Chapter Seventy-One: The Kiss

  Su Yin opened the door to find Qi Xiu standing in the entrance hall with his arms crossed, their eyes met and Qi Xiu's expression changed drastically, his face darkening as he asked in a cold tone: "Who did it?"

  She turned her face away, deliberately avoiding Qizhao's line of sight, and changed her shoes while walking into the house. She pretended to be relaxed and said: "Nothing, just an accident, nothing happened, I'm going to cook."

  As she passed by Qizheng, she wanted to quickly hide in the kitchen and not get entangled. But just as she took a step forward, her arm was roughly grabbed and her chin was pinched up. Qizheng's tone was very cold and hard, with anger: "Nothing? Your face is swollen! Who did it?"

  She didn't know why Qixiu was so angry, and having her chin pinched also made her very uncomfortable. Why did everyone want to pinch her? She shook off the hand that was holding her in place with force. Su Yin didn't look at Qixiu and said: "I really don't have anything going on! I'm going to go cook!" She turned around, wanting to leave.

  She didn't expect a sudden surge of power, and her vision began to spin, her back pressed against the cold wall, Qi Xiu tightly pinning her down, his deep black eyes seething with anger. She lifted her head, and for an instant, their gazes met, she was stunned, unable to move, as if about to sink deeply into them.

  Zixiu stared at her for a long time, the air between them seemed to have solidified. Suddenly, a large black shadow pressed down in front of her eyes, and before she could react, her lips felt a soft and wet sensation. Boom! Her mind was filled with white noise, as if she had been struck by lightning! She was completely petrified, her thoughts frozen in place!

  Qizhao felt her stiffness, and only lightly stroked her before releasing her, quietly gazing down at her. Su Yin was dazed, as time passed, she gradually couldn't control the surge of emotions, first her lips trembled, then her whole body began to shake. Finally, she realized she was trapped between Qizhao and the wall, being held in his arms for a long time. Suddenly, a flush rose to her face.

  A huge sense of shame left her at a loss, and she didn't know where the strength came from, but suddenly she pushed Qi Xiu away, turned around like a rabbit and rushed into the room. With a loud "bang", the house shook three times, deeply expressing someone's flustered mood.

  Zixiu was pushed by her and stumbled, standing still to see her running back into the room. In the quiet living room, he stood sideways, his eyes fixed on the door, his face expressionless, his eyes calm and serene. After a while, he finally made a move, bending down to pick up the ingredients that had fallen to the ground, then walked into the kitchen and put them in the refrigerator.

  He turned around and sat on the sofa, facing the TV which was not turned on. His gaze was directed forward but without focus, his usually elegant face showing a rare look of confusion, faintly. He sat from mid-afternoon until sunset, finally feeling the weakening light in the living room. He turned his head to glance out the window, then got up and walked to the door, knocking on it.

  After Su Yun rushed into the room, she threw herself heavily onto the bed, hugged the quilt to cover her head, and pressed the pillow against her face, starting to scream! Oh my god! This is too scary! After she got tired of screaming, she started rolling around, from one end to the other, from the top of the bed to under it, and then back onto the bed again, spinning 360 degrees.

  She didn't know how long she had been struggling, but eventually she lay down panting, staring at the ceiling, her mind still reeling. As soon as she recovered a bit, she couldn't stop replaying that scene over and over in her head. Every time she thought about it, she got excited, and every time she got excited, she started screaming and rolling around again. This repeated back and forth, tormenting her until she was exhausted.

  When Zixiu came to knock on the door, she was just about to put her head under the quilt like an ostrich, and her hands were pounding the bed. Hearing the rhythmic "thud thud thud" sound, she immediately stopped moving, even holding her breath.

  The knocking sound rang out three times, each time three knocks, with the same interval. But she didn't make a sound or respond. Qi Xiu waited for half a day and saw that she still wasn't coming to open the door, so he turned around and left. Hearing the faint footsteps, Su Yin let out a heavy sigh of relief.

  Ten minutes later, the door was knocked again. This time, Zixiu was quite persistent and knocked for half a day. Finally, he shouted in a low voice: "Su Yin, come out and cook!"

  A minute later, the door was pulled open to reveal Su Yin's exhausted and helpless face. Qi Xiu had an innocent expression, though it wasn't clear if he was being sincere or not, and said faintly, "Cooking, I'm hungry."

  Su Yun rolled her eyes, nodded, and directly walked past him to cook. After dinner, Su Yun dragged on for half a day and was unwilling to return to the living room. Finally gathering up her courage, she quickly rushed into the living room and dashed towards the bedroom.

