Chapter 43: Innocence. Can someone like you have a good partner?
After finishing his meal, Lin Zhuyue was so sleepy that his eyelids were drooping.
She fell asleep again.
When I opened my eyes again, Shi Chan was tending to the cut roses on the bedside table. I didn't know if he had stayed there or had just left and returned.
Lin Zhuyue lay quietly. If she raised her eyes slightly, she could see Shi Can's chin. It must be said that Shi Can really has a very perfect face, even this angle can withstand it.
Shi Can felt as if he was being stared at. When he lowered his head, his gaze met a pair of wide-open, bright almond-shaped eyes.
"Why didn't you say anything when you woke up?"
Shi Can unwrapped the medicine wrapped in paper, picked up the health pot that was set at a temperature that was neither too hot nor too cold, poured a glass of water, and urged,
"Get up and take the medicine."
Lin Zhuyue regained some strength this time, sitting up on her own without Shi Can's help. She put the medicine in her mouth and swallowed it with water. The warm air from the air conditioner blasted against her face, making her extremely thirsty, so she drank a glass of water in one gulp.
Lin Zhuyue asked: "Where's my phone?"
Shi Chan opened the drawer of the bedside table and took out his cell phone.
Lin Zhuyue took the phone, pressed the power button, and glanced at the time.
January 7th, 10 p.m.
She entered the underworld in the early morning hours of January 3rd. On the evening of the 3rd, she reunited with Shi Chan in the underworld. She left the underworld on the 5th and was picked up by the Minnan Provincial State Security Department. On the morning of the 6th, she was transported back to Tiancheng and placed in the Yunze Medical Clinic.
Lin Zhuyue asked:
"Have you finished your final exams yet?"
"You still have the mood to care about the final exam?"
Shi Can raised his hand to lift up Lin Zhuyue's messy bangs, placed his palm on her forehead, and said,
"The old teacher said he'll come to see you tomorrow. You should first think about how to explain it to him. Your unauthorized entry into the underworld is worth at least a major offense. If you can't explain it well, expulsion from school is not out of the question."
"It's still a bit of a fever, try again/body temperature."
Lin Zhuyue lowered her head. Her brain was not damaged and she knew clearly what she had done.
Shi Can took out the newly bought forehead thermometer, touched it on Lin Zhuyue's forehead, and said:
"It's not a big deal, don't look so gloomy. Hmm, it doesn't seem very accurate, just take your armpit temperature."
“Isn’t this a big deal?”
Lin Zhuyue took the mercury thermometer and asked,
"As long as you're alive, nothing else matters."
"Isn't it?"
Shi Can turned his back and said,
"You're still just missing, but I've already been declared dead. In just three months, when the announcement period expires, the court will officially declare me dead."
"My family had already started preparing for the funeral. When I got home, I saw the framed black-and-white photos. Gong Yongyuan and Meng Dake were mourning in front of the photos. To be honest, I was worried that they would burst into laughter while mourning."
Lin Zhuyue quickly took her temperature, which was 37.6 degrees Celsius, so she was still running a fever.
Lin Zhuyue handed the thermometer to Shi Can and asked:
"Can a fever last this long after catching a cold from falling into the water?"
After Shi Can confirmed that Lin Zhuyue was not mistaken, he shook the mercury off and put the thermometer back into the box.
"You didn't catch a cold from falling into the water."
Shi Chan corrected,
"You were primarily affected by Yin Qi. The cold you caught from falling into the water simply gave your body and soul an excuse to rebel. Didn't you smell the scent of burning mugwort in the ward? The doctor lit some mugwort to dispel the Yin Qi."
Lin Zhuyue raised his hand and touched the tip of his cold nose, saying:
"I can't smell it. My nose is blocked."
Shi Chan asked, "Is it uncomfortable?"
Lin Zhuyue nodded and said, "A little bit."
Shi Can pinched Lin Zhuyue's face and said in a strange voice:
"The young lady's nose is really ungrateful. It dared to take advantage of the illness to rebel. Don't think that just because it's the young lady's nose, it can do whatever it wants. I'm going to find a nasal patch to deal with it——"
Shi Chan quickly opened the door and left the ward.
Lin Zhuyue covered her pinched face and stared blankly at the ward door that opened and closed.
Is Shi Chan not normal?
