Chapter 123.2

Li Zhuiyuan walked into the hospital room and reached out to turn on the light.

Click!

Nothing happened. The bulb was broken.

Fortunately, three candles were burning in the room, enough to keep it visible.

“Brother Yuan,” Tan Wenbin hurried forward.

Before Binbin could speak, Li Zhuiyuan said, “I found the killer. I’m going to wipe out her whole family.”

“Uh…”

The words at Tan Wenbin’s lips were forced back down.

He could guess what had happened. Brother Yuan probably already knew what he wanted to ask and what he was planning to do, so he skipped ahead for him.

Tan Wenbin could only grin and say, “Brother Yuan, how about I kneel and kowtow to you again? No need for more words, it’s all in the gesture?”

Li Zhuiyuan walked to Zhou Yunyun’s bedside and checked on her.

Her complexion was much better now. There was even a rosy flush on her face, her brows relaxed, and she was showing the look of Peach Blossom Fate.

It was the kind of look where you could tell at a glance that someone was in love.

“Brother Yuan, should I wake Yunyun up so she can say hi to you?”

“And after you wake her, what do you plan to say?”

“I…” Tan Wenbin licked his lips. “Brother Yuan, I’m planning to rethink the relationship between me and the class monitor. What do you think?”

“Binbin, is that a question with a right answer?”

“Of course not. It doesn’t have a fixed answer, and it doesn’t even have a fixed way of solving it.”

“Then decide for yourself. Just don’t regret it.”

Tan Wenbin nodded. “I understand.”

“You can also go talk to Liu Yumei. She likes discussing this kind of thing.”

Liu Yumei had gotten so bored she had started reading Dream of the Red Chamber. She would love nothing more than to have a younger person’s love life served up to her for analysis and gossip.

“Right.” Tan Wenbin smiled. “That’ll give the old lady something juicy to chew on.”

“Put the array away.”

“I’ll do it, I’ll do it.”

Tan Wenbin cleaned up the array. When he was done, he wiped his sweat and said, “Brother Yuan, sit for a bit. I’ll go get some hot water.”

The moment Binbin picked up the kettle and stepped out of the room, he ran into Lin Shuyou.

“Brother Bin!”

Lin Shuyou excitedly held up the trident in his hand in front of Tan Wenbin. A human head was still skewered on it.

“Holy shit!”

Anybody would jump if they nearly ran face-first into a bloody, pulpy human head in the middle of the night.

“Brother Bin, this is the guy who wanted to hurt sister-in-law tonight. I killed him for you and brought you the head.”

Tan Wenbin rolled his eyes at Lin Shuyou and said, “Thanks. I’ll wash it up nice and clean and put it on Yunyun’s bedside table. I’m sure when she wakes up tomorrow morning, she’ll be thrilled.”

“Okay, okay!”

“Okay my ass. You killed him and brought the head back still skewered on the spear. What, you think this is grilled meat on a stick?”

“Uh…”

“Did you deal with the old man’s corpse?”

“After I cut off his head, the body rotted away. He seems to have cursed himself.”

“He cursed himself? What kind of hobby is that? So he could escape?”

“Probably.”

“Then hurry up and dispose of that head. Don’t leave any traces, or Tan Yunlong will come looking for trouble tomorrow.”

“Uncle Tan is your dad, Brother Bin?”

“Yeah. I was adopted.”

“Really?”

“Heh heh heh.” Tan Wenbin laughed, but then quickly realized something. “Ayou, did you perform the spirit medium ritual?”

“I did. Twice, and then I added one more myself!”

Lin Shuyou puffed out his chest proudly.

Counting the Dissolution of Evil Talisman Needles too, that meant he could use it four times in total!

Tan Wenbin said, “Then how do you still have the strength to carry a head and run all the way back?”

“Good point.” Lin Shuyou looked down at himself, then hopped twice in place. “I’m kind of tired, but I still feel like I’ve got some strength left.”

