Jiang Xiaosi had hoped to be carried like a princess by the handsome guy, but in reality, she ended up being held under his arm like a briefcase. Her head dangled backward, and her butt, rather awkwardly, faced forward.
She sneaked a peek around. The man carrying her, along with the large box of tomato juice, strode forward with powerful steps, his walk so commanding that a small whirlwind seemed to trail behind him, making passersby stop and stare with their mouths open. However, intimidated by his aura, they quickly stepped aside.
This man, who had nearly killed Devan with just one move, was none other than Shen Mo, Shen Koudan’s uncle, who also possessed special abilities. They walked for about half an hour, and though Xiaosi’s waist ached from being carried in such an uncomfortable position, Shen Mo hadn’t even broken a sweat.
After passing through the back gate of T University, Shen Mo followed a winding path paved with pebbles along the creek, heading up the back mountain. T University was located in the northwest corner of Taoyuan City, and the mountain behind it was entirely planted with peach trees. Although it wasn’t peach blossom season, the area still had a serene and elegant charm.
Xiaosi treated it like a free rickshaw tour, though unfortunately, she was riding backward. When she was younger, she had been lazy and hated walking. No matter where they went, her dad would carry her for hundreds of years. But as she grew older, her dad claimed she had gotten too heavy and refused to carry her anymore. Now, being carried like this by someone else for the first time in ages was kind of amusing.
Jiang Xiaosi looked around, and as they entered a bamboo forest, she suddenly shivered. Wow, there was an array set up here! Shen Mo paused for a moment and looked down at her, but she quickly shut her eyes and resumed pretending to be unconscious.
Inside the bamboo forest stood a two-story traditional-style building. Such architecture was common in Taoyuan City, so it didn’t stand out too much. As soon as they entered, Shen Mo tossed Jiang Xiaosi onto a large, intricately carved wooden chair in the living room, placed the box of tomato juice down, and went off to attend to something else.
Once she was sure the coast was clear, Jiang Xiaosi bounced up from the chair and looked around. For a moment, she felt like she had traveled back several hundred years. The room was furnished in a traditional style, and while the furniture wasn’t necessarily valuable antiques, it was old and definitely not just cheap replicas. Apart from a few modern lights disguised as old oil lanterns, she didn’t see any other appliances. The two-story building was shaped like a courtyard, with a small pond in the center, a crooked willow tree by the water, a small vegetable patch, a grape trellis, and various flowers and plants growing around. Some were in pots, while others were planted directly in the ground.
Qianye Linglan!
Her eyes lit up as she pressed her nose against the window lattice. That flower had gone extinct five hundred years ago, and she never expected to see it here. **Qianye Linglan** could only reproduce through leaf cuttings, and out of a thousand leaves, only two or three would survive and grow into a plant. Once it matured, it was easy to care for—all it needed was daily watering. But its blooming period was incredibly long, lasting a hundred years, and after all that time, the full bloom of the thousand leaves would last only as long as a single stick of incense.
Most flowers were outshone by their green leaves, but Qianye Linglan had leaves more beautiful than its flowers. Six hundred years ago, Jiang Liu had heard about one still in existence and had taken her to secretly see it. Unfortunately, she had been too young at the time, just a few years old, and the memory of the scene had become blurry. But the awe she felt in her heart still lingered.
At the time, she couldn’t understand why such a beautiful flower was so fragile, unable to survive without human care. Its thousand shimmering leaves could only produce one or two plants. Was it truly so enchanting that even the heavens envied it?
Now, as she slowly matured, she began to realize that wild Linglan had once thrived, nourished by daily rain and dew, never needing human care. But once domesticated and pampered, it became dependent on that care. And the idea of growing thousands of leaves to reproduce was obviously arrogant and against the natural order—it was destined to fail. Otherwise, if Qianye Linglan grew everywhere, how could other plants survive? Just like how most mammals give birth to about half of their reproductive potential, rarely exceeding that number. Everything in the world has its rules and reasons for growing, a natural order governed by unseen forces. Yet, why did beings like them—zombies, ghosts, and various other supernatural entities—exist? Why were they born, and why did they grow?
Xiaosi looked down at her own nails, which only grew a tiny bit each year, and suddenly felt a wave of confusion. She had lived for a thousand years. People called her human, yet she craved blood and couldn’t die. They called her a zombie, but she had grown up slowly, just like a normal human. However, time seemed to flow much more slowly for her—not only her body but her mind as well. Even though she had lived for a millennium, she didn’t possess the thousand years of wisdom that Jiang Liu had. She wasn’t much more advanced than an average fifteen-year-old.
What was she exactly? A human, a zombie, or something else entirely? They had spent a thousand years searching for answers, yet they still hadn’t figured it out. Did she want to be human, or did she want to become a full-fledged zombie? She didn’t know.
Sometimes, she just wanted to grow up quickly, to have a nice, curvy figure and maybe even go on a little romantic adventure. But other times, she was scared—scared that if she lived long enough, she would eventually grow old and die, and she would have to part ways with her dad. She wasn’t afraid of death, but she couldn’t bear to leave her dad behind. She knew what loneliness felt like. She knew the pain of wandering aimlessly through an endless river of time like a living corpse.
