Chapter 95

I asked Tang Tang if she could get in touch with Song Ruoqing now, and she said she couldn't.

"Xiao Jiu, I feel that Qingqing going back to the Song Family this time is bent on a fight to the death; I'm really worried about her, but I can't reach her by phone, and the Tang and Song Families are currently at each other's throats—if I suddenly showed up, I doubt they'd even let me in."

That's a bit tricky.

But then I thought of something, I took a screenshot of the kirin statue on the painting and sent it to Tang Tang.

"Senior Sister, didn't the Song Family previously ask Uncle Huo to come over and help look after the illness?" I said, "Have Uncle Huo keep an eye out to see if the Song Family is enshrining something like this—it's very important to me. Be sure to tell Uncle Huo to do it quietly, so no one notices, especially Bái Jīngmò who's with him."

Tang Tang looked at me, especially serious, and asked, "Xiao Jiu, what's wrong with this statue?"

"I can't say for sure right now," I said. "First, let's confirm whether the Song Family is enshrining it; we'll talk about the rest later."

Tang Tang agreed.

As for that painting, I think Song Ruoqing gave it to me probably to convey some kind of message.

Could it be the kirin statue?

Regarding the Wangting Mountain incident, the one who ultimately saved Song Ruoqing was Liu Junyan.

Is Song Ruoqing asking us for help?

Looks like I need to find time to make another trip to Huicheng myself.

Thinking that, I told Tang Tang to wrap up the painting, and I'll go get it myself later.

I lay down for a while, had breakfast and went out for a walk, and when I came back I noticed the hexagonal palace lamp was missing again.

I exclaimed, "Li Qingying, sister, did Liu Junyan go out again?"

"Mm." Li Qingying replied, "She left early this morning, acting all mysterious—no idea what she's up to."

I didn't give it much thought either.

Before lunch, a car's roar came from outside, as if it had stopped at the entrance of Dang Pu.

I went out with Li Qingying to look, and just happened to see Liu Junyan getting out of the car.

It was a purplish-purple big G, a huge one, parked right at the Dang Pu entrance—quite eye‑catching.

I was a bit dazed.

Liu Junyan walked over and handed me the car keys: "Xiao Jiu, congratulations on getting your license—this is a little gift for you."

"For me?" I said, somewhat incredulous, "How much does this cost?"

I had originally planned to buy a small van to drive around first.

Li Qingying said, "Xiao Jiu, don't worry about the money—Seventh Lord has plenty. Come on, let's take it for a test drive."

She eagerly hopped into the driver's seat and took me out on the western road, looping around several times before we came back.

The big G performs well, has plenty of space, its interior has been completely redone with brown genuine leather, and the exterior has been resprayed in a lighter purplish‑purple—nice looking but not flashy.

Aside from being expensive, there's nothing wrong with it.

After getting out of the car, I still felt the gift was too valuable, and I complained, "I just got my license—I might not be able to handle such a big car."

"Bigger is better," Liu Junyan said. "Normally you'd send paper figurines or horses—easy to store—but as for driving, I can go out and practice with you more, and Li Qingying's skills are also excellent."

I hesitated a moment, then said thanks.

Liu Junyan asked, "Xiao Jiu, do you like it?"

I nodded: "I like it."

How could I not like it?

Leaving aside how the car itself is, the fact that Liu Junyan went to such trouble to remodel it inside and out makes this thoughtfulness enough for me to like it very, very much.

Liu Junyan raised an eyebrow: "But I don't really see how much you like it."

I was about to explain, but then I met his expectant gaze, understood without words, wrapped my arms around his neck, tiptoed, and planted a firm kiss on his cheek: "Āyàn, I really do love this gift."

Liu Junyan laughed, put one arm around my waist, and lightly brushed a kiss on my forehead.

Li Qingying clicked her tongue twice: "All right, all right, I know you two are lovey‑dovey—next time you flaunt your affection, could you do it a bit out of my sight? I'll get pink eye otherwise."

My face instantly flushed up to the base of my neck, and I ran over trying to cover her mouth.

I just don't get it—back when I went to the seafood market to find her, she was still the cool girl who liked wearing black leather jackets and acting tough, but now she's completely changed.

Could this be the saying "near vermilion one turns red, near ink one turns black"?

My soft nature has even softened Li Qingying's personality?

But that's actually nice—makes us get along better.

While having lunch, I casually mentioned to Liu Junyan that I needed to go to Huicheng to pick up the painting: "Miss Song's side might still need our help."

Liu Junyan had me pull up the photo of that painting and take a look; his expression immediately turned somewhat unpleasant.

I asked, "What's wrong?"

Liu Junyan shook his head: "Pick a day and let me know—I'll go with you."

I agreed.

That night, Li Qingying and I kept watch at Nan Shu Fang; until midnight no customers came, so we each went back to our rooms to wash up and sleep.

In the middle of the night I woke again from a stinging pain in my arm; when I looked, the previous burn mark hadn't healed—instead, the discolored area had spread further.

This made me wary, and after thinking it over I decided to sneak back to Tafengcun at dawn.

I need to check on the situation in Tafengcun.

If those children really have fallen ill and their condition is similar to mine, then we're in big trouble.

But the next morning, before I could set out, unexpected guests showed up at Dang Pu.

It was my parents, holding my younger brother and sister in their arms.

My sister Xinxin is eleven this year, and my brother A Bao is ten.

Both children were running high fevers and unconscious.

My parents knelt at the entrance of Dang Pu, holding them, tears streaming down their faces as they begged me to save Xinxin and A Bao.

Even if I were as hard-hearted as iron and stone, seeing the two children in this situation, I couldn't bring myself to be cruel.

Furthermore, they were crying and kneeling at the door of Dang Pu early in the morning, and the neighbors seeing it also felt bad.

I let them into the living room of the rear wing house, had them put the children on the sofa, and I crouched down to check the children's condition.

I rolled up Xinxin's sleeve, and seeing her thin arms covered with burns of various sizes, I was still startled.

I quickly lifted her shirt and discovered that her chest and back were also covered in burns.

Some places had already burst open, oozing pus and blood.

I then checked Abao's condition, and it was the same.

My mother again knelt before me, weeping: "Tongtong, it's not that Mother is cruel; we really have no choice. All the children of Tafengcun, from young to old, every single one, are in this situation."

They said the Qilin Divine Lord appeared in a dream, that you had taken something of the Qilin Divine Lord, which caused the deity to become angry and send down this disaster.

"Tongtong, come back home with Mother and go apologize to the Qilin Divine Lord, okay? Please."

My father sat to the side, silent.

In my memory, he has always been like this—neither doing evil nor taking action.

I remained silent, unable to make up my mind.

My mother became anxious, took out her phone, opened the photo album, and flipped through it page by page to show me.

"This is Xiao Cong, the grandson of Aunt Liang. He is the youngest, fell ill earliest, and looks like he won't last much longer."

"This is Xiao Qin, the granddaughter of Uncle Wang. The flesh around her chest is practically rotting away."

"And this is a pair of dragon-and-phoenix twins from Uncle Song's family—Xunian and Mingxuan—who have also fallen ill."

……

My mother kept on urging me, but I caught onto something: "Go back, go back two pages, right, you said what are the names of that pair of dragon-and-phoenix twins?"

My mother stammered: "The boy's name is Song Xunian, the girl's name is Song Mingxuan..."