Chapter 34 Mystery
Who would call out his name now? Ling Zheng's eyes flickered, and he turned around suddenly, only to see a woman in plain clothes, with a familiar look between her eyebrows.
Before Ling Zheng could recall his memory, the boy stood up and ran to hug the woman, "Mom! I was almost caught by the bad guys just now."
The woman hugged the boy tightly, her hands still trembling. "I saw it. Fortunately, fortunately I met your brother Lingzheng and this kind-hearted person."
She was setting up a stall at the end of the street when a kind-hearted person she knew tipped her off. The woman rushed over and just happened to see Wen Rensu saving someone.
As for Ling Zheng's pushing, the woman probably guessed that Ling Zheng was just being cautious and pushed A Le.
"Brother Lingzheng?" The boy turned his head and looked at the two of them with a confused expression.
Ling Zheng frowned, he remembered that this woman was their former neighbor, a widow named Yu, and everyone called her Aunt Yu.
He didn't want to have too much contact with people he had known before, but Aunt Yu's words made him freeze in his tracks.
"Ling Zheng, where are your parents? Ever since your family disappeared and then there was a flood, I had to put away some of your valuables. It's just right that you came to get them."
It had been so long since he escaped from the Cliff Valley, but Ling Zheng had never thought of going home. After all, he had no family left, and that place was just a dilapidated house. If he didn't go to see it, he wouldn't be saddened by the scene.
Ling Zheng's Adam's apple rolled up and down, and after a moment of silence he said, "Okay."
Through their conversation, a hint of surprise flashed across Wen Rensu's eyes. This plot did not appear in the original novel. Ling Zheng's parents...?
Along the way, Aunt Yu was very enthusiastic. She patted the boy and said, "Yu Le, this is your brother Ling Zheng. Do you remember? Back then, you loved playing behind Ling Zheng."
Yu Le scratched his head and muttered softly: "I don't remember..." Then he looked at Ling Zheng and said obediently: "Hello, Brother Ling Zheng."
Ling Zheng nodded in response, a strange look in his eyes. Impossible. He had initially thought he had misunderstood, but then he heard Aunt Yu's tone. Yu Le was his son?
But he had never seen this boy named Yu Le. In his memory, Aunt Yu had only one daughter, who really liked to follow him at that time.
Ling Zheng's mind was working rapidly. Aunt Yu turned her gaze to Wen Rensu and asked, "Who is this?"
Wen Rensu glanced at Ling Zheng who lowered his head, and said softly, "Ling Zheng's senior brother." The AI knew the protagonist's real name, but Wen Rensu didn't.
Hearing this, Ling Zheng suddenly realized that his lie had been exposed. He froze slightly, glanced at Wen Rensu's meaningful smile, coughed lightly, and decided to ask a question: "Aunt Yu, where is your daughter?"
After she finished speaking, Aunt Yu's eyes widened. "What daughter? I've only ever had one son. Lingzheng, you must have remembered it wrongly."
"Oh, I remembered it wrong." Ling Zheng said this, but he was sure that his memory was correct. What was going on?
Wen Rensu raised his eyebrows. He knew Ling Zheng wouldn't ask aimless questions. It seemed like there was something fishy going on here...
As the road narrowed, Aunt Yu and Yu Le stepped forward to lead the way, while Wen Rensu and the other two fell behind.
Wen Rensu spoke word by word, "Ling, Zheng?"
Ling Zheng glanced sideways: "...Yeah." At this point, he had no choice but to admit it.
"You lied to me?" Wen Rensu suddenly attacked, lowered his head slightly, his long eyelashes covering the emotions in his eyes, and he seemed very hurt.
Although he didn't want to pay attention, Ling Zheng's eyes kept darting back and forth uncontrollably. After a long stalemate, he gritted his teeth and whispered, "Wen Ren Su."
“…”
"I heard someone complain."
“…”
Jianwen Rensu remained silent, and Lingzheng stopped trying to coax him. He was just using him anyway, so let him be angry.
