Mona Lisas blutiges Auge

Kapitel 25

My fingers froze for a long time, unsure of what to say. I'd been thinking about why I left. I'd only known Gu Ming for a little over a month, and there were so many things about him I didn't know. Sometimes I even felt he was as mysterious as a stranger. No matter what, I was constantly getting to know him, and in such a short time, I'd encountered so much. I knew in my heart he was a good person, and I knew I liked him, but after we got together, I always felt inexplicably uneasy. Maybe it was just my imagination, or more likely, a lack of self-confidence. He was so outstanding, and I was so ordinary; thinking about it, it felt like I'd gotten a huge advantage. That night, seeing that scene, I knew it might be a misunderstanding, but I just wanted to escape. Anyone who saw that scene would find it beautiful, and I didn't want to disturb it. At that moment, I also felt like I was superfluous. Deng Fei asked if I lacked confidence in Gu Ming, or in this relationship. I thought about it all night before realizing it was my own lack of confidence. I had nothing to be proud of to hold onto him, so I felt uneasy…

"Don't you trust me?" another message came from the other end.

He shook his head, unsure of what to say.

"Xiao Bai is just a child. Although he has cultivated in the mountains for a hundred years, his mind is still that of a child. How could you misunderstand me? You should know that."

I thought to myself, "I'm not misunderstanding you," but I couldn't bring myself to say it.

"Of course we agreed to be together forever, how could you run away?"

Staying together forever? Suddenly, I'm reminded of Eileen Chang's words: "In life and death, in separation and reunion, we are bound together; hand in hand, we grow old together." This is truly the saddest poem. Life, death, and separation are all major events, beyond our control. Compared to external forces, how small, how insignificant we humans are! Yet we insist on saying, "I want to be with you forever, never to be separated for a lifetime," as if we have the final say.

If fate allows Gu Ming to meet another little fox, not a child, but someone a hundred or a thousand times better than me, then what can I, an ordinary person, use to keep him?

"You're overthinking things, aren't you? What are you thinking about now, you idiot? You usually find thinking too tiring, but now you're starting to think. I've come to pick you up; we need to have a serious talk."

After a long time, Gu Ming finally typed out this string of characters.

I shook my head, suddenly feeling ashamed and a little guilty.

While I hesitated, I noticed two pairs of eyes watching me from behind. I turned around and saw Deng Fei standing behind me with a plate in his hand, staring at the computer screen. After a long pause, he said indifferently, "Dinner's ready."

Lunch was a somber affair; everyone seemed preoccupied and no one spoke. While I was washing the dishes, Deng Fei came over and asked if I wanted to see Gu Ming. I thought about it for a moment, but still remained silent.

"Do you even love him?" Deng Fei pulled me out of the kitchen and asked. "If you don't want to continue this relationship, then find someone else, I..."

As we were talking, Deng Fei's phone rang. He glanced at me, answered it reluctantly, and his already furrowed brows furrowed even more. After hanging up, he only said four words to me, "Aunt Gao is dead."

I was stunned. Looking at his face, my hand trembled slightly. That bad feeling surged up again. Aunt Gao was dead. Why was she dead?

"She died in the villa. The police have sealed off the scene, and no one can get in. Someone in the villa called Gu Ming and said that Aunt Gao's death was strange, and her appearance was... also... quite scary. I'm afraid she was murdered."

I was shocked. From Deng Fei's mumbled words, I knew that Aunt Gao's death must have been horrific. Suddenly, the image of the middle-aged woman I had first seen flashed through my mind. She was speaking loudly, laughing without any guard, and I could still vividly picture her worryingly going to the hospital to take care of Gu Ming. How could she just disappear like that? The same heartache struck me when Jia Yanji faked his death.

“Let’s go to Moonlight,” Deng Fei suddenly said, pulling me aside.

Startled again, Moonlight, it's been a long time since I've been there. Gu Ming still owes me wages. Gu Ming nodded without revealing his presence.

