Traveling Through Those Years Of Farming (Quick Transmigration) - Chapter 30

“You say he is your lover?” Baobao asks, a little surprised. Fortunately, the old lady is so focused on the young man in the painting that she doesn’t notice Baobao’s expression.

If Baobao remembers correctly, the young man she has seen not long ago looks very similar to the one in the painting. If he is the old lady’s lover, he should be around the same age as the old lady.

“It’s strange, isn’t it? We haven’t seen each other for 61 years. When we left, he was still a young boy.” Xu Lin reaches out and gently brushes the face on the drawing paper, her eyes filled with nostalgia. “Back then, I couldn’t afford to take photos, so for all these years, I’ve only been able to hold him in my heart.”

She sighs softly before looking at Baobao with gentle eyes. “Thank you, child. You draw so well. It’s just like the photo. I almost feel like he’s standing right in front of me.”

As the old lady speaks, Baobao glances again at the young man in the military uniform. He is standing by the gate of the playground diagonally across from them, staring in their direction. Thinking back, the second time Baobao had seen him, he had been standing under the large banyan tree at the entrance of the men’s dormitory, gazing off into the distance, which seemed to be in the direction of their dormitory.

Sixty-one years ago, the war was still ongoing, so the worn military uniform and the special dress of the man could be explained. However, strangely, Baobao doesn’t sense any evil energy from him. This is unusual because, ever since discovering she can see things others can’t, she has always felt a sense of malevolent energy surrounding spirits.

Can the soul of the dead behave like a living person? This is something she has never found an answer to in the Taoist secrets.

“Then, then he…” Baobao hesitates, unsure whether to tell the old lady that her lover is still nearby.

“He… lives in another place,” the old lady interrupts gently, offering a soft, affectionate smile. “Back then, we were so far apart, and the journey was difficult, so he stayed somewhere else. Maybe he’s married and has children by now.”

She prefers to believe this. For her, she only wishes to wait a little longer, just in case…

The road home is far, so she chooses to stay here, lighting a lamp for him.

“How about this…” Baobao hesitates. Would it be better to let the old lady believe that the man is still alive in some corner of the world rather than telling her the truth—that he has passed long ago?

For the old lady, perhaps it is better to live in the hope that he is still alive, even if it means waiting in vain.

“Grandma Xu, there are still many details to improve in this painting. I’ll take it back today, and I’ll bring it to you tomorrow after I finish it.”

Baobao is still uncertain, but at least she can do one thing well—finish this painting. Having seen the young man and relying on her memory, she is confident she can make the portrait look lifelike. As for the childhood sweetheart’s portrait, she will wait a little longer.

“This is already very good,” the old lady says, unwilling to tear her gaze away from the painting. “Thank you, child.”

Her life has been so isolated over the years, confined to that small yard. Since becoming a dormitory manager two years ago, she has encountered more people, but she never thought of preserving him in a painting.

If she hadn’t seen Baobao drawing for the boy downstairs earlier and witnessed how lifelike the painting was, she probably wouldn’t have thought of it at all.

When Baobao returns upstairs with the paintings, she notices the dormitory layout has changed.

Fang Xinxin has used a stinky Nail lipstick to persuade Xu Hanyan to swap beds with her.

“I didn’t lie to her. I told her I met a ghost in the toilet last night, and she agreed to switch with me.” Seeing Baobao’s gaze, Fang Xinxin suddenly feels a bit guilty and quickly defends herself.

“How could there be ghosts in this world? Xinxin, you must have encountered a prank last night.” Xu Hanyan is tidying up her bed when she hears Fang Xinxin’s words and laughs awkwardly. However, she can’t act too mercenary, as though she were deliberately trying to please Fang Xinxin just to take advantage of her. “But we are good friends. Since you’re scared, I’ll let you sleep on the upper bunk.”

“It’s not a prank at all!” Fang Xinxin protests.

Earlier that day, she called her mother, but even her mother thinks she has been too shocked. No one, including her close friends, believes her experience from the night before.

The accommodation policy at the provincial university is strict. Freshmen are required to stay in the dormitories, and senior students have their attendance checked every night. If they are found to be absent at the specified time, they are punished three times and could even be expelled.

Fang Xinxin’s father is very old-fashioned. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have insisted she study in China in the 1990s, when studying abroad was the trend. If he knew she had been punished by the school for staying out overnight, he might just take back her living expenses.

As the only child, Fang Xinxin’s father, though old-fashioned, listens to the country. When the family planning policy was first implemented, her father decided to have only one child, though that didn’t mean he didn’t favor boys over girls.

In recent years, Fang Xinxin’s father has listened to the advice of several uncles and arranged for several of her cousins to work in the family business. If she doesn’t perform well, her position as the heir could be in jeopardy.

