What should I do?
I have to say, this is a very serious problem! I can endure not eating or drinking, but when it comes to needing to use the restroom, sometimes it's not something you can endure just because you want to!
Over time, it's inevitable to feel a bit "bodily unconscious".
"Excuse me…"
After holding it in for nearly an hour and not seeing Lao Zhang's figure, I finally couldn't hold it any longer. I quickly called out to Xia Xiaoyi, "Excuse me, where did Lao Zhang go?"
"Hmm?"
Xia Xiaoyi was playing with her phone, and looked at me with a puzzled expression before saying impatiently, "What do you want with him?"
"I…"
Although a bit embarrassed, in order to avoid dirtying Xia Xiaoyi's bed, I finally mustered up the courage and said, "I…need to use the restroom..."
"Ah? Wait here!"
Upon hearing this, Xia Xiaoyi also couldn't help but startle and hurried out of the room. A few minutes later, when she returned to the room, she was followed by Lao Zhang who had a proud look on his face.
Strange enough, Lao Zhang's aura had suddenly stabilized after just a few days.
However, at this moment, I didn't have time to think about it. I hurriedly shouted at Lao Zhang, "Hurry! I really can't hold it in anymore!"
...
For several days in a row, I lay in bed like a vegetable, unable to move, and could only eat liquid food like porridge through a straw.
I could endure all of this, but one thing was unbearable. The body wrapped in bandages felt like it was suddenly invaded by countless ants and mosquitoes, constantly crawling around my wounds, causing unbearable itching.
The pain of shedding old skin and the continuous growth of new flesh was simply unbearable, but I could only grit my teeth and endure it, relying on my strong willpower to shift my attention through cultivation!
Thanks to "The Righteous Qi", whenever I could barely withstand it and was on the verge of collapsing, it repeatedly reached out to "help" me, ultimately enabling me to persist!
After nearly a week, I finally managed to stand with some effort. The old skin on my body had also begun to slowly peel off, as if an old snake shedding its skin, and almost the entirety of my old skin had been shed.
As the saying goes, the more pain I can endure, the greater success I can achieve!
After shedding all the old skin from my whole body, I felt like I had been reborn, and my whole spirit had undergone a tremendous change!
This was evident from the way Lao Zhang and Xia Xiaoyi looked at me!
Starting from today, "Neighbor Xiaowang" was no longer the same as before, breaking free from the cocoon and emerging as a new butterfly. I had finally entered the threshold of a practitioner!
After three days of cultivation at the "Yangming Shrine", my body had largely returned to normal, so I said goodbye to Xia Xiaoyi. I had troubled her for quite some time, and it wasn't fair to keep occupying her bed.
Moreover, the school had been on vacation for quite some time, and the Lunar New Year was approaching, so I had to go home and visit my family, right?
Naturally, Xia Xiaoyi was all for it and probably wanted to get rid of me long ago. However, Lao Zhang strongly suggested that I should rest here for a few more days and even suggested that I shouldn't go home for the New Year as he needed my help with something.
After much consideration, I politely declined his offer. As for helping him, I readily agreed, but I needed to go home first, and once I returned after the New Year, I would come to help him immediately!
Seeing my insistence, Lao Zhang could only nod helplessly and asked me to keep my phone available at all times so he could contact me whenever necessary.
"Alright!"
With a nod, that evening I moved back to my shabby room and then asked my dad for two thousand yuan, which I used to buy a brand new set of bedding for Xia Xiaoyi. The previous bed sheets and blankets were covered in blood because of me. Knowing her personality, she probably would have thrown them away as soon as I left.
The next morning, I arrived at the train station early, ready to buy my ticket home.
However, after waiting in line for nearly two hours, when it was finally my turn, I was told that all the train tickets from Qianyang to Yucheng had already been sold out! Not only for today, but for the entire week!
"Damn it!"
Cursing inwardly, I suddenly realized, it was the Spring Festival travel rush!
What is the Spring Festival travel rush? That's the largest periodic human migration. If you don't book tickets at least ten days or half a month in advance, you're out of luck!
