"Zhou Li, I think she’s taken a fancy to you."
"Don’t talk nonsense."
"Really. You’re handsome, and people always like good-looking individuals." Huai Xu sat under the eaves, listening to the sounds from the kitchen and occasionally teasing Zheng Zhilan’s dog. "Look," he added, "as soon as she met you, she killed a chicken for you, and she even picked out the biggest one specifically."
Huai Xu stopped talking then and focused on teasing the dog instead.
The Demon next to Zheng Zhilan had already walked over to the chicken coop.
This Demon, though upright in form, was far from human in appearance—its mouth stretched to behind its ears, its skin was a bright red, and its face resembled a fearsome mask, expressionless and wooden. Moreover, its fingers were unusually thin and long, with sharp claws.
Perhaps under that loose robe was the body of a Monster.
The chickens in the coop flew about in panic, but the strongest rooster stood tall and proud, its eyes filled with unyielding fighting spirit. Even when caught, it kept pecking at the Demon, vowing to defend its regal chicken dignity to the death.
Slaughter, bleed, scald, pluck.
Gut and remove the innards, then singe it over the fire.
Huai Xu couldn’t help but swallow.
Zhou Li felt embarrassed to eat alone. He ran over to the Demon, intending to help but mostly just adding to the confusion. Afterward, he went to the kitchen and saw Zheng Zhilan chopping vegetables with surprising skill.
"Do you need any help with anything?"
"It’s not right to ask a guest to help."
"I’m afraid it might be inconvenient for you."
"Habit becomes second nature. You go sit down. There isn’t much to do here, but watching the rain isn’t bad," Zheng Zhilan said. "Qinghe and I have been working together for many years; we’ve always managed."
Zhou Li stood by the kitchen, watching Zheng Zhilan.
She remembered the placement of everything in the kitchen. Because of this, her movements were even more adept than those of an average person. Zhou Li quickly realized that his presence would only add to the chaos, so he silently retreated.
The rain grew heavier, pounding on the mountain village with a deafening roar.
Zhou Li sat under the eaves, but rain still splashed onto his feet. In the mist, the path they had taken was no longer visible; the entire mountain was shrouded in clouds, and the light gradually dimmed.
The meal took quite some time to prepare.
It wasn’t until the sky had turned a gray-black and the night world was blurred by the rain that Zheng Zhilan and Qinghe finally brought out the food.
The mountain village was dark, save for a single lit lamp.
There were only two pots of food.
One pot held roasted chicken, complete with its meat, chicken blood, and giblets, served over a base of a few potatoes with green peppers for color. It was a large pot, more generous than what Zhou Li’s family of four would typically get when eating wood-fired chicken out.
One pot of sour radish and old duck soup, perfect for summer and a great way to neutralize the heatiness of the roasted chicken, was accompanied by two bowls of dipping sauce.
Zheng Zhilan looked in Zhou Li’s direction, holding a bowl and plate, and asked, "Shall I serve you rice?"
"I’ll do it myself," Zhou Li quickly stood up.
The rice was traditional strained rice, steamed in a wooden steamer, perfectly soft yet firm with distinct grains. Zhou Li very much liked this texture.
Zheng Zhilan served a bowl of rice to each person, saying, "Usually, it’s just the two of us eating, so we aren’t very particular. I’m not sure if it suits your tastes."
Zhou Li forced a smile. "You’re too polite."
By then, Huai Xu had already stuffed a scalding hot piece of chicken thigh into his mouth. He cried out from the heat but was unwilling to spit it out.
After swallowing it whole, he exclaimed, "Delicious!"
Zheng Zhilan smiled faintly.
She struggled to pick up her food and ate delicately. Zhou Li peeked at her from time to time. He was quite curious about her vision but felt too embarrassed to ask directly.
Zheng Zhilan seemed completely unaware of this.
After eating in silence for a while, Zheng Zhilan was the first to break the quiet. She glanced at Huai Xu, saying, "I rarely see a Demon like you, who looks exactly like a human."
Huai Xu was busy eating, but he managed to reply, his words somewhat muffled, "I’m an expert in the art of transformation and disguise..."
Zhou Li paused with his chopsticks. "I forgot to introduce him. His name is Huai Xu."
"Huai Xu? What a coincidence, his name is Qinghe."
"Qinghe?" Huai Xu asked. "What’s the story behind his name?"
"Huai Xu, Qinghe... when I met him, it was April. He was completely bewildered and couldn’t remember who he was. I heard people say April is also called ’qinghe,’ so..."
Suddenly, Huai Xu froze.
He still had a piece of potato clamped between his chopsticks, his mouth full; he looked as if he had frozen in time.
