IMMFBCG Chapter 35 V1

Chapter 35: Braised Pork with Vine Twigs

When Ye Xue stepped outside to get some water in the middle of the night, she noticed the dim lighting around her and saw a figure in the distance.

She walked closer and saw that it was Su Xinghe, holding a lantern and leisurely reading a book under a tree. A phone sat on the table next to him, playing a video.

Curious, Ye Xue asked, “Why don’t you have the lights on?”

Su Xinghe turned around when he heard her voice. Upon seeing Ye Xue, he looked embarrassed and explained, “The lights would be too bright. Everyone else is asleep, and I don’t want to disturb them.”

Ye Xue understood. After all, aside from Bai Liu, a night owl, the others at Xuan Zhen Temple had regular sleep schedules.

As she recalled what Ruan Xinghua had said earlier that day, she sat beside him, holding her cup. She saw that Su Xinghe was reading the Tao Te Ching.

She sipped her warm water, but only when the familiar sound of the video caught her attention did she realize. Without thinking, her gaze shifted to the phone screen.

It was an animated series.

The screen’s light was dim, and Su Xinghe had lowered the volume, but Ye Xue could still vaguely make out the content.

After two seconds of looking, she recognized the name of the animation. “Is that Calabash Brothers?”

She had only mumbled it to herself, but Su Xinghe heard and nodded. “Yes.”

Ye Xue’s childhood had been filled with horror films and cartoons, but it had been years since she had watched an animated show.

When Ye Yangyun wasn’t around, she would stay home and watch cartoons, but she never managed to catch the ending because she would always be scared by the sudden appearance of vengeful spirits. Even with a classic childhood cartoon-like Calabash Brothers, she only saw the part where they went to find their grandfather before a ghost interrupted the plot.

Now, the episode was just at that point, so Ye Xue watched eagerly.

The girl next to her was so focused, and when Su Xinghe turned the page, his hand paused for a moment before he gently closed the Tao Te Ching.

Looking at Ye Xue, he smiled faintly under the moonlight, his lips curling up.

After Ye Xue finished watching the episode, she turned to him and said, “I didn’t expect you to have such a childlike side, lighting a lantern and watching cartoons.”

Moonlight bathed Su Xinghe’s face, making his expression look gentle. He softly replied, “In the past, I was always focused on cultivation. Now I realize how much fun and interesting things I missed out on.”

Ye Xue asked, “So, just cultivation? Didn’t you ever go out and play when you were young?”

Su Xinghe shook his head gently. “My family has been cultivating for generations. They had high expectations for me, and I was always forced to study various Taoist arts. The only thing I could do in my spare time was stare at the sky and daydream. My childhood memories are just of that endless sky.”

Ye Xue found that life sounded rather dull just hearing about it. She couldn’t help but say, “Doesn’t that mean you didn’t even have a childhood?”

No wonder he was just now watching Calabash Brothers.

“It seems like it,” Su Xinghe replied, but he didn’t seem sad about it. He smiled and asked, “Daoist Ye, what was your childhood like?”

Ye Xue thought for a moment before saying, “Nothing special. It was pretty much like any other kid’s childhood, except sometimes the vengeful spirits around me were a little too annoying.”

Su Xinghe seemed puzzled. “Vengeful spirits?”

Ye Xue explained, “Yes, I was born with the ability to see both the living and the dead, so when I was little, the spirits liked to come and scare me.”

“I see…” Su Xinghe said. “Having the ability to see spirits must have made your life inconvenient.”

Ye Xue shrugged. “Not really. My master says I was born to be a celestial being, ‘Heaven entrusts a great task to this person’.”

“And besides…” Ye Xue smiled slightly and said seriously, “The spirits that dared to provoke me were all killed by my sword.”

Su Xinghe met her gaze and genuinely praised, “Very impressive.”

Suddenly, Bai Liu’s voice came from afar, calling out.

“—Master, Master, where are you? I need help!”

