Chapter 74 Poor little thing
Cheng Ying walked down the stairs to the second floor and glanced into the living room.
In the center of the living room was a large pool of dried, blackened blood, emitting a strong stench of blood, making it look like a murder scene.
Cheng Ying's heart raced, and she quickly went over to look.
The bloodstains had dried and congealed. Judging from the extent of the bleeding on the ground, it must have been a person who had suffered a serious injury and was bleeding extensively from the body. The person was kneeling on the ground, and the blood flowed down their body to their legs and then down to the ground, leaving two deep kneecap marks.
With so much blood, even if he doesn't die, he'll be severely injured.
In the past, if Long Buxi wasn't home when she woke up, he would either make her breakfast and leave it in her room for her to eat, or arrange for someone else to take care of her.
He was always worried that she would be hungry, so he would make sure she had a proper breakfast before she woke up.
She woke up when the sun was high in the sky. There was no food in the room, and the vase on the bedside table was empty of fresh flowers. There was also a large pool of blood on the second floor that hadn't been cleaned up.
Cheng Ying didn't know if the person bleeding was Long Buxi or someone else, and she became anxious, searching everywhere for Long Buxi.
She opened each room on the third floor one by one to see if Long Buxi was there, and then searched the second floor, but didn't see her.
Just when she thought Long Buxi wasn't home and might have gone out, she saw a strange creature—Alan—clinging to the stair railing at the entrance of the stilted building on the first floor.
Alan was much fatter than Cheng Ying had seen it a few days ago. Its rove beetle-like lower body had become round and plump, its bee-like upper body had also grown a bit bigger, and its transparent wings had grown considerably. Strangely, its bright blue color, which was usually quite eye-catching even in the daytime, had become dull and lifeless today.
It lay listlessly on the handrail at the top of the stairs, its dull color resembling a greenbottle fly covering it. If it weren't for its really strange appearance, Cheng Ying would have mistaken it for a fly and slapped it to death.
"Alan." Cheng Ying walked over and called softly, "What's wrong? Why do you look so listless?"
Alan raised its head and weakly squeaked twice at her, as if in response.
Cheng Ying, of course, couldn't understand its words and didn't dare to reach out and touch it.
Alan is the Gu King, possessing poison within herself and the ability to command all the Gu worms in Pucang Village. She usually follows Long Buxi wherever she goes, and only Long Buxi dares to touch her.
If anyone dares to touch it, it might get angry and kill them. Cheng Ying wouldn't dare take that risk.
Cheng Ying knew that Alan was very intelligent and could understand human speech. She bent down to look at it at eye level and said softly, "I can't understand what you're saying. When did you come home? If you're home, is Long Buxi home too? Where is he? Can you take me to find him?"
Alan nodded its little green bean-like head, struggled to flap its wings and fly up, its tiny, sesame-seed-like eyes watching her, gesturing for her to follow.
Cheng Ying followed behind it and found that it flew straight to the room at the end of the first floor and landed on the door handle, as if to tell her that Long Buxi was inside.
Cheng Ying frowned. She remembered this room. Three months ago, when she was under the influence of the Gu, she had come here while Long Buxi was not at home, and she had a vivid memory of that room.
The room had no windows, was very dark, and contained a pitch-black coffin...
What is Long Buxi doing inside?
She walked over and knocked on the door. "Long Buxi, are you in there?"
No one responded.
Alan was still leaning on the doorknob, meaning Long Buxi was inside.
Cheng Ying called out again, "Long Buxi, if you don't say anything, I'm coming in."
There was still no movement inside.
Cheng Ying turned the doorknob and went inside.
Just like the last time she came, the room had no windows and was filled with broken pots, pans, mattresses, chairs and other miscellaneous items. In the middle was a very large coffin that could fit two or three people.
The last time she came to this house, the coffin was covered; this time, it was open.
When Cheng Ying last came here and saw this coffin, she was still wondering if it contained a dead person or something else. This time, she can confirm that Long Buxi is inside.
Although she didn't know what he was doing inside, Cheng Ying no longer felt the tension she had last time, and went over to look at the coffin.
Long Buxi lay in the coffin with his eyes closed. His thick, curled eyelashes cast an eyeshadow on his pale skin. Even lying down, the superior, high curve of his straight nose could be seen. His usually pale pink lips were now deathly white. Lying in the dark coffin, he possessed a unique, fragile beauty.
What is Long Buxi doing lying in the coffin?
Cheng Ying couldn't help but worry that he might be dead, which was why he was lying there. She reached out to check his breathing to see if he was still alive.
Just as she reached her hand in front of Long Buxi, a black snake as thick as a wrist suddenly emerged from under Long Buxi.
The black snake stood with its neck erect, flicking its tongue, its cold, vertical yellow pupils staring at her, hissing as if warning her not to approach Long Buxi.
Cheng Ying was so frightened that she quickly withdrew her hand, looked down and took a closer look, and her scalp tingled.
