Chapter 16
The night was deep, and the evening breeze rustled the leaves, occasionally carrying the distant bark of a dog.
Most of the residents in the rental compound are students and their parents who attend school nearby. By 10:30 p.m., most of the lights in the compound are off, and even in the remaining few rental rooms where the lights are on, it is quiet.
Xu Qingzhou sat at the end of the corridor, head down, hugging his knees, motionless.
After Chi Jun left, she tried to keep herself busy to escape the fact that he was gone, but unfortunately, reality was all-pervasive, and she still broke down.
She didn't remember how long she cried, only that in the end she cried until she was exhausted, her mind seemed to go blank, and she felt completely numb.
So she hugged her knees and stared blankly into space. Eventually, after an unknown amount of time, she gradually drifted off to sleep.
She had a dream.
A beautiful dream.
In her dream, Chi Jun returned. He squatted in front of her, smiling gently, and said that he would stay and keep her company. To reassure Xu Qingzhou, he even transformed himself back into a fox.
Dreams are always magical and illogical.
Xu Qingzhou was completely convinced that the big black dog squatting in front of her, sticking out its tongue and talking, was Chi Jun. Then she watched as Chi Jun stretched out his two paws, pulled out a golden lock from somewhere, and locked his neck with a "click." He then stuffed the key into Xu Qingzhou's hand, saying that he could only turn into human form if Xu Qingzhou helped him unlock it.
In addition, Chi Jun confidently told Xu Qingzhou that he didn't need to worry about money in the future because he had a magic bag that contained everything he wanted.
To show Xu Qingzhou, the dog reached in and pulled out a handful of hundred-yuan bills.
With another tug, he pulled out a pile of glittering gold and silver jewelry.
What else do you want?
Looking at the big black dog's eager eyes, Xu Qingzhou couldn't think of what he wanted for a moment. After thinking for a while, he said, "Today is the Mid-Autumn Festival. Do you have any mooncakes?"
Chi Jun said he had one, and took out a small mooncake shaped like a flower petal with a translucent skin.
Xu Qingzhou was delighted, said "thank you," and took a small bite.
But for some reason, the mooncake was as cold and hard as an ice pop. Xu Qingzhou took a bite and his teeth ached from the cold. He couldn't help but shiver. Chi Jun explained, "This is a snow skin mooncake. I just took it out of the freezer."
Xu Qingzhou had never eaten snow skin mooncakes before, and thought that these mooncakes were probably frozen. Fearing that Chi Jun would think she was ungrateful, she nodded in a daze and stubbornly continued to swallow the popsicle-like mooncakes bite by bite.
Then, she was literally frozen awake.
The surroundings were quiet and deserted, with only the light from the small rented room shining through the window and casting a pale glow on the corridor floor.
It really was a dream.
Xu Qingzhou didn't even have the energy to sigh, and didn't look up.
She had been sitting for too long, and her whole body was stiff and cold, but she just didn't want to go back to the room. She even... fantasized about continuing the dream she had just had.
So she closed her eyes again.
Whether it was the cold night breeze or her strong obsession that made it difficult to relax and fall asleep, Xu Qingzhou tried to clear her mind for a full minute, but instead of falling asleep, her mind became increasingly clear.
At the same time, the sadness that had been briefly subsided while I was asleep was belatedly brought back to the surface.
Xu Qingzhou pursed her lips, and her eyes welled up with tears again.
She sniffed, just about to raise her hand to wipe away her tears—
"Hello."
A sudden sound rang out in front of him, startling Xu Qingzhou so much that his shoulders trembled, and he instinctively looked up and hid behind him.
Chi Jun reacted quickly, reaching out to shield her from the back of the head. The girl's initially terrified eyes widened in surprise when they met his face.
But then, as if remembering something, she frowned and tilted her head strangely.
Chi Jun was unaware that Xu Qingzhou had just had a dream. The doubt on his face was because he wondered if he had entered a dream again.
He thought Xu Qingzhou was wondering why he had left and then suddenly returned.
This whole thing is a bit awkward.
But the curse wasn't so easy to break. He struggled at the hotel entrance, his ears almost snapping and revealing his true form. After some thought, he had no choice but to return to his rented apartment.
Although I have accepted the reality of failing again, the thought still stirs up a faint sense of unease in my heart.