After a while, Wen Rensu suddenly asked, "Why?"
“…Why?”
"Actually, we are not partners, right?" Wen Rensu's attitude suddenly changed, his tone became cold, revealing a dangerous aura.
Ling Zheng: “!!!”
Hearing this, his hair stood on end, and he turned his head sharply to stare at Wen Rensu. His right hand silently rested on the hilt of his sword. When did the love poison lose its effect? He was still immature and had no chance of winning against Wen Rensu. The best option was to flee!
Immediately, he looked around and listened carefully, quickly calculating the best route to escape.
When the atmosphere reached a stalemate and Ling Zheng was in a state of tension, almost like an arrow shot from a bow, Wen Rensu lowered his narrow eyes and muttered to himself, "You don't like me, even my name is fake."
Huh? Ling Zheng's eyes widened for a moment, and in a flash he understood something - Wen Rensu was just being stubborn!
Only then did he realize it, and cold sweat broke out all over his body. Ling Zheng pursed his lips and imitated Wen Rensu's usual behavior, gently touching the back of the other person's hand.
Wen Rensu curled his lips quietly, pinched Ling Zheng's little face as if to vent his anger, and took his hand.
Ling Zheng's fingertips shrank slightly, but he did not resist.
His body temperature was still a little colder than that of ordinary people. Wen Rensu clenched his palms, allowing them to be infected by the strong heat.
It's just a temporary solution... Hold on for now. Ling Zheng was worried that Wen Rensu would be stimulated and break free from the control of the love insect. A little sacrifice of flesh and blood wouldn't matter now. He consoled himself, a light sweat forming on his palms.
The street scenes around him gradually overlapped with his memories, and Ling Zheng no longer had time to care about holding hands. His face, which had once held a slight rosy complexion, turned pale, and he unconsciously bit his lower lip, raising a scorching red. This small action completely exposed his feigned composure.
Witnessing the familiar plants and trees, the bloody memories that Ling Zheng had deliberately forgotten were dug out. Mother... Father... He closed his eyes and suppressed his conditioned reflex with amazing willpower. He adjusted his heavy breathing, and the trembling of his body gradually subsided.
Soon Ling Zheng made a new discovery. They walked into the dilapidated village, where a few families lived in the past, but now there is no one living there.
Wen Rensu noticed the confusion on Ling Zheng's face, "What's wrong?"
Ling Zheng's tone was a little hesitant: "Something is wrong here."
"where?"
Ling Zheng shook his head and asked Aunt Yu, "What about the neighbors around here?"
Hearing this, Aunt Yu fell into the same confusion as the boy when he faced Ling Zheng's name just now, "...Has anyone lived here before?"
Ling Zheng frowned and stopped objecting.
After entering Aunt Yu's house, a faint fragrance entered Wen Rensu's nostrils, and his consciousness became confused for a moment.
Wen Rensu sighed. In front of Ling Zheng, he pulled out a small gourd bottle from his lapel, poured out two black pills, ate one himself, and handed the other to Ling Zheng, "Eat it."
"What is this?" Ling Zheng asked as he picked up the pill.
Wenren complained: "Soul Purifying Pill."
Ling Zheng's expression froze and he swallowed without hesitation.
Yu Le was directed by Aunt Yu to go to the kitchen to make tea, while she walked into the living room, took out a stick of incense from the drawer, lit it, and inserted it into the incense burner with a pious look. White smoke lingered and the strange fragrance became stronger, covering the entire space.
After finishing, Aunt Yu said gently, "Lingzheng, wait for me, I'll go look for it." After that, she walked into the bedroom, leaving Wenren Su and Lingzheng in the living room.
Wen Rensu approached the incense burner and examined it carefully. He crushed the incense ash with his fingertips, which was mixed with fine gold powder. He sniffed it closely and found that under the strong sandalwood, there was a faint scent of the love grass.
