Chapter Sixteen: The First Encounter with the Fat Man

Liu Jun arrived at the ticket counter, holding his ID card but didn’t step forward. Don’t ask why. With only sixty-five yuan in his pocket, was he really going to pay for facial recognition entry?

Mo Li approached Liu Jun with a smile on her face. She took his ID card, bought two tickets at the counter, then handed both the ID and tickets back to him. Liu Jun tucked away his ID and glanced at the tickets—sleeping berths.

“Good luck. The train to Jinzhou departs in half an hour. We need to get to the ticket check. It’s over twenty hours, so I bought sleeping berths. We can catch some sleep on the train too,” Mo Li said.

This time, no surprises occurred. They smoothly passed ticket inspection and boarded the train. Walking down the corridor, they found their sleeping berths as indicated on the tickets. Mo Li had the upper berth, Liu Jun the middle, and the lower berth was already occupied by a hefty man weighing at least three hundred jin. Mo Li said nothing, climbed to the upper berth, lay down, closed her eyes, seemingly meditating. Just as Liu Jun was about to climb into the middle berth, the fat man grabbed him.

“Why are you pulling me? If I fall because of you, believe me, I’ll make you pay dearly,” Liu Jun glared at the man.

“Heh heh, meat’s cheap anyway. Hey buddy, is the girl on the upper berth your girlfriend?” The audacity of this fat man, daring to make a move on Mo Li!

“What’s it to you?” Liu Jun snapped.

“Heh heh, if she’s not your girl, how about we switch beds? I take the middle, you take the lower.”

The man’s lecherous grin was repulsive.

“You must be dreaming. You up top? Do you even know yourself? If you sleep up there, I’d be scared you’d roll off and crush me into mince,” Liu Jun retorted without holding back. This fat man dared to fancy Mo Li, but Liu Jun hadn’t even dared to think about her that way yet.

Having said his piece, Liu Jun ignored the man and climbed into the middle berth, placing his backpack and pillow neatly before leaning back to play on his phone.

“If you don’t want to, fine. No need to be so fierce,” the fat man mumbled quietly.

Footsteps sounded again. An elderly man, bent over with a slight stoop, carrying an old-fashioned suitcase in one hand and a ticket in the other, entered. He stopped by the lower berth opposite them, set the suitcase aside, and sat quietly, staring blankly ahead.

After a while, just as the train was about to depart and Liu Jun thought the two berths opposite were empty, a voice came from the entrance.

“You’re so slow. Took you so long to find me; we almost missed the train.”

Liu Jun looked up. It was the young woman he had seen earlier at the station making a phone call.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s all my fault. I’m just too dumb. Only you would put up with me. I promise I’ll find you earlier next time,” a handsome young man beside her said affectionately.

Tsk tsk, Liu Jun thought, this is some serious public display of affection. Bro, your promise is a bit rash. With your girl’s description skills, it’s a miracle you even caught this train.

The couple walked inside. The cute girl glanced at the old man on the lower berth and then at the fat man but didn’t seem inclined to speak. She climbed up to the upper berth. Liu Jun was deeply absorbed in his phone when the girl’s voice came from the opposite berth.

“Honey, look, the sign! The sign I told you about on the phone,” she exclaimed excitedly. Ha, the sign.

“Xiaoya, stop fooling around,” the young man gently scolded his girlfriend.

“Sorry, please don’t mind. My girlfriend’s a bit silly sometimes,” he apologized to Liu Jun.

Liu Jun said nothing, just shook his head to indicate no offense. So this silly girl’s name was Xiaoya.

Around eleven at night, the passengers were quietly asleep, and the whole carriage was peaceful except for occasional footsteps and the thunderous snores of the fat man below. His snoring was so loud it was almost comparable to thunder without the lightning.

“So noisy, so noisy, so many people... uncomfortable,” the old man in the lower berth opposite muttered in his sleep, clutching his head tightly as if many voices were yelling in his ears, causing him a headache.

Suddenly, the berth creaked as Mo Li woke and climbed down the ladder. She stood silently before the old man. Liu Jun thought for a moment, then also got down to stand beside her without saying a word.

After a while, the old man gradually calmed down, lowering his hands from his head.

“Supreme pardon decree, transcend your lonely soul, all ghosts and spirits, receive grace in all four lives. Pardoning and saving all beings, hasten their transcendence. Seal the mark, depart!” Mo Li murmured a chant softly, formed a hand seal, and a golden light swiftly enveloped the old man.

“Old man’s time has come. It’s inconvenient to use talismans here, so I just used the transcendence incantation,” Mo Li whispered to Liu Jun, tilting her head slightly. Then she returned to the upper berth and resumed her meditation.

Liu Jun climbed back to his berth, lying quietly but unable to fall asleep. Life, in the end, is just about birth and death. To live, is to survive. To die, is to end it all. He drifted into a heavy sleep.

A piercing scream suddenly rang out. It was Xiaoya, who had gotten up early to freshen up. She stepped on the old man’s foot on the ladder and hurriedly apologized, but when she noticed he didn’t respond, she grew curious and leaned closer, only to discover he was already dead. She screamed in terror.

Liu Jun sat up, watching from above as the young man comforted Xiaoya. Soon, the train police arrived, examined the scene, then called a doctor and additional officers. The doctor examined the old man and concluded he had died of organ failure. In truth, many elderly people who seem to die of old age actually succumb to organ failure.

“You all pack up. We’ll move you to another sleeping carriage,” one officer said.

Liu Jun and the others didn’t argue, quickly gathering their things and following the officers to a different carriage. After all, few people want to stay with a corpse in the same sleeping compartment.

Once settled in the new berths, they put down their belongings. Liu Jun, Mo Li, and the fat man went to freshen up, while the young man continued to comfort Xiaoya. Understandably, a girl suddenly confronted with such a situation would take time to accept it.

During his wash, Liu Jun noticed the fat man nearby.

“Heh heh, brother, do you guys practice Daoist arts?” the fat man looked around cautiously before asking.

“No, you’ve watched too many movies,” Liu Jun thought with puzzlement. How did this fat man know they practiced Daoist arts?

“Brother, I saw what you did last night. You guys are definitely masters. Can you take me as your disciple? I’m willing to endure hardship,” the fat man said, likely having seen Mo Li use her powers last night, assuming Liu Jun could do the same. Yet Liu Jun hadn’t even drawn a talisman properly.

“No teaching, and I can’t do it,” Liu Jun said, turning away.

The fat man didn’t persist, quickly wiping his face and following Liu Jun back to the berth.

“Brother, it’s too cramped up there. Why don’t you sit down here on the lower berth for a while?” the fat man urged as Liu Jun was about to climb up. Liu Jun thought it over—his legs weren’t keen on climbing up and down—and agreed, sitting down with the fat man on the lower berth for a while.