The Days I Walked as a Yin-Yang Master: Secrets and Spirits

Yang Xu and I were having a blast catching frogs. In just half an hour, we had already caught around thirty or forty of them. That was pretty much enough. But if we went back now, Old Jia and Old Zhang would just put us to work like slaves. So, we figured it was better to stay here and pretend to be busy to enjoy some free time. I casually chatted with Yang Xu, just making small talk.

He said to me, "Hey, do you know? Yang Lei from our class seems to have broken up with that guy from Class 1."

While I was splashing water around, I couldn't help but laugh when I heard that. I teased him, "Hey, Yin Ge, you're quite well-informed, huh? Are you secretly in love with her? Come on, be honest, do you follow her around every day?"

Yang Xu immediately blushed and stammered, "W-who's following her? If I were, I'd at least pick someone prettier to follow."

The more I looked at his flustered face, the more I found it amusing. I laughed and said, "I don't believe you."

He insisted, "Really, if I liked her, you can throw water on me, I swear."

I couldn't believe he would say something like that, so I grabbed some water and poured it right on his head. By the time Yin Yang (a nickname I gave him) realized, he was soaking wet. He started to fight back, but with my agility, there was no way he could hit me. I dodged a few times and kept laughing at him for being silly. Then, tragedy struck.

There's an old saying: "When joy reaches its peak, misfortune follows." I must have stepped on something slippery, and I slipped, falling right into the water. I swallowed a few gulps of water, choking on it. Yang Xu rushed over to help me, and as I stood up from the water, I coughed and cursed, "Damn, what the heck is so slippery here?" I looked down and saw that I had squashed a frog under my foot. Yang Xu laughed and said, "Serves you right. It's karma."

I was speechless. With all the frustration building up inside, I lost my mood to catch any more frogs. Instead, Yang Xu and I returned to the shore, using a plastic bag to collect the frogs that had been squashed. The girls were sitting by a small campfire, munching on snacks. When they saw us, soaked through, they burst into laughter and joked, "Did you two take a love bath together?"

After seeing their smug faces, I regretted not spitting on the frogs earlier. "Should've made you eat it," I thought. Old Jia and Old Zhang had gone off to urinate, and when they returned and saw us, they laughed too, saying, "Did you two take a love bath too?"

I regretted not peeing in their liquor.

Suddenly, I started shivering uncontrollably. I was completely soaked and felt freezing cold. I asked Yang Xu if he was cold, and he replied, "Nah, you're cold because you're weak." I cursed him, "You're the weak one. Your whole family's weak."

After Old Zhang finished cleaning up the frogs, he seasoned them and skewered them on a wire. He roasted them on the fire, along with sausages and other food. Soon, the delicious aroma of grilled meat filled the air. Everyone had been working hard all morning and was starving. When they smelled the scent, they all swallowed involuntarily. Old Jia, grinning, brought out some beer and liquor and said, "Let's eat, what are we waiting for?" Of course, we didn't need him to say it, we were already digging in. Everyone was in high spirits, and the girls even had some alcohol. Although these girls usually pretended to be demure, once they started drinking, they went wild. One by one, they grabbed the frogs, heads and all, and shoved them into their mouths. I had to admire them. The image of a girl suddenly vanishing, replaced by a wild drunkard, was astonishing. They were chewing and cursing, "Damn, these things are burning hot!"

After a while, I felt a bit tipsy. My head was spinning, and suddenly I felt the urge to pee. Most people who drink beer know that it affects both your liver and kidneys, and unfortunately, I'm one of those who's prone to the kidney side effects. After drinking, I often have to go to the bathroom several times. So, I stumbled off, half-drunk, to pee in the distance. The girls behind me kept calling, asking me to catch more frogs because there wasn't enough to eat.

I cursed under my breath, "Catch more frogs? If I catch any more, I'll make sure to soak them in urine before giving them to you." I staggered off a little further, turned back to see I was far enough that they couldn't see me, then unzipped my pants and peed into a little puddle by the river. After finishing, I shuddered from the cold. But then, something caught my eye.

There was a big fish trapped in the puddle. A huge carp, at least a meter long. It must have gotten stuck there because the river water had receded due to lack of rain. "Ha, if I take this fish back and say I caught it in the river, the girls will be shocked," I thought. If I spread the word around school that I could "catch a turtle in the five oceans," the girls would be lining up to get close to me, right? When you're drunk, you think about all sorts of ridiculous things, and I was imagining this impossible scenario as I jumped into the water.

But as soon as the cold water hit me, I immediately sobered up. I realized the water that should have been at my waist suddenly seemed bottomless, and in an instant, the water covered my head. I choked on several mouthfuls, but luckily, I remembered the dog paddle technique. I kicked my feet and managed to float up. When my head broke through the surface, I realized this wasn't a puddle at all. This was the river! Panicking, I shouted, "Help!" But then, I felt something grab my foot and pull me down with immense force. Yang Xu and Old Jia, who had been sitting a distance away, seemed to hear my voice and rushed toward me. Unfortunately, it was too late. Whatever was pulling my foot had incredible strength. My head submerged again, and the cold river water kept pouring into my throat. My consciousness started to fade.

I saw an old woman standing on the shore, dressed in white clothes and a white hat. She smiled at me maliciously. Then, I lost consciousness.

Before continuing, I want to explain something about fish. In many folk legends, water ghosts often disguise themselves as large fish, trapped in shallow ponds. If a person with weak energy or bad luck passes by, they might be deceived into thinking the fish is real and dive into the water. However, what looks like a shallow pool is actually a very deep one.

It felt like I had been asleep for a long time before I woke up. I opened my eyes to see a gray sky. Was I dead? I stood up and realized I was dry, but I had no idea where I was. It was a street I had never seen before. There were no shops on the sides, and the cars that passed by made no sound. They looked like they were made of paper, shaky and unstable. On both sides of the road, there were people walking. Most of them were wearing black clothes that looked strangely familiar. I tried to remember where I had seen these clothes but couldn't place it. The people kept their heads down, walking in the same direction without making a sound. The entire street was eerily quiet. At first, I thought I still had water in my ears, but when I clapped my hands, I heard a crisp sound.

Wait, hold on. Wasn't I in the water? Didn't Yang Xu and the others save me? But where were they now? And why wasn't I in the hospital? Could it be that I was underwater? The Dragon Palace? No, this didn't feel like the Dragon Palace at all. There was no water here. Did I… time travel?

Back in my sophomore year, online novels were just starting to become popular. I, too, was the type to read novels instead of paying attention in class. I would often fantasize about being the protagonist of stories like "I'm a Great Mage." When I woke up and saw this strange place, I honestly thought I had traveled through time. But unlike those cool protagonists in time-travel stories, I was scared. This place was so quiet, and no matter how much I asked the people in black clothes, they ignored me. The most I got was a glance from them before they continued on their way.

Wait, black clothes? I suddenly remembered—back when I was in school, I walked by a funeral home and often saw these black clothes in the window! They were funeral garments!

One soul leaves the body, and the other ascends to heaven—that's what I must have experienced. Can you imagine waking up to find yourself in an unfamiliar place, with people around you all wearing funeral clothes? I'm sure most people would think they were dead. But not me. I valued my life too much to believe I was dead. Instead, I chose to believe I had traveled through time. Looking back, though, I was still too young back then. I'd rather believe in superheroes and time travel than accept the existence of ghosts.