Chapter 103 Springtime Heart in Turmoil (XI) Could it be that the mushrooms weren't ripe? ...
"Don't just stand there like idiots, Brother Gu, come inside and eat your porridge." As he spoke, Yu Qi returned with the food tray, walked past the two of them, and went inside.
Upon entering the room, he saw that the bed was neatly arranged and exclaimed in surprise, "So you were tidying up the room for so long without opening the door, Brother Gu, you are too particular."
He put down the food table and walked to the couch with a loud exclamation. He touched the smooth mattress and clicked his tongue in amazement. Then he looked up and glanced at the wooden basin on the ground. He exclaimed, "I just praised you for your good taste. Why are your clothes still soaking in water? If you don't take them out and dry them, they'll spoil."
Having said that, he reached out to the wooden basin.
Gu Lianzhou's heart skipped a beat upon seeing this.
The basin was soaking his undergarments, which he had changed out of. How could anyone touch them?
"Wait!" He rushed forward immediately, nearly knocking over a chair in his haste. He quickly reached out and pressed his hand against the rim of the basin, his fingertips touching the cold wooden tub, but his ears started burning uncontrollably.
Using his side as cover, he subtly moved the wooden basin a few inches further into the corner before regaining his composure. His tone, however, still carried a hint of barely perceptible embarrassment: "A few dirty clothes... I haven't had a chance to wash them yet, so I dare not trouble Brother Yu."
He paused, then added in a low voice, almost pleading, "Brother Yu, you should go ahead and attend to your own business. I have some private matters I'd like to discuss with my senior brother alone."
Yu Qi paused for a moment, then his face twisted and he raised his voice: "Private talk? What, is there something I can't hear? You, Gu Si, I've heated up your food for you time and time again, and now you treat me like an outsider, and you have secrets from me? You're really something."
Song Qiling, who had been standing silently to the side, couldn't help but pick at his ear and raised an eyebrow. "Since it's a secret, then it concerns the internal affairs of the Tianji Sect. Brother Yu, please forgive me."
Seeing the two of them colluding and excluding him, Yu Qi could no longer hold back. He flung his sleeves and walked towards the door, angrily saying before he left, "Fine, you two talk, I'm going to find Liu Xingchuan!"
The footsteps faded into the distance, but you could still faintly hear him muttering in dissatisfaction: "They're all so secretive, they're probably hiding something..."
The room finally quieted down.
Song Qiling hurriedly closed the door, turned around and walked towards Gu Lianzhou, "You said that the demon entered your dream last night?"
"Yes." Gu Lianzhou nodded, walked to the table, pulled out a bamboo stool and invited Song Qiling to sit down, while he picked up a spoon and started drinking the porridge.
As Yu Qi said, the congee, which had been warmed several times, had turned into a paste. It struggled in his mouth and with his tongue. Gu Lianzhou took a lot of effort to swallow it and said with difficulty, "His name is 'Suiyin'. He was originally one with me, but now he has absorbed too much demonic energy. His power has gradually increased, which has given him the opportunity to talk to me."
Song Qiling pondered his words repeatedly, still puzzled: "What does 'one body' mean?"
"It means exactly what it says." After quickly finishing a bowl of porridge, Gu Lianzhou wiped his mouth but still felt hungry. His gaze swept over the teapot on the table, and he reached out to pour himself a cup of cold tea.
Watching her junior brother drink cup after cup of tea, Song Qiling finally realized something was wrong. She raised her hand to stop him from pouring more tea and asked anxiously, "Junior brother, what's wrong?"
Gu Lianzhou put down the teapot following her force, and said blankly, "I don't know either... I just feel so hungry, hungrier than I've ever been before, as if I can never get enough to eat."
In the past, Song Qiling would have thought he was simply hungry, but when she thought about what happened to him last night, her heart sank... This was probably more than just a craving for food.
"Junior brother," she swallowed hard, tentatively asking, "are you trying to absorb demonic energy again?"
He seems to have confused the hunger and satiety that a human should have with the greed of a demon for demonic energy.
Upon hearing this, Gu Lianzhou suddenly recalled what Sui Yin had told him and subconsciously nodded: "That should be it."
He regretted it as soon as he said it.
His frank confession of his desire for demonic energy seems to confirm his demonic nature. How will his senior brother view him?
Sure enough, a cloud of worry rolled across the senior brother's eyes. "This is not good."
"Senior brother, I..."
But Song Qiling continued, "There isn't enough demonic energy in these mountains for you to eat. If you delay any longer, won't you eat Qingyun Creek dry?"