Ye Xue immediately stood up.

She turned to Su Xinghe and said, “Daoist Xinghe, I have something to do, so I won’t disturb you.”

Before Su Xinghe could react, Ye Xue had already started walking toward Bai Liu’s room.

Su Xinghe watched her back and pulled something out of the table drawer, calling, “Ye Xue Daoist.”

Ye Xue turned back, and Su Xinghe waved the object in his hand before tossing it to her. “Here, take this.”

Ye Xue caught it and looked down to find it was an apple.

She looked at Su Xinghe in surprise.

The young man was shrouded in shadow, so his expression was unclear, but his voice carried amusement. “I noticed during the day that you seemed to like these.”

Ye Xue had forgotten to buy fruit earlier in the day and had just finished the last one, so Su Xinghe gave her one.

Ye Xue smiled. “I do like them. Thanks.”

She waved and continued walking.

When she entered Bai Liu’s room, she thought he had something important to ask her, but as soon as she stepped inside, Bai Liu shoved his phone into her hand.

“Master, hurry, help me defeat them! These little punks dared to challenge me!”

Ye Xue rarely played games, only watching Bai Liu play for a while. She never thought she’d end up playing herself.

One time, when Bai Liu was being overwhelmed and dying repeatedly, she took over and ended up getting a triple kill.

Since then, Bai Liu had worshipped her even more, treating her like an all-powerful celestial being.

Bai Liu was anxiously waiting, but Ye Xue couldn’t help but laugh. “You called me here for this?”

“Yes!” Bai Liu nodded vigorously, indignantly saying, “They called me bad, but they’re worse! I at least got two kills! I’m going to win this and slap their faces!”

Hearing Bai Liu’s upset words, Ye Xue glanced at the screen, her lips twitching.

She had thought Bai Liu was bad at the game, but now she saw that he was on par with the others. Even in a casual match, they were all playing so badly.

Ye Xue put her things aside and began to play on the phone with quick, fluid movements.

In just a few minutes, the victory sound effect played.

She handed the phone back to Bai Liu. “Done.”

When Bai Liu saw the MVP title and the four kills displayed on the screen, his eyes lit up. “Thank you, Master!”

He quickly took a screenshot and sent it to Jian Si Nian to show off.

Exhausted from the match, Bai Liu put his phone down and said, “A few days ago, when I was out on patrol, I met an old man who was very cooperative with the underworld. He asked if he could stay a few more days with his family before going with me. I just happened to pass by, and it was still within the seven days of mourning, so I agreed.”

Ye Xue cleaned the apple and took a bite. “He wasn’t afraid of you?”

Bai Liu nodded. “No, he wasn’t. He was very cooperative. But it seems he died of natural causes, so when he passed, it wasn’t painful. He just couldn’t rest easy about his wife.”

Ye Xue found this situation somewhat familiar, but when Bai Liu noticed the apple in her hand, he asked, “Master, you’re eating an apple this late? Wait, didn’t you forget to buy fruit?”

He had heard her mention it earlier.

Ye Xue replied, “Su Xinghe gave it to me.”

Bai Liu’s eyes widened in surprise. “Su Xinghe gave it to you? He’s been here so many days and has only said a few words to me like ‘Bai Liu Daoist, have you eaten?’ or ‘Bai Liu Daoist, please move aside.’ How come he gave you food? That’s not fair!”

Ye Xue patted Bai Liu’s head and laughed. “Maybe it’s because I’m prettier than you.”

Bai Liu was about to argue that he was handsome too, but when he saw Ye Xue’s face, he suddenly calmed down and said, “Okay, you’re right.”

Beautiful people do have a little privilege. If he had food, he’d want to share it with Ye Xue too.

Laughter could be heard from the room.

Su Xinghe sat beneath the tree, listening to the background noise not far away, and occasionally looked up at the moon.

He reached out and turned off the animation on his screen, then packed away the book and returned to his room.

