Part 2 Chapter 53: Grasshopper
Our room was next to Bai Kai's. After entering the room, we sat on the bed. I lit a cigarette and waited for Qin Yiheng to speak.
I thought what he said was difficult to understand, so I opened a can of Red Bull and drank it.
Qin Yiheng sighed and asked, "Where do you want me to start?"
I said, "Let's not talk about the distant past, let's just talk about the recent bath center incident. Where did you go that night? "
Qin Yiheng exclaimed, "Ah!" with a surprised expression, and asked, "Did you see me in the bathing center?"
I immediately got angry and wanted to throw my cigarette butt at him. I said, "Fuck you, can you be more professional?!"
He comforted me and said, "Don't get excited. It's really hard to explain what happened. But if you really saw me, then you must have seen a ghost. "
If this had been in a comic book, I would have been so angry that smoke would come out of the top of my head, but seeing that Qin Yiheng's tone was calm, I was still afraid that I had wrongly accused him, so I had to be patient and let him continue.
Qin Yiheng approached him mysteriously and said, "Bai Kai is a man of great potential. You have to be careful. I think he might be here to replace Yuan Zhen. You have to be on guard."
This time I finally couldn't bear it anymore. Even if what he said was true, I didn't want to listen anymore - it was obviously a distraction.
I stood up, nodded to Qin Yiheng, turned around and was about to slam the door and leave.
Suddenly, I heard someone banging on the wall of the room several times. Judging from the noise, it should be from Bai Kai's room next door.
Qin Yiheng and I were both a little stunned. Was he trying to break through the wall or something? With such a loud noise, did Bai Kai use his body to hit the wall? Was he trying to commit suicide by hitting the wall?
Before I could think about it, Qin Yiheng shouted, "Oh no, something's going to happen to Bai Kai!" He opened the door and rushed out!
I hurriedly followed him, but Qin Yiheng did not stop in front of Bai Kai's door. Instead, he ran straight out along the corridor and disappeared in an instant.
Now I was in a dilemma. Standing outside the white door, I could hear the noise inside more clearly, the endless banging sound.
It was too late to chase Qin Yiheng, so I had to knock on Bai Kai’s door.
Unexpectedly, as soon as I knocked on the door, the sound inside stopped. After waiting for two seconds, the door opened and Bai Kai dragged me in. Without waiting for me to say anything, he immediately warned me in a low voice: "Don't move, Qin Yiheng has a problem, if you don't believe me, I can prove it to you."
This is like a spy war. I nodded and sat down. Actually, I am no longer interested in what Bai Kai said. I am just a little sad that Qin Yiheng can still play tricks on me like this.
In the past few years, I have seen too many people cheating each other for money. I didn't expect that my business would end up like this.
Bai Kai opened my eyes and pulled back the quilt on the bed. In the middle of was the little thing that held his katydid.
As soon as the quilt was lifted, the katydid slowly chirped out, but the voice was not loud. It was probably a little weak because it had been covering itself up.
I asked Bai Kai: "What do you mean?"
He put the katydid back into his arms and said, "Do you fucking know how much effort I put into saving you? The katydid started chirping just now, and I was afraid you might hear it, so I could only pound the wall to block out the sound."
I took a closer look and saw that Bai Kai's hand was swollen. I was even more surprised and asked, "What does your katydid chirping mean?"
Bai Kai smiled and said, "If it weren't for me, you would never have seen this thing in your life. It's called 'Heavenly Grasshopper', and it was made for the emperor in the early years!"
Probably because he saw my bewilderment, he continued to explain it to me briefly. Bai Kai is prone to using swear words when speaking, which makes people feel uncomfortable, but I still understood the general idea.
This "Tianguo" is simply the leader of a group of katydids. Only when Tianguo calls, other katydids dare to call. Strictly speaking, "Tianguo" is not just a leader, and its ability is not limited to leading the call. In Bai Kai's words, "This thing is a fucking, divine thing!"
In the early years, especially during the heyday of the Qing Dynasty, there has always been a tradition called "Ten Thousand Grasshoppers Come to the Court". The Chinese character "蝈" is the same as the Chinese character "国", which means that before the emperor went to the Hall of Supreme Harmony for the first time on the first day of the new year, thousands of grasshoppers would be placed throughout the hall. I don't know whether there were exactly 10,000 of them, but the number was considerable. Then, when the emperor stepped into the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the eunuchs would find a way to make all the grasshoppers call together to greet the emperor. This was considered a good omen: the country was prosperous and ten thousand "countries" came to pay homage.
This sounds simple, but it is very difficult to do in practice. First of all, the first day of the Lunar New Year is a cold winter, and it is not easy for katydids to survive and breed; secondly, it is very particular to artificially control when they chirp. It is said that the temperature change is used to light a stove in the temple, and when the temperature rises, the katydids will naturally chirp. But in Bai Kai's words, this is just the surface, and the real mystery lies in the katydids.
