Chapter 76
Chapter Seventy-Six
Meng Yuan watched him quietly. His eyes blinked rapidly twice, then twice more a moment later, looking a little strange. Meng Yuan shifted her body, moving closer to him.
Shang Mang blinked.
As if she had discovered some interesting experiment, Meng Yuan moved a little closer to him.
Shang Mang's eyelashes were very long, growing vertically, which made his eyes appear narrow.
Meng Yuan couldn't help but burst out laughing: "Keep pretending."
Shang Mang realized he had been tricked and stood up from the bed: "Boring." He looked down at Meng Yuan, his back to the dim candlelight, staring directly at her.
Meng Yuan looked away after being stared at by him for a while.
As if victorious, Shang Mang sat down again.
Meng Yuan really wanted to roll her eyes. She said, "Why aren't you leaving yet?"
Shang Mang took something out of his pocket and placed it on the bedside: "If you drink this poisonous wine, I'll leave."
Meng Yuan stared at the wine he took out, which was even bigger than her palm, and asked, "Where did you get such a big cup of wine?"
Meng Yuan reached for the wine, opened it, and smelled its aroma. She nodded and said, "Drinking alone is no fun. Let's play some games."
Shang Mang turned around, and Meng Yuan raised her eyebrows with a malicious look.
A moment later, the two sat facing each other, and Meng Yuan said calmly, "I'm an old hand at this."
Not to be outdone, Shang Mang tapped the ring on his hand. The two concealed their eyes, hands behind their backs. Meng Yuan took a deep breath: "Rock, paper, scissors!"
Shang Mang extended his scissors, but Meng Yuan's outstretched hand was already beyond retraction.
Meng Yuan asked in disbelief, "Did you cheat?"
Shang Mang rested his chin on one hand and pushed the wine towards her with the other: "A bet is a bet." Meng Yuan was annoyed by his smug look, so she didn't even take a cup and just took a big gulp of the wine.
The liquor burned her throat, and Meng Yuan exhaled, "Again!"
Meng Yuan: "Rock, paper, scissors".
Shang Mang: "Drink."
Meng Yuan: "Rock, paper, scissors!"
Shang Mang: "Even a veteran like this is nothing special. Drink up."
Meng Yuan exclaimed, "I refuse to believe that we can't even win one game!"
Shang Mang looked at her and said, "You really want to win?"
Meng Yuan slammed her fist on the table and looked up: "Who doesn't want to win?"
His gaze remained clear, while Meng Yuan felt somewhat disoriented, looking at his face as if from another world. The dim light, the shadow cast by his vertical eyelashes, and the extent of his chapped lips all became vividly clear in her eyes.
Meng Yuan's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly raised her hand: "Let's play again, rock-paper-scissors."
Shang Mang drew rock, and Meng Yuan drew scissors. Meng Yuan stared at her hand and began to doubt her life. She had never had such bad luck before, so how come she was caught every time she drew tonight?
Shang Mang propped his head up and laughed, "I won again."
Meng Yuan straightened up, then suddenly realized something was wrong: "You have mind-reading abilities! You're cheating! Cheating!"
Meng Yuan's fingertip crossed the table and pointed at Shang Mang's nose. The shadow on the window flickered, as if Shang Mang had bitten her finger.
Shang Mang raised his hand and grabbed her wrist, saying, "You didn't say we couldn't use magic."
Meng Yuan chuckled twice: "You cunning devil."
Meng Yuan felt dizzy standing there, Shang Mang's figure overlapping her. When she saw his hand reaching out, he stood up. Before Meng Yuan could react, his face was already looming in front of her, and Meng Yuan felt even more disoriented.
Shang Mang touched the back of her neck: "I'll kill you."
Meng Yuan shrank her neck, and the next second, her eyes widened as Shang Mang kissed her.
It was less of a kiss and more of a bite, biting her lips as if they were flesh. She couldn't breathe through her nose, and he squeezed her around the waist, pushing her backward. The cup fell to the ground. Shang Mang raised his eyes, suddenly switched positions, and retreated all the way back, bumping into the table and falling backward.
Meng Yuan threw herself onto him, her waist pressed tightly against his.
Every breath she took was being plundered by Shang Mang, and the suffocating feeling made Meng Yuan feel like she was really going to die.
He couldn't breathe, and his lips tore, drawing blood.
The hand behind her waist loosened, and Meng Yuan, feeling dizzy, jumped up. Shang Mang sat on the table, wiping the blood from his lips with his fingertips. Meng Yuan took a few steps back, took a deep breath, and looked at him.
Shang Mang's collar was open in a mess, and a few red lines extended from his chest. Just as Meng Yuan was about to take a closer look, Shang Mang closed his collar.
Meng Yuan touched her lips: "Are you crazy?"
Shang Mang touched the tassels on his earlobe and said, "Yes, I want to eat your flesh, gnaw on your bones, and drink your blood."
Meng Yuan stood there, and Shang Mang stood up from the table, saying, "I've always been crazy, and you're the one who wants to be my friend." He gave a friendly yet natural smile, "Isn't that right?"
Before Meng Yuan could say anything, Shang Mang had already disappeared, leaving only the pungent smell of lingering blood mist in the air.
Meng Yuan scratched her head: "Really..." She stared blankly out the window, touching her lips. Their relationship was ambiguous, their identities unclear. They could only stop here.
