Chapter 33

Chapter 33

The shortcut Qiao Ying took with Shen Qingyu got them to the gate faster. Hardly anyone used this path on ordinary days; back when she worked at Zhao Manor, Ah Yuan had told her about it.

By chance, something set beside the road caught the corner of her eye, and she stopped.

Beneath a tree, several small stones had been stacked together like a grave. In front of this “grave” sat two bowls filled with food.

Qiao Ying glanced over curiously. “This looks like food from Shiwei Restaurant.”

The food at Shiwei Restaurant was not cheap. Someone had bought dishes from that restaurant, only to set them out in a deserted place to feed the insects?

Qiao Ying thought of Ah Yuan, whom she had seen at the restaurant that day, and her brows drew together slightly in confusion.

On the way back, a light rain began to fall again. Pedestrians hurried along the road, all rushing toward the place called “home.”

Qiao Ying held up the umbrella. To accommodate Shen Qingyu’s height, she had to keep her arm raised the whole time, and it was rather tiring. Inwardly, she wondered when this lunatic would finally lose interest and toss her aside like some boring little toy.

Shen Qingyu suddenly smiled. “You also think the fifteenth is an auspicious day, don’t you?”

Qiao Ying’s hand trembled around the umbrella. “Are you serious?”

Shen Qingyu tilted his head slightly. A lock of white hair drifted down in front of him, making him seem as pure and untainted as anyone else. “Do I look like someone who isn’t serious?”

He simply loved playing house, that was all.

Qiao Ying’s mind raced. “Do you know what rules there are for getting married?”

“A man, a woman, bow to heaven and earth, and they are married.”

Qiao Ying shook her head. “Marriage isn’t as simple as you make it sound. There’s one most important point you haven’t mentioned.”

“An important point?”

“You have to meet the elders on both sides. I’ve lost my memory, so I don’t remember which elders of mine are still alive, but you haven’t lost yours. Without the support and blessings of the elders, this marriage can’t happen.”

As Qiao Ying spoke, she put on a show of sighing. “But I also remember you saying you have no other family in this world. The elders on both our sides are gone. Sigh. Even though I really want to marry you, it looks like we still won’t be able to.”

Unexpectedly, Shen Qingyu gave a soft laugh. “All right. I’ll take you to meet my elders.”

Qiao Ying froze. “What?”

Shen Qingyu seemed to have “seen” her dumbstruck expression, and his mood grew even better. Bending down, he reached out and poked Qiao Ying’s cheek, deliberately pressing hard enough to leave one tiny dimple after another. The more he poked, the more delighted his laughter became.

“Once we’re back in Yunling Prefecture, I’ll take you to meet them. Since you want to marry me so badly, you must be looking forward to it very much.”

The corner of Qiao Ying’s mouth twitched. “Mm. I really am looking forward to it.”

Shen Qingyu’s smile was light and carefree, and even his steps were as lively as anyone else’s. “Don’t worry. My elders aren’t as difficult and mean as the Old Madam of the Zhao family. They’re very good people, and they don’t talk much. You’ll definitely like them.”

For some reason, Qiao Ying had a very bad feeling about this.

Then she saw a puddle up ahead of Shen Qingyu. Instinctively, she reached out and pulled him toward her. For some reason, Shen Qingyu let out another quiet laugh.

The hand she was holding turned and clasped hers in return. In the damp air, even his voice somehow grew a little sticky. “Qiao Ying, you-”

“I know. I’m very strange.” Qiao Ying stole his line, then shot him a glance. “You don’t have to repeat that every time. Otherwise, I’ll start thinking that when you say it, it’s basically the same as you saying you really like me.”

The wicked smile that often played at the corners of Shen Qingyu’s lips vanished. He fell silent, his expression faintly blank.

Perhaps the gloomy weather over the past few days had made people feel irritable as well. That night, after Qiao Ying fell asleep, she actually had another nightmare.

This nightmare was different from the ones before. She dreamed she had fallen into a snake pit. Countless snakes coiled around her body, leaving her unable to breathe.

