Chapter 13 Guesthouse
There were several tourist destinations in Fujian province, with countless visitors arriving each day. They disembarked at the Xiamen North Railway Station, where tourists could be seen everywhere, pulling their suitcases.
Xie Bian and Fan Wujie, traveling light, walked in with empty hands, appearing as though they were locals simply taking a stroll through the station.
In truth, they had once been locals here.
Despite the crowds, their striking appearances and exceptional presence set them apart, making them stand out like cranes among chickens. A man quickly approached and greeted them, “Where are you two going? Take our car, forty yuan per person, and we can take you anywhere. We offer trips to Gulangyu, Huandao Road, Zeng Cuo’an, South Putuo Temple……”
Xie Bian asked, “How do we get to Zhuye Village?”
The man hesitated, scratching his head. “That doesn’t seem like a tourist spot? I’ve lived here for thirty years, and I’ve never heard of it.”
This answer came as no surprise. Zhuye Village was a small settlement they had lived in a thousand years ago, a place that had never been well-known. It had been named as such because there was a bamboo forest near the village, so the villagers simply referred to it by that name. There were no historical records to speak of. A millennium later, the village might no longer exist or could have been renamed, making it impossible for modern-day people to have heard of it. Even if one used a GPS, the location wouldn’t show up.
Xie Bian politely declined the offer and, with Fan Wujie, walked out of the station. They had no intention of taking a tour. Their main purpose for coming here was to find the home they had lived in all those years ago.
As soon as they left the station, they saw towering skyscrapers lining the streets, with vehicles rushing by. The behemoth of the times devoured everything in the past, leaving no trace of the old world.
Fan Wujie sighed. “This place used to be filled with earthen houses, but now it’s all steel and concrete.”
Earthen houses were a traditional form of residence in Fujian, ranked alongside Beijing’s courtyards, Shaanxi’s cave dwellings, Guangxi’s stilt houses, and Yunnan’s one-stamp houses as one of the five unique types of Chinese architecture. China was vast and rich, with architectural styles as diverse as the land itself. Fan Wujie remembered how, as a child, their village had been made up of dozens of round earthen houses. Each building housed several dozen families, all sharing a single well. On sunny days, women would gather by the well to wash clothes, then hang them to dry upstairs, while children played in the courtyard, filling the space with the lively atmosphere of everyday life. On rainy days, the eaves dripped with the steady sound of rain, the atmosphere no less poetic than the misty, ancient cities of Jiangnan, with their gray bricks and black tiles. During the holidays, every household would hang red lanterns, and the buildings would glow with light, filling the streets with joy. He would even visit Xie Bian’s house, where he’d be given a piece of white sugar cake.
But now, all of that was gone, nothing more than a fleeting memory.
A passerby, overhearing his remark, kindly offered, “Are you two here for a tour? If you want to see the earthen houses, you can visit the ones in Nanjing. They’re still preserved. But that’s in Zhangzhou, quite a ways from here. I suggest you finish exploring Xiamen first.”
Xie Bian nodded in thanks, and the passerby waved before walking off.
They had no intention of visiting earthen houses. These buildings, once traditional homes, were now world heritage sites and famous tourist attractions. But for them, they were nothing more than buildings. One word could sum up their significance.
They were simply their home.
This place was both familiar and foreign. Walking down the bustling streets of the city, the two of them realized that they wouldn’t be able to find the location of Zhuye Village on their own. Asking any tour guide for help would be futile.
Fortunately, immortals did things differently from ordinary people.
They found a quiet alley and called upon the local land god directly.
A short, elderly man with a scruffy white beard hobbled out of the ground, leaning on a cane. He bowed deeply, saying, “I didn’t know that the Impermanence Immortals would grace this humble place. My apologies for the lack of a proper welcome. It’s truly an honor for this old man to have the chance to meet the Seven Master and Eight Master during my tenure.”
Across the country, there were countless earth gods and goddesses. The earth god, a type of local deity, changed every five hundred years. Although he appeared elderly, his experience was nowhere near that of the Black and White Impermanence. Naturally, he was thrilled to see them.
“We’re not distant guests, just returning home,” Xie Bian said.
The earth god stroked his beard, trembling. “Seven Master and Eight Master are from here? Such honor, such honor!”
“Earth God, do you remember where Zhuye Village is?” Fan Wujie cut straight to the point.
“Zhuye Village? Let me think. When you get older……” the earth god began, only to catch himself, realizing that the two before him were much older than he. Quickly stopping, he said, “Ah, yes, I remember now! Zhuye Village changed its name three hundred years ago. Its location was to the southwest. Please follow me, Seven Master, Eight Master.”
Xie Bian and Fan Wujie exchanged a glance before following him.
The earthen houses from their time were long gone, replaced by rows of flat-roofed homes. The bamboo grove where they had once practiced swordsmanship was no more. Instead, tall pines lined the roads, with elderly men in sleeveless shirts lounging beneath the trees, fanning themselves.
Although what they saw before them was entirely different from their memories, they still felt an instinctive pull, and both came to a stop in front of a quaint guesthouse.
This had once been their home.
Seeing that they had found their destination, the earth god offered a final salute and, without further word, retreated back into the earth.
Xie Bian and Fan Wujie stepped into the guesthouse. As soon as the door swung open, the electronic voice greeted them, “Welcome!” A massive electric fan in the room creaked as it spun, blowing a strong gust of air straight at the front desk.
At the front desk, the landlady was dozing off, her chin propped up on her hand. She jolted awake at the sound of the greeting and, upon seeing the two handsome men walking toward her, the sleepiness instantly vanished.
Wow, they’re really handsome. Could they be some internet celebrities?
