Chapter 234: Can you show a little respect for You Bifang?

"Actually, my middle lives were very simple. It wasn't until I was reincarnated as a human in my second life that I realized how fragile humans truly are. I fell ill when I was six or seven—pneumonia, I think—and I didn't make it. I died."

"By my third life, I didn't have many memories left from before. I was born as the only daughter of a town family. I went through elementary, middle, and high school smoothly, got into a medical university in the capital, and studied neurosurgery. Because the academic pressure was too high and the lingering memories kept affecting me, I would self-harm whenever I was stressed. My school and teachers found out, and I was suspended and sent home."

"My parents in that life were very good to me, but the lingering memories had a huge impact on me. I became somewhat deranged and committed suicide."

Qin Huai was shocked.

He finally understood why Luo Jun said that spirits in their middle lives have lingering memories but aren't trapped by previous obsessions. Even though it's the best time to resolve those obsessions, the success rate is very low because spirits in this state are usually half-sober and half-mad, and their mental health is generally poor.

It turned out that Gong Liang's situation was actually considered mentally stable.

Being able to eat, drink, sleep, and not seek death—he was practically a normal person!

"I am currently in my fourth life," Qu Jing said.

"The fourth life is the last one? Hong Jie's fifth life is her last," Qin Huai said, surprised again.

"The number of lives a spirit must be reincarnated after a failed tribulation before reaching the final life isn't fixed," Qu Jing explained. "Short ones like mine only have four lives. Five lives, like Hong Jie's, is normal. Some hold out until their sixth life before it's the end."

"Is there any logic to this?" Qin Huai asked. "For example, do those with deep obsessions reincarnate fewer times, or is it related to the strength of their original form? Can those with powerful strength reincarnate more?"

Qu Jing shook her head. "I don't know. I only know it's related to the speed of forgetting."

"In the first life, our essence is still that of a spirit, possessing all our memories. Our divine power doesn't disappear until after the failed tribulation."

"By the second life, we are truly human. We have human bodies, human lifespans, and must experience birth, aging, sickness, and death, and feel joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. We remember the reason for our failed tribulation, remember most of the memories from our first life, and know what we need to do and how to make up for our regrets."

"By the third life, there are very few memories left. Most spirits even forget they are spirits. Previous memories appear repeatedly in dreams, obsessions linger in the heart, and they act more on instinct."

"This is why the mental state of spirits during this period is very unstable. For example, a spirit in this period thinks they are human, but they didn't drink all of the Meng Potang. In daily life, they occasionally recall important fragments from before in a daze, but they don't know what these fragments represent."

"Intuition tells them these fragments are very important, but they can't find any relevant information in their memories."

"If this continues for a long time, they either become paranoid, are treated as lunatics by others, or, in more serious cases like mine, go to extremes."

"Of course, there are a very small number of spirits who still remember they are spirits in their third life. These spirits are basically extremely difficult to successfully pass the tribulation, so Heaven gives them more opportunities to resolve their obsessions."

"By the fourth life, the lingering memories are very few. They basically don't affect daily life, but the influence brought by the obsession is carved into their bones, driving the spirit to do certain things involuntarily."

"The fifth life is the final life for most spirits. You should already be very familiar with the state of the final life, Qin Huai—it's like Hong Jie and me. There are no memories from before, and while the influence of the obsession still changes our personality or habits, we are just ordinary people who are a bit strange."

"Has Hong Jie told you that a spirit in their final life will definitely have one opportunity to successfully pass their tribulation? We call this the last straw given to us by Heaven," Qu Jing asked.

Qin Huai nodded. "Hong Jie mentioned it."

Qu Jing looked at Qin Huai. "You are my straw."

Qin Huai felt a bit embarrassed by Qu Jing's serious tone and waved his hands repeatedly to indicate he wasn't; he was just a simple cheater with a system.

Qu Jing likely had another straw; it might not have appeared yet, or it might have appeared but she hadn't grasped it.