In the past, once he added extra uses like this, he would already have collapsed unconscious.

Tan Wenbin looked at Li Zhuiyuan. “Brother Yuan, has Ayou’s body adapted?”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “The child spirit lowered its head.”

Before leaving, he had deliberately left some strength behind for Lin Shuyou instead of draining him completely.

Tan Wenbin smacked his lips. “Tsk tsk. These days, even Yin gods tailor their attitude depending on the person.”

Lin Shuyou went to dispose of the head. When Tan Wenbin came back with the hot water, he poured Li Zhuiyuan a cup of tea.

“Binbin, I’m not thirsty.”

“Then… want a can of Jianlibao?”

“I’m not tired either. I won’t drink it. Binbin, call the shop and have Yin Meng make some soup.”

“Brother, no matter how bad your appetite is, you can’t use Mengmeng’s cooking to stimulate it!”

“It’s not for me.”

Li Zhuiyuan paused, then added,

“It’s for a curse.”

…

The next morning, Zhou Yunyun’s roommates came to the hospital together to visit her.

When Wang Lunan saw Zhou Yunyun lying in the hospital bed, she couldn’t stop her tears.

Zhang Xin carefully asked about her condition and recovery.

Zhou Shengnan took a broom and helped sweep the floor, then took out the trash as well.

Even though Tan Wenbin had already cleaned the room that morning and there was barely anything in the trash bin, she was just bad at expressing herself and wanted to find something to do.

Tong Yanyan watched Tan Wenbin bustling around attentively with great interest. If Yunyun hadn’t still been lying in bed with an IV drip, she really would have teased, “Well, look at that, turning disaster into blessing, huh?”

Zhao Mengyao had come too. She stood by the bed the whole time, biting her nails, deeply uneasy.

She had thought that when she came here today, she would be entering not a hospital room but a morgue. Zhou Yunyun should not have been lying there looking rosy and healthy, but pale and cold.

Yet everything in front of her was so real. So had her grandfather failed to make his move last night? Or had he already returned home and never received the blood ship she burned for him?

Still, her anxious and uneasy look didn’t seem strange under the circumstances. In fact, it looked perfectly normal.

“Come on, come on, thanks everyone for visiting our Yunyun. Have some tangerines, have some tangerines.”

Tan Wenbin warmly handed out tangerines to the five girls.

That morning, Yin Meng had come by with a thermos full of white fungus soup she had carefully simmered.

The tangerine given to Zhao Mengyao had been specially set aside by Tan Wenbin. Earlier, he had used a syringe to draw out the sweet soup and inject it into that tangerine.

Watching Zhao Mengyao eat it, Tan Wenbin smiled.

He thought to himself: Don’t rush. This is just the interest.

After they left, Tan Wenbin shut the hospital room door, sat back down, and asked, “What do you want to eat for lunch? I’ll go buy it.”

Zhou Yunyun asked, “Doesn’t the hospital have a cafeteria?”

“The food there doesn’t use much seasoning. It’s bland.”

“But right now, shouldn’t I only be eating light food?”

“Not at all. Eat whatever you want. You’re fine. This is exactly when you need to build yourself back up. Look at you, your chin’s gotten all pointy. The rest of you…”

Tan Wenbin deliberately let his gaze wander.

Zhou Yunyun pulled the blanket up to her chin to cover herself.

He exaggeratedly sighed. “Eat more. Being too skinny doesn’t look good.”

“I think I had a dream last night.” Zhou Yunyun stared at Tan Wenbin, as though testing the boundary between dream and reality. “In the dream, you said some things to me.”

Her fingers clutched the edge of the blanket tightly. She was extremely nervous.

“Your mom asked my mom to bring some things for you. They’re still in my dorm right now. Once you’re discharged, I’ll bring them to school for you.”

“Oh. Okay.” Zhou Yunyun nodded, disappointment showing in her eyes. So it really had just been a dream.

“My mom bought you a big suitcase too. Name brand. Pretty expensive. I don’t even have one.”

