Chapter Forty-Four

Xu Yongshuang lay on the ground, screaming in pain. Yan Xiu merely toyed with the incense burner in his hand. It was about the size of his palm and a dark red color. Something seemed to be inside; it rattled when he shook it.

He turned it over. A clear, square seal was stamped on the bottom.

"It's from the Xu family." Yan Xiu crouched in front of Xu Yongshuang. "Where did you get it?"

Xu Yongshuang clenched his teeth, trying to endure another wave of pain. His whole body shook, and cold sweat soaked through his clothes.

He didn't want to say a word, but staying silent only made the pain worse. At last, he couldn't take it anymore. "Th-that's an heirloom from my family."

Yan Xiu scoffed. "The Xu family has only one heir, and he has no descendants."

"I... I'm from a collateral branch of the Xu family."

"I asked who gave you the incense burner—and who gave you the Longevity Gu."

Xu Yongshuang opened his mouth. His tongue had turned black, as if he'd been poisoned, and he couldn't get a single word out.

To keep himself from talking, he had placed a Gu on himself.

Yan Xiu's expression turned cold. He took out a pair of handcuffs and cuffed Xu Yongshuang's hands, then touched a finger to the center of his forehead. It was as if something had been drawn out of Xu Yongshuang's body, and the pain vanished at once.

Xu Yongshuang's eyes widened. He knew who the man before him was now: Yan Xiu, the eldest son of the Yan family.

He had been born carrying killing intent, which harmed others and himself. He was a natural mystic.

Why was he here?

Only after everything was over did Fang Chuan come over. He carried something like a spray bottle, spraying as he walked. A strong lemon scent spread through the air, and the scattered Gu worms on the rooftop quickly stopped moving.

Fang Chuan sneezed several times, then complained to Yan Xiu, "Why does the solution from headquarters only come in lemon scent? I hate it."

"Next time you give your report, you can make a suggestion." Yan Xiu didn't much care for the strong scent either, but his gloves were dirty, so he could only frown slightly.

When Fang Chuan reached Yan Xiu, he glanced at Xu Yongshuang on the ground and asked quietly, "Did he tell you anything?"

Yan Xiu shook his head. "He placed a Gu on himself. He can't speak."

Fang Chuan frowned. He'd seen Yan Xiu's methods before; hardly anyone could withstand them. For Xu Yongshuang to come up with a way to keep himself from talking, he was a ruthless one.

But that was only to be expected. He hadn't even blinked while taking people's lives. If he'd succeeded, a hundred or more people might have died. Someone like him had no humanity left.

Once caught, he was bound to get the death penalty. He probably thought the only chance he had to survive lay with the person behind him, so he refused to say anything.

Fang Chuan waved to the people behind him. "A few of you, come take him away."

Four fully armed officers soon appeared and carried Xu Yongshuang off.

Two other officers helped their colleague, who had injured his eyes. Medication had been applied, and his eyes had been bandaged. Once the Gu worms were removed, he would recover.

The operation had been a qualified success, but Fang Chuan couldn't bring himself to feel happy. Unless something unexpected happened, Xu Yongshuang would be the only one sentenced. The person behind him would likely be very difficult to track down.

Cases involving the supernatural were always like this. The investigation would reach a certain point, then all leads would abruptly dry up, leaving everyone frustrated.

"Is that the vessel Xu Yonglin mentioned for collecting the Longevity Gu?" Fang Chuan asked, looking at the incense burner in Yan Xiu's hand.

"Mm."

"...What do we do with this?" Fang Chuan asked hesitantly.

The usual procedure would be to hand it over to headquarters. But this thing was connected to the more than a hundred residents of Qingcheng with Semi-finished product Longevity Gu inside them. They hadn't even confirmed the full list of those infected yet, so they couldn't just hand it over.

"Notify headquarters and have them send someone to study the Longevity Gu." He looked at Fang Chuan. "We still have Xu Yonglin. He's very talented in Gu techniques. Maybe he can figure something out."