  "Hong", Zixiu slowly put down the Baonian Wolf Hao and the yellow talisman in his hand, listening to the second loud noise he heard today. From now on, what will be different, he knows but doesn't want to stop. This is not like him, he shouldn't do this. In fact, he can't even figure out how he ended up kissing her, was it because his anger blinded his heart, or did he subconsciously want to do this all along.

  The next morning, Qi Xiu pushed open the door and first listened at Su Yin's door for a while. There was no movement, so he furrowed his brow and walked to the living room, looking around. In the not-so-big house, except for the breakfast on the table, there wasn't a single person in sight.

  On this side, Su Yin was sitting on a roadside bench with an extremely entangled and depressed expression. What exactly happened yesterday? She thought about it all night but still couldn't understand what Qi Xiu was thinking, only lamenting that her first kiss of 19 years had disappeared like that. Lack of sleep made her restless, she leaned back, early in the morning, staring blankly at the distant sunrise rising slowly, until the sun rose high, the light piercing painfully into her eyes, before blinking and continuing to stare at another target.

  When Niefar arrived, he saw such a strange scene. Su Yin sat on the chair, staring blankly into the distance, next to a pair of white lovers who were being affectionate, but she was surrounded by pigeons. The two steamed buns in her hand were torn apart one by one, and the crumbs scattered all over the ground, provoking the pigeons to almost fly onto her hands to grab food.

  Nie Yuan went near and shouted, but there was no reaction. Nie Yuan felt anxious and looked around, then shouted several times. Finally, he gently pushed her and she woke up.

  "Ah...... Ah! Nier Yuan, you're here, have you eaten? Want to eat..." Lowering her head to look at the empty hands, she picked up a bowl of soy milk, "Want some soy milk?" Nier Yuan shook his head.

  Two people found a quiet place, Nie Yuan handed over the information he had checked to her, a few thin papers. Su Yin took it in hand and looked at it carefully. From the things in her hand, she basically knew that Tan Yiguo and Zhou Yuan were classmates who entered school at the same time, and all three of them were admitted as special students with full scholarships.

  It wasn't until a year after Guo Jing enrolled that he suddenly went abroad to study, it can be seen that his family background should be pretty good. Tan Yu has been studying all along, and his grades are quite excellent. There is very little information about him, but there is one piece of information that Tan Yu had received psychological treatment multiple times and had severe depression.

  She pulled out the address from the data, Tan Yu and Zhou Yuan were both locals, after some thought, she decided to go take a look. She told Nie Yuan about it, but he immediately vetoed the idea, shouting: "These are all eight years old! Who knows if they've moved or not? Moreover, these two places are in opposite directions within the city, running back and forth like this will be exhausting!"

  Su Yin glared at Nie Yuan and said, "I didn't plan on bringing you along, I'm going myself!" Nie Yuan immediately pounced over to grab her, his face twisted in distress: "Ahh! Su Yin, what are you trying to do? First it's researching data, then it's field investigations... people who don't know any better would think you're an undercover agent solving a case!"

  Su Yin stared at Nie Yuan, nodding: "Right, I'm indeed handling the case! If I can't find out, I'll go to jail!" Nie Yuan's face stiffened, and he forced a smile: "Su Yin, don't joke around, okay? It's not that serious."

  Su Yin nodded: "En, if it's not good, I'll be haunted to death by the female ghost!" Nie Yuan didn't quite understand, furrowed his brow and asked: "What... what? Female ghost?" Su Yin's face was solemn: "Yes, that's right! Do you still remember that underground room? I saw Zhou Yuan there, she entwined me, insisting that I investigate clearly. If it's not good, her resentment will be hard to dispel, and won't I die a terrible death?"

  Nie Yuan originally wanted to laugh and tease Su Yin, but seeing her serious expression, combined with the fact that she had fainted last time, made him believe it. Ghosts and monsters may not necessarily exist, but he had personally experienced them when he was a child. Moreover, he liked Su Yin, if she was really haunted, then he must help her.

  This is an old residential area, weathered and worn, with several buildings presenting a grayish-white color. As it happens, almost every floor is filled with potted plants, various flowers and grasses swaying in the wind, scattered red flowers, tender green leaves, adding a touch of artistic freshness.

  Su Yun followed the address, trying to figure out which building it was, but unfortunately couldn't tell them apart. Just then, a kind-faced aunt carrying a vegetable basket passed by, and Su Yun hastily stopped her, smiling politely: "Auntie, do you know how to get here?" The aunt glanced at her hand, nodded and said: "Oh, you're going there? It's not far, just ahead. I'm from that building too, follow me!"

  Su Yun was overjoyed, nodded hastily and thanked her repeatedly. The two followed behind the aunt. Nie Yuan's mouth was quick-witted, he took the vegetable basket from the aunt's hand and said: "Auntie, don't tire yourself, let me carry it for you, I'm young and strong, I have energy!" The aunt smiled and agreed, handing the basket to Nie Yuan, and the three of them started chatting, all about family matters.

