Chapter 35 Night Banquet ⑨ Ye Lei almost got struck by lightning.
"Stop looking for quacks and folk masters. Go to the Special Bureau. The authorities are the professionals when it comes to handling these kinds of paranormal events."
"That expulsion formation should last for two to three days. If you really want to save your brother, contact them before it comes back."
After calming down, Lan Shuyin understood everything perfectly.
This matter is beyond her capabilities.
Being possessed by a vengeful ghost could be due to either a deep-seated blood feud or some other hidden reason. As a self-taught practitioner, it was already a stroke of luck that she managed to scare away the ghost with a hastily prepared blood array. To actually confront a vengeful ghost of that level head-on would not be brave; it would be courting death.
Letting the Special Bureau take over is the wisest choice. Those people have specialized equipment for dealing with spirits, and they're far more skilled at scientific recovery than she is.
Moreover, based on her understanding of Yao Huaiyu's group, they were probably even more eager to deal with a vengeful spirit than the Fang family.
As night deepened, Lan Shuyin pulled Li Yang aside to say goodbye.
"I'll see you off," Fang Huan said.
Li Yang followed them silently, but stopped abruptly as she stepped out of the villa. She turned back to look at Fang Xin, who was chasing after her downstairs. Her gaze lingered on his face, carrying a hint of unspoken emotion and a perfectly balanced sense of helplessness.
Fang Xin felt a tightness in his heart as she looked at him, and almost blurted out her name.
But just as he opened his mouth, Li Yang's long eyelashes trembled slightly, and she resolutely turned away, leaving Fang Xin standing there stunned. This fleeting glimpse of tenderness was more poignant than any words could express.
Fang Huan thanked Lan Shuyin in a low voice, sincerely apologizing for his previous offense and neglect.
Lan Shuyin's meaning was simple: if she intervened to resolve the special situation, it would be considered that she had resolved it.
He said of course.
Offending a truly talented master for the sake of a woman is something only a fool would do.
Just as I was dropped off at the gate, a taxi pulled up.
The car door opened, and Xuan Bingbing hurriedly jumped out.
"Li Yang! Waaah!" Xuan Bingbing saw Li Yang as soon as she saw him and immediately rushed over to hug him tightly.
Guan Xiao also got off the bus.
Under the bright streetlights, the boy in casual sportswear looked particularly refreshing. He nodded shyly to the crowd, and when his gaze inadvertently met Fang Huan's, he found the other staring intently at him. Guan Han looked slightly confused, but still politely returned a smile.
That smile seemed to startle Fang Huan. He glanced at Lan Shuyin as she was about to get into the car, and quickly stepped forward to open the car door for her, saying, "Please."
Lan Shuyin gave a faint "hmm" and bent down to get into the car.
Fang Huan stood there, watching the taxi's taillights gradually disappear into the night until they vanished around the street corner. He didn't move for a long time until the butler gently reminded him, at which point he slowly turned around.
"What are you thinking about?" The butler noticed his absent-mindedness.
"That young man from earlier..." Fang Huan rubbed his temples, "He looked familiar. Maybe he's just too tired... Have they contacted the Special Bureau yet?"
The butler looked hesitant. "Are we really going to contact them? Our Fang family has offended them before..."
"Let's put aside old grudges for now," Fang Huan interrupted him, his tone resolute. "For Xiao Xin's sake, we must give it a try. Miss Lan is right; right now, I'm afraid only they can solve this problem."
The butler nodded reluctantly, "This Miss Lan is indeed a remarkable person."
Fang Huan sighed, "No matter what, without her guidance, I'm afraid I'll still run into trouble at Ni Changye. You can't afford to offend someone with such real skills; you can only befriend them. Uncle Liao, keep an eye on Xiao Xin these days and don't let him bother Miss Li anymore... Find him two caregivers, young and pretty ones."
...
"Li Yang, are you alright? Let me see you quickly." In the back seat of the taxi, Xuan Bingbing anxiously pulled Li Yang up and down to check him over.
"I'm fine." Li Yang's voice was still angry, her face tense, as she pulled Lan Shuyin's right hand, which was hidden at her side, over. "Yinyin is injured."
Seeing the hand wrapped in thick bandages, Xuan Bingbing was shocked. "Yinyin! Didn't I tell you not to be impulsive and to wait for me?!"
"What's the point of telling her all this?" Li Yang said irritably. "You shouldn't have come to her in the first place."