At the mention of Xu Yonglin, Fang Chuan instinctively frowned, but still nodded. "Let's hope the Longevity Gu really are harmless as long as they aren't removed, like Xu Yonglin said."

No one had ever made Longevity Gu before. Even the Gu Master sent by headquarters might not know as much about them as Xu Yonglin did. Fang Chuan didn't trust the man, but they had no better option right now.

By the time Yan Xiu and the others went to arrest the culprit, Liu Mumu had already been driven home in a police car.

As soon as the police car stopped, the neighbors on both sides came out to watch. Old Mrs. Zhang spoke loudly, looking disdainful. "Why did the Dong girl come back in a police car? She never knows how to keep out of trouble."

Inside, Lü Yao, who had been cleaning, also came out.

The police car drove straight into the Dong family's yard. Liu Mumu had the hood of her down jacket pulled over her head, so her face couldn't be seen.

But she was wearing the same clothes as that morning. She'd left with a strange man, only to be brought back by the police?

Lü Yao took one look, then turned and went back inside.

When Liu Mumu returned, the Dong family was having breakfast. The moment they saw her rush in with her head down, Dong Zhenghao still had a mouthful of food stuck in his throat. She had already dashed up to the second floor like a gust of wind.

"That girl... She has no manners," Old Dong muttered disapprovingly.

Jiang Li shot him a look. "You've got the nerve to say that? Why don't you tell her to her face?"

Dong Zhenghao stuck out his neck. "I won't!"

Liu Mumu obediently stayed home for two days. On the second day, she was finally willing to go out and see people. Dong Zhenghao was forced to stay home and keep an eye on her, and father and daughter watched a melodramatic TV series together.

When Jiang Li heard that Liu Mumu had kept Dong Zhenghao home and wouldn't let him go out, she took her son and daughter out first thing that morning. She didn't say so outright, but she knew perfectly well that Liu Mumu was always in particular danger at times like this.

Her husband had indeed been quite useful, and nothing had gone wrong so far. But what if something did? Better to stay away from the two of them.

"I'm hungry," Liu Mumu told Dong Zhenghao around noon, after they'd been watching TV for a while.

A rumble answered her, coming from Old Dong's stomach.

The only thing their cooking skills were good for was tormenting each other's stomachs. So the two of them exchanged a look, and in the end Old Dong called a restaurant to order food.

More than an hour later, the delivery finally arrived. As they went into the yard to collect the food, they heard a commotion from next door.

There were things being smashed, along with Old Mrs. Zhang's angry shouts.

"They're arguing again?" Dong Zhenghao went over to the wall and peered over curiously.

"It's no wonder people who haven't slept well get irritable. It's all trouble your son caused." Liu Mumu carried four food containers and peered over beside him.

Liu Mumu hadn't hidden the news that the Gu could spread between people. If you did a good deed, the people involved deserved to know. Since Old Dong controlled the family finances, she'd only told him.

Dong Zhenghao wasn't stupid. He immediately guessed that Zhang Yang next door, along with his in-laws, had all been infected. Jiang Li was taking her parents to the hospital today; the older couple thought they had nervous exhaustion and had been much quieter lately.

Once he knew everyone else would be fine after the Gu was removed from his son, Dong Zhenghao really hadn't told anyone.

Old Dong snorted. "Don't blame everything on your little brother. That Old Mrs. Zhang next door was no angel to begin with."

On the third day, Dong Zhenghao could finally go back to work as usual. Jiang Li was taking her parents to another hospital today, so only the three children were home. Dong Qi stayed quietly in his room, probably still recovering from the psychological trauma.

Dong Yue was in her room doing her winter homework, while Liu Mumu played with a jigsaw puzzle Dong Yue had brought home the day before, until her head started spinning.

After two hours, all she'd gotten out of it was frustration.

At last, she tossed the puzzle pieces aside and went out for some fresh air.

The sun was bright outside, and the plants were still green. It was nothing like the bitter cold of the north.

Liu Mumu walked around the residential compound and eventually sat down on a stone bench to soak up some sun and get some vitamin D.

