One Hundred Eleven, Sound

In truth, Zhang Xuan was quite pleased with Zheng Chao and Zheng Jian. Besides, every undertaking was hard at the start. As the Daoists say: one begets two, two begets three, and three begets all things. Here, they were starting straight from two, and before long, more and more people would surely join his ranks. But ideals were ideals, and reality was reality. On that day, all they gained were Zheng Chao and Zheng Jian.

In the days that followed, Zhang Xuan and the others left the village and took the mountain paths. Not to mention recruiting new members, they hardly even had the chance to see a living soul. Looking at the narrow trail winding through the hills, Zhang Xuan suddenly thought of the “Zhang Yan” he had met before. He wondered how that fellow was faring now. Had he gathered another band of men and made himself a mountain king somewhere? Or was he already being hunted down by the authorities?

Still, Zhang Yan would not be so easily wiped out. If he had been, it could only mean his luck had been terribly poor and he had run into some formidable foe.

Far away, in the deep mountains and forests, Zhang Yan sneezed and muttered under his breath, wondering which wretched brat was cursing him. If he ever found out, he would show that person just how fearsome he could be.

Zhang Xuan’s progress now was very different from before. Previously, it had been Old Man Tong and Uncle Yang waiting for Zhang Xuan and the others. Though even now, it was still Old Man Tong who was waiting, since Zhang Xuan and his group still did not know the way. But the situation had changed: now Zhang Xuan and his companions would race ahead in the direction Old Man Tong pointed out, leaving marks along the way, then turn back once they had gone about far enough. Or if they reached a fork, or simply no longer knew which way to go, they would turn back as well. Whenever they did, Zhang Xuan could not help thinking of the navigation app he wished he had: something that would keep him from taking the wrong road, and if he did stray, would automatically correct him. “Make a U-turn in five hundred meters.” Ah, how he missed that gentle female voice. If not that, then the comedian’s voice or even a Sichuan accent would do; he was not picky.

While Zhang Xuan, Yang Zaixing, Yuwen Chengdu, Zhao Yun, and Yang Hu were running along the road, Tong Fei still could not keep pace with them. Whenever they traveled, Tong Fei generally stayed with Old Man Tong. As for Zheng Chao and Zheng Jian, their bodies were obviously still weak, and Zhang Xuan would not assign them anything physically demanding for the time being.

As Zhang Xuan ran, he seemed to hear a child crying, so he stopped and signaled for the others to stop as well.

"Shh. Brothers, did you hear something?"

Seeing Zhang Xuan’s gesture, Yang Zaixing and the others stopped too and strained their ears to listen to what Zhang Xuan had heard. But after listening for a while, they all said they had heard nothing at all.

"That’s strange. I thought I just heard a child crying, and now it’s gone in the blink of an eye. Was it a hallucination?" Zhang Xuan dug at his ears and pulled out nothing but earwax. When Yang Zaixing and the others saw this, they immediately backed away three paces.

Seeing their reaction, Zhang Xuan gave these people who never cleaned their ears a rude gesture.

"Little Xuan, maybe you heard wrong. You’ve probably been tired lately. Who told you to stay up at night? Now look, you’ve started hallucinating. So you really should rest earlier, or you’ll be hearing things again tomorrow! And for the record, cleaning earwax won’t cure hallucinations, remember that well." Yang Zaixing said it and laughed out loud at once. The others also laughed after hearing the second half of his words.

Zhang Xuan ignored this bunch of heartless fellows and listened carefully again, but still heard nothing. He shook his head. Had he really just been too tired and imagined it? It seemed he really did need to rest earlier.

But just as he was mocking himself, Zhang Xuan once again seemed to faintly hear a child crying. He turned to look at Yang Zaixing and the others.

"Hear that?"

No matter how hard the others listened, they still heard nothing. They had originally wanted to keep teasing Zhang Xuan, but at that moment Zhao Yun pointed in one direction.

"Over there... it sounds like there really is something coming from that way. But I’m not certain."

This time it was Yang Zaixing and Yuwen Chengdu’s turn to dig at their ears. Zhang Xuan, however, did not laugh at them. He was still listening carefully, but the sound vanished again. So he asked Zhao Yun, who had also heard it, "Xiaoyun, you heard it too. What was it? Was it a child crying?"

Zhao Yun shook his head. "I can’t tell. The sound seemed to come from this direction, but now I can’t hear it anymore. It is strange."

"Big Brother, Second Brother, are you done yet? How long does it take just to clean your ears? Now that we can’t hear it anymore, even if you keep digging, it’s wasted effort. It’s still early—why don’t we follow the direction Xiaoyun pointed out and see what’s over there? Let’s find out what made that noise. Of course, if you’re scared, you can stay behind. I won’t look down on you."

Seeing Yang Zaixing and Yuwen Chengdu busily digging at their ears, Zhang Xuan found the sight truly ridiculous and made the suggestion.

"Little Xuan, who are you talking about? Who would be scared? There’s nothing that can scare your big brother that has shown up yet. Isn’t that right, Yuwen? Come on, let’s go now."

"Right. It’s only checking a sound. What’s there to be afraid of?" Yuwen Chengdu added.

While Yang Zaixing and Yuwen Chengdu were speaking, Zhang Xuan shot Zhao Yun a look. Zhao Yun quietly slipped behind the two of them and crouched down. Raising his hand, he held it suspended near their shoulders. Yang Hu saw what Zhao Yun was doing, but said nothing.

At that moment, Yang Zaixing and Yuwen Chengdu both felt something behind them. They turned at the same time, only to see a hand, and both shuddered.

Seeing their reactions, Zhang Xuan, Yang Hu, and Zhao Yun burst into loud laughter.