Chapter 53
Chi Jun originally planned to finish skiing in the afternoon, have a meal with his friends, and then go home. However, he received a work call in the middle of the meal, asking him to help out in an emergency. Thinking that there was nothing serious going on when he got home that night, Chi Jun agreed.
This whole ordeal meant the work ended a bit late.
When I got back to the rented courtyard, it was almost 11 p.m.
Chi Jun pushed open the door and entered. Xu Qingzhou had already taken a shower and was sitting at his desk writing a test paper.
Hearing the noise, she quickly looked up and glanced at him, gave a hasty smile as a greeting, and continued to study with her head down.
Even though she tried to hide it, Chi Jun still noticed something was off about the girl's face—mainly her unnatural smile, and her slightly red eyes and nose.
Chi Jun seemed to want to say something, moved his lips slightly, but ultimately remained silent as he took off his coat, picked up a towel and toiletries, and went downstairs to take a shower.
After all, there are some things he himself hasn't figured out, so what can he say to her?
*
As we enter the new year, life seems to continue peacefully forward.
Neither of them mentioned the topic of "Zhang Pengfei's death," yet they both kept it deeply hidden in their hearts.
Chi Jun seemed no different from usual, but Xu Qingzhou revealed her abnormality.
Despite her attempts to conceal it, Chi Jun would occasionally notice that she was frowning slightly, as if she was struggling with something, and sometimes she would be holding a pen, staring blankly at the test paper.
—Even when caught, Xu Qingzhou would pretend to be relaxed and cover it up.
One evening, when Chi Jun returned from playing ball, he even noticed that Xu Qingzhou was carrying groceries and crossing the street absentmindedly. The red light was clearly on, but she didn't seem to notice and just kept walking forward with her eyes down.
A sharp honking sounded, and the private car swerved sharply to drive past her.
As Chi Jun pulled Xu Qingzhou back, the wind he created carried the driver's furious shouts:
"Are you out of your mind? Running at a red light?!"
Xu Qingzhou seemed to suddenly wake up at this moment, and looked at Chi Jun with a lingering sense of shock, her hands trembling uncontrollably.
But these are not the only abnormalities.
What impressed Chi Jun the most was that Xu Qingzhou refused to let him do any housework.
Sometimes Chi Jun would help with some housework. At that time, Xu Qingzhou would either worry that he wouldn't do it well and arrange for him to do something else that was convenient and easy, or she would personally step in and help Chi Jun with the chores.
However, now she refuses to let him do any housework.
It was as if he shouldn't have done these things in the first place, as if doing them would shorten her lifespan.
Chi Jun disliked Xu Qingzhou like this. It seemed that overnight, she had returned to the time when Chi Jun had just transformed from a fox into a human—cautious and timid.
However, on the day after New Year's Eve, Xu Qingzhou was clearly not like that.
Chi Jun's intuition told him that Xu Qingzhou's change was not simply due to seeing Zhang Pengfei's body that night.
That day, since he had no work scheduled and the weather forecast on his phone predicted a heavy rain in the afternoon, Chi Jun didn't go out. He stayed in bed playing mobile games for a while and reading a book intermittently.
After lunch, he took a nap.
I was half asleep when it started raining outside.
The raindrops pattered against the window, waking Chi Jun. When he opened his eyes, he saw dark clouds looming overhead, thunder rumbling, and the grass and trees bending low under the weight of the wind and rain, a scene of swaying and trembling.
Chi Jun didn't sleep anymore.
He sat up, and for some reason, looking at the hazy world outside, the things that had been buried deep in his heart inevitably stirred up a restlessness.
As evening approached, Chi Jun got tired of reading and picked up his phone to play games for a while.
I was lucky enough to draw a Demon King card when I was drawing cards.
However, looking at the black image of the Ghost King, Chi Jun paused, suddenly realizing that the male ghost seemed to have never appeared since New Year's Day.
This seemed somewhat unusual compared to the harassment they used to cause him from time to time.
Chi Jun was lost in thought, staring at his phone, not even noticing a game had started, until Li Rui's almost screaming roar came through his earpiece: "Damn it! Xu Jun, are you frozen in place by a monkey? Move! Move now! I'm about to be hammered to death! Xu Jun—"
The noisy sounds echoed in my ears, disturbing my peace of mind.