After listening to Qu Jing's explanation, Qin Huai deeply felt that Qu Jing, as a little bird with no combat power, had decent common sense—much better than Chen Huihong, that plant spirit.

"I've discovered you know much more than Hong Jie," Qin Huai sighed.

Qu Jing smiled. "These are basic common sense. Before the tribulation, the elders in the clan teach them."

"Hong Jie and the other plant spirits..." Qu Jing hesitated for a moment before saying directly, "Their way of passing the tribulation is quite peculiar. Many plant spirits pass the tribulation in a daze; they get discovered and burned to death, and then they succeed."

"So, the plant spirits usually don't teach anything. It's normal for them to lack common sense."

Qin Huai:...

The reputation of plant spirits was damaged once again.

"Then, since you know everything, why did you choose to turn into a child when you first took human form?" Qin Huai asked curiously.

Qu Jing paused and said somewhat embarrassedly, "Because children have less meat."

Qin Huai:?

"The greatest efficacy of us Quju isn't curing amnesia, but preventing hunger when eaten. Many predecessors who successfully passed the tribulation unfortunately encountered chaotic times or famine years and were caught by starving people who cut off their flesh to eat. Being boiled directly is one thing, but some predecessors were unlucky enough to have their supernatural qualities discovered and were kept as mobile granaries, begging for death but unable to find it."

"I'm afraid of pain, so I thought it would be better to just turn into a child. That way, if I have to die, I can die quickly. If it's a chaotic time, I'll find a deep mountain forest to hide in, hide until the outside world is peaceful, then run out to play the victim, find a kind family to adopt me, and pass the tribulation safely."

"As a result... you've seen the rest."

Qin Huai didn't know what to say for a moment. After thinking about it, he could only sigh: "It's good to have no common sense. Hong Jie dared to rush out even during a three-year famine."

Compared to the cautious Qu Jing, Chen Huihong was truly the most radical of the radicals.

Qu Jing:?

Qu Jing continued to eat her rice cake soup.

"I actually have one more question," Qin Huai said after hesitating. "Qu Jing, do you still remember the spirit you met at the pastry shop in your first life?"

Qu Jing nodded. "Of course I remember. The dim sum was delicious."

"I found two recipes in your memories, and one of them was his. Your memory is too long—four years—and there are many accelerated segments in the middle. I feel like I skipped quite a bit. Did you see him again later?"

"No. The second time my grandfather took me to the provincial hospital for treatment, I actually specifically looked for that pastry shop, but it had already closed."

"Is he... okay?"

"Nothing much, I'm just purely curious how he saw through your true form at a glance. Luo Jun is a You Bifang, and even he couldn't see what your true form was."

Qu Jing swallowed the rice cake in her mouth. "It's normal that Mr. Luo couldn't tell. Although we are both birds, You Bifang is too powerful. I wouldn't dare to climb high and say I'm of the same clan as Mr. Luo."

"There are many spirits, and different races don't understand each other. But if it happens to be the same race and they previously knew the same kind—for example, if Hong Jie knew a Ghost Vine when she was still a white plant, and then happened to run into a Ghost Vine in its first life while passing the tribulation, Hong Jie would definitely be able to recognize the other's true form at a glance."

Qin Huai understood. "So the young man's true form is also likely a bird."

"Mm," Qu Jing nodded. "He should have been a spirit in his second life. I didn't recognize him at the time; it was only after he recognized me as a spirit and showed goodwill that I reacted."

Qin Huai had asked everything he wanted to ask and couldn't think of anything else for the moment, so he could only sit in the private room and keep thinking.

Seeing that Qin Huai wasn't asking anymore, Qu Jing worried that the rice cake soup would get cold if she didn't eat it, so she buried her head and ate fiercely, one spoonful after another without stopping.

By the time Qin Huai came back to his senses and wanted to ask if Qu Jing wanted to video call Chen Huihong and Luo Jun for an online spirit meeting, Qu Jing had already finished the large bowl of rice cake soup.

She ate it clean.

Qu Jing was using her spoon to scrape the radish slices at the bottom of the bowl.

