Edited—

The corpses wrapped in ice were clearly twisting slowly. Although the range of motion was small, because Zhou Jiayu had all his attention focused on them, he could see it quite clearly.

At the innermost part of the ice was a beautiful tree branch—presumably the Ancestral Tree branch that Xu Jinghuo had severed.

“What do we do?” Zhou Jiayu was a bit at a loss.

“We can only take them back.” Elder Xu sighed helplessly. “These children also met with a disaster they didn’t deserve.”

They had clearly come out for tourism, yet had unexpectedly lost their lives.

“Mm, let’s go back.” Lin Zhushui said, “Xu Jinghuo should still be in the village.”

On the way back, they still took the sleigh, except now behind them was a large block of ice tied up with ropes. Frozen inside the ice were a few corpses that kept twisting. Zhou Jiayu didn’t look behind him much. He also noticed that one of the paper people who had brought them here seemed to be missing—apparently having been sent ahead to the village to deliver news on Elder Xu’s orders.

He didn’t know if it was because of the Ancestral Tree, but Zhou Jiayu clearly felt as if he had formed some connection with this place. He could also sense a gentle gaze. He told Lin Zhushui about this feeling. Lin Zhushui said it was because he had obtained the Ancestral Tree’s recognition.

“Why would the Ancestral Tree recognize me?” Zhou Jiayu said. “I feel like I didn’t do anything…” He felt quite baffled.

Lin Zhushui said, “Constitution issue.”

Zhou Jiayu: “…” He was indeed very popular, but this kind of popularity always carried an uneasy flavor. It was like one day you had turned into a big cake walking down the street, and everyone on the street cast gentle gazes at you. Some even expressed that they liked you. But you would always worry whether their so-called “like” might suddenly turn into taking a bite out of you at some moment…

The sleigh continued forward. Although the corpses in the ice block behind them were still twisting, fortunately the temperature was low enough that the ice wouldn’t melt. Otherwise, Zhou Jiayu really didn’t dare imagine what it would look like for each of them to carry one of these corpses back.

Elder Xu was clearly in a worse mood on the way back than when they came. He had been silent the whole time—presumably affected by the matter of Xu Jinghuo.

The night passed like this. Dawn broke at the edge of the sky. White snowflakes began drifting down again. Zhou Jiayu reached out to catch one, feeling it slowly melt in his palm.

Lin Zhushui said, “In a few days there should be a blizzard.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “If the snow falls too heavily, the trains will probably be closed, right?”

Lin Zhushui said, “Yes.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “Oh… then we’ll be staying here for New Year?”

Lin Zhushui said, “What, you want to go back?”

New Year wasn’t actually that important to Zhou Jiayu, because he would either go back to the orphanage to spend it with the children there, or spend it alone. But after his rebirth, he had actually developed a faint anticipation for this holiday deep down.

“It’s fine.” Zhou Jiayu said rather dishonestly. “Just asking casually.”

The corners of Lin Zhushui’s mouth curved up slightly. He didn’t speak.

When the sleigh reached the village entrance and had just stopped steadily, more than a dozen paper people darted out and began circling around Zhou Jiayu while twisting and dancing.

Zhou Jiayu was startled by their movements. He said, “What’s going on?”

Lin Zhushui said, “This is what happens after the Ancestral Tree recognizes you.”

If these paper people had only liked Zhou Jiayu before, now the word “infatuated” could almost be used to describe them. If they had expressions, those expressions would definitely resemble obsessive fans. Zhou Jiayu was even lifted up by them.

“Alright, alright, don’t scare him. Put him down quickly.” Elder Xu said from the side. “Carry the ice block inside…”

Only then was Zhou Jiayu put down. His whole head was dizzy and disoriented. He nearly didn’t steady himself. It was Lin Zhushui beside him who steadied him.

“From now on, as long as they are paper people born from this Ancestral Tree, they can no longer harm you,” Lin Zhushui said. “You can also learn to make paper people of your own.”

Zhou Jiayu’s eyes instantly lit up. “My own paper people?”

Lin Zhushui nodded. “I’ll teach you when we get back.”

Zhou Jiayu was quite happy to hear this. He thought about having a Garlic-Peeling Little Sister No. 2 by his side. Currently, Shen Yiqiong was playing the role of Garlic-Peeling Little Sister No. 1…

The villagers were all very surprised when they saw the ice block they had brought back. Elder Xu briefly explained the situation. Zhou Jiayu noticed that when the people around him heard the name Xu Jinghuo, their expressions clearly dimmed.

