The car stopped.
The wooden doors were pulled open from the outside, and a cold wind mixed with snowflakes blew into the warm carriage.
The passengers, still adjusting to the sudden chill, were stunned before they could even shiver—
several bloodied figures crawled in from outside, their faces and heads covered in blood, making it impossible to discern their faces or genders.
"Help! Help!" the bloodied figures cried, clinging to the doors and frantically trying to squeeze into the car.
A farmer named Big Hammer rushed forward to help, asking, "What happened? Is there any danger outside? Get in quickly, we need to close the doors!"
Another young man named Qianzhuzi was more concerned about the injuries. Upon examination, although the wounds looked gruesome, none were life-threatening.
Luo Yi had wanted to help, but remembering Hua Jiqiu's earlier instructions, he could only watch coldly from the sidelines, secretly counting that six injured people had boarded, clearly exceeding Hua Jiqiu's earlier statement of "two."
At this time, the carriage remained stationary, not moving.
"What's going on? Why isn't the carriage moving?!" one of the injured exclaimed anxiously, using a wooden stool or bundle to prop open the door, still shaken. "If they chase after us, everyone on this carriage will die!"
"Who are they?" Qian Zhuzi asked.
Another woman, her face covered in blood, replied, "They're the notorious martial arts madmen around here! They attack anyone they see! No one can control them!"
"May I ask your names?" Hua Jiqiu suddenly asked.
Because the others had come to help earlier, and Hua Jiqiu had remained silent, the injured all looked at this gentleman, who appeared to be over forty, instinctively feeling that this scholar-like man was probably in charge of the carriage.
Several of the injured had roughly wiped the blood from their faces. Some of them were still groaning from the wounds on their arms and legs. Two of the less seriously injured answered for them:
"We are all from Yuanjia Village. We are all surnamed Yuan. The fat one is Da Bei, the one whose ear was slashed is Xiao Bei, and these two are Tie Dan'er and Xiu Cai. My name is Ren De, and this is my wife, Cui Ju."
The woman named Cui Ju said anxiously, "Hurry up and tell the driver to start the carriage! If we don't leave now, we'll be too late!"
The other passengers in the carriage were all looking at Hua Ji Qiu.
Hua Jiqiu shrugged, unable to get the carriage moving. "The carriage isn't moving; it must be waiting for someone, which means not everyone is here yet."
Cuiju cried out anxiously, "If we wait any longer, the madman will come! That madman was a martial arts graduate back in the day; we're no match for him."
Hua Jiqiu didn't know how to answer the woman, so he turned to the scholar and asked, "May I ask your name, sir?"
The scholar's headband was stained with blood, making it unrecognizable. He weakly replied, "My surname is Yuan, my given name is Cheng, and my courtesy name is Shuoyue."
Hua Jiqiu nodded without speaking.
The group began urging the carriage to move again, causing panic among the other passengers. Xiaofeng ran to Luo Jin's side, "What if the madman really comes? We've all heard of the martial arts madman from Yuanjia Village!"
"What's the madman's name?" Although Luo Jin didn't understand why Hua Jiqiu was so interested in the passengers' names, he still asked.
"I don't know," Xiaofeng said, glancing back at his mother, Liu Shi.
Liu held the child in her arms and whispered to Luo Yu, "Brother Luo, Mr. Hua must be careful this time. If we let the madman onto the bus, the lives of everyone on board could be in danger."
"Sister-in-law," Luo Yu didn't know what to call Liu, so he simply addressed her as "sister-in-law," "You just told me that if the wrong passengers are left on this bus, the bus will crash and everyone will die."
Liu nodded, glancing at the injured villagers from Yuanjia Village, unsure which ones to leave on the bus.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!" A knocking sound came from outside
the bus door. Everyone inside tensed up, especially the villagers from Yuanjia Village, who all scrambled inside: "The madman is here! The madman has killed people!"
But everyone understood that if they didn't open the door for those outside, the bus would likely remain there forever.
When the door opened, everyone gasped again.
It wasn't a madman or a bleeding wounded person who came up, but a person covered in festering sores, looking less like a human and more like a toad spirit.
People wanted to chase him away, but no one dared to touch him, fearing that the yellow pus on his body would seep onto them and turn them into that horrifying, disgusting creature.
"Throw this wretched woman out!" Cuiju's voice cracked.