"I was just worried about you..." Xuan Bingbing shrank her neck guiltily, then glanced at Lan Shuyin who was pretending to be a quail with her head down, and quickly changed the subject, "By the way, what were you doing at the Fang family's house just now? Why was Fang Huan, who likes to look down on people, so eager to open the door for you?"
"Let's talk about it when we get back." Only then did Li Yang remember that there was a stranger sitting in the passenger seat. "Who is this...?"
"My name is Guan Han." The boy who had been quietly listening to the commotion in the back turned around, smiled shyly at Li Yang, and introduced himself, "I'm Bingbing's colleague."
“Li Yang.” Li Yang shook hands with him, then looked at Xuan Bingbing as if she understood something. “That ‘younger brother’?”
Xuan Bingbing blushed and quickly said, "Guan Han is a karate master; he can easily take on three people."
Guan Han replied cooperatively, "Absolutely no problem."
Lan Shuyin's eyes lit up, and she immediately seized the opportunity, "Li Yang, look at them, they always want to solve problems with violence! Unlike me, I rely on wisdom and skills."
Sure enough, this tactic successfully diverted Li Yang's attention. She immediately changed her focus and began a new round of lecturing Xuan Bingbing.
Lan Shuyin silently breathed a sigh of relief; she was quite afraid of Li Yang when she was angry. It wasn't that Li Yang was hard to coax or ignored people, but rather that when she was angry, she liked to bury herself in housework.
Last time she had a fight with Xuan Bingbing, Li Yang silently cleaned all the windows in the house. What was most frightening was that she actually stood on a shaky old chair and leaned most of her body out to clean the outside of the windows.
Lan Shuyin was terrified. Li Yang was already in poor health; what if he lost his balance and fell...
From then on, she was afraid of Li Yang and would rather watch her scold than see her touch a rag.
The taxi first took Lan Shuyin to her destination.
Li Yang rolled down the car window and asked again, still worried, "Are you sure we don't need to go to the hospital?"
"No need, it's just a minor injury." Lan Shuyin waved her hand dismissively. "You guys go back now."
"Get some rest." Li Yang glared at her before signaling the driver to start the car.
Lan Shuyin stood by the roadside, watching the car disappear around the corner, before grimacing and covering her bandaged hand. She bent over and let herself walk down to the apartment building like a convulsing zombie.
However, at this moment—
Boom!
A thunderclap exploded without warning, making people's eardrums go numb.
Lan Shuyin subconsciously looked up and found that a large patch of dark clouds was swirling in the sky above her. The thick, low-hanging clouds quickly formed a constantly rotating vortex, like a giant eye peering down at the human world.
Is a thunderstorm coming?
The thought had barely crossed his mind when another deafening clap of thunder ripped through the sky.
Rumble!
Deep within the churning dark clouds, blinding lightning, like writhing silver serpents, appeared and disappeared, frantically gathering power. And that flashing lightning seemed to have its location firmly locked onto!
Lightning is about to strike.
For some reason, Lan Shuyin's heart suddenly started racing, and an instinctive alarm screamed in her mind: Go! Get out of here immediately!
Following her instincts, she turned and ran towards the apartment door.
But at that very moment—
A blinding bolt of lightning, like a sword of judgment, cleaved down from the rolling thunderclouds! The scorching white light tore through the night, carrying an aura of annihilation, and struck her squarely!
Lan Shuyin's mind went blank, and she instinctively curled up, covering her head.
Then.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three seconds...
The expected excruciating pain did not occur.
Lan Shuyin tentatively opened one eye, then the other.
She was... completely unharmed?
Lan Shuyin couldn't help but look up again, only to see that the dark clouds overhead, which had just been menacing and filled with lightning and thunder, were slowly dissipating.
What's going on? Are you just teasing her?
An indescribable sense of unease crept into Lan Shuyin's heart, making her hair stand on end. Yet, she felt indignant and silently gave the heavens the middle finger before quickly stepping into the apartment lobby.
Upon returning home, the first thing Lan Shuyin did was take out the small wooden box that Wei Li had given her and gently place it on her bedside table.
The box is small and simple, with a warm and smooth feel, which inexplicably brings a sense of peace of mind.
Thinking of Wei Li, she couldn't help but take out her phone and glance at it.
He had already replied on WeChat: 【Okay, I'll wait for your treat】
Lan Shuyin tapped her fingertip lightly, replied with a "It's a deal" emoji, then threw herself into the soft bed, staring at the ceiling and letting her mind wander.
After a long while, she picked up her phone again.
