Chapter 95

Chapter 95

I asked Tang Tang if she could get in touch with Song Ruoqing now. She said she couldn’t.

“Xiao Jiu, I feel like Qingqing went back to the Song Family this time ready to burn everything down with her. I’m really worried about her, but I can’t reach her by phone. The Tang Family and the Song Family have been at each other’s throats lately, so if I suddenly showed up there, they probably wouldn’t even let me through the door.”

That did make things difficult.

But then something occurred to me. I took a screenshot of the Qilin Statue in the painting and sent it to Tang Tang.

“Senior Sister, didn’t the Song Family invite Uncle Huo over to help examine someone before?” I said. “Have Uncle Huo keep an eye out for whether the Song Family enshrines something like this. This is very important to me. Make sure you remind Uncle Huo to do it quietly and not let anyone notice-especially Bai Jingmo, who’s there with him.”

Seeing how serious I was, Tang Tang asked, “Xiao Jiu, is there something wrong with this statue?”

“I can’t explain it clearly yet,” I said. “Let’s first confirm whether the Song Family enshrines it. We’ll talk about the rest after that.”

Tang Tang agreed.

As for that painting, I figured the reason Song Ruoqing had wanted to give it to me was probably because she was trying to send me some kind of message, right?

Could it be the Qilin Statue?

In the incident at Wangting Mountain, the one who ultimately saved Song Ruoqing had been Liu Junyan.

Was Song Ruoqing asking us for help?

It looked like I would have to find time to make another trip to Huicheng myself.

With that in mind, I told Tang Tang to wrap the painting up and that I would go pick it up in person later.

I lay down for a while longer, then had breakfast and went out for a walk. When I came back, I realized the Hexagonal Palace Lantern was gone again.

Surprised, I asked, “Sister Qingying, did Liu Junyan go out again?”

“Mm-hmm,” Li Qingying replied. “He left first thing this morning, acting all mysterious. No idea what he’s up to.”

I didn’t take it to heart.

Before lunch, the roar of a car engine came from outside. It sounded like the vehicle had stopped in front of the Pawnshop.

Li Qingying and I went out to take a look, just in time to see Liu Junyan get out of the car.

It was a sweet-potato-purple Mercedes G-Class, a huge thing, parked right in front of the Pawnshop. It was incredibly eye-catching.

I was a little stunned.

Liu Junyan walked over and handed me the car keys. “Xiao Jiu, congratulations on getting your driver’s license. A little gift for you.”

“For me?” I could hardly believe it. “How much must this have cost?”

I’d originally planned on buying myself a small van to drive around first.

Li Qingying said, “Xiao Jiu, don’t worry about the money. Seventh Master has plenty of it. Come on, let’s take it for a test drive.”

She couldn’t wait to climb into the driver’s seat. She took me back and forth along the road to the west for several laps before driving us back.

The Mercedes G-Class had great performance and a roomy interior. The inside had been completely redone with brown genuine leather, and even the exterior color had been adjusted-a slightly lighter sweet-potato purple that was both pretty and not too flashy.

Other than being expensive, there was nothing wrong with it.

After getting out of the car, I still felt the gift was far too valuable. I grumbled, “I only just got my driver’s license. I might not be able to handle such a big car.”

“Bigger is better,” Liu Junyan said. “When you need to deliver paper figures, paper horses, and things like that, they’ll be easy to fit inside. As for driving, I can practice with you more. Qingying’s driving is very good too.”

I wavered for a moment, but still said thank you.

Liu Junyan asked, “Xiao Jiu, do you like it?”

I nodded. “I do.”

How could I not?

Leaving aside the car itself, the care Liu Junyan had put into modifying both its interior and exterior was already enough for me to like it very, very much.

Liu Junyan raised an eyebrow. “But I don’t think I can tell just how much you like it.”

I was about to defend myself, but then I met the expectant look in his eyes and immediately understood. I wrapped my arms around his neck, stood on tiptoe, and gave him a loud kiss on the cheek. “Ah Yan, I really love this gift.”