Does the negative energy in the underworld harm your brain?
Shi Can quickly returned with a box of nasal stickers. He took out the transparent stickers from the box and carefully stuck them on Lin Zhuyue's nose, saying,
"If you feel uncomfortable, just tell me. It's easy to get skin allergies using this."
Lin Zhuyue touched the sticker on his nose and asked:
"Aren't you going home? It's very late."
"Stay a little longer."
Shi Chan sat down on the accompanying chair and asked,
"Want to eat an apple? I'll peel it for you?"
Lin Zhuyue shook his head and said:
"No need to peel it, I can eat the apple skin."
The apple that Shi Can brought was very big and Lin Zhuyue couldn’t finish it, so they shared one apple.
After eating the apple, Lin Zhuyue felt a little sleepy. She didn't know how long Shi Can meant by "stay a little longer", but she couldn't stand it any longer and squinted her eyes, feeling drowsy.
Lin Zhuyue felt something wet and cold touching his hand and tried hard to open his eyes.
"It's okay, just wiping your hands."
Shi Can carefully wiped her fair and delicate fingers with alcohol wipes and coaxed her,
"Go back to sleep and ignore me."
The next morning, Lin Zhuyue's fever had subsided.
Shi Can, who had left at some point, pushed open the door carrying a thermos bucket. Seeing that Lin Zhuyue was awake, he poured out the rice porridge from the thermos bucket and handed it to Lin Zhuyue.
Not long after the meal, Fu Xingwei came with a fruit basket.
"teacher."
Lin Zhuyue said politely,
"Are you done with everything?"
Exams have just concluded at school, and the faculty and staff are busy grading papers. Shi Can's disappearance and subsequent return have wide-ranging consequences, leaving the Shi family furious and willing to kill the wrong person rather than let him go. This has led to the suspension and investigation of many people at the Spiritual Master's Mansion. Fu Xingwei, Shi Can's homeroom teacher, is overwhelmed with various matters.
"Not yet. It's quite complicated."
Fu Xingwei placed the fruit basket on the bedside and asked,
"I heard what happened from Shican and have a general understanding of the whole thing, but I still want to hear your side of the story."
Shi Can was so bold that he lied again. He completely avoided mentioning the existence of the Ukiyo-e scroll. When asked how he got out of the underworld, he said that he had sneaked into the octagonal tower of Minghui City while the souls were not paying attention, and then passed through the door back to the world of the living.
Anyway, Minghui City has little contact with the spiritual masters, and the probability of the two sides making confessions is as low as it can be.
Lin Zhuyue smiled embarrassedly and said:
"I'm sorry, teacher, I seem to have forgotten exactly what happened."
Fu Xingwei didn't expect to get this answer and asked:
"Forgot?"
This bad idea was proposed by Shi Can.
He believed that Lin Zhuyue had made a serious mistake in this matter, and the probability of not being held accountable by the Spiritual Master Mansion was almost zero.
But approximately zero does not mean completely zero. Lin Zhuyue did not hurt anyone in this incident, nor did he cause any serious consequences. As long as he finds another way, there is still a possibility of his innocence.
Lin Zhuyue touched his head and said:
"Maybe he got confused because of the fever..."
Fu Xingwei confirmed: "You don't remember anything?"
"I remember Shican seemed to have stabbed me with a knife..."
Lin Zhuyue recalled confusedly,
"Looks like he took an axe, uh..."
Shi Chan couldn't help but argue:
"How could I have chopped you? It was the ghost who chopped you, and what he used wasn't an axe or a knife, but a sword!"
Lin Zhuyue recalled the broken details again:
“It seems someone is selling delicious food, but Shichan won’t let me buy it.”
"Buy your head."
Shi Chan covered his face and said,
"Can you eat the things sold in the underworld? I say, partner, you haven't been in there as long as I have, and you've been more severely eroded by the Yin energy than I have. Did you eat something dirty while I wasn't paying attention?"
Lin Zhuyue rubbed his forehead in pain and said:
"I really don't remember."
Fu Xingwei glanced at Shi Can with understanding, and then asked:
"Then do you remember how you entered the underworld?"
Lin Zhuyue tried to recall and shook his head.
Shi Can had said long ago that Fu Xingwei would ask this question. This question may seem small, but it is the most crucial one.
