Chapter 337

I thought of when Tang Tang suddenly came over in the afternoon, she also seemed absent-minded, and I couldn't help feeling a bit uneasy.

Could it be that something happened to the Tang family, she wanted to ask me for help, but didn't want to trouble me at this time, so she couldn't bring herself to say it?

Li Qingying was already adjusting the stove fire, Tang Tang was sent to wash her hands, waiting to eat breakfast.

I went over and asked softly, "Cousin, do you have something you want to tell me?"

Tang Tang's hand-washing motion paused, then she said, "Ah? No. I'm just simply clumsy, I can't learn these complicated chores."

She's clumsy?

She's a top student in antiquities restoration—how could she be clumsy?

Seeing her evasive, I grew more worried and probed, "Is it… Uncle Tang…?"

Tang Tang immediately said, "My dad's fine, Xiao Jiu—don't wild guess. You've been up all night; you need to rest."

"Tang Tang, are we still good sisters?" I suddenly put on a stern face and said, "Do we still need to hide things between us? Speak directly—I'll back you up even if the sky falls."

Tang Tang lowered her hands, and her eye sockets suddenly turned red.

She turned and threw her arms around me, bursting into tears: "Xiao Jiu, go see Yu Nian—she… she's been feeling unwell lately, she didn't let me tell you, but I just couldn't hold it in."

My heart gave a sudden jolt, inexplicably anxious: "What's wrong with Senior Sister? Did you ask Uncle Huo to check on her?"

"I did, but Uncle Huo couldn't find the cause," Tang Tang said. "Her eyes just hurt—especially at night, it hurts so much she wants to dig out her eyeballs with her hands, but… but where would she get eyeballs from…"

Yeah, where would Yu Nian get eyeballs from?

Her eyes were dug out long ago!

Just hearing Tang Tang's description, my heart was in knots, and I asked: "How long has she been ill? Where is she now?"

Tang Tang replied: "It's been almost a week. I wanted to send her to the hospital, but she refused; I wanted to bring her to my place to care for her, but she wouldn't, and made me swear not to tell you, saying she'd just tough it out and it would pass."

"Come on! Let's go find her now!"

I pulled Tang Tang and headed out; Liu Junyan was outside talking with Hui Moqiong, asking, "Xiao Jiu, where are you off to?"

I told him about Yu Nian's situation, and Liu Junyan pondered, "You can't solve her problem."

I blinked: "Āyàn, do you know what's wrong with my senior sister?"

"Maybe our affairs here have implicated her," Liu Junyan said.

I understood instantly.

Yu Nian's eye pain is one of the long-term repercussions of the Copper Coin Person incident.

Only by thoroughly resolving our side's affairs can she get better.

Liu Junyan said, "In agony all night, wishing for death—it might not be just your senior sister."

We both looked at Hui Moqiong.

Hui Moqiong's thirteenth brother, Hui Shuchen, had a pair of spiritual ears, which have also been cut off.

Hui Moqiong's mouth twitched, and he spat hatefully, "Don't look at me—it's got nothing to do with me; he deserved it!"

He said that with his lips, but after speaking he turned and went to the kitchen.

Hui Moqiong is actually soft-hearted.

Although he's principled—once he says he won't care for Hui Shuchen, he won't—but having once been brothers who relied on each other, he still feels a bit uneasy inside.

He's probably gone to find Li Qingying for comfort again.

Tang Tang pressed, "But are we just going to let her suffer like this? She wasn't fat to begin with, and now she's skin and bones…"

Saying this, Tang Tang must have pictured Yu Nian's miserable state, and tears involuntarily fell.

I felt even worse inside.

Suddenly I recalled that earlier, Yu Nian had sent someone to deliver so many talisman papers to me.

At that time I even called her.

Back then I felt only moved, thinking having such a senior sister was my blessing.

But now I wonder, were her eyes already hurting back then?

She dumped all those talisman papers and protective items on me—did she already foresee that she'd soon lack the strength to lift a pen and draw talismans?

That's why she wanted to draw as many as possible, to stockpile them for me…

I grabbed Liu Junyan's hand and asked, "Āyàn, if we let her suffer like this, what will happen in the end?"

"She'll die." Liu Junyan didn't hide it, analyzing, "If I'm not mistaken, Yu Nian's original pair of eyes were spiritual; the other side dug out one pair of her spiritual eyes for their own use, but now the spiritual energy of those eyes may be nearly exhausted, so they can only, by special means, continually draw spiritual energy from your sister's body to keep supplying those eyes."

I understood.

I understood everything!

This is why Gu Die was sent from Xiangxi to Huicheng, a thousand miles away, in the first place.

Because at that time my senior sister's spiritual eyes were running low on energy, they wanted to use Gu Die's Buddha Eye to replace Yu Nian's spiritual eyes.

Hui Shuchen's role is the same as Gu Die's.

They are both substitutes.

It's just that Gu Die and Hui Shuchen chose two different paths.

Liu Junyan continued, "The only way now is to bring your senior sister here, find a way to replace her eyes with that Buddha Eye, to temporarily save her life—what happens after, we'll discuss later."

Replacing the Buddha Eye, Bai Shulan can help.

But the key is, Yu Nian might not agree.

Before, I've asked her more than once to return to the pawnshop to live, and more than once offered to give her the Buddha Eye, but she refused each time.

She said she must guard Huicheng's formation array, and she couldn't protect that Buddha Eye.

"I'll go fetch her," Tang Tang said. "She's very weak now; I'll bring a few guards and drag her back if I have to."

I said, "I'll go with you."

"No need for all that trouble," Liu Junyan said. "Tang Tang, go back and tell her that after Xiao Jiu's residual soul and essence were severed, some souls became unattached, spouting nonsense, constantly calling her name—she should willingly come with you to the pawnshop."

I and Tang Tang were both startled, but we immediately nodded.

It's truly that worry brings confusion; we actually didn't think of this.

Tang Tang said: "Okay, I'll go now."

The sky soon grew light.

I had breakfast, then soaked in a medicinal bath for half an hour, and the soreness and fatigue throughout my body eased somewhat.

Liu Junyan stared at me as I lay down, letting me sleep for a while.

He repeatedly assured me that when Yu Nian arrived, he would wake me up right away.

Yu Nian had indeed been lured over.

Liu Junyan woke me, who was sleeping in a daze; I sat up, still not fully conscious, when Yu Nian came in.

She was so thin, so thin that even her already fleshless cheeks now had sunken eye sockets that seemed to protrude; at a glance, she looked somewhat frightening.

Tang Tang lightly supported her, but when she walked her body still swayed a bit, like an old woman with unsteady steps.

She came to the bedside, reached out to touch me: "Xiao Jiu, how are you? Senior sister has come, don't be afraid! Senior aunt has a Soul-fixing Talisman passed down; I brought it, and in a moment I'll turn it into water for you to drink, then you'll be fine, don't be afraid..."