Edited—

The next day, Zhou Jiayu woke up early. After breakfast, the four of them prepared to set out.

Shen Musi’s snow off-road vehicle had apparently been shipped over and could carry the four of them to the edge of Mount She. However, due to the terrain, the car could only stop at the foot of the mountain, and they would still have to walk a stretch to ascend.

The terrain of Mount She wasn’t actually considered treacherous, but because it was perennially snow-covered, the path was somewhat strenuous to walk. It was only early winter outside, yet the accumulated snow here was already deep enough to bury one’s calves. One could only imagine what it would look like in the depths of winter.

According to Shen Musi’s calculations, if things went smoothly, they should reach Mount She by around four in the afternoon. Shen Yiqiong asked, “And if things don’t go smoothly?”

Shen Musi glanced at him. “Not smoothly? That depends on how unsmooth it is. If we’re particularly unlucky, then we’ll probably never make it there in our lifetimes.”

Shen Yiqiong: “…”

Shen Musi said, “Sometimes avalanches happen here. If we really run into one, we might as well go buy lottery tickets.”

Zhou Jiayu always felt like that sounded like jinxing it.

Walking in the snow was extremely physically draining. Just the military cotton coat he was wearing weighed several pounds. Zhou Jiayu had thought his stamina was decent, but after walking for a stretch, he discovered he was probably the weakest of the four. Lin Zhushui didn’t even need mentioning—his complexion didn’t change at all. Shen Musi was breathing slightly heavily. Shen Yiqiong was hopping around like a rabbit. Only Zhou Jiayu was wheezing like a bellows—

Shen Yiqiong even chimed in from the side, “Guan’er, do you have asthma? Why are you wheezing like that?”

Zhou Jiayu gritted his teeth. “You… huff… don’t… huff… talk to me!”

Shen Yiqiong clicked his tongue and said your constitution is weak; you need to nourish yourself properly.

The worst part was that Zhou Jiayu was too weak to retort. He continued wheezing on the side, mentally adding another mark against Shen Yiqiong.

The weather that day was decent, at least it wasn’t snowing. When the four of them reached Mount She, it was exactly four in the afternoon—roughly what Shen Musi had estimated.

Zhou Jiayu had originally thought Mount She would look very remote and backward, but unexpectedly, upon arriving, he discovered that many of the buildings on Mount She were very beautiful, mostly neat little red-brick buildings.

Several people were sitting at the village entrance. One of them was an old man who didn’t look young. Although his hair was completely white, his vigorous spirit made it hard to guess his actual age.

“Mr. Lin.” The moment that person saw the four of them, he stood up to greet them.

Lin Zhushui nodded and said, “Elder Xu.”

The old man whom Lin Zhushui called Elder Xu smiled and said, “You’re too polite. I truly can’t accept being called Elder Xu. If you don’t mind, just call me by my name.”

Lin Zhushui shook his head. “You’re too polite. The elder is the teacher.”

The two of them exchanged a few more pleasantries. In the end, Lin Zhushui still insisted on addressing the old man as Elder Xu. Elder Xu couldn’t argue him out of it and let it go.

As they spoke, the group walked into the village.

Walking alongside Elder Xu were two men and one woman. All their attention was focused on Lin Zhushui. Zhou Jiayu saw a look in their eyes that could only be described as worship. It seemed Lin Zhushui’s fanboys and fangirls were already spread to every corner of the world—even on Mount She.

Elder Xu said it was already late today. Knowing they had distinguished guests coming, they had already prepared a banquet, and they could discuss matters tomorrow.

Lin Zhushui agreed to Elder Xu’s proposal.

The banquet was held at Elder Xu’s residence—the red-brick building on the west side of the village.

After entering the courtyard, Zhou Jiayu felt that this red-brick building looked very new. There wasn’t even a bit of moss on the exterior walls. He didn’t know if it was because the weather was too cold or if it was simply a new house. However, once Zhou Jiayu entered the house, he no longer had the mind to care about what the outside of the house looked like. Because the decorations inside the red-brick building were truly too special.

Throughout the entire house, the walls were covered with paper people hanging one after another. These paper people came in various forms, wearing colorful clothes, their faces painted with heavy makeup. Some even held musical instruments in their hands, instantly making Zhou Jiayu think of the paper people he had seen when he was attacked.

