Scholar Song was momentarily taken aback, but upon recognizing the young man on the motorcycle, he instantly brightened, "Bozi? Is that you? What are you doing here?"
The handsome boy was one of his three roommates, Bozi. Despite his striking looks, he had a rather unremarkable name—Lin Tupo.
For over a decade, Bozi had regretted this name, feeling it sounded as dull as dirt. He had fought with his father for years over it. There was even one time he took his household registration and ID to the authorities to try and change it, only to be discovered by his dad, who dragged him home and gave him a good thrashing.
So, Bozi insisted that everyone call him Abo, Xiao Bo, or simply Bozi.
To Scholar Song, the name Tupo wasn't so bad. Compared to names like Wang Erdan or Liu Gousheng, it was a significant improvement. You might think those names were just for laughs, but back in Song's hometown, there was indeed someone named Wang Goudan.
Wang Goudan believed he couldn't possibly be his father's biological son, convinced that his dad had some vendetta against him; otherwise, why would he give him such a name?
Returning to the present, Scholar Song certainly hadn't expected to run into Bozi here.
"My grandpa lives in J City. My family and I came to visit him this week. But what about you? What brings you to J City?" Bozi asked, noticing the tall girl next to Scholar Song. He suddenly smacked his right fist into his left hand—realization struck him. So, Scholar Song had brought a girl along!
"Tsk tsk, Scholar Song, I didn't know you had it in you! You're keeping it low-key, huh? You managed to snag such a pretty girl. You must treat me to a meal tomorrow!" Bozi teased with a mischievous grin.
Scholar Song remained unfazed, his expression as calm as the depths of a still pond. "Cut the nonsense; if she really were my girlfriend, I'd be counting my blessings. This is my sister, Fay Yu. She's looking for a place called Ghost Lantern Temple in J City but doesn't know the way, so she asked me to accompany her."
"Really?" Tupo studied Scholar Song intently.
Scholar Song shrugged, while Fay Yu smiled sweetly beside him.
"Hey, fine, if you say she's your sister, then she's your sister." Tupo wasn't one to pry further. "So, what temple were you looking for? Did you find it?"
Scholar Song shook his head. "I've searched online for a long time but couldn't find anything, so I came to the local area to ask around to see if anyone knew. But the hotel staff didn't know about Ghost Lantern Temple either; they weren't sure if it was renamed or demolished. So, I thought I'd ask some local elders. Maybe they'd have some leads."
"I see… why don't you come over to my place? We can ask my grandpa. He's a local from the Luo Street area in J City; he might know where that ghost something temple is. Tsk, what a ridiculous name! A place with a name like that probably doesn't have many visitors and must have closed down!" Tupo exclaimed, clearly unimpressed by the name.
Scholar Song felt a rush of hope but asked, "Will I be bothering your family?"
"Don't worry! My grandpa is very hospitable. As for my dad, he'd rather I spend more time with my classmates than tinkering around at home. Even now that I'm in college, he still insists I study all day, like he's trying to drive me crazy," Tupo chuckled.
Despite his complaints, their father-son relationship was decent; it was just that his dad had a tendency to be strict. He firmly believed that discipline was key to raising a child. His favorite saying was that on rainy days, it was a good time to discipline the kid since there was nothing else to do. This often left Tupo feeling a bit exasperated.
Finally, Tupo asked, "Can you ride a motorcycle, Scholar Song?"
"I can, but I don't have a license," Scholar Song replied.
"That's fine. In this rural area, who's got the time to check for motorcycle licenses?" Tupo laughed heartily, then turned to shout, "A Yong, can I borrow your bike? You can share a ride with the others!"
"Sure thing!" A tall, burly guy hopped off his motorcycle and parked it in front of Scholar Song.
"Thanks!" Scholar Song smiled.
A Yong waved casually and joined the others in carpooling.
In a flash, a large group revved their motorcycles and rode off into the distance.
Scholar Song mounted the sleek black bike, testing the feel of it. He twisted the throttle gently and felt the bike lurch forward with surprising power.
"Wow, did you modify this?" Scholar Song chuckled, coming to a stop.
"Yeah, all of these bikes are my handiwork! They pack a real punch," Tupo grinned.
Scholar Song had almost forgotten that Tupo was quite the tech whiz; he was good with his hands. While he wasn't assembling Gundams by any means, he often created all sorts of interesting mechanical gadgets.
"Fay Yu, hop on!" Scholar Song called back.
Fortunately, her large suitcase was left at the hotel; otherwise, they would have had a hard time fitting it on the small bike!
Fay Yu swung her long legs over and settled in behind him.
Ahead, Tupo laughed, "Let's go!"
As the roar of the motorcycles filled the air, the two bikes sped off into the distance...
＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊
Tupo's grandpa was a trendy old man, fond of tinkering with mechanical gadgets. It seemed Tupo had inherited this passion from him.
Being trendy, he easily connected with the younger crowd.
"Ghost Lantern Temple? I can't believe young people still remember that place!" Tupo's grandpa laughed heartily.
Hearing this, Scholar Song felt a flicker of hope!
"Do you know where Ghost Lantern Temple is, Grandpa?" Scholar Song asked eagerly.
"Grandpa" was the term used in several districts around J City to refer to one's grandfather.
"Not many people know about that place these days. It's been over sixty years since it was relevant. Most of the folks who knew about it have already passed away. So, you younger people probably haven't heard of it," Tupo's grandpa said, leading them to the entrance of the yard and gesturing eastward. "If you go straight east for about seven hundred meters, you'll find a patch of woods. Keep going in, and you'll find a large grave. That's where the original site of Ghost Lantern Temple used to be."
"A grave? Ghost Lantern Temple was a grave?" Scholar Song blurted out, realizing he had asked a rather ignorant question.
"Does that mean Ghost Lantern Temple was demolished?" Fay Yu's eyes widened, piecing the truth together.
"Yeah, over sixty years ago, it was flattened by some guy who built a big grave for himself," Tupo's grandpa explained.
So it was a story from sixty years ago—back then, even television wasn't common, unlike today, where every little incident becomes widely known through the internet.
That's why there was no information about Ghost Lantern Temple; not many local young people knew about it. Only some of the older generation remembered what had happened back then.
"But I heard Ghost Lantern Temple was private property. A long time ago, someone paid to buy it, right?" Fay Yu asked, puzzled.
"You know quite a bit, little girl," Tupo's grandpa recalled. "Actually… the land of Ghost Lantern Temple originally belonged to Huang Dagen, the grave owner. Sixty years ago, he sold Ghost Lantern Temple to an outsider. But before selling, he was already planning to demolish it for a grave. When the outsider came along wanting to buy it, Huang Dagen took the opportunity and sold it. A few years later, when he saw that the outsider never returned, he felt justified in demolishing it to build his own grave."
"How shameless!" Scholar Song exclaimed.
Tupo's grandpa sighed, "Huang Dagen was indeed shameless. Many wealthy outsiders were duped by him back in the day. What can you do? Those outsiders were just too naive, with too much money."
Scholar Song secretly glanced at Fay Yu—he suspected that the person who had purchased Ghost Lantern Temple might very well be her ancestor.
However, Fay Yu didn't show any anger on her face. She merely sighed and said, "Then, the Huang family must be nearly gone by now, right?"
Her words sent a chill through the air.