Chi Jun unconsciously frowned.
When I looked up again, my face had changed to a smile. Just as I was about to speak, I suddenly felt a cool sensation on the tip of my nose.
Chi Jun was taken aback.
His gaze swept downwards and he noticed that Xu Qingzhou's slender index fingertip was pressed against the tip of his nose.
Chi Jun: "..."
He looked up and saw the little girl staring at him intently, her eyebrows slightly furrowed, as if she was trying to figure out whether the person in front of her was real or an illusion.
Chi Jun chuckled.
"Can you really tell that from this?" he said, reaching out to pinch Xu Qingzhou's cheek. "It has to be at least this level, right?"
He pinched it neither too lightly nor too heavily.
Xu Qingzhou instinctively covered her face and stared at him expectantly.
Does it hurt?
Xu Qingzhou nodded, then quickly shook his head.
"So now do you think I'm real, or fake?"
Xu Qingzhou laughed.
She pursed her lips, wearing a particularly innocent and sincere smile, her bright eyes brimming with tears.
【real】
She mouthed it.
Chi Jun looked at her for a while.
After a long while, he looked away and cleared his throat.
He stood up, put his hands in his pockets, and looked down at Xu Qingzhou.
"That's right, I've thought about it. When facing a ticking time bomb like Zhang Pengfei, it's definitely safer for two people to be together than for one person to be alone."
Xu Qingzhou was stunned for a moment.
Actually... she just made up that excuse on the spot.
She was afraid of Zhang Pengfei, but more than that, she was afraid of her only companion—"Fox"—leaving.
So when she gave this reason, even she herself found it absurd.
But Chi Jun actually came back for this reason.
Given his status, he certainly wouldn't be afraid of Zhang Pengfei. Therefore, in Xu Qingzhou's eyes, Chi Jun's actions became purely for her safety.
Although he eventually achieved his goal after many twists and turns, Xu Qingzhou felt embarrassed by his own petty thoughts.
She bit her lip, blushing slightly.
Chi Jun suddenly snapped his fingers.
Xu Qingzhou suddenly snapped out of her daze and looked at Chi Jun.
Are you listening?
Xu Qingzhou nodded.
Unexpectedly, Chi Jun suddenly asked a question, raising his eyebrows slightly and leaning closer to ask, "So what did I just say?"
The face that suddenly approaches is incredibly striking, both in terms of its exquisite detail and three-dimensionality.
Xu Qingzhou unconsciously held her breath, her eyelashes fluttered, and she subconsciously lowered her eyes to look away. Like a good child, she took out paper and pen from her pocket and repeated Chi Jun's words—
After considering it, you realized that being with someone like Zhang Pengfei, a ticking time bomb, is indeed safer than being alone.
"Um."
Chi Jun nodded meaningfully.
“So—” he drawled, reminding Xu Qingzhou with a serious expression, “You remember to protect me.”
?
Xu Qingzhou looked at him.
The air froze for two seconds.
The little girl bowed her head and solemnly wrote—
I will.
Seeing her serious expression, Chi Jun couldn't help but raise the corner of his mouth.
What do you mean?
She's as skinny as a little chick, yet she dares to agree to anything.
However, the awkward situation of "leaving and returning" was finally resolved. Chi Jun didn't say anything more to Xu Qingzhou, turned around and went into the house to pack his toiletries, preparing to take a shower and go to bed.
Just as he was about to leave, he seemed to remember something, paused, and turned back to look at Xu Qingzhou.
Oh right, I forgot to tell you.
Xu Qingzhou stopped flipping through the test questions and looked at Chi Jun.
Chi Jun curled his lips, still smiling nonchalantly: "I will still leave once Zhang Pengfei's crisis is resolved."
Xu Qingzhou didn't speak, but her heart suddenly felt like it was being clenched.
She unconsciously clenched the pen in her hand, lowered her eyes, and nodded slightly.
*
That night, Chi Jun shamelessly occupied the bed, while Xu Qingzhou silently continued to sleep on the floor.
Knowing he couldn't leave anytime soon, Chi Jun simply stopped worrying and decided to get some sleep first.
Chi Jun slept soundly until 9:30 the next day.
When she woke up, the small rented room was quiet and peaceful; Xu Qingzhou had already gone to school.