Gu Lianzhou: "..."
Is this something to worry about right now?
But inexplicably, my tense heartstrings relaxed.
The senior brother did not delve into the origins of Suiyin, nor did he look at him with fear or disgust; he was simply worried about whether he would be hungry.
A warmth spread through his heart, and he went along with it: "Just as my senior brother said, that demon had a profound influence on me. Fortunately, he had no intention of harming people. He just wanted to eat more pure demons to strengthen himself. I suppose my unusual hunger is driven by him."
A brief silence fell over the room.
A moment later, Song Qiling suddenly burst out laughing. She looked at her junior brother's serious and tense expression again and again, finding it amusing. "Junior brother, it seems you've revealed a very important secret to me..."
Seeing her playful expression, Gu Lianzhou said anxiously, "Senior brother, I'm serious, I'm not joking with you."
Song Qiling gradually suppressed her smile.
She stared at her junior brother's serious expression, and her heart skipped a beat. After a long while, she leaned forward and said solemnly, "I understand. The most urgent thing is to find a way to control this abnormal hunger. Whether we eat food or eat demons, we must not let others notice anything amiss."
Gu Lianzhou lowered his eyes and replied softly, "I'm afraid this is the only way..."
-
Today's lunch was exceptionally lavish.
In the center is a pot of stewed chicken with wild mushrooms, the soup is thick and white, and the aroma is fresh and fragrant. On the side are stir-fried mushrooms with wild peppers and a large plate of dry pot rabbit meat that Yu Qi has been talking about for a long time.
Several people sat around a wooden table. Xiu Ming smiled and opened a jar of aged wine sealed in mud. The rich aroma of the wine immediately filled the courtyard.
He poured a full bowl for everyone. Liu Dai took the bowl, raised an eyebrow and smiled, "What a wonderful day it is today that you're willing to bring out such a treasured wine?"
Xiu Ming's dark face flushed slightly. He rubbed his hands together, his voice filled with undisguised joy: "My wife is pregnant."
"Clang—"
The rabbit meat in Yu Qi's mouth fell back into the bowl with a thud. He stared in disbelief, and after a long while, he finally managed to utter, "You... when did you get married? How come we had no idea!"
Liu Dai almost spat out the wine he had just taken a sip, choking him and causing him to cough several times. Even the usually composed Gu Lianzhou paused slightly in his chopsticks, his gaze turning to Xiu Ming with a hint of surprise.
Xiu Ming scratched his head sheepishly: "I've known her since childhood, we're like fellow disciples... After I came of age last year, my master officiated at our wedding."
As he spoke, his emotions grew increasingly agitated, and he habitually raised his hand and shoved Liu Dai on the shoulder beside him. "Actually, I wanted to tell everyone, but I just hadn't found the opportunity."
He lost control of his strength, and Liu Dai was caught off guard and was pushed violently to the side, almost falling off the bench.
Song Qiling, who was listening intently at the other end of the bench, had no time to react. She only felt the bench leg lift up, and with a short cry of surprise, she fell straight backward.
In a flash, Gu Lianzhou, who was sitting nearby, leaned over and swiftly and steadily wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her back to her original position.
In an instant, the two were extremely close.
Still shaken, Song Qiling instinctively gripped his arm tightly. Through the thin shirt, she could almost feel the warmth of his skin and the slightly taut muscle lines beneath.
The brief contact was quickly separated; the junior brother promptly let go and said "Be careful" without changing his expression.
After the initial shock, everyone burst into laughter.
Yu Qi slapped the table and laughed so hard he almost fell over: "Brother Xiuming, you're just announcing good news, why did you have to knock someone over like that?"
Liu Daiyi rubbed his shoulder and grinned, scolding, "What strength! This man must be embarrassed and angry. Why don't you tell us, which of you two expressed your feelings first?"
Xiu Ming's dark face instantly turned red to his ears. He scratched his head and said in a muffled voice, "What nonsense are you talking about! If you ask any more questions, you can forget about drinking this jar of wine!"
His embarrassed appearance was hardly intimidating; instead, it only made everyone laugh even harder.
The atmosphere at the table warmed up again, with clinking wine bowls and constant laughter.
Gu Lianzhou, suffering from an indescribable hunger, ate more rice three or four times during the meal. Seeing his hearty appetite, Liu Dai assumed it was because his injuries were improving and patted him on the shoulder with relief: "It seems you're recovering well, which puts my mind at ease."
