Chapter 20 Yin-Yang Stream (Part 8) He looks like a sissy.
With the Valley of Resentment ahead, shrouded in malevolent energy, it seemed impossible for even a fly to escape. Since this path was blocked, Song San had no choice but to seek another way and followed Yu Qi back.
As the sun rose higher, the snow on the branches slowly melted, turning into water droplets. Two or three gray magpies landed on the treetops, turning their little heads to watch the people walking by below.
Song San looked up and met the beady eyes of one of the magpies, which immediately startled the bird so much that it flapped its wings and flew away.
Finally, the "culprit" slowly withdrew his gaze, only to hear a soft chuckle from the person beside him, "Senior brother, in a bad mood?"
Song San turned to look at Gu Lianzhou and saw that although he was smiling, there was unease in his eyes. He must be worried about the future, but he had to pretend to be calm. He even took the initiative to comfort her.
Thinking of this, she shook her head: "I was just thinking about the Valley of Resentment and got a little distracted."
As soon as he finished speaking, a rumbling sound suddenly came from his stomach.
The two sets of footsteps stopped simultaneously, and Yu Qi and Gu Lianzhou both looked at Song San's abdomen, as if they had discovered something new.
Song San's eyes bulged slightly, and he gritted his teeth, saying, "Why are you looking at me?"
"I'd completely forgotten about that." Yu Qi slapped his forehead, laughing as he pointed at the two of them. "You two must have been so busy running around last night that you didn't even get a hot meal, did you?"
Gu Lianzhou nodded: "I did forget."
Yu Qi's face showed a smug look: "Then you'd better hurry up and catch up with me. Brother Liu has a lot of good food. Providing you with a breakfast won't be a problem."
After saying that, he led the two men toward the east end of the village.
Surprisingly, we encountered quite a few living people along the way.
"Aunt Liu," Yu Qi greeted the woman carrying firewood with a smile, "It's cold and the road is slippery, watch your step."
"Uncle Zhang, sunbathing?" Yu Qi chatted with the old man sitting by the roadside smoking his pipe. "Smoke less tobacco. Doctor Liu said it's no good for your health."
"Uncle Li, remember not to go out tonight."
...
Yu Qi acted like a dutiful village patrolman, counting heads from house to house.
When he arrived at Liu Dai's medical clinic, he was parched. He pushed open the door and went straight to the inner room, picked up the teapot on the table, opened the lid, and gulped down the tea.
It was as if we were in an empty place.
The black dog in front of the door seemed unfazed, sitting obediently on the straw mat, a stark contrast to its behavior the night before.
Gu Lianzhou looked at the black dog, then turned to look at Yu Qi. He opened his mouth, about to ask "Why?", when a loud and long "Yu Laoqi—" suddenly rang out, approaching rapidly from behind the house.
The black dog, which had been sitting on the ground, suddenly perked up, stood up, wagged its tail, and pawed at the ground, as excited as if it had smelled the aroma of a bone.
A white figure stepped across the threshold, backlit, and entered. As soon as he entered, he complained, "How many demons did you kill last night? Huh? They all cried out in pain and wanted me to treat them. One of them had half a brain missing, with brain matter splattered everywhere. Another had a broken leg and crawled around, leaving a bloody mess in front of my door. Do you know how hard it is to clean up blood? You don't know, all you know is killing demons!"
"And the smell of intestines hanging on your body is indescribable..." Liu Dai glanced to the side and finally noticed that there were two more people in the room, and immediately fell silent.
A moment later, he gasped.
Aside from that wretched Yu Laoqi, there were two men standing by the table, one tall and one short. The shorter one was handsome, with a delicate, effeminate air about him, looking like a sissy. And the tall one... wait, why does he look so familiar?
"Aren't you the one who came looking for medicine last night?" He looked at Gu Lianzhou, a strange light flashing in his eyes, and asked uncertainly, "Are you still alive?"
Gu Lianzhou nodded, then looked up and bowed to Liu Dai: "Doctor Liu."
Seeing that the man was in high spirits, Song San figured he must have been quite traumatized since entering the village. Listening to his words, which were full of criticism of the inhuman and demonic creature, Song San had a rough idea of what was going on.
She shook her sleeves, bowed, and said respectfully, "Song San thanks Doctor Liu for the medicine."
Liu Dai stared at the two people in front of him for a long time, then burst into laughter: "Hahaha, they're actually two living people! Rare guests! Truly rare guests!"
He rushed forward, grabbed Song San's sleeve, and looked him up and down. Still not satisfied, he put Song San down, then put his hand on Gu Lianzhou's shoulder and pinched it, muttering, "Alive, warm, fresh. Good appearance, clear eyes, good skin. And your tongue? Stick it out so I can see if the coating is thick, or if there are signs of phlegm, dampness, or spleen deficiency?"
"Liu Xingchuan, restrain yourself!" Yu Qi called Liu Dai by his courtesy name and urged, "These two are starving. Give them a hot meal first, then you can continue your medical treatment!"
Reminded by him, Liu Dai finally came to his senses, released his grip on Gu Lianzhou, took a few steps back, and said with an embarrassed smile, "It's been a while since I've seen any new faces, so I lost my composure for a moment. I hope I didn't scare you?"
Seeing that the two people remained calm and composed, he was not frightened by him. He became happy again and said, "Wait here for a moment. I will go and prepare some breakfast for you. I'll be right back."
After saying that, he turned and walked out, turning back every few steps to remind everyone, "Don't go! I'll be right back!"
