"What are you laughing at? I'm disciplining the child, what right do you have to laugh?"
Lu Mingran choked.
Then the woman said, "Is it Xiao Tao?"
"Come in."
————————————
The room was filled with a strange fragrance, just like in the book. The room on the right had an old-fashioned curtain embroidered with lotus flowers.
Lu Mingran sat down obediently, watching Aunt Yun busy herself with various tasks.
"You're lucky. The fourth brother met the youngest brother of the Chu family and figured out that he recently encountered a living dead."
"By the way, the youngest son of the Chu family only said verbally that you have a bad character. He doesn't like anyone except his brother. The youngest son said that you helped them kill a demon the other day, and asked Yiqing to go and check on it first."
It turns out that day wasn't an assessment.
Upon hearing the words "living dead," Lu Mingran's heart stirred, and she touched the jade pendant around her neck.
Yun Gu continued talking to herself: "There's nothing wrong with your cat, the problem is with the person holding it."
“I consulted a fortune teller last night, and she said she would come to you on the last day of this week. Last night, she was standing by the power plant in the southern suburbs because there was a funeral there.”
Aunt Yun lit an incense stick, and amidst the swirling smoke, she said:
“I know that woman, it’s Sister Cui.”
Long ago, when Yun Gu was still living in the village and was just a little girl, whenever there was a funeral in the village, the family would always go to the east end of the village to burn paper money for a woman named Sister Cui. They said that if they didn't do this, a woman holding a cat would appear on the day of the funeral and would definitely rise from the dead.
Only Yun Gu knew that Sister Cui was not dead, but a madwoman who had hidden herself in the mountains.
Before she went mad, Sister Cui was a woman who loved cats. The time of her birth was considered unlucky, and her family said she was unlucky and could never attend other people's wedding banquets.
Even after Sister Cui went mad, she still remembered this incident. She would only dare to go to funerals with her cat and ask for some meat to eat. However, one time there was a bit of trouble at the funeral, and the blame was placed on her. That's how her reputation spread.
On the day of her grandfather's funeral, Yun Gu saw Sister Cui.
But at that time she did not know that the woman holding the cat was Sister Cui. Seeing that the dirty woman was staring at the roast chicken on the table and drooling, she broke off a chicken leg and gave it to the woman to eat.
Here, eat slowly.
The little girl handed him the chicken leg, her dark eyes showing no sign of disgust, and she smiled innocently.
She will always remember the way Sister Cui looked at her back then, and her trembling lips.
Yun Gu wanted to bring some more fruit, but she didn't see her again. She only heard the adults whispering that they thought they saw Sister Cui. Someone immediately scolded them loudly, saying not to talk nonsense, what if they kept talking about her and she really came?
So Yun Gu learned that the person she had met was Sister Cui.
"So many years have passed, Sister Cui...?"
"Dead."
Aunt Yun lit another incense stick: "Sister Cui's soul has been taken away by Sima Cheng. She already harbored resentment, and now she is completely Sima Cheng's puppet."
Many people in S City who are involved in business know Sima Cheng. In fact, Sima Cheng is considered Gu He's senior martial uncle.
Lu Mingran realized one thing: Aunt Yun was not helping him for no reason, but also wanted to help Sister Cui.
And then there's Sima Cheng...
Lu Mingran rolled up her sleeves, showing her arm to Aunt Yun:
"Do you know why Sister Cui contacted me? It's because of this."
————————————
Lu Mingran hadn't expected that the Three Kill Curse could be broken ahead of time.
Fortunately, Gu He hadn't yet done anything like smashing someone else's jar at this point.
...It's just that the method was a bit disgusting.
Yun Gu scooped a bowl of water from the water vat, boiled some unknown dark brown herbs, and made him drink it all in one go. She told him to go to the crossroads alone tonight and vomit.
It sounded simple, but Lu Mingran, who had read the novel, knew what was in that water vat. Two leg bones of a boy and a girl dug out of a grave, a burial bead pried out of the old Taoist's mouth... Aunt Yun's vat contained quite a few genuine cultural relics.
Who would dare drink that?!
But this was the only way to survive, so Lu Mingran had no choice but to grit his teeth and drink it while pinching his nose. Yun Gu looked at him and smiled, saying:
"Do you know what's in my jar? Why do you look so upset?"
After finishing the drink, Lu Mingran felt like vomiting, but just as Yun Gu had said, a breath got stuck in his chest, preventing him from vomiting.
Chen Yiqing, who was doing his homework on a small stool, looked at him with schadenfreude. Lu Mingran said, "If you keep looking at me like that, I'll have all fifty-six godparents tutor you."
