“Spirit tablets cost 8,000, sesame oil costs 30,000. Greatly effective and slightly effective things come separately, please bring peculiar business…..”

I interrupt the old man’s skillful sales pitch and say: “I’m a family member of your client, Wen Mingcheng. I called you last time.”

There are a few seconds of silence on the phone, then the old man says with a hehe: “It’s you, ah, young sir. How have you been lately?”

“Not that great, mainly because of my husband…..”

I tell him one by one my experiences during this time and the strange things about Mingcheng.

He listens carefully and encourages me to speak with more detail.

In fact, I also have the habit of continuing to hold onto hope in a desperate situation, but once I receive encouragement, I seem to be validated and feel much more comfortable.

I feel that he is a good person.

However, when I say that I allowed Mingcheng to come in and found the black doll missing, the phone beepstwice.

He has hung up the phone.

I’m stunned for a moment, and call again.

“The phone you have dialed has been switched off.”

“The phone you have dialed has been switched off.”

“……”

No matter how long I wait and call again, I can only hear this prompt. I know that the phone has not really been switched off, but that I have been blocked.

It was not me who requested contact information. It was the golden god attendant who stopped me and asked for it. It could be seen that he was willing to provide after-sales service, so how can this situation be explained?

Did he find this issue difficult to resolve, or is he…..frightened by me?

I purse my lips and stare at the call log for a moment, then choose to call again from another phone number.

The call is answered quickly this time: “Spirit tablets are 8,000, sesame oil is 30,000…..”

I interrupt him again: “It’s me.”

He is silent for a moment.

I don’t give him a chance to hang up the phone, saying quickly: “This thing was sold to my husband by the golden god attendant. If the golden god attendant can’t help and answer my questions, I will have to find the doll and take it to you.”

These words are meant to bluff him, but he very much takes it as a threat. When he hears this, his attitude changes abruptly and he begs me for mercy over and over: “No, no, no, Young Sir, please don’t. The Black Nanjia cannot be sent away once you invite it in, and I did not sell this thing to your husband. If you want to blame someone, it shouldn’t be me. I just wanted him to buy some sesame oil. He insisted on taking that Black Nanjia away. My master gave him a sky-high price, but that didn’t dissuade him. Whatever happens to him, he can only blame his own desires.”

These sentences contain a lot of information. What is the Black Nanjia? What does it mean to be invited in but not sent away? What does that last sentence mean?

I abruptly sit up straight. My heart is so tight that it feels as if it is being grasped by a hand, and my voice seems to squeeze out my throat. In fact, this is indeed the case: “Speak clearly.”

The old man thinks for a moment, and then his old voice tells me a very ominous story.

…..It is said that about two hundred years ago, residents in a village suddenly began to worship two dolls.

These two dolls, one gold and one black, were only the size of an adult’s hand. The front of the gold one was a gilded human face, but the black side had a demonic appearance. The demon’s monstrous, fanged face looked strange and terrifying, while the pure black doll looked much more normal. Although its body was covered in totems and ancient inscriptions, its head was beautifully patterned and inlaid with pearls.

Strictly speaking, they both looked like funerary or sacrificial items from an unknown time period.

But it was unknown who was the first to make a wish to them, and who discovered that they were terrifyingly effective…..

“Later on, someone discovered that the Black Nanjia would answer almost any request. No matter what the wish was, it would eventually come true, so its followers grew and grew…..”

But the good times didn’t last long, and strange things began to occur to the villagers. Some died, some were crippled, some went crazy, and some became fools. Some people had prosperous families that were ruined overnight, and some people who had rich farmland starved on the streets. Later, more and more people had accidents, and the villagers discovered that they had something in common.

That was, they were all people who had made a wish to the Black Nanjia. 

Their wishes came true, but at a heavy cost.

“Believers later suspected that the Black Nanjia was an evil god that had descended into the world, so they sealed him up in the temple and worshiped only the Gold Nanjia. You also worshiped it, hehe.”

I think of the statue of the god that had frightened me. Like the villagers, I thought at that time that the statue of the black god looked more normal than the black and gold idol. Now that I think about it, I was also deceived by appearances.

I don’t speak. The old man continues with a smile: “I think the young sir should have figured it out by now.”

Right, what is there that I don’t understand? I’m not a fool, and can clearly understand what all of this means, although I really wish I were a fool.

“…..Golden god attendant, you insisted on exchanging phone numbers with me back then. Were you expecting this day?”

This news shocks me. Although I’ve had doubts countless times, I still didn’t think these dark and mysterious things were real.

It is difficult to control myself as I beg him: “Please tell me, what is going on with my husband right now? I feel like he has changed into a different person, as if he’s being impersonated…..”

If all of this is true…..

Actually, Pi Gao’s story is still repeating in my mind…..

If it is true……

Then I, like those believers, have been ruined.

The old man laughs softly: “This old man doesn’t know either. But Young Sir, don’t be too sad. There are more people in this world who are not afraid of dying for their desires than there are ants. Mr. Wen’s insistence on doing this shows that he was not ignorant. On the contrary, he understood all of it and could accept the price to be paid in the future.”

He could accept it?

Why could he accept it?

He is not yet thirty years old, and has a privileged background and a beautiful appearance. He is knowledgeable, young and promising, inherited the family business at a young age, and even got married just this year.

I lean back against the sofa weakly, my blank gaze moving around the room.

Mingcheng bought this house when we married. It is in the best location, and worth 1.3 million yuan.

The crystal inlaid on the chandelier above my head was the dowry of an Italian queen in the 15th century. He spent a lot of money on it at an auction in a European country on the eve of our wedding.

In the coffee drawer in front of me, there are many financial magazines featuring Wen Mingting. There are so many of them that they aren’t worth treasuring, and I stuffed them everywhere at will.

What a brilliant future he has, and what a glorious background.

What other desires could he have that are difficult to satisfy?

What could make him accept such a heavy price?

Wen Mingcheng.

Even at this time, the image of him in my mind is still gentle and smiling. He is still my affectionate lover who blushes easily.

If he could accept it, what about me?

Why was I abandoned by him in this house?

I can’t accept it, ah.

I really hope this old man is tricking me. I really hope that the next thing he tells me is that I can spend tens of thousands to buy an amulet to solve the current dilemma. I would transfer the money to him without hesitation, even if he was lying to me.

But he doesn’t.

I cover my face, tears streaming silently through my fingers. I am just a vulnerable, sickly, ordinary person. I’m afraid of these things, afraid of big changes in my life, and afraid of something happening to my family.

I am afraid of the person who has been sleeping with me for days, and he may not be human at all.

Maybe the person on the other end of the phone notices that something is wrong with me, or maybe the old man is just easily soft-hearted. I don’t speak for a long time, and he doesn’t hang up.

After about ten minutes, he says to me hoarsely: “If you want to protect yourself, I am willing to help you.”

I find that all my tears in this life have either been shed in front of Wen Mingting or shed for him. 

I wipe all the wetness from my face with the back of my hand. My skin feels hot, and the corners of my eyes hurt.

. . . . . . .

I make a lot of phone calls this day.

After the call to the golden god attendant, I attempt to call many people, including my mother, my eldest brother, Mingcheng’s sister, and Mingcheng’s parents.

I want to tell everyone about this. I need to tell them the truth, and I also need their help. Help to investigate what is wrong with Mingcheng, and help to condemn the harm his actions have caused to both of us.

But I fail.

That call to the golden god attendant was the last call I could make.

After I learn what seems to be the truth about all of this, my phone loses signal. In fact, it is not just my mobile phone that fails, but all the tools I use to communicate with the outside world.

I don’t want to dwell on why.

I choose to escape from here.

I want to escape from this place and find someone who can help me.

Just as I walk toward the door, there is the crisp sound of an object falling to the floor and smashing.

Startled, I look back and find a glass decoration that I had placed very well before.

This handicraft was something that Mingcheng liked very much, and I had placed it deep in the shelf. It is impossible for it to fall without external force.

Now it has fallen to the ground and shattered to pieces.

My heart begins to beat faster, but after looking around the room, I still take out the door key.

The dark vermillion door stands there silently. As soon as I open it, I can walk out into the courtyard, and my neighbors are a welcoming couple who will help me.

I watch this door as I get closer and closer to it. I just need to stick the key in.

Click! The loud sound of a door closing comes from the study behind me.

Although the windows aren’t open, I hear the sound of pages being blown around, as well as the sound of books falling to the ground.

Then the loud sound of a bookcase falling.

During a July summer, I stand indoors and feel goosebumps all over my body, personally experiencing what it means to have one’s hair stand on end.

I forced myself to walk to the door, but now I don’t dare to open it easily.

I look around warily at the surroundings that have once again become as silent as death, and finally make a masochistic move.

I look through the peephole.

At this time, the sky is bright and the peephole installed in reverse is completely dark. 

I’m really afraid.

Almost instantly, I take several steps back, staggering to the coffee table. I randomly grab some magazines and tape, and block the peephole.

My former home now makes me tremble and treat everything as an enemy.

Time passes minute by second. I want to hide under the quilt and cover my head, but that is called sitting still and waiting for death, and I can’t sit still or wait for death.

So in the remaining time, I first go to the garden tool room to find a pair of scissors for snipping flowers. I cut the wire of the coded lock from a distance, find an old-fashioned iron lock, and install locks on both sides of the door.

After that, I go to the kitchen to get a glass bowl, fill it with cold water, and head to the closet to find a piece of Mingcheng’s intimate clothes and cut off the collar.

Taking these two things, I walk to the door, place the glass bowl on the ground, and then ignite the collar directly above the bowl.

The ash from the burnt fabric falls into the water, then I bite my middle finger open and squeeze three drops of blood into it. After the blood completely dissolves into the cold water, I take off the bright pixiu pendant from around my neck and place it into the water.

This is the Golden God Attendant’s method.

He told me that although he doesn’t know if Mingcheng is still there or what Mingcheng is now, no matter how powerful something is, it will be subject to various constraints once it has borrowed a person’s body.

This method may be able to block him out.

After all this, I wait quietly for time to pass.

5:15 p.m.

It is time for Mingcheng to get off work, but I don’t hear footsteps or attempts to open the door.

5:25. Still no movement.

At 5:30, the surroundings are still silent.

But I still ask the empty air: “Mingcheng……are you home?”

……

The atmosphere is silent for nearly a minute.

“A-Zhen.”

An elegant, mature voice breaks the silence.

The man’s voice comes from outside the door. He speaks slowly and unhurriedly, his emotions indiscernible: “Yes, I’m back.”

---

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Chapter 9 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 11

The doll is missing. I fear that I’ve remembered the wrong drawer, so I open all the drawers in the cabinet and check them one by one.

Eventually, I come to a conclusion: it is really gone.

It disappeared, so who took it?

I think the answer is obvious.

I never told him that I kept the doll in the basement, let alone told him where I put it, but he was able to find it and never told me the entire time.

What is even more frightening is that except for the courtyard and house doors, I have all the keys to the house. He never asked me for the key, but he was able to enter the basement and take away the doll.

As long as I’m not crazy, this information tells me very accurately that there is something wrong with Mingcheng.

I think I can guess where this doll went. It wasn’t just him that came in that night.

The doll should be in my house!

When I realize this, my hair stands on end. I quickly run through the basement door and locked it again, then swiftly run to the door of the house, intending to search the entire thing again.

But when the door opens, I freeze in place, afraid to enter.

It is not dark yet, and the warm afterglow of the sunset pours into the room through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, turning the walls a warm yellow. The moment I open the door, the draft brings a burst of floral fragrance, along with a feeling of warmth and peace.

This looks like a beautiful family evening. I should be having dinner with my lover at this time. After dinner, we would watch TV together, talk about each other’s work, and sleep in each other’s arms.

But at this time, he is wearing all black and standing tall indoors. The light falling on him seems to encounter an impenetrable darkness, leaving only a long, deep shadow on the ground.

I suddenly raise my hand and turn on the indoor light. The dimness is driven away, and the interior becomes brighter. He is facing me, and the moment he looks at me, his eyelids rise slightly and he moves his long legs to walk toward me. “A-Zhen, are you happy today? I really missed you, why aren’t you coming in?”

When I see him walking toward me, I subconsciously take a step back. 

He pauses, lowers his eyelashes, and slowly looks me over from head to toe.

I really want to escape, but I still hold a glimmer of hope in my heart. I am still fooling myself into hoping that this is just me being neurotic and that nothing is wrong with my partner.

And I feel that my evidence was not that indestructible. There should be some room to maneuver, right?

So I resist the urge to run away, and stand at the door smiling at him as I say: “Mingcheng, I want you to come over and hug me.”

He gives me a deep look, but seems happy with my request. His pair of long eyebrows rise, and he walks toward me briskly.

I smile and open my arms to him, waiting for his embrace. And just when he comes over to hold me, I suddenly step into the room and quickly close the door behind me.

“A-Zhen?”

He calls to me from outside the door, and I clasp my hands together. Recalling what the old divine attendant taught me, I silently recite three times: “Please don’t come to my house.”

It seems quiet outside the door.

The hanging clock in my home is an old-fashioned Western clock, and I can still hear the clicking sound when the second hand moves. 

One second. Two seconds. The sound of the clock moving is nearly consistent with my heartbeat.

“Mingcheng?” I stare straight at the door.

There is no movement outside the door.

He seems to have really disappeared.

I don’t know if this is a good thing or a sorrowful thing.

After a few minutes, I finally can’t bear it anymore. Even though I know the peephole is backwards, I lean down to look out.

The peephole is dark, but the sun hasn’t set outside. A second later, there comes the sound of a key being turned in the door.

I take a few steps back and watch him push open the door and walk in without any hindrance. He throws the key onto the small mini bar next to the door and looks at me a little aggrievedly. “I don’t like this joke.”

Being kicked out of the house had no effect on him. 

This puts me a bit at a loss. What does this mean?

Does it mean that I’m actually wrong? Or was kicking him out not enough?

I am in a confused state of mind.

I’m so ignorant about this, and I don’t know what to do.

He walks to my side and gently holds my chin, tilting my face up to look at him.

I see the slight frown on his face and the hurt feelings in his eyes: “Your attitude toward me today is so strange. Did somebody say something to my A-Zhen? But I am your lover, why don’t you believe in me? If there is anything you don’t believe about me, why haven’t you told me?”

“…..I don’t know if I should believe you…..” I don’t trust him, but I also hope that he is Mingcheng and our family is safe and sound.

The two emotions fight against each other, and I’m a mess inside.

Once again, I choose to tell him my suspicions.

But this time, there is a choice.

I only ask him about the basement and the doll, and also ask him why he had to go to that small country.

But this time, he doesn’t answer me after listening.

“I thought you loved me the most and could trust me unconditionally…..”

