The truth is revealed by the fierce autumn wind.
Chapter 56
As dawn breaks, a beam of light shines down, illuminating the woman's earnest profile.
“You’re overthinking it. Xu Zuiyue isn’t the only one born at the yin hour and yin month according to the lunar calendar.” Chen Muyao took a deep breath, feigning ease, but his tone lacked any of its usual sharpness. He tugged at the corner of his lips, “Does dual cultivation with anyone not count as cultivation?”
Looking at the person in front of her, Zhou Yulin felt inexplicably uncomfortable upon hearing these words.
But Chen Muyao's lack of persistence was understandable, and my first reaction was to breathe a sigh of relief.
He turned and left, and only then did Zhou Yulin remember the photo stone he had given her, which she hadn't had a chance to look at yet.
After hesitating for a few seconds, she took out a recording stone from her sleeve.
Everything that happened that night was recorded in the stone.
The perspective is Chen Muyao's first-person view.
Halfway through the reading, only a few sentences echoed in Zhou Yulin's mind.
"I will not use her as a bargaining chip."
"Heh, that's not up to you. You are first and foremost the young master of the Nine Star Pavilion, and only secondly yourself, Chen Muyao!" She suppressed the urge to put away the recording stone and stop watching, letting the scene continue playing.
"If you're unwilling to sever ties, then I'll make the choice for you!"
The video ends here.
Zhou Yulin breathed a sigh of relief. What good would it do to know?
If you ask her, her scumbag father was absolutely right.
Just as she was about to put away the photographic stone, "Zhou Yulin."
"The person I like is Zhou Yulin." Zhou Yulin's hand trembled, and the photo stone rolled to the ground, carrying her tangled thoughts under the wooden table.
The sound of the whip striking down accompanied the young man's repeated, almost obsessive, chants.
"It's fine if she doesn't like me; I didn't expect any response anyway."
"There aren't that many coincidences in this world. Meeting is destiny itself. Whether it's a heavy rain or a light rain, as long as I meet her, that's enough."
Her heart skipped a beat, and an indescribable panic gripped her.
At that moment, she thought of many things that she had never thought about in detail in her previous life.
Those thousand notes hanging under the spring flowers were all elegantly written, each with a line of almost invisible small characters: "May Zhou Yulin have peace and safety every year."
Every time he won a sword fight, the complex emotions that flashed in his eyes, the boy's hand that she had shaken off each time, and the extremely defiant words from her youth, "I don't need your pity," still resonate with her like a boomerang.
"It is difficult to discern right from wrong; truth and falsehood are mixed together."
"The moon reflected in the water is not the moon in the sky; the person before my eyes is the person in my heart."
Only after recalling that day at the Lantern Festival did Zhou Yulin belatedly realize what had happened.
Could that lantern... have been won by him?
She covered her rapidly beating heart, suppressing her overwhelming emotions.
Squatting down little by little, Zhou Yulin held onto a stool beside her, gritting her teeth to keep her tears from falling.
I'm sorry, she can't bear this affection.
For Zhou Yulin, all she wanted was to return to the days before the Xuanling Sect.
*
Gu Ling looked at Zhou Yulin, who seemed distracted, and asked, "Yulin, what do you think?"
"What do I think?" Zhou Yulin immediately came to her senses. "I want to go back to Huanhuan's room and take another look."
"What's so interesting about that lousy place?" Gu Ling muttered softly. "If you ask me, we should just go and ask that stubborn Quan Jin."
Zhou Yulin pondered for a few seconds, recalling the room's layout, when suddenly something came to mind: "The fortune teller is particular about feng shui and is extremely particular about the arrangement of items in the room. There is one item that should absolutely not be in that place."
Looking at Zhou Yulin, who had suddenly seen the light, Gu Ling was still completely confused and guessed wildly, "Ah! Is it that snake statue!"
Jiang Si thought for a moment and quickly understood, "A mirror seen upon entering the house brings bad luck. You mean the mirror that you can see as soon as you enter the house?"
"She couldn't possibly be unaware of the principle that a broken mirror is a waste of money; that mirror definitely wasn't originally there." In the blink of an eye, Zhou Yulin disappeared from her spot. Jiang Si turned around, and lo and behold, she ran back to find her senior brother.
The three of them waited for her to return.
