Chapter 24

He He Jiaqing said in astonishment: "Why did you leave the stuff at the station?"

Li Li Banfeng sighed: "That's a long story."

Li Li Banfeng stood at the door, hesitating whether to go in.

He He Jiaqing had already closed the gate.

If he didn't go in now, it would be equivalent to falling out with the other party face-to-face.

If he fell out face-to-face, could he still survive?

"Let's talk inside." He He Jiaqing brought Li Li Banfeng into the entrance hall. Li Li Banfeng had trekked for a whole day, and his leather shoes were covered in mud. He walked two steps in the entrance hall, leaving two muddy footprints on the carpet.

He He Jiaqing looked at the carpet. Li Li Banfeng gave an awkward smile and hurriedly took off his shoes.

Actually, his socks weren't in much better condition than his shoes. When he was dealing with the black bear, muddy water poured into his shoes, and after drying along the way, they had now taken shape.

Li Li Banfeng put on slippers and handed the feather duster to He He Jiaqing.

He He Jiaqing took the duster, not understanding the meaning.

Li Li Banfeng said: "This is a token of my sincerity."

He He Jiaqing held the feather duster, shook his head, and sighed: "Li Banfeng, you really have no sense of seriousness."

Li Li Banfeng said with a straight face: "Bringing a gift when visiting, is this not serious?"

He He Jiaqing shook his head helplessly and placed the feather duster in the corner of the living room. This reminded Li Li Banfeng of a sentence Old Lady Wu once said at the orphanage:

Cultured families never put feather dusters in the living room; it's easy to attract trivial matters.

Now is not the time to think about feather dusters.

He He Jiaqing brought Li Li Banfeng to the living room, and Li Li Banfeng sat on the sofa.

Although this mansion was gorgeous, it wasn't connected to electricity. He He Jiaqing lit the candle on the coffee table and asked about Li Li Banfeng's experiences along the way.

"Li Banfeng, I sent you messages all the way, why didn't you reply?" He He Jiaqing poured a cup of tea for Li Li Banfeng.

"When I reached Feng Kudai Ridge, my phone ran out of power, and the train broke down, so I couldn't charge it and couldn't see your messages at all." Li Li Banfeng picked up the teacup and was about to take a sip, but when he brought it near his nose, he felt a fishy smell from the tea.

"This isn't water for raising goldfish, is it?" Li Li Banfeng frowned.

"Nonsense, what water for raising goldfish? This is top-grade tea! I wouldn't even bear to take it out for ordinary people!"

"So it's good tea." Li Li Banfeng picked up the teacup and made a motion of drinking tea, but the tea didn't decrease because he didn't actually drink it.

He He Jiaqing said: "I heard the train had an accident, and I've been worried about whether you had anything to eat on the train these past few days."

Li Li Banfeng laughed: "I had food, but the things I saw along the way were too strange. He Jiaqing, you haven't told me yet, what exactly happened? What kind of place is this? Who is the person lying in the hospital?"

He He Jiaqing laughed: "There's too much to say about this, it wouldn't be finished in three days and three nights. I heard the train arrived yesterday, why did you only come to find me today?"

"I wasn't..." Halfway through his sentence, Li Li Banfeng suddenly heard a sound in the entrance hall.

He He Jiaqing also looked toward the entrance hall; there were indeed rustling footsteps there.

The two of them went to the entrance hall one after another, looked around for a moment, and saw no one, but saw a flower cat crouching under the shoe rack, holding a cat food bowl and eating.

Li Li Banfeng asked: "I saw a black cat just now, why is there a flower cat here?"

He He Jiaqing laughed: "They are all stray cats from nearby. They originally lived in the old mansion, but I moved back and occupied their home.

I couldn't bear it, so I prepare some food for them every day. Anyway, I'm the only one living in such a big house, it's quite nice to have them for company."

Li Li Banfeng looked at the cat food bowl. Inside was a paste that couldn't be identified. It definitely wasn't fish, but it also emitted a fishy smell.

Why does everything smell fishy today?

Is there something wrong with my nose?

Li Li Banfeng scanned the entrance hall again and suddenly noticed the very bright feather duster he had brought.

That feather duster, which had been placed in the corner of the living room by He He Jiaqing, was now placed next to the shoe rack.

Following the feather duster to look at the shoe rack, his pair of leather shoes covered in mud had become very clean. Not only was the mud gone, but they were also polished until they shone.

Following the shoe rack to look at the carpet, the carpet was also very clean, spotless.

The two muddy footprints he left when he entered the door were also gone.

"Li Banfeng, what are you dazed about?"

Li Li Banfeng laughed: "I'm looking at that cat."

"What are you looking at it for? You must be hungry too!" He He Jiaqing laughed. "You sit for a while, I'll go cook you a bowl of meat soup."

