Free Web NovelAfter leaving the Huacheng Folk Culture Research Administration, Lu Ming walked through a small alley and along familiar streets, his steps light, heading towards the Lu Family Old House.
He hadn't expected Inspector Xing Yuan's efficiency to be so high; he had only told her about obtaining the xiezhi crown yesterday, and today Jiang Li had already received the notification email and was about to leave Hua City immediately to complete the Spirit Mark advancement at the Si Ye Hui Headquarters.
He also hadn't expected Jiang Li to ask for a meal cooked by him personally.
Given these circumstances, Jingyi Apartment was definitely not suitable as a date location.
Caught off guard, Lu Ming had no time to arrange Wang Yingying's accommodation. Even if he could temporarily hide it, the residual Spiritual Energy fluctuations in the apartment would allow Jiang Li to discover its existence.
Although Jiang Li would definitely not report Lu Ming, harboring a Calamity level strange story and tampering with The Moonlight Plan Contract were crimes whose severity could range from minor to major. Lu Ming felt that instead of letting Jiang Li know and then suffering internally while covering for him, it was better not to let her know at all.
However, this isn't the first time I've committed a crime...
As long as you don't get caught, it's not a crime!
When the Night Watch handles cases, they also need evidence, right?
Thinking this, Lu Ming composed himself and slightly quickened his pace towards the old house.
----
In the late spring on Peony Street, a stuffy, humid air lingered. Summer hadn't arrived yet, but under the lush willow branches, a few cicadas were already impatiently emitting their unripe chirps.
Walking through the winding streets of Peony Street, Lu Ming took less than three minutes to return to his doorstep.
Standing in front of the white-walled, blue-tiled building, he looked up at the plaque that read 【Lus Sichuan Cuisine Restaurant】 and sighed silently.
The scene of Old Dad holding the handwritten name of the restaurant and finding someone to make the sign felt like it was just yesterday.
"He even said he wanted to open chain restaurants all over the world! It was hard enough just getting out of Peony Street..." Lu Ming muttered a complaint, took out his key, inserted it into the lock, and slowly turned it.
"Click!"
With a light sound, the door opened, and the afternoon sun streamed in.
The house was very clean. The dining tables and chairs in the hall were neatly arranged, the broken window on the east side had been repaired at some point, and the long-expired drinks in the counter had also been cleared away. The air was filled with a faint, characteristic scent of cleaning agent.
The entire house didn't look like it had been uninhabited for a long time.
"That's strange, how could this happen?" Lu Ming said in surprise.
Although Shui Ge would occasionally come over to clean after he moved out, he would never do it this meticulously.
"Could a thief have gotten in?"
Thinking this, Lu Ming narrowed his eyes slightly, looked around, and finally his gaze settled on the stairs leading to the second floor.
After pondering for two seconds, he silently took out Lingtai Pure Karma from the God Kingdom Prototype and held it in his hand. He stepped onto the stairs and walked up to the attic.
The layout of the attic was simple. The space, less than thirty square meters, was divided by walls into a long, narrow, cramped living room and two very small bedrooms.
In fact, Lu Ming had slept with Old Dad until he was in junior high school. Later, Old Dad saw that he was getting older and needed his privacy, so he brought in boards and divided one bedroom into two.
A television, a cheap two-seater sofa, and a small refrigerator filled the living room, leaving no space even for a washing machine, which had to be moved to the small courtyard behind the old house.
In the past, whenever it was cloudy or rainy, washing clothes became a big problem for the father and son.
However, taking a bath on a rainy day became very convenient; they didn't have to go to the bathhouse, they could do it at home.
It was also fortunate that the wall in the backyard of the Lu Family Old House was relatively high, otherwise, every time it rained, the neighbors would see a big naked man with a small naked boy, covered in foam, reveling in the small courtyard, deeply discussing the difference between mammoths and small elephants.
And...
Looking at these familiar things before him, a series of events he didn't want to forget, yet didn't want to remember, appeared in Lu Ming's mind, until the noise from the street outside reached him.
It was four-thirty in the afternoon, time for school to end. Several teenagers, of unknown age, ran past kicking a football and making noise, their voices disappearing around the corner of the old street.
Lu Ming withdrew his attention, walked forward, reached out his hand, and lightly ran his fingertips over the cheap two-seater sofa and the television.
His fingertips left no dust.
He pulled open the refrigerator and was stunned.