Probably because of the psychological shadow, Zhou Jiayu paused in his steps and even involuntarily retreated two steps.

Elder Xu saw his movement and said kindly, “This is the young friend who encountered that incident, yes?”

Lin Zhushui said, “Yes.”

Elder Xu’s gaze swept up and down Zhou Jiayu, and he praised, “Mr. Lin is truly fortunate to have taken in such a disciple.”

Lin Zhushui smiled. “You’re too kind.”

Zhou Jiayu was praised for no apparent reason.

However, Elder Xu didn’t seem to intend to elaborate. He only told Zhou Jiayu very gently that the paper people here wouldn’t harm anyone; it was simply their culture. If Zhou Jiayu was truly afraid, he could have people take all these paper people down.

Zhou Jiayu hurriedly said, “No need, no need. I just found the paper people I encountered before a bit scary. I’m not that afraid.” He was a guest, after all; a guest should follow the host’s convenience. Even if he didn’t like paper people, he couldn’t ask people to change their customs the moment he arrived.

Hearing this, Elder Xu didn’t insist. It was evident that the people on Mount She truly had a very special emotional attachment to paper people. To the point that when they spoke of paper people, their expressions would become gentler than usual.

The dinner was quite sumptuous. Elder Xu probably held no low status in the Xu clan. There were more than a dozen people in his family, and their attitude toward Lin Zhushui was extremely respectful. Zhou Jiayu initially didn’t understand why, but later learned that Lin Zhushui had helped them with a major matter a few years ago and had become a distinguished guest of the Xu clan.

Zhou Jiayu didn’t have much appetite. All his attention was on the paper people in the house. He didn’t know if it was his imagination, but he kept feeling like the paper people were moving. Clearly, a moment ago one had its hands hanging down, but the next time he looked up, that paper person’s hands were raised.

After this happened a few times, Zhou Jiayu was starting to suspect he was having hallucinations from neurasthenia, so he checked with Jiba in his mind. Jiba said, “You didn’t see wrong. They really are moving.”

Zhou Jiayu: “…”

Jiba said, “That one on your left wearing the red floral clothes—just now it was looking at Lin Zhushui, but now it’s started looking at you.”

Zhou Jiayu quietly looked up and happened to meet that paper person’s gaze.

For a moment, the atmosphere was very awkward. Zhou Jiayu actually sensed a feeling of embarrassment from that paper person.

Zhou Jiayu: “…” He silently averted his gaze, putting his eyes on the cured meat in front of him, telling himself he hadn’t seen anything and that it was just his imagination.

Shen Yiqiong was eating voraciously beside Zhou Jiayu. Seeing Zhou Jiayu looking like he was about to faint at any moment, he reached out and patted his back, his mouth full of meat as he mumbled, “Eat, Guan’er! Aren’t you hungry?”

Zhou Jiayu said, “I can’t eat…”

Shen Yiqiong said, “Sigh, it’s because your appetite is too small that your constitution is weak.”

Zhou Jiayu really wanted to crack open Shen Yiqiong’s head to see if the nerves inside were as thick as chopsticks.

Shen Musi also noticed the abnormality. He said softly, “It’s fine. Sir is here. Their paper people aren’t threatening; they’re different from the one that attacked you.”

Zhou Jiayu forced a smile and made a sound of acknowledgment.

This meal was quite torturous. Lin Zhushui, as usual, didn’t move his chopsticks much. Elder Xu probably understood his temperament and didn’t try to persuade him. Zhou Jiayu put all his attention on the paper people beside him. Shen Musi ate a little something, and only that silly dog Shen Yiqiong ate to his heart’s content, making Zhou Jiayu sigh inwardly that fools were indeed easy to raise.

After the meal, Elder Xu began arranging guest rooms.

Because there were four people, they had to be split between two houses to stay. Lin Zhushui was the distinguished guest, and Elder Xu insisted on keeping him at his own home.

Lin Zhushui couldn’t decline and had to agree.

As for Zhou Jiayu and the other three, they stayed in the guest rooms on the second floor of the neighboring house.

Identical to Elder Xu’s home, the walls of the neighboring red house were also hung with all kinds of paper people. The host of that house was very enthusiastic and even prepared hot water for Zhou Jiayu and the others, telling them to speak up if they needed anything.