"Sigh..." With a helpless sigh, I had to take my suitcase and board the bus to the bus station. As soon as I got off the bus, someone suddenly patted me on the back, "Wang Lin! Are you also going home?"
"Hmm?" I subconsciously turned around and found out that it was actually my friend Zhang who had just patted me. At that moment, he was standing behind me with his face full of surprise, carrying a large and small bag.
After some conversation, I learned that Captain Han had indeed been promoted to the deputy director of the bureau! Just as he took office, he waved his hand and granted Zhang nearly half a month's leave, allowing him to go home for the Chinese New Year.
When Zhang learned that I hadn't bought a train ticket and was planning to try my luck at the bus station, he suddenly suggested that I go back home with him. He said that he had a used car in his hometown and could drive me back to Chongqing.
Facing Zhang's kindness, I naturally thanked him, but his hometown was in Northeast China! Why would I be so foolish as to go to the Northeast with him, only to take a car back again?
Upon hearing me say this, Zhang couldn't help but burst into laughter. Then he said, "Who said I am going back to the Northeast?"
"Although my hometown is indeed in the northeast, my family has settled in Qianzhou since my grandfather's generation! Now the whole family lives in Bijie!"
After all the confusion, it turns out that I had misunderstood. I thought Zhang was planning to take me to the Northeast!
Even so, I didn't want to trouble Zhang. After all, even without a bus ticket, I could still take an unlicensed taxi back home, at most a little more expensive than a regular long-distance bus ticket. So I said, "Forget about it, I can find a car. I won't trouble you!"
However, before I finished speaking, Zhang had already snatched my suitcase and bought a ticket to Bigfang County for me at the bus station.
"Let's go!" Without saying a word, Zhang took my suitcase and headed to the waiting room.
"Sigh... you..." Shaking my head helplessly, I ended up squeezing onto the bus to Bigfang County with Zhang. Since he was so insistent, rejecting him at this point would only make things awkward. We had been through life and death together, after all.
As Zhang and I were among the last to board, most of the front seats were already taken. So we had to sit in the last row.
However, as soon as I helped Zhang stow his luggage, my gaze was immediately drawn to the front passenger seat!
"It's him!"
My heart suddenly skipped a beat, and I quickly pulled Zhang aside, asking in a low voice, "Does the man in the front passenger seat look like Sima Yin, the one who saved Deputy Chief Li at the hospital?"
"Hmm?" Hearing this, Zhang's expression also changed, and he instinctively turned his gaze toward the front passenger seat.
Just then, the man suddenly lowered his head, and his wide collar covered his face.
"I'll go take a look!"
Zhang handed me a big bag of snacks and prepared to check out the front passenger seat.
"Don't go!" I quickly pulled Zhang back to his seat and said solemnly, "Let's not alert him for now! Since he hasn't noticed us, let's observe for a while!"
"Okay! That makes sense!"
Zhang nodded in agreement and said, "Know thy enemy and know yourself, and you shall win a hundred battles! This guy has caused you and Captain Han to be embarrassed in front of Huang Pang. Once I figure out his background, he won't get off easy!"
Well, it seems that he misunderstood me. Perhaps he thought I was still holding a grudge from being “scooped” last time, and intended to retaliate against Sima Yin.
Of course, it was understandable that Zhang didn't know that Sima Yin, was likely the main culprit behind Feng Chen's corpse change and also didn't know that there was a deadly formation hidden in the funeral home!
In fact, I wasn't entirely sure whether Sima Yin was indeed the mastermind behind Feng Chen's corpse change. But before Feng Chen's corpse changed, he had indeed gone to the police station to view Feng Chen's body thanks to Huang Pang's connections.
For no reason and unrelated to him, why would he go see Feng Chen's body?
In unusual circumstances, there must be something amiss. Even if Sima Yin and the funeral home's deadly formation were not related, he definitely had something to do with Feng Chen's corpse change! Since I had come across this, I naturally had to investigate to get to the bottom of it!