Villainous Malevolent Ghost (7)
The next day, it was Xu Juan who woke up Song Xu Yi.
Xu Juan was charging her tablet and took a glance at the viewing history before looking at the bleary-eyed Song Xu Yi.
She couldn’t help but laugh out loud, “Ah, Xu Yi, you watched this movie last night! No wonder you slept in so late today. The first time I watched this movie, I had insomnia and thought I was going crazy…”
Song Xu Yiwas taken aback, and the remaining drowsiness instantly disappeared as she widened her eyes: Didn’t she delete the viewing history? How did Xu Juan know?
Song Xu Yi made a nonchalant “Hmm” sound and got up, but as soon as she reached the bathroom, she covered her scorching face – this was too embarrassing!
“It’s probably that you forgot to delete it! It’s okay, Xu Juan has also watched it many times, right?” As Bai Yu’s partner system, the system recalled Bai Yu’s behavior of abandoning the tablet and running away last night. The guilty system could only continue to fool Song Xu Yi with teeth-gritting: “You’re just too tired during this time, so you remembered wrong. Just have fun and rest today…”
Is that so?
Song Xu Yi splashed a handful of water on her face and slapped her still scorching cheeks. Her eyes showed a hint of confusion: This was already the second time. Was her stress really so great that her memory had deteriorated so much?
It took Song Xu Yi a long time to cool down her burning face.
When she came out of the bathroom, Xu Juan was doing her makeup. Seeing Song Xu Yi casually applying sunscreen and wanting to go out, Xu Juan sighed and pressed Song Xu Yi down on the seat, giving her a pink makeup: “We’re going to take pictures these days, how can you not wear makeup!?”
Xu Juan’s makeup skills were excellent and she quickly finished applying makeup. Looking at Song Xu Yi, who looked even more delicate and beautiful in her white down jacket after putting on her makeup, Xu Juan couldn’t help but exclaim, “Xu Yi, your skin looks so good that I can’t resist wanting to give you a kiss. I feel like you’ve become much prettier recently, did you secretly get some beauty treatments?”
As soon as she said it, Xu Juan didn’t know why, but she suddenly felt a chill down her back and instinctively shrank her neck.
“Really? Maybe it’s because I did well on the exam yesterday and I’m in a good mood!” Song Xu Yi blinked, feeling that it was probably because of her symbiotic relationship with Bai Yu lately, but she didn’t know how to explain it, so she had to change the subject. “The guys are probably waiting for us, let’s go downstairs first!”
Xu Juan only casually praised her and didn’t pay attention to Song Xu Yi’s answer. She touched her neck and looked back, but the windows in the room were closed tightly and there was nothing unusual around her, so Xu Juan didn’t think much about it and followed Song Xu Yi downstairs.
As soon as they reached the bottom of the stairs, the two of them saw Xu Juan’s boyfriend waiting in the lobby. The boy seemed to have been waiting for a long time and his face looked visibly haggard. As soon as he saw Xu Juan, he immediately looked at her with anticipation, and followed her with an anxious expression as she went to a corner…
When Huang Feng sat down, he made a joke. It seemed that his gaze was glued to Song Xu Yi and he didn’t notice the movement around him. When he sat down, he fell into a big split, but even so, he still insisted on sitting at the same table as Song Xu Yi.
“Xu Yi, girls shouldn’t wear makeup. The person who truly likes you will also like your natural face.” Huang Feng saw the light makeup on Song Xu Yi’s face and spoke seriously.
Song Xu Yi ignored him and picked up two steamed buns to leave. Unexpectedly, Huang Feng also stood up and grabbed Song Xu Yi’s bag, “Let me carry your bag. We’re going to climb the mountain today…”
Whether it was because of static electricity or some other reason, Song Xu Yi hadn’t had a chance to refuse yet when Huang Feng suddenly muttered and pulled his hand back as if he had been electrocuted.
“No need.” Song Xu Yi didn’t even look at Huang Feng and walked out of the place.
Later, the group of eight people came out intermittently to have a meal and finally gathered in the hotel lobby. They boarded a small travel van parked outside the hotel and headed towards their destination, Ming Mountain.
Ming Mountain is a famous mountain range near the city, known for its four scenic spots: sea of clouds, holy light, fairy statue, and sunset. Although they departed relatively late, they might still be able to see the other three scenic spots, given the current weather.