The moment Zhou Jiayu took his change of clothes and entered the bathroom, he was shocked. Even the bathroom had paper people hanging in it. But probably afraid the paper people would get wet from the water, they had wrapped them in a layer of plastic.

Given that he had discovered the outside paper people could move, Zhou Jiayu stared at the bathroom paper people for a long time. In the end, he decided to use his own clothes to cover the paper people’s eyes…

Jiba said, “They’re just paper people. What’s the big deal about looking at them? It’s not like they can do anything to you?”

Zhou Jiayu said, “Fuck, did you forget that in their eyes I’m a giant drumstick? If they see a giant drumstick taking a bath, won’t that arouse some inappropriate impulses?”

Jiba said: “…” It had nothing to say.

After bathing, he entered his quarters. Unsurprisingly, the place he was staying was also full of paper people everywhere. Zhou Jiayu had completely given up now. He lay on the bed, feeling like a pitiful passerby who had accidentally wandered into a horror story. He was the only one who wasn’t used to it. Even that coward Shen Yiqiong didn’t think it was a big deal.

“Forget it, forget it. Sleep, sleep.” Zhou Jiayu lay on the bed comforting himself, saying, “Nothing will definitely happen. If something happens, Lin Zhushui is right next door.”

Thinking this, Zhou Jiayu closed his eyes and fell asleep.

As it turned out, every time he thought this way, nothing good happened. Because in the middle of the night, Zhou Jiayu was awakened by Jiba’s piercing voice.

“Zhou Jiayu!! Get up! If you keep sleeping, you’re going to become a roasted Guan’er!!!” Jiba screamed, its voice terrifyingly loud.

Zhou Jiayu immediately woke up. Upon waking, he smelled a burnt odor permeating the air, as if something had been ignited. He said, “What happened—”

Jiba said, “Fire, fire!”

Zhou Jiayu hurriedly got up, randomly threw on some clothes, and prepared to run outside. However, the moment he reached the door, he discovered that the outside of the door was already burning. The most terrifying thing was that the place burning was actually the wall of this building.

Walls can burn too?? Zhou Jiayu was completely dumbfounded, but when he looked carefully, he saw that the walls that looked like red bricks were actually thick paper inside.

Zhou Jiayu broke down: “This is an illegal construction—”

Jiba said, “Hurry up and run! This is only the second floor; jump out from the balcony!”

Zhou Jiayu couldn’t think too much at this point. He turned and ran toward the balcony. But before he reached the door, a familiar voice came from behind him: “Zhou Jiayu!”

It was Lin Zhushui calling him! Zhou Jiayu was overjoyed in his heart and responded, “Sir!”

A figure illuminated by firelight appeared at the burning doorway. Lin Zhushui said, “Zhou Jiayu, come here!”

Zhou Jiayu rushed forward a few steps and ran to Lin Zhushui’s side, saying, “Sir, you…”

Before he could finish his sentence, the Lin Zhushui standing before him actually raised his hand and choked his neck. The force was immense, as if it would snap his neck in the next moment.

“Hello there.” A voice unique to paper people came from the smiling Lin Zhushui’s mouth. “Long time no see. Did you miss me?”

Only then did Zhou Jiayu realize that the person before him wasn’t Lin Zhushui at all—

But it was already too late. Zhou Jiayu’s neck was being choked to death. Because the little building was made of paper, once the fire started, it was very hard to extinguish. Oxygen was being squeezed out of Zhou Jiayu’s throat bit by bit. He struggled continuously, weakly grabbing the arm of the person before him.

“Can you still escape this time?” The sharp voice continued murmuring lowly by Zhou Jiayu’s ear. That person had a face exactly like Lin Zhushui’s, but what it wore was a malicious smile that Lin Zhushui would never show.

Zhou Jiayu’s consciousness began to blur. He felt that while he was suffocating, the surrounding temperature was also continuously rising, as if his whole person was about to be roasted.

Just when Zhou Jiayu had already begun to see black spots before his eyes and clearly felt his vitality starting to drain from his body, he suddenly heard a loud crash. It sounded like something being violently broken open. A gust of wild wind swept through—Lin Zhushui’s voice rang out, cold as ice, enunciating each word: “You’re courting death!”

Zhou Jiayu heard the sound of beads pattering to the ground. Immediately after, a miserable scream rang out by his ear. The neck that had been tightly choked was released, and his body collapsed softly to the ground.

