Chapter 224 The Connection Between Bones and Fate
Lu Qingqing thought that her current lack of ambition was entirely due to her lack of experience.
She needs to look around more.
You'll become immune if you look at it more often.
This is called desensitization therapy.
The alley was a dead end; apart from the residents, no one went into it.
Fearing that someone might suddenly come out of the house, Lu Qingqing walked all the way to the end.
There, there is a big locust tree.
"Okay, this is fine."
Lu Qingqing had Ji Ruyan stand behind a tree trunk with her back to the alley entrance.
He said, "Could you take off your mask again so I can see? I couldn't see clearly last time."
Ji Ruyan's lips parted slightly.
Didn't you see it clearly?
He felt he had been watching for quite a while.
He wanted to lower his head for a long time, his face burning as if it were on fire.
I was definitely too nervous at the time.
"good."
Ji Ruyan placed her hand on the mask.
"Wait!" Lu Qingqing stopped her again.
"I'll count to three, then you put it back on, okay?"
The man nodded slowly, puzzled.
Then he took off his mask.
Lu Qingqing: "...one"
"……two"
"..."
"..."
"Two and a half."
2.5?
Oh, it's not three yet.
Ji Ruyan lowered her slightly raised hand.
Looking at the woman in front of him, her eyes wide and fixed on him, his reflection was seen in her clear almond-shaped eyes.
Her face flushed again, and her eyelashes trembled and drooped.
His chest began to rise and fall.
"2.8".
"2.9".
"three……"
That sound seemed like a sigh.
Lu Qingqing let out a long sigh of relief and watched as Ji Ruyan put the mask back on with both hands.
They really are obedient.
It felt like a dream.
I wonder if he would do it if she asked him to take off his clothes?
As I was lost in thought, the nearest door suddenly creaked open.
An old woman came out carrying a basket.
"Hey? Who's under that tree? Get away! There's a hanged ghost up there!"
Hanged ghost!
Lu Qingqing instinctively looked up.
Ji Ruyan reacted even faster, grabbing her and leaping away from under the locust tree.
"Oh dear, look at you! Young people, where else could you meet up? You have to run under a tree. You're covered in hanged ghosts!"
As the old lady spoke, she stepped forward to pat Ji Ruyan.
Ji Ruyan looked wary and led Lu Qingqing back, putting his arms around her in a protective posture.
"This is alarmist talk, utter nonsense. In broad daylight, where would a hanged ghost come from?"
The old lady's eyes, which were wide open and bulging with flabby skin, rolled their eyes as if she were looking at an idiot.
"Wearing a mask in broad daylight, you look like a ghost to me!"
Then he added, "I'll bite you to death!"
He carried the basket and walked away, swaying along.
Ji Ruyan's gaze remained fixed on the old lady's back, his brows furrowed in thought, until he felt Lu Qingqing patting him.
"Hey, hey, this is the hanged ghost she was talking about!"
Lu Qingqing held a silk thread in her hand and waved it in front of the man.
Threaded through the silk thread, a cocoon is attached, and inside the cocoon lies a grayish-brown worm!
This is an inchworm, which usually lives on Chinese scholar trees.
There are very few Chinese scholar trees left in modern times; most are black locust trees.
In ancient times, the plants planted were all native Chinese scholar trees.
A locust tree in front of the door means either a promotion or wealth.
This is the Chinese scholar tree (Sophora japonica).
Many houses have locust trees planted in front of their doors. The locust flowers that grow on the trees are harvested in August and made into locust flower tea, which is said to cool the blood, stop bleeding, clear the liver, and improve eyesight.
The downside is that there are too many inchworms that spin silk and hang from the trees, commonly known as "hanging ghosts."
Lu Qingqing flashed before Ji Ruyan's eyes, and his body trembled.
A tremendous tingling and stinging sensation surged through his body, his eyes narrowed in fear, and he retreated in a daze.
Her beautiful lips suddenly lost their color.
Then he lost his footing and panicked, frantically patting his entire body with his hands.
Lu Qingqing quickly threw away the bug.
"What's wrong with you? Why are you so afraid of bugs?"
She helped him search for the bugs on his body, and found another one on his head. She threw it on the ground and stomped on it hard, and blue slime spurted out.
Disgusting.
"Look, it's just a spineless worm that spins silk. What's there to be afraid of!"
Ji Ruyan stared blankly at the stain.
The tingling sensation in my body disappeared.
It seems so, it's not that scary.
"What happened? Have you been bitten by this bug before?" Lu Qingqing asked.
His reaction didn't seem like simple fear; it seemed more like he had a mental illness.
Ji Ruyan shook her head.
"I don't know either."
"When I was a child, I had a fever once and I felt itchy all over my body, as if my whole body was crawling with bugs."
I struggled to open my eyes, and there it was, right in front of my eyeballs. It had no cocoon and looked huge; I could even see its head and legs clearly.
I don't know if it's a dream or reality.
Ji Ruyan had calmed down, but the color of her lips had not yet returned.
Startled by the insect, he seemed somewhat vulnerable, as if he were lying on the ground unable to move in a dream.
Lu Qingqing licked her lips and said, "You can't just imagine things you've never seen before. If you haven't seen them before, then that's reality."
I've heard the palace is very dark and gloomy; someone must be trying to scare you.
Ji Ruyan recalled.
The palace servants around him were all handpicked by the Empress, who took great care of him.
But this has happened more than once.
Another time, he kept hearing someone crying in the middle of the night, but everyone in the hall said they didn't hear anything. At that time, he needed bright lights to fall asleep.
Later, the emperor invited a high-ranking monk to the palace. The monk said that he had committed too many sins in his previous life and needed to atone for them in this life.
Only his personal bodyguards knew that the Crown Prince, who appeared aloof and noble in the outside world, never ate meat or sweets and copied scriptures until midnight every day.
After he was rescued by Mo Lang and Fu Leng during his exile, the two, unaware of his secret, did their best to prepare delicious food for him.
That was the first time he had eaten meat in many years of being a vegetarian.
However, he had never been fond of food, and at the time he was in a daze and didn't taste anything.
At that moment, all he could think about was how many sins he had committed in his past life that even arduous spiritual practice couldn't make up for.
He must have committed some heinous crime that heaven and earth cannot forgive, which is why he was abandoned by everyone and did not have a good end in this life.
But now, looking back, that magnificent palace was rife with intrigue.
"Are you still scared? I'll go catch a few more from the tree for you to step on and play with," Lu Qingqing asked.
Ji Ruyan smiled and said, "I'm not afraid anymore."
In fact, he had long since suppressed those fears, so they no longer caused him any harm.
Even if I'm afraid of those kinds of insects, I won't be alarmed.
It was just too sudden, and since he was in front of Lu Qingqing, he was in a relaxed state of mind. Those distant memories suddenly attacked him, causing him to instinctively reveal the fear in his heart.
Now, with a stomp of Lu Qingqing's foot, that fear was crushed like a bubble.
His gaze towards Lu Qingqing was gentle and focused, concealing a love he dared not openly express.
"Qingqing, what do you like? I'm going to take the person you bought, so I have to give something in return."
What can we exchange?
Of course, taking silver is the most practical option.
But since we've become so familiar with each other, and he's helped them a lot, it would be strange to ask for money again after promising to give him a big gift.
"No, no, it's just that... well, I've recently been researching the connection between a person's bones and their destiny, so..."
Hehe, we might need to see your face later on, so don't find it troublesome.
Bones and destiny—isn't that the job of a physiognomist?
Ji Ruyan quickly replied, "It's no trouble at all, you can look at it anytime."
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