Free Web NovelAfter visiting Professor Ma and talking with him, the emotional knot in Lu Yibei's heart, which felt like a heavy rain cloud, dissipated significantly.
After simply explaining some precautions about the Paper Cicada Immortal to Professor Ma, he breathed a sigh of relief, as if a major matter in his heart had been settled.
"...That's about it, then I'll trouble you, Professor."
The Paper Cicada Immortal, created by Mengmeng, is almost indistinguishable from a real person after activation. If controlled skillfully, it can achieve unexpected results in many situations.
Although Lu Yibei didn't necessarily need to place a large Paper Cicada Immortal at school to attend classes for him, even if he missed too many classes and failed one or two, there would still be opportunities for retakes.
But this was a good opportunity to practice using the large Paper Cicada Immortal, and he didn't want to miss it.
Professor Ma's face darkened. He glanced at the "Lu Yibei" standing motionless in the corner, then quickly averted his gaze and said in a deep voice, "That's all? Then quickly take this ghostly thing away!"
Before Lu Yibei left Hua City, he didn't want to look at this demonic-like existence for even a second longer.
"Alright!" Lu Yibei replied, quickly leading the Paper Cicada Immortal into the bathroom, storing it in the God Kingdom Prototype, and then swiftly leaving the laboratory. ƒrēewebnovel.com
Watching Lu Yibei leave, Professor Ma sighed helplessly. Just as he picked up his teacup and took a sip, he heard a light exclamation from the corridor.
"Professor, don't worry, even if I'm not at school, I will study hard!"
Hearing this, Professor Ma was stunned for a moment and showed a faint smile.
————
Remembering his date with Jiang Li in the evening, Lu Yibei left Huacheng Institute of Technology and hurried to the Cai Market near Peony Street to purchase ingredients.
Although nowadays, almost every supermarket sells ingredients for cooking.
Perhaps because he had spent time in the Cai Market with his Old Dad since he was a child, he still had more faith in the quality of ingredients purchased from the Cai Market.
Things like the taste of Xu Ji's Stewed Food, or the knife skills of the fish stall owner in the southwest corner of the Cai Market, or the craftsmanship of the tofu shop older than Lu Yibei, were all things that supermarkets didn't have.
However, purchasing ingredients at the Cai Market has a significant drawback: once it's afternoon, the freshness of many ingredients rapidly declines.
So the afternoon is the last chance to purchase high-quality ingredients.
Stopping in front of the entrance of 96 Cai Market, Lu Yibei briefly thought and decided on a few signature dishes from Lus Sichuan Cuisine Restaurant in his mind.
Cooking a few of his Old Dad's best dishes was both a way to remember his Old Dad and a serious approach to the date.
"Should I buy some tofu first? Also a mandarin fish, half a catty of tenderloin, galangal, and facing heaven peppers..."
He muttered to himself as he quickened his pace and walked into the Cai Market.
————
Amber House, in Jiang Li's bedroom.
A Hua stood with her hands on her hips, seriously explaining something to Jiang Li, looking like a Teacher giving a lecture.
Yes, Jiang Li was still caught by A Hua.
She underestimated A Hua's gossip, which was second only to Li Xuan's in all of Hua City.
She also overlooked the silently erected ladder outside the French window.
When A Hua's meaningful smiling face quietly appeared outside the window and she said, "Eh Hey, Miss, I found you~!", Jiang Li, rarely, became flustered.
However, after a brief moment of panic, Jiang Li quickly calmed down and accepted A Hua's help.
Although A Hua, like her, had no dating experience, at least A Hua had watched many more romantic movies, comics, and novels than she had.
"Miss, do you know who is the most likely competitor for the woman a man can never forget, besides his mother?"
As if the incident of being "caught red-handed" just now hadn't happened at all, Jiang Li looked at A Hua, thought for a moment, and said seriously, "The Teacher who kept him after school and didn't let him go home first?"
Anyway, she couldn't forget that short-tempered middle-aged female Teacher from elementary school.