  The auntie asked them, "Which family in our building are you looking for? We've all been living here for over twenty years and know each other very well!" Su Yin heard this and saw an opportunity, quickly saying, "Auntie, we're looking for a family with the surname Zhou, do you know if they live here?"

  The aunt nodded: "Zhou family? Which Zhou family? There are four families with the surname Zhou in our building!" Su Yin was taken aback and quickly said: "Is there a family with a daughter named Zhou Yuan?"

  When she heard the name, the aunt's face suddenly fell, and her whole person became gloomy. Her eyes looking at Su Yin were also filled with suspicion: "What do you want from them?" Su Yin quickly explained, afraid that the aunt would misunderstand: "Auntie, we really have something to ask them, we're not bad people!" Nonsense! Who admits to being a bad person?!

  However, after carefully sizing up the two of them, she felt that they didn't seem to be bad people, at most a bit suspicious. She relaxed her expression and sighed: "There really is such a family in our building. It's really unfortunate!"

  Su Yun let out a sigh of relief and listened to the old woman's lamentations, then asked: "What's wrong?" The old woman looked at her and shook her head, saying: "The Zhou family doesn't know what sin they committed in their past life? They're just inviting disaster and hardship! Poor Mrs. Zhou, as a single woman, it's not easy to support this family." Su Yun asked tentatively: "Are you talking about Zhou Yuan's disappearance?"

  The old lady sighed again, nodded: "It's not just this one! It's been ** years now, and we've seen Yuan Yuan grow up. What a good child she was, beautiful and sensible, and very talented in painting from a young age. How could she suddenly disappear after going to university? Zhou Dad and Zhou Mom only had this precious daughter, whom they pampered since childhood. They went to school every day to look for her, made a scene at the bureau, but no one gave them a clear explanation, and she was gone just like that! Later, on his way to the bureau, Zhou Dad got into a car accident and became a vegetable, still lying in bed now! You say this isn't a tragedy? The daughter hasn't been found, and the adults have had this misfortune, poor Zhou Mom has suffered for so many years!"

  The aunt sighed all the way, and the two of them were chilled to the heart. When they reached a residential building in the middle, the aunt stood in front of her own door, instructing them that the Zhou family lived in Room 721 on the seventh floor, and told them to go up by themselves. Su You thanked her and followed Nie Yuan upstairs. Nie Yuan complained about how there was no elevator, and they had to climb all the way up. Su You gave him a white eye and ignored him afterwards.

  She had been feeling uncomfortable from the start, with a heavy heart and a sense of oppression. Standing in front of room 721, Su Yin stared at the yellow door's peeling paint, suddenly feeling a surge of cowardice, not wanting to go in. Hesitating, Nie Yuan couldn't wait any longer, asking her what was wrong, she shook her head, took a deep breath, and raised her hand to knock on the door.

  But no one answered the door, and after knocking again, still no one responded. The two of them looked at each other in dismay, not expecting this situation, with no one home. They waited for over ten minutes, knocking a few more times in between, but it was really unwilling to give up and leave. So they waited for another ten minutes or so, and just as they decided to leave, a voice suddenly came from the side: "Who are you looking for?"

  A dimly lit and narrow staircase, a woman in her fifties stood there, with white temples and deep wrinkles at the corners of her eyes, with an air of vicissitudes and hardships between her eyebrows. The woman carried a coal gas bottle on her back, its weight making her hunch over. At this moment, the woman looked up at them, her expression somewhat guarded.

  The moment she saw the woman, Su Yun was stunned, unable to say a word, and could only stare blankly at her. Thick, deep emotions surged up in her chest, bitter tears welled up in her eyes and nose, she tightly gripped the straps of her backpack, clenched her teeth, enduring silently.

  Nie Yuan had been feeling that Su Yin was a bit strange since just now, and this time she didn't answer well either. She could only ask: "Excuse me, is this Zhou Yuan's home?"

  The woman's face changed dramatically, her pale lips trembling.

  Nie Yuan helped the woman carry the gas cylinder back into the house and even helped her install it. The three of them returned to the living room and sat down, the old woman's face shrouded in gloom, not saying a word. Su Yin also didn't speak, just staring blankly at the woman, then turning her head to look at the door of the inner room. Nie Yuan held his cup of water, looking around in all directions.

  This is a simple and crude house, but the lighting is good. The house is not big, with two bedrooms, one living room, one kitchen and one bathroom. The decoration in the house maintains an old-fashioned style, the furniture is very old, and when sitting on the sofa, you can feel the springs poking your butt. On the balcony connected to the living room, a small patch of scallions and celery are planted.