Chapter 135

Chapter 135

Xie Yinxue fell ill again.

Liu Buhua couldn't fathom how he'd become ill once more.

Although they didn't make any deals with other participants in the "Realm of Hungry Ghosts" instance, the previous instances yielded plenty of business deals. In theory, that should have been sufficient to keep Xie Yinxue's health stable until the New Year—after all, the New Year was just over two months away.

But to Liu Buhua's surprise, upon returning after dropping Shen Qiuji at school, he found Xie Yinxue lying in the courtyard of Mingyue Cliff—The young man couldn't even make it to his own room, collapsing beneath the pear blossom tree, icy-cold with barely a breath left.

And so, he lay there for two whole days.

Were it not for Liu Buhua's knowledge that once they became participants of "Locking Eternity", they'd only meet their end within the instance, he might have been scared enough to lie down beside Xie Yinxue.

Even so, he remained deeply concerned about Xie Yinxue.

As for Shen Qiuji, it went without saying.

He assumed that Xie Yinxue's illness was caused by exhausting himself drawing the snack album.

So when he heard Xie Yinxue's first words upon waking were to ask about his day out, his eyes instantly teared up, replying, "I had a great time; you needn't worry about me."

With Liu Buhua's support, Xie Yinxue slowly sat up. Seeing Shen Qiuji's reaction, he sighed, knowing the misunderstanding, "My illness this time wasn't because of the album."

Liu Buhua, surprised, responded, "It wasn't due to the album?"

Shen Qiuji also looked puzzled.

Meeting their skeptical gazes, Xie Yinxue lightly raised his eyebrows, "Just a mere album."

Indeed.

Just over a mere art book, it's unlikely that Xie Yin Xue would react in such a way. What else could he have done in secret?

Liu Bu Hua and Shen Qiu Ji exchanged glances, wanting to ask but hesitating to do so.

That's just the way Xie Yin Xue is. If there's something he doesn't want to discuss, you could hold a knife to his throat, and he still wouldn't utter a word.

But now that he's awake, there's no need to delve too deeply into other matters.

"You haven't eaten for two days. I'll bring you some porridge."

After saying this, Liu Bu Hua stood up and headed out to fetch porridge for Xie Yin Xue.

Shen Qiu Ji remained in place, torn between leaving to give Xie Yin Xue some rest or staying to chat with him.

While he was contemplating, Xie Yin Xue had already made the decision for him.

"Ah Ji, come here," Xie Yin Xue's voice was slightly hoarse from not speaking for days, "Tell your master in detail about what you did during the autumn outing."

Was he only interested in the good and not the bad? Regardless, Shen Qiu Ji wasn't mistreated.

Recollecting that Friday, Shen Qiu Ji honestly said, "During the outing, the teacher led us around Maple Park and then let us have a picnic and free time on the grass. The snack list you prepared for me wasn't used at all. Duan Wen Qian begged me to share a picnic with him and gave me all his snacks."

Duan Wen Qian was the same boy who, during the last spring outing, mischievously unzipped Shen Qiu Ji's backpack from behind and then laughed out loud to the class about how Shen Qiu Ji was penniless, having no snacks but just an ugly art book.

Hearing this, Xie Yin Xue expressed surprise, "…How come?"

Mentioning this, Shen Qiu Ji's expression became more complicated, "Because he's been ostracized by the entire class."

Duan Wen Qian is genuinely mischievous, best described as universally disliked. He often flaunts his family's wealth, bullying classmates. When teachers reprimand him, he complains at home, causing his parents to confront the teachers. This has left some teachers feeling helpless.

As it's often said, children's likes and dislikes are straightforward. Given his continued obnoxious behavior, eventually, no one in the class wanted to play with him—even bribing with snacks didn’t help.

This shows the extent to which he's disliked; even snack-loving kids resist the temptation and refuse to play with him.

Of course, this kind of isolation might be bearable on regular school days when there's more time for studies than for play. But during the autumn outing, when everyone else had friends to share meals with, the isolated Duan Wen Qian, despite having two big bags of snacks, found no one willing to sit with him on a picnic blanket. That was different.

Duan Wen Qian felt both humiliated and wronged.

He didn’t want to picnic alone.

The problem is that the other kids in the class would rather have a picnic on their own than accompany him.

In the end, Duan Wenqian targeted Shen Qiuji, who was known to be "less privileged."

This picnic, he didn’t tamper with Shen Qiuji’s backpack, but in Duan Wenqian's mind, Shen probably didn’t bring any snacks since only a few classmates invited him to join their picnic group.

Considering the vast amount of snacks he had, Duan was sure Shen Qiuji would agree to share a meal.

What Duan didn’t realize was that Shen Qiuji had already received invitations from classmates. But he declined, preferring solitude. This was not at all like Duan, who was isolated due to his annoying behavior.

So when Duan heard Shen Qiuji rejecting his offer without hesitation, he was dumbfounded.

Children tend to be emotionally fragile, and seeing his peers laughing and enjoying, while he sat alone and desolate, overwhelmed Duan, and he burst into tears.

Nearby, the girl he secretly liked, Nana, said impatiently, "Duan Wenqian, you’re so loud! Can you cry somewhere else? You're disturbing us."