"You finished it?!"

"It's quite delicious," Qu Jing said. "It's almost exactly the same as the rice cake soup my grandfather used to cook, but it tastes a bit better than his."

"I haven't eaten rice cake soup with this flavor for many years. Before I woke up, I couldn't cook this flavor at home either."

Qin Huai indicated that this was normal; C-grade rice cake soup really wasn't something an ordinary person could cook. Without some talent, you really couldn't do it.

Qu Jing's cooking was that of a normal person. She had no choice; born in an orphanage, she had to learn to work from a young age, and later she was sponsored by Chen Huihong to study abroad, so she cooked for herself and her cooking wasn't bad.

Dean Qu's cooking wasn't bad either; she wouldn't even break the skin when cooking sweet rice balls. If Qu Jing had grown up in the Sanmalu Children's Welfare Institute and was called Qin Jing, and had eaten the rice cake soup cooked by Dean Qu since she was a child, she might have woken up long ago.

It wasn't that Qin Huai was secretly slandering Dean Qu behind her back; it was just that Dean Qu's skills were too poor. Otherwise, the welfare institute wouldn't have unanimously agreed to let Qin Huai, a child, be responsible for the institute's flour-based foods.

Qin Huai suddenly thought of what he wanted to ask.

"What do you plan to... do in the future?"

Qin Huai knew that after a spirit successfully passes the tribulation, they can choose to return to their original world immediately.

Their final life is a human body; they can choose to have the body die and the true form return, or they can continue to stay in the human world to live out their final life.

But very few spirits choose the latter, because staying in the human world means there are unstable factors. It's hard to guarantee that they won't encounter something they can't let go of while living, develop some obsession, fail again, and have to start all over from scratch.

People like Chen Huihong, who choose to stay in the human world to accompany Chen Huihui, are a very small minority.

"Of course, it's to live well," Qu Jing put down the bowl. "Grandfather hoped I would live well."

"He hoped I could go to middle school, high school, university, be healthy and happy, and live as happily as every normal person."

"I've already over-fulfilled the task and graduated with a doctorate; I only lack living well like a normal person."

"I want to continue in the human world, live until the end of my natural life, and continue to be a neurologist, even if I have no way to cure my patients."

"I didn't listen to Grandfather in my first life, but in this life, I will definitely listen to him."

"I believe that if I do this, he should be happy too."

"Even if ordinary humans have no reincarnation, death is death."

Qin Huai said with a smile, "If Hong Jie finds out, she will definitely be very happy."

In fact, Chen Huihong found out half an hour later.

Qu Jing also felt it was necessary to video call Chen Huihong and Luo Jun to report this good news. Qin Huai created a group and initiated a group video call; Chen Huihong and Luo Jun basically answered in seconds.

Upon learning that Qu Jing had woken up, Chen Huihong was overjoyed. She didn't even give Qin Huai and Luo Jun a chance to speak; the whole time it was her chattering away, and Qu Jing answering word by word.

"Jingjing, it's so good that you've woken up. When are you coming back from that study exchange? Are you coming back for the New Year? Before the seventh day of the New Year, I have to take Huihui back to my hometown for the New Year, and I'll be back on the eighth. Let's gather at Luo Jun's house to eat together then."

"Tell Zhang Shumei to buy more fruit. Fruit is the most abundant during the New Year; all kinds of out-of-season fruit can be bought if you want."

"Do you like cherries? Tell Zhang Shumei to buy more 3J ones. Huihui loves cherries the most, so I'll take more back for Huihui then."

Luo Jun finally found a chance to speak. "Chen Huihong, can you not buy fruit yourself? You really treat my house as a self-service fruit shop, coming and going as you please without paying."

Chen Huihong was chatting happily and didn't pay any attention to Luo Jun at all, or perhaps she didn't notice Luo Jun speaking.

"I know a fruit seller whose cherries are of great quality during the New Year, but they raise the price as soon as the New Year arrives. It's too heartless."

"I'll push their WeChat to Zhang Shumei."

