Chapter 54
The car wound its way up the mountain road and stopped in front of a pair of tall stone-carved gates.
Through the car window, you can vaguely see the magnificent antique garden behind the gate.
The driver got out of the car and respectfully opened the back door. Liu Qifan got out of the car, shook off the wrinkles on his skirt, and walked forward. The driver couldn't go any further, so even he had to walk on his own.
When he reached the gate, Liu Qifan stopped and looked at the exquisite reliefs carved on it, his eyes narrowed slightly. It seemed that the people inside really regarded him as a "local emperor".
With an ambiguous laugh, Liu Qifan passed through the gate and walked about a hundred meters before stopping in front of two vermilion doors.
The lion door pendants on the gate were glittering with gold, and the style looked ordinary, but everyone here knew that the two heavy door pendants were made of pure gold. The ring under the lion's head seemed to be used for knocking on the door, but if it was really used to knock on the door, an alarm would be sounded immediately in the house.
Liu Qifan turned around and walked straight to the stone lion standing on the right side of the gate. He reached out and grasped the ball in its mouth, then turned it three times clockwise.
About five seconds later, the door was opened from the inside. A man dressed as a Taoist child, only about 1.3 or 1.4 meters tall, stood at the side of the door with his head bowed. He greeted respectfully, "Greetings, young master."
The voice was a little hoarse, in stark contrast to his appearance.
Liu Qifan's face was gentle, but his tone still couldn't hide the arrogance of a superior. He asked, "Master, how is your health recently?"
"Thank you for your trouble. It's nothing serious." The Taoist boy replied respectfully, "Master was worried about you a few days ago. If it weren't for Master Liu's sudden visit, he would definitely come out to greet you."
"My grandpa is coming? When?"
"An hour and a half ago."
That's three hours. Liu Qifan calculated it in his mind and said as he stepped over the high threshold, "Okay, I got it."
"Young Master, please stay."
Liu Qifan stopped and turned around. The Taoist boy still lowered his head, staring at his toes and said, "Master Liu is ill. Now is a critical moment. Please do not disturb him."
“…”
“…”
Passing through the winding corridor, Liu Qifan casually broke off a leaf, tore it into pieces, and scattered it into the Kinki Pond.
The fish in the kinki pond are fat and gather wherever people go. The fallen leaves floating on the water are eaten by them as if they were food. During the fight, transparent fish scales float on the water.
"A bunch of idiots."
Liu Qifan sneered, left the Jinli Pond, passed through the circular cave gate, walked along the corridor and stopped in front of the main house.
Knock, knock, knock——
My knuckles knocked against the door frame, producing three dull thuds. After a moment, the door opened from the inside, revealing thick darkness.
——It’s like there’s something inside that absorbs all the light.
The man who opened the door was wearing a golden-red robe, with long black hair and a jade hairpin in his bun. His face was radiant, and his eyes were half-closed as if he was afraid of the sun. From his face alone, he looked like a middle-aged man in his prime, but if you looked down, you could see the sagging skin under his collar, and his wrinkled, withered hands that were resting on the door.
Liu Qifan bowed respectfully, "Master Zhao."
"Well," Master Zhao responded, his eyes still half-closed, "Come in."
Squeak——
The door closed again, and from the deep darkness, an old voice was heard.
"Who's coming?"
"Grandpa, it's me," Liu Qifan was still adjusting to the darkness, standing at the door without moving.
"Qi Fan is here too, come here quickly."
Liu Qifan responded with a "hmm" and searched for Master Lin in the darkness. Soon, the familiar figure turned around and stopped in front of him. Liu Qifan felt his eyelids get cold, and he closed his eyes and opened them again. The foggy darkness in front of him finally faded away.
Liu Shunan was sitting not far away, with his back to them, his shirt taken off, revealing a back covered with red runes.
Liu Qifan glanced at Master Zhao beside him, and walked over after he nodded. He squatted beside the wheelchair, looked up at the gray-faced old man, his eyes full of distress, "Grandpa, are you feeling better?"
"It's Qi Fan," Liu Shunan frowned and squinted, as if he just knew he was coming, "Why are you here?"
"Come to see you." Liu Qifan replied.
"What's there to see? I'm alive and well, and I can live another seven years..." Liu Shunan said, and his eyes closed unconsciously. He lowered his head, breathed heavily, and actually fell asleep.
"Grandpa..."
A cold hand pressed down on his head. Liu Qifan stopped talking, stood up silently, and stood quietly behind Master Zhao.
Master Zhao held a bald brush in his hand and traced the unfinished lines on the back of the sleeping Liu Shunan until the lines were connected from beginning to end. During the movement, the golden hairs at the tip of the brush fell off and fell to the ground, turning into lines of black ash. After stopping, the brush tip, which was already sparse in hair, became even sparser, and the wrinkles on Master Zhao's neck also crawled to his chin.
"Master Zhao..." Liu Qifan opened his mouth again, but was interrupted again.
Master Zhao waved his hand, put the empty pen close to his body, then pointed his chin somewhere, signaling Liu Qifan to follow.
When they reached the side room, Master Zhao spoke in a hoarse voice, "Have you delivered the things?"
"I sent it over," Liu Qifan replied, glancing at Liu Shunan through the wall with a cold expression, "What's wrong with him?"
"Forcibly extending his life is against the will of heaven. The scapegoat he found seven years ago was not good enough. If he is lucky this time, the girl named Miao can be exchanged for three to five years of male life. If he is unlucky, he can only live for half a year or ten months..."