“I might be a little sad…..”

He gently touches my face with his fingers. After half a minute, he reluctantly lets me go and says calmly: “Let’s sleep separately tonight. Maybe you need to calm down.”

After saying that, he kisses my forehead as intimately as usual.

This move puts me in a daze again, because it is exactly the same as the Mingcheng I know.

He goes.

I watch him go to the bedroom on his side and close the door. He doesn’t come out again.

. . . . . . .

We went to university together when we were eighteen years old, the most passionate age. Valentine’s Day during our freshman year was our first time. From then on, we moved out of school and lived together. For many years to come, other than when I willfully kicked him out of the bedroom when we quarreled, we never separated. And he never offered to sleep separately.

His behavior makes me panic, and I begin to uncontrollably doubt myself again.

Perhaps there is really no problem with him, and my repeated questioning made him sad.

I hurt the feelings between us.

This realization makes my heart ache.

But what is the problem?

Time passes by as I lay on the bed, and I figure I am destined to get no sleep this night.

I toss and turn until midnight and can’t sleep anymore, so I decide to get up and go to the courtyard to calm down.

But I see him on the sofa in the living room.

He sits alone on the sofa with a glass of water in front of him that is already cold. It is unknown how long he’s been sitting there.

I look at his figure and feel pain in my heart: “Mingcheng.”

He raises his head to look at me, and seems to smile at me in the darkness.

My eyes uncontrollably begin to sting a bit, so I allow myself to walk up to him and hold his head in my arms.

I don’t know what to say, and he also doesn’t ask me to explain. Instead, he makes me sit down on the sofa with some slight force.

I lay on the sofa with my head in his lap, looking up at his face.

This time it is him holding my head.

His fingers are cool and smooth, caressing my face affectionately and squeezing my earlobes.

We look at each other in the dark night, and he smiles at me with his rich and beautiful features, leaning toward my ear: “What do you call me?”

My eyes are sore, and my face is a little hot. “Husband.”

In the darkness, he seems to laugh. Before I can look at him, he places his palm over my eyes and says to me in a very soft voice, like he is coaxing a child to sleep: “Go to sleep.”

This sentence seems to have some magical power, and I actually fall asleep.

When I wake up again, I find myself still lying on the sofa, covered with a soft quilt.

It is eight o’clock in the morning. Mingcheng has gone to work again.

I don’t know if he slept last night, and don’t know what kind of sleep he got.

Maybe he stayed up all night and is working at the company with an exhausted body today. Or maybe he doesn’t need to sleep at all and isn’t at the company at this time…..

Doubt is a very tiring human emotion. It is even more torturous for a person who is not in a very good mental state, not to mention that the person I suspect is the person I share a bed with and have the most intimate relationship with in the world.

That title I called out embarrassed me to say out loud.

I sit on the sofa until ten o’clock in the morning.

I decide to verify it one last time. As long as there is nothing wrong with my lover this time, I will never doubt him again, no matter how strange he is.

I go back to the bedroom, find my mobile phone, and dial the number again.

“Golden god attendant…..”

---

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Chapter 8 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 10

In the darkness of the room, Lu Qi turned his head to look for sharp objects.

There was a mini fridge in the room, and he wondered if there was beer. If there was a glass bottle, he could smash it and harvest the broken glass to use for self-defense…..

But he would have to perform a series of actions such as rolling out of bed and opening the refrigerator without using his hands. It would be impossible to not make noise, and with the carpet beneath him, it would be difficult to break the bottle. Looking at the soundproof cotton on the walls, Lu Qi finally focused on the small coffee table.

At this height, even if he knelt down and held an alcohol bottle behind his back, he could break it.

Wang Liang might come in at any time. Even though the plan seemed unfeasible, Lu Qi had to put up a fight. He stretched his bound legs off the bed, turned sideways, and used his elbows and shoulders to support himself. He landed feet first and then stood up.

Very good. The first step was successful, and there was no noise.

The rope tying his feet was a ribbon pulled from somewhere, a bit like the kind you would use to wrap a bouquet with and tie it in a bow. It was a tender pink hue. Although the color was cute, it was definitely strong enough for Wang Liang to tie him with, and the binding was firm.

Lu Qi could only move his knees forward and backward a little, and with small steps and jumps, he finally reached the front of the mini fridge.

Fortunately, there was carpet. The second step was successful! No sound!

He turned his back, opened the mini fridge with his hands, and turned his head to look.

Lu Qi frowned in disappointment. There was no bottled beer inside, only canned. In addition, there was a bottle of foreign wine he couldn’t name. The wine was sealed in a thick glass bottle, which looked strong enough to cut Wang Liang’s head open.

If he knocked this on the coffee table, as long as Wang Liang was still breathing, he would definitely be able to hear it.

He squatted down, took out the bottle, and gently closed the refrigerator door. Lu Qi glanced at the door to the room.

As long as the door could lock, it should be enough to keep Wang Liang out. The only misfortune he feared was that this bastard had a key, but Lu Qi decided to take a gamble. This bad-tempered playboy didn’t look like someone who would carry a key around with him.

Lu Qi took two jumps toward the door, but footsteps suddenly came from outside.

Wang Liang was here!

The huffing and puffing sounds, along with curse words coming from his mouth, were getting closer and closer. Lu Qi couldn’t care less about making noise and jumped hard, only one step away from the door. The muffled bump also caused the footsteps outside the door to pause, and then suddenly speed up.

The door was pushed open a crack. Lu Qi slammed it shut and pushed the door back with all his weight. Outside the room, Wang Liang cursed and began to push hard at the door.

Lu Qi couldn’t stretch out his hands, and it was difficult to compete with him using only his shoulders and back. During the struggle, the door slowly opened a small crack.

“Baby…..” Wang Liang’s gloomy voice sounded from the crack. Because he was pushing hard on the door, the sound was intermittent, like a broken radio. “Don’t…..waste your effort in vain…..you might as well stay in bed and serve me…..and…..suffer a little less…..”

Lu Qi was so disgusted by this “baby” that he gritted his teeth without saying a word and pushed the door back hard.

Perhaps because he was venting his anger at these words, the cracked open door was pushed back with a bang by Lu Qi. He quickly groped for the door lock.

Click—

This subtle sound was like fairy music to Lu Qi at this moment. The resistance behind him disappeared at once. Lu Qi turned another lock and then leaned weakly against the door panel, gasping for breath.

Wang Liang kicked the door with a bang. Lu Qi stepped away carefully. He found that the door was relatively strong, but the door frame shook violently.

Not daring to delay, he jumped to the mini fridge and grabbed the wine bottle inside, then jumped to the marble coffee table and knocked it against it twice with his back to it.

The sound of glass and stone colliding was muffled. One could imagine how thick the bottle was, and Lu Qi couldn’t use much strength.

Outside, Wang Liang was still kicking the door like a mad dog. After kicking twice, he suddenly stopped and stood there at the door with a scoff.

“Fuck…..you’re really willing to die to protect your chastity.” Panting, he said: “The more you act like this, the more I want to taste you, much more than those ones who sell themselves…..”

He called someone, and Lu Qi faintly heard the word “key.”

He was so anxious that his whole body was shaking. Trying his best to restrain his panic, he smashed the bottle again.

A slight cracking sound was heard, and Lu Qi blinked in surprise, beads of sweat on the tip of his nose. When he turned to look at the bottle, he almost cried.

The wine bottle was fine, but the corner of the marble table was chipped.

“What kind of garbage bottle is this, ah……” He was so nervous that he didn’t realize what he was saying. “Mu Nanqiao also has this in the wine cabinet…..I’ll throw it away for him when I get back…..”

He must go back!

Taking a deep breath, he bashed it again.

Dong— 

The corner of the table was broken even more.

Wait…..

Lu Qi tossed away the diamond-like wine bottle, raised his wrists, and angled them at the broken corner of the table.

At the same time, there was the slight sound of a key being inserted into the lock, and then the door was pushed open with great force, hitting the wall with a loud bang.

Lu Qi didn’t pay attention, and just pressed his wrists down hard. The moment the sticky restraints were loosened, there was a severe pain in his arm. The broken table corner had gouged his skin, and slightly cool blood dripped down his fingertips onto the carpet.

Lu Qi’s eyes reddened, but he didn’t hesitate for a second as he reached down to pull the knots around his ankles.

Before his hands could touch them, the scumbag had already come over panting and kicked him in the chest.

Lu Qi whimpered and curled up like a small animal.

He really looked hurt, huddled there and shaking. When Wang Liang saw this, his laugh was dark and cold. He came over and crouched next to Lu Qi. Holding his chin with his fingers, he looked at Lu Qi with those triangular eyes, which grew brighter the more he looked.

“So tasty, ah…..look at how pitiful you are…..” He laughed obscenely and maliciously, then eagerly took a small bottle out of his pocket and unscrewed the cap.

Lu Qi initially thought that the drug was going to be poured into his mouth, but Wang Liang raised his head and drank it himself.

Lu Qi: ……

He picked up the wine bottle to the side and hit Wang Liang hard, the force so strong that it made a whoosh.

Dong—

A good sound meant a good bottle!

Wang Liang staggered and fell. Lu Qi rolled on the spot and quickly pulled the rope from around his feet.

His legs had been tied for so long that he limped when he ran.

Passing the coffee table in the private room, he staggered out of the lounge and put his hand on the outer room door lock, pressing it hard.

The door didn’t move at all.

In the lounge, Wang Liang staggered up. It was unknown if the bottle of “Viagra” he drank just now contained stimulant ingredients, but in any case, the wine bottle hadn’t knocked him out. Viewing his figure from behind, he looked as if he was starring in a zombie movie.

Lu Qi pulled the thing out of his mouth and pounded the door, shouting for help.

“How dare you hit me…..” Wang Liang gasped as he drew closer. “Laozi is going to kill you…..”

No one answered outside the door. Lu Qi took a deep breath, and when Wang Liang rushed over, he staggered away and took two steps back, warning Wang Liang: “If you come over here, whatever happens will be legitimate self-defense, do you understand?!”

Wang Liang covered his bleeding head. A normal person would choose to bandage it at a time like this and would not be concerned with anything else, but this beast had taken drugs and was clearly not normal. He stared at Lu Qi with bloodshot eyes, like a jackal staring at meat.

“Come here, ah…..” He laughed and reached out to grab Lu Qi. “Let me see what you’re capable of…..ah!!!”

Lu Qi punched him in the face with a left hook.

The bones in his fingers ached. Lu Qi shook his hand and stepped forward, assuming a stance that should earn him at least an 8 out of 10 score. He stared at him with wide eyes: “Don’t come over here! You locked the door! And you took my phone, so why don’t you call the police!”

Wang Liang: ……

His head was buzzing. 

He braced himself on his knees and shook his head. Then, to his horror, he realized that it was not his brain making the noise. Something was buzzing outside the door. Soon after, under his incredulous gaze, sawdust flew out of the heavy box door as a thin crack appeared…..

A chainsaw burst through the crack!

It was like a scene in a large-scale horror movie. Even Lu Qi took a couple of steps back, and Wang Liang’s brain died on the spot.

The chainsaw cut vertically and retracted, then cut horizontally until it was about to cut the lock off the door. Wang Liang finally returned to his senses and rushed two steps in Lu Qi’s direction, seeming to want to capture him as a hostage. But Lu Qi wrinkled his nose and shook his fist fiercely a couple of times, and Wang Liang turned around and ran into the lounge again, slamming the door shut.

Lu Qi: ……

The tables had turned.

The lock was nearly separated from the door. The person outside kicked open the heavy wooden door, and a tall, straight figure appeared, still holding the buzzing chainsaw.

His dark expression relaxed at once when he saw Lu Qi. As soon as he turned off the chainsaw in his hands, Lu Qi had already limped forward and threw himself into his arms.

The cool, woody fragrance poured into his nose. Lu Qi’s dangling heart finally settled, and the tears he hadn’t shed fell down as if the floodgates had opened. He tightly hugged Mu Nanqiao’s waist and said with a whimper in his voice: “In the future…..you’re not allowed to drink that wine anymore…..wuwuwu…..”

How could Mu Nanqiao care about whatever wine he was talking about? At this moment, he was willing to let him take out his heart and liver. He held Lu Qi’s back with one hand and felt warmth on it.

“Are you hurt?” He carefully grasped Lu Qi’s arm. A wound as long as his forearm made his eyes turn red. Gently holding the arm, he looked him up and down. “Where else are you injured?”

Lu Qi sniffled and showed him his other hand. “N…..nowhere. I just boxed without gloves…..it really hurts…..”

Mu Nanqiao’s expression relaxed a little, and he kissed those tear-reddened eyes. “Baby is amazing…..”

He said in a low, gentle voice: “You go out first, Young Master Gao is outside. You pleaded on his behalf, remember?”

“En…..” Lu Qi nodded with red eyes.

“Tell him to take you to the hospital. I’ll be there soon.” Mu Nanqiao raised his hands to wipe away his tears. “I need to keep an eye on Wang Liang and call the police. What if he runs away?”

When he looked at the person he relied on the most, his tense heartstrings relaxed. Lu Qi slowly stopped crying. There was an unconcealable fluster in those wet eyes, but he knew that Mu Nanqiao’s worries were justified, so he nodded. “En, then come quickly…..”

Even with such a big commotion, there were not many people watching outside the box. When Lu Qi came out, they didn’t dare to stop him, because Wang Liang often did dirty things here and people rarely came up to this level.

This bar was located on the sixth floor of a shopping mall. Lu Qi and Young Master Gao took the elevator down. The prompt sounded for the elevator door closing. When Mu Nanqiao heard it, he walked over slowly and closed the unlocked door, blocking the view from outside.

He turned around. Looking at the door of the lounge, he hooked his fingers and turned on the chainsaw.

In the lounge, Wang Liang listened in horror as the buzzing sound approached. He reached to fumble for the mobile phone in his pocket, but found in despair that he had lost it somewhere. He stared at the door, but the expected chainsaw breaking through didn’t happen.

The door lock turned and opened directly.

He then remembered that he’d forgotten to take out the key!

Mu Nanqiao stood in the doorway with the light at his back. Wang Liang couldn’t see the expression on his face. He was also wearing a suit and vest, which made him look lean and powerful. When he looked down at him with the chainsaw in one hand, that strong sense of oppression did not allow Wang Liang to doubt his intentions.

He was here to kill him, and perhaps to cut him into pieces!

Wang Liang was truly scared. He knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly, his face covered in tears and snot. “Boss Mu! Boss Mu!! It is me who deserves to die! I really deserve to die, ah, Boss Mu! Let me go! Let me go and the Wang family will give you whatever you want!”

He howled so terribly that Mu Nanqiao said two expressionless words: “Shut up.”

