misunderstood something about me...”

“Shut up. I’m resting for my sister.”

“Right.”

Gao Yang maintained the somewhat awkward posture. At first, he couldn’t sleep at all, but then exhaustion overtook him, and he slipped into a dream without noticing.

Gao Yang didn’t know how long he had slept. When he woke up, he could see sunlight shining through the cracks of doors and windows. He still had an arm slung around Qing Ling, and it was numb and stiff. At some point, Qing Ling had turned to face him.

He was just about to lift his arm when Little Qing Ling...no, Qing Ling opened her eyes.

Their faces were only a fist apart, and their eyes met as they exchanged breaths. Gao Yang’s arm was still around her supple waist.

The air was intimidatingly silent.

Gao Yang quickly spoke up for his survival, “Don’t cut me. I can explain.”

“Save it. I can guess what happened.” Qing Ling pushed Gao Yang’s numb arm aside and sat up, tying her long black hair into a ponytail with practiced ease.

Then she stood up and stretched. It seemed that she had gotten a good rest last night. She looked down at Gao Yang, who was still lying on the mattress. “Thanks for last night.”

“It’s fine...”

“Holy shit!” Wang Zikai woke up just in time to witness the exchange. He flipped to his feet. “Seriously, you two?! Look at this place! Look at the lack of everything around us! Yet you’re thanking each other for whatever you did last night? We are the one you should thank for putting up with you two!”

Gao Yang got up and taunted Wang Zikai, “Feeling anxious, virgin?”

One must target the weakness when dealing with a snake. As expected, Wang Zikai shouted indignantly, “Virgin? Me? I had a girlfriend when I was three! When you were still playing with toy cars, I was already playing with girls...”

Gao Yang let out a sigh of relief. Good, he’s forgotten what we were talking about.

...

Early in the morning, the five of them left Huazi’s place. There was a commotion from the ancestral hall atop the hill of the Gu Family’s Village. Gongs and drums were being played, and firecrackers were set off. Amid the nonstop noises were the dramatic cries coming from the mourners.

“The bodies are being buried?” asked Fat Jun.

“That’s how things are done in the rural area.” Gao Yang nodded. “Funerals last two days. The bodies are then buried in the morning on the third day.”

While they talked, eight young men walked out of the tent carrying a weathered black coffin. At the very front, a man dressed like a Taoist priest conducted a ritual with his mahogany sword and bell while leading the procession, muttering unintelligible words at the same time.

Trailing after the coffin bearers were women dressed in linen funeral clothes. They supported each other as they wailed in an exaggerated manner. There were a few men dressed in the same way among the group as well. They walked on the sides of the coffin bearers with a bundle of paper money each and scattered the money along the way. The other villagers followed behind them, dressed in all black.

It didn’t take long for the procession to reach the village entrance and walk past the five of them.

Fourth Grandpa Gu was at the tailend of the group. He greeted Officer Huang when he saw him. “You’re already up this early in the morning, Officer Huang?”

Officer Huang nodded. “Yeah, I can’t sleep with the case unsolved.”

“You should rest. Your young companions don’t look too good either.”

Gao Yang grumbled silently, We haven’t eaten or drunk anything for close to thirty hours. Of course we’d look terrible. If I weren’t an awakener with all my stats raised by a notable margin, I would’ve fainted due to low blood sugar.

“Are all five of them put into a single coffin, sir?” Officer Huang asked.

“They are.” Fourth Grandpa Gu sighed. “Huazi’s family ain’t rich. What savings they had were used on the wedding, but then something like this happened on the wedding night... We all pitched in to buy the coffin. Five would be too expensive for us to afford, and we didn’t feel like there was a need... None of their bodies are intact, you know. It’s a mess of different parts. Might as well put them together...”

Fourth Grandpa Gu trailed off and shook his head before catching up with the procession.

“Should we follow them?” Officer Huang turned to them.

“Yeah.” That was exactly what Gao Yang had been thinking.