Yixiu stood still, watching Miao Yan’s departing figure, his brow gradually furrowing, and his face appeared slightly pale. His usually calm eyes were now unfathomably deep. The aura that had just engulfed everything was now concentrated into a single point, resting between his brows.
“Master, what exactly happened?” Jiang Xiaosi asked, surprised to find out that Yixiu was the person Miao Yan had been searching for all these years.
Yixiu shook his head without speaking. Jiang Xiaosi wanted to ask more, but Jiang Liu gently stopped her.
“We’ll discuss it later. Let’s first check on the tree spirit.”
In the elegant room, Shen Koudan, dressed like an ordinary bride-to-be, was sitting leisurely in a grand chair, sipping tea. Lu Lin sat on the other side. He wasn’t tied up, but a thin red thread wrapped around his foot, its ends embedded in the ground.
As soon as Jiang Xiaosi entered the room, she grabbed Shen Koudan’s hand, inspecting her closely. But since she was in disguise, it was hard to tell if she had lost or gained weight. Seeing that her complexion seemed good, Jiang Xiaosi felt slightly relieved and less guilty.
“If you want to kill me or torture me, do as you please.” Lu Lin said, eyes closed, his expression relaxed, with a slight sneer at the corner of his mouth, just like before.
Jiang Xiaosi noticed that he seemed to be restrained and pointed to the red thread around his foot. “What’s going on?”
Shen Koudan replied, “When the root is pinned, the person can’t run.”
Lu Lin hadn’t expected that Shen Mo and his companions could perform such powerful spells and that Jiang Liu, Shen Koudan, and Miao Yan had joined forces. They managed to pull off a swap right under his nose and even dug deep to find his root. He had to admit defeat.
Jiang Xiaosi was still confused by everything that had happened, but she felt that Lu Lin hadn’t treated her too badly when he held her hostage. She had food, drink, and music, and she could move around within a certain range. Now that the tables had turned, she didn’t want to mistreat him. She squatted down, intending to untie the red thread around his foot. After all, with so many people around, he wouldn’t be able to escape.
The others didn’t stop her, but Shen Mo found it improper for her to squat by another man’s feet for so long. With a flick of his finger, the red thread snapped.
Lu Lin relaxed his tense posture. For a tree spirit, being bound at the root was akin to a human having their neck squeezed.
“Where is Xiaowan?” Lin Qiang asked.
Lu Lin simply closed his eyes and pretended to sleep, refusing to speak.
“Lu Lin, where is Xiaowan? She took the spirit from Tang’s body. Without that, Tang can’t return to the world.” Jiang Xiaosi said, anxiously staring at Lu Lin.
Lu Lin crossed his arms and, after a long pause, finally spoke, “She left. You won’t be able to find her. She won’t let Xingzhi leave.”
Shen Koudan said, “She wants to be with Tang, so I don’t believe she won’t return.”
Lu Lin chuckled coldly, “She’s waited hundreds of years. What’s another few decades apart? If you want, go ahead and wait. The village could use a bit more liveliness.”
Tang’s face twisted in frustration as he looked back and forth between Shen Mo, Jiang Liu, Yixiu, Lin Qiang, and finally Jiang Xiaosi. When he glanced at Jiang Xiaosi, she quickly reached out and smacked him on the face.
Shen Mo said, “Tang will stay in the village for now. He’s not in any immediate danger. We’ll go out and find Xiaowan.”
Tang was startled. “What if you never find her?”
Jiang Xiaosi smirked, relishing his misfortune. “Then someone might have to stay here forever!”
“No way!” Tang looked on the verge of tears. “I don’t want to stay with a village full of ghosts! I’m scared.”
“Haha, Tang, you’re already halfway to being a ghost yourself.”
Tang was thoroughly spooked, clutching Shen Mo’s sleeve pitifully.
“I’ll stay and keep Tang company. You guys go out and find her quickly.” Lin Qiang said, lighting a cigarette and eyeing Lu Lin. “What about this tree spirit?”
Shen Mo didn’t even blink. “Turn him into medicinal wine.”
Jiang Xiaosi jumped up in shock and quickly protested, “Isn’t that a bit extreme? He’s not that bad. All he did was force us to marry; he didn’t hurt anyone. Everything he did was for the villagers of Xiao Li Village, even after death, he’s been taking care of them. The only reason he forced Tang was because he liked Xiaowan and wanted to fulfill her wish.”
At this, Lu Lin also jumped up. “What?”
His face turned red and then white. Having his long-hidden feelings exposed in broad daylight was deeply embarrassing, especially in front of Xingzhi. The only consolation was that Xiaowan wasn’t here.
Jiang Xiaosi, seeing Lu Lin’s reaction as if someone had stepped on his tree roots, was rather pleased with her own accurate guess.
Tang, however, was despondent. ‘Why, why! You like her, so why force her to marry me?’
Shen Koudan handed a red thread to Lin Qiang. “If he tries anything, just pull this thread.”
As soon as Lin Qiang touched it, the thread seemed to come to life, wrapping itself around his wrist.
Lu Lin snorted, knowing that with his tree root still bound by the red thread, neither spirits nor ghosts could get close to him. He remained at the mercy of others.
Shen Mo drew a circle in the air with his finger, forming a small halo. With a push, the halo flew into the sky, growing larger as it ascended. The surrounding sky remained blue, but within the circle, it was a verdant green. Shortly after, a giant bird and a horse emerged from the halo, the same ones Shen Mo had prepared earlier for backup.
Jiang Liu and Jiang Xiaosi mounted the horse, while Shen Mo and the others got on the bird. After giving a few more instructions to Lin Qiang and Tang, they left Xiao Li Village.
