Chapter 33: A Familiar Face
An Baili cried out in surprise, causing Lu Li to look over. “What’s wrong?”
An Baili frantically searched her pockets, her face turning pale. “I lost it.” Lost what? Lu Li immediately understood what she meant – the heart-shaped pendant connected to their rebirth. She had said yesterday that she would wear it during the New Year’s celebrations to bring good luck from the Chu family, hoping it would lessen the price she had to pay. People were like that; the more helpless they felt, the more they placed their hopes on something intangible and ethereal.
“What should I do? What should I do?”
“What did you lose? Your wallet?” Zou Yameng pushed Lu Li aside. “I’ll help you find it.”
Lu Li stopped his sister. “Sister Yameng, I know where she lost it. It must be at the Chu family’s house. I’ll go over and get it.” Hearing that he was going to the Chus’, Zou Yameng’s shoulders slumped like a deflated balloon. She pouted and said, “Fine.”
Knowing the importance of the pendant, Lu Li didn’t dare to delay. If it was really at the Chu family’s, it would be fine. He was most afraid that it had fallen out on the bus. Then even a god couldn’t retrieve it. He left the low-rent district and called Silly Goose, explaining the situation. The girl listened attentively and told Lu Li not to hang up. She would help him look for it.
“Dad, move, I’m looking for something.” He heard her voice through the phone.
“Hey, don’t touch my ashtray! What are you looking for?” His future father-in-law’s voice was faintly audible.
“Oh, never mind, it’s Lu Li’s thing.”
“Yi Bao, be careful! That’s a porcelain piece I just bought last week!”
“Lu Li is in a hurry, can you please be quiet!” Silly Goose said angrily.
“Alas, a daughter’s heart is set on another… We have guests, I’ll go open the door… Why is it you again…” Chu Xiaodong’s voice grew fainter and fainter until it disappeared completely.
Just as Lu Li boarded the bus, he heard Silly Goose exclaim excitedly, “I found it! Is it a pink, four-section pendant? With broken crystals inside?”
Lu Li’s heart finally settled down. “Yes, yes, that’s it. It’s a relic from Baili’s mother. Please keep it safe and wait for me to pick it up. Don’t touch it.”
Chu Jingyi responded with a couple of “ohs” and hung up the phone, looking at the heart-shaped pendant curiously. This was a relic from Baili’s mother? But why would her mother leave such a cheap-looking toy to Baili? Did it have some special meaning?
She heard her father arguing with someone downstairs. Her father was a good-tempered man. She had never seen him lose his temper at home. The guest must be very rude. Chu Jingyi peeked down the stairs and happened to meet her father’s gaze. Chu Xiaodong softened his tone. “Yi Bao, go upstairs, I have something to discuss with our guest.”
Silly Goose craned her neck and glanced at the girl sitting on the sofa. She looked familiar, as if she had seen her somewhere before, but she couldn’t remember.
She returned to her room with the pendant, still thinking about what happened this morning. She woke up early, prepared Lu Li’s toiletries, made him tea, and left him a note. She had been busy for a while, making her mother laugh and say that she would be a devoted wife in the future. She didn’t think it was a chore, but felt a sense of fulfillment, much like what her mother would do for her father. Thinking of this, Silly Goose blushed and stuck out her tongue. If only Lu Li could live at her house… Then she could see him every day, even during the winter break… Hmm, should she invite Baili over too?
As the girl was lost in her daydreams, she suddenly felt the atmosphere in the room grow heavy and oppressive. At first, she thought it was just her imagination, but gradually, the feeling intensified. The air pressure seemed to drop, and it felt like an invisible vortex was forming in the room, sucking the air out of her lungs…
Her gaze fell on the heart-shaped pendant on the table. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she felt that the color of the pendant was becoming more and more vivid, like a deep-sea anglerfish hunting in the dark, or a viper luring its prey with light. A voice in her head seemed to be urging her to get closer.
A buzzing sound.