Sure enough, Zhou Yulin quickly ran back, panting. "That mirror was originally next to the dressing mirror, but someone moved it there. Let's go back and take a look."
The four returned to the room. Jiang Si moved the mirror aside, revealing a hidden compartment behind it. Opening the compartment, they found a fresh roast chicken inside. Upon seeing it, Gu Ling exclaimed, grabbing Zhou Yulin's sleeve, somewhat disappointed, "Huh?" "It's just a roast chicken..."
Jiang Si frowned, seemingly quite surprised. Chen Muyao paused for a moment, as if she had quickly realized something, and calmly looked away.
“Er Ye Huanhuan.” Zhou Yulin murmured to herself, and if the first two words were put together, it would be “Gu Huanhuan.”
Gu Ling quickly connected the dots, "Ergaye, it's Gu!"
Zhou Yulin turned her attention back to the roast chicken and came to a conclusion: "Let's check if this disciple named Gu Huanhuan has any brothers or sisters."
When Zhou Yulin found out about Gu Shuangshuang, she wasn't surprised; on the contrary, it seemed like she had expected it.
She caught Gu Shuangshuang at the restaurant. He was still gnawing on a chicken leg, but he was much more refined than usual.
"What do you want from me?" Gu Shuangshuang asked casually, as if she had forgotten that Zhou Yulin had been chasing her for two days.
Zhou Yulin turned one leg to the side and went straight to the point, "You have a younger sister."
"Yes, her name was Huanhuan." Gu Shuangshuang was lost in memories. "Everyone in my family liked her very much. I was very jealous of her when I was a child. Later, she died."
"You must be feeling bad."
"No, I have never felt more at ease than I did when I learned of her death."
Gu Shuangshuang picked up the teapot and took a big gulp, then said blankly, "But later I found myself unconvinced. I've wanted to compete with her since I was a child, but before I could settle the score, she died. How ironic."
"You know who killed her."
Gu Shuangshuang remained silent for a long time. During those few seconds when the air seemed to freeze, no one knew what she was thinking. However, just when Zhou Yulin thought he would probably never get an answer.
He seemed to have lost all his energy, and uttered a name.
“I see him, it’s Jun Fengqiu.”
His fingers trembled as he recalled, "That day... I was there."
Zhou Yulin gasped for breath and looked at Gu Shuangshuang in disbelief.
“He’s not using spiritual power at all, he’s using evil magic!” Gu Shuangshuang buried her face in her hands and said weakly, “I’m afraid to come out, I’m afraid of dying.”
"She died at Jun Fengqiu's hands while protecting me."
After hearing the story, Zhou Yulin patted Gu Shuangshuang on the shoulder. Even though it was of no use, she still comforted her, saying, "If you are willing to testify when the time comes, I think everything will be alright."
Gu Shuangshuang did not answer, and Zhou Yulin did not press the matter, turning and leaving.
Outside the door stood three people who had been waiting for a long time. Under Gu Ling's shoving, Chen Mu awkwardly handed over the peach blossom cake wrapped in oil paper to himself. Zhou Yulin was stunned for a few seconds. He cleared his throat and said casually, "We can't eat too much."
Zhou Yulin accepted it, saying, "Thank you."
Jiang Si chuckled but didn't say anything. Gu Ling cupped her face in her hands, looking at the two of them with a blissful expression.
In a secluded corner where no one was watching, Chen Muyao's palms were sweating with nervousness.
She unwrapped the oil paper, took a bite, and the sweet filling filled her taste buds, dispelling her gloomy mood. Zhou Yulin said in a good mood, "There's been significant progress."
"I'll tell you when we get back." She took another bite of the pastry and looked at Chen Muyao with some curiosity, "How did you know I like pastries?"
After a long silence, Chen Muyao finally managed to squeeze out a few words, "It's written in a storybook."
Zhou Yulin didn't think much of it, nodded, and had no doubts. "These days, even a nobody like me is being written into storybooks!"
Jiang Si was so impatient he almost crawled underground, but Gu Ling, the third wheel, couldn't bear to see him leave and tugged at his sleeve, urging him to keep listening.
But...who will pity this single guy?!
*
After hearing Zhou Yulin's discovery, Jiang Si frowned and cursed, "Coward!"