Lost in thought, she didn’t realize a tear had fallen until it slid down her cheek. Jiang Xiaosi snapped back to reality. What was going on? She had never been so sentimental before! She looked around, rubbed her nose, and suddenly realized why. No wonder—she hadn’t noticed before, but the gilded enamel incense burner on the table was burning Shangshen Incense. While the scent was pleasant, it caused people to unconsciously dwell on the things they least wanted to remember or face.
How could this be? Who would burn such incense at home, forcing themselves to constantly think about unpleasant things? Wasn’t it human instinct to try to forget? Could this person have a masochistic streak?
Just as Jiang Xiaosi was curiously poking at the incense burner, sniffing it from different angles, a voice spoke up behind her.
“You’re awake? Then you can leave now. Just follow the path down to the back gate of T University, and you can catch a ride. I won’t be seeing you off.”
Jiang Xiaosi turned around, eyeing Shen Mo curiously. “Are you a Taoist?”
Otherwise, how could he know magic and so easily subdue Devan? Even though Devan was still young and inexperienced, he was a noble-blooded vampire, after all.
Shen Mo sat down and poured himself some tea. “That’s none of your business. It’s getting dark. If you don’t want to run into any more trouble on the way, I suggest you hurry home.”
Jiang Xiaosi sniffed the tea and caught a whiff of the food being prepared in the kitchen. She couldn’t help but swallow her saliva, giving Shen Mo a pitiful look.
“I’m scared. What if he comes back? And besides, I’m so hungry I can’t move.”
Shen Mo looked at her coldly. He had no fondness for this little girl, who was buying pregnancy tests in the supermarket at such a young age. He wasn’t fooled by her pure and cute appearance.
“That vampire won’t be leaving his coffin for at least ten days. You can relax. And you’ve got a whole box of tomato juice there. Drink some while you roll yourself down the mountain.”
Jiang Xiaosi was speechless. What kind of person was this? She was just a young girl who had run into a vampire, and not only did he not offer any comforting words, but he didn’t even try to hide the situation. If it were any other girl, she’d be scared to death. And now, with the sun setting, he expected her to walk down the mountain alone?
No way. She was going to stay here and see what he would do about it. Jiang Xiaosi shamelessly plopped down into a seat and helped herself to some tea.
Shen Mo let out a cold laugh. “Let me tell you, the number of ghosts and spirits in this house is more than the entire Wanhe District. Do you want to see them?”
This was why he hated dealing with little kids.
Jiang Xiaosi couldn’t care less. She squinted at him, crossing her legs. “So, you really are a Taoist, huh?”
In her thousand years of life, she had encountered quite a few Taoists who wanted to capture her, but none as handsome as this one. However, thanks to Jiang Liu’s martial arts and magic, and the pearls and jade they carried from ancient tombs, it was easy for them to conceal their zombie identities, making them indistinguishable from ordinary people.
No matter how skilled this man was, there was no way he could tell that she wasn’t human. She was confident in that. Otherwise, when she guessed he was a Taoist, and after seeing how ruthlessly he dealt with Devan, she would have bolted. Her dad might be able to match him in power, but she needed another thousand years of training before she could.
“I’m not scared. You saved me, so you wouldn’t harm me. Taoists still have to follow a code of conduct.”
Shen Mo’s brow furrowed, and the air around them seemed to freeze. Jiang Xiaosi shrank back, feeling as though she was about to become a corpse for real this time.
Thank the heavens, a sudden ringtone interrupted the tense moment and saved her.
The ringtone came from Shen Mo’s pocket, and it rang for a long time, but he didn’t answer it. He didn’t move to pick it up or hang up either.
The two of them stared at each other for a moment as the ringtone persisted, as relentless as a death curse.
Even Jiang Xiaosi couldn’t sit still anymore. “Hey, your phone is ringing!”
Shen Mo finally couldn’t take it anymore and pulled out his phone. He pressed a couple of numbers on the keypad, then the hang-up button, and the phone stopped ringing. But just a few seconds later, it started ringing again. Shen Mo randomly pressed some more buttons, and the call went through, but before he could even say hello, he hung up again. When the phone rang for the third time, and no matter what he pressed, the ringing wouldn’t stop, Jiang Xiaosi noticed his expression turning ferocious. Without a second thought, he angrily hurled the phone toward the window.
“No!” Jiang Xiaosi was stunned, but she heroically dove to save the phone just before it flew out the window and landed in the pond. She hesitantly pressed the answer button and handed the phone back to him.
“Are you planning to take the call or not?”
Shen Mo’s face was practically green with anger as he snatched the phone and shouted into it.
“Who is this? What do you want? Speak!”
On the other end of the line, Xiao Tang was nearly in tears. He had explained to Shen Mo more than ten times yesterday how to answer the phone. It only required pressing one button! One button! How could he still not remember or press the right one? After tirelessly redialing and finally getting through, did he think it was easy? If he weren’t rushing over in the car and worried he wouldn’t make it in time, he wouldn’t have bothered calling and annoying him.
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