Chapter 40: [Take It Away, Quick!]

A few hours later, Lu Sisi's body gave a jolt, and she came back to her senses.

During the spell she had just cast, at some point in the middle she had already lost consciousness and fainted, and she had no idea at all what had happened afterward.

"The spell is done. You can take the gauze off now and move around as you like.

Mm, actually the spell was finished long ago, but I saw you were sleeping soundly, so I didn't wake you."

Lu Sisi heard Chen Yan's voice in her ears, but it sounded as though his Qi was insufficient and he was very weak.

The girl hurriedly peeled off the tape over her eyes, removed the gauze, and then took the gauze out of her mouth as well.

She sat up straight on the bed, and saw Chen Yan leaning against the only chair in the room, his whole body looking as if it had gone limp.

The sky had already grown a little dim, the lights in the room were not on, and Chen Yan was sitting by the window, his body seemingly still bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun.

At one glance, she saw Chen Yan's face was pale, he was panting, and his head was covered in beads of sweat.

As if he had just done some hard labor?

Lu Sisi's heart gave a jolt.

He-he wouldn't... while I was passed out, have done something to me, would he?

Lu Sisi nervously felt at her own clothes—they were, after all, neat and tidy.

Chen Yan took one look at Lu Sisi's movements and knew what she was thinking, and shot her an annoyed glare.

"So young, yet why are there so many strange thoughts in that head of yours!"

As he spoke, he fished out a bottle of mineral water from the bag he had brought, unscrewed it, and gulped down half of it himself. After resting a while to catch his breath, he said to Lu Sisi, "Sit properly and don't move, let me have a good look at your face."

Lu Sisi's heart was nervous, so she hurriedly sat properly on the bed. Not knowing how to place her legs, she simply crossed them.

Chen Yan focused his eyes and used the Heavenly Eye Qi-Gazing Art to look. After one glance, his heart settled at once!

The effect... is very good!

The black Qi of bad luck over Lu Sisi's head had already dispersed by a small portion.

It hadn't all dispersed because... the time she had been "dead" was not long enough.

After a living being dies, the dispersal of its fortune Qi is also a process; it won't all vanish in a flash, it needs time to slowly dissipate.

And with Chen Yan's current Dao attainment, casting this "False Death Art" could at most strip Lu Sisi of her six senses for two hours.

Stripping the ordinary five senses was still manageable, and even if the time were a bit longer there wouldn't be much of a problem.

But stripping the sixth sense, the "spiritual perception"—with Chen Yan's current ability, there was no way to make the time any longer.

Any longer... and the false death might turn into a real one.

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Chen Yan's expression was somewhat excited, and he said solemnly, "The spell's effect is very strong. By my estimate, after two more applications, your bad luck should be completely dispelled."

Lu Sisi's body gave a jolt, and she said softly, "Everything you're saying—is it true?"

"It's true! Two more times... mm, at most three times, and your bad luck problem will be completely solved."

After Chen Yan finished speaking, he looked at Lu Sisi. The girl, however, did not rejoice as Chen Yan had expected, but slowly lowered her head.

Mm?

Chen Yan was puzzled in his heart. He stood up and took a step closer, only to discover that Lu Sisi, head lowered, was silent, but tears had already streamed from her eyes.

Teardrops went pat-pat onto the back of her hand.

Chen Yan was stunned for a moment, turned around, fished a pack of tissues from his bag, pulled one out, and handed it to Lu Sisi. The young Miss took it and clutched it in her hand, then lowered her head and sobbed softly for a while.

A few minutes later, she finally raised her head, her eyes red as she looked at Chen Yan.

"Is it really true that at most two or three more times will be enough?"

Chen Yan's voice and tone were also very gentle: "Yes. You go back today, come again tomorrow, and come again the day after. If all goes well, after the third spell casting, you can be free."

Lu Sisi was silent for a while, then she bit her lip hard. When she raised her head again, her gaze was bright and piercing, fixed on Chen Yan.

"I'm not leaving!"

"Huh?"

"I said, I'm not leaving." On Lu Sisi's face, which always wore an expression like a startled rabbit, there was now only firmness: "I'm not leaving today! For the next two days, I'll stay right here!

I... I don't dare to leave! I'm afraid if I go back, what if...

I've waited eighteen years, I've waited all these years, I..."

Chen Yan's heart gave a jolt!

Looking at Lu Sisi's determined gaze, Chen Yan also slowly understood...

After all, eighteen years.

A full eighteen years, day after day, night after night, every hour, every moment, trembling with fear, walking on thin ice, the warmth and coldness of human relations, alone.

Eighteen years!

Now that she saw a sliver of hope, how could she not want to grip it tightly in her hand, not daring to let go for even a single second.

—This kind of feeling is easy to understand.

It's like when your beloved family member goes into surgery, a major operation, and waiting for them to come out takes five or six hours.

You would never say, oh, I'll go browse the web for a while.

Anyone with a shred of humanity could never bring themselves to do that.

Even if you clearly know that sitting outside the operating room waiting is, in fact, utterly pointless.

Still, you would wait it out to the minute, not wanting to leave for even a moment!

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If she won't leave... then let her stay.

Chen Yan's heart softened.

Originally, he had still been thinking of going home to sleep well in his luxurious big villa.

Now it seemed that if he left, this Miss wouldn't be able to rest easy for a single second.

He checked the time—it was already past four in the afternoon, almost five.

Chen Yan pondered for a moment: "Are you hungry?"

"Huh? Um… I'm okay." Lu Sisi's face reddened slightly.

Chen Yan thought it over—this place wasn't far from the school, and it had been quite a while since he'd eaten the school's food.