“Cough, cough, cough…” The sudden influx of oxygen made Zhou Jiayu cough uncontrollably. He felt something lifting him up, and before he could react, it sent him toward the balcony.

Although this was only the second floor, Zhou Jiayu had no strength at all. Even his eyes could barely see because of the thick smoke. He had originally thought he would still need to exert some effort to climb out the window, but the thing supporting him actually lifted him up, then used long strips to wrap around his waist, preparing to lower him down.

Zhou Jiayu coughed violently. In the firelight, he dimly saw that what had saved him were actually two paper people. Their originally eerie faces looked somewhat cute at this moment. Zhou Jiayu only glanced at them once before being slowly lowered to the ground on the first floor.

“Zhou Jiayu! Zhou Jiayu!” Shen Yiqiong rushed over when he saw Zhou Jiayu. He said anxiously, “Zhou Jiayu, are you okay?”

Zhou Jiayu lay on the ground on the verge of death. Honestly, he had been reborn for so long and had experienced quite a few things, but he still felt that this time was the most dangerous. His throat hurt terribly, and he was completely unable to respond to Shen Yiqiong’s concern.

Shen Musi helped Zhou Jiayu sit up and held water to his mouth, saying, “Drink a little, quickly, drink a little.”

Zhou Jiayu swallowed a mouthful, swallowing with difficulty. After recovering a bit, he felt the pain in his throat region lessen considerably. He turned his head to look at the house behind him that had already fallen into disaster and said with difficulty, “What happened? Why did it suddenly… catch fire?”

Shen Yiqiong’s expression was ugly as he said, “Someone wanted to kill you.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “…I already knew that.” The paper people had tried to kill him twice before, and both times they had failed. He hadn’t expected them to go so big this time, actually igniting the entire building. But Zhou Jiayu felt that the most terrifying thing wasn’t actually the paper people but the construction of these houses—they were actually all made of paper!

Shen Musi said, “Are you feeling better?”

Zhou Jiayu nodded. He climbed up from the ground and sat, saying, “When did you guys run out? I didn’t even know there was a fire…”

Shen Yiqiong said helplessly, “We were tricked by that thing. It used your voice to tell us there was a fire and tricked us out of the house. The situation was too chaotic at the time. By the time we realized that thing had disguised itself as you, the entire building was already burning.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “W-where’s Sir?”

Shen Yiqiong said, “Haven’t seen Sir anywhere.” He paused, then added in a small voice, “That Elder Xu is also missing.”

Zhou Jiayu had indeed heard Lin Zhushui’s voice before the paper people sent him out. He said, “But before I came out, I heard Sir’s voice…”

Shen Yiqiong said, “Really?”

Zhou Jiayu nodded. His throat still hurt a bit, but he could speak now. He said, “Really, I really heard it.” He hesitated for a moment but didn’t mention the matter of the paper person transforming into someone exactly like Lin Zhushui.

Shen Yiqiong and Shen Musi exchanged a glance. Neither spoke, but their expressions looked like they thought Zhou Jiayu had been smoked silly.

One building in this village had been set on fire, yet no one came to put out the fire. The Xu family members seemed to know that once the house caught fire, the fire definitely couldn’t be extinguished, so they stood around watching quietly.

Shen Yiqiong didn’t know where he had found a few stools. The three of them sat on the empty ground in front of the building watching the house burn.

Zhou Jiayu looked dazed and said, “I thought I was going to die in there.”

Shen Musi didn’t speak and handed Zhou Jiayu a cigarette.

Zhou Jiayu took it and smoked a few puffs. He felt much better. He said, “What about the other people living in the house? How come I don’t see them?”

Shen Yiqiong said, “They weren’t so lucky. When they jumped down from the third floor, two of them broke their legs. They’re probably lying at the village doctor’s place now.”

Zhou Jiayu: “…” So, him living on the second floor was actually pretty lucky?

Shen Yiqiong continued, “The fire started from the third floor. By the time Shen Musi and I were called out, it was already burning really big. Here, this is the paper person that disguised itself as you.” He kicked the thing lying on the ground next to him with his foot.

Zhou Jiayu looked over and discovered that the paper person’s expression was drawn with simple strokes, but it actually somewhat resembled him. At a rough glance, you could really see his shadow in it.