Liu Junyan smiled. With one arm around my waist, he gently dropped a kiss on my forehead.

Li Qingying clicked her tongue twice. “All right, all right. I get it, you two are in love. In the future, could you please flaunt your affection somewhere I can’t see? I’m going to die of envy.”
My face instantly went red all the way down to my neck, and I rushed over to cover her mouth.

I really didn’t get it. Back when I’d gone to the aquatic market to find her, she’d still been the cool-girl type who loved black leather jackets and acting all aloof. Now, it was like she was a completely different person.

Was this what they meant by the company you kept changing you?

Had my soft personality somehow softened Li Qingying’s too?

Still, it wasn’t a bad thing. She was much easier to get along with this way.

During lunch, I mentioned to Liu Junyan in passing that I needed to go to Huicheng to pick up the painting. “Miss Song might still need our help.”

Liu Junyan asked me to pull up a photo of the painting for him. The moment he saw it, his expression turned grim.

I asked, “What’s wrong?”

Liu Junyan shook his head. “Once you decide which day you’re going, tell me. I’ll go with you.”

I agreed.

That night, Li Qingying and I kept watch in the Southern Study until midnight, but no business came knocking. In the end, we each went back to our rooms to wash up and sleep.

In the middle of the night, I was jolted awake by a stabbing pain in my arm again. When I got up and looked, the burn mark from before hadn’t healed at all. Instead, the stained area around it had spread even farther.

That immediately put me on alert. After thinking it over and over, I decided that once morning came, I would quietly make a trip back to Tafeng Village.

I had to confirm what was happening there.

If those children really had fallen ill, and if their condition was similar to mine, then we were in serious trouble.

But early the next morning, before I could even set out, uninvited guests arrived at the Pawnshop.

It was my parents, with my younger brother and sister in their arms.

My sister Xinxin was eleven this year, and my brother Ah Bao was ten.

Both children were running high fevers and were unconscious.

My parents knelt at the entrance of the Pawnshop with the children in their arms, weeping as they begged me to save Xinxin and Ah Bao.

No matter how hard-hearted I wanted to be, seeing the two children like that, I couldn’t bring myself to be cruel.

Besides, with them kneeling and crying outside the Pawnshop first thing in the morning, it wouldn’t look good if the Neighbors saw.

I let them into the living room of the Rear-facing Room and had them place the children on the sofa. Then I crouched down to examine them.

When I rolled up Xinxin’s sleeve and saw her frail arm covered in burn marks of all sizes, I still couldn’t help being shocked.

I quickly lifted her shirt and found that her chest and back were covered in burn marks too.

Some spots had already ulcerated, oozing pus and blood.

When I checked Ah Bao, his condition was the same.

My mother knelt before me again, crying. “Tongtong, it’s not that Mom is heartless. We really have no other choice. Every child in Tafeng Village, young and old alike, is in this state.

“They said the Qilin Deity came to them in a dream. They said you took something that belonged to the Qilin Deity, and that was why the deity was enraged and brought down this disaster.

“Tongtong, come back with Mom. Go apologize to the Qilin Deity, all right? I’m begging you.”

My father sat to the side without saying a word.

In my memories, he had always been like this. He never played the villain, but he never stepped up either.

I stayed silent, unable to make a decision.

My mother grew anxious. She took out her phone, opened her photo album, and flipped through it page by page for me to see.

“This is Aunt Liang’s grandson, Xiao Cong. He’s the youngest, and he was the first to fall ill. He looks like he won’t make it much longer.”

“This is Uncle Wang’s granddaughter, Xiao Qin. The flesh over her heart is almost completely rotted away.”

“And this one. These are your Uncle Song’s Dragon-Phoenix twins, Xunian and Mingxuan. They’ve both collapsed too.”

…

My mother was still tirelessly explaining everything to me, but I caught something with sharp clarity. “Go back. Move back two photos. Yes, what did you say those Dragon-Phoenix twins were called?”

My mother stammered, “The boy is called Song Xunian, and the girl is called Song Mingxuan…”