Trinity Traitor: From One Person to the Other

Chapter 103 Zhou Quan, Wei Shufen's water is deep, you can't grasp it, let me grasp it

Zhou Quan, a Miao, is from Qinghe Village. His parents are old acquaintances of Wei Shufen’s parents. The two children grew up together and can be considered childhood sweethearts.

In fact, it is not very enviable for a little boy to always be accompanied by a little girl. In that era when people had not yet awakened to sexual awareness, little boys who played with girls would be laughed at by their peers.

But Zhou Quan did not distance himself from Wei Shufen because of this. He felt that Shufen was his good friend and he should not change his opinion of her because of other people's opinions. His own opinion of her was the decisive factor in determining his attitude.

But he never expected that it was his own opinion that ultimately determined his decision to distance himself from Wei Shufen.

As the two grew up, Zhou Quan studied in the village school and was full of yearning for this world that was undergoing earth-shaking changes; while Wei Shufen was valued by the great sorcerer and began to learn sorcery from him.

The two people's paths began to drift apart.

The time they spent together became less and less. Sometimes, Wei Shufen would go into the mountains for more than half a month or even a month. Although their homes were only less than two miles apart, they seemed to be separated by the world.

This made Zhou Quan feel anxious and uneasy.

What made Zhou Quan even more terrified was that Wei Shufen had less and less to talk about with him. Every time they met, she could only talk to him about her daily life in the Miao village: getting up, washing, eating, picking herbs, playing with the sisters, and sleeping.

This is natural. It is an unwritten rule among the aliens that their secrets cannot be revealed to ordinary people. Although few people abide by it in troubled times, at least the people at the doorstep, at least Wei Shufen, does not want her childhood sweetheart to be scared.

She could also sense that sometimes Zhou Quan wanted her to say more, but what could she say? Refining Qi? Refining Gu? Sometimes, when she couldn't stand Zhou Quan's disappointed look, she would tell him about the poisonous insects she caught and the Gu she refined.

This made Zhou Quan even more frightened.

Who would want to be with a woman who dealt with snakes, insects, rats and ants all day long, like a voodoo woman? Zhou Quan, who had received a new-style education, even if it was only elementary school, also had some contempt for this kind of local superstitious behavior.

The longer the time goes, the stronger these negative feelings become. At the beginning, it was just a little bit of resentment, but now for Zhou Quan, the few times he sees Wei Shufen every month have completely turned from anticipation to torture, from enjoyment to suffering.

He now felt that being with Wei Shufen was really boring and uncomfortable. He even thought that this woman was not normal at all. Perhaps her brain was damaged by years of superstitious activities.

Zhou Quan is not a bad person. He tells himself over and over again that this is his closest childhood playmate, and maybe even his wife. He cannot reject or alienate her just because of this. However, human endurance has its limits. His yearning for the outside world and his disgust for this backward and superstitious Miao village make him wonder how long he can hold back.

Just when he was planning to work hard and get through today's meeting, he didn't expect Wei Shufen to say these words to him.

I should be relieved, I should feel like a huge stone has been lifted off my shoulders, but why do I feel as if... I have lost something that I don't want to lose?

Zhou Quan looked at the Miao girl in front of him with a complicated expression, and spoke after a long while: "Shufen, you...why?"

"I want to... I want to go out and have a look. I want to leave Qinghe Village and have a look." Wei Shufen felt her throat tighten. "See the outside world and the people outside."

"Junior Sister Wei, come and help me count the ingredients and cooking methods needed!" Just at this moment, a tall and handsome figure approached from a distance.

Zhou Quan suddenly felt like a firefly seeing the sun. He was not ashamed of himself. The other party had clearly done nothing and was even so far away, but the pitiful light on him had been completely extinguished.

"You have already seen the people outside." Zhou Quan suddenly felt a little ridiculous, "I kept thinking that I must not let you suffer any injustice, but in the end..."

"Brother Zhou, I didn't..."

Before Wei Shufen could say anything, He Songling had already walked up to the two of them.

