Chapter 48 "Since you're here, let's have a simple meal together."
When I heard Li Xiao blurt out "father," I was momentarily stunned.
It was simply because... the man under the porch was too young; he didn't look like someone who was a teenager at all.
However, the man's eyes and facial features bore a striking resemblance to Li Xiao's.
Compared to the youthful beauty of a young person, she possessed a serene quality that came with the passage of time.
—If I had to say, the other person seems to be more suited to the role of older brother than the father.
But the man was indeed Li Xiao's biological father without a doubt.
"So you've finally decided to come back?" The man stood on the steps, scanning us below, and said in a calm voice.
Li Xiao glanced back without looking, then stepped forward slightly to block me from view.
“Father, you know perfectly well that I never said I didn’t want to come back.”
Li Xiao took my hand and slowly walked down the steps. She looked at the man standing on the high place with neither arrogance nor servility, and even had a faint smile on her lips.
"This is, after all, my home, the place where my mother gave birth to me. If, and this is just a hypothetical situation... if one day you and Mother completely fall out, it won't be me who has to move out of here. Don't you think I'm right, Father?"
As I listened to Li Xiao's earnest yet harsh words, my ears rang.
—Is this what a son should say to his father?
Moreover, if the other party is indeed, as Mr. Ajiu said, a strict father with an extremely strong desire for control who is ruthless and quick to resort to violence.
I was a little worried about Li Xiao's situation. My palms, clasped together, were slightly sweaty; I didn't know if it was his, mine, or both of ours...
If possible, I'd like to do something to ease the tense atmosphere.
However, this is Li Xiao's family matter after all, and I know very little about the inside story. In this situation, it is always safer to remain silent than to speak rashly.
After hearing his son's outrageous remarks, Mr. Li did not show any anger; instead, he nodded in agreement.
"That's a good idea, and what you said is quite good. It's just a pity—"
The man paused, a beautiful yet cold smile curving his eyes: "As long as I live, this situation will never happen. So, Li Xiao, my good son, you may be disappointed."
"Is that so? But life is unpredictable. Father, you shouldn't be so absolute. I still believe that anything can happen before I personally sprinkle the last handful of soil on your body."
It truly was a scene of filial piety and parental love.
For some reason, this thought popped into my head.
I think Li Xiao's brain might have been damaged by his father's beating, so whenever he sees his father, he starts reflexively talking nonsense.
Unexpectedly, it turns out that Li Xiao's father isn't exactly a normal person either.
Because when Li's father heard this, he was not angry at all. Instead, he turned his head and looked at me calmly.
"Since you're here, let's have a simple meal together."
After saying that, without waiting for my reply, he turned around and stepped into the gate.
I looked at Li Xiao with a head full of questions, and saw that Li Xiao also seemed a little surprised.
"Um...you eat a bit late?" I stammered out.
To be honest, I'm starting to have second thoughts.
Firstly, who would go to someone else's house for dinner in the middle of the night when they don't know the place?
Secondly, I've been missing for so long without any reason, and I don't know if they've found me in the building yet. What if it causes some trouble...
But Li Xiao simply took my hand and led me up the steps slowly, then stepped over the high threshold.
"Let's go. Let's go eat."
He looked at me, hesitant and uncertain, from inside the doorway, his face hidden behind the lamplight, appearing somewhat dim.
I saw the expectation in his eyes, so I swallowed hard and followed him through the door.
Before you is a wide stone path shaded by grass and trees on both sides. On the tall wooden supports, there are beautiful lanterns with unique shapes. The lights are long and bright, like beads strung with precious jewels, shining brightly on a huge black curtain.
It was a profound and somber beauty, distinct from the bustling lantern festival.
For a moment, I was lost in thought when I heard a soft but deep sound behind me. I turned around and saw that the vermilion door had been closed tightly without me noticing.
...as if it had never been opened.
The Li family estate is vast, like a colossal beast lurking in the darkness. You can only guess its immense size from a vague sense of it, and the closer you get, the more you realize how much you underestimated it.
The mansion’s vastness stems from two factors: objectively, its area is indeed astonishing; subjectively, the scarcity of human presence further amplifies this sense of desolation.
