Un cœur pur dans un pot de jade

Chapitre 43

He was panting heavily, while I was seething with anger.

This person is not Shao Yanhe. He has harmed me before, and is still harming me. I don't have the good mindset to forgive him. So when I speak to him nicely, it's not to comfort him, but to remind him that he has overlooked a fact.

"Xu Yi!" I knew I was being rough, so I pinched his cheek and turned his head. "I'm asking you, if the Forget-Dust Pill is really as poisonous as you say, then why were there such strange rules in the Buddhist hall just now? If reading Buddhist scriptures requires taking the Forget-Dust Pill, why not just not allow anyone to read them in the first place, or just kill anyone who does? Why go through all this trouble? Don't they find it troublesome?"

Xu Yi stared at me, but his gaze was unfocused, so he was just staring at me, and even after staring for a long time, he was still confused.

"Wake up!" I patted his face.

"Cough..." The divine doctor choked, and his Adam's apple vibrated under his bright red lace collar. His slender, pale neck still had delicate lines, unlike a woman's neck, which would develop many lines as she got older. Looking further up, I saw the divine doctor's pointed chin. His entire face was painted black. I stared directly into his perpetually unresponsive eyes and couldn't tell if he was sick or a pervert.

“No…” Xu Yi finally began to speak in a strange, hoarse, and weak voice, “Actually, most of the people in the village have taken the Forget-Dust Pill, but it will be removed from their bodies after a period of time—”

"What?!" I was stunned.

“It will be taken out,” he repeated.

My heart skipped a beat, and I felt my lips were dry. It was as if there was something so close that I could reach out and grab it, but it was like a soap bubble floating lightly in the sunlight. If I really tried to grab it, it would surely burst.

At that moment, I had a bad feeling...

“Xu Yi, let me ask you something,” I grabbed the divine physician by the collar, feeling incredibly intimidated, very well… “You said you spent a year getting your wife to expel the Forget-Dust Pill from her body, but how did you know it was expelled? Was it the toxins that were expelled, or…”

I remained silent, and the other person finally sensed something was amiss, frowning slightly. "It is... a complete Forget-Dust Pill."

"That's it!" I slapped my thigh, and the movement was so big that something fell out of my body—a diamond necklace.

“Xu Yi, listen to me…” I bent down to pick up the necklace, thought it over and over again, and finally decided that I should have a good talk with him. “Think about it, if a pill can really make someone forget everything,” I frowned, “if it really is… the effect of medicine, then the medicine should have already dissolved in the stomach and been absorbed by the body, otherwise it would be absolutely impossible for it to have any effect… right?” I knew that asking him was pointless. No matter how skilled he was, I knew more about natural science.

“I’ve always felt that it doesn’t make sense…” the miracle doctor nodded in agreement.

“So I think,” I continued, “that the Forget-Dust Pill isn’t a medicine at all, but something that can generate medicinal power within the body, like certain minerals that can emit radiation or generate bioelectricity to interfere with brainwaves…” The more I talked, the stranger it became. Xu Yi couldn’t understand, and in my frustration, I scolded him for being stupid. Otherwise, anything that could be digested would have been digested long ago, and anything that needed to be excreted would have been excreted naturally. So— “There must be something wrong with this!!” I finally concluded.

"But I really don't understand..." The miracle doctor still shook his head, somewhat bewildered.

"Have you heard this saying before?" I asked.

He continued to shake his head.

I couldn't help but laugh, "I haven't told you yet, of course you haven't heard of it!"

He lowered his eyes, looking somewhat embarrassed. If he hadn't been pretending, I guess he would have blushed.

“That’s right,” I slowly organized my thoughts, “the so-called fact is the one possibility that remains after eliminating all the impossible possibilities—no matter how bizarre or strange it may be, it is the fact.”

After I finished speaking, the doctor stared at me blankly.

"Didn't you understand?" I asked.

He shook his head, but then suddenly nodded.

"You're really stupid!" I couldn't stand it anymore. "Savages are much smarter than you!"

The miracle doctor, devastated, turned his gaze away.

“Xu Yi,” I thought of something else, “do you know what kind of place this is?”

The doctor didn't look at me, but still shook his head.

I got furious. "You didn't even know where you were before you dragged me down! Do you know someone could die?!"

“I know…” he answered calmly and confidently, which startled me.

"So you're only happy if you kill me?" I mocked him deliberately. "One Forget-Dust Pill wasn't enough, you made me eat two and that wasn't enough either, and now you've brought me to a place like this?!"

