“Talking nonsense to me? Hm? Someone—”
“Wait, wait! I—I have a lead! I have a lead!”
Seeing Su Qingyue raise her hand to call someone, Jia Xianren quickly knelt down, repeatedly changing his tone.
“On my way back, I saw a blindfolded boy, and he looked quite like the one you described—his eyes were ruined and he couldn’t see, but he was very delicate-looking!”
“Is that so?”
Su Qingyue asked again, her impatience obvious—as if she didn’t care about anything else, but this matter alone could be seen in her tone and movements to make her anxious.
Jia Xianren nodded vigorously. Seeing this, Su Qingyue merely walked back behind the curtain.
Through the shadow of the curtain, one could see a birdcage hanging behind it.
Su Qingyue opened the birdcage, and a small bird with emerald feathers and golden claws flapped out, lightly landing on her pale fingers.
Su Qingyue’s deadfish eyes remained expressionless, but her tone was cold as ice: “Say that again.”
The little bird tilted its head, its bead-like eyes scanning Jia Xianren like a curious child.
Jia Xianren shuddered and froze for half a second.
He hurriedly repeated, “I, I saw a blindfolded boy on my way back. His eyes were truly blind, couldn’t see anything, but he was extremely delicate-looking!”
After speaking, he stole a glance at the bird, feeling a chill down his back.
Su Qingyue gently stroked the bird’s feathers, as if soothing it, and said indifferently,
“Xiaobao, is he telling the truth or lying?”
The bird immediately started chirping like a parrot, shaking its head and bobbing around: “Truth, truth!”
Jia Xianren’s mouth twitched involuntarily. So this blasted bird is trained for this!
“Alright, bring the person back for me. Remember, bring him back unharmed.”
“Ah? Me?”
“Is there a problem?”
“No, no.”
Jia Xianren was about to say something else but was silenced by Su Qingyue’s icy glare.
“Wait.”
Jia Xianren stood up to leave but was stopped by Su Qingyue.
No sooner had she spoken than a small black object suddenly shot out from behind the curtain and “plopped” into Jia Xianren’s mouth.
Caught off guard, he swallowed it, his throat tightening, then immediately collapsed to his knees, clutching his neck and coughing violently.
“I gave you the Chiskeleton Pill to swallow. Within one hundred days, come to me to get the antidote. If you exceed one hundred days, you will die. Don’t think about going to others for the antidote—you don’t look like you can afford an Alchemist anyway. Also, this is the Seven Star Chiskeleton Pill; if you don’t figure out its formula and recklessly take other medicines, you’ll die even faster.”
After saying this, Jia Xianren felt his body growing warm.
“It’s fine; it’s normal to feel uncomfortable right after taking it. Hurry and bring me the person. If you can’t find him, you’re as good as dead.”
Hearing this, Jia Xianren couldn’t stay seated any longer and hurried out the door.
Behind the curtain, Su Qingyue lowered the hand that had pinched Xiaobao’s beak.
“Lies! Lies!”
“Enough, Xiaobao, stop.”
“Why did you use a fake pill?”
Hearing Xiaobao’s question, Su Qingyue only walked to the balcony and sat down, speaking calmly.
“I lied because I really don’t want to wait anymore. The pill was fake because that Qi Refining Initial Stage waste of a cultivator isn’t worth feeding the real Chiskeleton Pill. A worthless concoction made from scraps is enough. Besides, he doesn’t look very smart…”
Su Qingyue’s eyes remained dull and lifeless, revealing no emotion—completely deadfish. She simply stared quietly at the moon.
***
Jiang Che was dreaming, but he wasn’t lost in the dream world at all.
He couldn’t see anything, so how could the image of himself still living in a thirty-square-meter rental on Lanxing fool him?
But couldn’t dreams be better?
Jiang Che just felt his face was wet, like something was licking it.
He suddenly grabbed the thing resting on his face with both hands and felt something furry.
The texture was familiar, warm, fluffy, like holding a small, moving dandelion puff.
Around him were crisp bird songs, and warm sunlight shone on his body.
He instinctively rubbed that ball of fur lightly with his fingers, feeling a faint tremble of softness. What was it?
“Huh? Why is it a Rabbit?” He was a little surprised, not quite understanding the situation.
Could this be the one he caught but never got to eat?
Jiang Che was about to examine it more closely when a sharp sting suddenly radiated from his fingertips.
“Ugh—!”
Jiang Che inhaled sharply in pain, his hand pulling back as if burned by fire.
The rabbit took the chance to kick off nimbly, hopping away from his face and shoulder, making rustling sounds.
“Damn rabbit! How dare you bite me.”
Jiang Che rubbed the small bite marks on his finger, feeling both annoyed and amused.
Nowadays, even rabbits dare to bite people? He was a cripple, and even small animals looked down on him?
But at this moment, what mattered more was figuring out where he was.
Everything around him felt strange.
Just as he was filled with confusion and an inexplicable irritation, a voice that instantly made his muscles tense and blood run cold sounded a few steps away.
“Che’er, you’re awake.”
Lin Yin’s voice remained calm as always. She was sitting under a nearby tree.
She had been meditating here all night, still troubled by how she had nearly killed Jiang Che.
When Duo’er knelt and said she was willing to give up her Magic Treasure, Lin Yin hadn’t even heard clearly.
She kept trying to stabilize Jiang Che’s injuries.
Bringing Jiang Che back to the village, most of the villagers looked at him with strange eyes.
But Lin Yin no longer cared. Behind them was an old healer named Hu Jingzhong, his granddaughter, and a boy named Wang Hao rushing over to check on Jiang Che’s injuries.
Hu Jingzhong was indeed skilled and quickly stabilized Jiang Che’s condition. Nearby, the young girl’s gaze held unspoken emotions that Lin Yin could read, and seeing that made her heart ache terribly.
She sought out Duo’er again, having already abandoned the idea of taking the Magic Treasure.
Instead, she helped Duo’er further refine it, allowing her to stay in the spring water.
Originally, Duo’er wanted to follow them, but Lin Yin refused.
Once Jiang Che’s condition was stable, Lin Yin took him away.
At this moment, the little rabbit hopped up onto Lin Yin’s lap, rubbing against her robes in a coquettish manner.
“I figured this rabbit must be very familiar with you, so I brought it along.”
Jiang Che gave a helpless smile. Familiar? More like too familiar—almost ended up in his stomach.
Jiang Che didn’t say anything else, fingers subconsciously brushing the corner of his clothes.
The touch wasn’t the red dress he had before.
His clothes had been changed into a simple gray-white robe, something Lin Yin preferred for its simplicity.
Even the cloth covering his eyes was changed to white.
“Am I not dead? I remember you clearly tried to kill me.”
Jiang Che’s tone was a bit sulky.
Lin Yin felt bitter in her heart and smiled wryly.
“Sorry, I didn’t know what was going on back then.”
“So where are you taking me now? This isn’t the village, is it?”
“Mm…”
Lin Yin only hummed in response, offering no further explanation.
That answer only made Jiang Che more restless and frustrated.