“Why did Jinghuo-gege turn out like this?” The girl who had previously arranged the brick house for Zhou Jiayu and the others was especially downcast. She said, “He wasn’t like this before… Why… What exactly did he encounter to become like this…”

But Elder Xu said coldly, “Don’t call him gege. He is no longer a member of the Xu clan.”

Hearing this, the granddaughter reached out to wipe her tears, responded softly, turned around, and silently left. From her reaction, it seemed that when Xu Jinghuo was still with the Xu clan, his relationship with her had been quite good.

Shen Yiqiong and Shen Musi also came over and saw the corpses frozen into ice behind Zhou Jiayu and the others.

Shen Yiqiong had originally been standing quite close to the ice block, but when he suddenly discovered the corpses inside the ice seemed to be twisting, his whole person instantly bounced away. He said, “Why are they still moving?!”

Zhou Jiayu said, “I don’t know either. What do we do with these corpses…”

Shen Musi said, “Call the police?”

Zhou Jiayu said, “What would the police’s reaction be when they come and see the corpses still moving…”

Shen Yiqiong said, “It’s fine. They’ll always find a scientific excuse to explain it. We don’t need to worry about it at all.”

Zhou Jiayu: “…” He inexplicably thought of that popular science program Approaching Science that was airing at the time. In the program, there was something similar about a person who could suck blood out from an iron pipe. After a round of research and investigation, the experts had miraculously found the answer—that person had bleeding gums.

“Sigh, these poor children.” Elder Xu sighed. “What a sin.”

Lin Zhushui also didn’t say much. He turned and said, “Has anyone left the village?”

“No.” A girl answered loudly, “After receiving Elder Xu’s message, we sent people to block all the village exits.”

Lin Zhushui raised an eyebrow. “How many did you send?”

The girl said, “More than a dozen. He probably can’t escape.”

Lin Zhushui was noncommittal. Instead, he asked, “Did anyone go down the mountain during this period?”

The girl hesitated for a moment but still nodded and said, “There was, but it was a girl from our clan. She has a heart condition and was frightened by someone tonight. We were afraid something would happen to her, so we had paper people escort her to town.” She also emphasized, “That girl is petite. She definitely couldn’t be Jinghuo in disguise!”

The moment Elder Xu heard this, he knew it was over. He sighed, “Silly girl, he got away again!”

The girl was stunned upon hearing this. She said blankly, “Got away? But, but the only one who left the village tonight was that one. Xu Jinghuo is such a tall man—”

“He definitely has his own methods.” Elder Xu said, “See the Ancestral Tree branch? He was the one who chopped it off.”

The girl looked at the Ancestral Tree branch frozen together with the corpses. Tears immediately fell. She choked back sobs, “How could he do this…”

Elder Xu didn’t speak. He took out a cigarette from his bosom and began smoking in silence.

That Xu Jinghuo had escaped, but Lin Zhushui wasn’t too surprised. He said lightly, “Forget it. There’s definitely someone behind Xu Jinghuo.” After Xu Jinghuo entered the secular world, he must have encountered something that caused his temperament to suddenly change, betraying his own clan. And from his methods, there was absolutely a force behind him—it was impossible he was acting alone. If Xu Jinghuo had been caught just like that, it would actually be a bit strange.

Lin Zhushui and Elder Xu’s reaction was indeed correct. A dozen or so minutes later, they discovered the girl with the heart condition who should have been sent out of the village on the third floor of a certain small building. She had been knocked unconscious, but her body was not seriously harmed.

While the villagers were sighing about this matter, Zhou Jiayu’s phone rang. He picked up his phone and saw that it was actually “Xiao Ju,” with whom he had previously exchanged phone numbers, calling.

“Sir…” Zhou Jiayu hesitated for a moment but decided to ask Lin Zhushui’s opinion.

“Xu Jinghuo?” Lin Zhushui had already guessed. He said, “Answer it.”

After Zhou Jiayu connected the call, he pressed speaker.

“Hey, hello there.” It was still that familiar tone, but the voice had changed again. Xu Jinghuo said, “I’m on the train now, preparing to leave here. Your name is Zhou Jiayu, right? Don’t worry, I’m still very interested in you. Wait for me to come find you again, cute little fish.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “You were clearly injured. What are you so happy about?”