A Hua's mouth twitched, and she loudly corrected, "First love, it's first love!"
I see Miss completely doesn't understand!
Although that kind of Teacher can indeed leave a very deep impression on people, and in severe cases can even become a shadow in adolescence, that is completely a different kind of impression, okay?
"So, the theme of our outfit this time is the feeling of first love."
Jiang Li tilted her head, her eyes like a student who had slept through half a math class, suddenly woke up, and looked up at the blackboard.
A Hua covered her forehead and explained, "To put it simply, it's something that looks everyday but with a little bit of cleverness, pure with a little bit of desire, for example..."
"This little white dress, although from the front it looks like a very common slim-fitting one-shoulder ruffled sleeve dress, the inverted T-shaped hollow design on the back can subtly reveal the soft curves of the back and waist, quietly adding a touch of allure."
"Just pair it with these Mary Jane leather shoes and white calf socks, and... oh, it must be a metal prosthetic limb! Most boys have an inexplicable passion for machines!"
"Wait, A Hua!" Jiang Li suddenly interrupted with a serious expression, "I suddenly thought of a question."
"Huh?" A Hua held up the dress and tilted her head.
"Since you know so much, why are you still single? Is it really reliable?"
A Hua, "..."
————
The afternoon sun shone on him, warm and hinting at the beginning of summer heat.
Lu Yibei carried the purchased ingredients, walking lightly on the bluestone-paved street of Peony Street. A breeze swept by, and the willow branches along the way swayed gently, occasionally scattering a few white willow catkins that fell into the sparkling clear stream, causing the small fish in the stream to scramble for them.
Crossing the street and arriving in front of the old house, he took out the key, opened the door, and entered the house. Lu Yibei went straight to the kitchen.
"Buzz, buzz..."
Arriving in the kitchen, just as he put down the convenience bag in his hand, his phone vibrated twice and the message ringtone sounded.
He took out his phone and glanced at it. It was a message from Wanglu Laosepi.
Netizen Old Pervert 00: "I found the information about Hu Chuan that you asked me to help investigate. Do you want to hear it now? 【Cat girl peeking】"
Lu Yibei hesitated, then turned around and put the ingredients into the refrigerator's cold storage for temporary storage. Then he picked up his phone, typed a reply, and sent it: "Tell me!"
Netizen Old Pervert 00: "You guessed right, that guy should be faking his death. This is a surveillance video we found from an intersection near the Hua City crematorium four years ago, in the early morning. 【Video】 【Video】
These two videos were originally deleted a long time ago, and we spent a lot of effort to recover them."
"..."
Effort?
Don't think I don't know, in the Monster Story Chat Group, there is a urban legend with the Power to control video files. Your infantry resources were de-mosaiced by it...
Asking it to help recover a few deleted videos is probably no problem either.
Lu Yibei grumbled in his heart, lightly touched the phone screen, clicked on the two videos separately, and after watching them, he frowned.
The two videos were filmed at the same intersection, just after midnight, when the night was deep and quiet. The street should have been empty, but a man with a slightly panicked expression appeared at the intersection.
In the first video, he was wearing a hat and walking quickly through the intersection with his head down, quickly disappearing into the night, making it impossible to distinguish his face.
But in the second video, taken less than twenty minutes later, his hat was gone, and he was holding a white porcelain jar, running through the intersection with a panicked expression.
From the facial image of the man captured in the video, it was indeed Hu Chuan.
Lu Yibei, "..."
The time these two videos were recorded was more than a month after Hu Chuan's death was recorded in the school archives... The jar he was holding in his arms, judging from its shape, should be an urn...
After faking his death, did he run to the crematorium in the middle of the night to steal the stored urn?
But what did he steal that thing for? Afraid of being discovered as having faked his death from the ashes?
Stealing his own urn, in terms of confusion and creepiness, is comparable to digging up his own grave. Lu Yibei couldn't think of any reason for Hu Chuan to do this.