Two pairs of eyes gazed at each other through the window. Shang Mang's head was pressed against the light as he watched it go out, until he could no longer see her. His heart clenched, and sweat soaked the window paper on his forehead.
Paper money flew everywhere. Zhou Xiuqi lay among thousands of Taoist priests. Xiao Zheyu, dressed in red, approached Zhou Xiuqi's side. Shang Mang stood there, unseen by anyone. Once a single human tear fell, countless more followed.
The final ending is complete.
Shang Mang remained silent: "Will she be in the next life?"
The system is unable to provide any information about the host's soul.
Shang Mang gritted his teeth: "You're lying to me?"
System: [The moment you suffer the most severe backlash will be the moment she returns.]
Shang Mang never gave up, just like she never gave up on living, continuing with each recurring ending.
The backlash in his chest was getting more and more painful, and Shang Mang's excitement was also getting higher and higher.
System: [The system will reiterate to the NPC the backlash that will occur; she will have no memories and no feelings for you.]
[NPCs are not allowed to mention love, liking, or express any feelings. Such actions violate the world's rules and the world's will. If discovered, I will immediately self-destruct and abandon this world.]
Shang Mang touched the sweat on the wallpaper. He wouldn't shed tears, but he had sweated a lot.
Does this mean he's becoming a good person?
Only humans sweat.
Only humans blink.
Only humans blush.
He knows a lot, but he can't shed a tear.
The pain in his chest was excruciating, as if it were tearing his entire being apart. He gritted his teeth, determined never to regret it.
As dawn broke, Meng Yuan pushed open the door and stepped out. She had barely exhaled when a sharp pain shot through her lips. Touching her scabbed mouth, she resented that dog—what a dog!
"Senior Meng?"
Meng Yuan knew who it was as soon as she heard the voice. She turned around and saw Kong Fusheng holding a plate full of steamed buns. Meng Yuan walked over, picked one up, and took a bite to find that it was filled with meat.
"Where did you get these buns? They're meat ones, no less!" Meng Yuan was almost in tears. During her time in Xinghua Village, she hadn't had any hot food in a long time. She had been eating those fasting pills every day, and they had made her lose her sense of taste.
The meat filling is plump and chewy. Meng Yuan used to dislike meat buns, finding them unpalatable, but now she finds everything delicious.
Kong Fusheng finished one in a few bites, his mouth bulging: "Long time no see, that one."
Meng Yuan raised her hand to stop her: "Finish eating first, then we'll talk."
Kong Fusheng swallowed: "In the Princess's kitchen, my dear mother has never seen so much delicious food. The table is densely packed with food; it's actually breakfast."
Seeing him eagerly munching on his bun, Meng Yuan suddenly said, "Fusheng, don't eat too much, or you won't get to eat the real delicacies later."
Kong Fusheng said, "Don't worry, I have a big appetite."
After finishing the meat bun in her hand, Meng Yuan licked her lips, truly satisfying her taste buds.
She hadn't felt this satisfied in a long time. She stretched and asked, "What are we going to do today?"
Kong Fusheng said, "Senior Zhou didn't mention it, Senior Meng, let's go out and explore Lin'an later. I haven't been to Lin'an much before."
Meng Yuan looked at him: "You've never been here before?"
Kong Fusheng said, "When I was a child, my master brought me here a few times. After that, I stayed in Liuzhou and haven't seen the scenery of Lin'an for a long time. It feels very different from when I came here before."
"Senior Meng, do you know any special places or delicacies?"
Meng Yuan felt guilty and thought, "I've lived two lives and never visited Lin'an." She said, "I don't know much about Lin'an either. I used to practice at Qingyou Temple every day."
"Bullshit." A voice interrupted, startling Meng Yuan. She turned around, then burst out laughing: "Master?"
Ling Daozi walked over, fanning himself, and added, "Even if you don't like going down the mountain, you don't practice in the temple every day."
Meng Yuan hurriedly interrupted, "Master, what are you doing here?"
Ling Daozi squinted and then made a calculation with his fingers: "I calculated with my fingers and found out that you were here."
Meng Yuan looked at it and thought it seemed to be true, and laughed, "Really?"
Ling Daozi flicked Meng Yuan's forehead with his thumb: "You little rascal, I knew you were smart. I came down to buy some roast chicken and ended up seeing your senior brother. What a coincidence! I thought you wouldn't be back until the end of the year."
Meng Yuan said, "The end of the year? You calculated that?"
Ling Daozi stroked his chin: "Of course not, it's just a guess."
Meng Yuan thought, Ling Daozi is also a capable person, but even her grandmaster couldn't cure this illness, could Ling Daozi cure it? "I'll ask," Meng Yuan said, touching her palm, "Master, His Majesty's illness..."
Ling Daozi blinked and said knowingly, "I knew you would ask me this. Even your grandmaster couldn't cure it, so how could I possibly cure it?"
The answer was as expected, but what her master had said bothered her, so Meng Yuan asked, "Yesterday, my master said that Lin'an was doomed and could not be resisted, and that one life would be exchanged for another. What did you mean by that, Master?"
Ling Daozi narrowed his eyes and looked at Meng Yuan: "There is a truth in these words. The truth must be understood by oneself. Only what is understood can be one's own."
Ling Daozi did not give a direct answer, but instead resorted to cryptic remarks, which only made things worse.
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