If you want to make a katydid chirp, there is only one way - katydids will chirp only when they are fighting for food. And according to legend, katydids only eat one thing, and that is ghosts.
In the old days, there was an unwritten tradition in prisons that some prisoners could not celebrate the New Year and had to be killed before New Year's Eve. On the surface, this was because they were afraid that delaying the New Year would make these people miss their journey, but in fact, the souls of these people after death became a delicious meal for the crickets.
Legend has it that when these prisoners were killed, their tongues were cut off, their eyes were covered, and their mouths and anuses were stuffed with red paper. This was done because it was a crime against nature, and the eunuchs were worried that if they made any mistakes, the prisoners would report the crime to the King of Hell after death. This was of course just an unfounded worry. Blindfolding was also done to prevent the prisoners from seeing who ordered or executed them, for fear that they would seek revenge in the future. This is very similar to modern executions, which also require blindfolding, and is actually the same principle.
The purpose of stuffing the red paper inside the cage is to block the prisoner's last breath. Then on the first day of the Lunar New Year, the eunuchs would burn the red paper in the furnace, and the prisoner's last breath would be truly exhaled. When the crickets smelled the filthy smell, they naturally started to scream.
Although Bai Kai's storytelling is not as vivid as Qin Yiheng's, at least he still has real skills. After listening to it, I was shocked. So, the katydid's cry was a ghost?
Does that mean Qin Yiheng is filthy?
But I really didn't see what was wrong with him, so I asked Bai Kai: "Your katydid didn't chirp all the way, why did it suddenly chirp now?"
Bai Kai said: "Brother, do you think I lied to you? It was sleeping before and just woke up now."
I thought about it and I really couldn't believe Bai Kai's words. He was obviously pretending to be drunk just now. Besides, there were so many filth in that house, and I didn't hear his thing make any noise. Maybe Qin Yiheng suddenly discovered something, or was lured away by Bai Kai's design.
I looked at Bai Kai, and his expression didn't seem like he was lying. I sat on the chair and continued talking to Bai Kai while paying attention to the movements outside the door. Based on my understanding of Qin Yiheng, I should be able to hear what he said when he passed by.
Bai Kai also sat opposite me, and the situation was the same as what happened between me and Qin Yiheng just now.
He seemed to organize his words again, and suddenly said, "Well, let me tell you something, as a way of repaying you for the beating I gave you in the mansion. Whether you believe it or not is up to you."
I felt a little excited when I heard it. No matter whether it was true or not, I would just listen to it first.
Bai Kai said: "I know you and Qin Yiheng have been doing business together for such a long time. Have you noticed a problem? Why does he have to take you with him?"
I was very upset when I heard that. Damn, isn't this saying that I'm useless? In our line of work, it seems that I just draft a contract and estimate the house price, but this also requires a high level of professional quality. Besides, how many times have I worked hard to help Qin Yiheng?
I asked him, "Do you mean that Qin Yiheng can find someone else to cooperate with?"
Bai Kai nodded and said, "Haven't you ever thought about it? There are a lot of people like you, but Qin Yiheng is a hard-to-find guy."
I felt a little guilty about the question. After thinking about it, I realized that Qin Yiheng and I were old friends, and he didn't seem to be a money-grubber. Did he feel sorry for me? Did he want to help me?
Bai Kai smiled meaningfully and said, "Because you are Qin Yiheng."
I was confused and asked Bai Kai what he meant. He asked me to think about it carefully first, otherwise I might not be able to accept it even if he told me.
I pondered over it and thought, "Is this a riddle? Considering what Qin Yiheng said that night at the bath center, I'm afraid there really is something mysterious in it."
I thought about it for a few minutes and went over the details of that night at the bath center in my mind, but I still had no clue.
Plus, I don’t know what happened to Bai Kai’s katydid, it was chirping more and more excitedly, which made me annoyed. I had no choice but to wave my hands at Bai Kai and said, “I really can’t think of anything else.”
Bai Kai nodded and poured me a glass of water. I took a sip and suddenly found a problem -
Just now Bai Kai said that the katydid chirps because it senses filth, but now Qin Yiheng has run far away, so why does the katydid's chirping never stop?
I was sweating coldly. Damn it, was I tricked? Was boiled water the dirty thing?
I looked at Bai Kai, and his expression didn't change. I had another guess - was he deliberately delaying me? Otherwise, why would he keep it a secret?
I had to be more alert and moved away, and asked Bai Kai: "Why is your katydid still chirping?" I tried to act as nonchalant as possible.
Bai Kai actually moved closer to me and said, "If it stops barking, then something might have happened." Then, he put on a mysterious expression and continued, "And, listen carefully, it's not barking because it found food, but because it's scared."
He was almost right next to my ear when he said this, and the katydid chirping was also getting closer, which made me feel upset.
I simply stood up and walked around the room for a few steps, thinking about whether I should stay here. In the end, I decided to stay. Since Qin Yiheng didn't tell me, I really needed to listen to Bai Kai's words.
