Chapter 327

Chapter 327

◎Xiao Ye, Sneaking Around◎

As the days grew shorter and the nights longer, people began bundling up in thick winter clothes.

The school uniforms remained as hideous as ever—baggy enough to stuff an extra down jacket underneath.

Xiao Ye, bursting with restless energy and natural warmth, couldn’t sit still even during the ten-minute breaks between classes, always itching to drag someone out to the playground for a quick game. He ran hot like a furnace, with an endless supply of vitality to burn.

As the weather turned colder, Ji Nanxing grew even more reluctant to move. Xiao Ye made sure to swap out his hot water bottle after every class, leaving Ji Nanxing comfortably nestled at his desk, either napping or working on assignments.

Each subject assigned daily test papers, plus workbooks and past exam booklets. Even for an Academic God like Ji Nanxing, who could glance at a question and know the answer, the sheer volume of homework was downright brutal.

Just as he finished one test paper, a groan came from behind him.

Zhang Yuan, still scribbling away, didn’t even glance up. "Stop whining about the homework."

Dong Qi slumped onto his desk in despair. "It’s too much. Senior year is too much. Look at my hand—it's cramped up from writing! Why is everyone else’s high school life about youth, romance, friendships and love that heal for a lifetime, while mine is just nonstop homework and tests?"

After the incident last time, Dong Qi had gotten slightly more serious. But one’s nature wasn’t so easily changed. Though he’d learned his lesson and toughed it out through a period of diligent studying, the relentless flood of assignments had since dulled the pain, and his noisy, gossipy personality had resurfaced—not a shred of seriousness left.

Hearing his lament, Zhang Yuan finally paused and looked over. "What, still thinking about dating?"

Dong Qi shuddered reflexively and shook his head vigorously. "No, no! Just venting. Hey, Academic God, last Friday you guys took leave to deal with that haunted wall oozing blood, right? Did you solve it? Was it a ghost, or just a paint issue?"

Ji Nanxing: "A ghost. It was a case of a corpse walled up in there."

Dong Qi gave a shudder and rubbed his arms.

Zhang Yuan: "The one where the original homeowner moved abroad?"

Dong Qi: "What original homeowner?"

Zhang Yuan: "The first owner sold the house and emigrated. The new owners moved in without major renovations, just replaced some furniture. They lived there for two years before the wall started oozing blood."

Dong Qi made a face. "What a waste of a perfectly good house—a villa, no less. A corpse hidden in the wall for so long… That family must be freaked out. So how’s it being handled? Will the original owner be extradited?"

Zhang Yuan: "Once the truth is confirmed, if the original owner’s the killer, they’ll definitely be arrested. Moving abroad doesn't get you off the hook."

Dong Qi eyed Zhang Yuan. "How do you know all this?"

Zhang Yuan: "Because my dad’s handling the case."

Though the complaint sounded paranormal—the family had tiled walls, and one kept seeping a red liquid—it wasn’t actually blood. If it had been, they’d have called the police instead of a Taoist.

But after the Taoist took a look, the police were eventually called.

Once the supernatural cause was identified, the rest was left to the authorities. A body walled up in there was evidence enough—no need for the Bureau’s Taoists to assist in the investigation.

Xiao Ye came barreling in as the bell rang, basketball in hand, breathless. He wiped his hands with a wet wipe, then pulled a still-warm bottle of strawberry milk from his pocket. "Had the shopkeeper save this for you. Drink it while it’s hot."

Ji Nanxing took it but didn’t drink, just held onto it for warmth. Xiao Ye, meanwhile, immediately started texting someone back the moment he sat down. Ji Nanxing wasn’t the prying type to demand details about everything Xiao Ye did, so he didn’t pry.

But Xiao Ye kept at it—texting during class, between classes, constantly checking his phone. It was exactly like when Dong Qi had been wrapped up in that online fling.

Ji Nanxing squinted at him, sizing him up. Maybe it was because they’d spent so much time together, their fates too intertwined, or maybe he was mistaken—but he couldn’t detect any signs of a crush or romantic prospects on Xiao Ye.

Yet Xiao Ye’s behavior was plain weird. Ever since freshman year, they’d been pretty much joined at the hip, with no secrets between them—except for whatever it was Xiao Ye thought he was hiding.

Now he even has to turn his back to reply to messages, being all secretive.

The nearest upcoming holiday is Christmas, but they aren’t big on it—it’s not a major occasion that would require such cloak-and-dagger gift preparations. His birthday is in August, already passed this year, and next year’s is still far off, so there’s no need to start preparing gifts now.

So why all the sneaking around?

Could it be planning a confession?

Ji Nanxing thought about it but quickly dismissed the idea. There was no opportunity for a confession, and the timing was off—who’d pick now, with only half a year left before the college entrance exams?

Besides, with Xiao Ye’s outwardly brash but inwardly skittish nature when it came to emotions, he wouldn’t suddenly confess without absolute certainty or some external trigger. If he had the guts to be straightforward, he’d have made his move the second he figured out his feelings.

After several days of this furtive behavior, the weekend arrived. The guy who usually clung to him like glue actually took the initiative to ask, "Are you going home this week?"

Ji Nanxing: "No. Why?"

Xiao Ye let out an "oh," then after a pause, said, "I’m heading back tomorrow. Don’t skip meals if I’m not around. I might not be back until evening."

Ji Nanxing: "Didn’t your grandfather already go to Haicheng for the winter?"

The winter temperatures here weren’t as low as in the north, with the coldest being just around minus ten degrees, but the dampness cut straight to the bone—especially harsh for the elderly. So as soon as winter set in, Xiao Ye’s older brother had sent their grandfather to Haicheng.

Xiao Ye’s eyes darted away. "I’m meeting a friend. Just eat well, and I’ll come back as soon as I’m done."