The journey back was smooth, and Shen Mo was relieved that it wasn’t some powerful ghost that had kidnapped Tang, but just a complication caused by matters of the heart.
Jiang Xiaosi, exhausted, slept in Jiang Liu’s arms the whole way. The expression on Jiang Liu’s face as he looked at her sleeping was something Shen Mo found unsettling. Perhaps there were things even Jiang Liu hadn’t realized about himself—things that, precisely because they were unnoticed, couldn’t be hidden.
Yixiu remained silent throughout the journey, while Shen Koudan’s gaze often lingered on Jiang Liu. Reflecting on his own recent kiss that had gotten out of control, Shen Mo realized that something had changed in all of them since their return.
The next morning, Jiang Xiaosi woke up around ten. The bed beside her showed signs that someone had slept there, but Jiang Liu was gone, and the shop was closed. After a quick wash, she hurried off to school.
Unlike Shen Mo, whose classes could be taken over by other teachers in his absence, Jiang Xiaosi’s recent absences meant she was falling behind. Some of her subjects were likely to fail unless she could get Shen Mo to help her out.
When she couldn’t find him in his office after class, she headed straight to Shen Mo’s house. She still had the key around her neck, so she let herself in without hesitation. Upstairs, she found Shen Mo standing on a tall ladder in his study, organizing the books on the shelves.
“Professor?” Jiang Xiaosi called out, looking up at him as dust occasionally fell from above.
“Hand me those books on the floor.” Shen Mo said without looking down, continuing to arrange the books.
Jiang Xiaosi picked up a few books and stood on her tiptoes to hand them to him.
Neither of them spoke, and the afternoon was exceptionally quiet. Jiang Xiaosi wished she could grow a bit taller and that time would stop in this peaceful moment.
Once everything was in order, Shen Mo came down and poured her a glass of tomato juice.
Jiang Xiaosi hesitated to drink it, smiling nervously. “You didn’t put anything in this, did you?”
Shen Mo didn’t respond, and the atmosphere suddenly grew awkward. Jiang Xiaosi rubbed her nose, mentally berating herself for making such a bad joke.
Feeling a bit tense, she finally asked, “Professor, we got married, so does that make us husband and wife now?”
Shen Mo had anticipated that Jiang Xiaosi would bring this up and had prepared his words, but he hadn’t expected her to be so direct.
“You know that was just a role we had to play.”
“Then what about that kiss? Was that fake too?”
Shen Mo was at a loss for words.
Jiang Xiaosi looked at him with hopeful eyes, wanting him to tell the truth. But in the end, Shen Mo shook his head. “Of course, that was fake too.”
“But at that time, there was no one else around. If it was fake, who were you pretending for?”
Shen Mo remained expressionless. “If you keep dwelling on this, it will go nowhere, and it doesn’t matter. Just tell me what you want from me, and I’ll give you an answer.”
Jiang Xiaosi wasn’t stupid. She liked Shen Mo, and his answer was a clear “no.” There was no need to ask again for something she already knew.
Even she didn’t believe Shen Mo would respond to her kiss. She had guessed that he must have been under some kind of spell or charm. Now that Shen Mo said it was fake, she wasn’t too disappointed.
But still, her heart ached as if pricked by tiny needles. The person standing before her, who had recently gone through a wedding ceremony with her, made vows for a lifetime, and shared intimate moments, was now cold and distant, as if nothing had happened.
Jiang Xiaosi tried hard to control her emotions, suppressing her usual impulsiveness, and nodded lightly before getting up to leave.
Shen Mo was surprised by her calmness. He had expected her to throw a tantrum, cry, or pout—her usual tricks. He had even prepared himself to deal with it. But now, seeing her so composed, he decided to strike while the iron was hot.
“By the way, Jiang Xiaosi, I’m going to be busy for a while and might have to travel frequently. I’ve asked Professor Shi to take care of you for a while. Is that okay? If you have any questions about your studies, you can ask him.”
Jiang Xiaosi felt a bit dazed and took a while to remember who this Professor Shi was.
“Why?” she asked. If her professor wasn’t Shen Mo, what was the point of attending T University? A “while” sounded vague—who knew how long that would be?
“You’ll learn the same things from him as you would from me. Everything you need to know, Professor Shi can teach you.”
“Can he teach me how to kiss too?”
“Jiang Xiaosi!” Shen Mo blushed, shouting angrily.
“I’m sorry, Professor. I understand. You don’t need to worry about the principal. I’ll explain everything to him.”
Jiang Xiaosi kept her head low as she walked toward the door, trying to hide her teary eyes. She knew what kind of person Shen Mo was. Falling in love with him meant accepting this outcome. Shen Mo wasn’t like her father, who could be swayed by pouting or tears.
Back home, she sat in front of her computer in a daze, not even noticing that the shop’s cabinets were almost empty.
The next day, Shen Mo was busy in his office, dealing with a mountain of work that had piled up. Chen Anyuan led someone in, and when Shen Mo looked up, he saw Jiang Liu.
They had never been alone together before—there was always Jiang Xiaosi or others around. But at this moment, Jiang Liu’s usual polite smile was gone, replaced by a cold, faintly chilling expression. His gaze was sharp like a sword, though it remained sheathed, not yet ready to strike. The slight curve of his lips suggested that nothing was beyond his control.
Shen Mo looked at him with confusion and a hint of nervousness, worried that something had happened to Jiang Xiaosi.
But Jiang Liu handed him a large envelope filled with documents.
“I’m here to help Xiaosi with her withdrawal paperwork. I need your signature. We’ll be moving to another place in a few days.”
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