Chapter 2, Omen of Doom

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Originally, Xiao Rou would tutor Fang Shi with his homework every day. However, despite Xiao Rou's good intentions, Fang Shi believed that learning Zhao Popo's flying needle technique could effectively solve the family's problems with cockroaches and mice. Additionally, the countless stories that attracted Fang Shi from the twenty-eight residents of the peach orchard further distracted him. In her helplessness, Xiao Rou found herself captivated by the content of the textbooks instead.

Thus, Fang Shi, under the guidance of his grandfather, went to Qianxiang Middle School to register. Qianxiang is more than 20 li away from Shangqian Village, and there is no public transportation available, so he had to choose to board at the school. On weekends, he would ride his bicycle back home to fetch the rice, pickled vegetables, and the living expenses of 0.5 yuan and 1 yuan needed for the week. This was also the daily life of many rural junior high school students at that time

Misfortune may turn into fortune; having poor grades is not necessarily a bad thing. In the first semester of the seventh grade, the class monitor, a quiet and obedient girl with a pretty round face, became Fang Shi's study counselor. There were two reasons for assigning the top student to assist Fang Shi. The first reason was that the homeroom teacher was a Chinese language teacher, and Fang Shi's Chinese was quite good.

On the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, Fang Shi began to fall ill. His grandfather neither called a doctor nor bought medicine, which made Fang Shi feel frustrated. His grandfather did not explain or clarify anything; he simply supervised Fang Shi's daily practice of breathing exercises for half an hour. Later, Xiao Rou explained to Fang Shi that contact between the living and the dead could harm one's vital energy, and that practicing breathing exercises could protect Fang Shi from the invasion of negative energy

The second reason is that students who are significantly worse off already lack the value of rescue

The ugliness and ferocity of Sun completely stunned Fang Shi, rendering him unable to utter a sound. A young woman floated to Fang Shi's side, crouched down to look at him, and gently said: "Do not be afraid, do not be afraid, my name is Xiao Rou, what is your name?"

Hmm?

Pickled mustard tuber, a treasure for rice, when poured with boiling water, becomes a bowl of soup that is rich in color, aroma, and flavor. In return for kindness, Fang Shi, during the second semester of the second year, went to the mountains with San Bao to catch a venomous snake, which they then stewed in a large steamer and invited the class monitor to taste. After the class monitor finished eating and realized it was snake meat, he vomited for a whole day. From that moment on, Fang Shi lost the opportunity for the class monitor to tutor him, and for the first time, his grandfather was called to the school by the homeroom teacher

Class monitor

Although Fang Shi's performance in middle school was not satisfactory, with the assistance of many fellow students who also struggled, he firmly secured the sixth-to-last position in a class that now consists of fifty-four students instead of just four. It is worth noting that apart from his Chinese scores occasionally exceeding eighty, subjects such as mathematics, English, chemistry, and physics appeared to him as adversaries, representing a stark contrast.

I have noticed that you have been in low spirits these past few days, with a darkened center of your forehead, which must indicate an ominous sign

The clever Fang Shi became obsessed with these books and knowledge, resulting in a significant decline in academic performance, dropping from first place to fourth in the class. Fourth place does not sound too bad, except that there are only four students in the class. By the end of the fourth grade, he scored only 6 points in mathematics

Fang Shi met many people that evening. An old lady named Zhao Po Po, who is said to be over 400 years old. Xiao Rou insists that she is only 20. In addition to them, there was a middle-aged couple, a bride in a red dress with her head covered, and two elderly men who enjoy playing chess, among dozens of others. Fang Shi truly could not remember them all.

Although the class monitor ignores Fang Shi, Fang Shi is still very willing to pay attention to the class monitor. In Fang Shi's view, the class monitor is the most beautiful girl in the world. The short-haired student has her hairstyle neatly arranged, looking clean and tidy, with big eyes, thin lips, and long eyelashes

No, one must go and see for oneself

When it comes to zombies, there are thirty-six classifications, including purple zombies, white zombies, black zombies, green zombies, hairy zombies, flying zombies, and so on. Moreover, those who can transform zombies into demons, and when demons evolve into spirits, even gods and ghosts will avoid them, making them invincible in the world

Xiao Rou was an outstanding student at a women's university a century ago. She opposed arranged marriages and fought against family oppression, but ultimately fell victim to the deception of a water ghost and drowned herself. Those who die as a result of being deceived by a water ghost must transform into a ghost themselves; she must lure another substitute in order to escape and be reincarnated. Xiao Rou, by nature kind-hearted, not only refrained from deceiving a substitute but also saved many people. She was taken to a peach grove by Grandpa Fang, where she could rest her soul for forty-nine days to break the curse and return to the underworld.