Li Li Banfeng returned to the sofa, picked up the teacup, and poured the tea onto the carpet.

He wanted to see what changes would happen to the carpet.

In less than two minutes, the tea on the carpet dried, leaving no trace at all.

He He Jiaqing was busy in the kitchen. A white cat was lying under the cupboard, sleeping soundly.

On the cutting board lay an animal that had been skinned, about a foot long.

He He Jiaqing cut a few slices of meat from the animal and put them into the pot.

The meat was cut very thin, and He He Jiaqing was a bit reluctant.

But after hesitating for a moment, He He Jiaqing laughed.

He was talking to himself silently:

By tomorrow, I won't have to eat this anymore.

By tomorrow, I won't have to stay here anymore.

He He Jiaqing laughed more and more happily. He peeled off a large portion of the cat meat from the cutting board and put it into the pot.

"Li Banfeng, drink the soup." He He Jiaqing placed the soup bowl in front of Li Li Banfeng.

Li Li Banfeng looked at the meat soup and laughed: "It's too hot, let it cool down first."

He He Jiaqing saw the teacup was empty and asked: "Are you really thirsty? Should I brew another cup for you?"

Li Li Banfeng shook his head: "No need, I'm not used to drinking such good tea."

After chatting for a few sentences, He He Jiaqing asked about the main business: "Why did you leave the stuff at the station?"

Li Li Banfeng gave a wry smile and said: "You have to ask yourself, what exactly is that stuff? It made me be followed all the way! If I hadn't left it at the station, I wouldn't have been able to reach your house at all!"

He He Jiaqing was stunned: "You were followed even after reaching Yaowang Valley?"

"Yes, as soon as I got out of the train station, there were two people who said they wanted to kill me. This scared me so much that I ran and bumped around all the way, and finally found someone pulling a rickshaw, which is how I escaped. Guess how much money that rickshaw puller charged me?"

He He Jiaqing thought for a moment and said: "That depends on whether it's a vehicle with a fire wheel."

"You know about fire wheels too!" Li Li Banfeng said happily. "He said his vehicle had a fire wheel, and it cost five hundred for one ride."

He He Jiaqing nodded and said: "Five hundred isn't expensive. Those with fire wheels aren't ordinary people; this price is quite appropriate."

"This price is appropriate?" Li Li Banfeng looked pained. "You don't know how uncomfortable I felt when I paid the money."

"Don't worry, I wouldn't let you suffer a loss. I'll pay for this money." He He Jiaqing took out three thousand yuan on the spot and stuffed it into Li Li Banfeng's hand.

Li Li Banfeng didn't stand on ceremony and put it directly into his wallet.

"He Jiaqing, if you're in a hurry, let's go to the station now and get the stuff back." Li Li Banfeng wanted to leave this house as soon as possible.

"No need, let's talk about it tomorrow morning. Li Banfeng, drink the soup!" He He Jiaqing didn't seem very anxious.

Li Li Banfeng picked up the soup and smelled a pungent fishy odor again.

That flower cat finished the cat food and walked to the window of the living room, yawning.

Li Li Banfeng put down the soup bowl and also yawned.

That flower cat fell asleep under the window. Li Li Banfeng rubbed his eyes, seeming about to fall asleep immediately.

"Li Banfeng, are you sleepy?"

"I am a little..." Li Li Banfeng rubbed his eyes.

He He Jiaqing stood up and said: "I've tidied up the room for you, come upstairs with me."

Li Li Banfeng followed He He Jiaqing upstairs. The second room on the left of the stairs was Li Li Banfeng's bedroom.

The bedroom was very spacious, the windows were closed, and the vines hanging from the roof swayed back and forth in front of the window with the night wind.

"This room is a bit stuffy, can you open the window?" Li Li Banfeng asked casually.

"The window hinge is rusted and won't open. If you feel hot, take a shower. There's a bathroom on the second floor, at the end of the hallway."

"I won't shower, I'm sleepy." Li Li Banfeng didn't even take off his clothes and dove into the big bed.

This bed was over two meters wide. Since Li Li Banfeng came into this world, he had never slept in such a big bed.

He He Jiaqing frowned: "I prepared pajamas for you, your clothes..."

Li Li Banfeng's clothes were covered in mud. Seeing He He Jiaqing was unhappy, he hurriedly took off his clothes and changed into pajamas.

He He Jiaqing took the clothes casually: "I'll help you wash them."

"That's so embarrassing."

"What are brothers for?" He He Jiaqing picked up Li Li Banfeng's dirty clothes.

Oh no, he took all my clothes.

Fortunately, the key wasn't in the clothes.

"He Jiaqing, so many things happened, you haven't explained it clearly to me yet?" Li Li Banfeng yawned.