The desk lamp flickered, as if the voltage was unstable. It was broad daylight, and the curtains were open, but the room was getting darker and darker, her vision narrowing. Everything around her was swallowed by the encroaching darkness, leaving only the table and the bright pink pendant in her sight. Strange, was it always this red? The innocent girl hadn’t realized anything was wrong. She slowly walked towards the pendant, driven by nothing but pure curiosity.
Chu Jingyi didn’t notice that the space behind her was already enveloped in darkness. The open curtains had somehow closed themselves. The argument between her father and the strange woman downstairs grew fainter and fainter, and the world fell silent. Red. Pink. Crystal. Shattered. There were no words to describe the strangeness of the room. Everything was falling apart, except for the oblivious Chu Jingyi. The space illuminated by light grew smaller and smaller, until only a small area around her feet remained.
And the pendant. The cheap plastic casing was printed with cartoon characters from the last century. If you looked closely, you could see the manufacturer’s print on the back: “Happy Every Day~”
A sudden urge arose in her heart to open the casing and touch the crystals inside. It felt like if she did that, all her dreams would come true. Lu Li would wake up next door to her every day, An Baili would always be her best friend, her father wouldn’t have to work so late every day, and her mother wouldn’t always lose to the neighbor at mahjong…
As long as she opened the casing and touched it, everything would come true.
Chu Jingyi reached out, her mind hazy, wanting to act on that strange impulse. But in the next second, a hand reached out from the darkness and snatched the pendant away. The darkness receded like a tide, and Chu Jingyi’s eyes regained their clarity. She stumbled back two steps and turned around. The curtains were open, the sunlight streaming in, the north wind blowing gently.
Lu Li held the pendant and looked at her strangely. “Yi Bao, I called you, but you didn’t respond?”
Chu Jingyi stared at Lu Li blankly. “Eh, when did you get here, Lu Li?”
“Just now.” Lu Li smiled and patted her head. “Did you oversleep? I knocked for a long time, and you didn’t answer, so I just came in. You’re not mad, are you?”
Silly Goose shook her head. Of course she wasn’t mad, she couldn’t bear to be mad at Lu Li. But what just happened? It felt like a bad dream. And she felt a lingering fear, as if the nightmare had almost become reality. Lu Li clutched the pendant. He thought that the Class Monitor had been acting strangely, like she was still half asleep or had lost her soul. Was it because of the pendant?
Thinking of this, Lu Li put the pendant into his coat pocket, keeping it away from his Yi Bao.
“Get some more sleep.” Lu Li pinched Silly Goose’s cheek. She looked at him reluctantly. “Are you leaving already?”
“Going to miss me?” Lu Li teased shamelessly. He knew that the silly Class Monitor would shyly shake her head. He enjoyed teasing this innocent girl. As expected, Silly Goose blushed. She hesitated and then nodded. “Just a little bit.” Lu Li felt a rush of blood to his head. He wanted to cup her face and kiss her a hundred times, but remembering that his future father-in-law was downstairs and his future mother-in-law wasn’t far away, he suppressed the urge. He would save those kisses for after the school break.
The word “save” was apt, a verb favored by the heroes of Liangshan Marsh.
Lu Li went downstairs and happened to run into Zhu Xi, who was about to leave. It seemed that Zhu Xi was also very invested in the revisions to the marriage law and inheritance law. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have come to seek Chu Xiaodong’s support so many times. It was a pity that with Chu Xiaodong’s personality, getting him to agree to abolish monogamy would be more difficult than ascending to heaven.
Zhu Xi and Lu Li left the Chu residence one after another. She glanced at Lu Li, seemingly interested in this young man who could freely enter and exit the Chu family’s house.
Lu Li didn’t want to have anything to do with this Poison Princess. He muttered, “Don’t notice me, don’t notice me,” and walked away quickly. After taking a few steps, he worried that the pendant wasn’t secure in his coat pocket, so he took it out and put it in his pants pocket. Just then, the Poison Princess behind him let out a soft “Eh?” “He looks familiar…” Lu Li assumed it was just a pick-up line and pretended not to hear, hurrying out of the community.
Zhu Xi looked thoughtfully at Lu Li’s retreating figure. “That thing… I think I’ve seen it somewhere before?”
Leave a Reply