The mysterious him
The car, carrying a full load of people, stopped by the bridge. Jiang Yilin got out on his own and slammed the door shut, completely ignoring the people behind him who wanted to get off.
Lai Xi was about to push open the door and follow him downstairs, but He Canyang grabbed him.
He Canyang grabbed Lai Xi, shook his head, and looked puzzled, as if to say, why is he going over there to join in the fun?
"Aren't you all getting off the bus?" Lai Xi asked, puzzled.
"Forget it, let's just wait in the car for a while. If it really is Kim Hee-ro, she will definitely come."
Chen Yanan said the same thing because she suspected that the person Ni Canyang saw this morning was not Jin Xilu at all.
She noticed that Kim Hee-ro had disappeared a few days ago. She had suspected that Kim Hee-ro had secretly left the town again, but she didn't think so. Just a few days ago, Kim Hee-ro had mysteriously told her that she had found a clue.
Something must have happened that Jin Xilu couldn't control. Thinking of this, Chen Yanan let go of the car handle and turned her gaze to Jiang Yilin, who was standing on the riverbank not far away, touching the stone railing.
It snowed lightly last night, and the snowmelt on the riverbank had just melted. The spot where Jiang Yilin was standing was soaked with water, as if it were deeply sunken in. He wasn't on the surface of the water, but he felt as if he were in a whirlpool, and he hesitated to move forward.
There was no one left by the river anymore. Had she left again?
Jiang Yilin clutched his chest, struggling anxiously and helplessly for control of his body. He wanted to breathe but forgot how, his eyes darting frantically across the river again and again.
On this cold morning, he rushed out the door, looking flustered and helpless like a madman, wanting to grab onto something but even having to think again and again about where to look.
Suddenly, a gust of wind seemed to sense his inner obsession and blew over.
His eyes sparkled; he sensed her presence. Without hesitation, he swiftly and decisively climbed over the stone railing, his body sliding down the dangerous rocky slope. His arm brushed against the rusty sheet metal beside him, completely oblivious to the immovable rock in front of him.
Jiang Yilin staggered forward, but his vision went black and he slipped again. Even though it was pitch black and he couldn't see anything, he almost instinctively sensed Jin Xilu's presence. Her existence was like an invisible rope around his neck, making him willingly kneel and crawl toward her.
Sharp pebbles pierced his knees, and with each step forward, the wounds reopened. But when he touched the large rock in front of him, a smug, morbid smile crept across his face. Ignoring the risk of his bones being crushed and bent, he stubbornly dug through the soil beneath the rock, enduring the pain. The black fog before his eyes gradually dissipated, and his trembling hands finally unearthed a dirty red rope.
This is Jin Xilu's bracelet. He bit the red string and roughly pulled on the only clean section of his sleeve, gently wiping away the mud and water from the string little by little. He wanted to put it on his wrist but was afraid that his blood would contaminate it.
Finally, he could only kiss the red rope, then clench it in his palm, and then put it into the bag closest to his heart. Jiang Yilin didn't care how disheveled he was. He didn't care about anything or anything, as if all he could see was the footprints under the rocks.
He didn't make a sound to attract the attention of the people in the car, but instead followed the footprints along the riverbank, like a stray dog chasing after its prey step by step.
A dozen minutes later, the group of people in the car finally realized that something was wrong.
"Why haven't you come back yet?"
"Could something have happened?! No, we need to get out of the car and check right away." Lai Xi was the first to lose his temper and immediately pushed open the door and ran out.
Ni Canyang didn't even have time to grab his clothes before he watched Lai Xi slip off the car like a nimble eel.
The three people left in the car were each lost in their own thoughts. They glanced at each other, and finally, the driver, Li Quan, sighed, stepped on the clutch, put the train in neutral, and started it up. He said casually, "We're going to be late. Lai Xi is gone, so let's just leave him."
Chen Yanan didn't show too much shock. She had already figured out that Uncle Li Aquan had approached them with a purpose, otherwise why would he appear at her door so early in the morning?
She was right. This Li Quan was arranged by Jin Xilu to send them away. She had suspected before that he had also gone through a long detour to lure everyone to the riverbank.
She wanted to see where this Uncle Li would take them next.
Unlike Chen Yanan's flat tone, Ni Canyang was clearly not expecting this. He slumped into the passenger seat, leaning forward and asking anxiously, "What are you doing? Where are we going?"
"We're just leaving like this, ignoring Jiang Yilin!" Ni Canyang said emotionally. Seeing Uncle Li's silence, he leaned out the car window to look back, but could only see Lai Xi's blank back and couldn't find Jiang Yilin at all.
Ni Canyang felt uneasy. He was really worried that Jiang Yilin would go crazy and jump into the river, so he quickly grabbed Chen Yanan's arm, hoping she would say something: "No, you don't understand Jiang Yilin. If he can't find Jin Xilu, he really will go crazy!"
"Shut up, stop making noise." Chen Yanan was annoyed by his pulling. How did she know when he asked her? She was also worried about Jin Xilu: "Are you the only one worried about your friend? I also care about whether Jin Xilu is hurt, but I don't even know where she is right now."
"I can't explain it to you, I'm not going to say anything more, I'll go find it myself." As soon as he said this, Ni Canyang slumped back into his seat and immediately started banging on the car door, making a move as if he wanted to jump out of the car.
