Chapter 165 - System vs. System (XV)
They stayed in the cave for one more night.
As the sun was setting, Cheng Wuyun brought them bedding, picked wild fruit and brought them water.
This was Su Ji’s request.
As a ghost, Cheng Wuyun knew no warmth, no hunger, and she did not understand the reason for Su Ji’s request, but she did as she was told.
There were many things that Cheng Wuyun did not understand. For example, although the Taiji Formation she had set up had been enriched by a thousand years of spiritual power, it was not difficult to break it, or to violently break through the mountain and kill another way out, so why was Third Uncle, one of the Six Gentlemen of Jing Xufeng, so easily trapped by her?
On the next day, the Taiji Formation was unraveled and Duan Shujue and the others met Third Uncle Ren Tingfeng, who had been pitted for more than three or four days, in an adjacent pit.
When they met, Ren Tingfeng was telling one of his disciples who was fast on his feet, “Go back quickly and tell your brother that the disciples are safe and will be back the next day, don’t worry.”
The disciple received his orders and was about to leave when Ren Tingfeng called out to him, “Come back early after the briefing. It is not good to lose a birthday celebrant.”
When he turned his head, Ren Tingfeng saw Wen Yujing and, shaking his small bamboo fan, took the initiative to greet him and said with a smile, “I’m sorry, I’m really sorry for making senior brother feel sorry for you, I’ve even sent sixth senior brother here.”
Wen Yujing smiles: “It’s a good thing there was no danger.”
Ren Tingfeng said, “It may not be dangerous, but it’s okay to be scared, so don’t mention it. Brother Wen, have you brought any money with you?”
Wen Yujing unlocks the brocade pouch at his waist.
Ren Tingfeng said, “Thank you, Brother, when you return to the mountain, I will take that snow lotus and return it to you.”
He tossed the pouch to his disciple, “Go and buy some gifts. It would be a great breach of etiquette to come as a guest without a gift.”
Not only them, but none of those held against their will by Cheng Wuyun have left, including the ordinary people.
One hunter was quite open-minded, clutching a sheepskin wine bag and smiling with big white teeth: “We’re here, and we’ve been locked up for so many days, so we must have a good meal and make a profit.”
The wontons were hand-made by Su Ji, filled with fresh capers from the mountains, but they were fresh and tasty, but not as good as the ones sold in the restaurants.
These noodles were bought a few days ago when Su Ji and Cheng Wuyun went down to the mountains together. Cheng Wuyun refused to leave Su Ji, so Su Ji had to go into the city after nightfall, lest there be any unnecessary disturbance.
Su Ji goes into the grain shop to buy noodles, and Cheng Wuyun waits outside, but accidentally frightens someone who gets up in the middle of the night to open the window.
Fearing that things would get out of hand, Su Ji left in a hurry with Cheng Wuyun, taking the pockets of noodles he had bought and not daring to enter the city again.
Not enough food, but good to have wine.
The wine was made by Su Ji herself and buried under a bamboo grove, a technique she learned from a book, under the bamboo grove where she first met Cheng Wuyun.
The wine, warmed by the bamboo mud, has passed a hundred and a thousand years, with a mellow taste and bamboo aroma.
When Cheng Wuyun met the crowd, she was dressed up in Su Ji’s new clothes and looked a little more festive than Su Ji on her birthday. The small half of the mask hides her disfigured face, leaving the other half of her face small and pointy, and quite beautiful.
Luckily, she was not aware of what the injury on her face meant at the moment, and when she saw everyone, she gave a manly salute: “Thank you all, for coming to spend your birthdays with Ah-ching.”
In Cheng Wuyun’s time, women and men still saluted in the same way.
It was as if she had all but forgotten that she had tied everyone up, or rather, with her existing knowledge, did not see anything wrong with doing so.
Su Ji smiled helplessly and, behind her, returned the salute to the crowd one by one, also making amends to them for her.
Ren Tingfeng smiled, raised his hand and raised his sleeve, pressed his bamboo fan against the gift box on one side and said, “This is a gift from Jing Xufeng, please accept it and wish you a happy life and a hundred years of peace.
Cheng Wuyun was delighted to hear the benediction and came running to unpack the gift box.
Su Ji was full of apologies, but no one in the room minded.