The black dog at the door jumped excitedly a few times and then went with the doctor in white.
The three people left inside looked at each other in bewilderment.
"Is Dr. Liu always like this... warm and hospitable?" Gu Lianzhou reached for the edge of the table, pulled out a stool, and invited his senior brother to sit down and rest.
Yu Qiniu drank his fill and finally quenched his thirst. He put down the kettle and looked out the door: "He's a medical fanatic. He spends all day tending to his medicinal fields and medical books. He's hardly ever seen a living person, let alone a patient. But after nightfall, some people do come to him for treatment. As you just heard, the sorcerer here—that thing that's neither human nor ghost—has somehow learned that anyone who's missing an arm or a leg will come to him for treatment, which annoys him to no end."
At this point, a hint of guilt flashed in Yu Qi's eyes, "It is indeed my fault. If I hadn't hacked that demon to pieces, they wouldn't have bothered Brother Liu."
Song San silently processed the situation for a moment, then chose to accept reality and advised, "I heard you say that the demon was afraid of your sword and dared not approach it. Why did you still go to kill them?"
Upon hearing this, Yu Qi raised his hand to touch the peach wood sword at his waist, lost in memories. "At first, I killed demons only to protect myself. But I never expected that one would be killed and another would appear. I could never kill them all. After dawn, all the demons I killed would disappear into thin air. The villagers would go out as usual. Until night fell and the blood moon rose again, the demons from the previous night would drag their severed arms and bodies out of the quicksand and come looking for me again."
"They are demons from hell, night after night, in endless cycles."
In the end, Yu Qi gripped the wooden sword tightly with resentment and gritted his teeth, saying, "Here, the dead become shells that carry demonic energy, eventually turning into monsters that are neither human nor ghost. I don't want to become a monster, so this is the only way."
"Meow—" As if sensing its owner's emotional fluctuations, Ma Tuan crawled out from under the table and rubbed against Yu Qi's ankles.
Yu Qi bent down and scooped up the fluffy black cat, rubbed it against his belly, and the fierceness in his eyes lessened considerably. "Now that I have Ma Tuan and Liu Xingchuan with me, I can roam around during the day and slay demons at night. Aren't my days quite exciting?"
He looked up at Song San and Gu Lianzhou, grinned, and said, "Isn't that right?"
He laughed freely, revealing a shallow dimple on his left cheek, like an innocent young master.
Song San stared at him for a while, then made up his mind: "If you trust me, give me some time, and I will definitely take you away from Huanxi Village."
The boy's smile froze abruptly, his lips trembled almost imperceptibly for a moment, and then, as if deflated, he said, "I know you are a sorcerer, and the only one among the four of us who knows how to subdue evil spirits, so of course I believe you, but..."
He smiled bitterly and said, "That is a valley of resentment that mortals cannot cross."
Gu Lianzhou couldn't help but look at his senior brother, only to see that beneath his long eyelashes, his dark eyes were fixed on the front.
Calm, resolute, and without the slightest hesitation.
For no apparent reason, his heart started beating faster.
Regardless of what others thought, he felt that his senior brother had the ability, and since he said he would take them out, he would definitely do it.
Thinking this, he blurted out, "I believe in my senior brother."
As soon as he finished speaking, his eyes flickered, and his gaze suddenly shifted to him.
Song San raised the corners of his mouth slightly, revealing a smile.
“The Valley of Resentment is a dead end.” She reached out and moved the teacups on the table, placing them on either side of the table, and said seriously, “But everything has its counterpart; where there is death, there is life.”
My fingertips landed steadily on the cup lid on my right.
"I will find this way to survive."
"Don't stand there, sit down and eat! Oh, you're already sitting down?" A cheerful voice followed by footsteps, "tap tap," filling the room with a festive atmosphere.
Hearing the commotion, the group quickly got up, took the comb from Liu Dai's hand, removed the bowls and chopsticks from it, and placed them neatly on the table.
Yu Qi took the scalding hot casserole with a ferocious expression, placed it in the center of the table with a "bang", lifted the lid and beckoned the group over, "Come and try the medicinal porridge created by Doctor Liu. It's the only one of its kind in Huanxi Village. Once you miss this opportunity, you won't find it again."
"What nonsense are you spouting?" Liu Dai punched the fellow, then picked up a spoon, ladled out some porridge, and handed it to Song San. "This is just ordinary brown rice porridge. You can make do with this for now. I'll kill a chicken for you at noon to welcome you back."
"Heh, you're having a feast today?" Yu Qi grinned sarcastically, "But I've never seen you kill a chicken for me. I've been dealing with those demons for you every day, it's really heartbreaking."
Liu Dai paused in his porridge-serving motion, rolled his eyes, and said, "Well, you'll benefit from their generosity today. Here's a chicken butt for you, but don't eat any more."
"Chicken butt—chicken, butt, backside—did you all hear that? This is how Uncle Liu treats me all the time. My life is miserable!" Yu Qi said, pounding his chest and stamping his feet.
The way he complained was no different from that of a rogue or scoundrel.
Gu Lianzhou looked at the half bowl of porridge that Liu Dai had been holding back from giving him, hesitated for a moment, and then reached out to take it. "I'll do it."
Song San exhaled the steam from the bowl of porridge, slurped a few mouthfuls, and felt a warm current flow into his stomach, soothing his whole body. Looking at the two people "fighting cocks" in front of him, he was filled with emotion.
This first meal today was quite a lively affair!
A note from the author:
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