“This paper person looked exactly like you inside the house.” Shen Yiqiong, afraid Zhou Jiayu wouldn’t believe him, gestured animatedly. “I swear it really was the same!”

Zhou Jiayu nodded to indicate he believed him. Hadn’t he also seen someone exactly like Lin Zhushui inside the house? He just didn’t know how that person had managed to do it.

The paper house before him continued burning fiercely. Zhou Jiayu’s face was illuminated by the firelight, looking somewhat desolate.

Someone from the Xu clan came over to ask if they wanted to switch to another house to rest. Zhou Jiayu thought for a while and then asked very seriously, “Are all your houses made of paper?”

The Xu clan member asked this question was a young girl. Her expression was a bit embarrassed as she said, “Ah… y-yes, that’s right.”

Zhou Jiayu’s expression twisted slightly. “Then what do you do if there’s a fire here?”

The girl said very quietly, “Generally, fire can’t light them…” She glanced at the house still burning before her and felt that her words really didn’t have much persuasive power. Her voice grew even smaller, “Of course, there are occasional exceptions.”

Zhou Jiayu felt that he was truly resilient, because hearing this explanation, his mood was actually very calm.

Instead, Shen Yiqiong and Shen Musi beside him both showed expressions of disbelief, pointing at the house and saying, “Made of paper?”

The girl nodded.

Shen Yiqiong patted Zhou Jiayu’s shoulder and said, “You surviving is practically a miracle.”

Zhou Jiayu had nothing to say.

The girl said helplessly, “Then are you still going to stay? I’ve cleared out a clean house for you—the only brick-built one we have here.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “I want to watch a bit longer. Have you seen my Sir?”

The girl said, “Mr. Lin? He went out in the middle of the night. It seems he went to the cemetery with my grandfather. That place normally only our clan’s priest can go. Mr. Lin went there as an exception because he has great kindness toward our clan. You definitely can’t go.” So it turned out her grandfather was Elder Xu, and Elder Xu was still the Xu clan’s priest.

Zhou Jiayu thought to himself that as long as Lin Zhushui was okay. He sat in the chair, watching the soaring flames before him, feeling like the bones supporting his flesh had collapsed. His whole body was soft, and he only wanted to sit quietly on the stool and do nothing.

Seeing that Zhou Jiayu really didn’t want to sleep, the girl told him the approximate location of the house and gave them the house keys before leaving.

The paper house burned like this for most of the night.

The howling cold wind blew the ashes everywhere, and quite a few got caught in Zhou Jiayu’s black hair. He had just discovered that the Buddhist prayer beads Huiming had given him had broken. They must have broken when he was being choked half to death. All the beads had fallen inside the house and were consumed by the flames, not a single one remaining.

“Jiayu, go sleep for a bit.” Shen Musi said.

Zhou Jiayu patted the ashes off his head and said, “Alright.”

The house had already burned down almost completely. As Zhou Jiayu had seen, the entire building was indeed made of paper. After burning, not a single roof beam remained; it had all collapsed onto the ground.

Saying they would sleep was actually really not sleeping at all. That brick house hadn’t been slept in for a long time and had probably only been simply cleaned. There was only one bed in the room, barely enough for the three of them to squeeze in together.

None of the three spoke much. Shen Musi lit the stove and said, “Sleep for a bit. Sir will probably be back by dawn.”

Zhou Jiayu lay on the bed, looking at the ceiling. The finger marks on his neck were still very obvious—red just now, but now starting to show blue-purple.

“Why is that person fixated on our Guan’er?” Shen Yiqiong muttered softly from the side. “Could it be he has some reason he absolutely has to kill Guan’er?”

Shen Musi was silent for a moment. “Zhou Jiayu’s constitution is a major problem. It’s like a magnet—very easy to attract those things.”

“So I need to work harder.” Zhou Jiayu murmured, “I can’t always rely on Sir.”

Thinking about it now, he really did rely too much on Lin Zhushui. If one day Lin Zhushui wasn’t by his side, what would he do when he encountered something like this? But at this moment, Zhou Jiayu wasn’t willing to think too carefully. He closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep, blocking out the image of him and Lin Zhushui parting ways.

Shen Yiqiong and Shen Musi didn’t speak again. The room quieted down.

They had climbed a whole day of mountain road during the day, so all of them were quite tired. Then they encountered something like this at night. Zhou Jiayu slept in a muddled daze, in a state between half-sleep and half-wakefulness.