What is despair?

For six-year-old Duan, this was the epitome of despair.

Wiping away his tears, Duan noticed Shen Qiuji taking out a snack catalog from his bag. Grasping at straws, he rushed over, clutching Shen's leg, tears streaming down, "Please, Shen Qiuji, I won’t bully you again. Let's picnic together, all my snacks are yours!"

But Shen remained unmoved. No amount of tears could sway him. With a blank expression, he replied, "No."

The cheeky Duan, who was also academically decent, used a proverb, pointing at Shen’s snack catalog, "You can’t even afford food; you’re just drawing pies to satisfy your hunger."

Shen replied coldly with a laugh, "And I won’t be sharing my ‘pies’ with you."

"Daddy!" Adapting to Shen's tone, Duan played along, first feigning weakness and then attempting bribery, "I'll pay you!"

Shen paused for a few seconds, evidently tempted by the prospect of money, "How much?"

Duan Wenqian hesitated, touching his pocket for spare change, and suggested, "...One hundred?"

Shen dismissed him, "Scram."

Duan gritted his teeth, "Then... three hundred?"

Shen pondered, "Hmm..."

Sensing an opportunity, Duan finally emptied his pockets, "Five hundred! This is all my allowance..."

"Fine then." Shen Qiuji reluctantly accepted the money "offered" by Duan Wenqian, and like a bully, grabbed his bag, demanding, "What snacks have you brought? Show them to me."

Poor Duan Wenqian not only lost all his pocket money but also had to watch Shen Qiuji eat his own snacks. However, at least he got a picnic companion out of it.

After listening to his account, Xie Yinxue didn't know how to respond. After a moment, he managed to say, "What about the 500 yuan?"

Shen Qiuji's face contorted, "…I put it in my pocket, and it was gone within ten minutes."

Xie Yinxue: "…"

The master and disciple both sighed deeply.

Suddenly, Shen Qiuji remembered something else and added, "Oh, later his stepfather came to pick him up and also gave me a lift home, treating me to lunch. His stepfather even took a photo of us together. I'll fetch it for you."

That day, when Liu Buhua returned and found Xie Yinxue had fainted, he was in such a panic that he lost track of time. Only later did he realize he had missed picking up Shen Qiuji from school.

On the other hand, seeing that Shen Qiuji was left without a guardian, Duan Wenqian, recalling their 'picnic camaraderie', kindly suggested his stepfather drive him home.

Given that Mingyue Cliff was located in a remote area, Shen Qiuji quickly calculated that accepting Duan Wenqian's offer would save him 3.6 yuan in bus transfer fees and happily agreed.

Moreover, Duan Wenqian's stepfather seemed like a decent person. Not only did he offer a ride, but he also invited them for a lavish seafood meal since it was nearing lunchtime.

Shen Qiuji, doing the math again, realized he was saving on another meal and instantly agreed.

Duan Wenqian's stepfather was quite generous. They had a grand seafood meal at a slightly remote restaurant. At the end, he took two instant photos of Shen Qiuji and Duan Wenqian in the restaurant's backyard garden, handing one to each as a keepsake.

So, Shen Qiuji felt that this outing was genuinely enjoyable – after all, he had taken 500 yuan from Duan Wenqian. Who wouldn't be happy about that? Even if the money vanished in the blink of an eye, he had, for a moment, possessed it.

Shen Qiuji was well aware of his perpetual financial hardships and thus never expected much.

Xie Yinxue felt reassured: young Shen Qiuji knew the importance of financial prudence and would surely never starve in the future, allowing him some peace of mind.

However, when Shen Qiuji presented the photo of him with Duan Wenqian, Xie Yinxue's brows furrowed deeply upon seeing it.

Noticing the change in Xie Yinxue's demeanor, Shen Qiuji asked, "Master, what's wrong?"

Xie Yinxue murmured, "This photo…"

"Is there something wrong with the picture?"

Shen Qiuji took a closer look, feeling that the photo was quite nice, even if neither he nor Duan Wenqian were smiling in it.

In the photograph, he stood shoulder to shoulder with Duan Wenqian, with a half-arm's distance between them. Shen Qiuji seldom smiles, and Duan Wenqian couldn’t muster one; all because Shen Qiuji, with a mix of greed and audacity, had just packed away all the remaining snacks, leaving none for him. That Duan didn’t shed tears showed remarkable strength.

Xie Yinxue, seeing that Shen Qiuji couldn't discern any anomaly, pointed to a brownish mound on the hill behind them and asked, "Do you notice anything?"

What comes to mind when you think of a mound on a hill?

For Shen Qiuji, it was a grave.

In fact, Xie Yinxue gave the same answer, stating, "It's an unmarked grave."

Not all graves have tombstones; some are neglected graves, or wild graves unknown to others, lacking any marker.

If wild grasses overtake a grave, and one doesn’t pay close attention, a passerby might not even recognize it as a grave. Furthermore, in the photograph with Shen Qiuji and Duan Wenqian, it simply appeared as a slight rise in the ground, blending seamlessly with the surroundings. It's understandable that Shen Qiuji initially didn't recognize it as a grave.

Author's note:

Shen Qiuji: "I couldn't help it; he gave so much."