Wang Liang covered his mouth and gasped for air, not daring to make a sound.

Blood-stained leather shoes stepped over the carpet. Mu Nanqiao sat down on the sofa, his tone as calm and emotionless as an A.I. “I know this is a misunderstanding, right, Young Master Wang?”

Wang Liang nodded as if pounding garlic.

“But my person was injured, after all. Fortunately, it’s not serious. We still need to discuss this matter.” Mu Nanqiao smiled, his handsome face becoming increasingly sinister in the dim light. “Only his arm is injured. How about you cut yours too, and we’ll move on?”

“Just…..just like that?” Wang Liang asked tremblingly.

“Just like that.” Mu Nanqiao narrowed his eyes happily and pointed at the buzzing chainsaw: “Come on, give it a try.”

Wang Liang swallowed hard. He hopped over on his knees and rolled up his sleeve, his whole body shaking violently. He could hardly breathe, and the tattoo on his arm of a tiger going down a mountain turned into a large patch of brightly-colored light and shadow in his eyes.

As his arm got closer and closer to the blade, Mu Nanqiao’s hand shook.

Wang Liang jumped up with a cry and rushed out the door, clutching his unscathed arm. As he drew closer to the door of the box, his triangular eyes grew brighter and brighter.

His fingertips were almost touching the doorknob when his pleasantly surprised smile froze on his face – as a pair of iron-like hands grabbed his collar and pulled him backward.

Wang Liang hit the coffee table heavily, and as he was dizzy, he heard Mu Nanqiao’s dark, cold voice.

“It seems you don’t want to do it yourself.” He walked over slowly. “Shall I do it?”

“Ah—-!!!”

Wang Liang cried out and collapsed. The effects of the drug still remained, and he thought deliriously that he must escape from here!

But the door was blocked…..

He got up, turned, and rushed toward the window.

Someone finally couldn’t help but open the door to investigate the situation, but all they could see was Wang Liang’s back as he crashed through the window and fell, and Mu Nanqiao standing far away.

A large swath of sunlight shone in when the tinted glass was broken, refracting beautiful light on the broken glass. Mu Nanqiao turned off the chainsaw, then turned around and handed it to the stunned attendant.

“Excuse me, please return this to the construction crew downstairs.” He smiled politely. “I have an urgent matter and need to go to the hospital first. You can call the police, and I’ll come back to cooperate and give a statement.”

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T/N: Guys, the chainsaw made me crack up. I love the dramatics.

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Chapter Forty-Eight << Table of Contents >> Chapter Fifty

My new husband and I were childhood sweethearts. Our families were neighbors, so we grew up together and had accompanied each other for more than ten years.

When we graduated high school, he discovered my feelings for him, and fortunately, he also liked me. We secretly fell in love when we were teenagers, and got married six months ago.

He was gentle and romantic, with a tolerant and kind personality. We were very in love.

And just a few days ago, I felt that something wasn’t right with him.

The peephole in my house turned dark, as if someone was peeping at me from outside. The fingerprint lock sounded alarms one after another, and my husband was not allowed to enter.

He told me that the fingerprint lock was not secure enough, so he used a key to open the door and changed the peephole in front of me.

Although I noticed from the day it was put on that I couldn’t see clearly, it didn’t prevent me from seeing light, so I just thought it was a problem caused by it being left in the basement for too long. For instance, things in coastal cities are vulnerable to moisture.

But now, my student’s words shock me hard.

The peephole in my door is installed backwards.

You can only see inside from the outside, but you can’t see the outside from inside.

If the peephole is reversed, then these days when I’ve been at home…..

And why did my husband install the peephole backwards?

Xiao Pi also notices that there is something strange about me. His round, white face looks a little more serious, and he comes back to take me with him to the door. First he leans down and looks through it with one eye closed, and then he asks me to look at it too. “It really is backwards, Teacher. Fortunately, you have a courtyard gate at home. Is it a problem with the installation company, ah? I didn’t expect such a nice house to have such a problem. Is this something that came with the house?”

When he pulls me over, I lean in to take a look.

I am currently standing outside the door, and everything in the room is displayed before my eyes through this small peephole, clearly visible and unobstructed. 

My heart freezes, and the creepy feeling is like a cold shadow crawling up my calves from the ground to my back, then to the side of my face. I feel a layer of goosebumps instantly appear on my neck.

I can’t help but start thinking about recent days.

On the first day, I discovered that there was something strange about Mingcheng. He was standing in the middle of the living room with his back to me, and I opened the door without attracting his attention, until the alarm clock sounded…..

When we had dinner at noon, I misunderstood the reason why he couldn’t swallow the food. I tried to unbutton the collar of his shirt, and the scene of spurting blood shocked me.

That afternoon, I found that it was pitch black outside the peephole. When he came home at night, the fingerprint lock failed to detect his fingerprints at first, and the second time, he passed the test but it wouldn’t let him in.

I know why the living person test failed.

When I raised my suspicions, he changed the peephole in front of me, dispelling my doubts. I felt guilty and began to suspect that I was sick.

The next day, after listening to Mingyi’s words, I remembered the black doll that Mingcheng had brought back after traveling abroad. Following the advice of the divine attendant, I took it out of the house and placed it in the basement. Mingcheng came home very late that night. When he returned, he was covered in dust and was in a bit of disarray. He asked me twice at the door if I would let him in…..

I asked him to eat, but he picked up his favorite orange juice and fed it to me instead of drinking it. His remarks and personality were a little different from before. It wasn’t that I didn’t notice this, but I tried my best to ignore it.

On the third day, Xiao Pi brought me a scary story and discovered that my peephole was installed backwards…..

These things that I am trying not to think about can no longer be ignored.

My eyelid begins to twitch uncontrollably, and the ominous premonition develops claws, crawling into my heart bit by bit, gnawing at my flesh and blood.

If….I mean if. It’s just a guess.

If I was not wrong on the first day, and if the fingerprint lock was not wrong either…..That peephole was deliberately installed by Mingcheng, and he even boldly told me to check it out, because he knew that I was sick. But I really love Mingcheng. As long as he explained, I would doubt myself, but I wouldn’t doubt Mingcheng.

If I discovered that all the peculiarities in his personality were true.

If he really had something to do with that kind of thing, then I let him into my house that day…..

Like lightning exploding before my eyes, an extremely terrifying conjecture appears instantly in my mind.

“Teacher! What’s wrong with you? Look at me, Teacher! Teacher—” The student calls anxiously into my ear, and I feel my body sinking.

My student is frightened, and half-hugs me to support me. He calls out to me with anxiety and fear: “Teacher—”

This cry abruptly wakes me up. All at once, I recall that I seemed to have heard a similar cry before, and the emotions contained in it were also very similar.

“A-Zhen—”

This cry I heard while half asleep comes to my mind again. I open my eyes suddenly, lean against the wall, and gasp for breath. Cold sweat flows from my scalp to my ears, and the hands pressed to my chest shake.

At a loss, Xiao Gao takes out his mobile phone. I see that he seems to be planning to call the emergency number, perhaps thinking I’m ill.

I swallow and try to calm down. I push against the wall and stand up straight, then grab his phone and stuff it into his jacket pocket. I say to him solemnly and apologetically: “Xiao Pi, you go home immediately and don’t come here unless I tell you to. Teacher has very important things to do. If…..I don’t notify you for a long time, go to the school and apply for a change of tutor. I will tell the school in advance that your new tutor will only be more accomplished than me…..”

My expression is probably very unsightly. The boy seems frightened, his eyes red and wet: “Although I don’t know what’s wrong with you, I will wait for you, Teacher. If you have any trouble, how about…..we call the police. The police will protect us.”

I smile. What I suspect is too fantastical, and there is no evidence or substantial damage. There is also my mental illness. Even if I call the police, there is nothing they can do.

But this is the best way the recent graduate can think of. I express my gratitude to him.

When I send him to the courtyard gate, I look at his guilty and confused face and feel indescribably sour and uncomfortable at heart, so I can’t help but stop him when he steps out of the courtyard: “Xiao Pi.”

“Teacher?” He looks back.

I hesitate, then speak again: “You…..go worship at a temple after you go back.”

“Ah?” He is stunned.

“…..Just think of it as studying.”

“Okay, teacher!”

. . . . . . .

After sending the student away, I look at the time. It is now 16:00 in the afternoon, one hour and forty-five minutes before Mingcheng gets off work.

I can’t live in doubt any longer. I have to do something to either verify my suspicions or dispel my concerns.

First is my guess: something is wrong with Mingcheng. Although it isn’t good to rashly suspect my lover, I grew up with him and am most familiar with his appearance, temperament, and every move. But now, I feel like he is a different person.

This person is very similar to him. It could be said that he is exactly the same, but there is an indescribable sense of dissonance in him.

The Wen family is well off, and Mingcheng, as the eldest son in the family, received an heir’s education. He has read books and poetry since childhood and is proficient at various musical instruments. He likes Chinese opera, Western oil paintings, and all kinds of flowers and beautiful things. Since he became an adult, he has taken care of his family’s property in an orderly manner, and looks at people with gentle, steady eyes.

And Mingcheng is still gentle now, but his eyes occasionally appear eerie and cold, bottomless like an endless night, like an abyss that people dare not look directly into.

When Mingcheng and I are together, he likes to have brief tastes of intimacy. He likes to lightly kiss my lips and cheeks, and look at me affectionately. He is very restrained in his physical intimacy.

And now he likes all close contact with me. He likes kissing, hugging, being skin-to-skin with me…..in the past three days, half of the time we spent together has been spent in bed.

Something is definitely wrong with him.

But where should I begin to verify it?

The mysteriousness scares me and also makes me want to escape. As time passes in minutes and seconds, I suddenly think of someone.

“Mingyi……”

The woman on the end of the phone is doing something unknown. She probably isn’t at the gym, because I hear a sound similar to paper flipping. She takes my call and hears me call out to her. She is silent for a moment, and then asks me: “What’s wrong?”

I think and think, not knowing what to say.

I could tell her, I suspect that your brother has been replaced, although this person looks exactly like your brother and even has the same fingerprints. Oh, by the way, he might not be a human.

It is likely that she will immediately call for a psychiatric evaluation.

“A-Zhen?” She asks this with some confusion when I don’t say anything.

Hesitating over and over, I choose the question that is, strictly speaking, the most realistic: “Do you think Mingcheng could have a twin? What I mean to say is, do you also have an older brother who looks…..the same as Mingcheng?”

“Haha.”

She makes a mocking sound. “Really? Then how come Mother doesn’t know?”

I fall silent.

We are silent for a long time.

“You…..” She seems like she can’t stand me anymore, and is a little agitated. “I said it, you really love my brother like crazy. I also grew up with you. I was your favorite when we were children. You said I was pretty and cute, and that my brother was rigid and only knew how to study, but why were you so biased once you grew up? You said you cared about me, but in the end, the one you care for is my brother!”

Her sudden loss of control leaves me at a loss. I probably did say those words when I was a young, but weren’t they just to coax a child? And I don’t feel like I was biased. It was obviously Mingyi who didn’t want me to care about her, right?

Besides, hadn’t I said that I was worried about her recently? The only contact I had with her was when we were hanging out.

In any case, I quickly apologize to her: “I’m sorry, Mingyi. It’s just that something happened recently…..”

“Shut up!” She scolds me angrily, “I don’t want to hear you talk.”

She hangs up the phone.

I don’t understand why she lost her temper. Her accusations make me feel even worse when I was already panicking, but there isn’t enough time left for me to wallow in my feelings of loss.

I go to the bathroom and wash my face, forcing myself to calm down. 

At least now I have the piece of information that Mingcheng does not have a twin brother.

Then there are two possibilities left.

One: my mental illness has become more severe.

Two: he is not human.

Because he is not human, his disguise is impeccable. His fingerprints can be verified, but he can’t pass the living person test, and because he is not human, he needs permission to come into my house.

I shudder to think of what the second option would mean if it were true, so I actually hope it is the first one. But the panic and discomfort in my heart prevent me from ignoring it all.

Then I need to think about it. If he isn’t a human being, what is he?

Is he a monster? A devil? A ghost?

How did he show up at my house? Where did the real Mingcheng go?

Mingcheng…..I feel so awful.

I look out the window and see that the flowers planted in my backyard are already blooming beautifully and prosperously. We have wedding photos hanging in our bedroom. In the photos, he has a gentle smile, and on my left ring finger is the diamond ring he put on me when he promised me his entire life.

There are traces of him in every corner of my life.

We have only been married for half a year…..

In the past twenty, almost thirty years, he has been the most beautiful young man in my heart. The most handsome young man, the most considerate lover, he is tolerant and gentle, and lets me do everything I want. He discusses with me what I want to do, and the only thing he insisted on was going to a small country in Southeast Asia for our honeymoon.

Wait!

My mind suddenly lights up.

Could it be related to that trip?

Such a small, religious country has no connection to the eldest son of the Wen family. Why did he insist on going to such a small country? Why did he yearn for that statue so much? And why did he bring back that little doll? 

I connect these pieces of information together, and the first thing that comes to mind is the horror story Pi Gao brought me.

Perhaps Pi Gao is the guidance given to me by god.

If my suspicions are correct and this is not all due to my mental illness, then “Mingcheng” must have an inseparable relationship with that black and gold figure. That was why it was difficult for him to come in when I sent the doll out.

I have to find it again!

In for a penny, in for a pound. I find the key to the basement and take a flashlight with me.

This basement was given as a gift for buying the house. Because it isn’t used much, there is no electricity. I didn’t have so many thoughts in my mind before, so I didn’t have any psychological barriers to coming in and out. But now, I don’t know if it is a psychological effect, but I feel that this dark space is a little eerie and frightening.

The leftover materials from the renovation have been thrown down here carelessly. There are cobwebs in the corners, and at the end of the room is a cabinet I had discarded. It was used to store my painting tools, but now it has accumulated a lot of dust.

And the middle grid is where I put the doll.

I am instinctively afraid of this inhuman thing and my heartbeat speeds up, but I can’t be afraid. I raise my flashlight and face the small lattice door. With my other hand, I touch the little pixiu on my chest that my mother had begged for me.

After a few minutes, I make up my mind and open the lattice door.

In the next moment, my eyes open wide.

It is empty inside.

The doll is gone.

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Chapter 7 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 9

When Huo Fenglie stood up, his expression was very ugly.

Liu Zhenqing felt somewhat embarrassed, and reached out to drag Huo Fenglie back.

Huo Fenglie turned and glanced at Liu Zhenqing with a restrained expression, but seemed unable to hold back his anger as he said in a deep voice: “I’m a bit stuffy, so I will go to the deck for some air. Apologies.”

After saying this, he turned around and walked out the door. He had to force himself to leave and go out alone to calm down.