In that suffocating, cramped sensation, as if she were about to die, her eyes flew open. She gasped for breath again and again, and only after a long while did she finally calm down.
Gradually, she sensed something different happening outside.

Qiao Ying got dressed, slipped on her shoes, and climbed out of bed. She pushed open the window, and fine rain blew into her face, only for her to startle at the person standing in the courtyard.

“Shen Qingyu, why are you standing outside in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?”

The youth in blue robes and white hair was soaked through. Hearing someone call his name, he turned his face toward her and smiled. “Qiao Ying, it’s so lively outside.”

Through the curtain of rain, black mist came sweeping in. Countless pairs of green eyes hid within it, like innumerable vengeful ghosts and restless souls. When the mist reached the youth, he neither dodged nor retreated. Instead, he reached out as if he found it rather interesting.

Wisps of mist twined around his fingertips, tearing open his skin and exposing the flesh beneath. As if they had tasted something delicious, more and more mist surged toward him, and the pairs of eyes concealed within it revealed an even greater greed.

Surrounded by the mist, the youth did not avoid it at all. Even as the skin across his body was ripped open inch by inch, he seemed not to feel any pain. His smile remained unchanged, calm and carefree from beginning to end.

“Shen Qingyu!”

A pair of hands yanked him out of the black mist with all her strength, then dragged him bodily into the room. She quickly shut the doors and windows. Still feeling unsafe, she moved stools and tables over to brace the door.

Bang, bang, bang. Outside, those strange demonic vapors still refused to give up, slamming madly against the door and windows.

Qiao Ying backed away a few steps in fear, wiped the rain from her face, then turned back and cursed in anger, “They were about to eat you, and you just stood there like an idiot! Even if you’re insane, at the very least you should still know what pain is!”

Shen Qingyu said, “It hurts.”

“Then why didn’t you dodge?!”

“They make me hurt because they like me.”

Qiao Ying froze. “What did you say?”

“They tear apart my skin and fur, gnaw at my flesh and blood, and try so hard to eat me. Their gazes meet upon my body, granting me pain. That’s because they like me.”

The rain-soaked blue robes outlined the youth’s thin frame. His wet white hair clung to his pale neck, and even the white silk blindfold over his eyes had been drenched half-translucent by the rain.

His body was covered in wounds of varying depths. Blood dripped from his torn fingertips, yet the corners of his lips curved up in a pure and gentle smile as he repeated softly, “Only because they truly like me would they want to be friends with me.”

-“Congratulations, Qiao Ying. You have a friend now.”

-“Qiao Ying, after you die, may I eat you?”

-“Qiao Ying, come kill me.”

Every word the youth had once said suddenly echoed beside Qiao Ying’s ears again. She stood there in a daze for a long while. Then an absurd, ridiculous realization rose within her.

From the very beginning, he had distorted what normal relationships between people were supposed to be.

No wonder he had said the fifteenth, when demons grew restless, was a good day. Of course it was a good day, wasn’t it?

There must have been no shortage of demons that wanted to “be friends with him.”

Shen Qingyu did not understand Qiao Ying’s silence. He extended his blood-soaked hand. Drops of blood fell from his fingertips onto the hem of his blue robe, spreading into dark red spots, yet his smile grew even purer.

“Qiao Ying, I’m injured. Do you really not want to kill me?”

He heard her footsteps shifting forward. As she came closer and closer, the smile on his lips curved into an even prettier arc.

As if, so long as Qiao Ying bit him once, he would have won a great victory.

But to his surprise, that fragile yet warm hand took hold of his and pulled him to the side. He sat down stiffly on a stool.

“I’m going to look for wound medicine. Sit here obediently and don’t move.”

Her quick footsteps pattered to the bedroom door. Then she turned back irritably and added, “If you dare move even a little, I really won’t care about you anymore!”

The footsteps entered the bedroom. After that came the sound of her rummaging through things.

Shen Qingyu sat on the stool and lifted his face to “look” toward the direction of the noise. His loose, long white hair slid down to his knees, and he truly did not move at all.

Looking at him now, the youth seemed a little dazed again.