MFELY CH56

After saying this, Lin Zhushui pulled open the zipper of Zhou Jiayu’s down jacket.

Zhou Jiayu thought that pulling open the down jacket was about it, but who knew that he would also lift up his sweater and thermal underwear, exposing his pale belly. Logically speaking, having someone stick ice-cold hands into your clothes on such a cold day should be an extremely painful experience, but in reality, Zhou Jiayu not only didn’t suffer—he even felt a little excited inside.

“Sir is touching my stomach,” Zhou Jiayu said to Jiba like this.

Unfortunately, Jiba couldn’t make very rich expressions on his face. If he could, it would definitely be a look of complete indifference: “You’re so hopeless. You two clearly already had even more intimate contact before.”

Zhou Jiayu said: “Did we?”

Jiba said: “Did you forget the tattoo on your waist?”

Zhou Jiayu suddenly realized.

His body wasn’t particularly strong. Although he did have six-pack abs, the muscle was only a thin layer, and the feeling to the touch was quite nice. Zhou Jiayu’s mind was currently wandering through all sorts of random thoughts when he suddenly felt Lin Zhushui’s force increase dramatically, and a continuous stream of heat transmitted from his palm.

“Ah!” Zhou Jiayu wasn’t prepared and cried out directly.

“Bear with it.” As Lin Zhushui said this, he took out a thin silk scarf from his pocket and placed it by Zhou Jiayu’s mouth. “Bite on this. Don’t bite your tongue.”

Zhou Jiayu didn’t try to be tough. He opened his mouth and held the silk scarf. This scarf carried a rich sandalwood fragrance—it seemed to be something Lin Zhushui often carried on him. The pain in his lower abdomen became more and more obvious, and Zhou Jiayu bit down harder and harder.

While Lin Zhushui was doing this, Shen Yiqiong and Lin Jue were both watching from the side. Lin Zhushui’s fingers pressed on Zhou Jiayu’s dantian, and purple flames burned on his fingers. Zhou Jiayu’s skin began to bulge, as if something inside wanted to drill out from within.

“Ugh…” It hurt so much that cold sweat seeped from Zhou Jiayu’s temples, and his whole body trembled.

“Almost done.” Lin Zhushui comforted him softly.

Judging from the movements, one could tell that Lin Zhushui was forcing the worm in Zhou Jiayu’s dantian upward inch by inch. Soon, the worm reached his navel.

Zhou Jiayu was sweating profusely from the pain, whimpering continuously. Shen Yiqiong crouched nearby comforting him: “It’s fine, Guan’er, just bear with it a little longer. It’ll be out soon.” After saying this, he scratched his head and muttered softly to himself, “Suddenly feels like you’re giving birth or something…”

Zhou Jiayu: “…” Hei-zai, just you wait!!

The child… oh no, the gu worm—under Lin Zhushui’s control, slowly poked out a sharp head from his navel. Lin Zhushui’s hand directly pinched its tip, then pulled hard, forcibly ripping the worm out of Zhou Jiayu’s stomach.

In that instant, violent pain assaulted Zhou Jiayu. He nearly passed out. Fortunately, after the worm came out, the pain in his body began to subside. He slowly loosened the silk scarf in his mouth and let out a weak moan.

Lin Zhushui held that worm between his fingers. The moment it left the body, it struggled briefly before dying. His fingers moved slightly, and a cluster of flames ignited on the worm’s body, quickly roasting it into ashes.

Shen Yiqiong wiped his sweat for him and said: “It’s out, it’s out. Everything’s fine now.”

Zhou Jiayu breathed a sigh of relief and hummed softly twice.

After helping Zhou Jiayu extract the worm, everyone’s attention returned to Xu Jinghuo, who was lying on the ground. Xu Jinghuo had fainted from anger earlier, and upon waking, he saw his gu worm turn to ash in Lin Zhushui’s hand.

Lin Zhushui walked to Xu Jinghuo’s side and asked coldly: “Your last bargaining chip is gone too. Still not planning to talk?”

Upon hearing this, Xu Jinghuo suddenly laughed. He said: “Lin Zhushui, I indeed underestimated you, but so what.” He muttered softly, his tone sounding more like he was talking to himself, “Everything I’ve done, I have a clear conscience—”

Hearing this, Lin Zhushui sneered: “You took so many people’s lives, and you still have the nerve to say you have a clear conscience?”

Xu Jinghuo said: “What do you even know?”

Lin Zhushui slightly raised his chin, looking somewhat impatient. He said: “Anything else you want to say?”