Xu Jinghuo said, “Because you still didn’t catch me.” As he spoke, he laughed in a very good mood.

If it were anyone else, hearing Xu Jinghuo’s nearly provocative words and laughter, they would probably instantly be filled with anger. But Lin Zhushui said with seemingly good temper, “Have a safe trip.”

Xu Jinghuo’s side instantly went quiet. He said, “Lin Zhushui, what did you do to me??”

Lin Zhushui said, “Guess?”

After saying this, he had Zhou Jiayu directly hang up the phone, then turn it off.

Zhou Jiayu was truly curious and asked Lin Zhushui what exactly was going on with Xu Jinghuo.

Lin Zhushui sneered coldly, “Doesn’t he like disguising himself as other people? Then I’ll make it so he can’t change back.”

Zhou Jiayu: “…” So now Xu Jinghuo was still maintaining a girl’s appearance?

How long Xu Jinghuo maintained that appearance before changing back, Zhou Jiayu didn’t know. The only thing he knew was that for a very long time afterward, Xu Jinghuo would often call to curse with filthy language, looking so furious that no one knew what exactly he had encountered. Every time, Zhou Jiayu would be in a very good mood, keeping it on mute. After he finished cursing, he would kindly ask, “Done cursing? If you’re done, I’m hanging up. I just went to cook and didn’t hear anything.” Under normal circumstances, upon hearing this, Xu Jinghuo would practically explode from anger.

After doing this several times, Xu Jinghuo finally gave up on harassing Zhou Jiayu.

Because the corpses couldn’t be dealt with, in the end they still chose to call the police. By the time the town police rushed over, it was already afternoon. Zhou Jiayu had just woken up from a nap.

“Train tickets are booked.” Shen Musi said, “Tomorrow afternoon.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “We’re going back so soon?” He always felt that Lin Zhushui still seemed to have some unfinished business.

“Mm.” Shen Musi was the one who arranged these matters. He said, “Sir said it’s almost New Year. Everyone should take this time to gather together.”

Only then did Zhou Jiayu remember that he seemed to have only met Shen Chaosan a few times. Shen Erbai had also been outside and hadn’t returned much. He was a bit curious and asked the question on his mind.

When Shen Musi heard the names of his two junior brothers, his expression clearly softened. He said, “They’re handling matters outside. There are some things Sir doesn’t want to personally handle, so he has us go. That is, Yiqiong is still relatively young now and doesn’t have much practical experience, so he has always stayed by Sir’s side. In a few more years, he should also go out alone.”

After hearing this, the first thought that popped into Zhou Jiayu’s head was… then in the future, he would also go out alone, right?

Who knew that Shen Musi seemed to see through what he was thinking. He reached out and patted his shoulder, saying, “You don’t need to worry about that for the time being.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “Huh? Why?”

Shen Musi said, “Mm… Even if you have the ability, Sir probably won’t let you go out alone.”

Zhou Jiayu still didn’t quite understand.

Shen Musi looked at his appearance and smiled. “What? Forgot your identity as a fraud? If they let you out alone and you run away, what then?”

Zhou Jiayu: “…” Only then did he suddenly realize.

To be honest, except for the initial period, Zhou Jiayu had really almost forgotten his identity completely.

On the day of departure, Elder Xu gave Zhou Jiayu a small gift. It was a small branch that looked very ordinary—the kind that would be swept away as garbage if it fell on the roadside.

But Zhou Jiayu knew that this was a branch of the Ancestral Tree.

After the ice melted, that originally crystal-clear Ancestral Tree branch had turned into the appearance of an ordinary tree. Rough bark, brown trunk. The only somewhat special thing was those verdant green leaves.

Elder Xu carefully took the Ancestral Tree out from the ice and placed it into a prepared large paper box, saying that they must find a time to rebury it.

Seeing Elder Xu’s attitude, Zhou Jiayu was overwhelmed by the favor upon receiving this gift. He had wanted to decline, but Elder Xu smiled and told Zhou Jiayu that this was the Ancestral Tree’s wish. He also had Zhou Jiayu accompany him to a place before leaving.

Lin Zhushui indicated for Zhou Jiayu to follow Elder Xu.

This time, the place they went to was a small river not far from the village. After Zhou Jiayu reached the river, Elder Xu took out the whistle and blew it again.