"That's enough," Liu Qifan raised his lips, "The Liu family is full of good-for-nothings. Give me another year at most, and I will be able to completely take over the Liu family. By then, he will rest in peace."
"Don't be so confident," Master Zhao said calmly, "Don't forget that the Qiao family has already failed once. You couldn't even control that little girl Lin Xiaofeng."
"..." Liu Qifan's face flashed with a hint of viciousness, and he said in a cold voice, "Who knows what kind of drug Hong Siyin took to reveal Qiao Nianwen's identity? As for Lin Xiaofeng... I have already sent someone to investigate, and I will definitely send her to you, father, when the time comes."
"As soon as possible," Master Zhao took out the dimly lit brush, "I accidentally let the little girl from the Song family run away that year. Since then, I have been feeling uneasy..."
*
Half an hour later, at the other end of the city, at the Song family.
Aunt Lin hesitated for a long time with the phone, but finally made up her mind, put it on the table, and listened to a novel.
After all, it was not a big deal to let the secret slip about sending clothes abroad, and Song Junzhi had no intention of keeping it a secret. If Song Junzhi didn't ask about it in the future, then the matter would be over; if Song Junzhi asked, then she would just play dumb.
[Wu Liuliu didn’t understand why she was the one who saved Su Huaijin, but…]
“Meow——”
[Mi Wanwan cries, "Brother Su, I don't know why my sister hit me. I just came here to give her something..."]
“Awoooooo——”
"Where is the cat's meowing coming from?" Aunt Lin wiped her hands and picked up her phone. "Wu Liuliu and Su Huaijin don't have cats, do they?"
“Mee!!”
This sound was extremely mournful. Aunt Lin shuddered and ran towards the direction where the sound came from, a little late.
"Qiuqiu? What's wrong, Qiuqiu?"
Boom, boom, boom——
A bunch of white cat cotton rolled down the stairs, running in a mess, sliding towards Aunt Lin, and stopped in front of her.
"Why are you running so fast..."
“Meow, meow.”
Qiuqiu's hair stood up, and he looked like a big, fluffy ball. He turned around anxiously, and from time to time he ran a few steps towards the stairs, then stopped and turned back, opening his mouth to grab Aunt Lin's pants and pulling them forward.
"Do you want me to go up with you?" Aunt Lin was quite confused and asked tentatively.
“Meow!”
I don't know whether it understood or not, but it pulled my pants and feet even harder.
Aunt Lin walked towards the stairs hesitantly, and Qiuqiu immediately climbed up impatiently and squatted a few steps ahead, calling out urgingly. When he saw someone catching up, he continued to climb up, but the posture of his front paws when they landed was obviously a bit awkward.
"Let me see, what's wrong with your foot?"
Aunt Lin quickened her pace and reached out to pick up the ball - but missed.
Seeing her speed up, Qiuqiu ran faster too, climbing up two floors on the slope before stopping.
“Mee——”
As soon as Aunt Lin came up, it immediately repeated its old trick, biting her leg and dragging her towards the study.
Aunt Lin paused for a moment, then quickly realized what was going on and trotted open the half-open study door.
"Xiaoyi? Xiaoyi!"
Aunt Lin's legs went limp and she staggered over and lifted the girl who had fainted on the ground onto her knees. She quickly checked her for any external injuries and after making sure her breathing and heartbeat were steady and that she had no external injuries, she laid her flat and called the emergency number.
After pinching her Ren Zhong acupoint for a while, Song Zhiyi still showed no signs of waking up. Aunt Lin ran downstairs, made a cup of honey, brought it over, and carefully fed her a few sips.
“Woooooo——”
Qiuqiu squatted beside Song Zhiyi, making threatening grunting sounds.
Aunt Lin glanced over and gently waved the ball away. She noticed Song Zhiyi's clenched hands and quickly reached out to pry them open for her.
"Oh, your palm is all purple from being pinched." After brushing off the inexplicable black dust on her palm, Aunt Lin wiped it again with the corner of her clothes. After wiping Song Zhiyi's palm clean, she rubbed the finger marks on it with heartache.
“When will the ambulance arrive…” How could a healthy person faint? Didn’t the physical examination a few days ago reveal nothing?
"..." Song Zhiyi's eyelids trembled, and he felt his limbs become heavy, and his eyelids felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds.
"Meow!"
"!" The shrill cat cry sounded like an explosion in his ears. Song Zhiyi shuddered and sat up instantly.
"You're awake," Aunt Lin breathed a sigh of relief. "Are you feeling unwell? Why did you suddenly faint?"
"…Maybe it's because I stayed up too late and had low blood sugar." Song Zhiyi lowered his eyes to look at the emerald gemstone that rolled aside and the necklace base that was damaged by force, and made up an excuse.
"You ate too little this morning. It's all my fault. The food I cooked was not to your liking." Aunt Lin felt a little self-blaming.
"How can I blame you? I just don't have much of an appetite." Song Zhiyi stood up with the help of Aunt Lin and took a look at his open palm. "What I originally held in my hand..."
"What? Are you talking about the ashes?" Aunt Lin didn't hear clearly.
Gray? Song Zhiyi lowered his head and saw a few pieces of black gray on the white marble brick. Qiuqiu was still lying there, growling at the black gray.
"Eat something later. When the ambulance arrives, go to the hospital for further checkups..."
Aunt Lin was mumbling something to the side, and Song Zhiyi responded casually, took out a tissue to wrap up the small tuft of white hair and a few golden hair-like things on the table next to the cat's eye stone, and asked:
"Auntie Lin, do you know where the most spiritual Buddhist temple in Anchuan is?"