Xu Yi turned to look at me. His eyes were actually somewhat effeminate and slender, but he was trying too hard, which made him seem more like a cross-dresser than a transvestite.

“I know,” he said, “that those who know the secrets of the Buddhist scriptures have only two paths to take: one is to forget—”

“The other way is to resist!” I answered for him. “If you recklessly trigger the mechanism, there might be unexpected results?”

He nodded.

"You're too naive..." I shook my head.

“But…” I clenched my five fingers together, tightly gripping the sharp, cherry-pit-sized, incredibly valuable, and temporarily—but more likely forever—cold, hard diamond in my hand. Amidst my secret delight… “Divine Doctor,” I felt that being trapped in this narrow passageway, there must be other, even stranger things waiting for us… “If, I mean if… if the Forgetfulness Pill isn’t an ordinary pill, then what is it, and why does it cause amnesia… And if this village is truly as simple as it appears, then what are those pale-faced men with teeth in their mouths… And then there’s the illusion I just saw… what if those weren’t illusions at all…”

“Sun Qingshan.” Xu Yi frowned and interrupted me.

I knew he didn't want me to overthink things, but I held out my hand and spread my palm in front of him. "Have you ever seen this kind of stone before?" I asked. "If it really is a diamond, then it's the hardest stone in the world, even harder than swords or knives, so with current technology, it's absolutely impossible to cut a cross-section like this—but if it's not a diamond, what is it?"

The doctor remained silent, quietly examining the necklace in my hand.

Seeing that he was lost in thought again, I suddenly clenched my fist and punched him hard—"Xu Yi," I said in a deep voice, "this time, we may be in big trouble."

Chapter 54

My name is Sun Qingshan, and I was tricked by a seemingly perverted middle-aged man.

At that moment, I felt like I owed him something in my past life. My steps were unsteady, and I had to hold onto his leg tightly to prevent him from slipping off my back. His long, thin arm went over my shoulder, but he just didn't hold on tightly, leaving it hanging loosely in front of my eyes. "Xu Yi..." I said helplessly, "Can't you hold on tighter?! I'm running like crazy here!!"

"Cough cough..." The other person was very obedient. He coughed twice in my ear first, then wrapped his arms around my neck, and finally tightened his thin, bony arms—"Ugh!!" My eyes widened, I tripped, and almost got strangled.

Just recently...

I, along with a frail, spiritually impaired healer in a sleepwalking state, wandered anxiously through the strange underground passages of a peculiar village.

At first, I thought it was a narrow, winding corridor beneath the soil, very long, but a dark road leading to the end. But I was wrong. The passageway was indeed very long, but it kept going in circles, and there was more than one path.

Soon after, in a rather familiar underground stone house, they encountered another group of rather familiar, suspicious men—

I know they've changed people this time.

"Who are you?" The men looked at us, and one of them stepped forward. He had a pair of eyes that were dazzling even in the dark, and they were very black, as black as fine minerals, in contrast to his face, which was as white as if it had no veins.

"It seems to be able to speak human language..." I turned to whisper to the miracle doctor next to me.

“But it may not necessarily be a person…” the divine doctor replied to me in a moderate voice, looking straight ahead.

"So you saw it?! You finally saw it?!" I exclaimed excitedly.

The doctor glanced at me and nodded.

"Whoever you are," the other person took another step forward, "get out of here now!!"

"Who said we don't want to leave?" I pulled the doctor back, and as our view widened, we saw more men behind him. They weren't as gentle as him, or rather, they weren't as humane. Some had dark red eyes, and some suddenly opened their mouths, looking somewhat bewildered, but the white saliva dripping from their lips was genuine; they were restless.

Retreating to the stone chamber door, I pulled the divine doctor behind my back and made one last negotiation with the man not far away, "Since you let us leave, you should at least tell us where the exit is!"

“I don’t know.” The man’s eyes flickered. “Go!!” Then he turned around abruptly and grabbed one of his companions that leaped out from behind him.

"They're leaving right now!" the man shouted to his companions, turning around. "Don't touch them!" This only enraged the crowd.

The gathered men began to howl, and the only man who stood up for me suddenly turned to me and yelled, "Run!!"

"Oh! Run!!" I turned around, grabbed Xu Yi, and ran.

It was a combination of dragging and pulling; in the ten-step distance, the divine doctor stumbled three times.