Xu Jinghuo didn’t speak. Just when everyone thought Xu Jinghuo had given up on the will to live, a sudden change occurred—layers of white frost rapidly appeared on Xu Jinghuo’s body, and his body became as stiff as stone.

Lin Jue said in surprise: “What is this?”

But in the brief moment it took for her to speak, Xu Jinghuo’s body seemed to be flash-frozen. And they quickly discovered that things weren’t so simple. After Xu Jinghuo’s body was frozen, it began to turn transparent—he had actually suddenly turned into something like an ice sculpture.

This transformation left everyone stunned. Even Lin Zhushui furrowed his brows.

“What, turned into an ice sculpture?” Lin Jue said. “What kind of person is he?”

Lin Zhushui said: “Someone from Mount She’s Xu clan.”

Hearing the name Mount She’s Xu clan, Lin Jue showed a look of understanding: “So he was from the Xu clan. No wonder, but…” Some doubt floated into her eyes again, “Wasn’t it said that once people from the Xu clan enter the secular world, they lose their abilities?”

Lin Zhushui said: “He seems to have followed a different branch.”

Lin Jue’s expression also looked quite strange. Later, Zhou Jiayu learned that the Xu clan had a secret escape technique—freezing one’s own body to escape. After escaping, the physical body would appear on the ancestral tree, almost equal to a rebirth.

This method could only be used once in a lifetime by members of the Xu clan. And those abandoned by the ancestral tree couldn’t use it. Therefore, Lin Zhushui hadn’t expected that Xu Jinghuo could still use this technique.

But since he could use it, that meant Xu Jinghuo hadn’t been abandoned by the ancestral tree. The ancestral tree still recognized him as a descendant of the Xu family. In that case, there was clearly a contradiction with what Old Xu had said at the time. Moreover, they had personally witnessed Xu Jinghuo cutting off a branch of the ancestral tree. He had treated the ancestral tree like that, yet the ancestral tree still protected him. This was simply unimaginable… unless Xu Jinghuo’s actions actually hadn’t violated the Xu family’s ancestral precepts.

The entire matter was shrouded in fog, making it temporarily impossible to grasp the truth behind it.

However, the first thing they currently needed to do was wrap up the matters at the school.

Zhou Jiayu was pushed out in a wheelchair by Shen Yiqiong. He had originally felt that if he tried hard, he could stand up. Who knew that Shen Yiqiong would press down on his shoulder and tell him not to force it.

After losing the argument, Zhou Jiayu was tragically defeated and forcibly pressed into the wheelchair by Shen Yiqiong, who pushed him out of the basement.

After leaving the room, Zhou Jiayu discovered that there was no library at all before them. Where they were was actually a dilapidated old teaching building. This teaching building looked like it had been abandoned for a long time. There was even the character for “demolish” painted on the walls—it should be an old building about to be torn down.

Lin Jue and Lin Zhushui’s expressions weren’t very surprised. It looked like they had guessed this situation long ago.

Shen Yiqiong hadn’t figured this out and said: “Was that Li Jinjiang replaced by Xu Jinghuo from the very beginning?”

Lin Jue said: “No, at first it was still the original him. Do you remember that night when the resentful spirit mimicked his appearance to knock on your door?”

Shen Yiqiong and Zhou Jiayu both nodded. They really had too deep an impression of this matter; they couldn’t forget it even if they wanted to.

“Probably replaced around that time,” Lin Jue said. “At first I didn’t notice either. Later, Zhushui detected something off, so we thought we might as well play along and go see their nest.”

Lin Zhushui said indifferently: “The changes in Xu Jinghuo’s body are also considered a unique secret technique of the Xu clan. Originally, only the clan head would know it, but the current clan head Old Xu also hadn’t expected that Xu Jinghuo would do those things.”

According to what Lin Zhushui said, Xu Jinghuo should have been the next clan head. To this day, no one understood exactly what Xu Jinghuo’s actions were based on. But judging from Xu Jinghuo’s behavior, the person behind him probably had quite formidable strength.

When they came out of that dilapidated teaching building, the sky outside was already bright. Last night’s heavy snow had also stopped, and thin red clouds appeared on the horizon.

Shen Yiqiong pushed Zhou Jiayu, and the group walked together toward the school gate.

The security guard at the gate saw them and showed surprise, asking: “When did you all go in?”

Shen Yiqiong said: “Last night.”

That security guard stared with wide eyes and said: “I was on duty last night. I kept watching the gate the whole time. I didn’t see you!”

Lin Jue said: “We’re Teacher Li’s friends. We came to investigate that matter. Maybe it was too dark when we came in, and you didn’t notice.”