Everyone would like to believe that Su Ji will teach Cheng Wuyun well in the future.
Hunters picked up several unusually shaped stones, a scholar gave away books from his book case, and a woman who had come up the mountain to pick mushrooms picked a handful full of mountain flowers.
Cheng Wuyun loved the flowers so much that he took them in his arms, sniffed them and put them in his own head, which resulted in a messy mess of his well-groomed hair.
Unable to do so, Su Ji had to pull her down on one of the rocks, dissolve her hair and re-groom it.
Cheng Wuyun held up the flowers for her to see: “Flowers.”
Su Ji : “The flowers are very pretty. …… Miss Cheng, don’t move around, look ahead.”
Cheng Wuyun was a good boy, holding the fragrance of the flowers in his arms, but not stopping to say to himself, “The flowers are so beautiful. Tomorrow I will pick all the flowers on the mountain for Su Ji, and Su Ji will be happy.”
Su Ji took hold of her thick head of auburn hair and gently combed through it with gentle movements, “No more, once in a while, Su Ji is happy to pick a handful; if you pick them all, Su Ji will not be happy, the flower is just where it should be, so is Miss Cheng, don’t move and be good.”
Cheng Wuyun mumbled obediently and continued to twirl the flower in her hand, letting the petals brush against her cheek one by one.
Each person was given a small bowl of shepherd’s purse ravioli and Chi Xiaochi took a small spoon and ate the whole bowl in one meticulous bite.
This is also shared with Duan Shujue.
After the small bowl had reached the bottom, the Duan Shujue inside him moved.
He took a spoon and wrote on the bottom of the bowl, “Is this the man.”
It’s a rather nonsensical sentence, but Chi Xiaochi thinks he knows what Duan Shujue is trying to say.
Chi Xiaochi switched to hold the spoon in his left hand and answered him, “Yes.”
In his last life, Duan Shujue was completely conspired by Yan Jinhua, trapped in a sea when he was young and later in a fishing pond, with very few friends and the only real warmth coming from his little black snake.
But Ye Jiming is not a human race.
The people he met were Yan Jinhua and the people in Jing Xufeng, who had been kept in the dark by Yan Jinhua and who were shouting at him for not knowing the truth.
He had never seen such a scene before, all without a word, tacitly defending the wishes of a ghost, without suspicion, without denunciation, without ill will.
Do people, too, have realms.
Is that what people are like.
Duan Shujue was confused, so Chi Xiaochi answered his questions.
”Yes.”
This is what a human being should be like. The darkness and injustice that he had seen did exist, but fortunately, that was not all that made a human being human.
Duan Shujue, who is rarely talkative, ponders for a moment and writes with his spoon, word by word, on the bottom of the bowl, “I want to know more.”
Chi Xiaochi replied to him, “Might as well take your time to see it.”
Duan Shujue : “Thank you, Mr. Chi, for mentioning it.”
Chi Xiaochi: “No. This ravioli is quite delicious, are you done writing, I’ll go and serve another bowl when you’re done.”
He went to serve another bowl, the heat of the ravioli hitting his face in a pleasant way.
061, who had not spoken for a long time, smiled and said, “You are quite fit for enlightenment.”
Chi Xiaochi said, “What is enlightenment, live more, you can always live it out.”
There is no such thing as extreme evil or extreme beauty in this world, most of them are just grey, not too good, not too bad.
Chi Xiaochi has seen the best of people and the worst of people, and he never doubts the existence of evil, but he does not question any good for that reason either.
During his most hateful and unlikeable times, he would text with Lou Ying.
By that time, Lou Ying was unable to reply to him.
However, Chi Xiaochi will by default have read it, or is reading it.
No matter how tired he is or how much he hates it, he can sleep well for hours with peace of mind just by sending a text message from his tiny, simple-to-function phone that only calls and texts before he goes to bed.
” Brother Lou, good night.”
”Got a first in the exam today. Missed you.”
”I’ve been approached to do a film and I’ve heard that a very famous screenwriter has taken a fancy to me, is it a fake, should I go?”
” Brother Lou, I had milk before I went to bed. A big glass.”
Although the efficacy of this therapy waned later on, it was good to know that Lou Ying would not change his number and was always there, tender and ready to accommodate him.
For this warmth, Chi Xiaochi also tries to keep his heart so that it doesn’t become too much.