"You get a good sleep first, I'll tell you slowly tomorrow."

Li Li Banfeng lay on the bed, squinting at He He Jiaqing, and suddenly asked: "There's a birthmark on Song Laoshi's peach, have you seen it?"

He He Jiaqing laughed: "Of course I've seen it, do you want to see it?"

Li Li Banfeng laughed: "I want to, but I'm afraid Song Laoshi won't let me."

"You lecher!" He He Jiaqing took Li Li Banfeng's dirty clothes, left the bedroom, closed the door, and took out his wallet from Li Li Banfeng's pocket.

The wallet contained Li Li Banfeng's ID. With his ID, he could take the stuff he deposited from the train station.

He went downstairs, arrived at the kitchen, and poured the meat soup Li Li Banfeng didn't eat into the swill bucket.

This soup couldn't be drunk because it had ingredients in it.

He grabbed the cat's remains from the cutting board, gnawed on the raw meat directly on the bones, and the blood flowed down the corners of his mouth drop by drop.

I won't have to eat this anymore.

By tomorrow morning, I won't have to eat this anymore.

Just now, Li Li Banfeng suddenly mentioned the birthmark, which almost stumped him.

This lecher, if I hadn't reacted quickly, I would have been exposed just now.

Actually, he had already been exposed, but he hadn't realized it yet.

Li Li Banfeng saw Song Laoshi's birthmark; He He Jiaqing knew about this.

This was the final verification Li Li Banfeng made.

From the moment he entered the door, Li Li Banfeng saw the flaw.

The person living in the mansion wasn't He He Jiaqing; he didn't even recognize Li Li Banfeng's backpack.

That was a backpack He He Jiaqing gave to Li Li Banfeng, bought at a street stall.

Who exactly is he?

Where is the real He He Jiaqing?

Now is not the time to think about these things. Now he should be thinking about whether he can still get out alive!

Li Li Banfeng opened his eyes and looked at the candle on the table.

His house isn't connected to electricity, what does he use to charge his phone?

If the phone is dead, how did he send me the messages?

Li Li Banfeng sat up and looked at the slippers on the ground.

The dirty socks originally left a lot of mud on the slippers, but now the mud was gone.

He recalled a remark Ma Wu once made:

The house spirit loves cleanliness; when it encounters something dirty, it will find a way to clean it up.

There is a house spirit in this house.

He recalled the Peddler's words again:

If a house spirit is abandoned, it will become a vengeful spirit. It will lure others to live in the house. As long as you live in the house for one night, you will become a prisoner of the house spirit.

Unless someone comes to replace the imprisoned person, the house spirit will imprison that person until death.

There was another passage:

The Peeping Cultivator likes to hang hooks on mobile phones..."

This person is a Peeping Cultivator.

He knows my situation, and he can keep sending me messages because he is a Peeping Cultivator, because he used the Peeping Cultivator's spell to track my phone. This is what the Peddler called the "Wind-Listening Ear."

He lied to me, tricked me all the way to Puluo Continent, and he was trapped by the house spirit, becoming a prisoner of the house spirit. He tricked me here just to use me as a substitute!

Li Li Banfeng got off the bed, reached out toward the window, and carefully moved it a few times.

The window wouldn't open.

Li Li Banfeng had already entered the residential and traveling cultivation paths, and his strength was much greater than an ordinary person's, but he could clearly perceive that he couldn't open this window; there was the house spirit's power on the window.

No way to get out through the window, then go out through the door?

This person pretending to be He He Jiaqing won't let me out. Even if he has to risk his life, he won't let me leave.

Can I beat him?

That's hard to say. I likely can't beat him, but he probably doesn't have the certainty to subdue me either.

Although he is a dark energy user, and although his cultivation is definitely above mine, under the control of the house spirit, he is likely restricted, otherwise he could have completely tied me up, thrown me in the house, and waited until dawn.

But even if I can beat him, will I definitely be able to get out?

I can't open the window, and I likely can't open the door either.

By then, this fake He He Jiaqing and the house spirit will plot against me together, and I'll be unable to fly away.

While thinking, Li Li Banfeng heard a rustling crawling sound.

Walking out of the bedroom, Li Li Banfeng discovered the sound was coming from the bathroom.

This was the sound of a cat's footsteps; Li Li Banfeng heard it.

I have a way.

Li Li Banfeng walked to the bathroom door, revealing a smile that was hard to detect, and suddenly saw He He Jiaqing appear beside him.

"Li Banfeng, you're not asleep?"

Li Li Banfeng laughed: "I slept, but I woke up needing to pee. I'm going to the toilet, want to go together?"

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Two updates today, four thousand words per chapter.

(End of Chapter)