Kui Li did not return.
She casually clicked on the short video account.
The video of Qigu Village that she posted earlier went viral, and it also brought a significant amount of traffic to Xiangweng Temple. Several business cooperation inquiries popped up in her private messages, to which she replied with "What kind of advertising?" as she continued scrolling down.
A private message from a long-time follower caught her attention:
[Sister Yin! Is this stuff real? My grandma has had rheumatism for years, will this help?]
Below is a forwarded video.
Lan Shuyin clicked on the link and found it was content from an outdoor livestreamer. In the video, the livestreamer ventured deep into the primeval forest in search of treasure, overcoming numerous hardships, and finally successfully found a very precious "millennial centipede bead." In the comments section below the video, besides some people explaining that "centipede beads can cure all diseases, and even if they are not millennial, they still have miraculous effects," a bunch of people were asking where to buy them.
Based on her experience, this situation is most likely a publicity stunt.
However, taking away someone's livelihood is like killing their parents, so after a moment's thought, Lan Shuyin replied in a more tactful way:
We should trust science. From a scientific perspective, centipede beads are pathological stones found inside centipedes and contain toxins. If Grandma's rheumatism symptoms are severe, it's recommended to take her to see a doctor as soon as possible!
After pressing the send button, she realized that her right hand was starting to ache from typing.
She couldn't help but kiss her right hand, which was wrapped in gauze like a dumpling, and said to it, "I'm sorry you've had to suffer these past two days, but it's time to put the Iron Palm training plan on the agenda."
...
On the day of the Night Banquet, just after 1 p.m., Lan Shuyin appeared on the Pétain bar street.
The whole street was still immersed in the languor of the afternoon. Several bars were closed, and the neon lights were dimmed in the sunlight. Only the cafes and convenience stores were open.
She clutched the box of shimmering white powder that Wei Li had given her, as if it were a secret, hidden and burning hot.
Time is passing too slowly.
Lan Shuyin slipped into a corner café, ordered an Americano (no sugar, no milk), and sipped it slowly, mentally rehearsing all the possible scenarios. She didn't leave until the ice had completely melted and the glass was covered in condensation.
She wandered into a secondhand bookstore next door, her fingertips tracing the spines of rows of books before finally pulling out a currently popular novel. She flipped through a few pages, but couldn't get into a single plot point.
In the end, I went to the internet cafe on the next street and played a couple of games before finally managing to dawdle until five o'clock before going to Neon Night.
The true VIP access to Neon Night is hidden in another standalone building by the river. With its white walls and gray tiles, and a winding corridor in front of the door, the seemingly elegant scenery conceals an underground parking garage accessible only to specific vehicles.
Lan Shuyin walked familiarly to the seemingly plain metal door. As soon as her knuckles touched it, the door slid open a crack.
She voluntarily handed over the invitation.
A white-gloved hand steadily took it. After a brief silence, a voice, seemingly speaking into a walkie-talkie, came from inside: "No need to look anymore, have the car come back. Person number one has arrived."
The moment the words left her lips, the door swung open completely. A waiter stood behind the door, gestured for her to enter, and led her to an internal elevator, pressing the button for the top floor, a place she had never been before.
The elevator ascended silently and smoothly, and Lan Shuyin's heartbeat gradually quickened.
The stairwell doors opened, revealing a younger waiter waiting outside. He bowed slightly and then led her through a dimly lit corridor, where wall lamps cast a soft glow, and their footsteps fell silent.
Finally, he stopped in front of a door and said politely, "The banquet will begin later. This is your rest room."
Lan Shuyin entered the rest room, gently exhaled, and her tense nerves relaxed a little.
The room was tastefully decorated. The mahogany furniture exuded a sophisticated luster, and on the table by the window, a blue-and-white porcelain incense burner emitted barely visible wisps of smoke. A faint, cool fragrance floated in the air, refreshing and invigorating.
She sat down on the soft sofa, about to pour herself a glass of water, when the door was silently pushed open.
The same young waiter entered, carrying an ebony tray. There were no tea sets on it, only two plain white letters placed side by side, and an antique-style fountain pen.
Please write down your 'question' and 'reward' separately.
Lan Shuyin pondered for a moment, then picked up her pen and finished writing.
On the first blank sheet of paper, she wrote four characters: Feng Zhi Zhao Yin.
On the second blank sheet of paper, she wrote only two words: This thing.
Then, she gently placed the warm wooden box on the envelope labeled "This Item".
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
