Chapter 45: Yuan Qing 01

  Qin Fei attended Zhang Zhixin's funeral and started running a fever that same night after returning home.

  It was as if the physical and mental trauma that had been suppressed since that night in Qing Shui Town suddenly erupted. The high fever caused by the injury came on suddenly, and when Qin Mu went upstairs to call Qin Fei for dinner, Qin Fei was already burning with a fever and was unconscious. Qin Mu was frightened and hastily called an ambulance, sending Qin Fei to the hospital.

  Qin Fei's condition was not good, with a high fever that did not subside until the second half of the night, when the high body temperature finally showed a significant drop under the effect of medication, but he had not fully regained consciousness.

  Qin Mu stood beside Qin Fei's sickbed, holding the hand he had placed under the quilt, and gazing at Qin Fei with red-rimmed eyes as he slept fitfully. Qin Fei was indeed often ill, but it was only when he fell into the icy river that winter when he was eight years old that his illness had brought him to the brink of death. Perhaps it was that long period of unconsciousness that had left a psychological shadow on Qin Mu's heart, and now although Qin Fei had begun to recover from his fever, not seeing him open his eyes made her feel anxious and fearful, as if she might miss a single breath he took.

  Qin's mother, who was guarding Qin Fei, was worried and anxious, while Qin Fei, who was being guarded by his mother, had sunk deeply into a dream.

  It was a temple compound that exuded antiquity everywhere, and Qin Fei stood at the bottom of the steps on the edge of the compound. On his right hand side was a row of Zen houses, all of which were tightly closed. To his left was an empty courtyard, with nothing in it, except for a jujube tree planted not far in front of him. The sky was gloomy and cold, with a strong wind blowing, and the branches of the jujube tree still had some withered leaves that did not want to fall off, trembling in the cold wind, looking somewhat melancholic.

  Qin Fei stared at the quivering dry leaves on the tamarind tree for a while, and then heard a faint rustling sound.

  Qin Fei followed the sound and saw a monk wearing gray robes walking towards him. The monk had a warm and harmless face, but his eyes were deep and bottomless, yet somehow evoked an inexplicable sadness.

  The monk seemed to be unaware of Qin Fei, he walked through the empty courtyard, passing directly in front of Qin Fei, step by step down the stairs, and then stood still in front of the meditation room on the opposite side of the stairs, calling out "Master" and only entering after getting a response from inside.

  The door of the Zen room was pushed open, and Qin Fei hesitated for a moment before walking to the entrance of the Zen room. Over the shoulder of the monk, he saw an old monk with white whiskers sitting on the meditation cushion in the center of the Zen room.

  The monk in grey robes hesitated for a moment at the door of the meditation room after seeing the old monk, then stepped inside.

  At the moment the gray-robed monk stepped into the Zen room, Qin Fei only felt that the scene in front of him was blurred for a moment. Then he found himself entering the Zen room, his body uncontrollably walking step by step to the old monk's face, and then silently kneeling down. Qin Fei's line of sight fell on his knees with his head lowered, and what entered his eyes was a familiar gray robe - had he become that gray-robed monk?

  "Yuān Qīng, what's wrong with you?" The old monk sighed and his desolate voice came from above Qin Fei's head.

  Qin Fei did not raise his head, he heard his own suppressed trembling voice, and said: "Master, the disciple cannot understand."

  "When a man dies, his lamp goes out; all grudges and hatred end in nothingness." The old monk said.

  "...but he died with a grievance." Qin Fei paused for a moment, then corrected himself, "No, it's me who can't accept it, and also can't tolerate the person who killed him."

  The old monk did not speak for a long time and remained silent for a good while. He finally let out a deep sigh, "Yuan Qing, you may go."

  Qin Fei bowed his head to the old monk and then got up and walked out of the Zen room.

  Stepping out of the Zen room, the outside had lost that empty courtyard, replaced by a deep and profound darkness. Like a tide, it surged towards him, quickly engulfing Qin Fei's surrounding light, swallowing the Zen room behind him, and plunging him into complete darkness.

  Suffocating intense emotions churned in his chest, but Qin Fei didn't panic. This deep darkness was a familiar dream he had grown accustomed to over the years.

  Once you get out, you'll be fine once you're out...

  Qin Fei thought so, his footsteps had already stepped forward, and the control of his body returned. He just didn't know what he looked like at this time, whether it was his original appearance or that of the gray-robed monk. In the darkness, nothing could be seen, including himself. However, at present, he also did not have the extra energy to explore, the sorrow and anger surged, making him feel that his soul was about to be torn apart, yet he didn't understand why such intense and negative emotions would arise, so all he could do was move forward, then walk out!

  However, this time the dark dream was different from the previous ones. After walking for an unknown period of time, Qin Fei saw a faint light, and in that light, he saw a person, a man. The man wore a cyan robe, with black hair reaching his waist, and his face was hidden in a haze, but Qin Fei knew that this person was looking at him sideways.

  Qin Fei stared blankly at the man, his mind buzzing with confusion and disordered thoughts. Yet, as if driven by instinct, he ran towards the man. He reached the man's side, still able to see his face clearly, but felt that this person was someone extremely familiar and important to him, and he had to take him out of this darkness.

  Qin Fei took the man's hand and walked quickly in one direction.