It is said that Buddhist temples are places of purity and tranquility.
But all the temples I've ever seen, regardless of size, are filled with the sounds of incense burning, chanting, and quiet conversations, including the rustling of clothes and heels of pilgrims coming and going.
However, not a single sound of human activity could be heard here.
I've only ever seen this unsettling silence and eeriness in cemeteries at night.
"Li Xiao," I called out somewhat uneasily to the boy who was leading the way.
I don't know if my voice was too soft, or if he was preoccupied with something.
I called him several times before he turned to look at me.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
“It’s nothing. I…” I hesitated, “I just wanted to call out to you.”
Li Xiao raised an eyebrow, processing the meaning of those words, then suddenly laughed: "You're not scared, are you?"
"..."
"Don't worry, with me here, even if there are any demons or monsters in this house, they won't be able to harm you."
"oh."
I tentatively agreed with his explanation, but then I couldn't help but voice my doubts: "Why haven't we seen anyone after walking for so long?"
“It’s not that it didn’t happen,” Li Xiao said casually, “It’s just that… you didn’t see it.”
I let out a sound of surprise, and suddenly had a very bad feeling. I almost instinctively wanted to back away, but my hand was still firmly held in the boy's hand, and I couldn't easily break free.
"What...does that mean?"
Despite feeling uneasy, I braced myself and asked, in order to break the deep silence.
"I heard that many people died here before," Li Xiao said in his usual nonchalant tone. "A fire burned it all to the ground."
"..."
"It is said that the previous owner of this place violated an unforgivable taboo, so divine lightning struck down from the sky, burning the place inside and out to the ground. People rebuilt the mansion on the ruins, and among the ruins, besides the charred walls and broken tiles, are the people who once lived here."
"..."
"Because their bodies were burned in the fire, their flesh and bones turned into tar and powder, seeped into the ground, and melted into the soil, making them inseparable."
My throat went dry, and I asked tentatively, "You mean to say that the dead are still lingering here and haven't left?"
Whether it was the question itself that moved him, or my timid appearance that amused Li Xiao, the boy chuckled.
"You...you're really afraid of ghosts?" Li Xiao said with a smile.
Hearing him say that, I realized that he had just made up a lie to scare me. I felt embarrassed and annoyed, but I couldn't help but secretly breathe a sigh of relief.
In other words, what normal family would build their house in a place where so many people have died violently, especially such a large mansion?
After I felt relieved, I looked at the ecstatic boy and suddenly became a little annoyed.
"Young Master, do you even know that scaring someone can kill them?"
"Is that so? But you're just standing here perfectly fine, and you still have the energy to lecture me."
Li Xiao glanced at me dismissively, a nonchalant smile on his face, clearly not taking the matter seriously.
“However—” he suddenly changed the subject, “if you think I was just trying to scare you, you’re really wronging me.”
"..."
"It's true that there was a big fire here, but as for whether anyone died or how many died, I don't know the specifics," Li Xiao said slowly.
I started to get impatient. I don't know if it was because I was walking in the dark, deserted place, looking at the winding, repetitive roads that seemed endless, which gave me the illusion that it would never end.
I almost wanted to turn around and leave.
"As for what you just said about not seeing anyone... right now, there's one standing right behind you."
I felt a little uneasy, not from fear, but from a sudden surge of anger.
Li Xiao could tell how scared I was, yet he kept making up sensational lies in this place to frighten me.
I was so stupid to think he might need me to stay here, that's why...
"I'm going back."
I said, then raised my arm and pulled my hand back.
This time it went very smoothly.
I told Li Xiao I was going back, and he didn't try to stop me at all, which made me feel even more like a complete idiot.
At this point, I was still relatively sober, and at least I hadn't forgotten basic manners. After apologizing, I asked Li Xiao to convey my apologies to his father.
Unfortunately, I wasn't that clear-headed, because I never imagined that I could find my way out of this huge, maze-like mansion by myself late at night, let alone as a newcomer.
But I still resolutely turned around, and then in the dim light I suddenly bumped into a figure, standing there in the dark, as if... as if the shadow had stood up.
My hair stood on end.
Because I didn't notice at all when there was another person there.
—It's not even possible to tell whether it's a person or not.