That movement like thunder and wind was comparable to a suppressed volcano that might erupt at any time.

Once he left, the temperature in the room that had been lowered by Huo Fenglie stabilized.

Xi Ran said softly: “Did what I said about Young Master Liu offend him? As an acquaintance of Young Master Liu…..”

“How could this be?” Song Xingmu was also puzzled, and turned to look at Liu Zhenqing. After all, he was not familiar with Huo Fenglie, but Liu Zhenqing would definitely know what was going on.

“What is wrong with him?”

He saw Liu Zhenqing slowly sip his tea, looking a little relaxed and complacent. He said shamelessly: “It’s because he liked that person. And…..he was almost promised by his brother to be that person’s wife. With a relationship like that, you can’t blame him for being rude.”

The three people present were stunned when these words came out.

Goosebumps immediately rose on Yi Chuan. “He liked Liu Zhenqing?”

Liu Zhenqing nodded heavily.

“Were they a couple?”

Liu Zhenqing said seriously: “Not yet.”

“Yes, that person died,” Yi Chuan said directly.

But Song Xingmu was in a bad mood. Staring at Liu Zhenqing, he said in disbelief: “Wait, what did you say? Are you telling the truth? Seriously? That little demon?”

Liu Zhenqing said with dissatisfaction: “What, do you think that person didn’t have enough charm to attract a little demon?” He was so good, wasn’t it normal for Er-gou to be obsessed with him?

Song Xingmu nearly choked to death. He couldn’t help but curse inwardly, still so loathsome and shameless! But no matter what, that person had the capital to be shameless. He gritted his teeth and said: “But…..Liu Zhenqing was not a cut-sleeve.”

Liu Zhenqing said innocently: “That is not wrong, but feelings are something different.”

“You!” Song Xingmu was alarmed. The good brother who accompanied him to admire beauties and the didi of another good brother? This stimulation was almost equal to his brother’s rebirth.

“Ai, stop that.” Liu Zhenqing feared that Song Xingmu’s stimulation would expose him. “I’ll go out and talk some sense into him.”

Xi Ran to the side finally returned to her senses. She naturally understood that a person like Liu Zhenqing must have countless admirers, but didn’t expect to meet one. And he was a formidable man who was rather different in age from them. She said in astonishment: “Sure enough, Young Master Liu back then really had countless peach blossoms, and was famous all over the country. After so many years, there are still people who miss him. It is my fault. Please tell that young master that I was only joking. Young Master Liu indeed stayed with me for three days and three nights, but he was very polite and did not cross the line. Young Master Liu and I…..just had a platonic friendship.”

As she spoke, Xi Ran’s eyes dimmed.

“En, all right.” Liu Zhenqing chuckled and gave Xi Ran a respectful gentleman’s salute.

Startled, Xi Ran instantly recalled the time when Liu Zhenqing stepped into her Fragrant Pavilion for the first time. The seemingly wanton and lazy dandy actually bowed respectfully to her like a gentleman. This was a very ridiculous thing. After all, which wealthy scholar would perform this etiquette for a prostitute?

She had only encountered this twice in her life. 

The first time, she was shocked and forgot to return the gesture. She often woke from her dreams feeling lost, and in her imagination, she returned the gesture over and over again countless times.

But this time, Xi Ran was caught off guard and quickly stood up to reciprocate. When she did so, the jade pendant around her neck fell out.

And after waiting for Xi Ran to return the gesture, he turned around and left. His eyes did not linger on the jade willow leaf pendant.

Seeing this, Song Xingmu wanted to call out to Liu Zhenqing and stop him, but he saw him walk out with a smile on his lips, as if he was looking forward to something. This truly made Song Xingmu feel indescribably complicated.

“This young master is quite interesting. Are you unable to say his name?”

Song Xingmu sighed. “What a coincidence, his last name is Liu.”

Xi Ran was taken aback. “I thought he looked familiar.”

“It is true that he is a distant relative of Liu Zhenqing.” Song Xingmu smiled and raised his cup to drink tea.

Xi Ran’s eyes flashed, and she suddenly said: “Oh? Can Captain Song help bridge the gap between us?”

“What?”

Xi Ran smiled sweetly and said: “I wonder if he would like to stay the night?”

Song Xingmu froze in his tea-drinking posture and stared at Xi Ran in astonishment. Yi Chuan beside him spurted out a mouthful of liquid.

Xi Ran smiled, her expression charming and free. “I was not lucky enough to get Young Master Liu. Now that I have met this person who is so similar, perhaps the heavens intend to compensate me. If Captain Song becomes my lobbyist, I will definitely provide better information to Captain Song in the future.”

Song Xingmu was stunned for a long moment, and finally couldn’t help but laugh. “All right, I’ll ask him later. Ai? Wait, that fellow really didn’t do anything for three days and three nights back then? So what did he do?”

Xi Ran smiled and said: “He told me stories.”

At this time, Liu Zhenqing had already found Huo Fenglie standing alone at the guardrail on the deck. The night wind caused his black hair to flutter, dispersing the cold hardness of his body, but it could not dissipate his loneliness.

For a moment, he was like a pitiful guard dog crouching in the night and waiting for his master to return.

Liu Zhenqing crossed his arms and looked at him for a while, feeling a little regretful. He usually just let it go, but this time it seemed to have been too much and made him this unhappy.

But he didn’t blame himself, ah. Who made Huo Fenglie stay frozen and not say anything? It was unknown what was holding him back.

Liu Zhenqing had not stood there long before Huo Fenglie turned around, apparently having noticed him come.

“Er-gou, are you still stuffy?” Liu Zhenqing strolled forward with a pure white smile on his face.

“Why did you come out?” Huo Fenglie asked in a dull voice: “Don’t you want to reminisce about the past?”

Liu Zhenqing stopped teasing him and took the initiative to explain: “Song Xingmu and I had old history to talk about, but I wasn’t familiar with Xi Ran. She didn’t know my identity and it was inconvenient to speak, so I simply came out.”

Huo Fenglie watched Liu Zhenqing approach, but then turned his back, seemingly unwilling to face him.

“The first taste of love, three days and three nights of companionship. You don’t think that is familiar?”

It seemed like a question, but he severely restrained his emotions, and the sourness almost turned the river water into vinegar.

Liu Zhenqing suppressed a smile. “What nonsense are you talking about? Didn’t I tell you before? When I was in the capital, I only went to places like that to watch performances. Your brother would vouch for me.”

“It was Da-ge who brought you back.” The implication was that Huo Feihan couldn’t possibly have known what he had done.

Huo Fenglie was not here at the time. Later, when Liu Zhenqing returned from his hometown and stayed in another courtyard here, he heard the exaggerated rumors about Liu Zhenqing and the entertainment house. At that time, he just instinctively felt it was troublesome. He disliked it and was unhappy. But they were busy catching pirates, and Huo Fenglie and Liu Zhenqing spent little time together, so the matter was just a rumor and passed quickly.

When they met again this time, Fuo Fenglie was reminded of the incident and felt like he was being given acupuncture at all times.

Just as Song Xingmu had said, he was worried that Xi Ran had a special place in Liu Zhenqing’s heart.

Huo Fenglie’s eyes became dark when he thought of this.

Liu Zhenqing scratched his head helplessly and then pretended to be mysterious, gesturing to Huo Fenglie: “Then let me tell you a secret.”

Although Huo Fenglie had a stomach full of emotions, he still couldn’t resist any of Liu Zhenqing’s demands. He leaned over with a sullen expression and felt Liu Zhenqing reach out to pull his ear, getting closer as he said: “Actually neither body has ever tasted the fruit of love. You must keep it a secret.”

Huo Fenglie was stunned for a moment, and the feeling of desolation vanished into nothingness. Turning his head to look at Liu Zhenqing, he saw the other’s happily smiling face and sparkling eyes. “I am absolutely not trying to trick you, I swear. In two lifetimes, your Qing-ge has never touched a man or a woman. Even his first kiss…..is still there.”

When Liu Zhenqing said this, he got stuck. It was true that he didn’t have any experience kissing even in his previous life, but in this life, cough, cough, he was infatuated with Huo Fenglie.

It was just that Huo Fenglie was completely muddled-headed and didn’t notice Liu Zhenqing’s dilemma at all. He didn’t expect that Qing-ge had observed such etiquette in his previous life. After all, it was completely different from his daily behavior, ah. Then it could be said that Qing-ge’s first time was with him…..Thinking of this, Huo Fenglie’s eyes suddenly widened.

Liu Zhenqing was still thinking about what had happened when Huo Fenglie went crazy, and was a little surprised. Yes, ah, it was such a fierce attack for a first time. Was he self-taught or did he have personal experience?

Liu Zhenqing felt a little mentally uncomfortable, but he was still a twenty-six-year-old man, and it was not something worth worrying about. But he was still curious, so he couldn’t help but say: “What about Er-gou? Have you ever been close to a woman? Do you still have your first kiss?”

When Liu Zhenqing inquired straightforwardly, Huo Fenglie looked extremely uncomfortable. Liu Zhenqing had a pretty good idea that Huo Fenglie had experience.  Suppressing his psychological discomfort, he couldn’t help but say: “Oh? Who is so lucky that General Huo was on intimate terms with them?”

Huo Fenglie quickly lowered his eyes to hide his panic. He had only…..only done something bad once.

It was on the wedding day of his brother and his sister-in-law. Qing-ge was so happy that he ended up drinking too much. In the end, he fell drunk on the rockery and was found by Huo Fenglie. He didn’t know if he was influenced by the happiness of his brother and sister-in-law’s marriage, or by some women who were close to Qing-ge attending the wedding. Perhaps he was drunk that night too. Gathering his courage, as Qing-ge was holding onto him in a daze, he lowered his head and kissed him. 

At that time, Liu Zhenqing sobered up and saw Huo Fenglie squatting beside him with a red face, looking at him. He didn’t know that his first kiss had been stolen by this puppy, and only asked with a smile: “Did Er-gou secretly drink? His face is all red.”

And at present, Huo Fenglie only buried it in his heart and did not dare to admit it. “I. Haven’t. Really.”

With such an obvious lie, Liu Zhenqing thought he had but was too embarrassed to tell him. After all, he was the one he liked now.

Liu Zhenqing was also a little dissatisfied that Huo Fenglie had traces of someone else in his heart, so he said teasingly: “Ah, I remember, didn’t you give me your first kiss?”

Huo Fenglie was so frightened that his whole body stiffened. “Qing-ge, I…..”

“You forgot, I took it as soon as you were born. Hahaha,” Liu Zhenqing said with a smile.

Huo Fenglie choked, and could only change the subject awkwardly. “Then what about the rumors?”

“Haven’t you heard? Your brother and I were working with Song Xingmu to investigate a case about a local tyrant official. Back then, Xi Ran was the entertainer and person closest to the wicked official. He wanted to take part in the night Xi Ran chose her customers, and in order to buy time to deal with the enemy, Song Xingmu and I wanted to retain Xi Ran. As a result, I was selected and entered the pavilion. When I went in, I asked the girl to play the pipa for me, and when she grew tired of playing, I told her a story. Little did I know that the girl had never heard fairy tales before. She got so excited that she practically didn’t let me sleep, and insisted that I tell them. I don’t even remember how many hundreds I told. In any case, I passed out in the end and when he finally finished his work, your brother came to take me back.”

“Fairy tales…..stories?” Huo Fenglie said.

Liu Zhenqing smiled and said: “Want to hear one? I’ll tell it when I give you acupuncture tonight. I’ll prepare One Thousand and One Nights for you.”

Huo Fenglie stared blankly for a moment, then nodded agreeably. “Then…..the jade pendant.”

“Oh, you saw that too. I stayed with this girl for three days and three nights, so of course I was too embarrassed to leave directly. Don’t all benactors use silver as a reward? I just gave her the most valuable jade pendant I had on me. After that, I was busy catching pirates, but then I discovered one thing.”

“What?”

“Xi Ran is not an ordinary woman. In fact, we were taken advantage of by her. Back then, the wicked official was not a good patron, and often tormented her. She didn’t dare to offend him, and just wished that something would happen to him. So when we showed up, she used the situation to choose me and played along with our acting in hopes that the bully would be caught without damaging her reputation. She is an extremely intelligent woman.”

“Then afterwards…..”

Liu Zhenqing spoke slowly: “We met again many years later. When I went south with Yuan Jue I stayed behind to deploy troops with Song Xingmu to continue catching pirates. When discussing things with Song Xingmu, we tried to keep away from eyes and ears, so we went to Xi Ran’s place. The relationship between us can only be regarded as…..the friendship between gentlemen, as light as water. Before leaving, I asked if she wanted to be redeemed. I wanted to help her regain her freedom. She refused, saying that she would leave by her own abilities. Then I never saw her again.”

Huo Fenglie could probably understand why Xi Ran refused at the outset. Because Qing-ge said he would give her her freedom, not…..take her away.

Huo Fenglie’s eyes flickered, and he said suddenly: “She never forgot you.”

“Who let your Qing-ge be so charming?” Liu Zhenqing gave a charming smile, then said deliberately, “Although I didn’t think much about it in the past, do you think I should renew our relationship now?”

Liu Zhenqing was only teasing Huo Fenglie to make him feel a little threatened. But the moment he said it, he didn’t even have time to tell Huo Fenglie it was a joke. As if he had been stabbed, his face became extremely frightening. That pair of eyes abruptly switched from restrained to wild and dangerous, staring at Liu Zhenqing like a wild beast.

Seeing Huo Fenglie this way shocked Liu Zhenqing. It was like if he spoke the wrong word, Huo Fenglie would pounce on him and bite his neck.

Look at this possessiveness, this jealous expression. So cute. Yet you still say you don’t like me.

Liu Zhenqing was frightened at first, but quickly shrugged it off and gave Huo Fenglie a provocative look.

Huo Fenglie suddenly said in a deep voice: “Qing-ge, don’t joke like that to me.”

Liu Zhenqing smiled and said: “How can you be sure I’m joking?”

“Because I know Qing-ge. Although you spare feelings everywhere…..”

“Hey, hey, hey.”

“…..If you really do fall in love with someone, you will stay with them until death. You said that you firmly believe in this kind of love, just like my brother and sister-in-law’s.” Huo Fenglie spoke very seriously, and his tone contained a warning. “You aren’t just casually talking about renewing a relationship, are you?”

If he could renew his relationship with Xi Ran, if he could be with someone else…..why couldn’t it be him?!

If Qing-ge wanted to choose someone else, wouldn’t his restraint and concealment be a joke? He could not, would not, tolerate it any longer. He would…..

As Huo Fenglie thought, he couldn’t help but grab Liu Zhenqing’s shoulders, and his tone became deeper and deeper. “Qing-ge, do you really want to be with someone else…..”