Gu Ling said weakly, "Actually, I understand him quite well."
Jiang Si chuckled, leaned forward, and said in a low voice, "So you're a coward too."
“Jun Fengqiu could not possibly be acting alone; the power behind him is what we need to be wary of.” The others remained noncommittal in response to Zhou Yulin’s words.
Recalling what he had experienced in the "Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains" painting, Zhou Yulin looked at Jiang Si and said, "The demons are about to make a comeback."
Jiang Si frowned. "You suspect that the demons were behind this?"
"Eight or nine out of ten."
After thinking for a while, Gu Ling finally asked a question that had been on his mind for a long time, "Don't you guys feel that Jun Fengqiu has a certain familiarity about him?"
Zhou Yulin looked at Gu Ling with some surprise, not expecting that this person would have the same feeling as her. "Hmm, I think this person looks a bit like my senior brother."
"Do you call everyone 'Senior Brother'?" The impatient tone made Zhou Yulin look up and frankly and sincerely answer the young master, whose temper had been rather bad lately. "No, I have three Senior Brothers." Chen Muyao snorted coldly and said nothing more.
"You have three senior brothers, Yu Lin?"
"Yu Lin?" Upon hearing this, Jiang Si pondered the two words, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes. "Your nickname is Yu Lin?"
Gu Ling immediately asked in surprise, "Yes, is that so strange?"
"Nothing, just asking." Zhou Yulin noticed that Jiang Si didn't seem inclined to ask casually, but she had never tried to hide the name. "The Xuanling Sect has a disciple named Zhou Yulin. Do you know her?"
Jiang Si smiled and said, "I'm not familiar with her. I only heard some rumors about her when I was at Qingyun Sect."
"For example?" Gu Ling was particularly enthusiastic about gossip.
“For example, the eldest brother has had a crush on her for many years, the second brother is infatuated with her, and the third brother directly said that he wanted to be her dog!” Jiang Si said leisurely.
Gu Ling, with an air of anticipation, exclaimed: "Wow!!!"
Chen Muyao sneered: "Nonsense."
Zhou Yulin: That's utter nonsense!
"There's also a nemesis named Chen Muyao, right? I heard he's like a creepy male ghost, constantly pestering Zhou Yulin."
Jiang Si spoke with great interest, “It seems I did a lot of things, including but not limited to, competing with my rival in order to get back my beloved’s hair, copying three thousand prayer notes for my beloved, practicing swordsmanship with my beloved every day, and carrying my beloved all the way back to Yue Ling Pavilion from her grave.”
Zhou Yulin couldn't help but look at Chen Muyao. No, this was her mortal enemy.
That's right, there's no way I could admit I'm wrong!
Jiang Si smiled and looked at Chen Muyao, "Speaking of which, his nickname is An Heng, what a coincidence." The last three words were pronounced with a definite intonation, clearly a test, but this person said them in a casual tone.
After listening, Zhou Yulin found it all unbelievable, even though she knew that these were probably just low-class gossip, like the former.
She looked at the cold-faced, arrogant guy sitting opposite her. This guy didn't seem to have anything to do with the so-called shady guy at all.
The young man met Jiang Si's highly aggressive gaze, the jade pendant beside his ear swaying slightly. Chen Muyao propped his head up, a half-smile on his face, and said, "Oh? Never heard of him, quite novel. I don't know Chen Muyao, but if you ask me, this person might not be normal."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yulin's lips twitched, confirming her suspicions.
This person is undoubtedly Chen Muyao; he can even insult himself.
Only he could do something like that.
"That's good. Not just anyone can enter the Qingyun Sect." Jiang Si lowered his eyes and took a sip of tea.
Zhou Yulin was quite wary of Jiang Si's keen insight. Just from a single name, he could make him think of so much. He definitely knew more about the Xuanling Sect than he claimed.
"Gu Ling, after we finish investigating this case, you have to go back with my sister."
Jiang Si looked at Gu Ling, the usually carefree man unusually serious, "No matter what, you have to go back. You're not a child anymore, you can't just go out there and act recklessly, leaving everyone else to clean up your mess."
Zhou Yulin probably never imagined that this gathering would be the last time they met.
It was just an ordinary person, an ordinary event, and the happy and simple past of the Xuanling Sect that turned into flying sand.
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