Gu Yuan licked his slightly dry lips and said softly, "Lan Lan, I'll tell you everything I can. But there are some things it's better you don't know."
I had already guessed he'd say that.
"Fine. I don't want to ask anymore."
Gu Yuan lowered his eyes. Rarely did he have such patience. If I pressed further, I definitely wouldn't get the answer I wanted.
"Let's go. Let's go home." He took my hand. I wanted to pull away at first, but I was afraid that would put more distance between us.
So I let him hold my hand. After all, I just couldn't bear to part with him.
...
We got on the bus and showed our tickets. The bus driver was the same one as before. When he saw me, he smiled and said, "Girl, you're taking your boyfriend home for the New Year?"
I looked back at Gu Yuan. I didn't expect him to come with me. By now, he had already walked straight to a seat in the middle of the bus and closed his eyes lazily.
It was probably for the best. If he caused any trouble on the bus, I didn't want to be treated like a freak again.
"Yes, driver. I'm surprised you still remember me?"
"Of course I remember. You left a deep impression on me. Last time you were talking to yourself on my bus. I thought you were possessed. Hahaha. But later I heard from people in your village that you had a powerful spirit with you. So I was being rude back then."
"It's okay. I'd probably be scared too in that situation."
The ticket inspector sitting beside the driver looked unhappy when she saw the driver chatting with me. She said, "Are you done chatting? Give me your tickets. After you're checked, go back to your seats quickly. There are still people behind you."
I looked back. There was no one there. Clearly, the ticket inspector was just looking for trouble.
The driver looked a bit embarrassed. He smiled at me again and whispered, "My wife. Don't mind her. She's been a bit irritable lately."
I smiled back at him to show I didn't mind, then said nothing and walked straight into the carriage.
When I sat down, I realized this was the same seat Gu Yuan and I had sat in on our first bus ride.
I still remembered how nervous I was when I followed Gu Yuan to rescue the old beggar. And how Gu Yuan scared me on the bus.
"Since I'm a snake, I'm cold-blooded. It's only natural for me to bask in the sun to regulate my body temperature."
"Listen up. I'm neither a spirit nor a ghost, let alone a demon or a monster. My identity is not something a lowly human like you can just guess. If you keep guessing randomly and anger me, I'll swallow you whole."
Thinking back, Gu Yuan and I weren't familiar with each other back then. I was just scared of him and in awe of him. Now I was so deeply in love with him that I couldn't get out.
I pulled back the curtain. A smile appeared on my lips involuntarily. I turned to look at Gu Yuan. He seemed much more haggard now.
The road was slippery because of the ice and snow. The bus was moving slowly. It had been driving for five or six hours and we still weren't home.
By now, it was already dark. Snow was falling outside.
There were no streetlights on the country road. Outside, all I could see were snowflakes fluttering like catkins. It was basically pitch black.
After the bus had been swaying for a while, the driver suddenly slammed on the brakes. Gu Yuan instinctively protected me, burying my head in his chest.
"Are you crazy? You don't watch the road in this snow?" The driver rolled down the window and shouted at the person outside.
I was curious. Who would be wandering around in the wilderness in this snow? I wanted to look up to see who it was.
But Gu Yuan's hand on my shoulder didn't let go. He said softly, "Don't look at what you shouldn't."
As he spoke, the bus started moving again. Presumably, the person had left.
"Can I get up now?" I was lying like this, and people around me were looking at me from time to time. People in the countryside were more conservative. They weren't used to seeing people being so intimate.
Moreover, people from neighboring villages all knew each other. If this got spread in the village, where would I put my face?
"This is nice. You don't need to get up." Gu Yuan just held me like this without blushing or feeling nervous until the driver told me to get off.
Only then did Gu Yuan let me go.
"Girl, the road is slippery in the snow. Walk slowly." The driver reminded me with a smile.
When I thanked him, I always felt there was a mass of black air between his eyebrows that wouldn't disperse.
I hadn't noticed it when I first got on the bus. This was clearly a sign that he had picked up something dirty on the road.
Since I thought the driver was a nice guy, I took out a talisman from my hand and gave it to him.
"Sir, take this. Keep it with you and don't get it wet."
The driver answered and was about to reach out to take it when the ticket inspector, who had glared at me just now, snatched the talisman from my hand and said,
"Don't scare people here. A lousy talisman can ward off disasters? You're just trying to fool people. Who would believe your nonsense?"
Saying that, she was about to throw the talisman on the ground, but the driver stopped her.
"Wife, you can't just throw this away. This is a magical item from the spirits. I'll keep it." He snatched the talisman from the ticket inspector, took out a small handkerchief, and put it in his pocket.
The ticket inspector gave him a disdainful look and said, "You're always so superstitious. You... Get off the bus quickly. Don't delay other people from going home. There are still so many people."
I was stunned and looked into the bus. At this moment, there was only an old woman sitting in the back row.
She was wearing a black robe with gold trim. Various round "Fu" characters were embroidered on the robe with gold thread. Under her wide sleeves, she was holding a square box, showing her purple and frozen hands.
She was wearing white socks on her feet. I couldn't see her ankles. She was stepping on a pair of small embroidered shoes with black and gold trim.
Because it was so dim inside the bus, her whole face was hidden in the darkness. I couldn't see her face clearly. When I turned back to say something to the ticket inspector.
The ticket inspector impatiently pushed me and said, "What's wrong? Don't you have a man of your own? You have to stare at my husband."
"I..."
Gu Yuan pulled me from outside the bus and dragged me off.
I fell into Gu Yuan's arms. The next moment, the bus door closed. The bus kicked up the snow on the ground, and a bunch of snow went down my collar.
In the cold of the twelfth lunar month, the feeling of snow melting down my neck was really uncomfortable.
I couldn't help shivering and quickly lowered my head to shake out the snow.
"Hey, are you crazy? Why are you in such a hurry... " I thought it wasn't nice to curse someone, so I changed my words.
"... to go home and hug your kids?"
When I stood up straight and complained about the bus, the old woman who had been sitting in the back row slowly turned her head like a rattle.
Through the window, I was so scared that my whole body went numb. My spine was colder than when the snow went down my collar. I quickly jumped into Gu Yuan's arms.