Liu Zhenqing regarded Huo Fenglie blankly, feeling that his words were a bit strange. He didn’t understand for the moment, but Huo Fenglie knew him quite well.

So he nodded and said sincerely: “You’re right. If I really fall in love with someone, I will definitely stay with them until death.”

Liu Zhenqing felt that he should reassure Huo Fenglie. Although there were rumors outside that he was romantically involved, he had to let Er-gou know that once he started a relationship, he would never change his mind. He didn’t want Er-gou to misunderstand that he was a frivolous person.

But Liu Zhenqing was unaware that his words were not a reassurance, but a critical hit, which silenced Huo Fenglie again.

But at the same time, he was relieved. Right, ah, hadn’t he known about this matter for almost nine years? What was there to be surprised about? He would only be surprised if Qing-ge fell in love with someone else.

Huo Fenglie slowly lowered his hands, and everything returned to how it was before.

However, Liu Zhenqing narrowed his eyes with a mischievous smile in front of him, then suddenly took a step forward, almost touching Huo Fenglie.Huo Fenglie was so startled that he instinctively moved back, but Liu Zhenqing grabbed his arm.

Liu Zhenqing raised his head and drew very close to Huo Fenglie’s face. He raised his eyebrows and said: “Er-gou, ah, what happened just now? So impolite? Someone who didn’t know better might think you were jealous.”

Huo Fenglie’s expression gradually stiffened, his eyes looking straight at Liu Zhenqing.

Liu Zhenqing couldn’t help becoming nervous.

But in the end, Huo Fenglie avoided Liu Zhenqing’s eyes and said: “Qing-ge misunderstands. I respect Qing-ge. Hearing such a frivolous story, I felt that I was not the person to hear it.”

Good boy, don’t say this. Liu Zhenqing nearly laughed out loud. He stretched out his hands and tugged Huo Fenglie’s lapel, forcing him to come closer. Liu Zhenqing’s eyes were like lightning. “Er-gou, ah, you…..”

But as soon as he spoke, the previously stable boat suddenly shook violently.

Huo Fenglie was able to keep his figure completely steady, and his whole body responded to guard Liu Zhenqing, who had been planning to interrogate him.

Neither of them ever thought that such an impossible situation would occur on the smooth water of the river. Now the boat was swaying, accompanied by sounds of chaos throughout the boat.

The two of them fell to one side at the same time, one leaning back and one leaning forward. The distance continued to get closer. Huo Fenglie’s well-trained body still instinctively reached out to grab the railing next to him to prevent the two of them from falling, supporting Liu Zhenqing’s body with the other hand. But his strength still couldn’t prevent it.

In an instant, Liu Zhenqing’s pupils shrank, and all he could see was Er-gou’s handsome features close at hand.

They had discussed their first kiss not long ago, and now this was happening.

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Chapter Seventy-Nine << Table of Contents >> Chapter Eighty-One

When Lu Qi woke up, his throat was dry and sore. His head was still dizzy, and he felt nauseated.

He was lying down stiffly, and when he tried to move his hands and feet, he realized that his hands were tied behind his back, his legs were tied together, and there was something firmly stuffed in his mouth.

The colorful patterns in his vision slowed down after a while. Only then did Lu Qi notice that something like a silk scarf was covering his head.

He simply pretended like he hadn’t woken up yet and listened to what was going on around him, recalling what had happened before he fell unconscious.

He had returned to the Garden Community and got the things the young girl had sent him from the landlord. In addition to photos, there were also some origami works folded by the girl herself, all kinds of small animals lying colorfully in the shoebox, each one from the young girl’s heart.

Lu Qi liked them very much, and walked toward Mingqi Secondary School with the shoebox under his arm. When he was about to leave the community, he found an injured stray dog in an alley between the buildings.

He thought about investigating the situation, but he didn’t have the energy to take care of an extra puppy, so he intended to call Xu Hengxing.

He crouched in front of the puppy, and was about to lift it using bathroom tissue in order to check the wound on the little thing’s leg when there were sudden footsteps behind him. There was more than one set, and they were all heavy and forceful adult footsteps. Lu Qi instinctively sensed that something was wrong, and while turning around, took a subconscious step back.

At this moment, an opponent’s hand chop sliced down and Lu Qi looked at him with some astonishment.

Lu Qi couldn’t spare any more attention for the puppy, and put it down, stepping aside quickly. He regarded the tall man warily and shouted loudly to ask him who he was.

He knew the other party wouldn’t tell him, and only asked in order to delay time. His eyes were searching for something to defend himself with or a gap to escape through.

But several more people appeared behind the man. Lu Qi looked at their figures and temperaments, and suddenly thought of their identities. These people were probably private bodyguards!

Then this wasn’t about money.

The alley was narrow, and the few people were unable to swarm up. Even though Lu Qi couldn’t find any tools or chance to escape, he also didn’t sit still, shouting directly: “Fire! Fire!!”

This sort of incident that might endanger someone personally was the most likely to attract attention and commotion, while shouting “help” or “robbery” might make people avoid it. This was what his mom told him when he was a child, but he never foresaw having to use it now. However, the other party didn’t give him a chance to shout. The man who missed hitting Lu Qi just now stepped forward again and reached out to grab him. 

Lu Qi punched him in the nose.

His boxing practice these days was not in vain. Unprepared, the opponent screamed and covered his nose, crouching down. And thanks to the narrow alley, the others couldn’t surge forward, and got stuck.

But in the end, there were many of them. Noticing Lu Qi’s shout of “fire,” someone had already pushed open a window to investigate. One of the group members said: “Hold him down and knock him out! Don’t worry about his face for now!!”

This was the last sentence Lu Qi heard. The group behind seemed to have no scruples, and swarmed over him to hold him down. Lu Qi punched one person in the eye, kicked another one down while struggling, and was finally pinned to the ground. His cheek hurt from the gravel on the ground, and then his mouth and nose were blocked by a pungent-smelling towel.

He didn’t know what happened after that.

He was scared, but comforted himself and calmed down. The other party’s words “don’t worry about his face for now” seemed to reveal their purpose for kidnapping him. Lu Qi never thought he would be sexually harassed one day, but it couldn’t be ruled out that the other party feared that he would be unrecognizable with his nose and face bruised and swollen, and he wouldn’t be able to blackmail Mu Nanqiao…..

He had been awake for a while, but there was no movement here. Lu Qi carefully rubbed his head and opened a small gap in the head covering, looking at the surrounding environment through it.

This seemed to be a KTV lounge. He had seen this kind of layout before when Li Yimiao worked at one. There was a private room at the front and a lounge in the back for drunken guests to rest, and he had recently been tossed onto the bed in the lounge. The room was dark and windowless, with only dim, blue-purple lights on.

There was the faint sound of conversation outside the door. It wasn’t obvious at first, but then one of them seemed to become angry. The other person was unresigned, and started to argue as well.

“Are you fucking crazy!” Along with the sound of things smashing, the man yelled: “Haven’t you watched TV?! The Mu family treats this kid as their daughter-in-law!! Why are you playing with him?! Aren’t you playing with someone else’s wife?!!”

“What kind of TV should I watch, ah? I only watch movies on TV…..” The other boy with the gruff voice didn’t care. “Besides, what daughter-in-law? He has such a big family business, so how can he find a male partner and not have children? In the end, he will have to find a woman to give birth so that he doesn’t lose his bloodline…..”

“Fuck bloodlines!” The other party interrupted him, “Wang Liang! You’re trying to get yourself killed! If this continues, our family’s bloodline will be cut off!”

Wang Liang…..

Lu Qi silently noted down the name.

He had an anesthetic-resistant constitution, and the other party probably didn’t expect him to wake up so quickly. The quarrel was still fierce.

“What? Could Mu Nanqiao fall out with our family because of him?” The gruff voice scoffed coldly, “Wang Duan, you are afraid of him, but I’m not. I have never been afraid of anyone since I was a child! I’ve gotten my way all over Shanghai, so what’s the problem with sleeping with a little duck? It’s impossible for Mu Nanqiao to love him! Where the hell is there love! Why can’t I touch this plaything!”

The man named Wang Duan fell silent, and Lu Qi heard him breathing very heavily, as if he was very angry.

After a long moment, Wang Duan said: “Did you touch him? Did he see your face?”

There was no telling what Wang Liang was thinking, but after a moment, he gave a contemptuous laugh and said, “I touched him, he feels so good. He’s worthy of being the one Mu Nanqiao likes, the best quality! He also saw my face. Let’s put it this way, Brother – it’s impossible to send this person back. You had better figure out how to cover up for me.”

Lu Qi moved his butt, but there was no discomfort. Wang Liang was obviously lying, just to drag the Wang family into trouble and let them take care of the consequences.

This man was selfish, arrogant, and stupid, and it might not be the first time he had done this!

Once he regained some strength in his hands and feet, Lu Qi twisted his wrists a couple of times and found that what was binding him was not rope, but circles of tape. 

This tape stuff was indestructible when intact, but as long as there was a small tear, it could be broken at once. Lu Qi first scratched at it with his nails, but he couldn’t use any force, and the tape didn’t move at all.

At the same time, he heard a person saying outside: “Wang Liang, I’m taking away the bodyguards. From now on, whatever you’re going to do has nothing to do with the Wang family. Do you understand?”

Lu Qi’s heart was ringing with alarm. Wang Duan had not left Wang Liang a way out. It was hard to say what a desperate man would do.

. . . . . .

In Mu Group’s chairman’s office, Mu Nanqiao called the police and was about to go to the police station while carrying his clothes. His expression was overcast and terrible. Mu Chuanbai was sitting on the sofa, also on his phone. Seeing that his son was about to go out, he said: “Son, don’t panic. The other party will make demands after kidnapping him. No matter what they ask for, you must agree first in order to stabilize the other party. If necessary, the company’s interests can be sacrificed. Once we get him back, everything else will be easy to deal with.”

Mu Nanqiao exhaled. He said with a nod: “I understand. Thank you, Dad.”

He took Assistant Zhang down in the elevator and went straight to the underground parking lot. Assistant Zhang opened the driver’s seat door, but his collar was grabbed and he was pushed back. “I’ll drive.”

Assistant Zhang was afraid that something might happen to his boss in this state, but after looking at his cold and solemn expression, he ran to the back without saying a word. Before he could sit firmly and close the car door, the boss had already stepped on the accelerator and was driving out.

But before they left the underground parking lot, a flirtatious pink convertible slowly drove in from the other side. A carefree young man with chains everywhere was driving the car, and blocked Mu Nanqiao’s way.

The sound of the horn startled the other party. He took off his sunglasses and looked over. Only then did Assistant Zhang realize that this was the second young master of the Gao family.

Speaking of this Second Young Master Gao, he was also a bit lucky. He flirted with Boss Mu’s boyfriend, and even if he didn’t die, he should have been skinned by Boss Mu. But according to Boss Mu, his boyfriend was very kind-hearted and thought that being offended by this man was not a big deal. Afterwards, the playboy young master’s reaction when he saw Mu Nanqiao was enough to make him laugh for a week.

Lu Qi did not agree to Mu Nanqiao’s retaliatory punishment. As for Mu Nanqiao, seeing as the other party made Lu Qi laugh, he decided to let him off.

Thus, the matter was lightly unraveled, and Second Young Master Gao was able to drive a sports car here with his body and family property intact, instead of being thrown into a small African country by Director Gao for training. This playboy who bobbed his head in a self-satisfied manner was startled, and looked like he was about to curse someone. Seeing that it was Mu Nanqiao, he revealed a flattering smile and wandered over with a fruit basket to knock on the window of Mu Nanqiao’s car.

Assistant Zhang feared that Mu Nanqiao would run over these second-hand goods with his car, so he quickly rolled down the window and stuck his head out, saying: “Young Master Gao, you’ve come at the wrong time today. Move the car quickly. Our Mr. Mu has something urgent to do.”

“Ohhhh…..” Young Master Gao was embarrassed upon his flattery being rejected, and quickly returned to the car. While reversing, he suddenly thought of something and asked loudly: “Xiao Zhang, since Brother Mu is in a hurry to get out, could it be that…..something has happened to his boyfriend?”

Mu Nanqiao’s expression went cold. He pushed the door open and got out of the car, then lifted the jingling and clanking Young Master Gao out of the convertible. He asked in a cold voice: “Do you know where Lu Qi is?”

“I, I, I’m not sure…..” Young Master Gao was about to cry, stumbling to explain: “It’s, it’s like this, Brother Mu. Some time ago when Wang Liang was drinking with us, he was a little drunk and said he was interested in a babe, but unfortunately he had an owner, and it would take some time to get him and try him out…..”

Glancing at Mu Nanqiao’s expression, he swallowed his saliva and said: “Could…..could it be your partner?”

At that time, he had just been scolded by his father and big brother about how Mu Nanqiao would react, so he always thought of Mu Nanqiao and Lu Qi with fear. So much so that when he heard Wang Liang say this, his first reaction was: Lu Qi has a “master.”

Mu Nanqiao narrowed his eyes.

Wang Liang, he knew, was the third eldest son of the Wang family and was said to be a twin at birth. The older one had a congenital defect and did not survive. On the contrary, the smaller Wang Liang made it, so Mrs. Wang regarded her youngest son as the apple of her eye. He was used to behaving badly from a young age, and had been placed into ordinary people’s homes several times.

Wang Liang fell in love with a male university student the last time, but the person wouldn’t be with him, so he used some tricks and finally forced him to jump off a building. He became a paraplegic when he fell, and the Wang family paid his family a huge amount in compensation. It was a sum that ordinary people couldn’t earn in a lifetime, so the matter was settled. Up to now, that man was still lying in a high-end ward of a private hospital, burning money every day to stay alive through the support of the Wang family.

If Lu Qi was taken away by such an unscrupulous scumbag…..

He had dark intentions, and was about to contact the police to provide these clues. Then Young Master Gao, who had wandered around several times, seemed to have come to a decision and ran over again to say: “Boss Mu, you let me go after what happened last time. Thank you. Otherwise, my father would have beaten me and sent me to Africa to work as a supervisor. I appreciate your kindness in this matter, so let me give you another piece of news. Wang Liang has his own bar. He always does some wayward things there…..the location is in…..in…..aiya, I can’t remember, but I know how to get there. I can show you the way?”

Mu Nanqiao looked at him with bloodshot eyes. He nodded solemnly and said: “Thanks.”

Thus, the troops were divided into two groups. Assistant Zhang drove to the police station, while Mu Nanqiao drove Gao’er in the supercar to the bar he had mentioned. Even though he repeatedly overtook other cars on the road and frightened Gao’er into a screaming chicken, Mu Nanqiao did not run a red light.

