Chapter 21: Safety Talisman Bites The Dust
As soon as they left the hospital room, Yan Xiaowen changed from following behind to walking side by side, looking at Xuan Xia with starry eyes: “Xia Xia, that aura you had just now was really so cool.”
“It was just that feeling of a queen descending, you know?”
Yan Xiaowen imitated Xuan Xia’s tone from earlier, “This is all the pattern you’ll ever have in your life! Aah, I love it so much.”
Xuan Xia was helpless and speechless.
Yan Xiaowen went crazy for a bit before returning to normal, saying: “I told you those two were fine. Shouldn’t have come.”
Xuan Xia: “Not exactly fine.”
Yan Xiaowen: “You mean Yu Lanlan’s face?”
Xuan Xia: “I mean Yu Lanlan’s heart.”
Yan Xiaowen: “?”
Xuan Xia said: “She has psychological problems.”
“Oh oh oh, right right right.” She could even attempt to jump off a building and end up in the hospital; she definitely has major psychological issues.
Thinking of Ji Weiyi and Yu Lanlan, Yan Xiaowen suddenly asked: “Xia Xia, if today it was Ji Weiyi sowing discord between us, saying that I like Qin Yi too, would you believe it?”
“Do you like him?” Xuan Xia countered.
“Of course not.” Yan Xiaowen immediately stated her feelings, then asked again: “I’m just saying if, if someone told you that I like the person you like, would you believe it?”
Xuan Xia’s eyes curved into a smile: “Rather than someone telling me, I’d prefer you tell me yourself. We can compete, we can fall out, but we can’t deliberately hide it and make little moves behind the scenes.”
As for saying sisters are more important and no man can compare, those are words that can only be casually said by those who haven’t experienced it personally or who weren’t that into the man to begin with.
Letting go isn’t that easy.
Yan Xiaowen nodded in agreement: “Right right right.”
“But… if that day really comes, if someone tells me that, I would definitely calmly seek confirmation from you. I absolutely won’t let things develop like they did with them.”
“Oh, right, sisters. Let’s encourage each other.”
Ji Weiyi and Yu Lanlan like this now is really too undignified.
The two chatted as they entered the Subway Station.
When the subway train heading to Jiang University pulled in, the wind from inside the subway grew strong, blowing straight at their faces.
Xuan Xia’s mobile phone gave a new message notification.
Xuan Xia smoothly took out her mobile phone, preparing to open the message.
At that moment, the white light from the mobile phone screen suddenly flashed in her eyes.
Xuan Xia involuntarily blinked, and when she opened her eyes again, the mobile phone was gone from her hand, and the marble floor of the Subway Station under her feet had become a patch of dark-colored cement ground.
A “mmph” sound suddenly drilled into Xuan Xia’s ears.
She looked up following the sound, and not far ahead was a bed made of wooden boards.
On the bed, a woman was curled up.
The woman was tied up like a zongzi, her mouth firmly sealed with tape, glaring wide-eyed and calling out to her from an upward tilt.
But because her mouth was sealed, she could only make “mmph mmph” sounds.
Xuan Xia’s scalp exploded, her crown feeling split open, all because that woman had a face identical to hers.
No, that was her!
Xuan Xia quickly realized this was the scene from her dream where she had appeared; after being kidnapped, she had been thrown into this room.
So she had returned to the dream of being kidnapped?
But how could that be?
Wasn’t she waiting for the subway to go back to school?
Xuan Xia was completely dumbfounded, even a bit panicked, but the bound version of herself was still “mmph mmph”-ing nonstop, as if seeking help.
She instinctively wanted to step forward to rescue her, but her feet wouldn’t lift no matter what.
Only then did she realize she seemed fixed in place, unable to move freely.
The bound version of herself “mmph”-ed for a while, and upon realizing she couldn’t summon the other self, suddenly had teary eyes, with two streaks of blood tears flowing from her eyes.
