Chapter 88

Chapter 88

With that, Liu Junyan drained the tea in his cup in one gulp, rose to his feet, and walked away.

The moment he moved, the girl shot to her feet as well and called after his retreating back, “Ah Yan, the fish I grilled got burned again.”

Grilled fish… It was how Liu Junyan and Ah Li had first met, and it bore witness to the feelings between them.

It was like some secret code that belonged only to the two of them.

What the girl was doing now was just like the painting Liu Junyan had made for me that day.

It was a plea for peace, an attempt to please him, and a bond.

But Liu Junyan’s steps did not slow in the slightest.

As he drew closer and closer to the door, my heart began to pound wildly.

Just as Liu Junyan reached out to open it, the girl’s tear-choked voice came from behind him again. “Cangwu Zheliu, Lingshui Tangtang; until the Yellow Springs, we shall not meet again…”

Liu Junyan stopped dead in his tracks. The girl’s soft, broken sobs drifted over, and in that instant, my head hurt as if it were about to split open.

Cangwu Zheliu, Lingshui Tangtang; until the Yellow Springs…

Countless images seemed to flash through my mind: mountains engulfed in raging flames, waves surging wildly, a girl’s despairing scream beneath a mask, and those amber vertical pupils filled with endless pain…

My heart ached as if a piece had been carved out of it, and tears poured down uncontrollably.

I staggered a few steps, unable to keep my footing at all. A moment later, I crashed to the ground with a heavy thud and lost consciousness.

I had a very, very long dream. The scenes in the dream were sometimes dim, sometimes filled with fierce fire, the whole sky dyed crimson.

Countless voices were saying something beside my ear, yet I could not catch a single word.

I was like a wandering ghost drifting aimlessly in midair, looking back over my own life…

Until a forceful voice cut straight through it all. “Xiao Jiu, Xiao Jiu, wake up!”

I slowly opened my eyes, only to be met with a field of blood-red.

The next second, a large hand covered my eyes, and my upper body was propped up, resting against a broad chest I knew all too well.

A faint scent of agarwood wrapped around me, but I immediately sat up straight and quickly shifted a couple of times in the opposite direction.

The hand over my eyes was removed. Light stabbed in all at once, and my eyes hurt so badly that I let out a muffled groan.

I hurriedly closed them, then opened them, then closed them again… After a few tries, when I opened my eyes once more, I could finally see clearly.

I was back, lying on the bed in my own room.

Liu Junyan sat at the bedside, looking at me with sorrow in his eyes. “Xiao Jiu, don’t be afraid. It was only a surge of distress attacking your heart and injuring your eyes. Rest for two days, and you’ll recover.”

He reached out again, wanting to hold me, but I quickly dodged away.

“Xiao Jiu…”

His tone was wounded, but I buried my face between my knees and did not respond.

We remained locked in that stalemate for quite a while. The room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.

In the end, Liu Junyan let out a soft sigh and left.

Before long, Li Qingying came in carrying a bowl of fragrant porridge.

She sat down beside me and said, “Xiao Jiu, are you hungry? You’ve been unconscious for a full day and night. How about some porridge to soothe your stomach?”

I said in surprise, “It’s already been a full day and night?”

“Yes,” Li Qingying said. “When Seventh Master carried you back yesterday, your whole body was burning hot and your eyes were bloodshot. Seventh Master transferred so much True Qi to you before you slowly stabilized. It scared us to death.”

“This really was Seventh Master’s fault. He never should have gone to Hu Yulin’s appointment! Xiao Jiu, considering he watched over you for a full day and night, can you forgive him this once?”

I shook my head. “Sister Qingying, I’m not angry with him.”
I was just… just a little scared.

Scared that the moment I opened my mouth, Liu Junyan would tell me the girl Fox Lord had brought was the real Ah Li, and I was nothing but an impostor.

The last thing that girl said had clearly dealt Liu Junyan a heavy blow.

I could only blame myself for being so useless. I had fainted right then and there, so I had no idea what happened afterward.

“See? I told you. You two have always been so close. How could Hu Yulin drive a wedge between you that easily?” Li Qingying said, filled with righteous indignation. “Nothing good ever happens when that damn fox shows up. If you ask me, he just can’t stand seeing the two of you happy, so he brought some fake here to ruin things between you and Seventh Master. Xiao Jiu, you absolutely cannot fall for it.”

Li Qingying wasn’t usually someone who talked much, but today, for Liu Junyan’s sake, she had really gone all out.

Still, she was right about one thing. Since Fox Lord was so certain that girl was Ah Li, why did he insist on making Liu Junyan acknowledge her too?

After all, Fox Lord had waited for Ah Li for so many years. His feelings for her couldn’t be any less than Liu Junyan’s, could they?

After finally finding Ah Li, shouldn’t he have wanted to hide her away before anything else?

Could it really be just to drive a wedge between Liu Junyan and me?

What good would that do him?

It couldn’t possibly be for my sake.

I felt like if I kept letting my thoughts spiral like this, I was going to lose my mind.

I drank some congee, took a shower, then leaned against the headboard and scrolled through my phone, watching mukbang videos to empty my brain.

Maybe I had slept too much during the day. That night, after I turned off the lights and lay in bed, I tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep no matter what.

Around ten o’clock, footsteps suddenly came from the back.

They were very light. They didn’t sound like Li Qingying’s.

Before long, the front door of the Pawnshop opened, and that person went out.

My mood sank for no reason all over again. After waiting for quite a while, I got out of bed and went outside, looking toward the corridor on the west side.

Sure enough, the Hexagonal Palace Lantern was gone.

So the person who had just gone out was Liu Junyan.

In the middle of the night, why had he snuck out so quietly?

He had been trapped in the Pawnshop for so long, and only now could he use the Hexagonal Palace Lantern to go out. There couldn’t be many people he needed to contact, right?

Could he have gone to see… her?

At that thought, I silently retreated back to my room, pulled the covers over myself, and closed my eyes, waiting for sleep to come.

But I never managed to fall asleep. It wasn’t until after one in the morning, when Liu Junyan came back, that I finally drifted off in a daze.

The next morning, I woke up a little late.

As soon as I stepped out of my room, I saw someone sitting in the living room of the Rear-facing Room.

Someone I had thought I would never cross paths with again in this lifetime.

The woman sat stiffly on the single sofa in the living room, looking here and there.

There was fruit and a bag on the coffee table. She must have brought them.

Hearing the noise, she turned to look my way.

The moment our eyes met, she froze slightly, then called out, “Tongtong.”

That one word made my eyes and nose sting, and my throat tightened.

In that instant, I even wanted to run.

“Tongtong, Mom came to see you.”

She eagerly pointed at the fruit on the coffee table, then took a pink princess dress out of the bag and held it up against me.

But the princess dress was too small. It didn’t suit someone my age anymore, either.

Awkwardly, she put the princess dress back into the bag and said with an embarrassed smile, “Our Tongtong has grown up. You’ve grown so fast, and you’re so beautiful.”

I forced down the ache filling my chest and said, “Ma’am, my name isn’t Tongtong. It’s Xiao Jiu. I run this Pawnshop. May I ask what you’d like to pawn?”