Shen Musi didn’t get in bed, staying by the stove the whole time. Near dawn, he went out once, seemingly because Lin Zhushui, who had disappeared for the entire night, had returned.

Zhou Jiayu woke up when he heard the door opening. Hearing the slight snoring coming from Shen Yiqiong, he looked over and discovered that Shen Yiqiong was truly dark—sleeping in the corner against the wall, he was practically invisible.

Zhou Jiayu randomly threw on some clothes and secretly slipped to the window. He saw Lin Zhushui standing in the snow, Shen Musi saying something to him.

Zhou Jiayu hid quite carefully, but unexpectedly, he was still discovered by Lin Zhushui. Lin Zhushui slightly turned his head and waved his hand toward where Zhou Jiayu was hiding.

Zhou Jiayu hesitated for a moment but still went out.

“Sir.” Zhou Jiayu called out in a hoarse voice.

“Is your neck okay?” Although Lin Zhushui couldn’t see and had only just returned, he seemed to know Zhou Jiayu’s situation perfectly.

“Mm, it’s fine.” Zhou Jiayu said, “Senior Brother Musi gave me some water to drink, so it doesn’t hurt as much anymore.”

Lin Zhushui nodded.

Zhou Jiayu said, “Sir, the prayer beads Master Huiming gave me before fell…”

Lin Zhushui said, “A small matter. When there’s a chance in the future, I’ll get you another string.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “Okay…”

Dawn broke. The house that had burned down before had completely vanished without a trace, leaving only a patch of charred ashes.

Lin Zhushui finally said, “I went to the Xu clan’s cemetery tonight.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “Cemetery?”

Lin Zhushui pondered for a moment. “Outsiders can’t enter that place. I didn’t expect him to be so bold, taking advantage of my absence to directly make a move on you.”

Zhou Jiayu had some things he wanted to say privately to Lin Zhushui, and Lin Zhushui also seemed to know. He had Shen Musi go back to rest first.

After Shen Musi left, Zhou Jiayu told Lin Zhushui about seeing someone exactly like him that night. After hearing this, Lin Zhushui actually sneered coldly: “He is indeed bold. But this time, I heavily injured him. He probably won’t dare to make a move for some time.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “So it really was Sir who saved me…” He vaguely remembered those two little paper people working hard to drag him out of the fire.

Lin Zhushui said, “No. What saved you was yourself.”

Zhou Jiayu didn’t quite understand these words, but seeing that Lin Zhushui had no intention of explaining, he could only let it go.

The next day, all of them, utterly exhausted, had no mood to go out. They all nestled in the brick house to catch up on sleep.

Zhou Jiayu didn’t sleep too deeply. In his drowsiness, he heard rustling sounds again. He immediately woke up, alertly walking to the bed to check the situation.

As a result, that one glance nearly blinded him.

Outside the window stood seventeen or eighteen paper people. Some of them Zhou Jiayu had even seen yesterday—they should have been the ones hanging on the walls of Elder Xu’s house.

They were dragging things that looked like bricks and were building something. After observing for a moment, Zhou Jiayu discovered they were erecting a house. Those things that looked like bricks were actually also paper…

Zhou Jiayu: “…” He was truly worried about this village’s fire hazards.

The paper people were extremely fast. The exterior walls of the house were quickly erected. The most amazing part was that after the exterior walls were finished, the walls that originally looked like paper actually transformed into a brick-and-stone appearance. No one could see any flaws.

Zhou Jiayu watched dumbstruck.

In two or three hours, a house was built on the flat ground. The house was even three stories, with all the necessary structures, looking quite exquisite.

Zhou Jiayu sat in a chair, found a sweet potato to gnaw on, and thought with despair that it was a good thing the Xu clan didn’t have any interest in developing real estate. Otherwise, whoever bought these houses would be truly unlucky.

After the house was built, Zhou Jiayu watched a paper person wearing colorful clothes run toward him. He had originally wanted to pretend he didn’t see it, but the paper person had already run to the bottom of his window and was happily waving at him, saying, “Hello there.”

Zhou Jiayu: “…” He didn’t know if he should respond.

This paper person was in the form of a little girl with horn braids. Zhou Jiayu actually sensed a shy feeling from its face. It said, “I-I quite like you.”

Zhou Jiayu: “…” He was silent for a moment, then still said, “Thank you.”

