It turned out to be that brat Bai Qi speaking from behind. He nearly scared the living daylights out of me.
"Damn kid, you scared me to death. How come you walk so quietly?"
I picked up three incense sticks, lit them, and stuck them into the incense burner. Then, feigning calmness, I turned around and walked over to sit on the sofa.
"Aren't you going to take a look?" This guy really understood what was on my mind. He knew that my earlier actions were all about wanting to see what was under the red cloth.
"I wanted to just now, but not anymore." I picked up the remote control, turned on the TV, and randomly flipped through the channels, my eyes stealing glances at the red cloth on the incense table from time to time.
Seeing me like this, Bai Qi curved his lips slightly and walked towards the incense table.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm really curious about what's under that red cloth. I'm going to take a look."
"My mom said we're not allowed to look." I threw down the remote control and followed behind him.
"Your mom said not to look, but it's not my mom who said so."
As he spoke, Bai Qi reached the incense table and with a single hand, yanked off the red cloth.
The moment the cloth was pulled off, the ancient painting suddenly emitted a white light. Bai Qi, still holding the red cloth in his hand, suddenly disappeared right in front of me and teleported to the side of the living room.
Worried that something had happened to him, I quickly checked on his condition. His face was extremely serious, and he seemed to be deep in thought as he looked at the red cloth in his hand.
"There's a spell on this." Bai Qi lowered his blue eyes and glanced at the red cloth in his hand.
I turned to look at the ancient painting. Maybe because I was just an ordinary mortal, I didn't notice anything strange about it.
"What kind of spell? Could it be that Gu Yuan cast the spell on this painting?" I asked.
Bai Qi shook his head and said, "It wasn't Gu Yuan who cast it. It must be the doing of some powerful celestial being from above."
"Then who could it be?" If it wasn't Gu Yuan, could this spell be harmful to him? I couldn't help but feel worried.
Bai Qi shook his head again. With his magical power, he couldn't figure out the identity of this person.
"Could it be the person who has the blue bead?" Having no clue, I could only make wild guesses.
Bai Qi still shook his head and said he wasn't sure. It seemed that this celestial being from above was truly unfathomable.
"No, I have to tell Gu Yuan when he comes back. We don't know if the person who cast the spell is a friend or a foe. Gu Yuan must know about this."
"Silly girl, Gu Yuan is the most powerful among us. Do you think he wouldn't know about it himself?"
I turned to look at the painting again, a worried look on my face.
"You can take it down and have a look. If the spell was really dangerous to you guys, it wouldn't have been dormant for seventeen years."
I thought Bai Qi's words made a lot of sense. I turned to look at the painting, reached out my hand, and took it down.
Sure enough, in my hands, it was just an ancient painting that looked vivid and lifelike.
I couldn't help but reach out my hand to touch the flying snake submerged in the black clouds.
Bai Qi also took out the hanging scroll he had brought out from Horse Immortal's place earlier and compared them.
The two paintings were made of the same material, something like leather. Both paintings depicted the scene of the beginning of chaos with the flying snake, but the postures of the snake's body were different.
"Is there no spell on that painting?" I asked Bai Qi.
Bai Qi gently touched the snake on the painting with his finger. Suddenly, a white light flashed, almost hurting Bai Qi.
"It seems that I accidentally triggered the spell just now when I touched the snake's body." There was also a spell on this ancient painting.
I held the two ancient paintings in my hands and put them together. To my surprise, it seemed like they were puzzle paintings. The snake was writhing in the dark clouds, and the clouds in the two paintings could be connected.
"Doesn't this look like a triptych? When the three parts are put together, it forms a complete picture." I asked Bai Qi to take a look too.
Bai Qi also agreed with me.
"Three pictures, one is missing. If we can find the third picture, will it give us clues about Gu Yuan's background?"
"Very likely. Wrap the two paintings with the red cloth. I'll put them away first. We'll take a look together after I find the third picture."
"But won't we be found out?"
After all, this thing had been hanging in our house for seventeen years, and my parents had always taken good care of it. If it was gone, they would be scared to death.
As I was speaking, Bai Qi conjured up an identical ancient painting in his hand and hung it on the incense table.
"We'll put the real ones back after we've collected all of them."
I gave him a thumbs up and quickly wrapped the paintings. With a wave of Bai Qi's arm, the two paintings were simultaneously stored in his spirit-locking pouch.
I felt that the truth was getting closer and closer to us. I wondered if I would be happy or sad after learning the truth.
...
The two-day holiday passed by quickly. After Gu Yuan came back, the two of us drove towards the city.
I was sitting in the passenger seat, stealing glances at Gu Yuan from time to time. His perfect side profile was truly unbeatable.
Seeing me looking at him with a lovesick expression, Gu Yuan couldn't help but curl his lips into a charming smile.
"Still looking? If you keep looking, I might just eat you up."
I shyly lowered my head and didn't dare to look at him anymore.
Just then, Gu Yuan took the initiative to hold my hand and said, "What, are you really afraid that I'll eat you?"
"Of course. You're the all-powerful Lord Liu. It's just a piece of cake for you to eat anyone you want." I turned my palm over and intertwined my fingers with his.
"But you're the only one I fancy."
I didn't expect him to be in such a good mood today. While driving, he still found time to tease me, which made my heart flutter.
Not wanting to talk about these embarrassing topics anymore, I quickly changed the subject and asked, "Have you found out who the owners of those two beads are?"
Gu Yuan took a deep breath and said, "I'm still investigating. I should know soon. It seems that the purpose of everything he's done is to break us up. I already have a suspect."
As Gu Yuan said this, his eyes narrowed slightly, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes. The ambiguity from our earlier conversation was gone.
"Do you suspect Long Lin?" I blurted out.
"You've guessed it too?" Gu Yuan asked.
"Because only he wants to break us up. But it doesn't make sense. After the beads were lost, he helped find them and gave them to me voluntarily. If it was really him, why didn't he destroy the evidence?"
I really didn't know much about this Long Lin. Apart from knowing that he was a celestial being from above, I knew nothing else about him.
"He's just a crazy person." Gu Yuan's tone suddenly became harsher. After he finished speaking, I was left speechless.
The atmosphere suddenly became awkward, and I didn't dare to talk to him anymore.
Actually, I still wanted to hear Gu Yuan talk about his story with Man Yue.
But in this kind of atmosphere, it seemed inappropriate to ask.
Finally, Gu Yuan noticed what was on my mind and broke the silence by asking, "Do you have something you want to ask?"
"I... I have a lot of questions. I feel like I'm an open book in front of you, but I know so little about you. I'm afraid that if I ask rashly, I'll make you angry, so I've been keeping it to myself and not daring to ask." I said timidly, not even daring to look at his face.
Gu Yuan's hand remained intertwined with mine. After a few seconds of silence, he said,
"You want to ask about my story with Man Yue, don't you?"
It turned out that he knew everything.