Chapter 40 : What Does It Mean?

At first, Hua Qi’an had no intention of responding.

In this region, the older generation of parents often told their children not to talk to strangers when outside.

That is to say, in the Hangyang District, youth population migration was very high in the early years.

Hua Qi’an wasn’t an outgoing person to begin with, so being suddenly addressed like this naturally made her feel a bit awkward.

But the old lady didn’t seem to mind Hua Qi’an’s wary attitude; she just occasionally raised her cane and lightly tapped it on the ground.

Then, as if talking to herself, she began speaking in Hua Qi’an’s direction.

“Oh my, seeing you reminds me of my two lovely granddaughters… They were just about your age…”

“The eldest is kind-hearted and very caring… The second one looks obedient, but she’s actually quite mischievous…”

“I haven’t seen the eldest in a long time…”

The old lady’s voice was frail and tinged with nostalgia, her worn, glassy eyes rolling around.

Finally, her gaze fixed on Hua Qi’an.

“Little girl, you’re not from Hangyang, are you?”

As she spoke, a hissing breath sounded from her throat, like a chuckle.

Hearing that laugh sent a shiver down Hua Qi’an’s spine.

She pressed her lips together toward the old lady.

Perhaps it was because this route was somewhat remote; earlier on, the first half of the trip passed through urban areas with some shops, but outside the window, the number of tall buildings steadily decreased…

Now, there were only Hua Qi’an, the old lady, and the driver on the bus.

“Hee hee hee… I take this same bus every day to the outskirts…”

“Little girl, there’s really no need for you to be so guarded. I’m just an old woman who suddenly wanted someone to chat with—”

She slowly turned her head toward the driver’s seat, as if wanting him to vouch for her.

The driver, seeing the old lady’s cloudy eyes staring at him through the rearview mirror, broke out in a cold sweat but still forced himself to speak.

“Yes, ma’am, you do take this bus every day.”

Then she got off at the cemetery in the outskirts…

But the driver didn’t mention that to Hua Qi’an, fearing it would scare the young girl who looked so innocent.

If it weren’t for the decent wage subsidies on this route and his starving baby son at home… the driver would have quit long ago.

Every day he drove one or two passengers out to the sparsely populated outskirts.

In just the few months since he took over this bus, it had broken down four times on the road and mysteriously suffered seven tire blowouts.

Especially during the night shift, unexplainable incidents happened constantly…

Those who spent long hours driving on highways often believed in such things to some degree.

And this old lady really did take his bus every day.

Because of the few passengers, he naturally remembered her over time.

But normally, after boarding, she would close her eyes as if sleeping; today was the first time she had spoken to anyone.

And it was to a young girl.

Hearing the driver’s words, Hua Qi’an relaxed a little, but did not let her guard down completely.

“…I’m indeed not from Hangyang. How did you tell, ma’am?”

She decided to hear what the old lady wanted to say.

The old lady chuckled again.

“…I once lived in Anchuan for a time. Little girl, you’re from Anchuan, aren’t you?”

Anchuan was the neighboring city to Hangyang, less economically developed.

From time to time, rumors circulated that one day Anchuan would be merged into Hangyang.

At the mention of “Anchuan,” Hua Qi’an’s heart skipped a beat.

Her eyelashes trembled slightly.

Her gaze toward the old lady changed, now laced with curiosity.

She had come to Hangyang from Anchuan with the determination never to return.

For that reason, she had already deleted all contact information she was supposed to.

How could this seemingly ordinary old woman possibly know she was from Anchuan?

Just because she said she “had lived in Anchuan for a time”?

The old lady didn’t directly answer.

Her eyes, filled with cloudy fluff, fixed on Hua Qi’an’s direction, making one wonder if she could still truly see.

“I see…”

The old lady suddenly sighed, showing a look of understanding.

Hua Qi’an didn’t know what to make of it.

“Because little girl, you look just like someone I once saw in Anchuan. So I guessed you must be from there…”

She chuckled again, tapping the metal floor of the bus with her cane.

Hua Qi’an felt speechless.

Really?

That was the reason?

Wasn’t that just a wild guess that happened to be right by accident?

Why was she even talking to this old lady?

Thinking that, she withdrew her gaze and looked out the window again, signaling she didn’t want to continue the conversation.

But the old lady seemed unable to understand.

Today, she was determined to cling to Hua Qi’an.

“Hee hee… little girl… do you know that the end of this road is a ‘no-man’s land’?”

The old, raspy voice reached her ears again, but Hua Qi’an turned back to look at her.

What she said caught her attention once more.

No-man’s land?

Wasn’t that the haunted house area she was headed to?

“I take this bus on this route every day—it’s been almost eighteen or nineteen years…”

“So I know this place inside and out…”

Saying this, her expression seemed a bit proud.

Wrinkles shifted across her face, revealing a smile.

Hua Qi’an’s curiosity stirred.

If the old lady was telling the truth, maybe she could tell her what had happened there before.

But judging from the tone, it wasn’t necessarily completely reliable.

She needed to keep some reservations.

After pondering what expression to make, Hua Qi’an slightly lowered her head.

When she looked up again, her previous coldness was gone; her eyes seemed to sparkle.

She looked at the old lady with anticipation.

With surprise and admiration, Hua Qi’an said, “You must have seen and experienced a lot, ma’am.”

“I’ve been to that place. There are so many houses, why is no one living there now?”

The old lady seemed startled by Hua Qi’an’s sudden change, but she appeared to buy it.

Yet those cloudy, fluff-filled glassy eyes rolled deeply in their sockets, scrutinizing Hua Qi’an.

Her mouth curved into a smile.

“You’ve asked the right person… If it were anyone else, they wouldn’t dare talk about this kind of thing…”

The old lady’s expression turned mysteriously profound.

“Back when that place wasn’t abandoned yet, it was all wealthy people living there…”

Hua Qi’an knew this much; it wasn’t hard to guess.

That area full of empty mansions and villas clearly looked like a rich neighborhood.

“There was one family, originally merchants… From one day onward, their business got better and better—it was booming like the sun at its peak—”

“Until one day, the head of the family threw himself into the river!”

Her voice sharpened somewhat.

Threw himself into the river?

Hua Qi’an quietly made a note of this, feeling the information might be useful later.

“After that, the rest of the family inexplicably either jumped into the river or fell ill… They all died.”

“The rumors grew louder. Some said they were cursed.”

“After a long time, those who lived there moved away.”

Finishing, the old lady tapped the ground with her cane.

A rough, agitated voice cut through the silence.

“Old lady, stop telling ghost stories already!”

The driver finally lost patience, turning around to glare at her.

The old lady merely snorted and fell silent.

But Hua Qi’an was deep in thought.

What the old lady said was somewhat credible, but something about it didn’t quite add up…

“We’ve arrived! You can get off now!”

The bus stopped by a deserted road sign, announced over the speakers.

It was a cemetery.

Clearly the old lady’s destination.

Before leaving, she gave Hua Qi’an a meaningful look.

“Thank you for keeping an old woman like me company today…”

“Seeing you, it’s like I’m looking at my dead granddaughter.”