Li Quan, who was driving the car, just glanced at it and said with a light touch of humor, "Do you think you're in a movie? I've only ever seen the main character in such a hurry, but it's rare to see cannon fodder so eager to get injured. My car has quite a high chassis."
Upon hearing this, Ni Canyang became even more agitated, cursing, "You wicked old man, I've been wanting to get rid of you for a long time! You came to my house first thing this morning, saying you could help me, and this is how you 'help' me!"
Seeing the child threatening to jump out of the car, Li Quan smacked his lips, not taking it seriously at all. These were just minor squabbles, nothing compared to the truly reckless madmen he had encountered when he was young and followed Jiang Lianyin.
But he was still worried about the cost of repairing his car, and fearing that this silly kid might be incredibly strong, he still comforted Ni Canyang after admiring his silly antics.
"Don't worry, I know where that Jiang kid went."
He didn't forget to step on the brakes so the young people in the car could feel the acceleration of this old car. Li Quan joked, "This is the job of picking up and dropping off passengers!"
Lai Xi broke free from the car and ran to the riverbank to look ahead. The river was calm, and there was no one on the riverbank except for a few birds flying leisurely by.
At the same time, he heard the sound of a car engine behind him. When he turned around, the car carrying the three people had already driven away, completely ignoring his screams as he chased after it.
"Hey! Why did you leave so quickly? You didn't even wait for me!"
He was left behind; a group of people several years older than him were playing a trick on him!
Meanwhile, on the other side, it was Jin Xilu's first time sneaking into the Jiang family's house, which was completely deserted. The orange cat led the way, while the calico cat stood guard at the door, watching out for anyone who might suddenly return.
Kim Hee-ro has been missing for the past few days. To be honest, she didn't expect to leave that night; it was the calico cat that lured her away.
She remembers hearing a soft meow when she was lying on the bed looking through her diary.
"Meow."
Kim Hee-ro looked up and was first startled by a pair of green cat eyes in the darkness. She gasped, and in the blink of an eye, the cat had jumped off the headboard.
"Phew, Sanhua, you scared me again." Jinxi buried her head in the pillow and closed her eyes. Her mind was filled with the words in the diary, and familiar names collided with each other. Her grandmother's name was mentioned several times.
The first entry in my diary reads: "Tonight, Meiling and I ran into him again at the town library. My heart was pounding so hard! In my nervousness, I completely forgot Meiling was eating. I grabbed her arm and pulled her inside, almost bumping into the glass. Phew, thank goodness Meiling was with me. If Xinxuan were here, she would definitely give me a good scolding. I so wish he could see me! Oh well, it's better he didn't. I hope he doesn't remember me for making a fool of myself."
Even in the very last chapter, the mysterious figure's name was never revealed.
Last entry: Tomorrow I'm marrying him, I'm so nervous! He'll definitely be the most handsome groom in the world, and I'll definitely be the most beautiful bride. We'll grow old together, and I'll love him forever.
Of all the people here, the only one she recognized was Xin Xuan.
Kim Hee-ro sighed, feeling the cat licking her hair from above. She closed her eyes, picked up the cat, and walked away, only to find another one after she left.
"Meow, look up!"
How strange, who is speaking now? Jin Xilu shook off the people whose minds were filled with nonsense and quickly sat up to stare at the orange cat in front of her: "What a coincidence, you are speaking human language again."
The orange cat glanced at the human girl, then at the dazed calico cat beside her, breathed at her without any intimidation, then lowered its round head, used its tail to open the diary, and finally stepped onto the diary with its paws.
The open page read: "Dong dong qiang, dong dong bang, enter the gold mountain, go down into the mine, yellow, green, red, how wonderful. The deer fairy descended to earth, got lost, took a nap, and bumped into a tree. Pear blossoms fall, a cat falls, ask the young lady, will she forgive him!" Today, Xin Xuan mysteriously told me that this nursery rhyme is actually a curse. A curse? I don't believe it.
Kim Hee-ro realized she had missed this page when she read it before. She gripped the diary tightly, her breathing became shallow, and her voice trembled as she read it over and over again.
This nursery rhyme was also written in the letter she received, which is why she didn't leave when she saw Xixi and the other children playing jump rope.
"It's a curse. Do you want to break it? Then come with me, and I'll take you to see the person you want to see," the orange cat said again, his voice clear and pure.
The orange cat jumped off the bed and onto the windowsill. Seeing that Jin Xilu hadn't followed, it turned back and said, "Never mind, I know you're worried about the clan leader. I'll stay and watch over him. Don't worry, we won't be discovered. It's the same if Sanhua takes you."
And so, Jin Xilu had no idea what the calico orange cat had done to Jiang Yilin to allow her to escape from the Jiang family and keep it a secret from everyone in town. Everyone thought she had left again, but in fact she was still active in town.
As the flashback ended and they reached the end of the Jiang family's corridor, Jin Xilu couldn't help but ask, "Why did you help me? Aren't you Jiang Yilin's cats?"
"Because I have to survive, because I have to save the gods!" After saying this, the orange cat fell silent.
It led her into a room, then skillfully jumped onto a bookshelf, gesturing for her to push it away to reveal the cellar entrance, before using its tail to hook out a key tucked inside a green-covered book.
"Meow, all the answers you're looking for are in here. Hurry up and come out after you've finished reading."
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