Tianjin people will never lose SAN

Chapter 4: Toad Meeting

After singing a section of "Silang Visits His Mother", old Jenny on the sofa stopped talking completely. She couldn't even utter an indistinct muttering. Her pair of strange, bulging eyes rolled up slightly, and she stared blankly at the ceiling, not knowing what she was thinking.

Isaac behind Liu Yonglu was also dumbfounded. He didn't know what Mr. Richie was singing, but judging from the result, his mother was at least much quieter now.

After uttering the last syllable, Liu Yonglu in the living room closed his eyes and shook his head, as if he was still not satisfied. He cleared his throat, which was a little dry.

"Isaac, do you have any beer at home? Water would be fine too."

"As for beer, I think there's still one bottle left. I'll go find it..."

At this moment, Isaac saw his mother, who was sitting on the sofa, wink at him. She moved her fat body to the coffee table, picked up the coffee pot, poured a small cup of liquid and handed it to him.

Liu Yonglu subconsciously reached out to take it, but when his hand was halfway out, he thought of the cup of black coffee he had at noon and retracted his hand.

"I'm not used to your coffee, old lady. I appreciate your kindness, but let's have beer."

He was very happy, thinking that the old lady had come to her senses, and was in a stable mood, knowing how to entertain guests. He had finished his ideological work, and the only thing left was his wife. Thinking of this, he opened his mouth and said:

"Isaac, please chat with me first. I'll see if my sister-in-law needs any help."

After saying that, he didn't care whether the other party agreed or not and went straight into the kitchen. Julia was making bean soup in the kitchen. She didn't know how the work of Mr. Richie, whom her husband had found, was going, but at least the black stone that made her feel disgusted was taken away by him, which made her feel a lot more relaxed.

"Sister-in-law, what did you do?
Wow! Beans again. I ate so many beans that I had nothing left to fart for fun at night.

How about this, I bought some salted hairtail on the way, I'll make you another dish."

Yulia saw that the other party wanted to help with the cooking, and with a just-right apologetic look on her face, she gave up the stove:

"Mr. Rich, do you need me to help you with anything?"

"Please help me peel some garlic and chop some green onions. Peel more. Garlic is the most fragrant in fish."

Although a lot of seasonings were missing, Liu Yonglu was still very satisfied to be able to eat the salted hairtail fish he had been craving for. Holding the pot in one hand and the spatula in the other, he finished cooking the fish in less than half an hour.

While cooking the fish, he did not forget to give her advice. Yulia did not say much, but just nodded and occasionally smiled politely. Liu Yonglu thought she had listened to him, but in fact, Yulia did not understand at least half of what he said.

A large plate of fish, salad, baked potatoes, black bread, and bean soup—this was Isaac's family's dinner.

Moses Sadeh, like the Western countries in Liu Yonglu's impression, implements the separate dining system, where each person takes a large plate and eats the various dishes into their own bowl.

Originally, this task was usually given to the housewife, that is, Yulia, but today Liu Yonglu volunteered to serve the food.

What a cunning man he is! He wants to use this as an excuse to put all the wide hairtail into his own bowl.

At the dining table, Liu Yonglu used a large wooden spoon to scoop fish for everyone, Isaac and his wife held hands and closed their eyes and muttered to themselves, and old Jenny sat at the front of the table, staring at the three of them viciously with her small round eyes.

"Madam, this is yours. Come and taste my cooking skills. Your plate has the most fish."

Liu Yonglu was careful. Although there seemed to be a lot of fish on Old Jenny's plate, they were all the heads and tails of hairtails, as well as the small fish that he asked the stall owner to spare, including the strange fish.

Amid the clinking of knives and forks, Isaac and his wife ate very reservedly. From time to time, they carefully glanced at their mother and Investigator Richie. In their opinion, although their mother's condition was more stable today, they were still not completely reassured.

Investigator Richie has been talking incoherently since he entered the room. His mental state may be worse than his mother's.

"Grunt, grunt." Old Jenny waved the spoon and ate like a wild beast. She scooped the food into her mouth frantically and swallowed it down in big gulps without chewing. The food residue and fish soup splashed all over her face.

Seeing how old Jenny ate, Liu Yonglu was happy. Our stewed hairtail fish seemed to suit the old lady's appetite. It tasted so good. He had almost finished eating by then, and was dipping the last bit of fish soup at the bottom of the plate with black bread.

"Isaac, I'm leaving now. If you need anything in the future, come find me at the Anchor Inn."

Seeing that old Jenny's plate was licked clean, Isaac and his wife put down their knives and forks early. Liu Yonglu stood up, straightened his windbreaker and said.

"Okay, I'll take you there."

Isaac sent Liu Yonglu back to the hotel before walking home alone with a heavy heart.

On the dark streets of Pormouth, the dock workers and cannery workers had all gone home after get off work. The whole street was empty, with only a few dim street lamps standing on both sides. The night sea breeze was even more fierce. Isaac tightened his scarf and turned the corner. Just as he turned the corner, a short man wearing a painter's hat passed by him.