The Soul-Loving Grass, combined with a secret technique never passed down to the world, can distort a person's memory. This is something Wen Rensu only learned through minor details in the original novel. Why would such a unique and rare ritual occur in this ordinary household?
Ling Zheng saw Wen Rensu's series of reactions, and then told him everything that was strange here, including the mysterious disappearance of Aunt Yu's daughter and neighbors.
Wen Rensu groaned, "I'll go take a look around."
Ling Zheng wanted to wait for Aunt Yu, so he nodded.
When Wen Rensu was leaving, he bumped into Yu Le coming out of the kitchen with a teapot in his hand. "Benefactor, where are you going? Don't you want to drink tea?"
Wen Rensu said calmly, "I'm going to get some fresh air nearby."
After going out, Wen Rensu casually walked into an old house. Looking inside, he saw that the house was bare. He didn't know whether it was cleaned by the original residents or stolen by thieves.
He went to several other houses and found the same thing everywhere. However, Wen Rensu had excellent eyesight and picked up a milky white bead with a hint of dark red from the inside of one of the stoves.
First, he rubbed the dark red stain on his thumb. It was indeed blood. Then, he gently scraped it with the blade of his sword, and the bead scraped out a small piece of material. Wen Rensu walked out the door, held the small piece above his head, and observed it in the sunlight. It showed diamond-shaped patterns - it was ivory.
Wen Rensu narrowed his eyes. This thing wasn't even available to the common people, so there really was something fishy going on. Royal family? A prominent sect?
He chuckled, dusted off his hands, and strolled back to Aunt Yu's house.
Ling Zheng was sipping tea. Wen Rensu winked at Ling Zheng, sat beside him, took out the beads, and explained his discovery in a low voice: the soul-bewitching grass and this small ivory object.
"So, they should have been wiped out." Ling Zheng tapped his fingertips on the table regularly, quickly connecting all the clues, his eyes shining, "All this was to hide Yu Le's existence!" His tone was filled with the excitement of unraveling the mystery, and he did not hide his indifference to life, his innocence was evil.
Seeing this, Wen Rensu paused for a moment, then slowly said, "Although we don't know Yu Le's identity, in order to conceal the truth, the other party has used such cruel methods. Aunt Yu's daughter is probably in great danger."
As he finished speaking, a small board in the open wooden box on the table caught Wen Rensu's attention.
"Is this your parents' thing?"
Ling Zheng nodded.
"Mind if I take a look?"
"What's wrong?" Ling Zheng's heart was slightly moved when he saw Wen Rensu's serious reaction.
Wen Rensu picked up a black gold token engraved with mysterious patterns and murmured, "Qionglin Sect."
Surprisingly, a hidden plot that was not mentioned in the original novel appeared. Ling Zheng's parents, perhaps... Wen Rensu pondered.
Ling Zheng wondered, wasn't this the same brand he'd played with since childhood? Qionglin School? Never heard of it.
"This is a certificate from the Qionglin Sect as an inner disciple. I suspect that one of your parents was once a wuxia figure."
Is that so? Ling Zheng was confused. He never knew his parents' past identities.
"You said before that your family was captured, and you were knocked unconscious and turned into a poisoned man. And you also heard that your parents were taken away along the way to be fed to the Gu pond. Is it possible that your parents are actually skilled in martial arts and escaped?"
But this raised a bigger question. If his parents weren't dead, why didn't they come looking for him? However, Wen Rensu's words still gave Ling Zheng, who was a rootless drifter, a glimmer of hope.
"Let's go to the Qionglin Sect next. Every sect has a Changsheng Pavilion. As long as your parents are alive, we can tell from the soul lamp." Wen Rensu gave Ling Zheng an idea.
Ling Zheng's eyes lit up, and he developed a subtle addiction to Wen Rensu's caring. Whether it was experience or martial arts, they were exactly what he needed.
He wanted to continue using her, but was afraid of being exposed. It was like walking on the edge of a knife. Ling Zheng's pupils dilated and his heart beat faster.
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