A wretched woman? Only then did everyone realize that the sores-covered figure was actually a woman.
Cuiju and Deren, the couple, backed away forcefully: "Her sores are contagious, throw her out!"
The toad-like woman wisely hid near the carriage door, head bowed, not daring to utter a sound.
"You know her? Are you from the same village?" Luo Yu asked.
Seeing that no one spoke, Cuiju could only take the initiative to explain, "She used to be a girl from our village, but she went to the city and went astray, even coming back with a host of venereal diseases. Look at all those sores on her body; those are diseases only prostitutes get!"
The toad woman didn't utter a sound, keeping her head down as if afraid of being stared at.
The scholar seemed to feel a little sorry for her, so he also said, "Actually, Changting didn't go astray... but to bury her father and also to treat her mother's illness, that's why..."
"What did you say her name was?" Hua Jiqiu asked somewhat sensitively.
"Changting," the scholar sighed, "that was her name when she was in the village."
Later, she probably didn't change her name, but people gradually forgot her real name and only called her Toad.
"Get her off the bus right now!" Cuiju covered her nose tightly to avoid smelling the stench of Changting's festering sores. "Do you want to stay in the bus with this toad forever?"
"Toad?" Changting finally spoke, "A madman is chasing me, trying to kill me."
"The filthy pus from your sores might even melt that madman's knife! Get off now!" Cuiju cursed viciously.
Changting fell silent, sitting there with her head down.
The bus still didn't move.
"Is the bus waiting for that madman?" Luo Yu asked Hua Jiqiu in a low voice.
Hua Jiqiu looked at the time on her phone: "Hopefully he'll get on soon. It's almost 11:00, we can't wait any longer."
"..."
"I'm sorry, Xiao Luo, I really wanted to tell you my judgment, but with everyone here, I'm afraid that saying something might cause unnecessary damage." Hua Jiqiu's expression was very apologetic.
"That's alright, Director Hua. As long as you can make the right judgment, it doesn't matter whether you tell me or not," Luo Jin said, but he knew in his heart that Hua Jiqiu had accurately identified the passengers who should stay during the four previous stops when four groups of people boarded.
"Bang—" The door was suddenly forced open.
All the passengers rushed in frantically, because the first person to enter wasn't a person, but a huge cleaver.
The owner of the cleaver was a disheveled, dirty, burly man: "Kill you, kill you, kill you! Kill you, kill you, kill you! Kill you, kill you, kill you!"
"…" Luo Jin was both terrified and speechless.
Hua Jiqiu was also frightened by the large cleaver, and asked in a slightly trembling voice, "Who are you? Why are you killing people indiscriminately?"
"I am the Martial Arts Champion! I am the number one Martial Arts Champion in the world! I am number one! I am number one, I am number one, I am number one!" The martial arts fanatic started repeating himself again.
"…May I ask what your name is, Martial Arts Champion?" Hua Jiqiu mustered his courage and continued to ask.
Luo Yu stared intently at the madman with vacant eyes, sensing the possibility that he might answer—"My name is Martial Arts Champion! My name is Martial Arts Champion!
My name is Martial Arts Champion!" The madman tilted his head and stared blankly at Hua Jiqiu for a while: "I, Yuan Chonghua, never change my name! Yuan Chonghua! My name is Yuan Chonghua! My name is Yuan Chonghua! My name is Yuan Chonghua!"
"Which 'Chong' is it?" Hua Jiqiu continued to ask.
The madman rolled his eyes at Hua Jiqiu: "Because I was born with double pupils, I am named Chonghua!"
Upon hearing this, Hua Jiqiu let out a long sigh of relief, no longer afraid of the large cleaver in Yuan Chonghua's hand, and walked to the center of the carriage.
The others in the carriage remained silent, wondering what decision Hua Jiqiu was about to make.
Seeing Hua Jiqiu staring at her and her husband, Cuiju was the first to plead, "Lord Che, Lord Che! Please, have mercy, don't throw us out!"
Luo Yu: Lord Che?
Hua Jiqiu explained earnestly, "Everyone, don't be anxious. You all rushed onto the carriage just now to escape the madman, and you're all wary of Changting's skin condition. So, we'll leave the martial arts champion and Changting on the carriage, and the rest of you can go home without worry."
The crowd paused, this seemed like a good suggestion.
The other older passengers, though reluctant, were also wary of this "Lord Che" who held the power of decision; their faces were grim, but they remained silent.