Luo Jun in the video:...

Luo Jun tilted his head slightly and took out another phone to make a call. "Xiao Zhang, look at your phone and add the WeChat friend."

Qin Huai couldn't help but laugh.

"Hong Jie," Qin Huai interrupted Chen Huihong's enthusiastic Spring Festival spirit tea party plan. "Do you want me to make a batch of raw embryos that can be frozen and stored for a long time and leave them with you? I have to go back to my hometown for the New Year, and I won't be back until after the Lantern Festival."

"Great, great," Chen Huihong said excitedly. "Xiao Qin, your skills really make people feel uncomfortable if they don't eat them for a few days. Now that Huang Ji's business is so good, you can't even call a runner, and Luo Jun and I haven't eaten the dim sum you made for many days."

Qin Huai was stunned. He didn't expect that Chen Huihong and Luo Jun would also be direct victims of Huang Ji's explosive business.

"I even asked Luo Jun this morning if he wanted to go to Gusu with me, but he just wouldn't go."

Luo Jun said unhappily, "What's so good about Gusu?"

Qin Huai smiled. "Mr. Luo, you didn't tell me earlier. Tomorrow I'll leave some raw embryos for you, and you can have a runner come pick them up and send them to Shanshi for Zhang Shumei to steam. The taste won't be much different."

"Don't worry, the Chen Pi tea will be sent over together."

Only then did Luo Jun show his second good expression since the video call started.

The first good expression was when he heard that Qu Jing had woken up.

Qu Jing also smiled at Luo Jun. "Mr. Luo, thank you for these past few years."

Luo Jun raised his chin slightly. "Good to know. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have gone to that crappy hospital of yours."

"But even if you don't want to live anymore, I still suggest you go for regular physical therapy; it's good for your body."

Luo Jun:...

"Jingjing, Xiao Qin helped you wake up. What do you plan to give him?" Chen Huihong asked.

"Give?" Qu Jing didn't understand.

Chen Huihong explained the gifts in the illustration section of Qin Huai's game system.

Qu Jing suddenly realized. "Then what did you and Mr. Luo give, Hong Jie?"

"I asked my brother to donate a large sum of money to Did Luo Luo's high school and recruited Did Luo Luo as a special student. When Did Luo Luo goes to university and wants to study abroad, I'll have my brother pay the tuition."

"Luo Jun plans to give all his inheritance to Xiao Qin after he dies, and when he reincarnates, he'll have Xiao Qin return some to him."

Qu Jing understood. She didn't look at her phone but looked directly at Qin Huai.

"Although my income is good now—about 37,000 a month including salary and bonuses, plus a year-end bonus—most of my salary over the years has been donated. I only have 370,000 on hand now; it's not much money."

"How about this: I'll write you an IOU for 10 million, paid in installments. I should be able to pay it off before I die."

Qin Huai:...?

He was just a dim sum maker; he didn't want to be hung on a street lamp!

"No, no!" Qin Huai refused repeatedly.

Qu Jing was already considered very poor among spirits. Qin Huai had a lot of inheritance waiting for him to inherit, so he wouldn't covet the 10 million Qu Jing hadn't earned yet.

"I have Mr. Luo's inheritance here, which is more than enough. How about this: since most of your previous money was donated anyway, I'll push the WeChat of Dean Qin from our Sanmalu Children's Welfare Institute to you. You can donate a sum of money to the Sanmalu Children's Welfare Institute regularly every year in the future; consider it a gift to me."

Qin Huai: Dean Qin, this is the last thing I can do for the welfare institute as an outstanding graduate of the Sanmalu Children's Welfare Institute.

"Okay," Qu Jing nodded.

"Hey, it's not that I'm talking about you guys," Luo Jun's speechless voice came from the phone.

"I'm not dead yet. Can you guys not all default to the fact that I've already reincarnated?"

"Can you show a little respect for You Bifang?"

Qu Jing's storyline has come to an end. I'm taking a day off tomorrow to organize the subsequent plot.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 235 =====