After getting off the bus, I looked up and saw Gu Ming standing under the bus stop sign, looking as lazy as ever, leading me to Moonlight, his eyes as deep as the sea. My nose started to sting with embarrassment, and Deng Fei gently tugged at me. I shook my head and smiled at him.

As I approached, Gu Ming stared at me and said calmly, "Careless little thing, where did you lose your phone?"

For several days, the first thing I said when we met was this: "I don't know, I forgot." I shook my head blankly and said, "I don't know, I forgot."

"You're always so absent-minded." A warm hand rested on my head, my nose reddened, and tears splattered onto the floor. Head bowed, I murmured, "Let's go quickly, I want to know about Aunt Gao."

Gu Ming sighed, took my hand, and led me into the alley. His hand was so warm.

As soon as I entered the Moonlight Garden, I saw Xia Canyue rush over like the wind, pinching my cheek with a smile as bright as a flower, "Oh my, my Xiao Mo is here, and my Deng Fei is here too."

"Who's your family?" Deng Fei rolled his eyes and muttered.

"What exactly happened to Aunt Gao?" I asked.

Xia Canyue paused, looked at Gu Ming, brought over a few glasses of water, sat down, and said, "Dead."

"I know, how did you die?"

"Amputation, the limbs and head were cut off, but not a drop of blood was shed. The skin was severely burned, and the burn marks were irregular flower shapes that went deep into the bone."

Her fingernails dug into the sofa, her whole body felt cold. She couldn't imagine what Aunt Gao looked like. Just hearing Xia Canyue talk about it was unbearable. Who was so cruel? Why did they treat her like this?

"It wasn't made by a human," Xia Canyue added.

"Why?"

"Xiao Chen from the villa called and said that when Aunt Gao died, her eyes clearly showed that she had seen something very terrifying. We used the Illusion Technique to see the situation in the villa. There was a trace of 'screeching breath' on Aunt Gao's wounds. The reason why she wasn't bleeding was because the 'screeching breath' sealed the blood. And the flower pattern on her body, we found it very strange," Xia Canyue said.

"What's so strange?" Deng Fei interjected.

"Although it's messy, it's definitely a flower. The flower shapes are all different, from different periods of time, as if it's going through the whole process from sprouting to death. It's not something an ordinary person could do."

What flower?

"I don't know, but I drew that flower. You can take it to the school and ask the botany teacher."

"Okay, I'll go." Deng Fei took the painting, looked at me, and left.

Xia Canyue went to wipe the table. After she came in, Gu Ming, who hadn't said a word, sat down next to me and remained silent. I played with the glass in my hand, looking at my fingers through the water, which appeared magnified and distorted. But the burning gaze next to me made me uneasy. I should say something, shouldn't I?

"Is it fun?" Gu Ming finally asked.

"What?"

"Is the cup fun?"

"Huh? Oh, it's alright."

"Come with me to the backyard." Gu Ming suddenly stood up, snatched the cup, and threw it on the table with a loud bang, startling the surrounding guests, who all turned to look.

Ignoring the stares of those around him, he pulled me toward the backyard. His face was expressionless, but his grip on my hand was so tight it hurt. I could tell he was angry, very angry, but there was no anger in his eyes.

He went inside and stared at me for a long time, until I felt my skin crawl, before finally saying, "What kind of look is that?"

"ah?"

"What kind of look was Deng Fei giving me?"

"What kind of look is that?" I suddenly felt confused.

"Why does he look at you like that, as if he doesn't trust leaving you with me? He won't take you back to school and says things like that. What's his intention?"

"ah?"

“I saw it all. And you even cooked for me, as if I couldn’t cook.”

"ah?"

"I saw everything using the illusion technique?"

"ah?"

"You're not allowed to live there anymore. Go live at the school, or stay at Moonlight. In short, you're not allowed to be with him."