Xia Tian’s plan was for the group to take a sightseeing car to the halfway point of the mountain, then see the sea of clouds at the halfway point, have lunch at the restaurant, take the cable car to the top of the mountain in the afternoon, overlook the famous fairy statue, enjoy the sunset, and then rush to catch the last few cable cars back down the mountain.
The group arrived at the foot of the mountain quickly.
As it was still not the winter break for most people, there weren’t many people at the foot of the mountain. Huang Feng finally seemed to realize that he was not well-liked and volunteered to take the two-dimensional code for the ticket reservation to the window. Despite the small number of people waiting in line, he murmured with the window staff for a long time, wasting a lot of time before returning to the queue.
“Can’t do anything right. I don’t know how he had the face to pursue you,” even though they were still at the foot of the mountain and hadn’t started climbing yet, the winter mountain wind was already quite chilly. Xia Tian couldn’t help but lean in and mutter to Song Xu Yi, “I regret bringing such a burden with me. I hope he doesn’t cause any more trouble.”
But Xia Tian’s words became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
After finally getting the tickets and boarding the sightseeing car, Huang Feng suddenly started complaining of stomach pain. Since they came as a group, they couldn’t just ignore him. Xu Juan’s boyfriend had been secretly pinching him for a while, and his intestines probably regretted it, but he could only look tired as he took care of Huang Feng, handing him medicine and water.
Listening to Huang Feng’s complaints, the other passengers put on their headphones to block out the noise.
Song Xu Yi also put on her headphones and focused on filming the sea of clouds that spiraled around the road on both sides.
If it weren’t for the tight schedule this time, Song Xu Yi really wanted to bring Bai Yu on this trip. But since she missed the chance, the next trip to the ancestral home was not far away.
Song Xu Yi planned to take pictures of the beautiful scenery along the way and show them to Bai Yu when they meet again.
After about half an hour, they finally arrived at the halfway point of the mountain. They parked the car in the open space for visitors and started to rest. Originally, they planned to leave Xu Juan’s boyfriend here to take care of Huang Feng, who had a stomachache. However, Huang Feng’s stomach miraculously felt better at this moment.
Huang Feng once again approached Song Xu Yi with a flattering smile, completely ignoring Song Xu Yi’s impatient look:
“Xu Yi, don’t worry. There are many dangers and accidents on the mountain, but no matter what happens, I will protect you…”
Xia Tian couldn’t stand it anymore and drove Huang Feng away under the pretext of discussing something with Song Xu Yi. At this moment, Song Xu Yi’s ears finally became quiet.
She carefully flipped through the video she had taken along the way. Her phone had a high pixel camera and clearly captured the rolling and endless sea of clouds.
However, the background sound of the video was Huang Feng’s voice shouting in pain, which destroyed the harmony of the entire video.
Song Xu Yi frowned and removed the original audio of the video. Then, she paired the video with a classical and ethereal music, thinking that Bai Yu would like this segment of the video. Her tightly furrowed brow finally relaxed.
The scenery on the mountainside was beautiful. Although the food in the scenic area was only passable, and there was an annoying Huang Feng nearby, Song Xu Yi saw and recorded many beautiful landscapes, and felt that this trip was worthwhile.
After finishing their meal, the group went for a walk to aid digestion and then boarded an uphill cable car. The cable car could hold up to ten people, and two unfamiliar tourists joined them. Xia Tian chatted with the tourists, but at this moment, Huang Feng suddenly started howling, claiming that he had a stomachache.
Song Xu Yi frowned and put on her headphones. Even Xu Juan’s boyfriend looked serious because everyone knew that Huang Feng was likely pretending. He kept yelling about his stomachache, but his facial expression didn’t change at all.
Song Xu Yi didn’t know Huang Feng’s motivation for faking his stomachache and didn’t want to investigate. She just wanted Huang Feng to stay away from her as much as possible.
When they reached the mountaintop, it was already after four in the afternoon. The same routine followed: as soon as they got off the cable car, Huang Feng stopped howling and touched his head, saying with a smirk, “I feel better now. I think I’m just scared of heights, so I felt a stomachache while riding the transportation. But I’m a big man. Even if I have difficulties, I have to overcome them and not burden everyone else. Luckily, I made it through…”
No one responded to his words. After all, Huang Feng had joined this group on his own and ruined everyone’s mood. He even put on a shameless appearance of being strong, which was just too much.
The observation deck was still about a half-hour walk away, and Huang Feng occasionally held his stomach, forcing the others to slow down to accommodate him.
