Chapter 209: Qilin Brings a Child

That night, I chatted a lot a lot with Liu Junyan.

The more we chatted, the more doubts arose.

After the incident at Tafengcun before, I already understood that it's hard to figure out everything about my past life, so I've made up my mind not to dwell on it for now.

But worldly affairs are unpredictable.

I discovered that the more I hide, the more things come flying at me.

No matter how I hide, I can't avoid it.

Of course, I also know clearly in my heart, I can dodge for a moment, but can I dodge for a lifetime?

Now besides Feng Lishu, there's also a so-called fiancé staring at me; with them around, I can never have peace.

·

The repair work in the backyard progressed smoothly, and it was completed a week later.

The dilapidated houses were renovated, and the deployment of the formation array that needed to be done had already been arranged by Liu Junyan and Hui Moqiong.

The rat hole dug out by Hui Shuchen many years ago was also filled in.

Recently, too many things have happened; we were sitting together in a circle taking stock when the phone vibrated once—it was a message from Tang Tang.

She sent me a photo.

I casually opened it, but as soon as I saw what was captured in the photo, my whole body instantly sat upright.

The photo was taken in the evening; under the lingering glow of the setting sun, a female student sat on the balcony holding a book, as if she were reciting it.

But her sitting posture was very strange.

She was sitting on a chair, her whole body upright, but her neck bent down significantly, her head almost touching her knees.

This eerie posture instantly reminded me of the dragon and phoenix twins enshrined in the Song family's Buddhist altar.

I also thought of the villagers of Tafengcun who had knelt before the Qilin Temple earlier.

The neck condition was too similar; the only difference was that this girl was sitting, not kneeling.

I immediately replied to Tang Tang: Is it convenient for a video call or to answer the phone?

Tang Tang's call came through immediately; as soon as it connected, she spoke at a rapid pace: "Did you see the photo I just sent? Doesn't it seem eerie and yet familiar?"

Regarding the Song family's affair, Tang Tang participated throughout; she's very familiar with this.

I directly asked: "Is she your classmate? Have you seen the back of her neck? Could it just be some kind of spinal disease?"

"Her name is Du Chan, a sophomore at the neighboring art academy." Tang Tang said, "I was accompanying my classmate to go there to find her sister when I saw her in this state; at the time I made an excuse to look at the back of her neck—there were no characters, and soon she sat up straight, looking normal, so I didn't think much of it. I've kept this photo all along without deleting it."

I sensed things weren't that simple, so I asked: "What happened then?"

"At that time I kept an eye out, asking my classmate's younger sister to monitor Du Chan's condition and inform me immediately of any abnormality." Tang Tang continued, "Just last night, my classmate's younger sister called me, saying Du Chan had fallen ill, seriously, possibly needing to take a leave of absence."

"I went overnight to Du Chan's home; the situation was worse than I imagined, and I saw her name on the back of her neck."

I sucked in a breath of cold air, the anxiety in my heart finally died: "Does she… have a Buddhist altar at home?"

Tang Tang said: "No, Du Chan is the family's only child; her parents are both university professors, the family is well-off, there's none of the messy situations we could think of; her home even has a large studio filled with Du Chan's creations, but… but lately Du Chan's painting style… has become somewhat eerie. Xiao Jiu, I'll send you the address—you'd better come in person."

Although Tang Tang is warm-hearted, after the incident with Tang Xun, the entire Tang family, up and down, has learned to keep a low profile.

Tang Ao no longer appears on the treasure appraisal show.

The reason Tang Tang is handling Du Chan's matter is because it likely involves me.

Only by figuring this out promptly can we avoid being caught off guard later.

I immediately said: "Okay, I'll go there as soon as possible."

After hanging up, the address was sent over quickly.

Du Chan is a local of River City; driving there now takes about two hours.

Liu Junyan accompanied me.

Just before setting out, I suddenly thought of something, stopped dead in my tracks, pulled out my phone to check the calendar, and suddenly realized.

Li Qingying asked: "Xiao Jiu, what's wrong?"

"It's the Qilin Bringing a Child." I said, "I never expected that after Tafengcun underwent such a major upheaval, the annual prayer-for-offspring ritual would still continue!"

Du Chan… should have been marked for the ritual.

I said to Hui Moqiong: "Please help me out."

Hui Moqiong replied: "Xiao Jiu'er, just give your orders."

"Send someone to Tafengcun to quietly investigate—who grabbed the first incense in this year's prayer-for-offspring ritual?" I explained in detail, "After finding that woman, it's best to silently abduct her; if that's not feasible, then find out clearly what name the Qilin Divine Lord gave her in a dream for the child he granted her."

Hui Moqiong said he guarantees to complete the task.

Only then did I get in the car and drive all the way to Du Chan's home.

Du Chan's family circumstances are indeed good; they live in a villa, and although it's dark outside now, the villa is brightly lit inside.

Tang Tang had been waiting; after greeting Du Chan's parents, she directly took us to the studio.

The studio is on the basement level of the villa, a large, quiet creative space.

The studio walls are hung with all kinds of paintings; near the wall corner stand a few easels, on the other side is a storage cabinet whose shelves are filled with painting supplies.

And Du Chan is currently kneeling in front of an easel.

Her spine remains straight, but her whole head droops toward the ground, exposing her fair nape.

There, clearly visible, are the two characters "Du Chan".

On the easel there is also an unfinished painting.

When I made out what was painted on that canvas, I felt my blood freeze instantly throughout my body!

The picture is dark, with a huge pit as the background.

In the pit lies a girl whose face is utterly unrecognizable.

Especially below the girl's right cheek, there is a patch where flesh has disappeared, revealing stark white bone.

Not far away, a golden half-face mask stained with blotches of blood lay half-buried in the dirt.

Countless little demon heads clung to the girl's back.

Every one of those little demon heads bore characters on the back of its neck.

They bared their teeth, tearing at the girl's flesh and blood, glaring with scarlet eyes full of grudge, as if they wished to devour her alive and strip her skin...

This painting depicts the scene I dreamed of when I once fell into a coma.

At that time, the dream was dark and heavy; I could see nothing at all.

Now, Du Chan rendered the dream scene with exquisite brushwork, stroke by stroke.

Clear and true, it seemed to strike straight at my soul.

Viewing the painting from an outsider's perspective, I involuntarily trembled all over.

Just then, Hui Moqiong's investigation results also came through.

He said, 'Xiao Jiu'er, we found the pregnant woman whom the Kirin Divine Lord sent a dream to, but her child is not called Du Chan; it's a boy named Jiang Bin...'

'Jiang?' My hand holding the phone almost slipped, 'If my memory serves me right, the whole Tafengcun has only my family with the surname Jiang, so this pregnant woman is...'

Hui Moqiong said, 'Yes, it's your mother...'