Chapter 29: The Truth Revealed

  I quietly walked towards the room on the second floor that Wang's wife had arranged for me, feeling a bit flustered. As I turned the corner, Ye Zikai was leaning against the railing looking at me: "Are you okay just now?!" I nodded: "I'm fine, I'm tough!" I smiled at him and walked towards my room, "Wait, Ning Xiao." Ye Zikai blocked my way: "Do you trust me?" I looked up at him and nodded, he smiled with relief and said: "Then go rest in your room!" After that, he headed downstairs.

  I had just changed my clothes and was about to enter the house when I heard a knock at the door. With a hint of impatience, I opened it to find Xiao Lü standing there with her head hung low. "Ning Lie," she said, "last time's incident was my fault. Please don't hold it against me." Upon hearing this, I reached out and took her hand, saying, "Xiao Lü, this wasn't your fault. You don't need to blame yourself." After speaking these words, I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. Everyone has the right to make their own choices; I couldn't take that away from them. "Ning Lie, you barely ate anything just now. Take this box of cookies and eat it!" Li Xiangyu said with a smile as bright as a sunflower, placing the cookies in my hand. She patted my head: "Last time's incident wasn't anyone's fault. Selfishness is human nature. Choice is also everyone's right." Her eyes were sincere, so I smiled and said, "I didn't blame anyone." "Then we're still like before!" Li Xiangyu exclaimed excitedly as she hugged me tightly, whispering this in my ear. Xiao Lü also smiled and hugged me: "This is great! Just like before!"

  After they left, I closed the door and my eyelids drooped involuntarily. Thinking about last night's sleepless night, my yawns were endless, and I fell asleep on the bed in a daze. I don't know how long I slept, but the sound of dripping water woke me up. I squinted my eyes towards the source of the sound, only to see the moonlight shining through the window onto that patch of floor. "It's already dark! Damn it! My ring!" As soon as I thought about the ring that fell into the medicine pool, I felt regretful. How could I forget something so important?! I got up and jumped off the bed, but somehow tripped again: "Damn it!" I cursed again, got up and continued walking. After two steps, I couldn't help but turn back, and was shocked to see a figure slowly getting up from the ground, with bloodshot eyes staring at me resentfully, step by step approaching me.

  I flung open the door and rushed out, but my strength was too great, and I crashed into the railing on the second floor. With a loud "crash", the railing actually broke off. I turned around to look back at the house, and that person's shadow revealed a smile. I let out a wry laugh as I tumbled down to the first floor. The fall wasn't too severe, thanks to the soft grass below. Brushing myself off, I stood up with an unusually calm demeanor and looked up at the second floor. "Hey, you're really calm now!" Purple Feather jumped down from a nearby tree, eyeing me up and down as she asked.

  I turned my head to look at him: "Right, my ring fell into the medicine pool, come with me to pick it up!" Zi Yu rubbed his hair: "I'm just a born unlucky person, let's go, let's go!" I smiled and patted his shoulder: "Yeah, you're a very handsome unlucky young man!" Hearing the praise, he was delighted and followed me to the medicine pool. "You go pick it up, young man!" I pushed him into the water and sat down on the shore, thinking about what had just happened. Zi Yu searched for a long time in the water, his face resentful as he poked his head out of the water: "Hey! Are you sure your ring fell here?! There's nothing at all, okay?!" "How is that possible, it clearly fell inside."

  I rolled up my sleeves in dissatisfaction, preparing to enter the medicine pool to search. "Why do you think it fell in? It must be inside now." A soft voice came from the doorway, Ye Zikai leaned against the door frame with a calm expression. Zi Yu crawled out of the medicine pool and nodded in agreement: "Yes, maybe someone took it away too." "Follow me." Ye Zikai threw down this sentence and turned to leave, I and Zi Yu exchanged a glance for a while, then hurriedly followed up.

  The room of Grandma Wang was lit up, and we sneaked a peek through the window to see Grandma Wang looking at Li Shan Yu with disdain. "Shan Yu, explain this to me, what's going on?" Grandma Wang slapped something on the table, wasn't that the ring I dropped in the medicine pool? How did it end up with Grandma Wang, and why was she interrogating Li Shan Yu? Li Shan Yu picked up the ring and smiled miserably: "This thing was originally mine, why can't I take it?"

  "Was Ak's ring originally Li Shan Yu's? I'm even more confused. Wang's face turned very ugly, and she slapped Li Shan Yu's face: "Shan Yu! You used to be my favorite child! But why are you so muddled! A person who has already died, why do they still have such a heavy obsession!" Hearing Wang's words, I was shocked and almost cried out, is Li Shan Yu a dead person? How is that possible? "I didn't die! I didn't die!" Li Shan Yu stood up excitedly, grabbing Wang's arm: "You said I'm your favorite child, help me! You have a way!"

  "Get out! You've disappointed me too much, staying in this world and even letting Ning Xue become a ghost bride! You know that the ghost marriage procession came because of you, if you hadn't opened the tent to attract them." Li Shan Yu was pushed to the ground, shouting hysterically: "Why?! Why does Ning Xue get to be so liked by Master, and you're so protective of her?! I'm clearly the most talented child, I'm clearly the one with the most potential! Now everything has been taken away from me by Ning Xue, why?!" Wang Po's face flashed with a hint of disappointment, she squatted down, touching Li Shan Yu's face: "Shan Yu, I know you're able to live like a living person now because of the forbidden technique. Don't have so many attachments anymore, you are talented, but you're already dead. No matter how much you change, the fact that you're dead can't be changed. The dead will always go where they should go, your attachment to this world will only get heavier."

  I felt Ye Zikuo's body trembling behind me, and when I turned around, I saw the complexity in his eyes. Then he turned and ran downstairs, and I was startled, chasing after him hastily. Zi Yu couldn't help but shout: "Hey! Wait for me!" My heart sank, wasn't this Zi Yu loudly announcing to the world that we were eavesdropping? Forget it, can't control so much now, seeing Ye Zikuo's emotions so unstable, worried he'd get into trouble, might as well find him first.

  The mountain villa looked small from the outside, but it was actually huge and scary. What's more frightening is that every road looks like a maze. As a result, I haven't caught up with Ye Zikuo yet, and I'm stuck in this maze-like road. "Ye Zikuo!" I shouted towards the front, but no one responded to me. I sighed, surrounded by a bunch of strange buildings, and it was really eerie. No way! I must find him, every time he helps me, this time I'll help him. I calmed down, observing the maze-like road, although I still couldn't figure out the route, I still gritted my teeth and relied on intuition, step by step wandering in the maze.

  I saw a blurry figure leaning against the fake mountain, I excitedly went forward and patted his shoulder: "Haha! Found you!" Ye Zikuo didn't respond to me, he just calmly asked: "What are you doing out here, Road Idiot?" "Hey hey hey! Don't insult my intelligence like that, what's with the stinky face, smile a bit!" Not knowing how to comfort him, I could only pretend nothing had happened and joke around with him.

  "Let's go back, I want to be alone for a while." Ye Zikuo said with a very tired expression. I sighed: "But I don't know how to get back, I'm directionally challenged." From time to time, I would sneak a peek at his expression. After a long while, he started walking forward on his own: "Just follow me and it'll be fine." I excitedly grabbed his hand: "Okay okay!" Ye Zikuo's eyebrows furrowed, and he quietly pulled his hand back, continuing to walk forward. I sighed, it seems that Wang's words were not only directed at Li Shan Yu, but also at Ye Zikuo. But what can be done? I don't want to lose either of these two friends...