In the next moment, beneath the frozen little river, countless small paper people actually emerged. These paper people looked a bit smaller than the ones walking around the village. They pressed their faces against the ice surface, looking at Zhou Jiayu through the ice. Some even curiously used their palms to tap dong dong.

Following Elder Xu’s command, the frozen solid ice surface was broken open, revealing the flowing water beneath. This small river was exceptionally clear. Zhou Jiayu could even see the pebbles lying at the bottom of the water. The small paper people were only about palm-sized, with no faces and no clothes. They crouched by the riverbank, looking up at Zhou Jiayu. Although they had no eyes, Zhou Jiayu sensed curiosity and affection from their movements.

Beneath the water, Zhou Jiayu saw something somewhat familiar—the ice sculpture of a woman that he had seen at the inn in town.

The ice sculpture stood in the slowly flowing river water, maintaining a waving posture. Viewed up close, Zhou Jiayu discerned a compassionate smile on her face.

Elder Xu said, “This is what Xu Jinghuo has been looking for.”

Zhou Jiayu was startled. He discovered that as Elder Xu spoke, the smile on the ice sculpture’s face gradually faded, and her eyes revealed a sorrowful expression.

Elder Xu said, “To produce paper people, sacrifices must be made every year. The Ancestral Tree’s favorite offering is the ice sculpture.” He slowly narrated, “So every year, we make a special ice sculpture. At the turn of spring, we cast it into the deep pit as an offering to the Ancestral Tree.”

Elder Xu sighed deeply, his tone weathered with age. “What Xu Jinghuo wanted was precisely this ice sculpture.”

Zhou Jiayu said softly, “May I touch it?”

Elder Xu smiled and said, “Naturally you may.”

Zhou Jiayu reached out his hand and gently touched this beautiful and spirited sculpture. His movements were careful; he only used his fingertips to touch the ice sculpture’s flowing hair, then withdrew his hand.

“I suspect he wanted to find out the method of making this ice sculpture,” Elder Xu said. “So we hid the ice sculpture away. Ordinary people cannot see this ice sculpture. The moment they see it, they will immediately be frozen stiff. In light cases, they will be injured; in severe cases, they will lose their lives. Every time, we are very careful.”

Zhou Jiayu remembered his condition when he saw the ice sculpture and involuntarily shivered.

Elder Xu continued speaking, “This ice sculpture is normally placed inside the cemetery. Xu Jinghuo following us inside was probably also for it.”

As he spoke, the ice sculpture’s eye sockets actually shed a few drops of tears. After the tears slid down her cheeks, they instantly condensed into drops of ice pearls. Zhou Jiayu involuntarily reached out to catch them.

“They all like you very much.” Elder Xu said, “If you are willing, you may choose a small paper person to take back and raise. After raising it for a period of time, it can grow bigger. The paper people here are somewhat different from ordinary paper people. They have their own consciousness and can communicate heart-to-heart with their controller.”

Hearing this, Zhou Jiayu was indeed somewhat moved, but at the same time he was a bit hesitant, “But is it alright to let them leave this place?”

Elder Xu sighed. He turned his back and looked at the village behind him with wisps of green smoke rising from it. “Perhaps we truly are meant to be eliminated by history. Going out isn’t bad either.”

In the end, Zhou Jiayu still accepted Elder Xu’s kindness. He reached his hand into the bone-chilling water, wanting to scoop up a small paper person. Some of these paper people began retreating backward, while some began trying to approach Zhou Jiayu. Among them, one was the bravest. Trembling with fear, it carefully used its thin little hand to gently grab Zhou Jiayu’s finger.

Zhou Jiayu’s heart stirred. He scooped it up with his palm. This little paper person didn’t look much different from the other small paper people at the moment. Even when it walked, it was a bit unsteady. It climbed along Zhou Jiayu’s arm to his shoulder, then used its head to rub against Zhou Jiayu’s chin.

Zhou Jiayu narrowed his eyes and smiled.

Elder Xu also revealed a kind smile.

But while they were happy, someone was not happy. Jiba, who had been quite quiet in Zhou Jiayu’s mind, said sourly, “Great, the yellow weasel at home hasn’t been dealt with yet, and now there’s another rival.”

Zhou Jiayu smiled and said, “You’re jealous? Why haven’t you been talking much lately?”