While waiting at the red light, Mu Nanqiao said in a hoarse voice: “You should actually thank Lu Qi.”

It was Lu Qi who said with a smile that he didn’t care, and asked him not to take such a trivial matter to heart. Although he indeed felt offended at the time, when he saw Young Master Gao scared to the point of kneeling and crawling by Mu Nanqiao, he felt that this person had learned his lesson and there was no need to be so petty.

When Lu Qi said he was being petty, Mu Nanqiao was dissatisfied, and pressed him down to kiss him over and over again.

However, if Lu Qi had not dissuaded him at that time, he would have suspended cooperation with the Gao family. After careful investigation, Old Mr. Gao would have definitely sent the culprit to the frontier.

And then today, no one would have sent him this important and timely news.

Mu Nanqiao lowered his eyes, thinking of Lu Qi’s beautiful curved eyes and the red lips he had kissed.

Lu Qi had not been let down. The world finally gave him back the gentle kindness that he showed to others.

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Chapter Forty-Seven << Table of Contents >> Chapter Forty-Nine

Soon after, Pi Gao runs toward us with his undergraduate diploma and suitcase.

He has thick eyes and his looks are not outstanding, but his skin is very white, his hair is light brown with natural curls, and he has a youthful appearance.

I roll down the window and smile at him.

He also purses his lips and smiles at me, and the moment he lowers his head, his face reddens.

I didn’t expect that he would be so outgoing on social media but so shy in person, so I’m a little surprised. 

After getting in the car, he eagerly hands me various certificates for his undergraduate degree. There is a dazzling array of these things, but I flip through them and find a lot of valuable awards in the painting world. This level would also be considered very good in the actual art department. It seems that he has indeed made a lot of effort in the past few years.

I organize these things neatly and return them to him. He is stunned for a moment, and seems to have misunderstood what I mean. His eyes dim for a moment, then he takes something out of his bag and hands it to me: “Teacher, here’s more. I have a positive personality, and I’m hardworking…..”

I take it and read through it, finding that it is actually a university diploma. There are even English 4 through 6 and Mandarin. I interrupt him with amusement: “Classmate Pi, I can see your efforts.”

Maybe because I particularly like people who blush, in order to make him less nervous, I ask him as gently as possible: “Come with me to the school logistics department in a moment to register. Are you familiar with the institute?”

“I’m familiar!” He replies instantly, and his grin reveals a pair of small tiger teeth, his eyes and glasses flashing with light. “I’ve been aiming for the University of Fine Arts for a long time, and I’ve studied it thoroughly.”

En, I find that he doesn’t seem to be very shy……

It is already noon after registration, and the three of us have lunch in the faculty canteen. Dr. Zhao helps to the end and delivers Pi Gao to the East Campus, where he is staying.

Pi Gao saves a day’s travel expenses, and is deeply moved by Dr. Zhao. When he gets out of the car, he bows to him and says: “Uncle Zhao, you are such a good person.”

‘Uncle Zhao’s’ face darkens.

I laugh out loud without shame.

Before leaving, I hold Pi Gao back and tell him that I have been busy with art exhibitions in the past six months and rarely came to the school. For some courses, he should bring his own tools and come find me at my home. “I will send you the address later.”

He asks me: “Will this be okay, Teacher?”

I consider it and agree.

I knew he would come to me, but I didn’t expect it to be so soon.

At noon, I am taking a nap on the sofa. Not long after I wake up, I suddenly hear the doorbell. I get up to open the camera on the courtyard door, and see that it is Pi Gao.

I’m still wearing house clothes and my hair is messy from sleeping, so I only open the far courtyard door for him and leave him waiting outside. 

Ten minutes later, I am wearing clothes appropriate for seeing outsiders, and open the front door for him. 

He stands outside the door with his back to it, holding a large oil-painting bag in one hand, while the other hand holds a bag of dried fruits and the like. When he hears the door open, he turns around with a round face and round eyes, like a lively puppy.

Even though I’m not very happy about his sudden appearance, I can’t get angry.

After entering the door, he hands me the bag of dried fruits with some embarrassment. “Teacher, these are persimmons I dried myself.”

I actually don’t like to eat sweet things, but I am unable to refuse this student’s good intentions. So I accept the bag of dried persimmons after thanking him, “You are really good. What do you want to learn this afternoon?”

When Pi Gao is exposed, his face turned slightly red as he says: “Actually, it’s nothing…..I can’t understand the ‘Desolate Girl and Saka’ you lectured on last year.”

This 19th century painting tells the story of the devil Saka, who fell in love with a pure girl playing under a tree and tried to subdue her with the power of evil. I spend nearly two hours explaining the composition, human anatomy, light and shadow, and the background of the era. When I finish speaking, Pi Gao thanks me very gratefully and takes the initiative to go to the kitchen and pour me a glass of water, as if this is nothing out of the ordinary.

I take the warm water he poured and pick up a piece of dried persimmon, biting into it. It is soft and sweet, worth eating.

Pi Gao leans over the coffee table to write something in his notes, drawing a few strokes with the pen from time to time.

I watch him for a while and say: “You have really worked hard these years.”

Beihua doesn’t like interdisciplinary students, and I hadn’t planned to enroll any students this year, but he insisted on applying to Beihua University and wanted to be my student. It took a lot of hard work to get to this point.

He smiles proudly after I speak, a little happy and pleased with himself: “Actually, I didn’t have much hope. This year was my World War II, and I planned to take the exam for the last time. I thought I had no chance, and if I failed this time, I would go home and be a music teacher. But I didn’t expect that the person who took first place was rejected by Beihua, so I filled the slot.”

When he finishes speaking, he narrows his eyes and asks me mysteriously: “Teacher, do you know who came in first place?”

I see the light of gossip in his eyes, and find it interesting. Although I don’t know who first place was, Beihua Academy of Fine Arts rarely rejects students. Being rejected must be confirmation that something was wrong.

Pi Gao puts down his pen, saying, “He was first place in undergraduate art school!”

His words surprise me. Although I don’t remember Pi Gao very well, I was really impressed by this first place student. He was a tall, silent kid who was extremely talented in oil painting. I was not surprised that he was able to enter the Academy of Fine Arts graduate school and make great achievements in the future, but I didn’t foresee that he would be rejected.

The withering of talent makes me extremely regretful: “Why?”

And what Pi Gao says absolutely shocks me.

“It is said that the things he created were possessed by evil spirits.”

I am astonished, and then I frown. “What are these words? Can superstitious rumors be taken seriously?”

I really couldn’t accept it if the school rejected a student for this reason.

Pi Gao puts down the notebook and sits up straight, his gaze very direct: “It’s not a rumor, many students have seen it. He rented a house outside with a few classmates. His talents were very average at first, and later, it was said that he requested something from abroad, and that thing turned out to belong to a deceased painter…..”

After getting this kind of thing, the student’s ingenuity really improved by leaps and bounds. He won several awards and was even famous on social media. His ranking in the university skyrocketed.

But a few years later, he suddenly became taciturn, and it was as if he had become a different person. He was no longer on social media and often talked to himself in corners, speaking in a foreign language that nobody could understand.

This incident caused a big fuss at school, and Pi Gao bumped into him several times because he often ran to the Academy of Fine Arts.

“Later, he disappeared for a long time. Neither his teachers nor his parents could find him, and the police were helpless. One night, a roommate renting with him suddenly heard someone knocking on the door. The roommate opened the door, looked, and – holy shit! That person was back, and he asked the roommate very strangely if he could come in.”

When I hear this, my heart suddenly tightens. I put the water in my hand back on the table. “What happened next?”

“Do you still need to ask this, Teacher?” Pi Gao pats his notebook and makes a door-closing motion. “Of course the roommate closed the door and locked it several times. He was so scared that he didn’t sleep until dawn.”

I open my mouth and look at the door of my house. My throat is a little tight. “…..He finally came back, so why not let him in?”

He is a little surprised to see that I really don’t know. “Teacher, do you rarely read things that aren’t academic? It was because there is a folk legend that apart from gods, whether they are big monsters or small ghosts, they need the owner’s permission to enter a person’s house. With the owner’s consent, they can come in and out and make contact with the people in the house as they please.”

I think of something, and my heart skips a beat.

“Teacher…..you don’t seem to look well…..”

I pick up the cool water on the table to hide my reaction, then put it down again. My heart is pounding. When I hear this, I look at the boy and say to him: “Xiao Pi, I’m feeling a little uncomfortable. Can you go back first?”

The boy notices my abnormality and stops talking. He stands up holding his things and asks me worriedly: “Teacher, are you okay? I’m sorry, did I scare you?”

“I’m fine…..it’s not your problem…..” I comfort him briefly.

He walks to the door in three steps and turns back to me: “Teacher, next time…..”

“Can you come back next time when I call you?”

“En, en, en, okay!” He nods again and again and says to me apologetically: “I’m sorry, Teacher, I talk a lot and can’t keep my mouth shut. If I say something that makes you uncomfortable, please disregard it. What I mentioned is just a rumor. Strictly speaking, he should have been rejected from Beihua because of his long-term truancy. Also, you can just wear house clothes when I come next time, whatever makes you comfortable. You don’t have to change clothes for me.”

I nod, trying to force a smile for him, but as soon as I raise the corners of my mouth, I freeze: “How did you know I changed my clothes?”

Only then does he scratch his head as if recalling something. “Because the peephole on your door is backwards. I accidentally saw you going into the bedroom to change clothes from the outside. I didn’t peek at anything else. When I realized it was backwards, I turned my back and stopped looking…..”

He is still explaining nonchalantly, but my brain is already fried as I remain on the sofa.

“Teacher, what’s wrong? Didn’t you know?”

“Didn’t you know the peephole is reversed?”

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Chapter 6 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 8

His rare inability to explain makes me feel a little distressed. I pull him to sit on the sofa, bring him the hot dinner, and pour him a glass of warm orange juice.

Mingcheng likes juice very much.

I put his dinner on the coffee table, but he is not in a hurry to eat. Rather, he remains sitting on the sofa with his hands gently holding my waist. He raises his head and looks at me with a smile, as if enjoying it when I lean over to wipe his dirty suit jacket.

“What trouble did you encounter tonight?” My mind is still fixated on this sentence.

Since my family member came home so late, I restrain myself from asking questions. But my worry is unavoidable, and he has a responsibility to give me an explanation.

He smiles wryly and shrugs, taking one hand back to place it on the back of my hand. “The car in front of me hit someone, resulting in a hit-and-run. It took me some time to cooperate with the police investigation, otherwise I would have still been back with you after five o’clock today.”

A hit-and-run?!

I frown. These people who hit people and run away in broad daylight are truly disgusting. Although the car accident did not happen to Mingcheng, him being there is enough to make me scared. I digest the information, but feel that something isn’t right: “Then why did Secretary Li say you were having a board meeting around seven o’clock?”

According to Mingcheng’s statement, his off-duty hours should be the same as usual, and he would have been cooperating with the police investigating the traffic accident after seven o’clock.

Mingcheng’s movements as he kneads my fingers are almost imperceptible. I’m a little confused, but the helpless expression on his face remains unchanged: “I was afraid you would be worried about me.”

It was because of this?

“Are you stupid?” I pull my hand away angrily. “You didn’t tell me because I would be worried, but I would find out sooner or later. If there was something wrong with you and I didn’t know about it, how painful would it be when I found out?”

A night full of worries and concealed emotions break out all at once, making me furious. I angrily push away the hand on my waist, step out from between his knees, and walk toward the room with a sullen face.

Seeing that I am truly angry, he quickly stands up and takes my arm.

I look back at him then, surprised to find that he is actually smiling.

Before I can get even angrier, he hugs me tightly from behind.

I’m so angry that I want to break away and throw him over my shoulder, then let him lie on the couch tonight.

But unexpectedly, I discover that his strength is unshakable.

Although I am not in very good health and don’t have the habit of exercising like Mingcheng, I am also a young man, after all. When we were roughhousing in the past, if I struggled with all of my strength, it would not be easy for him to completely subdue me without hurting me.

But now he is holding me with a smile and a relaxed expression, but his body and arms are like iron. Even when I try my utmost, I can’t break away at all.

Oh my god, is this the strength normal people have?

Was he always holding back before?

I suddenly feel that he would have a better chance at becoming a world boxing champion than Mingyi.

When he sees that I have given up struggling, he lowers his head from behind and nuzzles my face. “A-Zhen, I’m so happy.”

I am not happy. “Happy my ass!”

“Haha.” He laughs and turns me around, hugging me from the front.

I’m forced to lean against him like a pancake. From this angle, I can see his smooth jawline and the sleek lines of his profile, so delicate and perfect that they almost seem unreal.

His eyes are ink-dark to the very tips. I raise my hand and push his head away.

And he follows the trend to kiss my palm.

“So this is how it feels when you worry about me. It’s so wonderful.” He looks sideways at me. The tails of his eyes are curved up, and his eyes are sweet and soft, but very bright. “I’m really addicted to it.”

His eyes are bottomless, like dark holes that could swallow a person. My scalp feels inexplicably numb as we stare at each other.

“It’s like you’re finding out for the first time that I worry about you.” I think this is the reason he’s making me nauseous with his sweet talk in the middle of the night. It is nothing to be angry about. “Hurry up and eat some food to shut your mouth.”

He blinks and glances back at the dinner on the table.

Unsurprisingly, I watch as he takes a sip of his favorite orange juice first.

Then he suddenly turns to look at me, and before I can react, he pulls me to his side, grabs my chin, and lowers his head to kiss my lips.

“You let me go—mmph!”

He is strong. When he forces me to accept the sip of orange juice, I punch him in the chest.

During the struggle, the two of us fall on the sofa together. Because we are so close, the scent of fringed flowers also begins to wrap around me…..laying on top of him, I keenly sense the change in the atmosphere. I try to get up, but my wrists, which are propping me up on the sofa, are held by him.

Mingcheng relies on his size advantage to easily turn over. He gives a long exhale, “A-Zhen…..”

. . . . . . .

“I thought it would be easy just being your personal doctor, but I didn’t expect that I would be your part-time driver as well.” Dr. Zhao parks the car in front of my house and turns to speak with me through the car window.

All year round, he only wears gray. It’s fortunate that he is still good-looking. This kind of outfit makes people think that a doctor has rich qualifications and a stable personality.

I put the lacquered wooden box containing my painting tools into the car first, then get into the passenger seat with a smile. “It just so happens that I need to see you for a follow-up consultation today, so why not take me to work on the way? There’s a new student I need to meet today.”

This year, I am busy with art exhibitions and haven’t gone to school, only getting up mid-morning. Mingcheng is not at home, and since I don’t go out very often and don’t know how to drive, I just freeload when I go out. 

Dr. Zhao glances at me sideways.

I blink innocently at him.