Xuan Xia watched helplessly, feeling again that sense of helplessness and despair from the final moment in the dream.
She even wanted to cry along with the other her.
And once that thought arose, Xuan Xia suddenly found her line of sight becoming blurry.
This blurriness was like having a sheet of red transparent plastic paper placed in front of her eyes; everything she saw was tinged red.
Not only was her line of sight blurry, even her viewing angle had changed.
Xuan Xia realized she had swapped places with the her on the bed.
Now she was the bound one, looking up at the other her.
But because of this switch, she instead lost her dumbfounded panic and began to calm down.
After quickly steadying her mind, Xuan Xia realized she was probably in an Illusionary Scenery.
As for whose… she didn’t care whose it was; right now she just wanted to escape.
Her mind quickly recalled the phrase she had used before: “Knowing the constant is clarity; the Dao is in all directions, the Dao illuminates all directions, responding to nothing.” Since her mouth was sealed, she couldn’t say it aloud and could only recite it silently.
After silently reciting it three times, though she didn’t escape the Illusionary Scenery, she suddenly felt warmth on her body.
The warmth came from the part of her body pressed against the bed board, mainly around her waist, like a heating pad after it warms up.
The warmth quickly spread throughout her body, dispelling her last trace of fear.
At the same time, another phrase that Daoist Master Qin had recited in the previous Illusionary Scenery popped into her mind: “Brightly it exists, darkly it is absent, evil impurities dissipate.”
Evil impurities dissipate…
Accompanied by urgent “beep beep beep” sounds, the entire world suddenly cleared up.
Xuan Xia blinked, finding the subway train in front of her had closed its doors and was slowly starting to move.
In her ears was Yan Xiaowen’s anxious calling: “Xia Xia, don’t scare me, what’s wrong with you?”
Xuan Xia turned to look at Yan Xiaowen and calmly said: “I suddenly feel a bit unwell; can you help me to the back to sit down?”
Yan Xiaowen immediately supported her; there were seats against the wall where she could sit.
When lifting her foot, Xuan Xia felt her legs were soft.
Although she had escaped the Illusionary Scenery, she was still affected by the scene inside.
Yan Xiaowen also noticed her legs were soft and, after helping her sit, anxiously asked: “Xia Xia, are you okay? Should we go back to the hospital?”
Xuan Xia propped her hands on her knees, eyes downcast, saying: “I’m fine.”
“Don’t push yourself.”
To reassure Yan Xiaowen, Xuan Xia made an excuse: “I didn’t sleep well last night either, and just now I was so dizzy I couldn’t move; maybe low blood sugar.”
Yan Xiaowen half-believed it and said: “Then I’ll go buy you a bottle of water?”
Xuan Xia nodded.
Yan Xiaowen quickly ran to the vending machine not far away to buy water.
Xuan Xia looked down for a moment, then reached a hand into her pocket and slowly pulled out the Safety Talisman that Li Xinze had given her at noon.
As she expected, the cinnabar Safety Talisman inside the transparent protective case had changed from bright red to dull, as if heavily smeared with Incense Ash.
She took a deep breath, saw her mobile phone still clutched in her hand, picked it up, and opened the chat with Daoist Master Qin.
The last message in the chat was still her thanking Daoist Master Qin at noon for the talisman.
Daoist Master Qin had not replied.
Now, she retyped: “Daoist Master Qin, the Safety Talisman you gave me has been expended.”
Then she took a photo of the talisman and sent it along.
After sending, she exited the chat and then saw the message she had received earlier.
It was from Ji Ziyao, notifying her to attend the Planner meeting on the platform this Saturday.
Additionally, she had received the contract; her appearance fee, after deducting the company’s cut and legal taxes, would net her 630,000.
Ten percent of the deposit would be transferred to her account within three workdays after signing the contract.
This was really good news, but Xuan Xia couldn’t feel happy right now.