Is it possible... that wasn't Hu Chuan at all, but a Psychic or a urban legend who disguised himself as Hu Chuan through special means?
As Lu Yibei was thinking, his phone received a new message and vibrated again.
Netizen Old Pervert 00: "Besides the video just now, I have another interesting video here. Take a look! 【Video】"
Wang Bu Liu Xing: "Okay."
After replying with a simple word, Lu Yibei clicked on the new video, and after watching it, his pupils slightly contracted.
The third video was filmed two days after the first two videos, near the archway on Peony Street.
It was also in the early morning, the person in the video was also Hu Chuan, he was also holding that white porcelain jar in his hand, and the direction he walked through the archway and continued forward was towards the old street of Peony Street.
He... was he here to find Old Dad? After watching the video, this thought instantly arose in Lu Yibei's mind.
There is a connection between Hu Chuan and Zhang Shuo, Zhang Shuo was involved in ambushing and killing Old Dad, and Hu Chuan came to Peony Street once before leaving Hua City... It was hard for Lu Yibei not to connect these things.
However, after connecting these things, he found that the matter was not as simple as it seemed on the surface. Before that car accident, Zhang Shuo might have been secretly observing Old Dad for a long time.
He might have even contacted Old Dad in some way a long time ago!
Wang Bu Liu Xing: "Did he go to Lus Sichuan Cuisine Restaurant?"
Netizen Old Pervert 00: "I didn't find that. We can't find the recordings of every surveillance camera, okay? What's more, that place is too close to the Hua City Si Ye Hui, and we don't dare to check the surveillance footage randomly... 【Blonde mature woman shrugging helplessly】"
After reading Wanglu Laosepi's reply, Lu Yibei frowned.
Given what he said... Besides looking for Old Dad, could Hu Chuan have been looking for someone from the Night Watch?
But I checked the Hua City Si Ye Hui's archives before, and there are no records related to him!
Damn it, what the hell did he run to Peony Street for in the middle of the night? It couldn't have been to see the scenery, could it?
Lu Yibei thought, and quickly picked up his phone to send a message to Wanglu Laosepi.
Wang Bu Liu Xing: "Is there more? Is this video the last of the information?"
Netizen Old Pervert 00: "Yes! There are also a few videos found from the airport and train station. After that guy went to Peony Street, he left Hua City. He went to Du'an Yan, Xiurong City, and Shiyan City in succession, and finally went to Shizhou City, and there has been no trace of him since then.
He ran around like a headless fly, and his behavior at the airport and train station was also normal, showing no apparent purpose. I just had my companion use Power to read the video information and didn't restore the videos."
Wang Bu Liu Xing: "Okay, thanks. Let's talk again when there's new information."
Netizen Old Pervert 00: "【Blonde mature woman blushing and sticking out tongue OK】"
Tsk! Hso... Lu Yibei pouted, saved the expression, put away his phone, turned around and took out the ingredients from the refrigerator, and while starting to prepare dinner, he pondered to himself.
Hu Chuan running around the country definitely wasn't for no reason. Even if he was fleeing in fear of his crime, he didn't need to go to so many places. If he just hid in a remote area, wouldn't everything be fine?
If that Hu Chuan wasn't a Psychic or a urban legend disguised, could his suspicious behavior have been instigated by Zhang Shuo?
The last place he disappeared was Shizhou City... Was he hiding there, or was he killed there? What's different about Shizhou ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) City and the other places he went to? freeweɓnøvel.com
Lu Yibei thought, and the clouds of doubt in his heart grew thicker. Then, as if to vent, he brought down the knife and fiercely pounded the tender tofu on the cutting board into tofu mud.
The mood he had finally calmed down at Professor Ma's place was disturbed again by the information investigated by Wanglu Laosepi.
Although he had tried his best to restrain himself, it was really hard to stop thinking about such things...
——————
In the evening.
After Lu Yibei brought the last dish to the table, he wiped his hands with a dishcloth and sighed, "Ah, I hope it's up to standard and doesn't disappoint Miao Miao Jiang!"