“That’s such an expensive gift. It doesn’t feel right for me to accept it.”

“It’s a women’s one, pink, and my mom even stuck a bunch of cartoon stickers on it. If you don’t want it, I can’t use it either.”

“Please thank Auntie for me.”

“I don’t have much luggage anyway. When vacation comes and we go home, I’ll just put my stuff in the same suitcase as yours, and we’ll go back together.”

“Okay… hm?” Zhou Yunyun started to realize something. “Last night…”

Tan Wenbin leaned his face closer and suddenly said, “Tan Wenbin, if you won’t study properly yourself, then don’t distract other classmates!”

“You…”

Tan Wenbin rubbed his nose and smiled. “Honestly, I really do like that sort of style.”

Zhou Yunyun yanked the blanket up over her face.

“Stop talking!”

“Haha.”

After the joking passed, Tan Wenbin said, “This afternoon, I’ll have two female classmates come take care of you in shifts. They’re girls who do part-time work at the shop. I’m paying them an allowance.”

“There’s really no need. I can manage by myself…”

“No way. What’s the point of making money if not to spend it at a time like this? With them keeping you company, I’ll feel more at ease. I have to go out for something, and I might not be back for several days. By the time I come back, I want you healthy again.”

“Where are you going?”

“My advisor has a project that requires a lot of travel. Can’t be helped. It’s all for work after graduation and a better future, right? Otherwise how am I supposed to support a family?”

“You’re only a freshman…”

“Thanks to Brother Yuan, I got into my advisor’s project team, so I need to work even harder.”

“I understand.”

Tan Wenbin raised his head and adjusted the drip rate of the IV.

Actually, having his mother come care for Zhou Yunyun would have been the most suitable arrangement, but his father had reminded him not to tell his mother about Zhou Yunyun, and he understood why.

Then he lowered his head and looked gently at the girl in the hospital bed.

Wait for me. I’m going to avenge you.

…

On the way back to school, Zhao Mengyao’s body started itching. At first she didn’t think much of it, but after returning to the dorm and looking in the mirror, she discovered that her face and neck were covered in dense red bumps.

And with all her scratching, the rash only kept spreading.

“Mengyao, what happened to your face?” Zhou Shengnan asked.

“N-Nothing. Probably an allergy.”

“Do you want to go to the campus clinic?”

“No. It should get better soon.”

Wang Lunan looked at Zhao Mengyao, then thought of Yunyun being poisoned, and sitting on her bed, started crying again.

Zhang Xin helplessly shook her head and pushed her suitcase toward her new dorm room.

If not for Zhou Yunyun having been in this dorm before, she would have used her connections to switch dorms long ago. There were just too many oddballs here for her to stand it.

That evening, Zhao Mengyao went to the cafeteria closest to the dorm, wrapped in a scarf and wearing a hat, to get food.

She had no appetite, but she was starving.

When Zhou Yunyun had been around, the whole dorm would go out together to eat. After Zhou Yunyun was gone, everyone had tacitly started acting alone.

Carrying her tray away, Zhao Mengyao was a little surprised to find that the cafeteria lady’s hand hadn’t trembled today. She had actually given her so much food?

Unfortunately, her appetite was poor. After only picking at it a little, she got up and returned to the dorm.

The “cafeteria lady” at the serving window took off her mask, revealing a young, fair face.

It was Yin Meng.

Freshmen had fixed classrooms for evening self-study. Because Zhao Mengyao’s whole body had broken out in rashes, she had skipped the afternoon classes, and of course she didn’t go to evening study either.

At the moment, she was alone in the dorm.

She poured herself a glass of water and had just taken a drink.

“Blegh!”

The water she had just drunk came back up together with bright red blood.

She stared at it in disbelief, staggering backward again and again.

“What’s going on… what’s going on…”

She panicked. Not even bothering to clean the mess on the floor, she climbed onto her bed, wanting to wrap herself tightly in the blanket.