Surrounding Long Buxi were a bunch of venomous snakes, scorpions, spiders and other insects, either covering his body or hiding beneath him. As soon as she moved, these venomous creatures crawled out, their eyes wide open, staring at her in unison, all adopting an attack posture.
Cheng Ying was so startled that she took two steps back. Two snakes as thick as her wrists tried to chase after her and bite her, but a pale, slender arm suddenly rose up, grabbed the two snakes by the neck, and dragged them back into the coffin.
The next second, Long Buxi sat up from the coffin, his dark eyes staring straight at Cheng Ying.
His eyes were cold and sinister, as if he was very unhappy that someone had suddenly broken into his secret place and seen what he was doing, and he had a sense of oppression that wanted to kill the intruder.
This strange look only lasted for a second before Long Buxi's gaze returned to normal.
As if recognizing Cheng Ying as the intruder, his eyes regained their clarity.
"Cheng Ying, you're awake? How did you find your way here?"
Cheng Ying pursed her lips. "When I woke up, I didn't see you. When I went downstairs, I saw a large pool of blood in the second-floor living room. I thought something had happened to you, so I looked everywhere for you. A-Lan said you were here..."
Long Buxi understood, and her eyes lit up with a smile. "You came to find me because you were worried about me, right?"
Cheng Ying didn't deny it. "Yes. I'm worried that if you die, no one will collect your body."
Long Buxi laughed: "Don't worry, I won't die. I'll be entangled with you for the rest of my life. I won't die so young, before you."
After he finished speaking, he leaned against the coffin wall and stood up, preparing to walk out of the coffin. Unexpectedly, as soon as he stood up, his body swayed and he fell backward.
Cheng Ying rushed over to support him, and as soon as she touched his hand, she found that he was burning up with fever.
Seeing his pale lips and sickly appearance, Cheng Ying reached out to touch his forehead and found that he had a fever. She couldn't help but complain, "Why didn't you take any medicine when you had a fever? What are you doing lying in this cold coffin? You've been lying here all night?"
"Do you have a fever? I don't know." Long Buxi stepped out of the coffin with her help.
He leaned against Cheng Ying, inhaling her fragrance, and said in a good mood, "Ever since my parents died, whenever I feel unwell, I lie in their coffins."
This coffin was made by my father himself from trees he felled years ago. He said that after he and my mother pass away, they should be buried together in this coffin.
But later, they died and were hastily buried by the villagers. This coffin was never used. When I miss them, I come to sleep in this coffin.
I sleep in it whenever I'm sick. The Gu worms I raise will guard me and heal my wounds. When I wake up, I'll be fine.
This time, the life-giving poison was probably used entirely on you; I lost too much blood and almost didn't make it."
So this is how he got through all those years of illness.
For some reason, Cheng Ying felt a pang of sympathy.
Having lost the protection of his parents, Long Buxi was raised by the old clan chief, but he didn't care about him. He was only being groomed to be the future clan chief, and often Long Buxi had to take care of him in his old age.
When Long Buxi was a child, he fell ill. No one took care of him or told him what to do. He could only get through the illness in his own way.
What a poor little thing.
Cheng Ying put one of his arms on her shoulder and struggled to help him upstairs, saying as they walked, "You need to take medicine when you're sick. Your Gu worms alone won't do. You've taken care of me for so many days, and now I'm almost better. It's my turn to take care of you."
She paused, then asked, "What kind of Gu is Sheng Gu? Your Miao people have such Gu worms that can heal wounds and make them heal quickly? That's amazing! Who came to see you yesterday? Why did I hear screams? And the bloodstains on the second floor, are they yours?"
Long Buxi walked alongside her, climbing step after step of the stairs. Facing her barrage of questions, he patiently answered, "The Living Gu is a secret Gu worm technique of our Pucang Village. It is raised in the inner village, and its numbers are few. It dies after being used once. Once it dies, it must be re-cultivated. The cultivation process is extremely complicated, and only successive clan leaders can learn and use this secret technique."
I spent ten years raising only ten living Gu. Three of them were used on you and your father, and the rest were used on me and Gasu.
The people who came to see me yesterday were the old clan chief and Gasu. The blood was Gasu's; Sailan had implanted another love potion in him..."
As they spoke, the two arrived at the third floor. Cheng Ying helped Long Buxi directly to her room and let Long Buxi lie down on her bed.
Cheng Ying covered Long Buxi with a blanket: "So that's how it is. I was wondering why my wounds healed so quickly. It turns out it was because of the Gu."
Your Miao village has such amazing Gu magic, no wonder you don't want to contact outsiders. If outsiders knew that you have a life-giving Gu that can regenerate flesh and bone, comparable to a divine medicine, they would probably do many bad things to you.
"Let's just forget about Sailan using the curse on me. Don't torment her anymore. After all, I went back on my word first, and you've already punished her. Besides, you removed the love curse from Gaoxu's body. So, please stop bothering them and let them go."
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