"You're using illusion magic to spy on me?"

Gu Ming paused for a moment, then hugged me and sighed softly above my head, "Why did you leave without a word? Didn't you know I'd worry? When I got back and couldn't find you, they told me you'd left, and Xiao Bi even stomped on my foot and called me a jerk. I guessed you must have misunderstood, so I rushed back that very night, but your phone was off. How could you not know how anxious I was? Why didn't you ask what was going on before you ran away? Even if you didn't ask, you should have understood, right? How could I abandon you?"

My body was trembling slightly; why was it raining all the time?

"Never again, never again will I hold anyone else, even if it's not a person, just a little fox."

"Vixen."

"You," Gu Ming smiled helplessly, "I know what you're afraid of, but please stop being afraid, okay? I've given you everything, Xiao Shitou has given you everything, what are you still afraid of? Have some faith in me, and have some faith in yourself. My Xiao Mo is better than anyone else, even though he's careless, absent-minded, and chubby, no one can compare. If you're still not at ease, I'll find a love potion..."

"Stop talking, it's so cheesy, it's giving me goosebumps."

"So, are you still going to throw a tantrum or not?"

"Will you help me pluck the fox fur?"

"That... Xiao Bi... she's already made her move..."

Huh? Suddenly remembering Xiao Bi's message this morning, could it really be pulled out? Staring wide-eyed at Gu Ming, Gu Ming smiled wryly and nodded.

Suddenly I felt that Xiao Bi was the most ruthless female bandit in the world, my favorite female bandit. I smiled secretly, then suddenly thought of something else.

"Gu Ming, you saw me using illusion magic?"

"kindness."

"Did you...peep at me while I was showering?"

"..."

"explain!"

"No, you're better off looking at someone else."

"..."

"Look at those with good figures."

“Gu Ming…”

That evening, Deng Fei finally returned and said the flower was called a hosta...

Heavy rain on April 22, 2005

The rain stopped for a while yesterday, but continued to fall during the night until dawn. The dampness and earthy fragrance of the air filled the house, making it feel refreshing yet gloomy.

Deng Fei said the flower was a hosta. We looked it up online, and Xia Canyue nodded as she looked at the picture. "Pure white flowers, several blooming together, like miniature lilies, blooming at night, with a subtle fragrance."

Suddenly, something seemed to touch my nerves...

When I woke up in the morning, Gu Ming was standing by the bed with a strange smile. I sniffed, my expression changed, and I quickly washed up. Gu Ming and I fled from Moonlight. Xia Canyue had cooked millet porridge again, so we had no choice but to run away.

They went to a street stall and ordered two bowls of tofu pudding and a few fried dough sticks. Rain dripped from the simple shed, like a waterfall. After finishing, they ordered another serving, intending to take it back to Deng Fei, but Gu Ming waved his hand, saying he would leave just as dawn broke.

After returning to Moonlight, Xia Canyue angrily passed by us carrying a pot of millet porridge, then hung up a "Closed" sign, and said grumbling with the smell of porridge still lingering in her mouth, "Let's go!"

That's when I found out I was going to the police station to see Aunt Gao today. Gu Ming said the villa was still locked down, and the body had actually been brought back a long time ago. The forensic doctor had done several examinations but had no clues, so he was going to take a look.

"In cases like this, can outsiders be allowed to see the body?" I asked quietly, standing at the entrance of the police station.

Xia Canyue rolled her eyes. "We're not outsiders."

While we were still in a daze, a tall and handsome man came out from inside, smiled at us, and Xia Canyue took his arm and said, "Your future brother-in-law, Gao Tian."

Gu Ming smiled and said, "Hello, Director's brother-in-law."

I have an urge to faint...

Xia Canyue and Gao Tian walked ahead, while Gu Ming and I followed behind, whispering to each other. I asked, "When did Xia Canyue get you a brother-in-law?"