Chapter 145 Reunion Feast

“Hey,” the young man seemed to dislike crowded places, and he pulled Xin Que back into the back garden, “They’re so noisy.”

Xin Que stood quietly beside him.

It was so quiet, as if the person wasn't there at all.

"You like lively scenes?" The young man sat down on the bench and looked up at the woman standing behind him.

The main house was brightly lit, and the entire Luo family was gathered in the spacious hall, chatting and laughing, creating a lively atmosphere.

This contrasts sharply with the two people lounging in the back garden.

Xin Que smiled and wrote a line of words on the young man's forearm, which was resting on the back of the chair.

I've never attended such a large-scale family reunion dinner before.

The young man stared at her expressionlessly for a while before giving a perfunctory reply, "Oh—"

After a pause, Xin Que's rough fingertips traced across the young man's forearm again. "I don't recognize all the members of the Luo family."

Is everyone here for today's family reunion dinner?

The young man casually replied, "Everyone's here."

Xin Que had only written half of the character "Xie" on his arm when the young man grabbed her wrist, forcing her to lower her head and face him.

He clenched his fist tightly around the wrist in his hand, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "Stop with the nonsense, how do you plan to repay me?"

Xin Que's smile became increasingly genuine.

Of course, I'll give you a surprise that I can do within my means.

The young man was taken aback.

A moment later he realized something was wrong and immediately got up to walk towards the main house.

An arm like an iron clamp pulled him back from behind and forced him back onto the bench, leaving him no chance to struggle.

"boom----"

The heat wave generated by the gas explosion quickly swept across the entire hall.

The young man's pupils suddenly dilated.

One by one, the floor-to-ceiling windows shattered, and countless screams echoed throughout the night.

He suddenly looked up at the woman who was holding him down.

"So," Xin Que said slowly, looking down at the young man in front of her, "did you like this ground fireworks display?"

Luo Jingchen's chest heaved more and more violently as he glared at Xin Que, "When...when did you figure it out?!"

Before the flames spread to the two people in the back garden, Xin Que freed one hand and, in the firelight reflected in the young man's pupils, slowly pulled a bloody shard of porcelain from under his tongue.

The porcelain shard remained half-inserted under the woman's tongue.

“Pain is the cheapest medicine to keep people rational.” Xin Que casually tossed the porcelain shards aside, her back to the firelight, making her look like a demon engulfed in karmic flames.

“But you clearly…” Luo Jingchen’s phoenix eyes reflected Xin Que’s figure, which was stained red by the firelight. He recalled all the actions Xin Que had taken after being thrown into this illusion, and finally realized that he had been tricked by this woman from beginning to end.

Xin Que threw away the blood-stained shards of porcelain in her hand, then grabbed Luo Jingchen's neck tightly with both hands.

"What do I clearly know? Are they those mannequins that look like they're playing house, or that surveillance camera called the diary?"

Xin Que's smile appeared even more distorted in the firelight. "Who writes a diary, anyway?"

"Idiot, can what you write be considered your true feelings?"

...

Xin Que suddenly opened her eyes.

I straightened up from the backrest and looked around.

Sunlight streamed in through the gaps in the curtains, making it a little dazzling.

Is this... Luo Huayi's small bedroom?

But she was alone in the room; Luo Huayi was nowhere to be seen.

Xin Que got up from the chair, glanced at the bare desk beside her, and then looked away.

Was she asleep just now?

She raised her hand and pinched her brow, as if she had just woken up from a nightmare that had left her feeling utterly exhausted. The dream's content had immediately faded away without a trace.

I can't remember any of the details.

All I remember is that the dream was bad.

The woman composed herself and turned to walk towards the door.

The old house was empty, and Luo Jingchen was nowhere to be found. It seemed as if she was the only person left in the entire mansion.

Xin Que searched each room one by one, trying to find some clues in the mansion.

As she entered the study, a pair of scorching, terrifying hands suddenly reached out from the shadows behind Xin Que, tightly covering her mouth and nose, and dragging her backward.

...

Luo Huayi was completely numb.

The body that was inhabiting him did nothing but fool around with the female supporting character or get drunk at bars with his cronies.

There was no sign of Xin Que at all.

This person either rests in the guest room or simply doesn't go home and spends the night at the company.

In any case, she resolutely refused to see Xin Que.

Luo Huayi looked at the path leading to the back garden once again.

This person seems to be addicted to peeping.

Ever since the day he saw the female lead and Luo Jingchen embracing, this body has been coming to the back garden every few days.

Luo Huayi was starting to suspect that the man might have some kind of weird and disgusting fetish for being cuckolded.

No normal person would do something like that.

Xin Que did not appear in the back garden today.

Luo Jingchen was not there either.

The body paused in the back garden for a moment, then turned and walked toward the main house.

It was dusk, and the dim, glaring sunlight shone on the old house, making the line between light and shadow exceptionally clear.

You can even clearly see the dust particles churning in the air.

Luo Huayi followed the body into the main house. Just when he thought the man was going to the guest room as usual, the body's gaze shifted to the women's and men's shoes scattered next to the shoe cabinet.

Luo Huayi was not surprised at all.

In this person's eyes, Xin Que is a dull and boring housewife who has no personal life of her own. Staying in the old house all the time is the "normal" state for her.

The man looked away and started walking up the stairs.

My phone vibrated.

It was another phone call inviting him to a drinking party.

"I'll change my clothes and come right away..." Just as the man stepped off the stairs and was about to walk towards the guest room, his gaze suddenly shifted and landed on the doorway of the room at the end of the corridor in the opposite direction.

The door was half-open, and sunlight shone through the crack, casting a glaring glow on the backlit corridor.

Luo Huayi recognized this room.

That's the study; the Luo family would handle any household chores there.

As if possessed, the man hung up the phone, tiptoed, and concealed his breathing as he slowly walked toward the half-open door.

Luo Huayi's gaze followed the man's shifting eyes to the door.

Is someone inside?

Who is it?

The body's owner controlled his gaze, directing it toward the half-open doorway.

Luo Huayi's pupils suddenly dilated.

Xin Que?!

Xin Que knelt on the ground, her back to the door, her upper body swaying, seemingly in a state of utter heartbreak.

Luo Jingchen half-squatted in front of her, one hand around her back and the other on the back of her head, as if he were talking to her intimately.

Both of them spoke in very low, muffled voices, making it impossible to understand what they were saying.

Luo Huayi was eager to go forward and see if this woman was really Xin Que, and wanted to ask her if the stomach problems caused by the plot had been resolved.

But this body simply wouldn't obey him.

Inside this cage-like body, Luo Huayi could only watch helplessly as the man turned and left.

He struggled time and again to escape this body, but all his efforts were in vain.

Just as the body was about to enter the guest room, Luo Huayi completely gave up on escaping and tried once again to take control of the body.

He was able to fabricate false events to deceive the Heavenly Dao that was monitoring them and seize control of the original body in the storyline, so he should be able to do it too.

He needs to hurry!

"Ha...ha..." Luo Huayi's head was throbbing, and she leaned against the wall, trying to focus her vision.

He temporarily suppressed the original owner's consciousness.

The man gripped the arm that wouldn't obey him tightly and stumbled toward the study.

"Xin Que... Xin Que!!!"

"Bang."

He suddenly burst open the study door.

The setting sun cast a quiet glow over the lavishly furnished study, but the spot where Luo Jingchen and Xin Que had just been was now empty.