The refrigerator was filled with various snacks, all half-eaten, seemingly left for someone, but they had been there too long and most had started to spoil.
Closing the refrigerator, Lu Ming frowned and turned around without a word, pushing open the doors to the two bedrooms.
Old Dad's bedroom was just as it was the last time he visited. The room without a window was empty, the bed had been dismantled, the frame leaned against the corner, and Old Dad's belongings were packed into several large cardboard boxes, piled together and covered with thick dust.
But when Lu Ming pushed open the door to his former bedroom, the slightly weary sunlight fell upon him, and he froze in place.
In the room, there was a single bed and a very small desk. The bed had simple white floral sheets, the thin quilt was neatly folded on the pillow, the desk was tidily arranged, and the textbooks Lu Ming had used were neatly placed on the book shelf according to grade level.
The window by the bed was half-open, and on the windowsill sat a small flowerpot with an unknown wild flower planted in it. The white flower had withered and swayed gently in the breeze.
The air was filled with a faint fragrance, a scent that was definitely not the smell of industrially synthesized air freshener, but a fresh fragrance belonging to natural flowers and plants.
This scene was completely different from when Lu Ming used to live here. Although he had a slight obsession with cleanliness, his room was often in a state of disarray.
After all, being clean and being tidy weren't really that related.
"What the hell is going on?" Lu Ming muttered, scratching the back of his head.
In fact, the moment he stepped onto the attic, he had a keen sense that someone had been here.
That feeling was an intuition, just like how most people inexplicably feel something when they are being watched from behind.
However, he had absolutely not expected to see such a scene.
It was as if a small thief had snuck into his house, not only didn't steal anything, but also helped complete a major cleaning, and even made the bed and stayed for a while.
Absolutely ridiculous!
But what kind of person would do something like this?
Thinking this, Lu Ming quickly took action, meticulously searching his room, covering every inch like a carpet search.
However, the result was nothing.
That person had tidied up everything he left behind, putting it neatly and orderly together, but left no trace except for the faint fresh fragrance in the air.
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Lu Ming vaguely felt that something was not quite right, but he couldn't pinpoint it, after all, he didn't even know the person's name.
Just as he was utterly bewildered, a gentle breeze suddenly blew in from the half-open window, wandering through the house, disturbing something hidden in a corner, and emitting a series of pleasant chimes.
"Ding-a-ling... Ding-a-ling..."
The sound was very faint and crisp, sounding as if a sprite was running across the roof.
Lu Ming was momentarily stunned, then listened carefully for a few seconds, only to realize that the sound was coming from outside the bedroom window.
Standing up, he looked in the direction of the sound.
He saw that on the branch of the ancient pomegranate tree outside the window, a string of bronze-colored bells was hanging. It looked as if someone had climbed into the room through the window, accidentally got caught on a branch, and dropped them.
The pomegranate tree swayed gently in the late spring breeze, and the bells on the branch, accompanied by the half-open bright red flowers on the branch, poured out a series of light sounds like a spring.
Lu Ming walked forward, pushed open the window, took down the string of bells, and held them in his hand, examining them carefully for a moment. His body suddenly trembled slightly, as if he had received an electric shock.
A scene suddenly flashed through his mind.
The girl in white clothes sat on the old stone tower on Peony Street, her legs dangling outside the railing «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» and swinging gently, the bronze-colored bells on her ankle making a slight sound. She turned her head in surprise, then smiled sweetly, "Hey! Haven't you been free to come over lately?" freeweɓnovel.cѳm
"It's okay, I found something delicious, I'll save half for you, and share it with you next time you come!"
Then...
That smile gradually overlapped with the face that was Forced smile in the faculty dormitory of the God Kingdom Prototype.
"The person who lived in my house... was Xiao Hua? But... what was she doing living in my house? And is she... gone now?"
Lu Ming murmured to himself, full of doubts. Just then, footsteps came from downstairs. His heart immediately fluttered, and he stood frozen in place, at a loss.
It was as if he had been caught red-handed stealing.
He listened quietly to the sounds downstairs, only hearing the person push open the window in the hall, pull up a chair and sit down, and then there was no further sound.
After waiting for a moment and seeing that the person had no intention of coming upstairs, Lu Ming tiptoed towards the stairwell, peeked his head out suspiciously, and looked downstairs. Then he saw a familiar figure sitting by the window, staring out, lost in thought.
