Chapter 73: Heart-to-heart Talk
Xuan Xia originally planned to return to Yanjing with Yang Wanxiu after the Miaoxiang trip ended.
The house allocated to her by the company was already habitable, and she was very much looking forward to seeing her own small world.
As a result, with this incident in Chu Miao Village, she had no choice but to change her itinerary, skipping Yanjing and heading to Ningzhou instead.
When leaving Chu Miao Village to return to the city, she rebooked her ticket and briefly informed Daoist Master Qin of the situation here; for more details, she would discuss face-to-face with him after returning to Changsheng Temple.
Daoist Master Qin’s reply came after the Daoist Temple ended business operations.
He asked Xuan Xia when she would arrive in Ningzhou and what transportation she was using, saying he would have Li Xinze and the others come pick her up.
Xuan Xia checked the arrival time and declined his kind offer.
Previously, it was uncertain how long Hong PD and the others would take at the hospital, so her booked itinerary was not early.
It would be midnight by the time she arrived in Ningzhou. Xuan Xia planned to stay one night at a hotel and go to Changsheng Temple after daybreak.
However, Daoist Master Qin was very insistent.
Xuan Xia thought about it, mainly considering the bell issue, and decided not to argue with him further.
……
While waiting at the airport, Xuan Xia, bored, opened the performance chart app. She was mainly curious if her actions today counted as performance and whether they could boost her ranking a few spots.
The result was that her ranking remained at 1997, unmoved.
It would be false to say she was not disappointed.
Xuan Xia could only ponder to herself that it seemed this scene today was not enough to raise her ranking.
She decided to wait until Qu Xingxuan finished his exam and see if he had time to team up with her for some practice.
***
Upon arriving in Ningzhou, it was still Li Xinze who came to pick her up.
As soon as they met, Li Xinze smiled and greeted Xuan Xia: “Miss Xuan, long time no see.”
Xuan Xia replied: “Long time no see.” But was it really long?
On the way back to Changsheng Temple, Li Xinze, afraid Xuan Xia would be bored, started chatting idly with her.
Li Xinze said: “Uncle Zhong was happy all evening knowing you were coming.”
Thinking of the kind Uncle Zhong, Xuan Xia could not help but smile, and hurriedly asked with concern: “Has Uncle Zhong gone to sleep? He wouldn’t still be awake, would he?”
Li Xinze smiled: “He has. The old man wanted to stay up, but he couldn’t.”
Xuan Xia said “Oh,” relieved that he was asleep.
She did not want the old man to stay up late because of her.
But another “old man” inevitably had to stay up a bit.
Half an hour later, the car entered the scenic area.
Streetlights lined both sides of the main road, but the heavy night shrouded the scenery within the scenic area, making the unlit areas seem somewhat eerie.
Xuan Xia suddenly recalled that lotus pond and the sudden illusionary scenery, and turned to ask Li Xinze: “After I came last time, has there been any more trouble in the scenic area?”
Li Xinze, focused on driving, did not immediately understand Xuan Xia’s question: “What does Miss Xuan mean?”
“Has there been any more illusionary scenery in the scenic area?”
Li Xinze suddenly understood.
“No.” He quickly replied.
After replying, Li Xinze added: “Actually, the scenic area is always very safe; what happened to Miss Xuan was purely an accident.”
Li Xinze almost said it was the first time. But he held back.
Though he did not say it, Xuan Xia understood.
She immediately thought to herself, “Damn it,” it really was targeted at her!
Just as she thought that, Changsheng Temple arrived.
Li Xinze dropped her off at the backyard gate of the temple, then said he was heading back first, not waiting for Xuan Xia to say anything else, leaving her there.
It had not seemed like much before, but now truly left alone, Xuan Xia suddenly felt a trace of complex emotions.
After a slight pause, she gently pushed open the backyard door.
As the door opened, the backyard lights spilled to the edge, like a guiding path.
Soon, a long slanted shadow appeared under the lights.
Xuan Xia first glanced at the shadow on the ground, then raised her eyes to look at the person under the light.
The first thought that popped into her mind was that she wanted to get a dog for her house in Yanjing.
A larger breed, the kind that would rush to the door to greet her first thing every time she returned.
Imagining that scene, Xuan Xia smiled and stepped into the backyard more lightly: “Good evening, Daoist Master Qin.”
Daoist Master Qin’s gaze scanned her up and down, first confirming she was safe, then echoed her with a good evening.
He then asked: “How did you handle that bell?”
Xuan Xia had an expression of “you don’t need to worry,” saying: “I handled it just as you said.” As she spoke, she stood in front of him and reached into her bag to pull out a paper ball nearly the size of a tennis ball.
Daoist Master Qin stared in astonishment at the paper ball in her hand: “…”
Clear runes were visible on the paper ball, obviously talismans.
Thinking of the bell’s size, he could not suppress his amusement.
Xuan Xia: “Hm?” What was so funny?
Daoist Master Qin remembered it was indeed he who instructed her to use plenty of talisman paper to avoid mishaps. So facing this tennis-ball-sized lump, he tried to suppress his laughter and said calmly: “Nothing. You did very well.”
He reached out to take the tennis ball lump, then said to Xuan Xia: “You go rest first.”
Xuan Xia knew he was going to deal with the bell now, so she did not respond, just took her luggage into the house for a quick unpack, waiting until he returned from handling it before going out to intercept him: “Daoist Master Qin, shall we talk?”
Daoist Master Qin hesitated: “Now?”
Xuan Xia nodded.
She did not want to delay any longer.
Daoist Master Qin nodded as well: “Come to my room.”
His house was as simple as the one she stayed in, except without the bookshelf, replaced instead by a tea table and sofa.
After entering the house with him, Xuan Xia was invited to sit on the sofa.
He perhaps knew Xuan Xia had much to say and had prepared a cup of warm plain water for her.
Since that was the case, Xuan Xia did not stand on ceremony: “Daoist Master Qin, still no leads on Ren Yaokun?”
“Some clues.” Daoist Master Qin’s answer was quite vague.
This left Xuan Xia somewhat unsatisfied: “This… is it that hard to investigate? Aren’t there only two Ren Families in the Mystic Sect? You even said last time they rank with the ‘Yao’ character.”
Daoist Master Qin fell silent.
Oh ho. Had she come on too strong and stumped him?
“What was your trip to Miaoxiang this time?” After a moment of silence, Daoist Master Qin skipped the previous topic, asking directly whether her Miaoxiang trip was intentional or coincidental.
On this question, Xuan Xia had plenty to say.
“Previously, Ren Yaokun told me his bell was something he picked up in a Miao Village. I thought he was just casually naming a place to brush me off, but unexpectedly, there was some truth in what he said.” At least there really was a Miao Village that had bells like his.
Daoist Master Qin frowned upon hearing this.
However, mentioning the Miao Village, Xuan Xia had to bring up that child.
She felt the bell was the main culprit behind the child’s condition, and now she had secretly taken the bell away, but she did not know if she needed to do anything else to help the child recover.
So now, helping that child recover still had to be entrusted to Daoist Master Qin.
It was even later, quite embarrassing.
One of the wy games I play has had constant client crashes lately. Tonight I finally connected with their technician, who gave me a new program. But I feel it’s still not right. So annoying. I was just thinking their service was great, even making a group just for me, and I wouldn’t curse their pig farm interns anymore, but since the issue isn’t fixed… should I curse them or not from now on…