However, Huang Feng seemed oblivious to everyone’s annoyance. Obviously, he had done some research on the attraction. As they walked up, he introduced, “This fairy statue actually has a prototype. Everyone has heard of the famous metaphysical ancestor Xian Shi Bai Yu. Maybe you only know about her significant contributions to metaphysics, and you may have seen ugly illustrations of her in history books, but few people know that Xian Shi Bai Yu herself was an extremely beautiful woman…”
In the embrace of the clouds, the statue of the woman was lifelike, as if she would ascend to heaven in the next moment.
“How beautiful!” Huang Feng, who was chatty again, suddenly felt no more pain in his stomach. He deftly pulled out his phone and took photos while showing off what he knew: “Legend has it that Xian Shi Bai Yu did not die at the hands of evil spirits, but was forcibly taken into the palace by the Emperor because of her beauty. However, the Emperor was in a high position of power, and a man is just a man, even if he looks at a celestial being for a long time, he would only be like that. So not long after getting Xian Shi Bai Yu, the Emperor fell in love with another favored concubine, and Xian Shi Bai Yu fell out of favor, became melancholy, fell ill, and died. The Emperor regretted it and erected this statue to express his regret…”
At this moment, Song Xu Yi was relieved that she didn’t bring Bai Yu with her: it was impossible for her to marry the Emperor. If she did, she would no longer be a member of the Bai family and could no longer become the Bai family’s guardian deity.
If Bai Yu heard the wild stories about her arranged in later generations, she would probably be extremely angry.
However, for a moment, Song Xu Yi couldn’t imagine what Bai Yu would look like when angry. Bai Yu has always been gentle and obedient by Song Xu Yi’s side, and she has never seen her angry.
“If it were me, I wouldn’t be like the Emperor, with a wife and children, I would definitely be wholeheartedly devoted…” Huang Feng once again shifted the conversation to himself, began to brag, and took off his safety helmet to let Xu Juan’s boyfriend take a good picture of him.
Song Xu Yi frowned, subtly distancing herself from Huang Feng, and just then, the wind in the mountains suddenly picked up. In that moment, a small rock fell from above and hit Huang Feng’s head.
Huang Feng’s head was immediately bleeding!
The accident came too suddenly, and no one had expected it.
After coming to his senses, Huang Feng quickly dialed the phone number of the scenic area. However, probably due to poor signal in the mountains, the call couldn’t go through. Huang Feng panicked and forgot to maintain his composure, cursing the security personnel of the scenic area for not taking responsibility. He didn’t even consider that it was his own fault for taking off his safety helmet that led to this incident.
Song Xu Yi couldn’t stand Huang Feng’s unrefined behavior, and as someone who had once been a doctor with a compassionate heart, she called on the male protagonist, Bai Jin, to help and guide Huang Feng in cleaning his wound.
Huang Feng’s wound looked like it had bled quite a bit, but the situation wasn’t serious and the bleeding stopped shortly after.
“Xu Yi, I never expected you to have knowledge of medicine.” The people around them looked at Song Xu Yi’s skilled command of Bai Jin and expressed admiration. However, Song Xu Yi took a glance at the gradually dimming sky and furrowed her brows, “Let’s go down as soon as possible. We might miss the cable car if we wait any longer. After we descend, it would be best for him to seek further treatment at a hospital.”
The rest of the group only realized the urgency of time after a while, but Huang Feng seemed to have thought of something. His eyes flickered a few times, and suddenly he stood up and strode towards the cable car station, looking nothing like his weak self who was clutching his stomach on the way up.
However, even though the group hurried as fast as they could, they were already too late when they arrived at the cable car station. The last cable car had already gone down the mountain ten minutes ago, and the staff had closed the gate, suggesting that they stay at a nearby small inn.
“What about my injury?” Huang Feng looked stubborn and indignant, “I got injured in your scenic area and need treatment. Shouldn’t you be responsible? Who will bear the consequences if something goes wrong with me?”
“Son, your wound was clearly caused by you not following the rules and not wearing a safety helmet,” the staff was not easily fooled and pointed out the cause of Huang Feng’s injury. “We have a first aid kit here and can treat you first.”
“But isn’t it said on the ticket that the last car is at 6 p.m.?” Xia Tian tried to communicate with the staff while Huang Feng was being treated. “There should be another car according to the schedule.”
“Didn’t the ticketing staff tell you?” the worker said. “The scenic area is undergoing equipment maintenance these days, and there was no announcement on the speaker for the cable car schedule changes. The last cable car also left half an hour earlier than usual…”
Ticketing staff?