"Hey, brother, hello. I haven't seen you for a few days. I'm going to treat the whole village to dinner tonight, so remember to come." He Songling waved to Zhou Quan enthusiastically, as if he was the native of Qinghe Village. "Humph, no need!" Zhou Quan didn't know why he felt that the man in front of him was so hateful, and pointed at He Songling's nose and said loudly: "I'm telling you, I'm from Qinghe Village, you don't need to come here to be a good person!"

"Brother Zhou, what are you doing?" Wei Shufen tried to pull Zhou Quan who was obviously excited. Zhou Quan struggled violently, but as an ordinary person who had never practiced Qi, there was no way he could get rid of Wei Shufen.

"Okay, okay, you're helping him, right? I was wondering why you suddenly said something like that to me. It turns out that there's a pretty boy from outside here!" Zhou Quan's face turned red, perhaps because he used too much force.

"What are you talking about!" Wei Shufen was also a little angry. She suddenly let go of Zhou Quan. The sudden loss of strength almost made Zhou Quan fall to the ground.

"Wei Shufen, and you, just wait!" Zhou Quan pointed at the two of them angrily and turned away.

"This little brother has good eyesight. He can tell that my face is pale even though I haven't even used the third level of Reverse Rebirth." He Songling said, touching his chin.

"Senior Brother He, don't take it to heart. Brother Zhou is not like this usually. I don't know what happened to him today." Wei Shufen stuttered, but she actually knew what was going on.

"Hey, it's normal for young people to rush in. He's only eighteen or nineteen, the right age to rush in. I'll go talk to him."

He Songling took a step, as if shrinking the ground into an inch, and took a step, and caught up with Zhou Quan who had been running for a long time. He patted him on the shoulder, "Little brother, want to chat?"

"No need to chat!" Zhou Quan swung his arms, trying to get rid of He Songling. He Songling let go of his hand and handed him a cigarette.

"Do you want to smoke?"

"What is this?"

"Come here, and learn from me."

He Songling took out a lighter and lit up the cigarettes for the two of them.

"Huh..." He Songling exhaled a puff of smoke, "Cough cough cough..." Zhou Quan, who was smoking for the first time, almost coughed out his lungs.

"What is this!" Zhou Quan glared at He Songling.

"Good stuff, smoke slowly." He Songling smiled, "You, young man, have received a modern education, have read books, and look down on this small mountain village. Do you want to go out and see the world?"

"Yes, what's the matter?" Zhou Quan replied with his neck stiff.

"It's a good thing to go out and see the world. These days, our country needs knowledge and change." He Songling patted his shoulder. "How about this, you go to Fujian to study in high school for three years and learn some English. After three years, if you want to study in the United States or the United Kingdom, I will help you. How about that?"

"Who are you giving alms to?" Zhou Quan glared at He Songling and said, "I won't accept charity!"

"Tsk tsk, you're showing off your knowledge. Boy, this country has suffered for nearly a hundred years since the 1840th year of Emperor Daoguang of the Qing Dynasty, AD. If we extend the timeline to the Qing Dynasty's invasion of the Central Plains, it would be even longer."

He Songling shook his head and said, "You have read foreign books, so do you know that the world's changes have not ended at all, but have reached the fastest period? Do you know about microorganisms and polymers? Do you know about internal combustion engines and oil refining? Do you know about airplanes, cannons, and aircraft carriers? Study, why study? At this critical moment for the survival of the country and the nation, you are still competing with me for these things?"

"Hey, I..." Zhou Quan's mind felt like a mess. He could understand every word this person said, but why couldn't he understand the whole sentence?
"Study hard, kid. Study hard to make some contributions to the motherland. Don't act like a nagging woman. Besides, do you think I can't see that after two years of studying abroad, you already feel that Qinghe Village can't accommodate you and Wei Shufen is not worthy of you? You are just angry that the woman you look down on is the first to break up with you."

He Songling puffed out smoke rings lazily, "Listen to my advice, Wei Shufen is a dangerous woman. People like them who play with Gu are very deep in the water. You can't control them. You have to let me control them."

(End of this chapter)