Until next time.
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After leaving the noodle shop, Lu Mingran and Lao Yan went east and west respectively, which really gave off a sense of parting.
However, after walking for a while, Lu Mingran realized that she was still holding the banner in her hand, so she turned around and chased after Lao Yan. Lao Yan heard the noise behind him and turned around to see Lu Mingran running towards him, panting and looking ferocious as she carried the banner. He was really startled.
At the same time, a sentence from the system startled Lu Mingran:
"There will probably be other people from the Folklore Department trying to abduct the male lead."
Lu Mingran: "...So?"
"So I've created a new account for you. You can stay near Xu Lingqiu's house for now."
There happened to be another apartment in Xu Lingqiu's neighborhood, and it was in the same building as his current apartment. Lu Mingran contacted him and rented the apartment.
On the first day of meeting her landlord, Xu Lingqiu, Xu Lingqiu warmly offered to treat Lu Mingran to a meal. Lu Mingran smiled and said:
"Why be so polite? How about I make you a jianbing guozi?"
Lu Mingran once ran a sham jianbing (Chinese crepe) vendor business. He was genuinely skilled at making it, but his jianbing was also genuinely terrible. Xu Lingqiu tasted his jianbing and recalled the fear of being dominated by that old lady.
The two said goodbye with smiles, and after returning home, they each ate sweet and spicy food to dilute the sour taste in their mouths.
As night deepened, Lu Mingran couldn't sleep and sat up. Thinking that Xu Lingqiu was probably also unable to sleep and was likely counting money, Lu Mingran really wanted to knock on his door and share the burden of counting money with him.
At this moment, the system said quietly, "Last time you gave Xu Lingqiu so many cigarettes, and he still hasn't sold them all."
A few more days passed peacefully. Just as the system had said, other people from the Folklore Department came to contact Xu Lingqiu under the guise of carrying out missions, trying to get him to join them. They practically posted job advertisements on Xu Lingqiu's door.
But perhaps because of what Xiao Shuang said, Lu Mingran felt that Xu Lingqiu was a little different than before.
His eyes no longer held that heavy heart, and his aggression had lessened considerably. Lu Mingran realized that he didn't actually need to intervene; Xu Lingqiu was quite content with his current life.
Interestingly, Lao Yan came again starting from the fourth day.
On the day Lao Yan first came to visit, Lu Mingran was at home researching his jianbing guozi (Chinese crepe). Upon hearing Lao Yan's voice, Lu Mingran's hand, which was cracking eggs, stopped in mid-air.
A few scattered conversations came from upstairs, followed by the sound of a door closing and Old Yan's footsteps coming downstairs.
The next day, Lao Yan came again, and this time, Xu Lingqiu let him in.
But she didn't stay long. Lu Mingran soon heard him coming downstairs again.
Once, twice, Lu Mingran started keeping a small notebook to record the number of times Lao Yan came.
They truly fought on despite repeated defeats, a testament to their commendable courage.
On the one hand, Lu Mingran admired Lao Yan's perseverance, and on the other hand, Lu Mingran felt a little guilty. After all, if he hadn't deliberately reduced Lao Yan's mystique and power, Lao Yan really wouldn't have had to go to such great lengths.
On the sixth day, this time, I don't know what Lao Yan and Xu Lingqiu talked about, but he stayed for a full hour before leaving.
After Lao Yan left, Xu Lingqiu suddenly went downstairs and knocked on Lu Mingran's door, looking like she wasn't in a good mood.
Do you have any alcohol at home?
Lu Mingran, holding a spatula, asked, "We have jianbing guozi (Chinese crepes), want some?"
Lu Mingran never expected that someone could get drunk from eating jianbing guozi (a type of Chinese crepe).
Xu Lingqiu stayed at his house for a long time that night, but didn't say much. Lu Mingran kept him company while drinking the boiled water she had made herself.
The following evening, when Lao Yan came again, Lu Mingran couldn't resist and opened the door.
Lu Mingran suddenly realized that he didn't need to be afraid of Lao Yan at all. He was now using a new alias and a new identity, and Lao Yan wouldn't recognize him at all.
Moreover, he was no longer the little assistant following Lao Yan around. Some people can beat up their boss before leaving a job, but he, while not necessarily beating up his boss, at least showed great courage in the presence of Lao Yan.
"You went to see my landlord, didn't you?"
As Lao Yan came downstairs, Lu Mingran opened the door and poked her head out: "He's been very busy lately and I don't see anyone."
Lu Mingran hadn't seen Lao Yan for a long time. He wasn't sure if he was mistaken, but Lao Yan seemed to be in much worse shape and looked much more haggard than before.
Lu Mingran thought to himself that he would no longer be afraid of Lao Yan, but his body was honestly in a state of alert.
Old Yan looked at him.
The young man clinging to the door, only his head peeking out, was a stranger. Logically, he shouldn't know him, but for some reason, seeing this person reminded Lao Yan of another person named Lu Mingran.
The young man stared at him and asked:
"What did you talk to my landlord about yesterday? He seemed quite upset after you finished talking to him."
Old Yan smiled slightly: "You want to know?"
——————————————
The location was still the same noodle shop, and even the seating seemed to be the same.
As Lu Mingran sat there, he recalled that not long ago, it was at this very table that he held up a soda bottle and said to Lao Yan, "The green hills remain unchanged, and the clear waters flow forever."