Jiba hummed and hawed, very unhappy. It used its pale yellow little beak to peck at the turtle shell beneath its feet a few times to vent its inner emotions, “I don’t want to either, but did you forget what happened before? I suspect Lin Zhushui can hear my voice, so I can only try not to make a sound.” Who knew that by not daring to speak, it had given these little bitches the opportunity to rise in position. Jiba’s heart was full of grievances, and it even felt a bit like exploding its fur. Zhou Jiayu listened to what it said and felt a bit like laughing, but he held back his laughter and quickly offered a few words of comfort. Only then did Jiba reluctantly accept.

The little paper person quite liked Zhou Jiayu. It used its tiny hands to hug Zhou Jiayu’s neck.

After Elder Xu said some things to pay attention to, he blew the whistle again, refreezing the river.

Actually, raising a paper person was much simpler than raising other things. According to Elder Xu, as long as you didn’t feed it random things and paid attention to normal communication, basically nothing would go wrong.

Zhou Jiayu asked curiously, “What does ‘feeding random things’ mean?”

Elder Xu said, “They like to eat paper, but you must never feed them talisman paper. Feeding them that will give them diarrhea…”

Zhou Jiayu was shocked, “Paper can give them diarrhea?”

Elder Xu said, “Of course. When they get diarrhea, it’s quite troublesome. It takes quite a while to get better.”

Zhou Jiayu said, “Then… can I feed them meat or something?”

Elder Xu nodded, “What they like to eat most is incense ash, but it doesn’t matter whether they eat or not. You have heavy yin energy in your body; it can feed on that as well.” In Elder Xu’s words, there was no one more suitable than Zhou Jiayu to raise a paper person. The paper person could also absorb the cold energy from Zhou Jiayu’s body, helping him slightly reduce his attractiveness to other dirty things.

Zhou Jiayu brought the paper person back to the village. When Shen Yiqiong saw it, his eyes went straight with envy. But the paper person also wasn’t shy of strangers. When Shen Yiqiong hugged it into his arms, it obediently lay on Shen Yiqiong’s chest.

Shen Yiqiong’s heart melted, “Wow!! So cute!!!”

“Let’s go, let’s go.” Shen Musi urged helplessly, “If we leave any later, we won’t make the train.”

Today there were already signs of a blizzard. The wind on the mountain was howling, carrying large flakes of snow that stung people’s cheeks.

This time, going down the mountain, Elder Xu had prepared a sleigh for them. At least they didn’t need to walk down.

The little paper person seemed quite afraid of Lin Zhushui. When Zhou Jiayu sat on Lin Zhushui’s right, it tried to burrow into his clothes to hide. Zhou Jiayu was tickled by it until he kept giggling. Lin Zhushui reached out with his index and middle fingers and pinched it, saying, “Don’t let it crawl into your clothes. Paper people are yin in nature. It’s not good for your body.”

Zhou Jiayu said okay and earnestly lectured the paper person while holding it in his hands.

The little paper person understood human speech. After being scolded, it wilted and curled into a paper ball. Zhou Jiayu didn’t comfort it but carefully placed it into his pocket. Elder Xu had said to teach it like teaching a child—rewards and punishments must be clearly distinguished. You can’t let it run wild without rules.

“Let’s go.” Elder Xu called out to the sleigh, “Come again when you have time.”

Zhou Jiayu waved goodbye to them. He had originally thought this trip related to paper people would be full of horror, but he hadn’t expected that in the end, it would be as lovely as a fairy tale. He reached his hand into his pocket and gently stroked the paper person’s head, revealing a gentle smile.

The four of them got in the car. With a whistle, the long train chug-chugged out of the mountain village.

A few days later, Zhou Jiayu returned home.

Shen Yiqiong and Shen Musi walked in front of him. The moment the two entered the house, Shen Yiqiong burst out with a joyful call, “Shixiong, you’re back!”

Zhou Jiayu followed them in and discovered two people sitting in the living room. One was Shen Erbai, whom he had seen before. The other was a somewhat unfamiliar face—presumably Shen Chaosan, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time.

Shen Chaosan’s build was extremely robust. Because the heater was on in the house, he wasn’t wearing much. Even through the outline of his clothes, one could sense his solid muscles and powerful physique. After he stood up, he gave off an even more oppressive aura. Zhou Jiayu’s height of 1.78 meters was practically like a child in front of him.