The scholar suddenly said, "Lord Che, please have mercy! We've been ravaged by the blizzard, our homes destroyed and our lives lost. The village is almost buried under snow! We're fleeing for our lives, and we encountered a madman on the way, which is why we were injured... Please let us stay! We don't mind Changting, nor do we mind the madman! We're willing to share a room with them!"
After the scholar's few words, Luo Jin didn't know how to refuse.
Hua Jiqiu said nothing, stood up and walked to Changting's side, showing no sign of disgust. Instead, he reached out and opened the carriage door: "Please, six villagers, get off the carriage. This is not a place for you."
The six people slowly stood up, their faces filled with despair.
Luo Jin couldn't bear it and didn't dare meet their eyes.
But Hua Jiqiu's decision, like the previous ones, was like an irresistible "imperial decree," and the six people ultimately left with resentment.
The carriage door finally closed.
The carriage sped forward again.
This time, the judgment was correct.
Luo Yi looked at Hua Jiqiu: "What's the next step? According to what you said before, everyone is here now."
"I don't know how the plot will unfold, but I've done what I should regarding the selection of people," Hua Jiqiu replied.
The car sped forward for a while, and the people inside seemed to feel warmer and warmer. Xiao Feng pushed open the car window: "My God! Look! The peach blossoms are blooming! The peach blossoms are blooming!"
Everyone crowded to look out the window. The icy and snowy scene outside was gone, replaced by a vibrant scene of life.
The peach trees, which were full of buds, were now in full bloom. The grass on the hillside turned green, and the spring water broke through the ice and began to flow.
The car gradually came to a stop.
Just as everyone was wondering what was going on, Hua Jiqiu opened the car door: "Everyone, get out of the car. You belong to spring."
Everyone got out of the car one after another. The madman had thrown away his machete at some point, and he no longer had that madness.
Changting, who had looked like a toad, had completely changed. The sores on his face and body were gone, and his skin had become as white and rosy as a peach blossom.
Hua Jiqiu and Luo Tan were the last to get out of the carriage. There was an old peach tree right there, and under the tree were brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. It was unclear who had put them there.
Hua Jiqiu pondered for a moment, then picked up a brush, dipped it in cinnabar, and placed a red dot on the lapel of each of the nine men.
"Director Hua, what are you doing?" Luo Tan asked, increasingly puzzled.
"I'm drawing nine."
"Drawing nine?"
Hua Jiqiu smiled. "This is an old tradition. In ancient times, people would draw nine on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. It's not complicated; it just has nine characters, and each character has exactly nine strokes. The person drawing the nine would add one stroke each day, and when it was finished, eighty-one days had passed, which meant the end of the nine-day period and the beginning of spring."
"Is what you're talking about similar to the Nine-Nine Cold-Dispelling Chart?" Luo Tan asked.
"Little Luo, it seems you're not entirely ignorant about New Year customs."
Luo Jin looked at the nine diverse people, truly puzzled as to what criteria Hua Jiqiu had used to select them.
"Because those nine characters are: 'The willows before the pavilion cherish the spring breeze,'" Hua Jiqiu replied earnestly.
Luo Jin was about to write these characters down when he suddenly noticed that each of the nine people had a character appearing on a red dot on their lapel, which, when put together, formed the same phrase: "The willows before the pavilion cherish the spring breeze.
" "This is the ancients' anticipation of spring," Hua Jiqiu said meaningfully.
Luo Bu found it truly amazing: "Director Hua, Uncle Hua, how did you make that judgment?"
"I just felt that the world was always in winter, which was a bit strange, and everyone seemed to be emphasizing 'coldness,' highlighting the unbearable cold. This reminded me of the various folk customs of the ancients longing for spring," Hua Jiqiu explained. "Until the first case came up, the names of the people who got on the bus were very peculiar, most of them related to winter, except for three others. I wrote down all their names, and that's when this vague answer came to mind."
"My goodness, Uncle Hua, you're amazing!"
"No, researching folk customs is just my job," Hua Jiqiu replied modestly.
Just then, a gust of east wind blew, and peach petals fluttered down. Luo Bu, with his sharp eyes, suddenly noticed something that looked like a piece of wood falling with the petals. He squatted down, picked it up, and looked at it—
"A fragment, a fragment! There's a peach blossom carved on it!"