Finally, he collapsed to the ground like a limp rag, unable to get up. I turned around and saw that the door to the stone chamber not far away was tightly closed. The man from before was standing outside the door, turned around, and walked towards us.

"Splash!" A drop of cold water landed on my face. I held my breath and waited for the other person to approach. Whether they were friend or foe, I still needed to observe.

In the dimly lit tunnel, the man walked over. The divine doctor lay to one side, panting as if he were having an asthma attack. "Is he alright?" the man asked.

"Are you even human?" I stood up and stood in front of Xu Yi.

The man's eyes were bright and beautiful, but too bright, so beautiful that it was chilling. "Not long ago..." he replied, "I was a human."

"Not long ago? What are you now?!" I was nervous, but I tried to remain calm.

"I don't know." The man lowered his head, a hint of panic flashing across his face—an emotion that was unmistakably human.

“They drink my blood…” he said, tilting his head to show me the two holes on his neck, then covering them with his palm. The man had his head shaved and was a monk with very elegant features, but it could also just be a bald look.

"At first they took me into a room filled with green light, tied my hands and feet, and I felt very sleepy..." the man continued, "When I woke up again, I was brought here, and I can't be exposed to sunlight; it feels like my whole body is melting like wax..."

“Sunshine?” I pondered. “So you’ve been outside? Ah—!” I remembered, “In the afternoon!! In the afternoon, didn’t you go out into the street with a lot of people, and a little girl rushed into your group and knocked off the hats of many of you?!”

"A little girl...?" The man was bewildered. "What little girl... I don't remember..."

I was helpless.

“But I have a daughter…” the man said, “I wonder how she is now…”

"A hairpin facing upwards?!" I shouted.

The man trembled with fear at my presence. I lamented how weak men were these days; almost none of them could resist my terrification.

"You've seen Honghong?!" The man stepped forward and suddenly grabbed my shoulder, but I was wrong again. He wasn't trembling because he was scared; he was just too excited.

“Honghong…” I scoffed, “That’s such a common name…” Then I asked, “You really have a daughter? You abandoned her to become a monk in a Buddhist temple?!”

The man nodded.

“That’s right.” I pushed the man’s hand away. “Your wife fell into the river and drowned, and your daughter searched the whole village for you, but she couldn’t find you anywhere…”

"Ah!" the man cried out, his hand suddenly covering his mouth. "How could this be..." His voice sounded like a sob behind his hand. Suddenly, the light in his eyes weakened and dimmed little by little. Then, something bright flowed from his eyes and into his fingers... He choked out a sob and turned his face to the side.

"Couldn't you have said one less word?" Xu Yi's tone remained flat, and it didn't sound like an accusation. He stood up, leaning against the wall beside him, looked at the man, and then at me.

"I did it on purpose!" I said in a deep voice. "I just can't stand seeing people abandon their wives and children!"

Xu Yi swayed noticeably and almost lost his balance.

"I wasn't talking about you..." I tried to salvage the situation, but suddenly I heard a loud "bang" from the stone chamber door not far away.

"Oh no!" the man exclaimed, snapping out of his daze. "They're banging on the door! You guys get out of here!!"

“Let’s go together!” I grabbed the man’s hand, then turned around and grabbed the doctor, feeling very loyal.

"I can't leave!!" The man pulled his hand away and hurriedly pushed me. "You guys run! I'll hold them off!!"

"Wait a minute!!" I shouted, but it wasn't really sincere; it's just my inherent weakness.

The man turned around and strode towards the stone chamber. The last words I vaguely heard were: "I'm going to kill them!!"

What followed was the Tempest Sonata—

"Run!!" I grabbed Xu Yi's hand and ran, but when I turned around, Xu Yi was shaking his head at me with a deathly pale face.

I know he wants me to leave him.

"I'd be scared to death without you!" I quickly backed up in front of him, grabbed his hands and put them over my shoulders, then grabbed his legs and carried him on my back as I ran, yelling, "Look at you, so spineless!!"

That's how it is. I turned around with Xu Yi on my back. The stone chamber was far away. I could see nothing but darkness, but I could hear screams and howls... like a wild beast hiding in the shadows. You don't know if it's dead or not, and you don't know if it will pounce out at the next moment, its blood-red mouth right in front of you, scaring you to death.

I'm timid, so I carried Xu Yi on my back and ran all the way. But I'm not an Ironman champion, and my physical strength has its limits. Besides, Xu Yi isn't light. Even though he's thin, his more than two hundred bones are still quite heavy.