Chapter 40 Dodder (Part 4) Since my senior brother doesn't like it, I won't do it...

The man in front of me had a smile on his lips, and the moonlight cast a long, dark shadow behind him.

He addressed her as "Senior Brother," but his eyes were like a deep, dark pool, revealing no emotion whatsoever.

A bone-chilling coldness crept up along the skin where they touched, sending shivers down one's spine.

Song Qiling dared not let go of her hand.

She called out again, "Junior Brother."

This time, there was a more reassuring tone in his voice.

The fingers that held his wrist moved slowly until they disappeared into the gaps between his fingers, their ten fingers intertwined.

The hand that was gripping the weapon finally loosened, and Song Qiling quickly took the small dagger and stuffed it into the hidden pocket at her waist.

Having narrowly escaped death, Zhou Ren gasped for breath, his eyes rolling back as he fainted.

The stagnant air in the room began to circulate again.

Gu Lianzhou stared quietly at Song Qiling, took a step forward, then another, until their toes touched. His senior brother looked over in surprise, his lips slightly parted, and remained silent for a moment, ultimately unable to say anything.

The two of them just stared at each other like that, neither willing to look away first.

Although Song Qiling's face remained calm, a storm was raging within her.

She felt no warmth on the skin of her junior brother's hand, as if she were holding a block of ice. She broke free of the restraint, slid her fingers down, felt his pulse, and gasped.

I can't feel the pulse.

If her perception is correct, her junior brother should be dead by now.

But how can a dead person speak, and how can he be standing perfectly fine in front of her?

Song Qiling looked up at Gu Lianzhou and asked softly, "Why are you out here at night instead of sleeping?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he slowly blinked and looked down at his waist. "I've come to retrieve my senior brother's things."

Are you just here to pick something up...?

Song Qiling looked at Zhou Ren, who had fainted on the bed, and hesitated to speak.

She was terrified and could only hope that tonight's events were just a nightmare. As for her junior brother...

The fingers gripping his wrist tightened slowly, and Song Qiling turned around, leading him towards the door.

Unexpectedly, Gu Lianzhou let her do as she pleased, following closely behind her.

After leading the person back into the room and locking the door again, Song Qiling let go of his hand, turned around, and re-examined his junior brother.

As the moonlight grew stronger in the latter half of the night, it almost filled the entire room, casting a thin, eerie glow around the man. His dark, glassy eyes stared at her intently, as if glued to her face.

"Junior brother, do you know what you were doing just now?" she asked.

Gu Lianzhou nodded slowly, "I know."

“You almost killed someone,” Song Qiling continued. “If I hadn’t stopped you, would you really have killed that person?”

Instead of answering, Gu Lianzhou asked, "Why not?"

After saying that, a smile flashed across his face, his tone innocent yet cruel, "Senior brother, he bullied you, and I'm helping you teach him a lesson. Aren't you happy?"

Just a lesson?

Song Qiling frowned, her gaze tracing the face of the person in front of her, scrutinizing him carefully from head to toe.

He still had that same refined and elegant appearance, only his complexion looked a little colder in the night, and his eyes looked a little darker.

How did your heart turn black as a result?

Why does someone who is perfectly fine during the day become so cold-hearted at night?

Song Qiling considered herself well-informed and had witnessed ghosts possessing human bodies, but none of them were like her junior brother, who still retained his own will...

Could it be that it was possessed by demonic energy, but not completely, only half of it?

No matter how you look at it, this is utterly absurd.

Therefore, she turned cold and solemnly replied, "I am not happy."

Upon hearing this, the man's smile gradually disappeared, replaced by an unyielding look of confusion. "Why?"

He seemed genuinely trying to figure out why she was unhappy.

Seeing that he still looked innocent and naive, Song Qiling felt a surge of anger. "A life for a life. I don't want you to bear a life debt. Whether you are a demon or a ghost, since you are wearing my junior brother's body, you cannot do anything that is immoral and immoral."

Gu Lianzhou's eyes flickered slightly, then he nodded and said, "If Senior Brother doesn't like it, then I won't do it."

Surprisingly, they were obedient.

Song Qiling glanced at him with mixed feelings, and seeing that he was still cooperating, she turned and walked towards the dormitory.

Seeing this, Gu Lianzhou quickly followed.

Following his senior brother's instructions, Gu Lianzhou lay stiffly on the bed, blinked, and looked at Song Qiling beside him in a fawning manner.

Song Qiling, feeling uneasy under the gaze of those large, dark eyes: "..."

In any case, we must detain our junior brother tonight and not let him act alone again.

Thinking this, she said irritably, "Close your eyes and go to sleep."

Her glass-bead-like eyes finally closed.

His long eyelashes trembled slightly, and the man said reluctantly, "Senior brother, see you tomorrow."

It didn't feel like a pre-sleep greeting; it felt more like a one-sided notification.

Song Qiling raised an eyebrow and asked tentatively, "What exactly are you?"

Her response was endless silence.

Song Qiling propped herself up on her arms, sat up in bed, and looked at Gu Lianzhou with eyes full of apprehension.

As the sky began to droop and a loud rooster crowed, the person on the bed felt their chest rise and fall slightly, and their long breaths escaped from their nose.

Having not slept all night, Song Qiling immediately shuddered, rolled up her sleeve, stretched out her hand, and wiped Gu Lianzhou's nose.

It was warm to the touch and breathing was even.

Unlike the cold of last night, the person lying next to me now is a living, breathing person.

"Song San, what are you doing?" A hoarse voice suddenly rang in Song Qi's ears. Song Qi's hand trembled, and he quickly withdrew it.

She looked up toward the source of the sound and saw Yu Qi propped up on the edge of the bed with one hand, eyes half-closed, groping for his shoes with his toes dangling, muttering, "Why did you wake up so early..."