Shui Ge? Why is he here? Is he here to clean? It doesn't seem like it! Who brings a sword when cleaning? And that sword... Lu Ming muttered inwardly.
The long sword in Bai Kai's hand was not the sword he usually carried.
That sword had a silver scabbard, and the design of the sword guard was strange, like plant roots intertwined, giving off a faint blue hue.
Lu Ming had seen this sword once at Bai Kai's house when he was a child, kept in a very small room by itself.
He saw the sword's unique design at the time and wanted to take it down to look at it, but was severely beaten by Old Dad. Since then, he had never seen that sword again.
Why did Shui Ge suddenly think of taking out this sword today?
Lu Ming thought, puzzled, then collected his thoughts, quickly went downstairs, and cleared his throat towards the spaced-out Bai Kai, "Ahem!"
Hearing the sound from behind him, Bai Kai subconsciously gripped the long sword in his hand and turned around abruptly. Seeing that the person behind him was Lu Ming, the sharpness in his eyes gradually faded, turning into a smile.
"You scared me, it's Xiao Bei? What made you think of coming here? Didn't you say you didn't want to come here to avoid seeing things and thinking of people?"
"This..." Lu Ming thought for a moment and said seriously, "Because I've grown up, I feel like I can accept it now, so I came back to take a look."
He was actually telling the truth. After the brief encounter and eternal farewell with Ms. Wang Meili, he was more able to accept Old Dad's death than before.
It was as if an infected wound, having its scar violently torn open and the pus drained, could recover faster.
If it were before, if Jingyi Apartment was inconvenient to host Jiang Li, Lu Ming wouldn't have brought her to the old house either.
"What about you? Why did you come here alone to lament spring and mourn autumn?" Lu Ming asked in confusion, "Could it be that your relationship with your godmother is not harmonious?"
"Who told you that? Did she tell you?" Bai Kai retorted, "Let me tell you, that's slander, it's spreading rumors. Who wouldn't be exhausted after driving all the way from Hua City to Jin Guan City overnight?"
Lu Ming, "..." I just said it casually, and you guys really aren't harmonious?
"I came here because..."
"Don't tell me you came here to remember my Old Dad!" Lu Ming pointed to the bottle of wine in Bai Kai's hand and interrupted, "He doesn't drink white wine."
"He..." Bai Kai opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but suddenly noticed the bronze-colored bells in Lu Ming's hand and frowned slightly.
After a few seconds of silence, he continued, "Okay, it's just not very harmonious..."
Although he recognized that what Lu Ming held was Nanling Yaohua's personal bells, he didn't want to mention it to Lu Ming.
Lu Ming was Lu Ming's child and should have been destined to guard Yumen Pass, just like his Old Dad.
His Old Dad had gone through great hardships to finally break free from that destiny. If Lu Ming were to go to Yumen Pass again, he might end up staying there.
As an elder, Bai Kai naturally wanted both Nanling Yaohua and Lu Ming to be happy and content.
Therefore, Lu Ming couldn't go, and Nanling Yaohua also had to leave. As for how to do it...
Let the Adult figure it out!
For this, even if his reputation is damaged, it doesn't matter.
Who told me I was stuck with two troublesome Senior Brothers? Bai Kai thought.
After listening to Bai Kai, Lu Ming nodded and said, "Yeah, you're getting old. With the way you used to live and having gone through the rich woman happiness series baptism, it's understandable to be like this today."
As he spoke, he casually put the bells into his pocket.
Noticing Lu Ming's action, Bai Kai frowned, but his expression quickly returned to normal. He waved his hand at Lu Ming impatiently, "Get lost, get lost, what do kids know? Come talk to me when you become a real man!"
"Shui Ge."
"Hmm?"
"Do you not love me anymore?" Lu Ming said expressionlessly, "So, love disappears after you get a wife, right?"
Bai Kai's mouth twitched. He raised the wine bottle in his hand and said fiercely, "Then stay and have a couple of drinks with me? Feel your godfather's paternal love?"
"Forget it!" Lu Ming rolled his eyes, "Drinking is bad for your health. I don't want to become like you, not harmonious."
After speaking, he jogged away from the old house, only to return a few seconds later. He asked Bai Kai slyly, "Oh right, Shui Ge, do you still remember Liu Banxian? I saw him before. Didn't he used to sell that stuff, the Ten Whip Great Tonic Pill? Do you want me to ask for you?"
Bai Kai, "..."
