The adults
sat on the bamboo folding chairs or folding stools with their palm leave hand
fan and kids ran around the locust tree.
Bamboo
folding chair
Photo credit:
jd.com
Bamboo stools
Photo credit: jd.com
Palm leave
hand fan
Photo credit: aliexpress.com
When they saw
Lin Shuo, they stopped chattering and starting greeting him in their regional
dialect:
“Instructor
Lin, how are you?”
“Instructor
Lin, who are all these people?”
“Instructor
Lin, are you taking a trip?”
“Instructor
Lin, how long are you going to be gone? What about my kid’s study?”
Lin Shuo paused
for a second then turned around and placed the ebony box upright next to the
SUV.
Smiling, he walked
over to the locust tree. Raising his pant legs a bit, he sat in one of the
folding stools vacated by a villager and started chitchatting with them.
They were
conversing in a heavily accented regional dialect. Neither Anne nor Wei
Xingshan could understand a word they were saying.
Thirty minutes
had passed and the sky was completely dark.
The mercenaries
had long since finished removing the back seat and just waiting for Lin Shuo to
take off.
Anne stood and
waited patiently by the SUV but Wei Xingshan couldn’t quite control his
termperament, “What’s that bastard going on and on about? It is going to take
another 7 hours to get through the mountains.”
Anne just
ignored him. Vice captain Liu Qing said, “Captain Wai, that is normal. Be a
little more patient.”
Wei Xingshan
remained silent for a while, then pointed at two mercenaries next to him and
then pointed at the ebony box sitting next to the SUV, “Hey, you two, hurry up
and put this box inside the car. It’s dark outside, and a coffin next to me. So
creepy.”
The two
mercenaries smiled and carried out his order right away.
Both soldiers
were about 1.8 meters (approx. 5 ft 9 in) with a sturdy build. None of them
gave the box a second thought. They went over to both side of the box and
planned on directly carrying the box into the car.
One of the
mercenaries gave it a push and let out a “huh?”. The ebony box didn’t give way
at all.
He gave it
another push. Still, the box didn’t move, but the mercenary took a step back.
“What? You
haven’t had lunch yet or something?” Teased his teammate then he grabbed the
box with both arms and tried to lift it.
He gave his all
his might and the color on his face changed. He turned as if he wanted to say
something to Wei XIngshan but finally didn’t say anything.
“Oh, c’mon,
step away you two!” said Wei Xingshan impatiently. “This is embarrassing. Here,
let me!”
After he was
done talking, Wei XIngshan took a couple step forward and grabbed the black
sash hanging down on one side and lugged it over his shoulder.
“What?”
Still the box
didn’t move.
The remaining
dozen or so mercenaries gathered around and one of them said, “Captain Wei, do
you need some help?”
“No.” replied
Wei Xingshan with a serious look.
He assumed a
steady horse stance and grabbed the black sash tightly. With both feet planted
steadily on the ground, he slowly exert more forces to lift the box.
Horse Stance
Photo Credit: baike.com
“CRACKLE!
CRACKLE!”
All the joints
on this 1.9 meter giant man crackled and veins were bulging out on his neck.
“Up!” roared
Wei Xingshan. The wooden box shook a little then finally slowly being lifted
off the ground.
Half an inch,
one inch, one and a half inch, two inches.
Two inches off
the ground and Wei Xingshan’s body started to shook violently and his face
turned purple.
Right when he
was about to be spent, he felt that the weight on his shoulder suddenly
decreased by half and the wooden box was lifted up.
He turned his
head and saw that Lin Shuo had already returned from the old locust tree and
had bent over and lifted the backend of the wooden box.
Lin Shuo gave a
fake smile and said, “I appreciate your help, but I got this.”
While saying
that, Lin Shuo reached out his hand and grabbed onto the black sash. A casual
swing and slug and the ebony box was placed steadily on his back.
Surrounding
them, all the mercenaries looked at Lin Shou like they were staring at a ghost.
Others might
not know how strong Wei Xingshan was, but his team was well aware of it.
Three years
ago, he was the champion of the dead lift event. He was the strongest in the
entire team.
Wei Xingshan
looked at Lin Shuo with very complicated emotions and mumbled, “You look skinny
and all, how are you so strong? And, what’s inside the box?”
“You will find
out.” When he was done talking, Lin Shuo, lugging the box on his back, opened
up the hatch back of the SUV.
As though it
was nothing but a regular back pack, Lin Shuo took off the box and place it’s
end on the backside of the car. Then, with a shove, the entire box went inside
the vehicle.
Along with his
action, the SUV shook violently and the tires visibly depressed.
Everybody
witnessing this was silent.
……
With the
engines roaring, the SUVs slowly drove away from this remote village on the border
of southwest China.
Just when they
were about to leave the village, Lin Shuo opened up the window and the starling
flew inside and landed on his shoulder.
The bird looked
a little depressed and remained motionless and quiet.
“What
happened?” Lin Shuo turned his head and looked at him.
“Shuo ge.” The starling said in a low, deep
voice, “I ended up…. lying to them after all. I said I will be back.”
Lin Shou looked
at all the lights from houses in the rearview mirror and pondered.
“Will we be
coming back?” asked the starling.
“I hope so.”
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