Lin Zhuyue's main fault was that she broke into the underworld.
Now, as long as she doesn't admit it, who knows if she went in on her own, or was swept in by some mysterious force? If she didn't go in on her own, then wouldn't her punishment be unfair?
Fu Xingwei asked a few more questions, and Lin Zhuyue gave some random answers. Seeing that he couldn't get any results, Fu Xingwei told her to take good care of herself and then left Yunze Clinic.
Lin Zhuyue leaned tiredly on the pillow and asked:
"Did you manage to escape?"
"Old Fu saw it."
Shi Can took out an orange from the fruit basket and said,
"But he didn't expose you to your face. He probably didn't want to delve into it."
Lin Zhuyue was discharged from the hospital a day later.
She and Shi Can took a make-up exam under Fu Xingwei's arrangement. She felt that her brain might have really been damaged. She had clearly learned a lot of things on the test paper, but she couldn't remember them now.
On the day of receiving the results, Shican stuffed the newly issued basic configuration tool kit into the locker in the locker room.
"You are truly blessed."
Gong Yongyuan opened the cabinet next to him and said,
"You have to understand that many spiritualists, despite exhausting their entire lives, still can't find someone willing to venture into the underworld for them, even though they have no blood relationship. In your case, your chances of survival are slim. Your life was entirely saved by your partner."
Shi Chan nodded: "I know."
Shi Can knows Lin Zhuyue better than Gong Yongyuan.
He knew very well that with Lin Zhuyue's understanding of the underworld, if she didn't find him after entering the underworld, there would be basically no possibility for her to return to the world of the living.
She was literally risking her life.
"People like you can have good partners."
Meng Qi couldn't help but roll his eyes.
"It's really unfair."
"I'm going to give you a black eye today."
Shi Chan resisted the urge to beat up his classmates in the locker room.
"See you later at the training hall."
Lin Zhuyue has arrived at the classroom.
Wen Miyan and Ye Yangjia were sent out on a mission by the Spiritual Master's Mansion. The mission seemed to be quite urgent, and there was no signal at the mission location. Lin Zhuyue had been messaging Wen Miyan for several days but hadn't received a single response.
Shi Can entered the classroom and sat down next to Lin Zhuyue.
Lin Zhuyue gave him a psychological warning:
“I’m probably going to do really badly on the test.”
Every time she got a low score on a test, the one who was most devastated wasn't her, but Shi Can, who was responsible for tutoring her. Shi Can had been mad about his grades more than once, and before he started his final review, he even begged Lin Zhuyue to let him have a good new year.
"It's inevitable to get a low score in this situation."
Shi Chan lay on the table and said,
"Don't worry, I will help you make up for it. You will definitely pass the make-up exam, and I won't let you repeat the grade."
Lin Zhuyue gestured: "Maybe this is the only number."
"Five points?"
Shi Can held Lin Zhuyue's fingers, wrapped her slender fingers in his palm, and said,
"It doesn't matter, five points is five points..."
"What are you thinking about?"
Lin Zhuyue whispered,
"...I mean fifty points! You can't get only five points if you rely on guessing all the multiple-choice questions, right?"
However, Lin Zhuyue had clearly underestimated herself; her score on the report card was over 60. While that still significantly lowered the class average, at least she didn't have to retake the exam.
After receiving the results, Shi Can stood up Meng Qi without hesitation, walked in front of Lin Zhuyue with his bag on his back, and took Lin Zhuyue home.
As soon as Lin Zhuyue entered Shi Can's house, she went straight to the cat room. She rolled over with the baguette in her arms, then lay on her back on the carpet. She raised the baguette and said in a voice so sweet that it could overflow with honey:
"Whose kitten is so cute? Give me a kiss!"
Shi Can took the baguette from Lin Zhuyue's hand and stuffed a heavy box into Lin Zhuyue's hand.
Lin Zhuyue showed a puzzled expression: "Huh?"
"A new phone."
Shi Can touched the soft fur on the baguette and said,
"Didn't I lose my phone? The one the Spiritual Master's Mansion gave me wasn't working properly, so I asked someone to buy me two new ones. It's time to replace yours, too. A phone that's been soaked in water won't work well."
Lin Zhuyue sat up holding the box.
