Vol 2 Book 2 Chapter 17 (2/2)

“Mis… mister…” Fang Shui’er was the fastest to salute him. Xiao Hei and Zeng Qian quickly followed.

“Big bro?” Li Yiming had the biggest reaction. ‘Isn’t this the guy who gave me the invitation and dragged me into all of this. He’s… that strong?’

‘Big bro…?’ Fang Shui’er and her friends were shocked. ‘Just as we thought, this Li Yiming is a big shot.’

The man’s smile broadened, and he nodded.

“Liu Meng…” Li Yiming looked at Liu Meng, who seemed asleep, in the man’s arms. Her hair and her clothes were just as they were before she was possessed, and her cheeks were of a healthy rose.

“Who are you?” Li Yiming suddenly snapped out of his shock and asked. ‘I don’t know how to describe the opportunity that he gave to me… Good? Bad?’

‘They don’t know each other?’ Li Yiming’s question surprised Fang Shui’er and her friends.

“I’ve told you, I’m just a pa.s.ser-by.” The man waved his arm and walked toward the edge of the pond.

“Why me?” Li Yiming followed him. He had a thousand questions for the man but didn’t know where to start. He glanced at the three people behind him and started with the one he was most curious about.

The man sat down on a rock by the sh.o.r.e. Although his seat was still red from the burning a moment before, by the time he lowered himself, the heat was gone. The man set Liu Meng down and pulled out a cigarette from his bag. He held one between his lips and gave another to Li Yiming. Li Yiming received the object without thinking, and the smile on the man’s face broadened. He waved with a cigarette in his hand at the three who followed, and all of them shook their heads promptly; Xiao Hei was a smoker, but he did not dare to accept the offer.

Li Yiming did not notice the reactions of those behind him. He brought a lighter out of his bracelet and offered to light up the man’s cigarette. The latter answered with a loud laugh. Li Yiming did not understand this response, but still stared at the man seriously, waiting for an answer. This question was very important to him. ‘I wouldn’t think that I’m special in any way, so why me?’

‘Buddhists care about karma, and Taoists speak of inheritance. What do you believe in?” The man took a deep whiff and looked at Li Yiming calmly. 2

‘Karma, inheritance? Can you not give an answer like this every single time?’ Li Yiming was puzzled. “Could you give a more… concrete answer?” Li Yiming was a little embarra.s.sed, so he lit up his own cigarette and knelt down beside the man: he did not dare to try to sit on the still-burning rocks. “Maybe you don’t know, big bro, but I studied dance, so I’m not very well-versed on things like that,” he squeezed out a euphemism.

Fang Shui’er and her friends waited cautiously on the side, looking at the two as they spoke casually, careful to not even risk an interruption. ‘Don’t know each other? Who are you kidding?’

“It’s just like this cigarette,” said the man as he flicked away the ash on its tip, smiling gently as always.

“Yes.” Li Yiming nodded.

“The first time I offered one, you refused.”

“Yes.”

“The second time I tried, you accepted.”

“Yes.”

“And you even lit up one for me.”

“Yes.”

“And then you lit the one I gave to you.”

“Yes.”

“Get it?”

“What?”

One more chapter until the end of Book 2, Defense of Ning Village. Are you ready for the next adventure?