I remembered what Li Xiao had just said, and then I realized that the ghost in front of me might have crawled out of the soil mixed with charred bones.
I thought about it a lot, and I went through almost all the most terrifying images from the horror stories I've ever heard in my life.
However, all of this happened in an instant, because I barely had time to shout before I turned around in a panic and bumped into Li Xiao like a startled rabbit.
I know that I must have looked very disheveled, even ridiculous, in that panicked state.
But I couldn't help it, and I didn't care.
As I turned around, I seemed to hear what sounded like human voices behind me.
However, in my panic, I didn't hear clearly.
She just kept grabbing Li Xiao's sleeve, like a drowning person clinging to a piece of driftwood that had finally drifted by, clinging to Li Xiao and refusing to let go.
"you--"
Li Xiao seemed taken aback by my strong reaction and stood there for a moment, unsure of what to say.
Even the body I was holding onto became somewhat stiff.
A moment later, Li Xiao reached out and patted my head, softening his tone slightly.
"Alright, alright, it was my fault. There are no ghosts here. Don't be afraid. Look again, who's that?"
After a pause, seeing that I didn't answer, Li Xiao called out to those behind me again: "Hurry up and say a few words."
"..."
"Anything is fine."
"Um, excuse me, it's me. I've seen you in this building before, do you remember me?"
The voice did sound somewhat familiar.
I let go of his hand and glanced over there. The man stepped forward and stood there. He was also a strikingly tall man, but he looked much younger than Mr. Ajiu. His apologetic head-scratching gesture was rather comical.
"Mr. Ah Liu?"
When Mr. Liu heard me say that, a hint of surprise flashed across his face, but then he laughed to himself.
"As expected, you still remember me. It's the first time I've heard someone call me that. It's quite a novel experience."
Mr. Liu seemed like a talkative person, and he was smiling the whole time he was talking.
I stared at that face that smiled without a trace of gloom in the darkness, and suddenly remembered the day Young Master Lan died unexpectedly. Apart from the people in the building, the only other person who accompanied him seemed to be that person.
He was also the only survivor of that accident and the last person to see the living Young Master Lan.
"Um... is there a problem?"
Perhaps my gaze was too focused, for Mr. Liu asked, somewhat puzzled.
"It's because you kept grinning like an idiot, of course other people would find it strange," Li Xiao suddenly interjected.
Mr. Liu chuckled and turned to the boy: "Young master, as you know, I was born with a love of laughter..."
Li Xiao seemed too lazy to listen to his nonsense: "After all this time, you still haven't said why you suddenly appeared?"
"Oh, this one."
Mr. Liu slapped his forehead as if suddenly realizing something: "I almost forgot! It was Master who said he hadn't seen you for ages, so he sent me to greet you, lest you get lost in the courtyard and can't find your way back to the house—"
"That's enough, Ah Liu."
It wasn't until he heard Li Xiao's somewhat unbearable words that Mr. Liu realized he might have said something he shouldn't have.
The man looked at Li Xiao, then at me, and finally explained to me very seriously, "Actually, the young master's sense of direction isn't that bad. At least during the day, he rarely gets lost in the courtyard. I can guarantee that. You don't know, when the young master was even younger, he was really..."
"Didn't you hear me telling you to shut up?"
This time, Li Xiao almost roared out.
Mr. Liu finally shut his mouth and stopped his rambling, but the expression on his face seemed to say, "Didn't you tell me to say that, young master?"
"Let's go, or it'll be dawn soon."
Li Xiao sighed and waved to me.
I could detect a strange weariness in his tone.
Li Xiao really isn't good at dealing with these people who have watched him grow up.
However, as an observer, I was somewhat envious of this relaxed atmosphere, to the point that I almost forgot what had been lingering in my mind.
With Mr. Liu leading the way, we arrived at our destination very quickly.
In the courtyard, where water vapor rises, flowers and plants flourish, and colorful ribbons hang, sits Li's father, whom we had met earlier, beside a beautiful stone table.
He sat at the table, but his gaze was not on the delicacies in front of him. Instead, he stared at a brightly lit private room, lost in thought.
A shadow fell on the paper window; judging from the figure, it seemed to be a woman.
That is...
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