He hasn't had enough sleep yet.

Because he had drunk too much water the night before, Yu Qi reluctantly slipped on his slippers, casually threw on an outer shirt, and hurriedly went outside.

He found the key and opened the lock, making a series of movements as if afraid of not waking anyone, with a "ding-a-ling" sound.

Song Qiling lowered her eyes and happened to meet a pair of long, narrow, and deep eyes.

Just like last night, this man seemed to have lost his soul, not uttering a word, only silently staring at her.

"Awake?" she asked.

Gu Lianzhou blinked, his voice slightly hoarse and still a bit sleepy, "Senior brother, didn't you get enough rest last night? Why do you look so sallow?"

Song Qiling was silent for a moment, and then let out a long sigh of relief.

Fortunately, Gu Lianzhou is back.

"It's nothing." Song Qiling lay down fully clothed, pulled the blanket over her head, and said in a muffled voice, "I'll sleep a little longer."

Looking at the high mound of the quilt cover, Gu Lianzhou blinked very slowly, the weariness on his face gradually dissipating, and his eyes gradually clearing.

-

It wasn't until the sun was high in the sky that Song Qiling finally caught up on her sleep. She slowly woke up and, as soon as she lifted the covers, she met three faces filled with worry.

Song Qiling: "..."

She should still be alive.

"Brother Song, did you go out to steal last night?" Yu Qi asked suspiciously, judging others by his own standards.

Liu Dai raised his hand and pushed the man away, saying to himself, "Master Song, it's time to set off."

Yu Qi protested, "Liu Xingchuan, what's the rush? Brother Song just woke up and hasn't eaten yet. How can we be setting off already?"

Liu Dai's lips twitched slightly as he looked at Yu Qi as if he were an idiot. "Have you forgotten what the people at the post station said? We must leave no later than 11 PM."

It's unclear when they offended the people at the post station, but they were forced to come and drive the guests away.

Upon hearing this, Gu Lianzhou explained, "It must be the rule of the post station. Senior brother, there's no need to worry. It's not too late to set off after we've had a meal."

What rules?

This is clearly the intention of Zhou Ren.

Song Qiling understood immediately. Gu Lianzhou must have terrified them by breaking into their house and committing violence last night. Although Zhou Ren dared not come to cause trouble again, he really did not want to be with them, so he sent someone to see the guests off.

There's no need for him to go to such lengths; they should have left today anyway.

Song Qiling sat up, lifting the covers, and said in response to the others, "I just slept a little too long. Why is this post station so inhumane? Oh well, I'll pack up and get ready to set off."

After saying that, she glanced at Gu Lianzhou and saw that his expression was normal, as if he had no memory of what happened last night.

Have you completely forgotten?

For some inexplicable reason, Song Qiling remembered his junior brother's words before he went to sleep, and suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He pretended to be casual and said, "Junior brother, we meet again."

As soon as he finished speaking, a look of confusion flashed across Gu Lianzhou's face. "Senior brother, are you... still not awake?"

Otherwise, why talk nonsense?

Seeing his attitude, Song Qiling felt bored and gave up the idea of ​​testing him. She stretched out her arm and yawned to brush it off.

-

As the group finished packing and prepared to leave the post station, a man dressed as a waiter called out to Song Qiling with a piece of yellow rough-edged paper in his hand.

"Is your surname Song, sir?" The man approached and politely bowed with his hands folded.

Song Qiling nodded, and then an envelope sealed with a piece of bluish-gray mud was handed to him. Upon closer inspection, he saw that it was stamped with a private seal in vermilion, which was the character "Yun".

The man put on a smile. "Someone asked me to deliver this letter to a young man surnamed Song. Now it seems that it must be you, young sir."

Due to the sluggish business, only a dozen or so people stayed at the inn these past two days. Song Qiling and her group, who were already good-looking, stood out even more.

Strangely enough, the man passing through this place did not stay, but only gave him a letter and a small amount of silver as a service fee, saying that he must deliver the letter.

The two were only a short distance apart; why did they have to beat around the bush and say things to each other face to face?

Naturally, he kept these words to himself.

Waiters take money and do things for people, so they should have their own principles.

Seeing that the letter had reached the young man's hands, he bowed to everyone again and said, "I won't bother you any longer. Farewell."

Seeing this, Song Qiling quickly returned the bow, and only after the person left did she put the envelope into her sleeve.

"That's amazing! Someone actually wrote you a letter from such a godforsaken place. Brother Song, you really have a wide circle of friends." Yu Qi leaned against the corridor pillar, looking rather unserious, carrying a bamboo cage filled with rabbits he had hunted the day before.

Song Qiling chuckled, "It's alright. If we're not together tomorrow, I'll write you a letter too."

"Come on, he probably doesn't know any characters." Liu Dai bluntly hit Yu Qi's sore spot, making him so angry that he jumped up and down.

"Liu Xingchuan, I can read!"

He attended a private school in his childhood and studied under a teacher.

It's just that I've been living in that awful place called Yin Yang Ravine for the past few years, so I haven't had a chance to use my skills.

Listening to the two bickering, Song Qiling picked at her ear, took out the letter, and walked out of the post station.

Unseal the letter and open it.

Under the bright sunlight, Senior Brother Wujiu's powerful and elegant handwriting leaped onto the paper.

Three simple sentences, yet they convey profound meaning.

Song Qiling narrowed her eyes and read it word by word, feeling a chill run down her spine.

'Qiling, seeing this letter is like seeing you in person.'

My master will be arriving at the Murong family residence soon; we will meet again then. Also, I suspect Gu Jialang is not a good person; I advise you to stay away from him.

His fingers trembled as he tightened his grip, crumpling the letter into a ball.

Chu Yue actually left his sect and came to capture her himself.