He grunts and starts the vehicle, no longer looking at me.

I went to bed very late the night before. Wen Mingcheng made me mentally anxious and physically exhausted all night long, and the more I thought about it, the more irritated I felt. After washing up, he actually tried to go back to the bedroom with me, but I reached behind me and locked him out in the living room. 

It was already two o’clock in the morning when I dragged my weak body back to the room. I threw down my phone and collapsed on the big, soft bed, ready to sleep like this. But I didn’t expect that there were people not sleeping in the middle of the night, and someone actually sent me a message at two o’clock.

You Can Do It Pi Gao: Teacher, I passed the exam!! I’ve been admitted to the Beihua Academy of Fine Arts as a graduate student. I can finally be your student!

You Can Do It Pi Gao: Even though you’re probably dreaming right now, Teacher, I’m so happy…..

He sent a lot of texts, but I stared at this Pi Gao and couldn’t remember who he was for a while.

Mingcheng and I had worked as graduate tutors at the Beihua Academy of Fine Arts when we returned from studying in the UK, and I had also been invited to attend special classes at many universities. There were many students who called me teacher, but I actually remembered very few of them.

After my graduate students graduated the year before, I was busy organizing art exhibitions and didn’t have any more students. So I wanted to congratulate him out of politeness, but didn’t know who he was. 

But I soon discovered that this was not a problem.

You Can Do It Pi Gao: Oh, by the way, Teacher, you may have forgotten me. I’m Pi Gao, ah. I used to be a music major at Beihua University. Back then, you advised me to be careful not to jump into a profession I wasn’t prepared for, and specifically allowed me to take a semester of your graduate course at the university. I am very grateful to you. I was the one in the middle of the first row!

Oh, I remember…..

A few years ago, a graduate student from the music department contacted me via email and asked me to please allow him to attend my class for one semester. This was an interdisciplinary student, but his eyes were very bright during class, and he always sat in the center of my sight. After one semester, I never saw him again. I thought he had given up, but didn’t expect that he had actually passed the exam. 

So I sincerely congratulated him: “Congratulations, Classmate Pi…..”

I always see new students in person before they take my class. Before going to the university, I complete a basic checkup with Dr. Zhao, and after that, he gives me medicine as usual.

I look at the medicine he gives me, and after some thought, I describe to him my experience with suspected auditory hallucinations.

He frowns upon hearing this: “You heard Mr. Wen calling you?”

I nod: “I heard it as if it really happened, but there was definitely no one at home.”

Dr. Zhao gives me a deep look when he hears this, and then leaves for a moment. About two minutes later, he pushes the door open and puts a document and a pen on the table in front of me: “Please fill this in.”

I look at the title of the document, ‘MMSE Brief Mental Status Scale.’

He also suspects that my symptoms are getting worse.

About an hour later, he picks up the scale I filled out and browses through the items. Looking at me behind his glasses, he asks casually: “How is your sleep lately?”

I know that he is checking on my condition, so I consider it seriously and tell him: “It’s okay.”

He uses the tip of his pen to go over the items on my scale, assessing my mind through words. “Besides hearing him call you, have you heard anything else? Was it just this once, or does it happen from time to time?”

“I didn’t hear anything else, and it was just once,” I answer him.

After checking the scale, there aren’t any problems. Dr. Zhao ponders for a moment before saying: “Actually, ordinary people sometimes have auditory hallucinations, but your situation doesn’t let me completely rest assured. You should return to your normal life first. If this happens repeatedly, I suggest another systematic brain exam and a CT scan.”

His words make sense. That is all that can be done for now.

It is now noon, and he picks up his car keys and sends me to the Beihua University of Fine Arts. I haven’t been to school in a long time, and today I need to meet my student and deal with work matters.

The car stops in front of the Hui-style flower pavilion as we had arranged. It is a summer afternoon, and the car smells bad when the sun is shining on it. I lower the car window next to me and talk with Dr. Zhao.

“I thought you weren’t going to take students this year.”

I look at the lotus buds that are about to bloom out by the lake and raise my eyebrows: “I didn’t plan to, but this student has been working very hard across majors for many years, and I can’t bear not to.”

Dr. Zhao leans back in his chair and says in a very calm tone: “You can’t do this kind of thing only through hard work. It seems to me that he is very lucky.”

I am a hard-working person and don’t believe in luck.

He doesn’t speak, but takes a cigarette out of the cigarette case. He prepares to smoke, but remembers that I’m at his side and sighs with a frown, tossing the cigarette onto the dash.

Adhering to the principle of not littering, I pick up the cigarette and play with it between my fingers.

Perhaps it is because the school’s staff is quite mixed after the recent graduation season, or maybe the action of holding a cigarette between my fingers causes a misunderstanding, but as I lean against the car window and look out, a well-dressed man lights a cigarette and bends down to hand it to me.

“Sir, you are gorgeous.”

Dr. Zhao frowns deeply and closes the window before I can say any words of refusal.

And I am momentarily stunned by this conversation. It’s not that I was offended, but this sentence reminds me of Mingcheng many years ago.

He had not quit smoking at that time, and I caught him smoking behind my back in the yard. His face was gorgeous in the haze of smoke, and used I this sentence to tease him. 

I recall that his face instantly turned red, and when I still wanted to tease him, he quickly kissed the side of my face, his lowered eyelashes trembling…..

Mingcheng was really gentle and pure at that time.

There is a dull pain in my waist as I lean back in the chair, and I change my posture unnoticeably. Mingcheng’s bottomless eyes when he pressed me down come to mind, and I belatedly realize that his personality seems to have changed a lot after getting married.

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T/N: I won’t always be able to update daily, but I’ve been working on this for a while and have a considerable amount of chapters stocked up!

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Chapter 5 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 7

“What…..what did you say?” Stunned, Song Xingmu looked at Liu Zhenqing in complete disbelief.

“I said, you don’t have to come take care of my body, but do you intend to fulfill your other promises?”

It was the first time Liu Zhenqing had taken the initiative to admit his identity to someone. He was really embarrassed and uncomfortable beyond words.

Liu Zhenqing believed that Song Xingmu should remember this, just as Liu Zhenqing remembered it, but what if he didn’t believe him? After all, he was cautious by nature, and rebirth was too bizarre.

“I….” Liu Zhenqing was a bit powerless. Just as he was thinking about what to add, Song Xingmu’s eyes seemed to gleam with moisture as he looked at him. 

But he said: “Who is this young master, ah? Why are you talking nonsense to me? When did I make such a promise to you?”

The corners of Liu Zhenqing’s mouth twitched. He suddenly pointed at Yi Chuan beside him and said: “Then what is the reason for keeping him by your side? You remember, right? Do you need me to remind you? You said that his waist…..”

The expression on Song Xingmu’s face was confused for a moment, but the instant Liu Zhenqing opened his mouth, he immediately rushed forward to cover it.

Liu Zhenqing glanced at him sideways: Don’t force me to reveal your old ways.

Song Xingmu looked back with wide eyes: Do you intend to expose the truth now and let me die?

However, when the two exchanged glances, their deep friendship surfaced. They stared at each other speechlessly, but the other two couldn’t bear it anymore.

“Hey!” Yi Chuan shouted in confusion. “What’s going on? Do you know each other?”

Huo Fenglie naturally understood that they had recognized each other, but the way the two of them were so close right now was really an eyesore.

Song Xingmu withdrew his gaze and said anxiously: “Release him. Both of you go out and stay there. Me and this…..little friend have something to talk about.” When Song Xingmu finished speaking, he looked at Liu Zhenqing, who was clearly ten years younger, and suddenly felt awkward.

Although Yi Chuan was puzzled as he put down his swords and wanted to say something, he was pushed out by Song Xingmu.

Liu Zhenqing nodded toward Huo Fenglie, who had no choice but to go out and close the door for them.

When the room became quiet, Song Xingmu found it difficult to look back at Liu Zhenqing.

It was Liu Zhenqing who stepped forward and patted Song Xingmu on the shoulder. The force and feel were the same as before.

Song Xingmu choked and said with difficulty: “Would you like to give me some more evidence to prove it? I really can’t recognize you.”

Liu Zhenqing smiled and said: “Okay, ah. Let’s talk about Yi Chuan. He was once a young pirate captain, but we used a marriage “honey trap” to get onto the ship. At that time, he was very young, and was encouraged by his companions to make us become ship wives. We had to go to the worship hall to be married on the spot. At that time, he liked you more in women’s clothing than he liked me in mine. He said he wanted you to be his legal wife, and even kissed you. When he found out you were a man, he immediately retched in disgust and was captured by Huo Feihan’s troops before he could even hold his sword properly.”

Although Song Xingmu did not look back, his entire body began to tremble slightly. There were many details back then that only the two of them on the pirate ship knew.

“As I just said, I asked why you wanted to keep Yi Chuan to train him personally.” Liu Zhenqing slowly recalled, “You didn’t praise him for being good on the water and suitable for learning naval warfare, or that his character was not bad. Instead, you said: The waist is thin, the legs are long, and the butt is upturned, a feast for the eyes. If I keep him next to me, I can touch him from time to time.”

“Enough…..enough. What the hell is this…..” Song Xingmu rubbed his head in vexation, obviously finding it difficult to accept. “I used to think you were different from others. How could something like this happen to you? This….can you look at the sun? Do you need to replenish your yang energy through intercourse?”

Liu Zhenqing smacked Song Xingmu on the back of the head. “You’re sick, go see a doctor!”

Song Xingmu then turned around and looked at Liu Zhenqing without words. Upon closer inspection, he looked a bit similar. Especially the look in his eyes, which was almost exactly the same as Liu Zhenqing’s.

“Your body is…..”

“Liu Xiaozhu, a member of the same clan. He was kidnapped and died accidentally a few months ago, and I just woke up after nine years.” Liu Zhenqing shrugged and sat down to pour tea.

Song Xingmu also sat down quickly. He still couldn’t help but reach out and poke Liu Zhenqing’s cheek, then feel for a pulse.

“This is truly mysterious.” Song Xingmu sighed and said: “Sure enough, the gods also cried out against injustice and gave you a chance to be reborn, so that you could come back to clear your name and take revenge.”

When Song Xingmu finished speaking, Liu Zhenqing had frozen and looked unresponsive.

Song Xingmu could only reach out and flick Liu Zhenqing’s forehead. “You…..were really reborn in vain. Are you worthy of the gods?”

“I feel that it is not what the gods let me be reborn for.”

“Then for what?”

“To…..” Liu Zhenqing couldn’t help but glance at the door. “To let me live a simpler and happier life.”

When Song Xingmu saw Liu Zhenqing looking toward the door, he said curiously: “Then why are you with that kid Huo Fenglie…..”

“Er-gou is very good, extremely good. Don’t misunderstand him,” Liu Zhenqing said seriously.

“Since you yourself approve of him, what can I say? I remember hearing news before that he came south to investigate the Imperial Examination case. It seems that your Liu family was also involved in it, and there were two more major cases. But isn’t the case over? Why did you come here to me?” Song Xingmu asked.

Speaking of the key point, Liu Zhenqing said directly: “Then let’s ask the others to come in and discuss it together.”

Song Xingmu nodded, opened the door, and called the two of them in. Yi Chuan could be seen playing with his blades in boredom at the door, while a silent Huo Fenglie held his sword at the side. The two stood quietly in the corridor, and people who were nervous about the previous arrests were even more afraid to approach.

When they were called in to sit down, Yi Chuan couldn’t help but pull Song Xingmu aside and say: “What the hell is going on?”

Song Xingmu returned to his relaxed and insouciant appearance. “Aiya, I am old and have a bad memory. I forgot, they are both friends, friends. Let me introduce you: this is Liu Xiaozhu.”

Yi Chuan was surprised. “His surname is Liu?”

Liu Zhenqing hadn’t expected that Yi Chuan would react so much to his surname. Except for when he was captured in the first place, Liu Zhenqing was not familiar with Yi Chuan. Even when he went south to deploy troops for the second time, Yi Chuan was still learning martial arts from Song Xingmu’s master in the mountains and did not come down.

“Cough, cough. Yes, he is my good brother’s distant cousin, so he is one of our own. The misunderstanding with General Huo just now has been cleared up. Sit down.” Song Xingmu took a seat next to Yi Chuan.

Although Yi Chuan appeared puzzled, he cooperated.

Sitting next to Liu Zhenqing, Huo Fenglie looked over at him. Liu Zhenqing smiled at him and then said: “Not long ago, although we handled and concluded the disaster relief funds and tax fraud cases, the money vanished. We followed it all the way and found that the money was used for ore, the ore was turned into weapons, and the weapons were transported to the port here via the Liu River transport to go to sea.”

“What!” Song Xingmu was shocked. “Making weapons privately and transporting them out, isn’t this an attempt to rebel against the country? Who is it?”

Yi Chuan also looked over with a frown.

“We don’t know.” Liu Zhenqing shook his head. “We went all the way south to investigate privately, and encountered assassins on the way. We have two companions following them secretly, but there has been no news yet.”

Song Xingmu soon came to a realization. “So you are following Wang Qi. Wait, there are…..pirates among them. Could it be…..”

Liu Zhenqing did not fully disclose Huo Fenglie’s mission and Imperial edict. After all, it was Huo Fenglie’s. He only gave the information currently available, but Song Xingmu knew close to eighty percent of the truth.

“We don’t know everything yet. Why did you arrest them?” Liu Zhenqing asked.

Song Xingmu said with a frown: “There are three reasons. First, we have found that the pirates attack ships in a regular pattern. Commonly, this sort of situation proves that there are local profiteers colluding with the pirates, which is strictly prohibited by law. Secondly, the few times I went to sea to meet the enemy were very strange. It seemed like the pirates had a purpose, but they would not target my uncle’s ships. Thirdly, there is a problem with the port entry and exit records. That military official is also my uncle’s subordinate, and is specifically responsible for this matter. I initially thought that they were colluding with the pirates for profit, not that they were transporting weapons by ship. Could it be that my uncle…..”

When Song Xingmu said this, his expression became extremely ugly.

“Let’s go back and interrogate those three people,” Song Xingmu said.

“I’m afraid interrogation won’t work,” Liu Zhenqing said. “The two of us came in earlier and eavesdropped, and it seems they only took money to perform services. We don’t dare question them in detail.”

Liu Zhenqing repeated what they had overheard, and Song Xingmu couldn’t help becoming agitated.

Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly heard the silent Huo Fenglie tap the table, interrupting the conversation. He looked toward the door.

Yi Chuan, who was closest to the door, instantly slapped it with wind from his palm.

It opened at once, and a figure stood outside the door. Before he could react, he was rolled up by the bead curtain Yi Chuan casually threw out and reeled in.

Everyone stared blankly when they saw that it was a petite woman.