So, even though she is terrified, Fang Xinxin doesn’t dare move out of the school. She can only avoid the east bathroom as much as possible, and she doesn’t even dare glance in that direction.

“The dormitory in the east is indeed a bit weird,” Baobao says, setting the portrait she has been holding down. She speaks slowly, under Fang Xinxin’s expectant gaze.

“I have a few amulets here. You’d better keep them close to you.” Baobao pulls out a few amulets. Her mother had originally asked her to bring them just in case, and now they are coming in handy.

“No way, Baobao, you still believe in this stuff?” Xu Hanyan laughs, her tone exaggerated.

“Don’t give it to me!” Fang Xinxin quickly grabs the amulets, tucking them into her pajamas pocket. “I want them!”

Xu Hanyan isn’t a big believer in these things—just a bit greedy and fond of showing off. Lin Lan doesn’t believe in the supernatural either, but she is always considerate. This amulet is a token of her roommate’s care, so she carefully tucks it into her pocket. Baobao feels relieved to see that the three of them have kept the amulets close.

However, the most pressing matter now is figuring out what is going on in the bathroom. Otherwise, with so many people in the dormitory building, will she have to give amulets to everyone? She’d be kicked out as a weirdo promoting superstitions.

The next day, Baobao goes to the logistics department to ask about the bathroom.

“Hello, I’m a student in that female dormitory. I wanted to ask why the faucet in the east bathroom on the third floor always breaks so easily. Doesn’t the school plan to completely repair the pipe?” Baobao inquires.

“Classmate, it’s not that we don’t want to repair it, but the cost of replacing the whole pipeline is too high. Right now, the school’s funds are tight, focusing on teaching, research, and canteens. There just isn’t enough money for repairs. Besides, to fully repair the entire pipeline, we’d have to wait for the students’ vacation, or the repairmen will have to come in and out for a long time. It’s especially inconvenient in a girls’ dormitory.”

It’s clear that the staff member has been asked this question before, and he answers without hesitation.

“Oh.” Baobao nods. “Then, did a murder really happen in that bathroom, and are there wronged souls? Otherwise, the faucet’s breaking speed is just too fast.”

She feigns fear, shrinking her neck as she speaks.

“Hey, that’s just something the students made up to pass the time.” The staff member knows at once that Baobao must have heard a campus legend.

“The dormitory building is only a few years old. If a student really died, it would’ve spread throughout the province. How could it be forgotten so quickly?” His expression is calm, showing no signs of dishonesty.

Baobao has known several staff members here when she came to the logistics department to inquire about the situation, and the man who answers her question is a veteran employee who has worked there for over ten years. Since he confirms there has been no murders, it seems highly likely that none have occurred.

Baobao feels a little disappointed after failing to uncover any clues.

“Teacher Gu, come pick up our deputy director after work.” The employee talking to Baobao suddenly looks behind her and greets someone warmly.

“Well, I don’t have classes this afternoon, and I want to go to the movies with my wife.” The Teacher Gu mentioned by the employee is a very elegant man wearing glasses.

After a moment, a woman dressed fashionably and looking just right comes out of an office, quickly runs up to the man, takes his hand joyfully, and they leave together.

“Tsk, it’s quite a good fate to become the son-in-law of the vice president. No wonder there were so many outstanding graduates that year, but he’s the only one who stayed in school.”

Baobao’s hearing is sharp, and she catches the man’s whisper.

It seems the man realizes there is a female student standing nearby, so he quickly stops speaking and awkwardly smiles at her.

After leaving the logistics department, Baobao returns to the dormitory and hands the portrait she has carefully modified the night before to the dormitory manager.

“It’s just… perfect, like he’s standing right in front of me again.”

Xu Lin is so excited that she thinks the portrait from yesterday was good, but she doesn’t expect the little girl to create one so identical to the image in her memory.

Xu Lin takes out a stack of money, roughly one or two hundred yuan. At this price, she could buy a portrait from a somewhat famous young artist.

Baobao doesn’t take the money; her original intention isn’t to make money.

Xu Lin, unable to insist, instead hands her a box of smoked fish slices she has made. Her mother is from Shanghai, and the smoked fish she prepares has a sweet and salty flavor. She learned the recipe from her mother, and her cooking has a southern style.

Baobao doesn’t go to the cafeteria that day. She gets some rice, carries her lunch box, and wanders around half the campus before stopping at a spot and sitting by a nearby flower bed to eat.

The young man who often appears and disappears quickly stands next to her for a long time this time. He only disappears after Baobao finishes eating the smoked fish.

During this time, they don’t speak, but it seems like he knows Baobao can see him…

There are no new clues regarding the investigation of the east bathroom, but Baobao doesn’t expect to encounter someone she has met before so soon.

The Teacher Gu, whom the logistics staff had suspected of being a “Phoenix Man,” turns out to be their history theory teacher.