Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Geng Chen was furious.
After regaining his senses, he recalled the foolish things he had done in front of Ji Xian, and he was depressed all morning, racking his brains to think of a way to make amends.
Before he could even come up with a solution, that infuriating brat Ying Qiao showed up first.
Although Geng Chen had long been aware of Ying Qiao’s infuriating power, and had even tricked Ying Qiao before his supposed death, so he expected Ying Qiao to give him a hard time now that he was awake. But this brat was just too infuriating!
He always targeted people’s weak points; it was truly remarkable that he hadn’t been beaten to death all these years for being disliked.
Ying Qiao chuckled coldly: “That’s because you died too young. I was all alone in the lower realm with no one to take care of me or teach me, so of course I couldn’t learn anything good.”
Listen to that; his words are full of resentment.
He really does still hold grudges.
It’s true that the older you get, the pettier you become.
“…”
Upon hearing this, Geng Chen immediately felt guilty and dared not continue his cursing. After a moment of silence, he muttered softly, “Wasn’t I forced into this by circumstances?”
Ying Qiao glanced at him sideways: “What circumstances forced you to do this? Is it related to the upper realm?”
“…”
The bronze cauldron swayed slightly, and Geng Chen chuckled dryly, “You’ve gotten quite capable; you know a lot.”
“When Father asked you to bring me and the other clansmen down to the mortal realm, wasn’t that something you had planned long ago? What exactly happened in the upper realm?” Ying Qiao’s voice was slightly deep, and he stared at him intently with a profound gaze.
Geng Chen remained silent for a few breaths, then mumbled, “I slept for thousands of years and have only just woken up. How could I possibly remember things from so many years ago? You need to let me recall them properly.”
“Then I’ll sit here and wait.” Ying Qiao moved a chair over and sat down by the door, sneering, “Do you think ten minutes is enough for you to remember? Or do you need to call Ji Xian over before you can recall the time when you abandoned us and your soul was scattered for the sake of humanity?”
Geng Chen: …
He said hesitantly, “Don’t try to intimidate me by bringing up your aunt all the time. I had my reasons for what happened back then.”
How can you say I abandoned you? It makes me sound like a heartless man.
“A predicament? Ji Xian would definitely be willing to listen.” Ying Qiao remained unmoved, took out his phone and pretended to make a call: “I’ll have Ji Xian come over and listen to how you’re going to make this up.”
“You dare!”
Geng Chen’s entire cauldron leaped up and slammed heavily onto the ground with a dull thud: “You little brat, you just wait!”
Ying Qiao opened Ji Xian’s WeChat chat interface, opened the video call, turned the phone towards Geng Chen, and continued to threaten: “As long as I press the button, Ji Xian will be able to see you immediately.”
“Are you going to tell me or not?” He waited confidently for Geng Chen to back down.
However, Geng Chen, who would quickly back down whenever Ji Xian was brought up, surprisingly showed some backbone. He remained silent for a moment, then said in a muffled voice, “I won’t say!”
After saying that, perhaps sensing that Ying Qiao’s anger was rapidly rising, he added, “It’s not that I don’t want to tell you, it’s just that I really can’t.”
He paced back and forth anxiously for a moment, muttering to himself before finally saying, “It’ll be soon. I promise I’ll tell you everything once everything is settled.”
“So you knew all along. What exactly are you plotting?” Ying Qiao narrowed his eyes and scrutinized him, his gaze seemingly trying to burn a hole through the bronze cauldron.
“…”
Geng Chen turned around and pretended to be dead without making a sound.
Ying Qiao understood him and knew that he would not say anything in this state.
His displeasure was written all over his face. After glaring at him coldly for a while, Ying Qiao put away his phone, turned around and left with the kids. Before closing the door, he scoffed, “I’ll come see you again when you can talk. Anyway, you’ll be able to talk soon.”
After saying that, he raised his hand to close the door, but then remembered something and added, “I think the monster milk is quite helpful for your recovery. I’ll have the staff continue to send you more. You should drink the milk well.”
He spoke the words “drink milk well” slowly and deliberately, with great malice.
Geng Chen jumped up and cursed him: “You unfilial little brat!”
This is clearly abuse!
However, Ying Qiao had already closed the door, and you could hear him instructing the staff even through the door.
Geng Chen: …
He brooded for a while, then, thinking of Ji Xian’s cold and stern expression and Ying Qiao’s increasing shrewdness, he sighed with a sense of melancholy.
He glanced at himself in the mirror with a melancholy expression, feeling somewhat troubled.
But then he thought that it was better to live a miserable life than to die. Although he could only stay in the cauldron now, at least he had saved his life.
As long as the green hills remained, there would always be firewood to burn.
What’s more, he also gained a son by virtue of the misfortune. Although he didn’t have a chance to speak to him just now, judging from his appearance, he knew that the son was his and Ji Xian’s.
Once this is completely over, he’ll have a son and a wife.
….
Ying Qiao angrily took his children home.
After the children had washed up and returned to their rooms, he unbuttoned his shirt and went to the collection room.
The joy of Geng Chen waking up was fleeting. After talking with Geng Chen, Ying Qiao became even more certain that he was definitely plotting something.
This feeling of catching a glimpse but not the whole picture made him very irritable. He transformed back into his original form, plunged onto the pile of gems, rolled around twice in frustration, and used his tail to slap and sweep the small gems around as if they were Geng Chen.
Once he had vented his frustration, he sat up again and picked up his phone to check his messages.
He sent a message to Jiang Lan when he got off work but had not received a reply from Jiang Lan even until he returned.
Ying Qiao frowned, his WeChat chat history with Jiang Lan still showing the last message Jiang Lan had sent. He figured Jiang Lan was probably still investigating the ancient Wa people at this time, and calling might distract him. So he sent another WeChat message: [Call me when you get back to the hotel.]
