Forbidden Land – CH 104

The two returned to the fork in the road and headed up one of the paths. After walking for twenty minutes, they came to another path, one going up and the other down.

Following the downhill path, they walked for a few minutes and arrived at a large house, similar in structure to her uncle’s.

Chen Rong said, “Okay, we are at my grandfather’s house.” She took out her key, opened the door, went inside, and turned on the light. Although it was a rural area, they used white energy-saving bulbs.

Zhang Chao quickly put his things down, found a chair, and sat down, complaining of being tired.

Chen Rong smiled and said, “Is this your first time in the mountains? You should get some exercise. You wait here; I’m going to the restroom.” She grabbed a flashlight and was about to leave.

Zhang Chao asked, “Where are you going to use the toilet?”

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Chen Rong replied, “The outhouse outside, of course. There aren’t any toilets in the countryside. This is all fertilizer. Sigh, I can tell you’ve never suffered hardship. I wish we hadn’t come.”

Zhang Chao grumbled, “What’s the big deal? What’s the big deal? It’s just an outhouse. You go first; hurry up, I’m holding it in too.”

Chen Rong walked out of the house, following a path along the hillside in front of the door to the outhouse about 20 meters away. Zhang Chao, having nothing else to do, also came outside and looked down the mountain.

It was night, pitch black. A bamboo forest stretched out before them, the light from the house barely illuminating a few meters. The entire view was one of vast, empty darkness. The faint sound of the wind rustling through the trees and the leaves whispering and mingling rose and fell, but otherwise, all was silent.

On this large mountain, there were fewer than 20 people, all quite far apart. Even the barking of someone’s dog would be long gone by this distance.

Five minutes later, Chen Rong returned with a flashlight, handed it to Zhang Chao, and smiled, “Want me to take you?”

Zhang Chao had never used the outhouse before. He hesitated for a moment, then smiled sheepishly, “Okay.”

Zhang Chao, flashlight in hand, followed Chen Rong along the path in front of the house to the other side.

This path had a hillside on one side and a steep slope several tens of meters high on the other. The bottom of the slope looked like terraced fields, but it wasn’t clear. The path was only half a meter wide. Zhang Chao, who had never walked mountain paths before, hesitated for a moment, looking at the open slope on his right.

He really couldn’t imagine how the elderly in the countryside had to walk dozens of meters along such a narrow path every time they needed to use the toilet. The consequences of a heart attack were unimaginable.

About 20 meters away was the outhouse, a wooden structure roughly three square meters in size. The roof was for rain protection, and the bottom was surrounded by wooden planks, only waist-high. The floor inside was also covered with liftable planks, with a 10-centimeter gap between each plank, meant to be aligned so that excrement and urine would fall through.

Zhang Chao had expected the outhouse to be smelly, but it was not, as it was completely well-ventilated.

He opened the small door of the outhouse, went inside, glanced at Chen Rong, and awkwardly asked, “Do you have any toilet paper?”

Chen Rong smiled and gave him some, saying, “Just stay here; I’ll go make a fire and boil some water.”

Zhang Chao said, “Here, take the flashlight.”

Chen Rong laughed. “I’ve walked these mountain paths for so many years, I could walk with my eyes closed, unlike you. Take this so you don’t lose your footing and fall down the mountain when you walk back.”

Zhang Chao muttered dejectedly, “Am I that horrible?”

Chen Rong smiled, turned, and walked away. Zhang Chao also took off his pants to relieve himself.

It was nearly May, and although Hangzhou was starting to get warm, the temperature in the mountains, especially at night, was still quite low. Holding a flashlight, Zhang Chao squatted for a while, then realized he wasn’t dressed warmly enough and shivered.

Just then, he heard slow footsteps coming from the path in front of the outhouse.