There were four dishes on the table in total: stir-fried galangal fish, pork loin and tofu pockets, fish-flavored lotus root slices, and chicken stewed with termite mushrooms. They were all Lu Ming's signature dishes, and Lu Yibei had also learned to make them quite well.
It's just...
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While cooking, she always thought of things related to Old Dad. The emotions that had already subsided surged again, making her feel restless, to the extent that she wasn't so confident in the dishes she made.
Putting down the rag, she sat near the main entrance, waiting quietly.
Waiting for someone to come.
Outside the door, a corner of the sky was already dyed red by the setting sun. A few purple and light ink-colored clouds were set off by the sunlight, framed with a wide, rosy edge.
Lights lit up on the old street, and pedestrians gradually thinned out. From afar, the sound of a walking stick hitting the bluestone slabs could be heard.
Jiang Li, wearing a cunning white dress and lightly powdered, walked towards her with the setting sun behind her. Lu Yibei looked up, and her gaze met hers perfectly.
At this moment, Jiang Li had shed her usual aura of keeping people at a distance, which was a full 3.82 meters high. She was as soft as a pure white velvet flower, making one want to cup her in their hands.
Seeing Lu Yibei staring at her in a daze for a long time, Jiang Li secretly congratulated herself for not preparing in vain. Then she brushed away the hair falling across her forehead and asked softly, "Do I look good?"
Lu Yibei clicked her tongue, "Barely passable!"
"Really?" Jiang Li tilted her head, her brows slightly furrowed.
A Hua really isn't very reliable. To be honest, I'm not quite used to this kind of outfit either... Jiang Li thought.
"It's just to the extent of being a feast for the eyes." Lu Yibei said, standing up and gesturing for her to come in. "I was thinking earlier that I might have made too much food, but now I think I can easily respond to the call for the 'Clean Plate Campaign'."
Jiang Li smiled slightly, almost imperceptibly, and followed Lu Yibei's guidance to a seat by the window in the main hall, where she could just enjoy the beautiful scenery of the setting sun casting light on the old street's clear canal.
The pumpkin-carved lanterns by the window flickered with warm candlelight, illuminating the entire table.
She looked at the dishes on the table, which had quite good presentation, and her gaze shifted to Lu Yibei.
"Very good! You didn't order takeout, did you?"
"Well, hard to say!" Lu Yibei said, pretending to be serious. "However, if any takeout place had this kind of skill, their business would definitely be booming, right?"
Jiang Li didn't respond to Lu Yibei's self-praise. She picked up her chopsticks on her own and prepared to taste Lu Yibei's cooking.
Lu Yibei watched her chopsticks reach for the plate of stir-fried galangal fish with doting eyes and softly introduced, "This is called stir-fried galangal fish. The back of the mandarin fish is cut open with a large knife, simmered with spices over low heat for five minutes, then pickled peppers and Pixian bean paste are stir-fried until fragrant and passed through oil. Fresh broth and galangal are used for seasoning. It's my signature dish!"
Jiang Li nodded slightly, picked up a small piece of fish, put it into her mouth, her eyes trembled slightly, and she slowly swallowed, her expression unchanged.
"Is it delicious?" Lu Yibei asked expectantly.
"Delicious."
"This is pork loin and tofu pockets. Pork loin and tofu are mashed into a paste in a three-to-seven ratio, shaped into patties after being passed through oil, and filled with bamboo shoots, carrots, wood ear mushrooms, and a little crispy sprout. It's savory and refreshing with a hint of sourness, very appetizing."
"Mm, delicious."
"This, this is chicken stewed with termite mushrooms. The rainy season has arrived recently, and it's a good time to eat termite mushrooms... This is fish-flavored lotus root slices..."
Lu Yibei introduced the dishes on the table like someone showing off their treasures, looking like a primary school student who scored 100 on a test for the first time and couldn't wait to show off their results to their parents.