Speaking honestly, the university Chen Yan had attended for four years—the school itself was so-so, but the cafeteria had a few dishes that were genuinely pretty good, and the prices weren't expensive either.

Chen Yan picked up his phone and called Xiao Zhao directly.

The call was answered quickly, and Xiao Zhao's voice was very enthusiastic: "Bro, what's up?"

"Yeah, are you at the school?" Chen Yan asked.

"I'm here, I'm here." It sounded a bit noisy on Xiao Zhao's end. He said quickly: "Bro, give me a sec, I'm running a job with some people."

"What job did you pick up today?"

On that end, Xiao Zhao lowered his voice: "Some dumbass rich second-gen took a fancy to a famous green-tea bitch from our school's foreign languages department, hired people to set up a romantic display under the dorm building. I'm leading the crew laying out the flowers and candles on the ground.

He even pulled in twenty hired bodies as the onlooking crowd. I picked a few who've been to Hengdian with me, and when the time comes they'll just stand on the side pretending to be envious and excited and all that—you know how it is.

This gig's pretty fat, pays way more than lining up at a milk-tea shop as a shill."

Xiao Zhao was clearly in a great mood—after all, when it comes to making money, of course everyone's all smiles.

"Spare me one of your guys, help me run an errand. I'll pay the delivery fee separately, at your usual job rate."

Xiao Zhao grinned: "Sure thing, bro, no problem. I've got plenty of people here."

Xiao Zhao didn't even mention anything about not charging—Chen Yan's personality was clear to him: he didn't like owing people favors.

Chen Yan thought for a moment, then said: "Have your guy go to our school cafeteria and get me an order of braised spare ribs, an order of braised pork, an order of soy-braised eggplant, and two boxes of rice. I'll send you a location pin—have your guy set up and deliver the stuff to the pin."

At this point, Chen Yan paused: "Oh, and if it's convenient, stop by a supermarket on the way and grab me a case of mineral water, and a case of instant noodles. Any flavor of instant noodles is fine, just not spicy."

Xiao Zhao repeated Chen Yan's order on his end, then hung up with a chuckle.

Chen Yan and Lu Sisi sat in the room. Lu Sisi's emotions had stabilized a bit, and she was starting to feel shy again. She hopped off the bed, put her shoes on, fidgeted for a while, then ran off to grab the broom in the corner.

"Don't!" Chen Yan quickly stopped her.

"I, I saw your place here, the floor's a bit dusty…"

Chen Yan sighed: "I know what you're thinking—you want to help me tidy up, do something. I'm not being falsely polite with you either. But I told you before, this place isn't mine. It's a short-term rental.

You know what short-term rental means, right? Just rented it for a few days.

What I mean is, in a couple of days when the job's done, I'll be leaving here too.

No matter how clean you scrub it, it's still someone else's place."

Lu Sisi bit her lip, but said stubbornly in a low voice: "Even so, that's still a few days away. For these few days you're here, it'd be more comfortable for you if it's a bit cleaner."

Saying that, the Miss actually started sweeping with the broom, then ran to the bathroom to fill a basin with water, found a rag from who-knows-where, and just like that earnestly began tidying up the room.

In winter, the tap water was icy cold, and the little girl's hands turned red right before his eyes as they soaked in the basin. Chen Yan saw it all, wanted to stop her, but Lu Sisi stubbornly refused him two or three times through gritted teeth, so he simply said nothing more.

After another while, around five-thirty, a shout came from outside the door.

"Is Senior Brother Chen here?"

Chen Yan got up and went outside, and saw a fatty riding a bicycle, circling around the house nearby—probably couldn't find the place.

"Here, here!" Chen Yan waved.

The other guy rode over, stopped in front of Chen Yan, a chubby face beaming with smiles: "Senior Brother Chen, right? Zhao Zhao Zong told me to deliver the stuff!"

Chen Yan sized him up—the fatty had plain looks and dressed very simply; looked like a poor student.

Fair enough—if he were one of those rich second-gen kids, who'd come out in this freezing weather to do odd jobs?

In the front basket of the bicycle was a big plastic bag containing the food Chen Yan had ordered.

On the back seat, two cases were tied down with rope—one case of mineral water, one case of instant noodles—the instant noodles were pork-bone broth flavor.

Chen Yan helped carry the stuff inside, then scanned the code on his phone to pay the little fatty.

Besides the cost of the items, Chen Yan gave fifty yuan for the delivery fee.

The little fatty glanced at Lu Sisi sitting on the bed inside the room, said nothing, but pulled Chen Yan outside, then felt in his pocket and took something out.

"Senior Brother Chen, before I came, Zhao Zhao Zong gave me instructions.

Said you ordered food for two, so there might be some situation.

So he told me to buy you something.

If I got here and saw you hanging out with some bros or friends, he'd have me leave you a pack of cigarettes.

But if you were with a girl… he told me to give you this."

After saying that, the little fatty stuffed a box of something into Chen Yan's hand.

Chen the Good Samaritan looked down.

Condoms. Ultra-thin, no less.

Chen Yan was stunned—this bastard Xiao Zhao… all his cleverness was spent on this kind of thing!

Just as he was spacing out, suddenly the door beside him opened, and Lu Sisi stepped out with her head lowered: "Chen Yan, I…"

Then she froze.

The Miss's eyes locked straight onto the little box in Chen Yan's hand.

Swoosh!

The girl's face instantly flushed crimson, then she darted back inside!

Chen Yan: "…"

He raised his head, his face ashen, and shoved the thing back into the little fatty's hands.

"Take it back, tell Xiao Zhao to keep it for himself!!"

Fatty blinked his eyes: "Brother? You really don't need it?"

"Take it quickly!"

He silently added to himself: …before I change my mind.

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