Chen Yiqing laughed: "To tell you the truth, I only have ten godfathers and ten godmothers because my fate is special, and I need my godfathers and godmothers to control my fate."
"...Then why is there fifty-six versions I've heard?"
"What, fifty-six?"
At this moment, Yun Gu suddenly remembered:
"When Chen Yiqing's mother was pregnant, she loved spicy food, so we simply bought fifty-six bottles of Lao Gan Die and another fifty-six bottles of Lao Gan Ma and gave them to her all at once."
——————————
That night, Lu Mingran went to the nearest intersection and vomited thoroughly.
After vomiting violently, Lu Mingran bent over and rested for a while before finally regaining her strength.
Aunt Yun said that the affairs of the previous generation should be handled by the previous generation. If Gu He interfered, it would cause trouble, so she told him to leave the cat there.
More than just causing trouble, in the novel, Gu He eventually killed his martial uncle. Although this could also be considered Sima Cheng's fault, since he refused to admit his age and insisted on dealing with Gu He to prove that he was still vigorous despite his old age.
After vomiting enough, Lu Mingran suddenly remembered the two players from before. They could have easily taken the same approach of taking them down one by one or seeking help from others, but they didn't, nor did they have the ability to do so.
A person with a malicious heart will never find someone who is truly sincere to them.
This time, the system did not rush to urge Lu Mingran to leave, because although the Three Killing Curse had been removed, Lu Mingran's body was very weak and she needed to recuperate for another week.
During this time, Lu Mingran, Xiao Jiu, and the Chu brothers spent a lot of time together. The system said that if you continue to act so lively, it will send you away tomorrow.
On Sunday, Xiao Tao officially left, and Gu He personally went to the airport to see him off.
————————————
One week later.
At seven o'clock in the evening, Gu He was still standing on the bridge by the river, drinking his tea and watching the cruise ships on the river. The summer evening breeze was a little sticky, making him feel inexplicably uneasy.
My mentor, whom I hadn't contacted in a long time, suddenly called yesterday and said that the senior figures in S City had some things to do recently, and that he, as a junior, should just mind his own business, run his restaurant well, and not interfere.
He certainly wouldn't interfere; since it was a dispute between seniors, he had no right to meddle.
Gu He remained standing, and many people passed by him. They were all in a hurry, and few paid him any attention.
Suddenly, as he was drinking his tea, a young man's voice reached his ears:
"Young master, drinking tea at night will keep you awake at night."
Gu He turned his face away.
It was a young man who looked unfamiliar, tall, thin, and clean-cut, who was smiling at him.
After saying this, the young man moved a little closer and struck up a conversation with him in a very familiar manner:
"My sister was frightened last year, and thankfully you, Mr. Gu, helped her. I've come to thank you."
Gu He certainly didn't remember everyone he had helped. It was common for him to meet people who thanked him, so he smiled in agreement and chatted with the person for a few more minutes.
Finally, the young man seemed to hear something and hurriedly tried to leave.
Before leaving, he extended his hand to Gu He:
"Oh, right, Mr. Gu, look at me, I was so busy chatting with you that I forgot to tell you who I am."
Gu He lowered his head, looking at the outstretched hand, then raised his head again, looking at the dazzling lights of the riverbank reflected in the young man's eyes.
It was just a handshake.
Gu He then extended his right hand and grasped the other person's warm palm.
At that moment, the young man's voice drifted over on the evening breeze:
"Mr. Gu, I am Lu Mingran."
Ding—it was like a pick plucking a string of memories.
Gu He was startled and looked up at him, but the young man had already let go of his hand, turned around and left gracefully, leaving him with only his back view.
In the distance, the whistles of ships sounded on the river.
It is the sound of parting.
Gu He took out his phone and called Xiao Tao. Xiao Tao seemed to be working overtime, talking to him while eating instant noodles.
"Xiao Tao, I remember you got drunk when you came to my place last time."
"Hmm... with Xiao Jiu and the others, what's wrong?"
“Exactly,” Gu He said, looking at the river, “do you remember what you said to me back then?”
"Hahahaha, who would remember this when they're drunk?"
"Hey, do you want to drink? Okay, I'll go with you this weekend."
Gu He said:
"No, my peach tree doesn't welcome you."
Speaking of this peach tree, it wasn't in the yard before.
The reason for planting it was that for a while, Gu He kept having dreams of several people dressed in red standing at the door of his house. They all had their heads down and looked like fierce ghosts.
Later, Gu He thought about creating a formation, although he felt it probably wouldn't be very effective.
...
Gu He suddenly hung up the phone.
——————————
The further we walked, the thicker the fog became on the bridge.