However, amidst this jumble of thoughts, a conjecture inexplicably popped into Chi Jun's mind.
He paused for a moment, then after two seconds, he simply quit the game and got out of bed.
It was past five o'clock in the evening on a winter day, and it was already completely dark.
Outside, a fierce wind and torrential rain raged, with the occasional loud thud of things being overturned, making the small rented room even quieter. The rabbit cage sat quietly behind the door, with the white rabbit nestled inside, fast asleep.
By the light, Chi Jun squatted down in front of the cage and looked at it for a while. He then took a carrot and gently poked the rabbit's nose.
The rabbit was sleeping soundly when it was disturbed, so it simply changed its sleeping position and continued sleeping.
However, the itching on my nose persisted.
The rabbit finally couldn't take it anymore, suddenly opened its eyes, and glared fiercely at Chi Jun:
"You ugly fox, are you trying to kill me?! Can't a person get any sleep?!"
He started cursing, but Chi Jun wasn't angry. He just threw the carrot on the ground and stared at the rabbit, saying:
"Ugly rabbit, I have a question for you."
Rabbit was used to bickering with Chi Jun, and her opening line was always:
Why should I tell you?
Chi Jun wasn't in a hurry; he simply gazed at it intently and said:
"A single bolt of lightning from this day could kill you."
"..."
The rabbit, which had been fierce and domineering just moments before, suddenly froze, its eyes filled with a chilling emotion.
It wasn't just Chi Jun's threat; more importantly, Chi Jun had never looked at it with such eyes before when they argued—cold and deep, carrying a hidden danger.
Throwing it into an open space and letting a bolt of lightning strike it to death shouldn't be too difficult for this ugly fox.
In the past, when they argued, the rabbit always liked to use "Xu Qingzhou" to deal with Chi Jun's threats, but in fact, it knew better than anyone else that it was just sure that Chi Jun wouldn't do anything to a rabbit like it.
But things are different now; Chi Jun isn't arguing or playing around with it.
He really had something to ask it.
"It's just a trivial problem, just ask it, why make such a big deal out of it?"
When the rabbit spoke again, its tone was still quite arrogant, but its confidence was clearly not as strong.
“Okay,” Chi Jun said, “then let me ask you, has Xu Qingzhou seen anyone recently?”
people?
The rabbit scoffed, "Besides you and her, who else would come to this shabby little house?"
Chi Jun: "Then where's the ghost?"
ghost? ? ?
The rabbit's expression became even stranger:
"If no one's coming, what's the point of ghosts coming?"
Besides, even if there really were ghosts, it wouldn't be able to see them with its limited cultivation level.
But as soon as he finished speaking, the rabbit suddenly remembered something and paused.
Chi Jun keenly noticed this change in its expression:
"What's wrong? Something's up?"
The rabbit gave Chi Jun a strange look, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Speaking of which, there's something quite strange... Just the other night, the little beauty's pen started writing by itself..."
Chi Jun frowned: "Write by yourself?"
The rabbit nodded:
"Yes, that pen was used for quite a long time, and the young lady was completely mesmerized by it."
As for what was written on the paper, the rabbit was in a cage at the time and had no way of knowing.
It kept muttering to itself, still describing the scene it had witnessed, and then couldn't help but sigh:
"You know what, this young lady is really brave. I was startled at first, but she was just shocked for a moment, and then she started looking at it seriously..."
"Actually, I'm also curious about what was written on that piece of paper, but the pretty girl tore it up and threw it in the trash can after she finished reading it. That trash can... Ugly Fox, do you want to go check if it's still there?"
Chi Jun glanced back at the trash can under the dining table.
Needless to say, the garbage must have already been dumped.
But Chi Jun seemed lost in thought, his gaze fixed on the trash can, unfocused, and he remained silent for a long time.
Until a loud "crack" was heard outside, and lightning suddenly ripped through the dark sky, illuminating everything.
The rabbit screamed in fright, and Chi Jun also came to his senses, glancing up at the wall clock.
6:30.
Xu Qingzhou lost his job a while ago because the shop where he worked part-time closed down. During this period, he usually gets home at 6:30 pm sharp.
However, it's raining today, so I might get back a little late.