All eyes fell on Huang Feng.
Huang Feng’s gaze flickered, avoiding the gaze of everyone looking at him. “I was in too much pain on the way, so I forgot to tell you about these things, alright?”
“You’re amazing,” someone retorted. “You can talk about random things you heard somewhere, but forget about important matters!”
Xia Tian couldn’t bear Huang Feng anymore and spoke up with a stern face, “Huang Feng, to be honest, we are a group of close friends on this trip. I didn’t agree to you joining us in the first place, but I reluctantly let you in. Now, because of you, we are in this situation, and tomorrow’s schedule will be affected. Considering your past behavior, let’s just go our separate ways after we get down the mountain tomorrow and not interfere with each other.”
Huang Feng obviously didn’t expect Xia Tian to speak up like this. He looked around and found that no one was speaking up for him, and even Xu Juan’s boyfriend looked away. He finally realized that he had angered everyone.
After more than ten minutes of dealing with the wound, they set off again. The summit was already windy, and with winter temperatures so low, even though the small inn that the staff had mentioned was not far away, it would take about forty minutes to walk there. When the group finally arrived at the small inn, it was completely dark, and everyone was shivering from the cold.
Huang Feng fell again on the way, and his cheek was scratched up in several places, adding to the wound on his forehead. He looked quite pitiful and disheveled.
However, he seemed to finally understand that no one liked him, and he kept his head down and remained silent along the way.
The conditions of the small inn were not good, and it was mainly for backpackers. The pillows in the rooms were all yellowed, and some of the rooms were under repair, leaving only two guest rooms.
After some discussion, the boys stayed in one room and the girls stayed in the other.
The beds in the small inn were not enough for so many people to sleep on, so everyone didn’t feel sleepy and decided to go to the living room. They bought some food from the owner and started playing ‘Werewolf’ in the living room.
This time, Huang Feng seemed to have a better understanding and quietly slept in his room without coming out. Song Xu Yi didn’t adapt to such a lively atmosphere, so after playing a few rounds, she went back to her room.
The mountain wind roared outside the window, causing it to rattle loudly. In such an environment, Song Xu Yi couldn’t sleep at all. She lay in bed and began to ponder over her recent experiences…
Previously, she had been solely focused on studying for exams, so she didn’t notice. However, upon closer reflection, Song Xu Yi realized that her recent life had been too smooth-sailing. Apart from studying, she hadn’t encountered any difficulties in her daily life…
What troubled Song Xu Yi even more was the incident from a few nights ago. She distinctly remembered clearing her browsing history, and she also remembered Bai Yu suddenly appearing by her side after someone caused a disturbance that night…
All of this was incredibly real, and didn’t seem like her imagination.
The more she thought about it, the more peculiarities Song Xu Yi discovered in her life. A thought crossed her mind, and she was about to think it over carefully when suddenly there came a knocking at the door.
The voice of the innkeeper sounded at the door, “Miss, the boy who came with you and is staying in the room is feeling unwell. The rest of your companions have already gone over, and they asked me to find you to take a look…”
Perhaps due to the strong wind, the innkeeper’s voice sounded somewhat eerie and elusive.
But Song Xu Yi did not suspect anything. Everyone had already gotten used to Huang Feng’s sudden mischief.
Despite not wanting to deal with Huang Feng’s antics, Song Xu Yi couldn’t just ignore the situation. After all, it was a matter of life and death. She reluctantly pushed open the door and followed the innkeeper.
The corridor was very quiet, so quiet that she could only hear her own footsteps. Song Xu Yi felt something was off and subconsciously grabbed the beads on her wrist. Before she could react, they had already arrived at Huang Feng’s door.
“Go in!” The innkeeper’s voice sounded behind Song Xu Yi, still eerie and hollow.
As she got closer, Song Xu Yi caught a whiff of a putrid smell emanating from the innkeeper. The smell was familiar; she had once smelled it on Song Zhi.
Song Xu Yi also noticed something strange about the hallway: it was too quiet. She couldn’t even hear her own footsteps!
Wide-eyed, Song Xu Yi silently took two steps back. The innkeeper seemed to sense that Song Xu Yi had noticed his abnormality. He raised his head and smirked at her before forcefully gripping her hand and pushing her into the room.
As Song Xu Yi had suspected, there was no one else in the room. This evil spirit must have blocked out the sounds from the hallway, and the others were probably still in the living room playing cards.
The bead on her wrist began to heat up once again.
