At this moment, Lu Mingran sensed something was wrong. He felt that the doorknob looked different from before, as if it were more handsome. But in that brief moment of confusion, the door opened.
Instead of the expected darkness, he was greeted by the glowing blue light of a television.
Lu Mingran stopped, covering her swollen right cheek, thinking to herself, "Didn't Tao Chen go to sleep long ago?"
But now Tao Chen was indeed sitting on the sofa with the TV on. Lu Mingran looked over and found his movements and expression so familiar—familiar calmness, familiar staring blankly at the static screen of the TV.
“…Tao Chen?” Lu Mingran called out tentatively.
He had a feeling that Tao Chen was the real male lead he had ever met.
Tao Chen looked up in response. Lu Mingran had imagined Tao Chen's reaction to seeing him many times, but to Lu Mingran's surprise, Tao Chen reacted as if he had seen a ghost, and even threw the remote control away in a panic.
This story begins in a wicked vegetable market.
That day, Tao Chen bought pork and carried it towards the entrance of the market. He remembered that Lu Mingran had been clamoring for meat, and he thought Lu Mingran would be very happy.
Strangely, Lu Mingran at the door was also acting strangely; her complexion was eight shades darker than before.
"Let's go," he said, his voice cold and indifferent.
Tao Chen nodded, completely bewildered, and the two went home. But all that was about to happen was just beginning.
Before, at home, Tao Chen could stay silent for a whole day while Lu Mingran kept asking him questions and chatting with him. But today, even Lu Mingran didn't speak.
By evening, Tao Chen couldn't hold back any longer and asked Lu Mingran:
"You're not going to ask me that question anymore?"
Lu Mingran sat upright opposite him, looking superior: "What do you want to ask?"
"They just...asked me if I regretted it..."
Lu Mingran laughed, a sneer.
"Why should I ask you that question? You insisted on asking about the ultimate secret and paid the price for it. What does it have to do with me?"
Well... the use of the word "bird" in "it's none of my business" is quite clever.
But things didn't end there. The next day, Tao Chen went out for a stroll as usual. He turned back halfway and found the door to his house locked. He never carried a key and squatted at the door for a while in a daze before setting off to find Lu Mingran.
Finally, they found Lu Mingran dancing with some charlatans in the square. Lu Mingran even said, "You disturbed my cultivation."
The sky has fallen, the earth has collapsed, and this Lu Mingran... how come she doesn't care about him at all?
Tao Chen suffered a strong mental shock, especially tonight, when Lu Mingran launched a three-pronged attack of disdain against him:
"Tsk tsk tsk, go away, don't bother me."
The mockery from the gatekeeper, the mockery of God.
Tao Chen is now truly afraid of Lu Mingran.
He sat on the sofa, staring blankly at the TV screen, seeking a moment of peace, but then the birdman appeared again, covering his face with a somewhat distorted expression.
Tao Chen swallowed hard.
The next moment, Lu Mingran took a step forward, which was met with Tao Chen's voice of resistance:
"Hey, hey! Don't come any closer!"
Chapter 78 Want to study philosophy? No way (5)
There's a rule of thumb: when someone tells you not to come any closer, you really want to take a step forward.
That's exactly what Lu Mingran did, and he didn't just take one step, he took one and a half steps.
The half-step that was not yet completed was stopped by Tao Chen's howl.
In Lu Mingran's imagination, when Tao Chen saw him after so long, he would at least be so moved that he would be stunned for a long time, if not burst into tears.
But what's with this Tao Chen in front of me? You've seen plenty of ghosts, have you? Am I scarier than a ghost?
Seeing Tao Chen's distraught state, Lu Mingran had no choice but to go to the bathroom to wash her face to reduce the swelling, and then listen to the system's analysis while pressing a towel against her face.
The system, being quite worldly and experienced, gave him four words: "Parallel world."
To put it simply, it's like one day after kindergarten, the two Tao Chens picked up the wrong children. The Lu Mingran from the other side went with the Tao Chen from this side, while the Lu Mingran from this side, seeking excitement, ran off with the Tao Chen from the other side.
After hearing what the system said, Lu Mingran looked at herself in the mirror and suddenly remembered something Tao Chen had said:
"You're different from before."
Looking back on that tone now, it has a somewhat pleasant feel to it.
——————
In fact, Tao Chen over there is really happy right now, so happy that even when he falls asleep at night, the corners of his mouth are turned up.
Suddenly, his blanket was pulled back, and a chill and a murderous intent assaulted his body simultaneously. Years of combat experience alerted him, and he rolled over, only to find that his nightmare had returned.
The birdman who should have been asleep was now standing in front of his bed, looking furious. He was probably used to wearing something on, because he instinctively grabbed Tao Chen's blanket and pulled it over himself, saying:
"Mortal, what time are we in now?"
