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Chapter 19: Ghost Lamp Temple 50 years ago
Song Shuhang stared blankly at first, until he recognised who the man riding the bike was. He immediately became delighted, “Bo Zai? Why is it you? What’re you doing here?”
This good-looking boy was one of his three classmates Bo Zai. Bo Zai had a handsome appearance and an entirely uncharacteristically garbage name. His surname was Lin, so his full name was Lin Tubo.
Bo Zai has hated this name for more than 10 years, he felt that this name was lame to the point of being garbage. Because of this name, he and his father have fought for many years. There was even a time where he brought his passport and ID card to the related department to change his name. In the end, when his father found out, he dragged him home, and gave him a good beating.
Therefore, whenever Bo Zai met someone, he would ask them to call him Ah Bo, Little Bo or Bo Zai.
In reality, in Shuhang’s point of view, Tu Bo’s name could still be considered a tolerable one. Compared to others like Wang Erdan (Idiot Wang) and Liu Gousheng (Leftover Dogshit), his name was certainly much better. Don’t think of names like “Dogshit” as merely a joke. In Shuhang’s old home, there was someone who bore that name; however, that guy’s surname was Wang so he was called Wang Gousheng (Dogshit).
All along, Wang Gousheng had thought that he was actually not related to his father by blood, he even thought that his father bore a grudge against him. Otherwise, how could he possibly have been given such a name?
To get back onto topic, Shuhang had never thought that he would meet Bo Zai here.
“My grandpa lives in J City. This week, my whole family is over at my grandpa’s place. But what about you? Why are you running around in J City?” Bo Zai was speaking when he suddenly saw the long-legged beauty standing beside Shuhang. Instantly, he clapped his left palm with his right fist. He understood now. It seems like this fella, Shuhang, brought his girl here to play!
“Tsk tsk, Shuhang you don’t seem like it but your introverted exterior actually hides such a playboy? There was no word at all of you hooking up with such a gorgeous beauty. Next time, you definitely have to treat me to a meal.” Bo Zai laughed nastily.
Facing Bo Zai’s teasing, Song Shuhang was indifferent, without any telltale signs of being affected he said, “Don’t try to tease blindly, if she’s really my girlfriend I would burn incense to thank the heavens. This is my elder sister, Soft Feather. She wanted to come to J City to look for a place called Ghost Lamp Temple, but doesn’t know the way, which is why I’m accompanying her here.
“Really?” Tu Bo gazed intently at Shuhang.
Shuhang shrugged. Beside him, Soft Feather smiled sweetly.
“Heh, fine. If you say she’s your sister, then she’s your sister.” Tu Bo was not a gossip-monger. “Earlier you said you were looking for some temple? Have you found it?”
Song Shuhang shook his head, “We’ve searched online for a long time but couldn’t find anything, which is why we came down here to Luo Xin Street to see if anybody knows. However, even the hotel receptionist had never heard of Ghost Lamp Temple. We don’t even know if it changed its name or has been torn down, so we intend to find and ask some elderly locals, perhaps there might be clues by doing so.”
“If that’s the case… why don’t you visit my place? We could ask my grandpa and see. My grandpa is a proper born-and-bred J City resident, perhaps he’ll know of that Ghost-Something Temple you’re looking for. Tsk, what a miserable name; a temple with that kind of name definitely won’t many visitors. It’s probably already closed down!” Tu Bo clicked his tongue, he had vehement hatred for bad names.
Shuhang’s heart was gleeful, but he had to ask, “Will we be disturbing your family’s vacation?”
“Rest assured, my grandpa is great with guests. As for my father, he strongly wants me to study with other students instead of doing random things. I’m already in college, yet he wants me to study all day, it’s driving me crazy.” Tubo chuckled as he said.
Even though his words painted a depressing picture, their father and son relationship could be considered pretty good. The only problem was his father liked to beat people up. His father strongly believed that a wooden cane produces a well-educated child. His favourite phrase that he used to hang beside his mouth all the time was, “When it’s raining, it’s time to beat up the kids. There’s nothing better to do anyway.” This was quite a pain in Tubo’s ass.
In the end, Tubo asked, “Shuhang, do you know how to ride a motorcycle?”
“I do, but I don’t have a license.” Shuhang replied.
“It doesn’t matter, at a remote place like this, who would go through the trouble of checking people’s driving license?” Tubo laughed loudly, then turned around and called out, “Ah Tong, lend him your motorcycle for a while, you can ride with someone else for now!”