However, in any case, he is not the same Chi Xiaochi as before.
Ye Jiming, sensing his silence, sat with him in the laughter.
Wen Yujing was called by Ren Tingfeng for a drink and they were able to take the opportunity to gossip.
Ye Jiming called out to him, “The Chi?”
Chi Xiaochi : “Hmm?”
Ye Jiming: “What did the old bastard Yan do to Su Ji and Cheng Wuyun?”
In his previous life, he had only heard about it, and the subject matter boasted of Yan Jinhua’s thundering skills.
Chi Xiaochi sneers.
In his previous life, under the leadership of Yan Jinhua, who had captured the thousand-year-old sword intent of the shark, Tokyu Mountain was set on fire, Cheng Wuyun was severely injured and dragged away from Tokyu Mountain, where he was destroyed in smoke, and Su Ji was captured and thrown into the furnace.
When Ye Jiming heard about this, he almost died on the spot.
But when he turned his head, he saw Yan Jinhua sitting far away, his face full of forcibly suppressed resentment, and the wontons in front of him hadn’t even touched a bite, not knowing whether it was because he had no appetite or because he didn’t trust the mountain ghosts, the unhappiness in his heart immediately dispersed.
In this life, Su Ji and Cheng Wuyun were in good health and had the approval of Third Uncle Jing Xufeng and Younger Uncle, so even if he had been lucky enough to get some great chance later on, I’m afraid he wouldn’t have been able to find an excuse to take the pills.
With his mind relieved, Ye Jiming looked around and felt a sense of relief.
He had not read that book, the Sailor Fairy King, and only knew the plot in general terms.
Tokyu Mountain, where he was supposed to meet Duan Shujue.
Ye Jiming asks, “What do you think that author, exactly, was planning to write about my first encounter with Little Fish?”
Chi Xiaochi asks, “That’s for you to ask, what if you were at Tokyu Mountain and saw Duan Shujue for the first time?”
”If I didn’t know him well, of course I would have seen his hypocrisy and looked for a chance to teach him a lesson.” Ye Jiming says, “But probably not when Su Ji’s birthday is being celebrated, not until we get down from the mountain.”
Chi Xiaochi sipped a glass of bamboo wine: “So, that’s probably the story the author intended to write.”
After a good meal, the group said goodbye.
After sending these kind-hearted people away, Su Ji turned back to the mountains, but could find no trace of Cheng Wuyun.
She walked around the mountain, calling softly and without haste, “Miss Cheng, Miss Cheng.”
As they passed by the bamboo grove where they had met, Cheng Wuyun jumped from one of the bamboos and landed on her, rustling a shaken leaf and grinning.
She weighs nothing at all and can be carried easily.
The Goddess, who used to be a gentle and dignified woman, lay on the mountain ghost’s back, her hair, which had just been combed, falling apart: “Have you sent them all away?”
Su Ji turned his back on her and said, “Send away.”
Cheng Wuyun said, “So now it’s my turn.”
Su Ji said, “Fine, fine, take you home.”
She carried her on her back, towards the home they shared.
Cheng Wuyun wrapped his arms around Su Ji’s neck and thought about the people who had just left: “They were so nice. Will they come back next year?”
Su Ji said, “That’s fate, there’s no need to force it. Listen to me and don’t arrest anyone in the future, okay?”
Cheng Wuyun said, “No catch.”
Su Ji : “You can’t catch it on the birth day either.”
Cheng Wuyun froze and lay on her back for a few moments, thinking hard, before making up his mind, “Well, no.”
…… This is considered a done deal.
Cheng Wuyun was good for a while and then demanded, “You haven’t read to me from today’s book.”
Su Ji : “Which one do you want to hear?”
Cheng Wuyun said, “The Book of Psalms.”
Su Ji then picked a piece at random and recited it in a soft voice: “The wood is cut down, the birds are singing. It comes from the valley and moves to the trees. ……”
The mountain ghost recites a phrase and the goddess follows it. The goddess did not quite understand what it meant, babbling and learning to speak in her accent and pronunciation.
She drifted off at times, feeling the words familiar and the scene familiar.
It was as if she had carried someone like that long ago, and then again long ago.
As she read the words herself, she learned them. And so a thousand years of time did not seem so hard to pass, day by day.
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