Now it's truly a case of "we'll meet again," but while he recognizes Lao Yan, Lao Yan doesn't recognize him.
"Actually, it's nothing. I wanted to ask your landlord to help me with something, but he refused."
Old Yan lied.
A few days ago, he tried many ways to attract Xu Lingqiu, including telling her about their connection because of the incident in the mountain village, but Xu Lingqiu was not interested.
Before Xu Lingqiu asked him to leave yesterday, Lao Yan asked him a question:
"Don't you think there's something off about Xiaoshuang?"
After saying that, Lao Yan regretted saying it.
Xu Lingqiu did not answer.
From Xu Lingqiu's reaction in that instant, Lao Yan could tell that Xu Lingqiu had actually recently learned this secret.
The reason why others are unwilling or unable to help is that what is lost is not just one soul, but two.
This is something Lao Yan only discovered while doing his work. It's easy to bring the soul of a living person up, but the other remnant soul should have belonged to the underworld.
The problem is that the brother and sister are clinging to each other, they either die together or live together, there is absolutely no possibility of them being separated.
Old Yan eventually brought them all up.
Over the years, Xu Lingqiu has felt guilty and remorseful, but little did he know that the classmate who should have died had actually been existing in a special form and had no resentment in his heart.
His obsession, in the end, was absurd.
————————————
There was nothing about Lao Yan that could attract Xu Lingqiu anymore. He came today to tell Xu Lingqiu that he was going back, and that if Xu Lingqiu was willing and wanted to consider him a friend, she could come to see him in the future.
That evening, after dinner, Lu Mingran and Lao Yan left the restaurant together. Lao Yan told Lu Mingran that he would not be coming to see his landlord again.
"Oh, then..."
Just as Lu Mingran was about to say something, he suddenly noticed that Lao Yan's expression had turned very ugly.
This immediately reminded Lu Mingran of what had happened at the hotel that day.
This time, Lao Yan's reaction was even stronger than before. Before long, he went limp and collapsed to the ground.
"Old Yan! Old Yan!" Lu Mingran didn't care that her disguise would fall off, and lifted his clothes, and sure enough, she saw the dense purplish-black handprints on his back.
The man who had appeared aloof and arrogant, so powerful that no one dared to offend him, now lay quietly on the ground, so vulnerable that he was easily defeated.
Lu Mingran panicked and, without thinking, grabbed Lao Yan's arm. After several attempts, she finally managed to carry Lao Yan on her back.
At first, Lu Mingran was a little confused, not knowing where to go. After turning around in circles twice, somewhat comically, he finally realized what was happening and muttered to himself:
"To the hotel, to the hotel..."
There's something in the hotel that can save Lao Yan.
This alley was too remote, and it was difficult to flag down a car. Lu Mingran carried Lao Yan on his back for a very long time. Along the way, he seemed to hear a child crying shrilly in his ear, and his head throbbed with pain.
Lu Mingran gritted her teeth and jerked Old Yan off her back to prevent him from falling. At that moment, Old Yan briefly regained consciousness and vaguely saw that the person carrying him was the same young man from before, but he also looked like someone else.
Finally, Lu Mingran stopped the car.
The hotel receptionist, seeing him carrying Lao Yan on his back, panicked and urged him to go to the hospital. Lu Mingran tossed out a "He's drunk" and headed straight for Lao Yan's room, pulling the room card from his pocket, swiping it to open the door, and rushing inside.
After entering the room, Lu Mingran threw Lao Yan onto the bed and went to find the white powder. The powder was indeed still there. Lu Mingran trembled as she opened the box, pushed Lao Yan's clothes up, and quickly sprinkled the white powder on his back.
The handprint finally faded away slowly.
Old Yan was still unconscious. Lu Mingran sat on the edge of the bed, looking at him.
In the novel, Lao Yan dies tragically while trying to save the male protagonist, and Lu Mingran believes that he could have survived if he hadn't come into contact with the male protagonist.
However, it seems that Old Yan will die sooner or later amidst these purplish-black handprints.
“He can survive, and he knows how,” the system said. “There are two porcelain dolls at the very back of the box he’s carrying. If you break them, those things will stop bothering him.”
"But in doing so, his master's remnant soul will also disappear."
The system asked Lu Mingran, "Do you need me to teach you how to break these two porcelain dolls?"
Lu Mingran really wanted to help.
He also knew how much Lao Yan couldn't let go of his obsession.
Old Yan will survive after breaking the porcelain doll, but what about tomorrow? When he wakes up tomorrow morning, what will he think when he looks at the broken porcelain doll and thinks about the remnant soul of his master that has disappeared forever?
“I have no way to make decisions for him, nor do I have the right to let go of his obsession.”
Lu Mingran turned off all the lights in the room and looked at Lao Yan's white hair in the darkness.
He didn't want to lower this person's aura any further; he wanted this person to quickly regain that cold and powerful demeanor. He wanted to save Lao Yan's life.
But only he himself could truly save Lao Yan's life.
After a long silence, Lu Mingran sighed:
"I'll put the porcelain doll next to him and let him choose for himself when he wakes up tomorrow morning."
——————————
As dawn broke, this mission came to an end.
Old Yan was still asleep. Before Lu Mingran left, she called out "Old Yan" in his ear, but received no response.
After he leaves, will Lao Yan live a long life in this world, or will he die from the next attack of the handprint?