Song Qiling, feeling guilty, didn't dare to say anything and just kept her head down, absentmindedly chewing the plate of stir-fried mushrooms with Sichuan peppercorns in front of her.
Only after everyone had eaten and drunk their fill and left the table did Song Qiling stand up with a sigh of relief, and as usual, accompany Gu Lianzhou to the medicinal spring in the back mountain.
After a heavy rain, the edges of the mountain stone steps were covered with a layer of dark green moss, making them very slippery to walk on.
The medicinal spring is surrounded by misty water vapor, and the surrounding rocks are washed black and shiny. The air is filled with a strong smell of herbs and the earthy smell after the rain.
Song Qiling sat on a smooth rock by the spring, her gaze following Gu Lianzhou's back as he immersed himself in the water. The rising steam blurred her vision, and ripples spread across the spring water.
Perhaps it was the lingering effects of the fine wine from the banquet that slowly rose up, but suddenly the scene before my eyes began to sway slightly, and the white steam rising from the medicinal spring twisted and deformed, as if it had come to life.
Deep within the pool, countless dark, soft tentacles silently emerged, winding their way up the damp stone wall.
They were incredibly slippery, swirling leisurely in the water with a strange yet soft rhythm, swimming towards her, gently brushing against her bare ankles, and then climbing up her calves, bringing an indescribable tingling sensation wherever they went.
"Stop it..." Unable to resist the tickling sensation, she couldn't help but giggle.
Before she could finish speaking, an exceptionally agile tentacle, partially obscured by the mist, suddenly rose from the water's surface, wet and cool, and brushed directly towards her cheek.
She instinctively turned her head to dodge, reaching out to push away the soft, slippery thing that kept approaching, muttering, "It itches...take it away, stop it..."
She tried to back away, but found her feet slippery and unsupported. With a "whoosh," she lost her balance and fell heavily into the medicinal spring.
The water instantly submerged her head, and her heavy robes dragged her downwards. She struggled frantically, but only to have more spring water rush into her nose and mouth.
"Gurgle, gurgle..."
Bubbles kept rising from her lips, her vision was quickly filled with blurry water and distorted patterns, and her body sank uncontrollably to the bottom of the pool.
Gu Lianzhou was quietly soaking in the spring when he was startled by the sudden commotion.
He saw that the rocks on the shore were empty, with only ripples spreading across the water. He hesitated and called out softly, "Senior Brother?"
Only the sound of flowing water could be heard, and no one answered.
What puzzled him was that the medicinal spring was not deep. Even if an ordinary person accidentally fell into the water, they could easily stand up by stepping on the stones at the bottom of the pool after a little struggle. So why hadn't his senior brother surfaced yet?
Recalling his senior brother's silly grin at the air earlier, Gu Lianzhou had a bad feeling.
During the meal, my senior brother ate quite a lot of stir-fried mushrooms with Sichuan peppercorns.
Maybe the mushrooms weren't ripe... and I'm hallucinating?
As he watched the tiny bubbles rise to the surface of the water, he reached down to scoop them up, but touched nothing. He frowned, a sense of unease creeping into his heart.
Without further hesitation, he summoned the dodder vine. In an instant, the water surface seemed to boil, with huge splashes of water. Several thick vines quickly submerged underwater, and in a short while, they wrapped around a person and broke out of the water.
It was my senior brother who was in a daze.
She was dragged straight to Gu Lianzhou by the dodder, her whole body soaked, her long black hair disheveled and plastered to her neck and cheeks, water droplets constantly rolling down from the ends of her hair and disappearing into the depths of her collar.
But she wouldn't behave; her fingers climbed onto the slippery dodder, and she cried out, "You're strangling me..."
Upon hearing this, Gu Lianzhou's mind stirred slightly, and the tightly entwined dodder quickly loosened, "whoosh," and shrunk back into the water.
Song Qiling suddenly lost her support and sank softly into the water.
Gu Lianzhou hurriedly bent down to embrace her, but she suddenly grabbed him haphazardly, tightly gripping his front, and used the force to stand up abruptly from the water, splashing water all over his face.
The sudden, forceful rise caused Gu Lianzhou's already loosely fastened clothes to be torn apart, revealing large areas of skin that shone brightly in the misty steam.
The hand, however, remained unreserved and went so far as to grope his chest. Immediately, he heard his senior brother's nonchalant teasing: "Hey, where did this...so white and tender piglet come from in this pool..."
Gu Lianzhou was completely stunned upon hearing this.
Piglets? What piglets?
Him?
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