…

The next day, Ye Xue went to find the head of the temple, Bai Guan Zhu, to inquire about Su Xinghe.

It was true that Su Xinghe had practiced at Taihe Temple for the past few years. After the temple reduced its staff, he moved through several other temples before finally arriving at Xuan Zhen Temple.

Bai Zi’ang said, “I observed Su Xinghe’s face before hiring him, and it showed that he’s a kind-hearted person. Junior Sister, have you noticed anything unusual about him?”

Although Bai Zi’ang wasn’t an expert in physiognomy, his many years of experience had usually been enough to gauge a person’s character.

However, since Ye Xue had asked, Bai Zi’ang trusted her judgment.

“I haven’t noticed anything suspicious so far,” Ye Xue thought for a moment before replying, “Ruan Xinghua mentioned that Su Xinghe looked familiar, which made me suspicious. But if they met at Taihe Temple, it’s not strange that Ruan Xinghua would recognize him.”

After meeting Su Xinghe last night, Ye Xue intentionally stayed to interact with him for a while. So far, she hadn’t noticed anything out of place, though he might have been just skilled at hiding his true nature.

But all of this was still based on her assumptions. The outcome would only become clear in time.

Bai Guan Zhu pondered for a moment. “I’ll have Xu Zhou keep an eye on him.”

Ye Xue nodded. “Thank you, Senior Brother.”

Soon after, Xuan Zhen Temple had new visitors.

This time, it was a middle-aged couple.

While Ye Xue was offering incense in the main hall, she heard someone behind her ask, “Is Ye Daozhang here?”

Ye Xue placed the incense on the burner, turned around, and smiled. “I’m here. Is there something I can help you with?”

When the couple saw Ye Xue, they exchanged surprised glances.

Although their relatives had mentioned that Ye Xue was young, they were still taken aback by how young and beautiful she appeared.

Ye Xue noticed that they both had a faint aura of yin energy, but it didn’t seem threatening. She gestured for them to enter and said, “Please, come inside, and let’s talk.”

She led them to the side hall, where Xu Zhou brought over two cups of tea.

The couple took the cups, and soon after, they introduced themselves and explained their situation.

The man said, “I’m Xie Letian, and this is my wife, Wei Xiao. A while ago, my father passed away, and not long after, I noticed that my son began acting strangely.”

Ye Xue nodded, signaling him to continue.

Xie Letian went on, “We have two houses. The old one was where my parents lived. After my father passed, I wanted to bring my mother to live with us, but she preferred her old home and didn’t want to move. To respect her wishes, we dropped the idea. My wife and I are busy, and we only visit her on weekends. Still, we were worried about her being alone, so I sent my son, Xie Zi’an, to stay with her.”

Xie Letian sighed, his expression complicated. “Before, whenever we asked him to visit his grandmother, he always found excuses not to go. But recently, he’s been going there very often, even staying at the old house and refusing to come back. At first, we thought he had become more considerate, but when we visited last night, we found his behavior odd…”

Ye Xue asked, following their story, “What exactly seemed odd?”

This time, it was Wei Xiao who spoke. “Everything about him is strange. It’s like he’s a completely different person. He used to love playing games and watching anime, but last night, when his favorite show aired, he didn’t care about it at all. Instead, he changed the channel to watch the news, which he’s always disliked. That’s not the worst part—what made us suspicious is that he suddenly started speaking in our hometown dialect.”

“We’ve lived in Haicheng for many years, and we’ve always spoken Mandarin. Even my husband’s Haicheng dialect is weak, let alone Zi’an. And last night, he even called my husband by his nickname. It’s something only my father-in-law used to call him.”

If it had been any other time, it wouldn’t have been so strange, but with the recent death of an elderly family member, all the odd coincidences made them worry about spirits or ghosts.

Wei Xiao anxiously asked, “Daozhang, do you think our son might be possessed by my father-in-law?”