Yi Chuan, the first to react, quickly let her go and said: “Madam Xi Ran’s servant. What are you doing here?”

“This slave is here to deliver a message. The Madam says, if the Captain is done with his work, why doesn’t he go back and listen to the music? Don’t continue to stay in this room, it will scare the guests.”

This was meant to drive them out, but Song Xingmu said with a smile: “We can’t leave yet, my uncle will be anxious, ah. But it is really no longer suitable to stay here. Let’s go back and listen to the Madam play the pipa.”

When Song Xingmu finished speaking, he called for everyone to follow.

The young girl was quite surprised to see this, and wanted to stop them, but Song Xingmu frivolously embraced her and hooked her chin, saying: “Don’t worry, if your family’s Madam doesn’t agree, I promise to take the guests away and not embarrass Meimei.”

The young girl was dazzled by Song Xingmu’s charming eyes. She could only nod blankly and step forward to escort the guests.

Song Xingmu turned around to look at them. Yi Chuan was already happily following the young girl, but the other two had stopped.

“Come on.”

Huo Fenglie frowned slightly, and Liu Zhenqing looked hesitant. “How about…..”

Song Xingmu suddenly smiled and stepped forward to put an arm around Liu Zhenqing, saying: “You can’t neglect Xi Ran, your old lover, ah. In any case, she won’t recognize you now.”

Although it was a whisper, Huo Fenglie heard it clearly, especially the words “old lover.”

The corners of Liu Zhenqing’s mouth twitched. “What old lover, don’t talk nonsense.” He and Xi Ran had only met each other a few times.

Song Xingmu didn’t see anything wrong at all, and said directly: “Still shy? Sure enough, even if you are flooded with peach blossoms, there is still a place for her in your heart. After all, she was your first taste of love.”

Liu Zhenqing’s face was full of black lines. As expected, this Song Xingmu didn’t believe what he had said at the outset.

As soon as Song Xingmu finished speaking, he heard a crack, and turned around to see that there was a fissure in the table top by Huo Fenglie’s hand.

“This table was also broken just now. How much more money will I have to pay because of that prodigal Yi Chuan?” Song Xingmu clicked his tongue.

Liu Zhenqing raised his eyebrows and looked at Huo Fenglie. He thought, Er-gou heard the rumors from back then and got jealous just now? Since this was the case, Liu Zhenqing suddenly became interested and said: “Let’s go and see Madam Xi Ran.”

The three of them hastened after Yi Chuan and followed the maid to the chamber in the center of the painted boat. 

The shutter opened, and the maid went in to announce them.

“Captain Song is embarrassing this one. But since General Song is a guest, I have no reason not to entertain him. Please come in and listen to me play a song.”

She was far away before and difficult to hear, but now that they were at the door, Xi Ran’s voice sounded better than a pipa, as if it was reluctant to leave her lips.

Stepping in, they saw a beauty who was still hiding half her face behind the pipa in her arms, but this could not conceal her stunning beauty. Liu Zhenqing had to sigh, her beauty had never languished.

She was like a fresh and delicate flower back then, but now she was like a rose in full bloom. Each had its own beauty.

As Liu Zhenqing gazed at the beauty, the beauty naturally looked at the two strangers. Although among them, Huo Fenglie was the one whom a woman would never forget regardless of appearance and temperament, Xi Ran’s eyes could not help but linger on Liu Zhenqing.

Xi Ran put down her pipa and stepped forward to greet them. “The two guests are strangers to me, ah. I wonder who…..”

“There is no need to inquire about their identities. It is not convenient to reveal them,” Song Xingmu said at once with a smile. “We’ll stay here with you for a while and then leave.”

“Captain Song actually regards my Fragrance Pavilion, which everyone wishes to enter, as a tea house,” Xi Ran said with a faint smile.

“I am here to see Madam Xi Ran,” Yi Chuan said as he stepped forward proactively.

Xi Ran gave a charming smile.

Song Xingmu’s mouth twitched and he pulled this person to sit down.

Xi Ran seemed to be accustomed to this, and asked the attendant to step aside as she took the initiative to pour tea for the four of them.

“I thought Captain Song would leave right away after finishing his work.”

“Xi Ran wishes to drive me away?”

“This one is only worried that outsiders will say I colluded with Captain Song, and it is not safe to come to my place and spend money.”

“Xi Ran, don’t worry. I will deal with the aftermath well.” Song Xingmu smiled and said promptly: “I haven’t thanked Madam Xi Ran for the information.”

Xi Ran’s expression changed, and she instantly looked toward the two strangers, Liu Zhenqing and Huo Fenglie.

“They are our own,” Song Xingmu whispered.

At once, Xi Ran did not conceal her displeasure: “Song Xingmu, you paid me to provide information. The money was paid and the goods delivered, so do not cause trouble for me.”

Song Xingmu did not answer, but looked at Yi Chuan and said: “Do you see? This is her true face.”

Yi Chuan rolled his eyes and ignored him. Then he said flatteringly: “Madam Xi Ran, don’t be angry.”

Xi Ran’s expression looked a little better, and her eyes turned again to those two people.

She was obviously still cautious. Even if Song Xingmu said they were their own people, she was still a little anxious. “Captain Song, don’t cause me harm. I can’t afford it.”

If ordinary people saw her changes in mood before and after, they would not believe it.

“Then let me tell you…..they are friends of Liu Zhenqing.”

Upon hearing this, Xi Ran instantly widened her eyes. Ordinary people were forbidden to speak of Liu Zhenqing, so for Song Xingmu to say this, it proved that the two people before her were indeed…..Xi Ran’s eyes shimmered slightly. “You are truly…..fortunate. Young Master Liu had very few friends in this world. What was your relationship with him?”

Liu Zhenqing was a little taken aback to see that Xi Ran really missed him, and said promptly: “To be honest, Madam Xi Ran, we were still young at the time. We treated him as an older brother and cannot say that we had too many interactions with him.”

“Is that so? He liked to play with little children. He had the same mentality as a child, always causing mischief.” Xi Ran’s eyes revealed nostalgia, and the corners of her mouth rose uncontrollably as she sat down slowly. A pair of clear dimples could be seen, and she couldn’t help but raise her hands to touch them, recalling the time when Liu Zhenqing praised her for having fine wine in her dimples, which made him drunk. But in fact, she was drunk and he was not.

So she pretended she was not drunk on him. In any case, such a person could never belong to her, and could only be a friend and confidant. Now that she saw someone related to Liu Zhenqing, she felt it was hard to control herself. Her hand instinctively touched her neck.

There was no beaded necklace around the beauty’s neck, only a simple red string. What hung on the red string was hidden under the neckline of her clothes, but a slight protrusion of green jade could be seen.

Liu Zhenqing scanned over it by chance and was startled. That was his gift from back then…..a jade willow leaf pendant?

How could Xi Ran…..

Huo Fenglie naturally noticed Xi Ran’s movements, and his face darkened at once.

And Song Xingmu, who was very familiar with Xi Ran, looked back and forth between her and Liu Zhenqing as if watching a good show.

Yi Chuan had seen the courtesan side of Xi Ran, as well as her irritable side, but he had never witnessed such genuine feelings. Because Song Xingmu usually met Xi Ran alone and didn’t take him along, he had never learned that Xi Ran had known Liu Zhenqing.

At this moment, he couldn’t help but ask curiously: “Xi Ran, you actually knew Liu Zhenqing?”

Xi Ran nodded gently. “We were both young when we met. Time flies.”

Song Xingmu smiled and said: “Yes, ah, but I have a question. Did I really lose to Liu Zhenqing like that back then? In those days, Xi Ran took the initiative to select someone to join her in Fragrance Pavilion. Why did she choose Liu Zhenqing and not me?”

Smiling, Xi Ran said: “Because I liked his appearance better.”

Song Xingmu raised his eyebrows in dissatisfaction. Then he glanced at the obviously embarrassed Liu Zhenqing and said: “What good are looks? Good health is everything. Back then, Liu Zhenqing stayed in your Fragrance Pavilion for three days and three nights before coming out. I remember that when Huo Feihan picked him up, his steps were sloppy and he had a pair of dark circles under his eyes. Tsk, tsk, tsk.”

Having said this, he gave Liu Zhenqing a teasingly disgusted look.

And Liu Zhenqing was about to choke to death on his tea. He didn’t know Xi Ran’s thoughts before, so he didn’t think there was a problem, but now he seemed to see something. In this situation, Liu Zhenqing had no wish to use Xi Ran to stimulate Er-gou, and felt extremely bad.

But Song Xingmu spared no effort and would make fun of anything. He waited for Xi Ran to explain.

But in the next second, Xi Ran covered her smiling lips and said: “It is my fault for being greedy. That was my most glorious time, so how could I be willing to waste time letting him rest? Naturally, every moment must be cherished.”

Liu Zhenqing took a sharp breath, and suddenly, Huo Fenglie stood up sharply next to him and startled everybody.

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Chapter Seventy-Eight << Table of Contents >> Chapter Eighty

He doesn’t come home and doesn’t sent me a message, which is rare.

Although Mingcheng loves to work, he never works overtime, and does not support employees working overtime either.

What’s more, even if he had to work overtime, he would have told me.

I wait until seven o’clock. The candles on the table have burned out, white wax flowing down softly, and the dinner on the plate is cold. I’m worried about him, so I give him a call.

The call goes through, but no one answers.

“Hello, the user you dialed is currently unavailable.”

The voice prompt sounds. I hang up and call again.

Nobody answers, and the call automatically hangs up.

I look at the dark mobile phone screen, and my upper eyelid suddenly begins to twitch.

As the eldest son of the Wen family, he has a lot to do every day as the president of the company. I shouldn’t bother him, but perhaps I’m sensitive, because after my eyelid twitches, a strange and ominous feeling arises in my heart.

So after enduring it for a while, I finally send a message to Mingcheng’s secretary.

“Ms. Li, is your boss off work?”

The secretary quickly replies to me: “Mr. Wen has not left work yet and is currently holding a board meeting.”

I feel relieved.

When I see the message, my dangling heart finally returns to my chest.

I am in no mood to eat all night, but now I have finally lost my worries. I go to the bar to get myself a glass of hot water, which warms my stomach and dissipates the strange discomfort I had felt tonight. When I return to the sofa, I find that Ms. Li has sent me a message.

“Since Mr. Wen went out for something during the day and will get off work late, please let me know if you need anything.”

She is always very considerate in her work. I reply to her: “Thank you for your hard work. It’s just that it’s late and I got worried.”

Knowing that Mingcheng will be home late tonight, I stop waiting for him and heat up my dinner to eat, and take his portion to heat it and keep it warm.

After eating, I drift off to sleep. This nap is short, but I sleep extremely well. I haven’t slept deeply and peacefully like I did before for several days. Even though Mingcheng and I slept together the day before, I felt a bit of unreasonable panic, but now I sleep very comfortably alone on the sofa.

However, late at night when I’m deep in my dreams, I suddenly hear an almost broken cry.

“A-Zhen—”

This shout is deafening, like it is exploding in my ears, and instantly wakes me from my deep sleep.

I abruptly open my eyes and get up from the sofa, knocking the water glass on the coffee table to the floor. I gasp wildly with my mouth half open. “…..Mingcheng?”

But Mingcheng is not here, and my response disperses feebly in the room. I look around in disbelief and call for him again, “Mingcheng, is that you?”

There is still no response.

At this time, the wall clock shows that the time is 22:00, which is around ten at night.

Mingcheng hasn’t come home yet, but I actually heard him calling me.

I don’t think I heard wrong. This shout was really loud, and contained urgent emotions. I even heard fear, and it was so forceful that it was almost hoarse.

At this point, my ears are still ringing.

I cover my ears, and my heart continues to palpitate after waking up from my dream.

But there is really nobody inside.

Auditory hallucinations?

I have never had auditory hallucination symptoms before, and have never tried to learn about them. Would auditory hallucinations cause me to wake up? Would they make my ears ring?

Could they still be heard even when I was sleeping well?

I get off the ground and walk over to the floor-to-ceiling windows. Opening the huge curtains, I look into the small courtyard.

The beautiful flowers in the courtyard are sleeping quietly under the moonlight. Although there is nothing there but them, I still turn on the courtyard lights and check every corner. After ensuring that nobody is there, I look through the peephole to the front yard.

Perhaps because it is dark at night, the peephole is black and I can’t see outside.

So I turn on the front yard light and look out again.

I don’t know why, but the peephole is still blurry and I can’t see anything clearly. I can only see that there is light outside.

Having confirmed that I am the only one at home, I can only classify the shout as an auditory hallucination.

It seems that my recent condition is indeed not good. I should go see Dr. Zhao for a follow-up consultation tomorrow.

“It seems that due to the influence of Professor Wei, the topic chosen by the Beihua Academy of Fine Arts last summer was ‘Midsummer.’ This topic sounds very beautiful, ah. Yes, yes…..this kind of theme not only examines artistic conception, but also examines students’ color coordination…..”

On the TV, the host is talking with an education expert about last year’s university entrance examination for art students. My eyes watch the TV, but my mind is somewhere else.

Because of the different nature of my work, I spend most of the time waiting for Mingcheng to come home. This is the first time he’s come back so late.

I really want to call him again, but fear that he will be driving on the road.

At eleven o’clock in the evening, my eyelids begin to flutter. In a daze, I hear the sound of men’s leather shoes on the floor, followed by the sound of a key being inserted into the door.

Yes…..Mingcheng is back home!

I stand up from the sofa, run to the door, and lean toward the peephole to take a look. Unfortunately, the peephole is still blurry, and I can only vaguely see shadows swaying. “Mingcheng, is that you? You came back?”

I wait for him to push the door open, so I can hug him and ask him why he didn’t call me back and made me worry all night.

But after he turns the key in the lock, he doesn’t come in.

“Mingcheng?”

“A-Zhen.” The person outside speaks in a tired tone, “Today was beyond my expectations. I encountered some trouble on the way back.”

He lets out a long sigh, seemingly exhausted. “With me coming back so late, will you blame me? Will you still let me in?”

I had already forgiven him when I heard the word “trouble” from his mouth. I feel sorry for being angry that he was so late, so I open the door from the inside before he can open it himself. “What are you talking about? Come in quickly, what trouble did you run into?”

The man outside the door is dressed as usual, but I notice that the shoulders of his black suit are a little dirty and that a few strands of hair on his temples have fallen in front of his ears. He still smiles softly at me when he sees me, his skin emitting a soft, pearl-like light in the dim illumination under the eaves.

The corners of his naturally raised lips curve elegantly: “Are you sure you want me to come in?”

“Of course.” I comb the hair on his temples neatly with my fingers and take his hand through the door.

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Chapter 4 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 6