….
At the same time, Jiang Lan had just arrived at the village he was investigating— he and Song Yu, a staff member from the Yunnan Provincial Bureau, were jointly responsible for investigating the village.
The village was located in Yuemeng Township, a settlement of the Wa ethnic group. Behind the village lay a lush rainforest, where the village’s sacred bull-slaying ritual took place. Deep within the forest flowed the Menglan River. Crossing the river and traveling another hundred miles or so, one reached the China-Myanmar border.
When Jiang Lan and Song Yu arrived at the village, it was dusk. The sunset was like a red brocade, spreading out in large swaths and dyeing the entire mountain crimson.
The two disguised themselves as fellow travelers and asked the villagers for lodging, successfully finding a place to stay in the village.
Before they arrived, they had already divided the tasks. Song Yu was just a minor demon, not very strong, but handsome and eloquent. He was responsible for staying in the village to interact with the villagers and ask if any strange things had happened in the nearby mountains recently. Jiang Lan, on the other hand, went deep into the mountains under the guise of collecting folk songs to search for traces of the ancient Wa people.
After settling their luggage, the two strolled around the village at their leisure.
This village was located deep in the mountains. The place was remote and the roads were difficult to travel, so the village economy was not developed. In addition to farming, the villagers relied on hosting a small number of adventurers to improve their lives.
Therefore, the villagers were very warm and friendly to Jiang Lan and Song Yu, who were staying at their home. Some elderly people even spoke to them in their local dialect, which Jiang Lan couldn’t understand, but Song Yu could understand a little. He smiled and replied, “We’re here for tourism.”
The old man seemed to be hard of hearing, and it was unclear whether he understood or not, but he kept nodding and smiling, saying, “Okay, okay.”
After saying goodbye to the old man, the two continued to wander around. Song Yu said, “Have all the men in this village gone out to work? I didn’t see many young and middle-aged men. Most of them are elderly women left behind at home.”
The older woman who had just returned from washing clothes in the river overheard this and chimed in, “The men have all gone out to work and won’t be back until tomorrow.”
Song Yu suddenly realized: “They went out to work?”
He sighed to Jiang Lan, “The villagers have it really tough. There’s only one narrow path in and out, and they don’t even have electricity or running water. No wonder they all have to go out to work.”
In such a remote and inconveniently located village, even tourism development is difficult.
“There’s no electricity in the village, so the villagers are probably going to rest early.” Jiang Lan glanced at the sky and said, “I’ll go take a walk in the woods outside first. While the villagers are still awake, try to find out as much as possible. If there are no clues in the woods, then we’ll leave tomorrow morning.”
Song Yu readily complied: “Okay, I’ll go and inquire some more. If you find any clues, let me know so I can notify the bureau.”
Jiang Lan agreed and turned to walk out of the village.
This village must be quite old. The old tree at the entrance of the village was so thick that not even two people could hug it completely, and its canopy spread out to block out the sun, connecting with the forest not far away.
Jiang Lan took out a map and glanced at it, only to find that the actual terrain was quite different from the map. As an unprofessional person, he couldn’t see much information, so he put the map away and randomly chose a direction to move forward.
Perhaps influenced by Bai Ze, he subconsciously chose the north.
The trees in the forest were tall and sturdy, with vines climbing on their trunks, and a thick layer of fallen leaves piled up on the ground. Year after year, the fallen leaves piled up on the ground, decomposed and turned into the soil, becoming a layer of soft humus. Newly fallen leaves were piled on the surface, and when you stepped on them, they were almost up to your ankles.
There were also unidentified birds and insects chirping.
Jiang Lan walked through the woods, his steps uneven. The sky changed rapidly after dusk, and it soon became dark. Especially since the trees in the woods were so dense that they blocked out the sunlight, it became even darker and more indistinct.
After walking a long, tedious road, Jiang Lan found almost nothing.
He took out his phone and checked the time, realizing that more than an hour had passed and it was already past 7 p.m. He habitually opened WeChat, glanced at Ying Qiao’s chat interface, and seeing no new messages, he immediately pouted dejectedly.
Just as he was wondering why Ying Qiao wasn’t sending him any messages, he noticed that his phone’s signal bars were empty.
“The signal is so bad?” Jiang Lan muttered to himself, preparing to turn back.
He wandered aimlessly in the woods for half an hour, and as darkness fell, he found nothing amiss. It seemed this trip had been in vain.
Jiang Lan put away his phone and retraced his steps.
The nights in the mountains were darker than in the city; so after 7:30, it was almost pitch black. However, you could vaguely see the stars through the gaps in the leaves overhead.
Fortunately, Jiang Lan had good night vision and a good sense of direction. In addition, the fallen leaves on the ground still showed signs of being trampled, so he easily followed the original footprints back.
The journey was too tedious, and Jiang Lan was afraid of running into villagers if he was unlucky, so he couldn’t turn back into his original form, he could thus only walk back on his own two legs with no other choice, taking out gems from his storage ring to eat as he went.
Apart from the chirping of insects and birds, the only sounds in the woods were his footsteps and the crunching of his chewing.
As Jiang Lan followed the footprints to the next fork in the road, chewing on a gemstone, he was about to turn right when he suddenly noticed footprints at the fork in the road out of the corner of his eye.
He went back and squatted down at the crossroads to observe carefully. The toes of the footprints pointed into the woods, and the footprints were newly added— he was certain that there were no such footprints when he passed this fork in the road earlier.
That meant someone must have walked past him from behind.
Were they villagers?
But it was already dark, and the forest was pitch black. What were the villagers doing in the forest so late at night?
Jiang Lan frowned, thought for a moment, and decided to go and take a look.
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