"Why are you so tacky?"
"Spill it out."
"I am a," I looked at him steadily, speaking with emotion, "Real Worm."
Cheng Jiayang had been drinking water, which he choked on: "Don't tease me, I only know about real people. Like the Supreme Pure One."
"How uneducated can you be? A real person is someone who has become immortal; a real worm is an enlightened worm."
Cheng Jiayang was about to laugh himself breathless: "Go on, what happened after?"
"The Demi Immortal said the reason I kept getting sick was because of my special identity. Tathagata wanted to take me back. My mom panicked and begged him to save me."
"He gave you a talisman, you burnt it and drank the ashes, right?"
"How did you know?"
"That's how they always show it on TV. Then what? You never got sick again?"
"That very night I had diarrhea, got dehydrated, and ended up in the hospital."
He rested his chin on my shoulder, laughing silently, his warm breath tickling my ear.