But after tasting each dish, Jiang Li just nodded expressionlessly and said, "Delicious."
This scene couldn't help but make a strong sense of frustration rise in Lu Yibei's heart.
"Uh... Is it not delicious?"
Jiang Li gently shook her head, "It's very delicious."
Saying so, as if to prove that she really thought it was delicious, she picked up another piece of pork loin and tofu pocket and put it into her mouth.
Lu Yibei looked at Jiang Li with suspicion, picked up her chopsticks, took a bite of the dish she made, her face instantly turned pale, and she quickly spat out the half-cooked pork loin and tofu pocket. Immediately after, she tasted the other dishes, but the result was the same.
The stir-fried galangal fish tasted bitter, and the fish-flavored lotus root slices were bland and tasteless, as if all the suppressed negative emotions in her heart had been incorporated into the cooking.
Only the termite mushroom soup was still good, but that had nothing to do with her skill. Those two ingredients put together would be exceptionally delicious with just simple cooking.
Where was it delicious?
It was clearly not delicious.
It could even be said it was inedible!
"..."
Lu Yibei opened her mouth to say something, but before she could speak, Jiang Li preempted her and asked, "Something is on your mind, isn't it? Is it convenient to tell me?"
To be honest, when she tasted the four dishes just now, she was quite disappointed. She had prepared carefully, but Lu Yibei seemed very perfunctory.
However, after noticing the extreme restraint of sadness and restlessness in Lu Yibei's eyes, she felt relieved.
Thinking about it, at least these dishes were top-notch in terms of color and aroma!
"..." Lu Yibei was silent for a few seconds, then shook her head, "Temporarily..."
"Not convenient for now?" Jiang Li nodded thoughtfully, "Then maybe you can tell me when there's a chance later?"
"Mm." Lu Yibei nodded, lowering her head, not daring to look into Jiang Li's eyes.
She knew she had messed up, but for a moment, she didn't know how to tell Jiang Li about what had happened in the past two days.
Hadn't she just cried in her arms because she lost her mother? Now she had to cry again because she lost her Old Dad?
That would be too lame!
Just as Lu Yibei was silent, Jiang Li quietly stood up, walked through the main hall on her own, and left Lus Sichuan Cuisine Restaurant.
By the time Lu Yibei came back to her senses and chased after her to call her back, she found that she had already walked far away and quickly disappeared into the setting sun of the old street.
"..."
Lu Yibei stood in front of the old house, looking at the empty old street, slowly lowered her hand that was suspended in mid-air, sighed deeply, turned back to the table, and began to clear the dishes on the table dejectedly.
Although there was a reason, I was the one who suggested the date.
I didn't take it seriously, and messing up is messing up...
It's reasonable for her to be unhappy and leave in a huff. Lu Yibei thought, sighing again silently, dumping the unappetizing dishes from the plates into the trash can.
Just then, footsteps sounded behind her and stopped in front of the old house.
"Hmm? Why did you put everything away?"
Turning around, she saw Jiang Li standing at the door, one hand on the door frame, the other holding her walking stick and two bags of instant noodles, her face full of confusion.
Seeing that Lu Yibei didn't speak, she gently shook her head, "Forget it, if it's put away, it's put away..."
"So, if possible, could I trouble Chef Lu to make me a bowl of boiled instant noodles again?"
"No problem!" Lu Yibei blurted out excitedly.
"Mm." Jiang Li nodded and said softly, "Then this time, please try to forget those troubling things for now and just think about me, and make it well, okay?"
Saying so, she gently rubbed her stomach and said in a somewhat spoiled tone, "I need the kind that's large and filling. I haven't eaten all day for this dinner, I'm very hungry!"
"..." Lu Yibei was stunned for a moment, then replied very seriously, "No problem!"
----
A moment later.
Jiang Li, who had finished four whole bags of instant noodles, sat on the threshold of the old house's main entrance, gently swinging her feet, one hand gently rubbing her slightly bulging stomach, and then, taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, she let out a loud, long burp without any regard for her image.