The moment the security guard heard what Lin Jue said, he immediately stopped asking. He waved his hand to let them go. It seemed the people at this school were really quite superstitious about the haunting matter.

“The real Li Jinjiang should still be at the hotel,” Lin Jue said after leaving the school gate. “Let’s go find him first.”

The group returned to the hotel and asked the front desk to open Li Jinjiang’s room. Sure enough, he was lying in bed completely unaware, looking like he was still in deep sleep. Lin Jue checked his breathing and pulse and said: “He’s fine. He just got drugged.” She turned around and borrowed a silver needle from Lin Zhushui, then stabbed it into Li Jinjiang’s philtrum.

Li Jinjiang slowly opened his eyes. The moment he saw Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong, he jumped up in shock and pointed at them: “Ghosts—”

Shen Yiqiong actually felt quite gratified seeing this and said: “You really did open the door for us after all!”

Li Jinjiang was utterly confused. After a while, he finally calmed down and realized that what he saw were people, not ghosts.

Shen Yiqiong briefly told Li Jinjiang the whole story. Li Jinjiang listened in a daze and finally only grasped one key point: “The dirty thing has already been dealt with?”

Zhou Jiayu and Shen Yiqiong nodded.

“Th-that’s really great.” Li Jinjiang was happy for a few seconds, then became dejected again. “Forget it, I’ll still resign. This school has left me with too much trauma.”

After the matter was settled, they prepared to leave.

Perhaps it was fate—they actually ran into Celestial Master Zhang at the airport. He was the one who had been so scared by a ghost when they first arrived at the school that he jumped from the building and directly broke his leg.

Shen Yiqiong, for some reason, had a mischievous streak and insisted on bringing that wheelchair to the airport, even declaring he would take it back home. He also insisted on having Zhou Jiayu sit in it.

Zhou Jiayu refused several times to no avail. In the end, he resigned himself to fate, thinking he might as well treat it as raising a bored-out-of-his-mind son. He went along with Shen Yiqiong the whole way, sitting in the wheelchair and being pushed around.

So two people in wheelchairs met outside the airport.

That Celestial Master Zhang saw Zhou Jiayu also sitting in a wheelchair and instantly became emotional, saying: “You guys went into the teaching building too, didn’t you? Sigh, not listening to the words of the elderly—you suffer right before your eyes!”

Zhou Jiayu couldn’t be bothered to explain. Seeing that they were about to reach the elevator up ahead, he simply stood up directly and let Shen Yiqiong carry the wheelchair himself.

Celestial Master Zhang watched with his own eyes as Zhou Jiayu walked away. “His leg is fine?”

Shen Yiqiong said: “…Ah, it’s a hobby, just a hobby.”

Celestial Master Zhang stared with wide eyes and didn’t speak for a long time.

On the plane, Shen Yiqiong and Zhou Jiayu chattered on and on. Zhou Jiayu finally understood the reason he insisted on bringing the wheelchair back.

Zhou Jiayu said: “Are you sure you want to do this?”

Shen Yiqiong said: “Are you willing to do this for me?”

Zhou Jiayu said: “…As long as you’re happy.”

Shen Yiqiong was overjoyed and beaming with delight. Zhou Jiayu deeply experienced from him what they meant by “simple-minded children have the most fun.”

After arriving home, Shen Yiqiong sat in the wheelchair he had gone through so much trouble to get and had Zhou Jiayu push him inside. Lin Jue followed behind, looking at the two of them like they were idiots. She hardly spoke with Lin Zhushui the whole way, probably wanting to see what kind of trouble these two were going to stir up.

Then Zhou Jiayu pushed Shen Yiqiong into the house.

All three shixiongs were home. Zhou Jiayu thought they might be playing cards or something, but the moment he entered the house, he sighed that his imagination was truly too limited. He discovered that these people were actually gathered around a mahjong table. The yellow weasel had also taken a corner. The little paper person, who had been missing Zhou Jiayu, was perched on Shen Musi’s shoulder. The atmosphere looked very harmonious.

When they saw Zhou Jiayu pushing Shen Yiqiong in, they were all somewhat surprised. Shen Musi said: “Yiqiong, what happened to you?”

Shen Yiqiong said: “Shixiong! You don’t know how dangerous our trip out was!”

The three shixiongs all gathered around, more or less showing concern on their faces.

Then Shen Yiqiong began making things up, saying how brave he was and how, in the end, to eliminate the villain, he sacrificed one of his legs.

