When Si Jiangchen and I returned to the Yang family's place, Uncle Yang hadn't come back yet.
Aunt Yang busied herself to fetch water for me to wash my face. Only then did I realize belatedly that there were a lot of mulberry juice stains on my face and lips.
After lunch, Si Jiangchen was on the phone in the yard while my phone rang with a WeChat notification.
It was a series of voice messages from Wei Yuan.
I don't like listening to voice messages, so I had to convert his angry voices into text.
It was obvious that he was extremely angry. Even the converted text had angry emoticons.
【Damn it! Those policemen just wouldn't let me go. They insisted on interrogating me. I'm clearly the victim!!!】
【During the interrogation, I said that I fainted and knew nothing. When I woke up, I saw the policemen beside me.】
【By the way, there was nothing in that garbage pit, not even a trace of the body. Was it because of that bastard's power or your magic? I've always thought he was not simple! Xiao He, if you can't get rid of him, you can stay at my place. My mom is that bastard's sister. She will definitely protect you.】
【Aaaah! Why is the interrogation never-ending! I want to go back to find you!】
……
My phone was already filled with Wei Yuan's voice messages. I could feel his restlessness.
"Wei Yuan?"
Suddenly, a tall shadow loomed over me from behind. Si Jiangchen had somehow finished his call and came over.
"Yeah."
I quickly put away my phone and turned around.
There were only the two of us in the room. We were so close that I could smell the faint tobacco scent on him.
"Xiao He still likes chatting with young people."
Si Jiangchen's voice was deep. The ambiguous atmosphere instantly made my face flush.
"… No… Uh!!" I subconsciously wanted to refute, but then I suddenly realized that this might be another trap set by Si Jiangchen. He was good at leading me to say things that were easy to be misinterpreted and then take advantage of me.
I simply swallowed hard and closed my mouth.
"Heh."
Seeing that I didn't fall for it, Si Jiangchen tapped on his phone a few times.
My phone immediately received a WeChat notification. When I looked down, it was Si Jiangchen's profile picture blinking again.
I knew that when I was taken to his mansion, he had already added me back as a contact.
"Aren't you going to take a look?"
Si Jiangchen raised his eyebrows when he saw that I had turned off the screen again.
I couldn't help rolling my eyes at him. "Childish!"
… How could he be so bored? Shouldn't an age - old zombie or a powerful president be mature and steady?
"Then… Let's do something less childish?"
Si Jiangchen squinted his eyes and leaned over to kiss my lips!
"Um!!"
I struggled hard to break free. "You… Don't go too far!"
I pushed his arms, and my eyes were red with anxiety.
Just then, Aunt Yang had finished cleaning up the kitchen. She lifted the curtain and walked into the room. Seeing the ambiguous posture between Si Jiangchen and me, she immediately wanted to back out.
"Auntie!"
I was like a frightened rabbit seeing a savior. I jumped out and grabbed Aunt Yang's hand. "Has Uncle Yang not come home yet?"
"Yeah!" Aunt Yang looked at the already slanting sun and showed a worried look on her face. "It only takes half a morning at most to go to the town. It's already after lunch… Alas… I can't get through to his phone. It's really worrying."
Hearing Aunt Yang's words, my heart tightened for no reason.
The words Si Jiangchen had said kept lingering in my mind, "Two people on the verge of death…"
Uncle Yang hadn't come home so late. Did he run into some trouble?
I didn't dare to think deeper.
"Mr. Du, could you… do a divination for my old man?"
Aunt Yang looked at me, looking like someone grasping at straws.
I shook my head.
Although I was a fortune - teller, I didn't like doing divination for others.
The more one divines one's fortune, the thinner one's luck becomes. The more a fortune - teller can glimpse the secrets of fate, the less likely he is to easily do divination for others… Of course, those "fortune - tellers" who set up stalls on the street and shout "ten yuan per person" don't count.
We waited for about two more hours. It was already past five in the afternoon, and the sun had sunk to the mountainside.
Aunt Yang couldn't sit still anymore. She walked towards the gate and "banged" open the courtyard door.
"Ouch!" She suddenly let out a scream.
Hearing the sound, I quickly ran into the yard. Outside the wide - open courtyard gate, Uncle Yang was sitting on his electric tricycle, staring blankly ahead.
"Old man, you're finally back!"
Aunt Yang quickly stepped forward. "Why are you so late? What happened?!"
Uncle Yang seemed to have been sitting on the tricycle for a long time. He was suddenly woken up by his wife. He waved his hand and slowly climbed off the seat. "It's okay! It's okay… There was a car accident in the town. I seem to… seem to have hit someone!"
Aunt Yang was shocked. She carefully examined her husband and then went to the tricycle to check it all around. Then she asked in a trembling voice, "What do you mean by 'seem'? Did you hit someone or not?!"
Uncle Yang shook his head, looking completely confused…
It turned out that Uncle Yang had set off early in the morning to go to the town with the list I gave him to do a memorial service for his child.
There was only one funeral supplies store in the town, so it was quite convenient to buy things.
After putting all the paper offerings into the tricycle, Uncle Yang was about to leave.
Unexpectedly, the owner of the funeral supplies store suddenly came out of the shop and blocked his way. "Brother, I can see that your luck has been bad recently. Do you want me to introduce a fortune - teller to you?"
Uncle Yang was eager to go home, so he waved his hand and said, "No need. There's already a fortune - teller at home."
But the owner of the funeral supplies store grabbed the handle of his tricycle. "I knew it! Your family's fortune is related to that uninvited fortune - teller! Didn't you have a relative who died a violent death a few days ago? That was caused by the uninvited people in your family! Now you still regard them as saviors. I'm afraid your whole family is in danger! You might even be wiped out!"
The term "fang ren" the owner mentioned was a local slang.
It meant "to bring bad luck". That is to say, because of the appearance of Si Jiangchen and me, Uncle Yang's family had suffered one misfortune after another!
Uncle Yang was shocked. He didn't know how the owner could tell that there had been a violent death in his family, nor did he know how the owner knew that the "fortune - teller" at home was uninvited.
But then he thought that his son Xiaoshanzi had died two months ago, while the fortune - teller at home had only arrived last night. How could they have "brought bad luck" to Xiaoshanzi?
"Stop talking nonsense!" Uncle Yang glared at the owner. "Are you so eager to make money that you've lost your conscience? How much commission do you get for introducing a business?"
"… If you don't believe me, take this back and stick it on his head when he's not paying attention!"
The owner had already taken out a talisman paper painted with cinnabar and stuffed it into Uncle Yang's hand…