The innocent Fang Shi was left bewildered by the scolding. In the following classes, he began to ponder repeatedly: if the books his grandfather had were genuine, and if the teachings of the spirits in the peach forest were authentic, then there must be something unclean around the class monitor. In rural areas, it is taboo to mention ghosts directly, and everyone uses various euphemisms to refer to them. The boarding students are all rural children from different villages in the front township. In the evenings, they take turns recounting ghost stories passed down by the elders in their villages, and when they mention ghosts, they replace the term with various substitutes. Fang Shi had also grown accustomed to this, but last week when he returned home, he misspoke, and Xiao Rou was upset for an entire day because of the term 'unclean thing.' The boarding students are all rural children from different villages in the front township. In the evenings, they take turns recounting ghost stories passed down by the elders in their villages, and when they mention ghosts, they replace the term with various substitutes. Fang Shi had also grown accustomed to this, but last week when he returned home, he misspoke, and Xiao Rou was upset for an entire day because of the term 'unclean thing.'

Grandma Zhao told Fang Shi that they were all wandering souls and restless spirits, brought here by Fang Shi's grandfather. Only by resolving the grievances, remembrances, and longings in their hearts could they be reborn as humans. When a person dies, their soul should return to dust, earth to earth, and spirit to the underworld. However, due to lingering thoughts, the appearance of ghosts occurs. Different thoughts lead to different natures of ghosts. For instance, the Sun family of the Mayi clan, who, while observing mourning for her father-in-law, was poisoned by her husband and his concubine, thus becoming a vengeful ghost. She was later suppressed by a powerful figure for a hundred years. After a century, her enemies had died, and a surge of resentment had nowhere to vent, transforming her into a wandering ghost haunting the mountains and forests at night, harming merchants and scholars traveling late at night. Ultimately, she was captured by Fang Shi's grandfather and confined within a peach grove.

Due to Fang Shi's rural household registration, a sponsorship fee of two thousand yuan is required to complete the enrollment. Fang Shi's grandfather looked at the admission notice and said to Fang Shi: "Money is not an issue; if you want to go, you can. But considering your actual grades, do you think it is a good thing to attend the best school in the county?"

I am Fang Shi, from Class 2 of the Qingshao Kindergarten

At that time, the transition from elementary school to junior high school was referred to as the "Entrance Examination for Junior High School." Students who did not perform well in this examination were not qualified to attend junior high school. This was Fang Shi's first instance of cheating, and under the encouragement of the group of ghosts, Fang Shi summoned Xiao Rou before the exam, achieving full marks in both Chinese and Mathematics. Within less than ten days, the admission notice from the First Middle School of the county arrived at the Fang family.

During this summer vacation, Grandma Zhao passed away. She had completed her life's work and was sent off by the spirits in the peach grove. That night, everyone felt a sense of loss. Since Fang Shi arrived here, Fang Shi's grandfather had stopped accepting new guests; now, with each departure, there was one less resident.

With the help of the beautiful class monitor, Fang Shi's poor performance rebounded strongly in the final exams, achieving passing grades in both mathematics and English. For Fang Shi, as a student with poor grades, being able to speak a word with the top-performing class monitor is a tremendous honor, not to mention that the class monitor would buy pickled vegetables as a reward for passing.

The next day, Fang Shi told his grandfather about these matters, and his grandfather merely nodded. During this Spring Festival, Fang Shi slept during the day and went to the peach orchard at night. Fang Shi also learned that they were ghosts; he had no prior concept of what ghosts were, but he found them quite endearing. With the company of this group of ghosts, Fang Shi's longing for his parents diminished.

The class monitor looked at Fang Shihao for a while, suddenly cried, and ran to the head teacher's office. The head teacher angrily shouted from the office to the class, pointed at Fang Shi, and scolded him for ten minutes, then asked Fang Shi to invite his parents.

Fang Shi, a third-grade student, entered the study room as his grandfather opened the door, allowing him to read on his own. The books inside are all handwritten manuscripts, containing a variety of bizarre and fascinating knowledge.