While he was talking nonsense, Zhou Jiayu, Lin Jue, and Lin Zhushui sat on the sofa listening. At first, Zhou Jiayu still cooperated by chiming in a couple times, but later he couldn’t be bothered to speak anymore. Because he discovered that as Shen Yiqiong’s nonsense continued, the concern on the three shixiongs’ faces faded and began turning into expressionless looks.

Shen Musi’s expression was especially obvious.

“Leg broken? Is that so?” Shen Musi said.

Shen Yiqiong also felt like something was wrong. He said: “Shixiong…”

Shen Musi didn’t speak. He turned to Shen Erbai and said: “Erbai, your shidi’s leg is broken.”

Shen Erbai cracked his knuckles and walked to Shen Yiqiong’s side, saying: “Yiqiong.”

Shen Yiqiong said: “Ah?”

Shen Erbai said: “As a person, you have to be honest. If you say one leg is broken, then one leg has to be broken. Don’t you think so?”

Shen Yiqiong didn’t make a sound. His eyes began glancing toward Zhou Jiayu, clearly wanting to ask for help. Zhou Jiayu couldn’t be bothered with him and continued peeking at Lin Zhushui out of the corner of his eye, lost in his beauty and unable to extricate himself.

Shen Yiqiong discovered Zhou Jiayu’s ruthlessness. He opened his mouth, about to say something, when his whole body was hugged from behind by Shen Erbai, while his legs were grabbed by Shen Musi and Shen Chaosan.

Shen Erbai grinned fiercely: “Cripple his leg!”

Shen Yiqiong: “Aaaaahhhh!!” He was lifted up, and his crotch made intimate contact with the pillar in the center of the living room—a third leg is still a leg, isn’t it?

Lin Jue watched and laughed heartily, tears of joy coming out. She looked at Zhou Jiayu, who was petting the yellow weasel with the little paper person on his shoulder. Her gaze softened, and she said softly: “After all these years, this really seems to be the first time I’ve seen this place so lively.”

Lin Zhushui responded indifferently. Although his tone was light, his expression carried gentleness.

Shen Yiqiong, who had been put down in the room, clutched his crotch and wailed miserably. The other three coldly put him down and went back to playing mahjong.

The little paper person happily perched on Zhou Jiayu’s shoulder, rubbing its cheek against Zhou Jiayu’s chin. The yellow weasel hmphed and grunted, glaring with its bean-like black eyes, continuing to be jealous.

Lin Jue rolled up her sleeves and said: “Short a player? I’ll play a couple rounds.”

“Come on, shibo.” Shen Erbai happily called out.

Clack clack clack—the lively sounds of mahjong rang out. Zhou Jiayu said: “You all play. I’ll go make dinner. What do you want to eat tonight?”

The people at the mahjong table happily ordered dishes.

Zhou Jiayu noted them all down. As he was walking toward the kitchen, Lin Zhushui, who had been sitting on the sofa without saying much, also got up. Zhou Jiayu had originally thought he had something to do, but who knew he followed him into the kitchen.

“Sir?” Zhou Jiayu was startled.

“Nothing to do.” Lin Zhushui said indifferently, “Helping out.”

Zhou Jiayu curved his eyes and smiled: “Sure. What does Sir want to eat tonight?”

Lin Zhushui said: “Anything.” After saying this, he paused briefly. “No wood ear mushrooms or carrots.”

Zhou Jiayu suddenly felt that Sir, who was seriously picky about food, was really unbearably cute…

The dinner was very sumptuous. Except for a certain Hei-zai who brought it upon himself and spent the whole afternoon clutching his crotch miserably, everyone was quite happy.

Shen Musi asked them what they had encountered this time. Zhou Jiayu cheerfully told him the whole process.

After the three shixiongs heard it, they all sighed and said it hadn’t been easy for them, and they could rest well for a few days after coming back.

It was Lin Jue’s first time tasting Zhou Jiayu’s cooking. After the first bite, she showed a look of amazement and said: “I finally understand why Zhushui likes it so much.”

Zhou Jiayu felt quite embarrassed from the praise and responded very modestly.

After eating, everyone went back to their rooms to rest. Zhou Jiayu couldn’t quite sleep, so he lay by the window watching the snowscape. Now the temperature was gradually rising, the accumulated snow was beginning to slowly melt, plants were sprouting emerald green buds, and the earth was about to awaken from its slumber.

Knock knock knock. Suddenly someone knocked on the door.

Zhou Jiayu asked: “Who is it?”

“It’s me.” Lin Jue’s voice came through. “Already asleep?”