  However, not far away, he turned back to find that the man in green shirt he was holding had lost his trace. As far as the eye could see, there was only complete desolation and darkness. Qin Fei knelt down on the ground in despair, unable to suppress his sad emotions, and tears fell down.

  Qin Fei slowly opened his eyes to see a white ceiling, he woke up from that desperate darkness, but his emotions couldn't calm down, tears still fell uncontrollably from the corners of his eyes, but were quickly wiped away by someone with a tissue.

  Qin Fei was taken aback and slowly turned his head, only to see his mother sitting on the edge of the bed with red eyes.

  "Ma......" Qin Fei shouted in a hoarse voice.

  "Mom is here." Qin Mu's mother said softly while helping Qin Fei wipe away his tears, "Are you awake? Why are you crying? Did you have a nightmare? It's okay, now that you're awake, everything is fine."

  Qin Fei was still a bit dazed, staring blankly at his mother for a moment before his eyes wandered aimlessly around the room. Just as he was about to get up, his mother quickly pressed down on his right hand that had just been lifted.

  "Don't move around, you're still on a drip! You had a fever all night, this is the hospital ward." Qin's mother explained softly to dispel Qin Fei's confusion, then reached out to check his forehead temperature again. "The fever has almost subsided now, Mom will go buy some food for you, just lie there and don't move around, got it?"

  Seeing Qin Fei nod slightly, his mother got up and left the ward.

  ……

  The case of the dismembered body in H City has come to an end. After returning to S City, Gu Wenkai finally got a two-day holiday, but before he could even sleep in and catch up on rest, he was summoned by Gu Yin.

  These two days, Gu Yin had just gathered all the materials needed to lift the curse for Qin Fei, and brought the materials to Qin Fei's residence to find him. Last time, Gu Wenqing sent Qin Fei back, he followed along to Qin Fei's residence, so he knew the address.

  But when he arrived at Qin Fei's residence, he found that there was no one in the house. Then he went to the book bar again, and Shen Wei told him that Qin Fei had gone back to his own home, but she couldn't tell him the specific address. Qin Fei's phone was also unreachable, so Gu Yin borrowed a mobile phone to call Gu Wenkai.

  Gu Wenkai reluctantly gave up his lazy sleep, drove to the book bar to pick up the young master of the Gu family, and then went to Qin Fei's home. But when he arrived at Qin Fei's home, he found that it was still the same situation as Qin Fei's residence - no one was there.

  Gu Wenkai turned his head to look at Gu Yin beside him, then saw the expression on his face that said "you're in charge of this", and Gu Wenkai resignedly started making phone calls to people Qin Fei knew. After learning from Song Baozi that Qin's mother had returned, Gu Wenkai immediately called Qin's mother, only to find out that Qin Fei was currently in the hospital.

  Gu Wenkai hung up the phone and said to Gu Yin: "Qin Xiaofei is in the hospital."

  Gu Yin glanced at him and walked towards Gu Wenkai's car, ordering: "Then go to the hospital."

  Gu Wenkai: You bastard! Do you think I'm your servant?

  Towards Gu Yin, Gu Wenkai's rebellious young heart would always stir up a bit, even though Gu Yin asked Qin Fei to help him lift the curse. But thinking of Qin Fei in the hospital, Gu Wenkai couldn't help but worry, and finally could only reluctantly obey Gu Yin's orders.

  Gu Wenkai drove back and headed towards Qin Fei's hospital.

  Gu Wenkai's emotions came and went quickly, and as soon as he drove out of Qin Fei's two-story apartment complex, his emotions had mostly dissipated. He glanced through the rearview mirror at Gu Yin in the back seat. As for Gu Yin personally finding Qin Fei to lift the curse for him, Gu Wenkai was actually a bit surprised - according to Gu Yin's temperament, he should have been waiting at home like a big shot, and then summoned Qin Fei to come find him.

  Gu Yin seems unexpectedly concerned about Qin Fei...

  Gu Wenkai thought back to the time when Qin Fei ran into that little ghost, and at that time, Gu Yin could be said to have had a special protective desire for Qin Fei in a strange way, but later suddenly turned against him.

  But why care about it now?

  "Stop the car." Gu Wenkai was quietly pondering his own brother's strange attitude towards Qin Fei when he suddenly heard Gu Yin speak up.

  "Hmm? What's wrong?" Gu Wenkai pulled the car over to the side of the road and turned around to ask Gu Yin.

  Gu Yin didn't respond to Gu Wenkai's words, instead asking him for a note and pen. He then wrote something on the note, along with the wooden box containing the materials to lift Qin Fei's curse, and handed it over to Gu Wenkai. "The method to lift Qin Fei's curse is written on this note."

  "Ha?"

  Gu Yin didn't respond at all and was completely out of it. Gu Wenkai stuffed something into his hand, then opened the car door and got out.

  "Hey, hey!" Seeing Gu Yin getting off the car and about to leave, Gu Wenkai hurriedly rolled down the window, stuck his head out and shouted, "Wait a minute! I'm not very good at that kind of thing, can't I just use my hands? And - what are you going to do anyway?"

  "The method is simple, I wrote it clearly on the note, as long as you're not stupid like a gecko, there won't be any problem." Gu Yin said and turned to leave, as for Gu Wenkai's second question, he didn't intend to answer at all.

  "Hey......" Gu Wenkai weakly shouted, but Gu Yin completely ignored him and soon walked out of Gu Wenkai's line of sight.