"What’s wrong?" Zhou Li asked.
"No, nothing." Huai Xu came to his senses and continued eating. "That just sounded a bit familiar."
"You only just awakened?" Zheng Zhilan asked.
"Yes, he only awakened a little over a year ago," Zhou Li explained on Huai Xu’s behalf.
"MM-HMM!" Huai Xu nodded repeatedly.
Zhou Li found Zheng Zhilan’s cooking to be excellent. Considering how remote her home was, spices and seasonings shouldn’t have been easy to come by, yet the dishes on the table were truly a delicacy.
After finishing one bowl of rice, he refilled it.
Huai Xu was already on his third bowl.
At that moment, a series of barks came from outside. Qinghe went out to check and returned, reporting, "One of the sheep is missing."
Zheng Zhilan nodded and called out—
A border collie leaped in.
Zheng Zhilan instructed it, "Go find it. Go together."
The border collie then leaped back out.
The sound of barking gradually faded into the distance.
Huai Xu struggled to swallow the meat in his mouth and, with a frown, reminded them, "On our way here, we saw a Great Demon. It was terrifying, and I could feel the malevolence emanating from him. Could he be responsible?"
"No, he is our Guardian God here."
"Guardian God?" Huai Xu was full of questions. "That Demon was covered in starlight, its eyes were red! Never mind sheep and dogs, it clearly looked like it had killed many of its own kind. How can such a being be a Guardian God?"
"Maybe you’re not wrong, but he has indeed been protecting us for many years," Zheng Zhilan said calmly. "We have a temple here. It’s not called the Yin Yang Temple; it’s called the Evil God Temple, and it’s dedicated to him. However, as times changed, people stopped believing in these things. I remember when I was very young, many elders would still go to the temple to worship him every year. But then the elders passed away one after another, and after my grandfather died, I became the only person in the village who still believes in him."
"What does he protect you from?"
"In ancient times, there were many Demons, and humans were also fearsome. He ensured that no evil Demons or wicked people entered the village. In return, we worshipped him, offering just enough sacrifices to feed him once a year."
"He must consider this place his territory by now," Huai Xu guessed. "If it were my territory, I wouldn’t tolerate any of that riffraff either."
"It’s not that simple," Zheng Zhilan shook her head.
"Back when the ancestral shrine was still standing, Qinghe and I looked through some records. Based on that, and my interactions with him, I guess he too was once labeled as evil by people. Many years ago, when the village ancestors found him, he was seriously injured and on the verge of death, most likely from a fight with another Demon or humans. The villagers debated for a long time before choosing to save him. It’s possible they made a pact then, or perhaps our current relationship with him evolved slowly over time."
"Hey, so this Demon actually knows how to repay kindness!"
"Yes. He has a bad temper—very fierce and irritable—but he has always protected this place. He’ll continue to do so until everyone leaves, or until not a single person is left who worships him."
"You’re the only one left in this village now," Zhou Li interjected.
"That’s right. A landslide destroyed half the village, so the government relocated everyone," Zheng Zhilan said.
"I didn’t leave. I’m alone anyway. A half-blind person fares about the same wherever they are." Zheng Zhilan chuckled, served herself some soup, and stopped when Qinghe, at her side, indicated that her bowl was full.
"Don’t you have any family?"
"Not all of them. I still have a few uncles. They wanted me to leave with them, but I didn’t agree."
"Is it because they’re afraid of you?"
"A little. But I’m still grateful they overcame their fear to try and persuade me. They tried several times." As Zheng Zhilan waited for her soup to cool, it was evident she hadn’t spoken to anyone in a long time, especially another human like Zhou Li. Though usually a woman of few words, she found herself unable to hold back now. "I just kept thinking, if I left too, what would happen to him?"
Zhou Li knew she wasn’t referring to Qinghe.
Huai Xu, cradling his bowl, kept blowing on the soup. Hearing her, he glanced at Zheng Zhilan over the rim of his bowl and blurted out, "How do you know he wants to stay here? Maybe he’s just bound by a promise and actually wants to leave and find freedom."
Zheng Zhilan shook her head. "I don’t know. He doesn’t speak, so I don’t know what he thinks."
Huai Xu then fell silent.
The light overhead flickered twice.
Zheng Zhilan glanced outside and spoke softly, "The year before last, heavy rain knocked down the power poles, and the electricians traveled a long way to fix them. I hope nothing similar happens this year."
The dog returned, its barks now mixed with the bleating of a sheep.
Zheng Zhilan breathed a sigh of relief and asked the two, "We’ll slaughter a sheep tomorrow. Do you like mutton?"
"Love it!" Huai Xu responded without hesitation.