“You have a very nice smell on you.” The paper person said this. “It smells quite delicious…”

Zhou Jiayu: “…Thank you.” He also didn’t know what he should say.

“Goodbye.” After saying this, the paper person twisted its waist and ran off again. It seemed quite polite, but Zhou Jiayu remained very silent. Because he kept wondering if this scene was a hallucination caused by overexertion.

But the rebuilt house told Zhou Jiayu that he had indeed seen it.

As it turned out, the only damage caused by this fire was to the two homeowners who had jumped from the third floor and broken their legs. Zhou Jiayu saw them leaning on crutches, moving into the newly repaired house.

This scene was actually somewhat comical. Zhou Jiayu wanted to laugh but felt it wasn’t quite appropriate.

The paper people in this village probably also knew they had been exposed and were too lazy to continue pretending. They began strolling around the village everywhere. When Shen Yiqiong woke up, he discovered the entire world had changed. Standing at the window, he pointed outside in breakdown and said, “Fuck, fuck, am I still not awake? What are these paper people outside??”

Zhou Jiayu was very calm, sitting by the stove fishing out the sweet potato he had stuffed in earlier: “They’re just paper people. Literal meaning.”

Shen Yiqiong said, “But why can they move—”

Zhou Jiayu finally pulled out the sweet potato and began slowly peeling it, saying, “They’ve always been able to move. When we were eating that first meal, they were staring at the big bone you were eating.”

Shen Yiqiong was shocked by Zhou Jiayu’s calmness. He said, “Guan’er, are you okay?”

Zhou Jiayu said, “Pretty good.” He took a bite of the hot sweet potato and said, “Want some?”

Seeing Zhou Jiayu so calm, Shen Yiqiong actually started to suspect he himself was making a fuss over nothing. He walked over to Zhou Jiayu’s side, took a sweet potato, and also began gnawing on it.

So the two of them gnawed on sweet potatoes while watching the paper people bouncing around outside the window. These paper people seemed to have different personalities—some were lively, some shy, some curious, some serious. The ones who were especially curious and cheerful could even run to the bottom of their window to greet them.

Shen Yiqiong was still quite unaccustomed at first, but later he also became numb, occasionally exchanging a few words with them.

When Lin Zhushui entered the room, he heard the conversation between his two idiots.

Shen Yiqiong said, “Look at that one wearing the red jacket. It’s better looking than the green clothes next to it.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “I think it’s okay. The green clothes are quite nice too.”

Shen Yiqiong said, “How could that be? The style of the green clothes is too rustic. The red jacket is more fashionable.”

Lin Zhushui: “…”

Lin Zhushui entered silently. It took Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong chatting for a while before they suddenly realized. They hurriedly stood up and called out, “Sir.”

Lin Zhushui said, “Zhou Jiayu, rest well during the day. Come with me to a place tonight.”

Shen Yiqiong said, “Sir, what about me, what about me?”

Lin Zhushui said, “You and Musi stay here.”

Shen Yiqiong said aggrievedly, “I want to go too, Sir…”

Lin Zhushui said, “You can’t go to that place.”

Shen Yiqiong said, “Why?”

Lin Zhushui said, “Because the paper people don’t agree.”

Although this sentence sounded like a joke, Lin Zhushui was clearly serious. Shen Yiqiong had nothing to say. He looked at the paper people outside the window and muttered that they had just come to chat him up. He thought carefully, then showed a defeated expression—fine, most of the paper people really did seem to be coming for Zhou Jiayu and didn’t care to pay him any attention at all.

Zhou Jiayu was overwhelmed by the favor and said, “Sir, where are we going?”

Lin Zhushui said, “You’ll know when we get there. For now, let’s resolve this matter from the root.”

Zhou Jiayu didn’t understand what Lin Zhushui meant by resolving it from the root. Later that night, when he followed Lin Zhushui out, he understood. Lin Zhushui was taking him to meet the ancestor of these paper people.

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Author’s Note:

Hahahaha, the comment section user A-Jin’s joke was truly too good. I have to share it with you all:

Zhou Jiayu: Sleeping on the floor, so pitiful.

Lin Zhushui: We were still too pure before.

Zhou Jiayu: Pure?

Lin Zhushui: But once we’re no longer pure, I’m afraid I’ll be the one sleeping on the floor.