"What's bothering you?"
Si Jiangchen noticed me stiffening up with a blank look in my eyes. He thought I might have suffered a backlash from removing the corpse poison from those people just now. He quickly turned my face towards him and examined me carefully.
"…N-no, I'm okay."
I shook my head but didn't voice out my doubts. It seemed my memory was playing tricks on me again. The events were so vivid in my mind, but I couldn't remember a single person involved.
A sudden surge of intense fear washed over me. I buried my head in Si Jiangchen's arms and clung tightly to his waist.
What if... what if I forgot all the events I'd been through? Would I forget Si Jiangchen one day, too? Not even leaving a blurry image in my mind?
"…Xiao He?"
My unusual behavior surprised Si Jiangchen. He'd never seen me act so boldly in public.
"Will I... will I forget you?"
I buried my head in his chest, my voice trembling. If I hadn't seen the Reincarnation Register in the Underworld, I would have forgotten how Si Jiangchen had risked his life for me!
Now that we'd finally found each other again, it would be torture to experience another bout of amnesia!
"I've searched for you for so many years. There's no way I'll let you forget me again."
Si Jiangchen ruffled my hair. "It's impossible for you to escape from me again..."
"Hey, you two! Stop being so lovey-dovey!"
Du Peilin's voice rang in my ears. I poked my head out from Si Jiangchen's arms and saw Du Peilin leading a little boy with a small head. It was Xue Shuo. Without the possession of the One-eyed Buddha Mother, the child looked a bit pale but was in good spirits. He was rubbing his eyes and looking at us timidly while holding onto Du Peilin's pants.
"What should we do with this kid?"
Du Peilin pushed Xue Shuo forward. "His mom's been sent to the hospital, and his dad's a vegetative state with his soul gone. We... we've got so many problems to deal with..."
As he spoke, his eyes rolled. "You guys came to find him anyway. You might as well take him with you!"
"…Hey!!"
We'd come to find Xue Shuo and his mom, but we never expected his mom to be so badly injured and sent to the hospital!
Moreover, Xue Shuo's soul had been squeezed out by his elder brother and sent to the Underworld. I'd trapped the One-eyed Buddha Mother in my demon pill. So at this moment, Xue Shuo should have been a soulless shell!
"Who are you?!"
I reached out and grabbed Xue Shuo's pulse, staring intently at his expression.
Xue Shuo winced in pain but held back his tears. "I... I was saved by Uncle A Jian. He said if I mentioned his name, you'd know!"
A Jian?!
I was quite surprised. At the shop, I thought A Jian wasn't the type to meddle in other people's business, so I asked Lu Dayong for help. I never thought A Jian would quietly find Xue Shuo's soul in the Underworld and bring it back!
"Uncle A Jian told me to follow you guys. Only you can save my dad."
At the mention of his dad, the tears that had been welling up in Xue Shuo's eyes finally spilled over. He didn't dare to cry out loud. Instead, he wiped the tears streaming down his face with his dirty little hands. After just a few wipes, his pale little face looked like a cat's.
"Stop wiping!"
Seeing the little guy's thin shoulders shaking violently as he tried his best to look tough, my heart softened. I bent down and handed him a pack of tissues. "Boys are supposed to be tough. Why are you so crybaby?"
Xue Shuo took the tissues, bowed to thank me, and then started to wipe his face. Between sobs, he whispered, "Mom... Mom also said just now that I should follow Aunt Du... only you guys can save my dad... I'm afraid you won't take me... Waaaa..."
Thinking of his mom covered in blood, Xue Shuo couldn't help crying again.
He'd been different from other kids since he was little. There was an elder brother living inside his body.
Whenever something fun happened, he'd chatter to his brother. Everyone who saw him like this thought he was crazy, and the kids wouldn't play with him.
But Xue Shuo didn't care. He could play games with his brother all day long. His brother would beat up those who bullied him!
Moreover, Xue Shuo was proud of his dad, Xue Donglai. Xue Donglai's police uniform was something both Xue Shuo and his brother liked.
Every time Xue Donglai went out on a mission, Xue Shuo and his brother would lie on the window and watch their dad leave. No matter how late his dad came back, he would always bring a gift for Xue Shuo.
Although there was only one gift, his brother never got upset because Xue Shuo would share it with him.
One day, his dad disappeared from his life. Whenever he asked where his dad was, his mom would say that his dad was on a mission and hadn't come back yet.
Xue Shuo believed his mom's words until one day when he was playing in the yard and got into a fight with another kid. The kid called him a stinky kid without a dad, saying that his dad had become a vegetable and was lying in bed.
Before Xue Shuo could be scared, his brother took over his body and beat the kid until his head was bleeding. It was only when the two moms came and separated the kids that it stopped!
Although Xue Shuo's mom was angry, she was used to her son's mood swings - sometimes timid, sometimes violent. When they got home, Xue Shuo had regained control of his body. He cried and insisted on going to find his dad. His mom couldn't help but hug him and cry.
That was when he found out that his dad had been seriously injured during a mission and had fallen into a coma. He was brought back by Uncle Xiao Fu.
Xue Shuo saw his dad lying in the hospital bed. He wasn't a vegetable. He just looked like he was sleeping. Xue Shuo thought his dad must be tired. As long as he had a good sleep, he would wake up on his own.
But his brother said his dad would never wake up again. His dad's soul was gone...
Xue Shuo started to panic.
Now that there was finally someone who could save his dad, how could he not seize this opportunity?
He reached out his little hand and grabbed my clothes tightly. "Aunt Du, please save my dad."
"Alright, alright. Stop crying. We came to find you guys just to save your dad."
I patiently took out a tissue and wiped the tears and snot off his face. Then I stood up and looked around, trying to find Ji Chen.
I remembered that Ji Chen was quite good with kids. Usually, it was either him or the Lin family's nanny who picked up and dropped off Si Tong.
"Xiao He, who are you looking for?"
Du Peilin saw me looking around and said, "If you're looking for that young assistant from your Cold Fir company, he's over there!"
As she spoke, she pointed to a big tree behind the main hall. There, Ji Chen was squatting beside a sack, concentrating on something...