The afternoon sunlight made her feel drowsy. She was about to fall asleep.

Just as she was drifting off, she heard footsteps. Someone was coming closer.

She opened one eye and was surprised to see that the newcomer was the Zhang family's daughter-in-law next door.

Maybe it had something to do with yesterday's argument. There was a purplish bruise on the woman's chin. Liu Mumu frowned instinctively. They hit even a pregnant woman?

"May I sit here?" Lü Yao asked softly.

She was much older than Liu Mumu, yet seemed timid, as if she'd grown used to being that way.

"Go ahead." Though Liu Mumu had heard plenty of gossip about the neighbors, she wasn't particularly eager to interact with them—especially Lü Yao.

Lü Yao's presence always made her think that her mother's life might have been like this.

She'd never had the chance to ask Dong Zhenghao about it, and even if she had, he probably wouldn't have told the truth. But Jiang Li had said herself that Wang Guixiang and Old Mrs. Zhang were very alike, especially in how they treated their daughters-in-law.

Sometimes Liu Mumu wondered if she'd had such a bad life in the Dong family that, after leaving, her mother had never even thought to come back and see her daughter.

When she was little, she'd asked her grandfather about it. He'd only said that she and her parents had never been fated to be close. Her grandfather had given her plenty of love, but sometimes she still felt a little disappointed.

Liu Mumu was about to leave when Lü Yao spoke up. In a very quiet voice, she asked, "I heard you can tell fortunes. Is that true?"

Liu Mumu paused. Had Jiang Li told the younger sister of Uncle Zhang next door about it?

Then Lü Yao lowered her head and continued, "I heard it from Xueqi."

Since she knew, Liu Mumu didn't hide it. She nodded. "Yes. Is something the matter?"

Lü Yao pressed her lips together, seeming hesitant.

Liu Mumu didn't rush her. She patiently waited for her to speak.

"My mother-in-law..." Lü Yao managed only those three words before her voice caught. She sounded as if she'd suffered a great deal.

She turned aside and wiped her eyes before continuing. "My mother-in-law has been having nightmares lately, and she talks in her sleep. A few days ago, I got up during the night and happened to hear her repeating that she was sorry. She also said she hadn't meant to push the other person down the stairs."

Oh! Liu Mumu's eyes widened, her sleepiness gone.

She remembered Jiang Li saying that the Zhang family's previous daughter-in-law had been pregnant when she fell and died in their home. At the time, the story had been that this woman had upset her with some unpleasant things. So that wasn't what happened?

After thinking it over, Liu Mumu said, "I'm afraid I can't help you with this. You should call the police."

Lü Yao shook her head uncertainly. "My mother-in-law may have a bad temper, but she's not a bad person. I don't think she could have hurt anyone. If we go straight to the police, there may be no turning back, so I was hoping... you could tell me whether she's ever harmed anyone."

Liu Mumu didn't even know how to respond. Old Mrs. Zhang was like that, and she still thought the woman wasn't bad?

Maybe Lü Yao really believed that. Liu Mumu couldn't understand it.

This was the first time anyone had asked Liu Mumu for something like this. To be honest, if she were really that good at reading faces, she would've seen it the first time she met Old Mrs. Zhang.

She'd seen Old Mrs. Zhang several times, but unfortunately, she hadn't noticed anything.

Since it involved Old Mrs. Zhang, even using divination would require the woman to draw a lot. And there was still a chance the result would be inaccurate.

Of course, the simplest way was for Liu Mumu to look at her directly.

Seeing Liu Mumu remain silent, Lü Yao pleaded, "I really can't find anyone else to help me, and I don't dare tell my husband. Please, help me."

In the end, Liu Mumu only said apologetically, "I'm sorry. You're probably giving me too much credit. I can't tell you something like that."

Without waiting for Lü Yao to react, Liu Mumu got up and left.

Watching her go, Lü Yao buried her face in her hands, looking utterly dejected.

After walking some distance, Liu Mumu turned back to look at Lü Yao, who was still sitting there, and frowned slightly.