She is now very agile in getting up, unlike when she first came to Tiancheng, when she couldn't get up after lying down, like a dead salted fish.
“It’s quite expensive, isn’t it?”
Lin Zhuyue took out his cell phone from his pocket and asked,
"How much is it? I'll transfer it to you."
“It’s just a cell phone.”
Shi Chan held the baguette and stood up to get canned food from the cabinet.
"Take it apart and take a look. Do you like the color or anything?"
Lin Zhuyue opened the box and took a look. It was orange in color and very beautiful. She quite liked it.
Her phone wasn't very useful after it got soaked in water. The fingerprint lock sometimes wouldn't work, requiring a password to unlock it. Lin Zhuyue had been planning to buy a new phone for a while, but she hadn't found a chance to visit a phone store in Tiancheng.
Lin Zhuyue transferred 10,000 yuan to Shican and pressed the power button to turn on the phone.
The new phone had just been turned on and the interface of the phone switching assistant appeared. Lin Zhuyue followed the instructions and imported various data from the old phone into the new one.
Shican opened the can of baguette, scooped out the mousse-like meat paste with a spoon, and fed it to the kitten spoonful by spoonful.
After Lin Zhuyue had almost changed her cell phone, the housekeeper went upstairs and knocked on the door of the cat room, reminding Lin Zhuyue and Shican to come downstairs for dinner.
Shi Can couldn't tolerate someone eating with cat hair on his body, so he not only changed his own clothes, but also stuffed Lin Zhuyue into the guest room and asked her to change into home clothes.
Lin Zhuyue changed her clothes and washed her hands.
She stood in the bathroom, facing the mirror, and subconsciously looked down at her right ring finger.
Lin Zhuyue went downstairs, sat down opposite Shi Can, and said:
"I found that the edge was gone."
"I can't see it either."
Shi Chan looked at his fingers and said,
"But things like fate won't disappear on their own. If they disappear, it's probably just because the time hasn't come for us to see them yet. One day in the future, they'll reappear."
Lin Zhuyue picked up the bowl and picked up a piece of beef with chopsticks.
Since Lin Zhuyue fell ill, Shi Can had been responsible for all three meals a day. Shi Can was very careful, and the only meat he had given Lin Zhuyue in recent days was preserved egg and lean meat porridge. Lin Zhuyue had been craving meat for the past few days, and when he finally saw meat on the table, he grabbed two slices with one chopstick.
Shi Can pushed the braised beef closer to Lin Zhuyue.
"Eat more, or you might not be able to eat at night."
Lin Zhuyue bit into the beef and asked, "Why?"
Shi Can reminded in a faint tone:
"I have to go to the Spiritual Master's Mansion this afternoon to receive your punishment."
Lin Zhuyue: "..."
Although his appetite was affected, Lin Zhuyue still ate a lot after being "abused" by Shi Can for many days.
After she finished her meal, she went upstairs to take a nap.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, Shican woke her up.
Lin Zhuyue gathered herself together, packed up carefully, and changed her shoes at the entrance. When she was almost done changing her shoes, Shi Can asked her to wait a moment, went back to his room, dug out a brown bear hat, and put it on Lin Zhuyue's head.
"It's starting to get windy outside."
Shi Can rubbed the bear's ears and said,
"It fits you well. I'll give it to you."
Lin Zhuyue tilted her head left and right in front of the mirror and asked:
"It's quite cute. You actually wear this?"
"No, I don't."
Shi Can sighed and said,
"But I have a mom who loves to buy me all kinds of weird clothes. She just buys them and doesn't care if I wear them or not."
Lin Zhuyue had heard that once, while Shi Can was on a mission, his luggage was swapped with Ms. Cui's, and a suitcase full of women's clothing was unearthed. Ye Yangjia laughed at Shi Can for two days, until he almost choked and had to be sent to the hospital for injections.
Shi Chan changed his shoes at the entrance.
He opened the door, pulled Lin Zhuyue, who had a strange smile on her face, out, and got into the car at the door.
Shi Can drove the car and took Lin Zhuyue to the spiritual master's residence.
"Stop laughing."
Shi Can couldn't stand it any longer and said to Lin Zhuyue,
"You've been laughing all the way. What's so funny?"
Lin Zhuyue held back his laughter and raised his hand to straighten the little bear hat on his head.