Zhou Jiayu said: “Mm… not yet.” He went to open the door for Lin Jue and saw her looking at him with a smile. “Is something the matter?”

“Nothing. Just wanted to chat with you.” Lin Jue said, “Do you have time?”

Zhou Jiayu nodded: “I do, but chat here?”

Lin Jue said: “Let’s go to the tea room next door.”

Only then did Zhou Jiayu learn that there was actually a dedicated tea room in the courtyard. He had been here for so long, yet he didn’t seem to know the layout of the courtyard very well. Normally, he would at most have Shen Yiqiong take him back and forth between Lin Zhushui’s place and his own.

Lin Jue brewed the tea and lit two sticks of incense. Her appearance was gorgeous; at first glance, she didn’t seem like someone easy to get along with. But after truly interacting with her, one would discover that she seemed quite tolerant of everything—an excellent older sister.

“You’ve been here for about half a year now.” Lin Jue started the conversation.

Zhou Jiayu didn’t know why, but he suddenly felt a little nervous. He nodded and gave an “mm.”

Lin Jue said: “Mm… what do you think of Zhushui?”

The moment he heard this, Zhou Jiayu immediately sat up straight and said very seriously: “I think Sir is a good person.”

The hand holding the teacup trembled slightly.

Zhou Jiayu spoke solemnly and earnestly: “A very, very good person.”

Lin Jue said: “That’s all?”

Zhou Jiayu said: “N-no… otherwise?”

The moment Lin Zhushui was mentioned, his whole person became terribly nervous, afraid that he would expose something.

Lin Jue sighed deeply: “Do you mind if I smoke?”

Zhou Jiayu shook his head.

So Lin Jue took out a slim ladies’ cigarette from her bag, lit it, and took a light puff: “Zhou Jiayu, have you ever been in a relationship?”

Zhou Jiayu himself had never been in one, but this body probably had, so after hesitating, he still nodded.

Lin Jue said: “Really dated?” She was full of suspicion. Then she immediately thought of something and changed her way of asking, “I mean the especially serious kind.”

Zhou Jiayu said: “That, I haven’t…” He lowered his eyes to look at the teacup in his hand, having a not-so-good feeling.

Lin Jue breathed a sigh of relief. She also saw Zhou Jiayu’s nervousness and thought to herself that her topic had indeed scared him. Helplessly, she changed the subject, skipping the matter about Lin Zhushui, and began chatting about daily life.

Only then did Zhou Jiayu slowly relax.

The tea was good tea. Slightly bitter at first taste, but with a long, lingering sweetness afterward. Zhou Jiayu and Lin Jue chatted about the various things he had encountered since coming here—about the paper person, about the yellow weasel, about all sorts of strange things.

The atmosphere between the two gradually eased. Zhou Jiayu was no longer nervous, and a smile appeared on his face.

Lin Jue felt the timing was right. She extinguished the cigarette and spoke softly: “Zhou Jiayu, actually, Zhushui…” She had only uttered the two words “Zhushui” when she saw the young man before her begin to gradually stiffen, like a kitten grabbed by the scruff of its neck, all the fur on his body standing on end.

Lin Jue: “…” What exactly did Lin Zhushui do to make Zhou Jiayu react like this?

Lin Jue gritted her teeth and just said it directly: “I just wanted to ask—do you like Lin Zhushui?” She felt her question was straightforward enough. Who knew that after Zhou Jiayu heard it, he nodded like he was pounding garlic and said earnestly: “I like him. I really like Sir. He’s such a good person…”

Lin Jue: “…” She silently mourned for three seconds for Lin Zhushui, who had inexplicably received two “good person” cards tonight.

Zhou Jiayu was still talking: “Sir is the most amazing person I’ve ever seen! I especially like him!” His eyes were full of stars. Even Lin Jue could see that thick admiration.

Seeing Zhou Jiayu like this, Lin Jue actually began to doubt her own judgment. For a moment, she couldn’t quite tell what kind of affection Zhou Jiayu held for Lin Zhushui—was it the admiration of a junior for a senior, or…

Zhou Jiayu was still listing Lin Zhushui’s good points one by one.

Forget it. Looking at him like this, Lin Jue thought in resignation. It seemed some things really couldn’t be rushed.

__

Author’s Note:

Zhou Jiayu: Hello, Sir? The other kids have all been picked up. When are you coming to pick me up?

Lin Zhushui: The other kids have all confessed. When are you going to confess?

Zhou Jiayu whimpered: I’m nervous…

Lin Zhushui: Then if I confess, will you say yes?

Zhou Jiayu nodded happily.