“Sure!” A big and buff guy got off his bike and stopped it in front of Song Shuhang.
“Thank you.” Shuhang smiled.
Ah Tong charismatically waved his hand, and rode pillion with one of his comrades.
Within the blink of an eye, the large swarm of people had their bikes roaring as they rode into the distance with a loud rumble.
Song Shuhang got onto the black motorcycle, and got a feel of it. He turned the throttled a little, and felt the body of the bike ferociously roar.
“This fella has been modified?” Shuhang braked and stopped the bike, smiling.
“All of these guys’ bikes have been personally modified by me. Their horsepower has been increased multiple times.” Tubo smirked.
He had forgotten that this fella is a tech otaku and skillful with his hands. Although it wasn’t to the point of being able to single-handedly build a Gundam, he’s still able to produce various interesting mechanical products.
“Soft Feather, get on the bike.” Shuhang turned around and called to Soft Feather.
It was lucky that she had left her huge luggage back at the hotel. Otherwise, how would they bring it along on such a small bike?
Soft Feather straddled onto the bike, sitting behind Shuhang. Her soft breasts pressed onto Shuhang’s back, causing Soft Feather to feel soft in the legs.
In front of them, Tubo laughed. “Follow me!”
Amidst the rumbling of the engines, two bikes shot into the distance one after the other.
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Tubo’s grandpa is a very modern old man, and he also liked to tinker with things like engines. This hobby of Tubo’s seems to have been inherited from his grandpa.
Because he is very modern, he easily gets along with young people.
“Ghost Lamp Temple? You mean there are still youngsters who know of that place?” Tubo’s grandpa laughed heartily.
When Shuhang heard him say that, he knew that something was definitely up!
Immediately, he asked, “Ah Ye, do you know where the Ghost Lamp temple is?”
Ah Ye was what the residents of Jiang Nan region, J City and the surrounding area liked to call grandfathers and elders of that age.
“Nowadays not many people know of that place, it’s from over 60 years ago. Most of those who know of it has entered a coffin, which is why most of you younglings don’t know of it.” Tubo’s grandpa brought everybody to the courtyard, and pointed towards a place in the east saying, “Keep going east, and you’ll find a forest around 700 metres in. After you enter it, you will find a large tomb, that is where Ghost Lamp Temple originally was.”
“Old tomb? Ghost Lamp Temple is a tomb?” Shuhang unconsciously asked a silly question.
“Ghost Lamp Temple has been destroyed?” Soft Feather’s eyes widened as she caught the main gist.
“Indeed. More than sixty years ago, it was bulldozed by some guy who constructed a giant tomb for himself.” Tubo’s grandpa replied.
So it was something that happened sixty years ago. At that time, not even televisions were widespread yet. It wasn’t like the current internet age where any tiny matter could be blown so out of proportion that everyone has heard of it.
Which is why there was simply no news regarding Ghost Lamp Temple. Only some of the elderly living in the local area knew what happened that year, so there weren’t many young people who knew about it.
“But, as far as I know, Ghost Lamp Temple is private property, isn’t it? Many years ago, didn’t someone already purchase it?” Soft Feather raised a doubt.
“You know quite a lot, little lady.” Tubo’s grandpa reminisced, “In reality…… at that time Ghost Lamp Temple’s land belonged to Trickster Huang, also known as tomb owner Huang Dagen. More than sixty years ago, he sold that Ghost Lamp Temple to a foreigner. But even before he sold it, he had already prepared to convert the Ghost Lamp Temple into a tomb. It just so happened that this foreigner came and offered to buy the temple. Therefore, Huang Dagen took advantage of this and sold the Ghost Lamp temple to him. However, several years later, when he saw that the foreigner never returned again, he had no qualms about building his own tomb on top of the Ghost Lamp temple.”
“So shameless?” Said Song Shuhang.
Tubo’s grandpa sighed then said, “The fella Trickster Huang is indeed shameless, the number of foreigners who were cheated by him in those years were many. There’s nothing that can be done about it, those foreigners were all silly and rich.”
Song Shuhang quietly glanced at Soft Feather——He was guessing that the one who bought Ghost Lamp Temple was very possibly Soft Feather’s elder.
However, there wasn’t an expression of anger on Soft Feather’s face. There was only a sigh, and she said, “Then, that guy named Trickster Huang should already be dead, right?”
These words, gave people chills.