There were plenty of influencers who flocked to this popular spot to take photos, but it was rare to encounter someone so strikingly beautiful in real life, without the aid of beauty filters.
The landlady greeted them with a bright, enthusiastic smile. “How many rooms would you two gentlemen like?”
Fan Wujie: “One double room.”
Xie Bian: “One king-size room.”
They spoke almost in unison.
Xie Bian gave Fan Wujie a cryptic glance, his eyes glinting coldly.
A chill ran down Fan Wujie’s back, and the instinct for self-preservation kicked in. He quickly corrected himself, “Just one king-size room.”
The landlady’s expression towards them became strange, probably already shipping them in her mind.
“One hundred yuan per night. Please register with your ID card,” the landlady said.
One hundred yuan per night was incredibly cheap, especially in an era when prices were skyrocketing.
They naturally had their ID cards, as they had been living among humans and had taken care of all the necessary paperwork. Fan Wujie handed over his ID for registration and also underwent facial recognition.
“Room 403,” the landlady handed them the key card.
The key card displayed the guesthouse owner’s contact information: a string of phone numbers, followed by the name Mr. Xu.
Xie Bian vaguely recalled that their neighbor in the earthen house had also been surnamed Xu.
“Landlady, how long has this guesthouse been open?” Xie Bian asked casually, as if making small talk.
The landlady was happy to answer. “It’s been more than ten years now. My husband opened the guesthouse. I moved in after we got married, and I became the landlady. I used to live just across the street. Our family has been here for generations. Fujian is truly a great place.”
Xie Bian smiled. “It truly is a place blessed with outstanding people and spiritual energy.”
A thousand years had passed, and the earthen houses had been torn down. The descendants of their neighbors back then still carried on their lives here, running a guesthouse to welcome tourists from all over.
Time had passed, the people had changed, but the surnames had been passed down, and the bloodlines endured. The people on this land continued to thrive.
The guesthouse had no elevator, so they climbed the wooden stairs to the fourth floor. Room 403 was at the very end of the hallway, with Room 404 directly opposite.
The number “four” sounds the same as the word for “death” in Chinese, making it an unlucky number, especially for rooms at the end of a hotel or guesthouse corridor, which are often rumored to be haunted.
Room 404’s door was closed, but Xie Bian could already tell from the outside that it was unoccupied by a living person. Instead, it housed a ghost.
The phrase “outstanding people and spiritual energy” was actually a double entendre.
The moment they stepped into the guesthouse, they knew it contained an earthbound spirit.
And it was in the room across the hall.
Xie Bian and Fan Wujie both understood this instinctively, but neither of them paid any mind to the vengeful spirit in Room 404. They swiped their key card and entered Room 403.
They had no intention of dealing with it.
The duty of the Black and White Impermanence was to guide souls to the underworld, bringing the spirits of those who were meant to pass on. Recently, their focus had narrowed to those who had performed great deeds in life.
As for vengeful spirits, they were typically born of unresolved grudges, trapped at the site of their death, unable to move on. These spirits were driven by resentment and attachment, lingering in the human world with no way to reincarnate. They didn’t belong to the list of souls to be captured. The Impermanence Immortals were not responsible for them unless they became malevolent and began to harm others, disrupting human destinies. Only then would the ghost envoys step in. But the spirit in the room across didn’t carry any trace of malevolence, no bloodlust. It hadn’t harmed anyone, so it wasn’t their concern.
As for delivering resentful spirits and resolving their resentment, that was something that monks, Taoists, and celestial masters in the human world should do. The ghost envoys were only responsible for capturing souls, not for serving as psychological counselors.
The Impermanence Immortals had seen the ever-changing nature of the world, and in doing so, they had learned to disregard it.
Since they had traveled all this way, they weren’t going to settle for just staying at a guesthouse. They decided to go out for a stroll, grab a bite to eat, and enjoy the city’s night view.
As Xie Bian and Fan Wujie went downstairs, they happened to cross paths with a young man dressed plainly who was entering the guesthouse. They exchanged a brief glance, but the young man didn’t seem to notice them and walked past without a word.
Xie Bian pulled his gaze away. “Let’s go. I’m in the mood for some satay noodles tonight.”
They left the guesthouse, and the young man went straight to the front desk. “Landlady, I’d like to book a room.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” the landlady said apologetically. “We’re fully booked.”
The young man was skeptical. “Room 404 is always available, right?”
The landlady’s expression shifted, her tone growing cautious. “How do you know about Room 404?”
The incident had caused quite a stir back then, even making it into the local newspapers. But judging by the young man’s accent, it was clear he was from out of town. How could he possibly know about Room 404?
The young man replied, “I read the news report.”
The landlady sighed. “If you’ve seen the news, then you know why Room 404 isn’t rented out. There’s another hotel just down the street. You should stay there instead.”
This wasn’t exactly a local secret. A few years ago, a female university student had traveled to meet her online boyfriend, only to encounter a murderer. She was killed in Room 404. Even after the killer was caught and sentenced to death, no one dared to stay in that room. For a long time, the guesthouse’s business suffered terribly, nearly forcing it to close.
Eventually, the public’s interest died down, and the guesthouse continued to operate, but Room 404 was never opened to guests again. Running a business required a bit of conscience, after all.
However, all these years, Room 404 hadn’t been haunted. The landlady didn’t believe in ghosts. If they did exist, she reasoned, it would be a harmless spirit, one that wouldn’t scare anyone.
The young man, full of righteous determination, said, “I’m not superstitious.”
“Well, alright then.” The landlady saw how stubborn he was and decided not to argue further. She had met plenty of young people looking for thrills. Anyway, the room wasn’t really haunted, so why not let him stay for the night?
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