She looked up at the sky, her eyes clear. The night-dyed sky was dotted with stars, and a shallow, satisfied smile hung on the corner of her mouth.
Perhaps only the old street on Peony Street in the entire Hua City city center could see the stars so clearly? Jiang Li thought.
From afar, footsteps came.
Lu Yibei, who had somehow interrupted her urban legend transformation halfway through, hurried back, then slowed down as she approached the old house, tiptoed over, sat beside Jiang Li, and looked at her profile. The breeze stirred her hair, and she remembered a poem by Gu Cheng.
【You look at me for a while, then at the clouds.
I feel that when you look at me, you are far away, and when you look at the clouds, you are close.】
Then, the moment Jiang Li turned back to look at her, she suddenly realized that when she looked at her, she was also very close.
Perhaps even closer.
The two looked at each other quietly, as if some sweet scent was brewing in the air.
Then, Jiang Li suddenly spoke, "Lu Yibei, if you close your eyes right now..."
"You'll kiss me, won't you?"
"What if I say yes?"
"Then... can I use my tongue?"
Jiang Li mused for a moment, turned her face away with an expression of extreme disgust, and shook her head, "Then let's forget it!"
"Don't, don't! How can we forget it?" Lu Yibei said anxiously, "If we forget it, what was the point of you saying 'what if I say yes' just now? We're both adults, we can't go back on our word, can we?"
"It..." Jiang Li tilted her head, thought for a moment, and said seriously, "It's a polite mutual A in response to your 'You'll kiss me, won't you?'"
Lu Yibei, "..." I ♦ don't want this kind of politeness, please be rough with me, don't pity me just because I'm a delicate flower.
"Lu Yibei..." Jiang Li called softly, then stood up.
"Hmm?"
Lu Yibei responded, and as she looked up, her forehead bumped into Jiang Li's thin lips. Her silver-white hair fell down, brushing against her face, carrying a fresh yet intoxicating fragrance, like a curtain being drawn, enclosing the two in a small space.
Those lips were soft and warm, staying for about five seconds.
Lu Yibei was like she had turned to stone, frozen in place, her ears buzzing, as if hundreds of Smelly Girl who had turned into Magpie were screeching in unison.
Without exaggeration, in those five seconds, she had even thought of the name of the children's soccer team.
Just as Lu Yibei was in a daze, Jiang Li straightened up, turned around, and walked along the old street towards the direction of leaving Peony Street.
From afar, her voice came.
"Let's go!"
Hearing the sound, Lu Yibei stood up abruptly as if waking from a dream and shouted at Jiang Li's back, "No, that's it? That's all? That's too perfunctory, isn't it? Where's my French kiss?"
Jiang Li turned back, tilted her head, and sighed helplessly, "French kiss, maybe next time? When I come back... Hmm, let's just consider it a punishment."
"Next time you clean the house, remember to be more thorough. At least clean up the scent left by other Misses, okay? I still mind it a little."
Lu Yibei, "???"
Other Misses? I'm not, I didn't, don't talk nonsense, where are these other Misses from?
Wait, could she mean...
How did she notice that? Is this a woman's intuition?
Lu Yibei thought, opening her mouth to explain, but found that Jiang Li's figure had already disappeared around the corner of the old street.
The wind blew, willow catkins flew, and the girl's figure seemed to have flown away with the willow catkins.
Looking at the empty street, Lu Yibei raised her hand and touched her forehead.
Although... why does it feel like I was teased by a bad Sister and then left alone?
It makes me keep thinking about it.
Is this Miao Miao Jiang's thousand-layered routine? Lu Yibei thought.
So, back at home, thinking about Jiang Li's "next time for sure," every time she closed her eyes, all she saw was the image of Jiang Li lowering her head to kiss her forehead. She tossed and turned, unable to sleep all night.
Until Li Xuan's phone call reminded her that it was time to send Hua Sang off...
