Chapter 28: Estrangement

  "We're here." Zi Yu's voice woke me up from my sleep, and I squinted to see what was supposed to be the Yishan Villa. The scale wasn't very large, but it was a very elegant two-story small building. Zi Yu put me down and said: "Do you feel good about this place?" I nodded, and from the moment I entered, I had a very peaceful feeling, which was simply worlds apart from the eerie Ghost Mountain outside.

  I dragged my injured left leg, somewhat excitedly running towards the house. "Be careful!" Ye Zikai had just finished saying this when I inevitably fell and ate dog shit. Before I could even get up, I was picked up by someone: "Xiao Hong! Are you here to find me?! I'm so happy!" Yuan Nuo asked while hugging me. I pushed him away, looking at the comic books and snacks in the house, and couldn't help but ask: "You're living a pretty good life, huh?"

  "I'm just here for tourism, what about you guys, how did you all come?" Yuan Nuo Yi asked again, pulling my hand. Wait, tourism? Why is his statement so inconsistent with Na Gu Yun Er's? My head started to get messy. Li Shan Yu pulled over my hand and said: "Yuan Nuo Yi, didn't you see that Ning Xue's hand was injured?" I calmly pretended to casually pull back my own hand: "It's just a minor injury, it doesn't matter."

  "Na Gyun'er didn't come, but a group of kids did." A kind-hearted old lady walked out from the inner room and approached me. She looked at me for a long time: "You're Ning Lie, right?" I nodded, she lowered her head to look at my hands, then turned to Zi Yu: "Zi Yu, after dinner, take Ning Lie to soak in the medicine pool." Zi Yu smiled mischievously and said: "Let's go eat on the second floor!" The old lady grabbed my hand: "My surname is Wang, just call me Granny Wang. Now come with us to have dinner." This feeling was really peaceful, I held her hand back, she smiled at me and led me upstairs.

  I inadvertently caught Li Shanyu giving me a weird look, so I lowered my head and quickened my pace towards the second floor. Since both of my hands were injured, using chopsticks was inconvenient for me, so Zi Yu gave me a small spoon to eat with. The dishes were very light, and I picked up the spoon thinking of going to pick some food, but it just wouldn't work out, and I awkwardly put down the spoon, eating plain white rice on my own. "Little Hong, this is your favorite." Yuan Nuo picked up a piece of chicken and placed it at my mouth, and as I lifted my head, I happened to see Ye Zikai, who had tried to pick food for me but ended up putting down his chopsticks and sitting off to the side.

  "Hmm! It's so delicious!" Zi Yu savored the chicken, his face filled with enjoyment. Yuan Nu pinched his neck frantically: "That's for Xiao Hong!" Li Shan Yu chuckled softly: "Nu Yi, it wasn't in vain that Ning Hong came to find you after all." I avoided her teasing gaze and continued eating my plain rice. Zi Yu picked up the chicken and put it into my bowl: "If you want something, just tell me, I'm right next to you, aren't I?"

  Xiao Lü smiled and sat down beside Yuan Nu: "Nu Yi ah! Let me feed you!" After finishing, she gave me a warning look. I felt suppressed, very suppressed. What's wrong with everyone? If I stay here any longer, I'll go crazy. I put down my bowl: "I'm full, I'll go outside for a walk." Wang PoPo kindly tapped Zi Yu with her chopsticks: "Go accompany the little girl for a stroll, it's your hobby!"

  Zi Yu led me downstairs, looked at my distracted expression and said: "I'll take you to a good place." I followed him to the backyard, which was very quiet, with a small pool under the Chinese parasol tree. Zi Yu sat down by the pool and asked: "Do you feel like you can't stay with those people anymore?" I sat beside him, feeling somewhat annoyed: "I don't know what's wrong with everyone, it was almost me who died, but Li Shan Yu and Xiao Lu's expressions were as if they were the victims."