“Ah, ah… just a few years ago,” Tao Chen opened his eyes innocently, “I told you I wanted to come back to change my fate, and you agreed, so we came back together and spent so long moving coffins.”
As if to confirm something for Lu Mingran, Tao Chen stretched out his tired and swollen hands and said:
"Look, look, my hand is still swollen because of you..."
As a result, Lu Mingran slapped his hand away and said coldly, "Call me Lord Bird King."
Tao Chen sighed inwardly.
Well, it seems his previous change in temperament was just an illusion. He was so pleased to think that this jerk had finally shown some humanity, but it turns out that glimmer of humanity lasted so short, shorter than the candlelight on a birthday cake.
Across from him, Lord Bird King pulled up a chair and sat down, frowning as he listened to Tao Chen recount the day's events, succinctly telling him:
"Let me make this clear first: I'm back now, although I don't know what happened, but things are still the same as before, we go our separate ways."
Tao Chen made a gesture of understanding.
The Bird King finally left, returning the blanket to him before departing, and whispering to him as he turned away, "Remember to cover yourself well before you sleep."
However, Tao Chen lay on his back in bed, unable to fall asleep.
He really missed that more normal guy, the one who would space out and smile at him.
Lost in these nostalgic thoughts, Tao Chen grew increasingly drowsy, and his eyelids closed again. Just then, a new noise woke him up.
This time, the commotion came from the birdman's room.
Tao Chen carefully moved to the door and opened a small crack to look over, unaware that the person on the other side was also opening a crack in the door to observe him.
On the other side, Lu Mingran found a way to connect the two worlds: a tree stump. As long as he falls off the tree stump in the room, he will fall into another parallel world. And as soon as he appears, the other Lu Mingran will automatically be switched to that other world.
This method is good, but it's a bit... bad for your face. At this moment, both sides of Lu Mingran's face were swollen.
Lu Mingran had considered staying with the original Tao Chen, since judging from his reaction, the other Lu Mingran's style was completely different from her own.
To be honest, that birdman is more deserving of the title of gatekeeper. He's practically a god, his aloof divinity should naturally outweigh his humanity, unlike Lu Mingran.
But now Lu Mingran is a little hesitant.
Perhaps it was because he brought Tao Chen back to the past.
Perhaps it was because of the pair of cautiously observing eyes peering through the crack in the door across the street.
——————
The next morning, Lord Bird King sat at the dining table, holding an ice towel in his left hand and another in his right, his chin resting on his hand.
Tao Chen wanted to ask what was wrong, but after remembering yesterday's "the bridge is the bridge, the road is the road," he swallowed his words along with the egg.
Interestingly, when Tao Chen took out his notebook where he had written his plans, Lu Mingran kept looking in that direction.
"I'd like to take a look."
"……good."
Tao Chen has now met Song Gaishui, but it doesn't matter. Song Gaishui is not someone who easily opens up to others. If Tao Chen wants to know more from him, he must convince him and make him benefit from him. In the original story, Tao Chen found a way to cure the poison in Song Gaishui's body.
"You're not letting him help? That would be terrible for Song Gaishui."
Lu Mingran's face twitched with pain every time he spoke, but he still continued, "Let's find a way to tell him the antidote in advance."
At this point, Lu Mingran noticed that Tao Chen's gaze was a little strange.
"You...have something you want to tell me?"
Tao Chen replied, "No, I just feel—"
"The light of humanity within you has been rekindled."
Tao Chen believes this is probably related to the daylight; the human brilliance in Lu Mingran is fueled by solar energy.
Therefore, without Lu Mingran's refusal, Tao Chen moved him slightly so that he was facing the direction of the sun, and said in a serious tone:
"Getting some sunshine is good for you and good for me."
Author's Note: I was a bit busy today, but I'll have more time tomorrow.
Chapter 79 Want to study philosophy? No way (6)
Standing in the sunlight, Lu Mingran now radiated a human glow even in the strands of her hair.
At this moment, he thought about it and realized that Song Gaishui was indeed a key link. If Song Gaishui kept her family's affairs tightly under wraps, then even if Tao Chen knew more, he wouldn't be able to connect these scattered clues in the end.
So Lu Mingran took the plan written by Tao Chen and added a few words to it: "Help Song change the water."
The antidote is in a red car in an underground parking lot, and the car key is in a piece of clothing.
Having experienced this incident, Tao Chen immediately opened Taobao, searched for a shop, and showed it to Lu Mingran.
Xin Xin Vintage Clothing Store.
Vintage stores are shops that sell clothes that other people have worn. It might not sound like much at first, but some people call vintage clothes "dead people's clothes."
The claim that these are "dead people's clothes" is related to some ghost stories, such as the claim that some vintage clothing was taken from the bodies of the dead. Once, a young girl bought a coat and found a death certificate in the pocket.