Chapter 84

Xiaofei was completely unaware of the chaos caused by a misunderstanding of a telegram. He returned to City X by train at 3 a.m. on August 28th. With just under two hours left before he could take a long-distance bus home, staying at a hotel seemed impractical. He decided to wait in the waiting room until 5 a.m. and then take the early bus from the station.

The waiting room was still bustling with people at this early hour. Xiaofei had slept enough on the train and wasn't tired, so he took out a notebook, used a book as a pad, and began writing.

He hadn't written much during his week-long trip to SH. The column for the Z City Evening News was due, and he needed to carefully craft a piece for the Harvest magazine, aiming to produce a high-quality work.

Despite the noise in the waiting room, once he focused, the commotion faded into the background. His pen moved smoothly across the paper, like the gentle spring rain or silkworms munching on mulberry leaves.

Xiaofei was writing smoothly. However, just as he was about to finish a piece, a large hand slapped him heavily. Looking up, he saw several uniformed station staff checking tickets. Those without tickets were being sternly questioned and removed from the waiting room.

Xiaofei showed his sleeper ticket and explained that his home was far away, and he couldn't leave immediately after getting off the train, so he had to wait until dawn. After his explanation, the staff allowed him to stay.

But his train of thought was interrupted, and it took him a while to get back into the flow. He finally finished the piece, feeling a bit frustrated.

It was almost 5 a.m., so Xiaofei left the waiting room and went to the bus stop in the square. There was a bus to Dongping Township at 5 a.m., which he could catch.

The journey was over a hundred kilometers, and the road was in poor condition, with many potholes from heavy trucks. The bus driver drove at high speed, causing the passengers to be jolted around. After about an hour, the bus arrived in Dongping Township. It was only around 6 a.m.

Feeling a bit dizzy after getting off the bus, Xiaofei breathed in some fresh air and felt much better. He quickly walked toward his village, wondering if the new house was completed and if everything was fine after being away for a week.

When Xiaofei reached the village entrance, he encountered the first villager. Due to the cotton crop failure, few people in Xili Village got up early, and it was rare to see someone out at 6 a.m.

Xiaofei nodded to the villager, but the villager, upon recognizing him, screamed and ran away like a rabbit, disappearing in a flash.

Xiaofei was quite puzzled. Was he that scary?

As he continued walking, he met a few more people, all of whom reacted with fear and tried to avoid him. Xiaofei's brow furrowed. Had something happened at home?

He quickened his pace and, at the crossroads, met Liu Mingxing.

Liu Mingxing didn't run away but stood there, staring at Xiaofei in a daze, rubbing his eyes and muttering, "Damn! Am I seeing things? I actually saw Xiaofei?"

Xiaofei, preoccupied with his concerns, nodded to Liu Mingxing and tried to walk past him.

Liu Mingxing, after a few seconds of hesitation, decided to confront the situation. He boldly grabbed Xiaofei's wrist and exclaimed, "It's not a ghost! It's a real person! He's warm and has a shadow. Xiaofei, what's going on? They all said you died in SH, but here you are, alive and well!"

What? What was going on?

Liu Mingxing was saying that he was already "dead"?

Who spread this rumor?

"Who said I died? Cursing someone isn't done this way!" Xiaofei twisted his wrist free from Liu Mingxing's grip, finding it unseemly for two grown men to be tussling.

Liu Mingxing scratched his head. "Everyone in the village is saying it! Your family received a telegram from SH yesterday, saying you were dead. Go home and see; your family is in chaos."

A telegram from SH?

Playing such a prank, reporting his death?

That didn't make sense!

Xiaofei ran home, with Liu Mingxing following behind. The villagers, seeing Xiaofei running, were shocked.

Liu Mingxing explained to the onlookers, "The telegram is probably fake; someone is playing a trick on Xiaofei."

"Xiaofei is alive, not a ghost. I just touched his hand; it's warm. Look, he has a shadow. Ghosts don't have shadows."

Liu Mingxing's explanation made the villagers skeptical. Ghosts can't be out in the sunlight, and it was already daylight. How could a ghost be walking around?

The villagers followed Liu Mingxing to Xiaofei's house.

Liu Zhenhai's family was eating in the courtyard, with the gate open. Liu Zhenhai, sitting where he could see the street, heard heavy footsteps and saw someone running past the gate. It looked like Xiaofei.

"Thud!"

His chopsticks fell to the table.

"Xiaofei? The one who just ran past was Xiaofei," Liu Zhenhai said, staring at the gate.

Wang Guizhi sneered, "He's probably already turned to ashes. You must be seeing things."

A crowd of people then passed by their house, talking loudly.

"Xiaofei is really not dead?"

"Not dead! He's alive and well!"

"What's going on? The telegram from SH said he was dead."

"Who knows? Let's go see."

Wang Guizhi's face turned sour. "That troublemaker from the Xiao family is really not dead? The King of Hell must be blind to let him back."

"Shut up! It's not good to say such things," Liu Zhenhai said.

In truth, he was very disappointed. Xiaofei had been a source of great psychological pressure. In rural areas, families compete based on their strength and influence. With Xiaofei, the Xiao family had risen, changing the dynamics in Xili Village. Liu Zhenhai couldn't be happy about that.

When he heard the news of Xiaofei's "death," he was elated. Two days ago, he had sent his daughter, Liu Xinmei, to a university in the provincial capital, with tuition and living expenses totaling over 2,000 yuan per year and 200 yuan per month. He felt a significant financial burden.

Observing his daughter's classmates, many of whom were dressed fashionably and had expensive items, he felt a sense of injustice. He wanted to earn more money so that Xinmei wouldn't be embarrassed among her peers.

Hearing of Xiaofei's "death," he had a dark thought: without Xiaofei, he might have a chance to exploit the Xiao family. Now, with Xiaofei's sudden return, that plan was likely to fail. Liu Zhenhai was disappointed.

Xiaofei arrived at his house just as his father and brother were about to leave, carrying bags.

They were heading to SH to look for Xiaofei.

If Xiaofei had been a few minutes later, they would have missed each other.

"Father, Brother, where are you going?" Xiaofei asked.

Seeing Xiaofei, Xiao Youjin and Xiao Yang were shocked, their eyes wide and mouths open. Xiao Yang's bag fell to the ground.

After a moment, Xiao Yang recovered and grabbed Xiaofei's arm, shaking him with joy. "Xiaofei, you're not dead! You're alive! That's great."

Xiaofei thought, "Well, it seems I was 'killed' for no reason." He asked his brother, "Brother, what's going on? Who said I died in SH?"

Their father, tears streaming down his face, handed Xiaofei the telegram. "We received a telegram from SH yesterday. It said you were dead. My son, it's good you're back. If you were gone, our family would fall apart."

Xiaofei patted his father's back to comfort him, then opened the telegram. He immediately recognized it as from Dai Houying, informing him that "Literature is Dead, Burn Paper for Matters" would be published in the next issue of Harvest magazine, and "The Fish Walking on Land" would be in the first issue of the "Long Novel Special" of Harvest.

It seemed Harvest had decided to publish the "Long Novel Special."

Xiaofei was the biggest winner, with a piece in the 1996 sixth issue of Harvest and a long novel in the special issue.

Only he, the insider, knew the true meaning of the telegram. No wonder others were confused!

Xiaofei felt a mix of amusement and joy. Having a significant long novel published in Harvest would smooth his literary path.