  "Ah, and then?" "What do you mean 'and then'?" I looked at him, his purple eyes narrowing: "So you guys started to drift apart, so no matter how you look at them, they're hostile towards you, right?" I sighed and nodded: "Aren't we going to the medicine pool?" Zi Yu patted my head: "Alright, kiddo, don't think too much, everything will clear up. Now let's go to the medicine pool for a soak, it'll be good for your injuries too."

  The medicine pool wasn't big, the hot steam made me feel comfortable. "You just need to soak in there for half an hour, I'll wait for you outside." I nodded and sent off Ziyu. I walked into the medicine pool quietly, a kind of relaxation feeling made me happy, even forgot about the current situation. The misty steam blurred my vision, I closed my eyes thinking about what happened these two days, couldn't help but feel a bit worried. I suddenly dipped my head into the water, trying to clear my mind, but unexpectedly saw something I shouldn't have seen. A woman covered in hair, only revealing a pair of bloodshot eyes staring straight at me.

  She stretched out her pale hands from her hair, I was frightened and drilled out of the water surface, wanting to walk out of the medicine pool immediately. The feeling of being pulled into the water again wasn't so unbearable. I calmly looked at her, slowly drew off the ring on my little finger, pinched the handle of the knife that had transformed, and chopped towards her, a heap of black objects disappeared in front of me.

  I exhaled slowly, just about to return to the surface of the water. "I'm over here." Then her voice came, and a mass of hair began to wrap tightly around my body. The pain in my hands was unbearable, I loosened my grip on the knife handle, and watched as it transformed into a ring that fell into the water and disappeared. Why would such a thing appear in this clean place like Nonshan Villa? Before I could think more, the feeling of suffocation became unbearable, I struggled to turn around and look at the woman, her eyes were empty, without any spark. Strange, did she not even have her own consciousness? Who was controlling her?

  Continuously sinking, clearly at the bottom of the water, yet I saw Ghost Valley, that valley which almost made me fall. I even heard that eerie wind blowing towards me, and could hear the sound of drums and gongs. When my eyes met that woman who looked like a matchmaker, I instantly lost all ability to think. Lifting my head to look upwards, where was the water? Clearly, I was in Ghost Valley, slowly falling downwards. "Ah!" I stared at the familiar skull rushing towards me, those dozen or so pairs of eyes with only whites staring straight at me.

  "Ah, Ning Lie!" With a splash, water splashed everywhere. By the time I reacted, Zi Yu had already wrapped me tightly in a bathrobe. "Gui Gu! That woman!" I grabbed Zi Yu's sleeve tightly, almost hysterically shouting. Zi Yu's expression also turned serious: "It seems that some unclean thing has mixed in. Let's go find Master!" Zi Yu and I rushed straight to the second floor.

  As soon as we entered the door, Yuan Nuo and others were still eating. Wang's wife put down her bowl and chopsticks, took a look at us and asked: "Are you taking a mandarin duck bath?" As soon as she said this, Yuan Nuo's rice was sprayed directly onto Li Xiangyu's face. Zi Yu looked at herself who was wet all over, then looked at me, scratched her head and said: "Master, can you please not talk nonsense for now? Ning Xiao almost drowned just now, something bad has sneaked into the mountain villa." Wang's wife's expression did not change much, but she continued to pick up her bowl and chopsticks: "It is indeed very dirty outside the mountain villa, but it is absolutely impossible for anything to sneak into my mountain villa."

  "Master, could it be that your seal hasn't been maintained? So..." Zi Yu thought hard, trying to find a reason. "I said it's absolutely impossible for anything to sneak in, so only people who come in openly and honestly are allowed." Wang Po Po's sharp eyes scanned Ye Zi Ke, Li Shan Yu, and Xiao Lu. Zi Yu supported me as I almost fell over, and I stared blankly at Wang Po Po: "You're saying that it's possible..." "Not possibly, but definitely." Wang Po Po walked up to me and said this with a loud and clear voice.