Chi Jun ruffled his hair a few times, threw off the covers and got out of bed. He saw a brand new set of toothbrush and teacup on the table, along with a bowl of red bean paste covered with a plate and two steamed buns.
There was a piece of paper under the bowl.
Besides reminding her that lunch was in the pot and she would cook it when she got back in the evening, Xu Qingzhou also wrote down a few places to visit nearby and carefully drew a simplified map.
Chi Jun glanced at it briefly, threw the paper into the trash can, squeezed some toothpaste, and went to the corridor to wash up.
When I came back after washing up and sat down to eat, the male ghost floated in through the door.
"Hey, this red bean paste courtyard looks delicious."
Chi Jun glanced at him sideways, his tone lazy.
"It's alright."
He knew the male ghost had come to find out his plans. Sure enough, the ghost made a few perfunctory remarks before getting to the point.
"So, what are your plans after this?"
Chi Jun raised an eyebrow and continued to put a spoonful of small glutinous rice balls into his mouth.
"What else can I do but keep trying to find a way to get Xu Qingzhou to let me go?"
Although he left and came back a bit disheveled last night, he did figure out one thing: unaware of the truth about his being imprisoned by her side, Xu Qingzhou could only use the excuse of being "afraid of Zhang Pengfei" to keep him.
So as long as Zhang Pengfei, this safety hazard, disappears, even if Xu Qingzhou is unwilling, as long as he verbally expresses his intention to let him go, he can successfully leave.
So, although it seems like another failure on the surface, we have actually figured out the "solution approach". Strictly speaking, the situation is much clearer than before when we were just making a haphazard attempt.
The male ghost had obviously thought of this as well, and his eyes immediately lit up.
"Then what are we waiting for? I'm going to find Zhang Pengfei right now!"
He was so excited that he was about to fly away immediately, but was stopped by Chi Jun when he turned around.
"etc."
The male ghost suddenly braked and turned around.
Chi Jun: "You found it, so you're going to take action?"
Upon hearing this, the male ghost, who had been so eager just moments before, suddenly looked somewhat troubled, weakly tapping his two fingers together: "This... I'm afraid it won't work. I'm willing to help you, but... Brother Jun, we ghosts also have our own rules..."
Chi Jun glanced at him and chuckled.
"That's bad, I can't kill him either."
The male ghost was taken aback.
"No, why can't you kill him? You're different from me. You've been banished... no one cares about you, and you have spiritual power. How could Zhang Pengfei, a mere mortal, escape your grasp?"
He suspected that Chi Jun was lying to him.
But in reality, Chi Jun is not; he is indeed unable to kill Zhang Pengfei right now.
That night, Chi Jun used up a lot of spiritual energy to create illusions for Zhang Pengfei and Xu Qingzhou. Now, he can barely maintain his human form. Otherwise, he wouldn't have almost revealed his fox ears last night when he tried to resist the spell with his spiritual energy at the hotel entrance.
Even now, although the fox's ears haven't fully emerged from the hair, you can still clearly feel two small, rounded ear tips if you stick your finger in and probe them slightly.
I'm afraid that by then Zhang Pengfei won't have solved the problem yet, and I'll have turned back into a fox. Wouldn't that be troublesome?
Furthermore, even if Zhang Pengfei is just a mortal with a fragile life, he could be dealt with without spiritual power. The problem is, Chi Jun could walk away afterward, but what about Xu Qingzhou?
As someone in the compound who is known to have had a recent feud with Zhang Pengfei, she will inevitably be affected and forced into a huge public opinion storm.
Chi Jun originally had no intention of repaying Xu Qingzhou's kindness. Xu Qingzhou had taken care of him for a few months, and he had spent a few months with Xu Qingzhou in return, so they were even.
However, in the matter of Zhang Pengfei, he was indeed the one who initially caused trouble and put Xu Qingzhou in a dangerous situation. He couldn't possibly drag the young girl into this kind of thing again, both morally and logically.
Therefore, he would not rashly take action against Zhang Pengfei until his spiritual power had recovered to the point where he could cleanly and decisively eliminate Zhang Pengfei without leaving a trace.
Of course, the only way to completely remove Xu Qingzhou from Zhang Pengfei's case is to patiently wait for time to heal.
Therefore, it is foreseeable that he will have to stay in this rented courtyard for some time to come.
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