Shen Yiqiong rushed over and was directly caught around the neck by Shen Chaosan’s hand. Shen Chaosan said, “Back?”

Shen Yiqiong said, “Back!”

Their relationship seemed extremely good. Mm… to be precise, Shen Yiqiong’s relationship with these shixiongs was all quite good. Everyone took care of him like they were taking care of their own younger brother.

Shen Chaosan glanced at Zhou Jiayu, walked up to him, and extended his hand toward him, “Long time no see.”

Zhou Jiayu shook his hand and said, “Long time no see.”

“Welcome back.” Shen Chaosan gripped Zhou Jiayu’s hand and shook it hard, his voice as deep as an ancient bell.

Zhou Jiayu couldn’t quite gauge whether the “welcome back” in Shen Chaosan’s mouth was sincere or carried some other meaning, but he didn’t think too much about it. He only revealed a smile.

With two shixiongs back, the slightly cold house instantly became lively. The four gathered together, plus the newly arrived Zhou Jiayu and the yellow weasel.

But the yellow weasel wasn’t in as good a mood as these people. When it saw the paper person running out from Zhou Jiayu’s arms, its eyes went straight. At first, Zhou Jiayu thought it liked the paper person. Later, after Shen Musi’s reminder, he discovered the yellow weasel was angry—and quite angry at that. The yellow weasel maintained this emotion until evening, when Zhou Jiayu made chicken for it. Only then did it barely subside. But it was still full of hostility toward the paper person. Zhou Jiayu even suspected it was a bit eager to find an opportunity to swallow the paper person in one bite…

At dinner, the house was incredibly lively.

Shen Erbai and Shen Musi talked about the strange tales and unusual matters they had encountered outside. Shen Yiqiong and Zhou Jiayu listened with great interest.

After dinner, after a simple wash-up, everyone returned to their rooms to rest. The whole building quieted down again.

Zhou Jiayu also returned to his room on the third floor.

He didn’t rush to bed but sat by the window for a while.

At this moment, goose-feather-like snowflakes were falling on the ground outside, making their unique rustling sounds. The trees in the garden trembled their crowns because of the howling wind.

Through the window, Zhou Jiayu saw a figure.

That figure was somewhat far from him, sitting in an inconspicuous corner of the courtyard. Zhou Jiayu looked carefully for a long time before confirming that the person was Lin Zhushui.

He seemed to be drinking alone in the courtyard. Snow had accumulated on his head and shoulders. No one knew how long he had been sitting there.

The entire world was silent. Lin Zhushui was alone. He lightly raised his wine cup, brought it to his lips, and took a small sip. This was the first time Zhou Jiayu had seen Lin Zhushui like this. Lonely, indifferent—he seemed to have merged with the surrounding environment, as silent as the pine and cypress in the snowy wind. Zhou Jiayu even had the illusion that he would disappear before his eyes in the next moment.

Biting his teeth, Zhou Jiayu randomly put on a down jacket and ran downstairs with thud-thud-thud steps. He first went to the kitchen to get the thing he wanted, then rushed out of the wooden building.

Following the direction he had seen from the window, Zhou Jiayu hurriedly went out the door. He ran, wanting to quickly reach Lin Zhushui’s front.

But after running for a while, Zhou Jiayu discovered he had made a fatal mistake—the paths in this courtyard were not as simple as he had thought. They had changed. After discovering he was lost, he couldn’t even retrace his steps.

“What do I do?” Zhou Jiayu laughed bitterly while panting, “I’m lost.”

Jiba said, “The pine and cypress in this courtyard form an array. The paths are also arranged according to the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams. Without someone leading you, you definitely can’t get out.”

Zhou Jiayu quickly touched his pocket, then even more despairingly discovered that he had come out too hastily and left his phone behind without bringing it.

“Sigh.” Zhou Jiayu sighed, “Too miserable.”

Jiba expressed agreement.

The sky grew darker and darker. Zhou Jiayu didn’t know how long he had been wandering in the courtyard. As he spent too long outside, his body temperature also began to drop. At first, Zhou Jiayu was still joking with Jiba, but later he really couldn’t laugh anymore. He panted and said, “My god, do I have to spend the whole night outside? I’m really afraid they’ll discover my frozen corpse here tomorrow morning…”

Jiba was also a bit helpless.