Song Xu Yi remembered the last time when Song Zhi was possessed, she had no ability to resist at first. It was only after she fainted that the bead released its power…
But how could the bead be so accurate in timing? It had to wait for her to pass out before it could be effective?
For the first time, Song Xu Yi began to doubt the system’s words.
Inside the room, Huang Feng sat nervously on the bed, fiddling with a small bottle in his hand. When he saw Song Xu Yi come in, he immediately showed a relieved expression and looked at the innkeeper behind her, asking, “What do I need to do next?”
The innkeeper’s face twisted into a sinister smile as he looked at the bead on Song Xu Yi’s wrist.
“This protective charm is a bit troublesome. It can protect her from harm by us, but it doesn’t have any offensive capabilities. Once you remove this protective charm, I can proceed with our previous agreement and manipulate her mind, making her fall in love with you and everything will fall into place…”
It seemed that the innkeeper had already predicted that Song Xu Yi would not have the ability to resist and spoke without any regard for her.
No offensive capabilities?
Then how was the painting burned down that night?
Song Xu Yi widened her eyes, and a sudden suspicion flashed through her mind. The more she thought about it, the more she felt that her guess was correct. Song Xu Yi couldn’t help but look at the protective charm in her hand with complicated eyes.
“Xu Yi, don’t blame me,” Huang Feng’s face showed a clear sense of satisfaction as he slowly approached Song Xu Yi while twirling the small bottle in his hand. “I went to great lengths to get close to you and stay on the mountain. I was still worried about how to get the medicine on you, but I didn’t expect that a fairy would possess my body after I fell down…”
“Even a fairy is willing to help me achieve my goals!” Huang Feng stretched out his hand with a smug expression. “As long as you listen to me and let me manage your family’s assets, I will definitely marry you in the future…”
This was the happiest moment for Huang Feng. He was addicted to online gambling and owed a large sum of money. He knew that Song Xu Yi’s family was wealthy, so he set his sights on pursuing her as a wealthy son-in-law, and even prepared some despicable drugs in advance.
He thought he could see the frightened look of this wealthy girl who had been obedient to him along the way, but he didn’t expect Song Xu Yi to sneer and speak coldly–
“Bai Yu, are you coming out yet? Are you still figuring out how to knock me out?”
Bai Yu, what does this mean?
Huang Feng furrowed his brow.
However, before Huang Feng could ponder the meaning of this familiar name, he felt a sudden pain in his abdomen, causing him to instinctively retreat backwards. Then, a sharp pain struck his neck–
Song Xu Yi actually had skills?
This was the last thought that crossed Huang Feng’s mind before he passed out.
Song Xu Yi retracted her hand from attacking Bai Yu.
Almost at the same time, the evil spirit inside the innkeeper screamed in agony, turning into black smoke and attempting to escape, but was caught by Bai Yu who suddenly appeared in the air, crushing it into ashes…
The room instantly fell silent.
Song Xu Yi pursed her lips, looking at Bai Yu expressionlessly. Bai Yu tightly clenched her lips and lowered her head, unable to meet Song Xu Yi’s gaze.
“So, you’ve actually been following me around all this time?” Song Xu Yi’s mind was in a state of chaos, but when she saw the nervous look on Bai Yu’s face, she inexplicably calmed down: “Don’t you think you should explain some things to me?”
Facing Song Xu Yi’s now cold gaze, Bai Yu’s hand on her side trembled nervously a couple of times. After a while, she seemed to gather up her courage and looked straight into Song Xu Yi’s eyes–
“You–” Song Xu Yi stared at her in astonishment, the interrogation she had prepared was all stuck in her throat: Bai Yu’s eyes were red.
In the dim light of the small inn, the woman’s face looked stunningly beautiful, with tears in her eyes and a pitiful expression that made her look extremely lovable.
“Don’t cry, okay!” Song Xu Yi’s heart ached, and she couldn’t help but soften her voice: “Let’s talk slowly about what’s going on. I’m not one to hold a grudge, especially since you’ve saved my life so many times. I know you must have your reasons…”
“I never married the Emperor!”
Seemingly comforted by Song Xu Yi’s words, Bai Yu finally spoke up. Her eyes, now red and puffy, looked up at Song Xu Yi as she spoke in a small, plaintive voice: “Although I’ve lost my memory, I only have one companion in this lifetime…”
So, Bai Yu was angered by such an insignificant rumor?
Song Xu Yi widened her eyes in disbelief!
The author has something to say:
–Isn’t this still important?
Little Bai (crying): (ㄒoㄒ)
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