The moment she lifted the blanket, another letter slipped out from inside. It was the same love-letter envelope as last night.

She hesitated for a long time, frightened, but in the end still picked up the envelope and opened it.

The handwriting was still beautiful, and the contents were still brief:

“So you like putting curses on other people. How does it feel to be cursed yourself?

Also, you stood me up today.

Tomorrow at noon, twelve o’clock, continue meeting backstage at the school auditorium.

— Li Zhuiyuan, Corpse Retriever of the Hao River Wharf in Nantong.”

Zhao Mengyao’s hands shook as she gripped the letter paper. Then she felt her stomach churn again. She immediately stuck her head out and opened her mouth.

“Blegh!”

Bright red vomit splattered all over Wang Lunan’s lower bunk.

But Wang Lunan merely wouldn’t be able to sleep there tonight. Zhao Mengyao, meanwhile, was already sinking into weakness.

She no longer dared stay in the dorm, so she went to the campus clinic for an examination. The doctor prescribed her two tubes of ointment and some basic medication based on the symptoms she described, while recommending that she go to a proper hospital for a detailed checkup.

In a daze, Zhao Mengyao carried the bag of medicine back toward the dorm. A tall, powerfully built boy walked toward her.

They merely brushed shoulders lightly, yet she was knocked to the ground.

“I’m sorry, classmate, I’m really sorry.”

Runsheng quickly helped her up.

“Are you blind? Are you freaking blind? Believe it or not, I’ll curse you to death!”

“I’m really sorry, classmate.”

Zhao Mengyao glared viciously at the big guy, picked up her medicine bag, and returned to the dorm.

Her roommates still hadn’t come back from evening study. She chose Zhou Shengnan’s bed to sit on and began applying the ointment to herself.

When she first opened it, it only felt a bit sticky, but once she spread it on, the effect was wonderfully soothing. Not only did the rash stop itching, a cool sensation even spread across her skin.

“Blegh!”

She vomited again, all over Zhou Shengnan’s bed.

After throwing up, she wiped her mouth and walked back to the mirror.

In the mirror, the skin of her face had begun to ulcerate. The livid red wounds felt cool when the wind passed over them.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!”

Her shrill scream echoed through the dorm room.

…

Tan Wenbin said, “Heh, it’s my first time finding out that Mengmeng’s cooking can actually be used for curses too.”

Yin Meng said irritably to Tan Wenbin, “Do you know how many times I cooked today? The tiny bit of interest I still had in the kitchen has been completely worn away.”

Tan Wenbin said, “You still had any interest in cooking left? Listen to me, let’s switch to a hobby that’s actually good for body and mind.”

Runsheng said, “Agreed.”

Tan Wenbin said, “Um, Mengmeng, can you reproduce the effect of a curse you cast yourself?”

Yin Meng said nothing.

No one could ever step into the same river twice, and Yin Meng could never make the same flavor of dish twice either.

Li Zhuiyuan set down the pen in his hand, picked up the sheet of paper in front of him, and blew on it.

He had just imitated Zhao Mengyao’s handwriting and written out a confession letter for her.

Next, all they needed to do was leave Zhao Mengyao’s fingerprints on the letter and place a bottle of heavy metal poison beside it.

Then it would be done.

Tan Wenbin asked curiously, “Brother Yuan, do we really need to go through so much trouble?”

Li Zhuiyuan said, “This is to cater to its aesthetic taste.”

At the edge of the rooftop, Lin Shuyou, who had been watching through binoculars the whole time, raised his hand.

“Report! The target is dragging a suitcase out of the dorm building. Looks like she’s going home!”

Tan Wenbin let out a sigh of relief. “That idiot only just now finally decided to go home.”

Yin Meng looked at her fingernails. “That’s nice. I was worried I’d have to make a midnight snack too.”

Runsheng stubbed out his “cigar” and hoisted his hiking pack.

As Li Zhuiyuan put the cap back on his fountain pen, he said,

“Let’s go.

Time to close the account.”

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