Just as he was distressed about being lost, a warm-colored light appeared not far in front of Zhou Jiayu. The light flickered slightly, as if pointing out the direction for Zhou Jiayu.

Zhou Jiayu said, “There’s light!” He quickly ran in that direction, but accidentally slipped under his feet. His whole person fell into the snow.

This fall was somewhat severe. It took Zhou Jiayu quite a while before he barely used his hands to prop up his body, wanting to climb up.

However, when he raised his head again, he saw that the light had appeared before him—it was a beautiful red lantern, being gently held by a pair of fair, slender hands.

“Zhou Jiayu.” Lin Zhushui’s voice rang out directly above Zhou Jiayu, somewhat light, but still so pleasant to hear, “What are you doing here?”

Zhou Jiayu saw Lin Zhushui’s face. Those eyes on that face were still closed. The pale, thin lips pressed into a somewhat tense curve. Snowflakes fell on his head, his shoulders, and one spun around and lightly hung on his long eyelashes.

Zhou Jiayu’s heart began beating uncontrollably. He was terribly nervous and didn’t even know what to say. In the end, he could only stiffly reach out his hand and hand over the thing he had been clutching in his right hand to the person before him, “Sir, I came to bring you a drinking snack.”

Lin Zhushui was silent.

Zhou Jiayu looked toward his right hand and discovered that the bag he had been carrying the snack in had a big hole in it. Everything inside had spilled onto the ground.

Zhou Jiayu: “…” Oh no.

Lin Zhushui extended his hand toward Zhou Jiayu, “Get up.”

Zhou Jiayu quickly grasped Lin Zhushui’s hand, using it as leverage to stand up from the snow and pat the snow off his body.

Lin Zhushui didn’t speak. Carrying the lantern, he turned and left. Zhou Jiayu hurriedly followed behind him, not daring to ask where he was going.

The two of them shuttled through the forest. After walking for about three or four minutes, Lin Zhushui, who was leading in front, finally stopped.

“Sit.” Lin Zhushui said.

Zhou Jiayu focused his eyes and discovered that this was the courtyard where Lin Zhushui had been drinking just now. Only after entering did he discover that this courtyard seemed different from the outside. It appeared to be open, but there was actually no howling cold wind, and the temperature was slightly higher than outside.

Zhou Jiayu sat down on the stone stool, watching Lin Zhushui pour him a cup of wine.

That wine was a faint emerald color, emitting a unique fragrance of plants and trees. The aroma was clear and crisp, very enticing.

“You can only taste one cup of this wine.” Lin Zhushui said, “Try it.”

Zhou Jiayu raised the wine cup and took a sip. Then his whole face flushed red. This seemingly gentle wine was actually extremely strong—spicier on the tongue than any burning knife liquor Zhou Jiayu had ever drunk. Upon entering the mouth, it was practically like a blade sliding down the throat. But this was only the initial sensation. After passing the throat, the wine’s aroma instantly bloomed in his chest, with layer upon layer of lingering aftertaste that made one endlessly savor it. A sweet aftertaste also rose at the root of his tongue.

“Good wine!” Zhou Jiayu’s eyes were full of amazement.

“Naturally it’s good wine.” Lin Zhushui poured himself a cup and drank it in one gulp. He said, “Zhou Jiayu, do you know why I gave you the lotus-and-fish tattoo?”

Zhou Jiayu shook his head blankly.

“The lotus flower falls but the root remains. It regenerates the next year, symbolizing the reincarnation of the soul.” Lin Zhushui said, “It suits you very well.”

Zhou Jiayu was instantly stunned. Lin Zhushui had already spoken so plainly. How could he not understand? He said, “Sir, you already… know?”

Lin Zhushui was noncommittal. Instead, he slowly stood up, “Follow the small path on the right to return to the wooden building. Go rest early.” After saying this, he turned and left, not giving Zhou Jiayu any opportunity to ask questions.

Zhou Jiayu watched his retreating figure, but his mood became somewhat complicated. He felt that something about his feelings toward Lin Zhushui seemed a bit off, but for the moment, he couldn’t figure out exactly what was wrong.

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Author’s Note:

Zhou Jiayu: I can’t stand drinking Sir’s blood and making Sir get injured for me…

Lin Zhushui: I’m afraid if I used other methods, you would be even less able to stand it.

Zhou Jiayu: Huh??