"Why is it raining so heavily in winter? The roads are probably going to be flooded."
While looking at the rain outside, the rabbit hugged itself, feeling cold. It glanced at Chi Jun and said, "Ugly fox, did the little beauty bring an umbrella?"
Chi Jun glanced at the spot behind the door where the umbrellas were kept; it was empty.
"I brought it."
Rabbit: "With such heavy rain, the road conditions might not be good. Do you want to go pick her up?"
Chi Jun looked at the sky outside and didn't say anything.
He knew that the pen that wrote by itself must have been the work of a male ghost.
However, at this moment, he had no interest in bringing the male ghost over to interrogate him.
It's no wonder the male ghost kept reminding him; even he himself occasionally looked back and was surprised to find that he had already deviated from the intended path.
Perhaps he should have consciously restrained himself and pulled himself back to his original path long ago.
After a long silence, Chi Jun looked at the rabbit and replied with two words indifferently:
"I'm not going."
*
At 7 p.m., the rain outside had intensified, and if you listened carefully, you could hear the gurgling sound of more than one sewer drain in the courtyard on the first floor.
In the corridor, the stove and pots were cold, and rainwater poured down like a small waterfall from the plastic curtain covering the stove.
Xu Qingzhou hasn't returned yet.
Chi Jun didn't go to pick her up; he leaned against the bed, playing games over and over again.
He seemed a bit out of sorts, though; the sounds of Li Rui and Wang Shuai groaning could be heard intermittently from the other end of the phone.
"Damn it! Xu Jun, you better pull yourself together!"
"Xu Jun, are you still Xu Jun? I don't care who you are! Get off my brother right now! Do you hear me? Hurry up!"
After several games went like this, Chi Jun got bored and quit the game, throwing his phone aside.
A rabbit's voice came from beside me: "It's already seven o'clock, and the little beauty still hasn't come back?"
Chi Junyi glanced at the wall clock as instructed.
"Perhaps the poor road conditions due to the rain caused some delays on the way."
When he finally offered an explanation, the rabbit scoffed, "Are you just trying to comfort yourself?"
Chi Jun ignored it.
However, no matter how congested the road or how heavy the rain, Xu Qingzhou should always be home by 7:30 pm.
But by 7:40, Xu Qingzhou still hadn't returned.
Chi Jun remained expressionless, but his eyes had darkened slightly.
He walked to the door and listened intently.
Through the heavy rain and amidst the chaotic sounds, he could make out the sounds of cooking, talking, and even arguing in the courtyard of the rental house, as well as... the conversation between a high school senior and his mother on the third floor across the street.
"This tutor is really something. He cancels the tutoring session when it rains a little and sends us back home."
The boy said helplessly, "I'm fed up. It's raining so hard, and it's not just the tutors who said there wouldn't be any extra classes. Tonight, the school isn't having evening self-study either, not even for boarding students. Is it really necessary to make such a fuss about just one evening self-study session?"
"What? Just one evening study session? You make it sound so easy. Did you get first place or were you in the top five of the class?"
"..."
Therefore, there was no evening self-study session at school tonight.
Given this, it's even less likely that Xu Qingzhou will be allowed to stay at the university.
Chi Jun frowned and was about to go back to his room when he saw someone coming up the stairs. He immediately turned his head to look and saw that the person was the middle-aged aunt who lived next door.
The woman was wearing a dark red raincoat. As she took it off, she walked towards the door. Seeing Chi Jun standing by the door, she asked warmly, "Have you eaten yet?"
Chi Jun smiled slightly: "Not yet."
The aunt nodded, took out her keys from her bag to open the door, and glanced back at the sky, which looked like it had a hole in it, as she opened it.
"The rain is really heavy today. I just got back. There was a chain collision of more than a dozen cars on Nanhuai Road. The road is completely blocked. Ambulances and police cars have arrived. They said someone died and several others were seriously injured and are being taken to the hospital."
Chi Jun's brow twitched.
"Nanhuai Road?"
“Hmm,” the aunt thought for a moment, then turned around and gestured with her arm: “It’s…it’s the road opposite your sister’s school, the place where the two roads meet to the north.”
Upon hearing this, the rabbit, who was still gnawing on a carrot, exclaimed "Holy crap!" and the carrot instantly fell to the ground.
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