Momo vomited a mouthful of blood and thought of the words his master had said to him.
"However strong you are, there is always someone stronger. Be careful in everything."
He respected his master very well and treated him as his only relative since he was an orphan.
He was young, free and easy, but sometimes forgetful.
And impetuous.
Momo took a deep breath, trying to calm the chaos in his body--- Peeping at that door left him being possessed by the devil, which was frightening to the young Taoism master.
What he didn’t know was that another 500-year-old Taoist had almost got used to ‘vomiting blood’ every time he saw that door.
Momo spent the whole night calming himself down. The rising sun at sea level was more accurate than any electronic clock.
However, it was still dawn.
…
On the other side, some were busy organizing a ‘road-repair team’ formed by young and strong men since last night.
Even though the county government and the rescue team that Wu Qiushui had already contacted were on the way---but villagers couldn’t wait any longer because the constant rising amount of infected people made the whole Lui Village rattled.
"No, we’re unable to move the falling rock without a hoist!"
Little Du looked at Wu Qiushui with his tired eyes. He hadn’t slept and felt exhausted.
Wu Qiushui knew it was hard to get rid of the large-scale landslide purely by using the manpower of these villagers.
"Don’t know how long those patients could last…" Wu Qiushui loured, he had no idea if they would die before the roads got cleared.
"What about the boats?" Wu Qiushui asked.
Little Du said, "The county arranged a fis.h.i.+ng boat… but it’ll take time."
"We cannot delay a single second." Wu Qiushui sighed, "We should try to carry the patients there one by one."
Wu Qiushui pinched his forehead, being extremely worried.
Little Du said, "Secretary, take a rest, I can take care of it."
At this moment, a young villager rushed there, "On no! Secretary!"
"What happened?" Wu Qiushui heart beat quickly, "Did the patients…"
Till then, there were hundreds of people being infected with the disease in a short night, which could shock anyone.
"No, no!" the young villager said, "It’s Grandpa A Bao! The villager group is leading a large amount of people to Lui Hai’s holiday hotel!"
Little Du gaped, "What are they going there for?"
"They said… to catch a person to sacrifice to the sea lord…" The young villager face looked bad, "They said it’s not disease, but a curse and punishment of the sea lord to Lui Village. Only if a person is sacrificed could the village be kept, like… like…"
"Like what? Tell me!" Wu QIushui yelled with a stern look.
"Like 45 years ago!"
"Ridiculous!" Wu Qiushui eyes opened wide, voice changed as well because of the anger, "Those unruly people!! Take me there!! I can’t see such tragedy happen in this village!"
They hurried to the holiday hotel through another way.
…
…
Before dawn, the girl went into the kitchen.
To her surprise, she met a customer in the kitchen at such early time.
The only male guest.
"Mr. Luo." She looked at Luo Qiu nervously.
She felt it hard to get along with him, compared with Sister Ren because he didn’t seem to smile… Lui Yiyun asked with curiosity, "Why did you come here? Hungry?"
Yesterday, none of them had a good meal because they kept seeking for her father. It was too late to continue their actions. So they came back, and went to bed quickly.
They didn’t come to the hall to eat.
Luo Qiu walked in, saying, "I’m going to cook some congee… is there some ginger?"
"Oh… oh, yes, there is." The girl nodded, "I’ve cooked some congee, actually."
Luo Qiu threw his glance at the pot, asking, "Is it for your grandpa?"
Lui Yiyun nodded, "Yeah, my grandpa is in bad health with no appet.i.te, he can’t eat oily food in the morning…"
She shook her head, sighing, while telling, "I’ll make congee for him if I’m available."
Luo Qiu said, "You seem to lack sleep."
Lui Yiyun said, "I’m OK, not too tired… I want to go out to look for him later."
Luo Qiu started to wash rice. The girl looked at her congee, and then Luo Qiu’s rice. Her lips moved, but didn’t say anything.
"I don’t mean that you didn’t cook them well." Luo Qiu shook his head, "But somebody has an unhealthy stomach, so I’m clear what she can eat."
She learned their relations.h.i.+p from their conversation yesterday; now she recalled that Luo Qiu mentioned Sister Ren had a weak stomach. "Mr. Luo, you treat your family well!"
Luo Qiu said calmly, "And you too."
Luo Yiyun lowered her head shyly.
The kitchen fell silent. The girl stirred the congee, and Luo Qiu did his.
"Well… Mr. Luo, do you think there will be more patients appearing today?" Lui Yiyun asked suddenly.
"I’m not sure."
Lui Yiyun continued, "What do you think of this disease?"
Luo Qiu stopped his work, looking at Lui Yiyun and asked, "You know what happened that year since yesterday… so what’s your opinion?"
Lui Yiyun gritted her teeth, her look seemed to be broken. She answered confusedly, "I, I don’t know…"
Luo Qiu nodded.
Just then, the outside of the holiday hotel turned noisy, as if someone was knocking on the door rapidly, and different voices were heard.
Luo Qiu looked towards that way, wiping his hands, saying without glancing at her, "Let’s go see."
"Oh, OK." Lui Yiyun answered without thinking.
Luo Qiu walked out of the kitchen, but still in her sight.
But he stopped, looking like he thought of something. He tilted his head, but didn’t turn to her.
He asked, "By the way, why are you laughing."
At that moment, her smile turned stiff.