This person... Isaac felt inexplicably familiar. He turned back and saw that the man had walked out of the range of the street light. It was hard to see clearly in the dark. He could only see that the man was a little short and fat, and looked like a penguin in that loose windbreaker.

A bit like Mr. Patrick, the director of the Restful Wind Sanatorium, the same sanatorium where my mother had stayed a few years ago.

Mr. Patrick is said to have a distinguished family background. He is a member of the Whitman family, the oldest family in the town of Pormouth. In his early years, he was a prestigious university professor specializing in semiotics and paleography. After retiring from the university, he bought the island and established the Leisure Wind.

Isaac had met him several times, in the study room of the sanatorium, which was filled with specimens of various animals and fossils of unknown plants. When he spoke, Isaac could always see a meaningful and moving smile behind his bright glasses.

At this time, the figure had disappeared around the corner. Isaac shook his head and went home. Yulia was still washing dinner dishes in the kitchen. The living room was empty. Isaac heard the sound of water above his head. It seemed that his mother had gone into the bathroom again.

Isaac gently hugged his wife from behind, hoping to give her some silent comfort and support.

"Bang, bang, bang!" The two suddenly heard violent knocks on the door from the second floor. Yulia was so scared that she collapsed in her husband's arms.

"I'll go check..." Isaac tiptoed up to the second floor and followed the sound to the bathroom door. The rough knocking sound came from inside.

"Mother, mother, are you okay?" He called out in a low voice at first, fearing that his shouting would ignite his mother's neurotic and nameless anger, but when there was no response, he raised his voice.

Still no one answered, only the sound of water and the knocking on the door were getting weaker and weaker. Isaac bravely pushed the bathroom door, but suddenly found a light red liquid flowing out from under the door. He squatted down and took a closer look, and found that there were some translucent, slender worms in the liquid and flowing out along with the liquid.

The worms were very thin, about the same length as bean sprouts, and no organs could be seen. They were just wriggling and shaking in the water. As the liquid increased, the worms became more and more dense.

Isaac was so frightened that he fell to the ground and backed away on his hands and knees.

Yulia curled up on the sofa downstairs and didn't dare to go upstairs. At first, she could still hear her husband knocking on the door, but after a few minutes, the sound turned into hysterical screams, as if she had seen something extremely terrifying.

……

In the guest room of the Anchor Hotel, Liu Yonglu wiped his face twice and took off his clothes to go to bed. As soon as he took off his shirt, he heard a "bang". It turned out that the black stone wheel he had hidden fell to the ground.

Hey, I was planning to find a trash can to throw it away, but on the way back I was so busy chatting with Isaac that I forgot about it.

Liu Yonglu, who was almost undressed, shivered. It was so cold at night. He might as well take it off tomorrow. It would not be worth going out so late at night.

So, putting the stone on the table beside the bed, Liu Yonglu went straight into bed. Because he had drunk a little wine, he soon fell asleep.

In his dream, Liu Yonglu came to a wild beach covered with nudibranchs.

Looking back, he could see the endless ocean and the outline of other continents at all. There was no way to retreat, so Liu Yonglu had to move forward.

Walking along the dirt road into the depths of the island, you can hear all kinds of strange noises coming from the dense forest from time to time. Liu Yonglu even waved his hands to drive away mosquitoes as big as half a palm as he walked.

"I'm here to survive on a deserted island." He muttered to himself.

Occasionally, you can see some stone statues placed on the ground on both sides of the dirt road. The statues are not tall, about as long as the calf. If you squat down and observe carefully, you will find that they are all carved of frog-faced babies. Their hands and feet are still curled up in the same position as when they were in the mother's body, but their eyes are open, showing a creepy expression with an evil smile.

Did you eat too much American frog hotpot before traveling through time? Why did you fight with the toad... Liu Yonglu muttered to himself.

Finally, I reached the end of the dirt road. There was an open space under my feet. There were eighty or ninety savages with their upper bodies exposed, with their backs to me. From behind, I could see that they all had more or less pimples and lumps on their bodies. Just looking at them made me feel uncomfortable.

Looking further ahead, a long stone table was placed in front of the savages. The stone table was carved in a rough style, and the table top and legs were covered with a layer of dark red mud and dirt.

A frog-faced baby was slowly placed on the table by the leading savage. Four or five meters in front of the stone table stood a huge black stone tablet, engraved with many unknown symbols and patterns.

Just as Liu Yonglu's eyes swept across the stone tablet, dozens of savages kneeling on the ground suddenly stopped their actions. Their senses seemed to be connected. They all turned around and looked behind them, and the focus of their eyes was Liu Yonglu.

Liu Yonglu, who was standing on the slope, also saw the front of the savages. They were both men and women, but their physical features were more like a hybrid of humans and frogs or fish than humans. Their eyes were round and bulging, and their mouths were wide so that you could vaguely see their fangs. There was a gill where the head connected to the neck, which was bulging and making a low, sticky snoring sound.

"Oh my god... the toads are having a meeting..." Liu Yonglu unconsciously took two steps back.

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(End of this chapter)