Shi Can slammed on the brakes in front of the Spiritual Master's Mansion, kicked Lin Zhuyue out of the car, and drove to a parking space.
When he walked back, Lin Zhuyue was already inside the gate of the Spiritual Master's Mansion, looking at him through the glass with her head slightly tilted.
It looks like a little bear with a tilted head, quite cute.
They first went to the Higher Ministry office to receive punishment.
The person on duty in the office is Fu Xingwei.
Yi Lanshan, the head of the advanced department, gave up on rescuing Shi Can at the first opportunity. Although the arrangement was reasonable, he was punished by the Spiritual Master's Mansion and temporarily suspended because he did not question the words of Shi Can's partner during the mission and almost released the person who murdered Shi Can.
"Although you said you lost your memory, the Spiritual Master Mansion doesn't quite agree with this statement."
Fu Xingwei opened the drawer and took out a blue folder.
"But this explanation can indeed help you get the lightest punishment. Who gave you this idea?"
Shi Can protected Lin Zhuyue behind him and said with a smile:
"Teacher, don't cheat my partner."
Fu Xingwei opened the folder and handed a black pen and the document to Lin Zhuyue:
"Sign here."
Shi Chan saw the punishment result:
"Yes, it's just a minor offense."
"If you change the explanation, it won't just be a minor offense."
Fu Xingwei waited patiently for Lin Zhuyue to sign, and gave her one of the three copies of the document.
"Reflect on this carefully. This kind of thing must not happen again."
"Okay, okay."
Shi Can agreed perfunctorily while dragging Lin Zhuyue out.
"Speaking of which..."
Fu Xingwei called Shi Can and Lin Zhuyue and asked,
"Are you two in a relationship?"
Lin Zhuyue made a surprised sound: "...Ah?"
Shi Can was also stunned for a moment, but he quickly reacted and replied:
"I'm not in a relationship, not yet."
"Yeah, I understand."
Fu Xingwei waved his hand and said,
"You can go now."
Shi Can and Lin Zhuyue left the office together.
Lin Zhuyue followed Shi Can while her mind wandered——
What does "not yet" mean?
The two people did not leave the Spiritual Master's Mansion directly. Shi Can did not come with Lin Zhuyue to receive punishment today. He had another purpose.
He wants to meet Bai Xiangyu.
That was the person who tied a yellow ribbon with Shican when he entered the underworld, and untied the yellow ribbon, causing Shican to almost die in the underworld.
Bai Xiangyu is a formal spiritual master who graduated from the Spiritual Master Academy. He had excellent grades when he was studying and is said to be a very upright and honest person.
Shi Can wanted to see him as soon as he returned to the spiritual master's residence, but the permission to meet was not approved until yesterday evening.
Lin Zhuyue and Shi Can entered the visiting room together.
Bai Xiangyu, handcuffed, sat at the table, his face full of sorrow, his head lowered in silence, not looking like a young man in his twenties.
"Senior."
Shi Can pulled out a chair for Lin Zhuyue.
"I've seen the results of the interrogation."
Bai Xiangyu raised his head wearily and asked:
"So what else do you want to know?"
"Why?"
Shi Can sat down next to Lin Zhuyue and said,
"I don't think I've interfered with your interests, at least not to the extent that you'd murder me."
"Why?"
Bai Xiangyu moved his hand slightly, and amid the sound of the chains making a sound, he smiled bitterly and said,
"It's simply that you always protect her. Because of your presence, it's difficult for the aristocratic families to find an opportunity to attack your partner. Therefore, you must disappear."
Lin Zhuyue opened his eyes wide in surprise.
"You are a very good spiritual master."
Shi Can shook his head and said,
"You can definitely gain a foothold in the Spiritual Master Mansion with your own abilities."
“It’s not that good yet.”
Bai Xiangyu raised his head, looked straight at Shi Can and Lin Zhuyue, and said,
"In this day and age, how many spiritual masters' achievements aren't achieved through the support of a powerful family? Once the blockade of the underworld is lifted, everything we have will be reduced to dust."
"I know I'm sorry for you, but I really can't accept this result."
"However, I never thought that after throwing you into a place like the underworld, you would be able to crawl back. I can only willingly admit defeat at your hands."
"You didn't lose to me."
Shi Chan stood up and said,
"You lost to yourself."
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