Ji Nanxing didn’t press further, but the next day, after Xiao Ye left, he tailed him.

He had already found out that Xiao Ye had bought a plane ticket to a neighboring province, so he bought one as well. Not that he was keeping tabs—if Xiao Ye had been open about his private matters, Ji Nanxing wouldn’t have interfered. But the cloak-and-dagger act was too suspicious to ignore.

They were on the same flight, but Ji Nanxing made sure to book first class to avoid running into Xiao Ye. As soon as they landed, he grabbed a cab and shadowed Xiao Ye.

Ji Nanxing wasn’t alone—he always had bodyguards with him when he went out. Watching Xiao Ye’s odd behavior, Brother Mo couldn’t help but speculate, "That kid couldn’t have gotten himself tangled up in some love drama and came here to settle it, could he?"

Ji Nanxing: "Someone who spends every day just playing basketball—since when does he have game?"

He had given Xiao Ye so many gifts—birthday presents, seasonal presents—the top-tier stuff like a protection charm bracelet, and cheaper ones like game consoles, shoes, and even a basketball signed by two major NBA teams. That basketball was Xiao Ye’s favorite; he treated it like museum art and even made a display stand at home to enshrine it.

A one-track-minded jock like him, who laser-focused all his attention—aside from basketball—on Ji Nanxing, couldn’t possibly have romantic entanglements.

Brother Mo reminded him, "Isn’t that rich-kid-with-a-childhood-promise trope everywhere?"

Ji Nanxing chuckled. He better pray he does.

Xiao Ye’s car stopped in front of a club that looked VIP-only—apparently membership-based. He waited at the entrance for a while, probably texting his contact before being let in.

Ji Nanxing turned to his bodyguard, Brother Mo: "Does my family have a membership here?"

While Ji Nanxing was searching for a membership card, Xiao Ye was already led by a server to the reserved private room.

Pushing the door open, he saw a young man in his twenties sitting in the center. Xiao Ye: "Mr. Lu?"

Lu Yanqi stood up and extended his hand. "Mr. Xiao, I didn’t expect you to be so young. A talisman master at your age—your future is limitless."

Xiao Ye, eager to return early—ideally in time to have dinner with Naonao—brushed past the small talk: "Where’s the lightning-struck wood you mentioned?"

Lu Yanqi opened a wooden box on the table, revealing a palm-sized piece of wood. Surprisingly, it wasn’t charred black but rather a dull amber with unique patterns that didn’t resemble natural wood grain.

Lu Yanqi lifted the piece from the box. "This is willow wood. Willow soaks up yin like a sponge, and a thousand-year-old willow’s vibe is next-level. What makes this lightning-struck wood special is that the original trunk had been hollowed out and dead for years. But after being struck by lightning, instead of withering further, it revived."

Xiao Ye couldn’t care less about the tree’s comeback tour. Instead, he asked, "So you chopped the tree down after that?"

Lu Yanqi was momentarily at a loss for words, but someone beside him—whether a friend or assistant—chimed in: "For the mystical arts, such lightning-struck yin wood is exceedingly rare. Whether used for protective amulets or offensive magical tools, it's a once-in-a-lifetime find. There are plenty of items on the market labeled as lightning-struck wood, but how many trees actually get struck by lightning? You can sense the energy contained within this piece—it's incomparable to those so-called electrically treated woods."

Xiao Ye thought to himself that he wasn't a Taoist, so how could he possibly sense any so-called energy? But this Lu Yanqi had been introduced by another Taoist, and someone acquainted with a genuine Taoist surely wouldn't sell fakes.

Xiao Ye examined the lightning-struck wood, weighing the pros and cons of the deal. It wasn't about the money—Lu Yanqi wasn't charging anything. He had a House Guardian, but that House Guardian required the blood of someone with extremely strong yang energy to refine it. He claimed that ordinary yang-rich individuals weren't as suitable as talisman masters who worked with various spiritual talismans daily.

Apparently, talisman masters who worked with talismans had their energy and blood steeped in the essence of talismans and cinnabar, making their yang-rich blood uniquely effective for the House Guardian.

If it weren't for the fact that the other party wasn't asking for money but only a small amount of his blood, he wouldn't have sneaked around behind Ji Naonao's back. Because if Ji Naonao found out, he would definitely object.

Taoists were particularly cautious about personal items like hair, birth dates and times, and blood. Even for annual check-ups, Ji Naonao insisted on using only his family's hospital, with someone specially assigned to oversee the destruction of the blood samples afterward.

Xiao Ye wasn't a Taoist, so he'd never paid much attention to things like blood or hair. Every year during his check-up, they'd take several vials of his blood. Not to mention, on his 18th birthday, his brother had taken him to donate blood, earning him his first blood donation certificate.

So, giving a little blood shouldn't matter, right?

He tried to reassure himself, but for some reason, Xiao Ye felt uneasy. He was certain Ji Naonao would be furious if he found out. In all the time he'd known Ji Naonao, he'd never seen him angry. What if he got so mad that he couldn't be appeased?

But this was lightning-struck wood—what self-respecting Taoist would pass this up? Ji Nanxing was about to turn 18, and he could buy anything he wanted. Finally finding something he could actually use, it would be a shame to let it slip away.

Noticing his hesitation, Lu Yanqi said, "Mr. Xiao, you can rest assured. Only a small vial of blood is needed. I merely intend to nourish the House Guardian with it—nothing else. We have professional medical staff here, so there won't be any issues."

Xiao Ye thought, *since I'm already here, I might as well go through with the deal.* But before he could voice his agreement, the door to the VIP room swung open again.

The moment he saw who entered, Xiao Ye's eyes went wide like a deer in headlights—Ji Naonao! How did he get here?!