Chapter 53: Ali Has Returned

I compared again and again; the more I looked, the more alike they seemed.

A terrible thought kept spinning in my mind, making my whole body feel like it had fallen into an ice cellar.

Whether Liu Junyan or the Fox Lord, they were both waiting for a girl named Ali.

This girl was extremely important to them.

As a result, after I appeared, they didn't hesitate to lend a hand.

Only because I resemble Ali.

Now, the real Ali has returned.

What should I do?

I am like a thief who steals others' happiness, hiding in a dark corner, greedily cherishing this hard-won happiness, clutching it tightly and unwilling to let go.

The Fox Lord has helped me, but we have little interaction.

But Liu Junyan is different.

He is a god who descended into my destined lonely, miserable life, repeatedly pulling me back from the brink of death and giving me an ever-improving life today.

But with Ali's appearance, all this is about to vanish; I... I find I can't quite accept it.

I had clearly prepared myself mentally beforehand, but when this moment actually arrived, I realized I could not be as carefree as I had imagined.

I don't want to let go, I don't want to lose Liu Junyan.

The hair dryer kept humming, like the lament in my heart right now.

I inexplicably got up, gathered the picture, and hid it deep inside the wardrobe.

I feared Liu Junyan would see this picture, fearing the girl in it would stir his longing.

Even more, I feared he would compare me to the girl in the picture, notice the difference, and then abandon me.

"What are you doing?"

Liu Junyan's voice suddenly sounded behind me, startling me.

He first turned off the hair dryer, unplugged it, coiled the cord, and set it aside.

I stood before the wardrobe, even hesitating to turn and look at him.

The next moment, strong arms wrapped around my waist from behind, drawing my whole body into that broad chest.

A pleasant sandalwood scent enveloped me, and I unconsciously closed my eyes.

Then I turned, lifted my gaze, reached out to encircle Liu Junyan's neck, rose on tiptoe, and kissed his lips.

I could not even clear my own state of mind at this moment; I only knew that although this man was still by my side, he would eventually leave me.

Perhaps tomorrow, or perhaps much later.

But someday, I will completely lose him.

I am so afraid that right now I urgently want to grasp something to soothe my uneasy and selfish heart.

I kissed Liu Junyan's lips forcefully; soon a metallic taste filled my mouth, but shortly after he gripped my chin, pulling us slightly apart.

His amber vertical pupils locked onto me, his voice low as he asked, "Xiao Jiu, did anything happen today at Gui Shi?"

I shook my head, lowered my gaze, not daring to look at him.

"Are you afraid?" Liu Junyan forced me to meet his eyes, relentless: "Xiao Jiu, before me you never need to hide or hold back; you can tell me anything."

I still shook my head, pushed him away, tied my nearly dry hair up, slipped under the covers, closed my eyes, and curled up.

Immediately, the bed beside me sank as Liu Junyan drew me into his embrace, holding me quietly until I was utterly exhausted and fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning when I woke up, Liu Junyan was no longer beside me.

I lingered in bed for a while before slowly getting up.

When I had finished washing up and was about to go out to open the Dang Pu, I inadvertently noticed a sheet of paper added to the desk, held down by a paperweight.

I walked over and saw that it was actually an interesting simple sketch.

In the picture, a male stick figure sat by a pile of fire roasting fish, while on the other side a female stick figure holding a longbow approached.

The longbow had no arrow; the female stick figure drew the bow toward the fish in the man's hand.

From the longbow shot a mass of fiery red flame, its tongue instantly wrapping around the fish.

The fish, originally grilled to a golden yellow, instantly turned into a charcoal fish…

This picture must have been finished not long ago; the ink marks are still not completely dry.

The longbow in the female stick figure's hand has only a string, no arrow; it depicts me.

This makes it easy for my mind to outline the true situation of this picture.

One day, Liu Junyan was roasting fish in a mountain cave, nearly done, when I arrived.

I asked him, "Can you share some of the fish in your hand with me? I'm starving."

Liu Junyan cruelly refused: "No."

I instantly grew angry, pulled the bow to full, shot a flame, and burned that fish to charcoal… Humph, if you won't give me any, I'll destroy it! Neither of us will eat it!

Liu Junyan drew this picture, obviously to tease me.

He keenly sensed that I was in a bad mood last night but unwilling to tell him, and since his time to accompany me is limited, he could only comfort me this way.

Needless to say, he succeeded.

The corners of my mouth unconsciously curled up; I picked up the picture and looked at it again and again.

But as I kept looking, the smile on my lips froze.

In the whole picture, the only thing that can identify identity is that longbow.

And the girl in the picture has an extravagant, even somewhat willful personality, clearly not my temperament.

Having been abandoned too many times, living under others' roofs, I learned from childhood to be cautious and unobtrusive; my nature is not soft, but certainly not flamboyant.

So, this picture that Liu Junyan drew… is it perhaps his memory of the little fire tanuki?

This scene…… is more like what they encountered when they first met; they didn't know each other until they fought.

And this scene left Liu Junyan an extremely deep impression, enough for him to remember it for a lifetime.

Liu Junyan…… likes such a showy, somewhat willful little fire fox, not me.

Realizing this, I felt a bit sad.

I didn't linger in this sadness long before picking up the box holding that painting bearing the Tang Family seal and heading out.

The gears of fate keep turning forward, never pausing even a bit for anyone's sorrow.

I am already an adult, no longer that six‑year‑old poor thing who needed to rely on a person or a family to survive.

If one day I am destined to be abandoned again, then what I must do now is make myself strong enough.

Strong enough that I don't need anyone's favor, I can still live very well on my own.

I took a vehicle, winding my way to Clear Spring Mountain, and along the way I kept thinking in my mind that I needed to get a driver's license and then buy a commuter car.

Otherwise, without Li Qingying, it would be too hard for me to go out.

I bought some incense tower and candles and such at the mountain base, then kept climbing up.

Clear Spring Mountain isn't tall; it's already late September in the lunar calendar, some leaves have begun to turn yellow, and the weather in the mountains is fairly cool.

Master Huiquan seemed to have calculated that I would come today; when I arrived at the gate of Clear Spring Temple, a little Daoist priest had already been waiting outside for a while.

The little Daoist priest led me to first offer incense at the incense tower, pay respects to the Three Pure Ones enshrined in the temple, and then go see Master Huiquan.

Master Huiquan greeted me with a smile, brewed tea, we exchanged a few pleasantries, then sat down to talk.

I handed the box containing the painting to Master Huiquan and got straight to the point: "This time I've come, I have two things I'd like to ask for your help."

"First, I want to enshrine this painting in Clear Spring Temple to help liberate the souls of the departed depicted in it; second, I'd like to ask the master to look at my birth chart."