Translator: Cinder Translations
The day passed quickly. In the afternoon, someone called to schedule an appointment with the doctor, but the doctor found an excuse to decline.
Thanks to the abundance of ingredients Pi Ruan had brought, Fatty cooked another table full of delicious food. The doctor ate so much that he was practically humming with satisfaction.
Fatty thought that even if he ate his fill, he still couldn't match the doctor's appetite.
"Why aren't you eating?" Jiang Cheng, who was leaning back on the sofa digesting his meal, glanced at Fatty. Fatty was still chewing slowly, having eaten less than half of his bowl of rice.
Today's dishes were more than enough.
"I'm not very hungry, doctor," Fatty evaded, then turned his head to look out the window.
The sky was gradually darkening. The lights in the room hadn't been turned on yet, and the last rays of the setting sun were about to disappear. The world was once again about to be ruled by darkness.
One of the best things about taking in someone like Fatty was that he couldn't lie. Even if he tried, he couldn't fool Jiang Cheng.
Just like now, Jiang Cheng only needed to glance at his profile to know what he was thinking about—the little beggar.
Whatever was on his mind was written all over his face.
"They buried the little beggar in the end," Jiang Cheng said. "They buried her on the hillside behind the yard." He paused. "I saw it with my own eyes. I'm not lying to you."
Fatty turned his face, his eyes red-rimmed as he looked at Jiang Cheng, as if trying to judge the truth of his words.
Jiang Cheng sighed helplessly and suggested, "Should I swear an oath?"
"Don't use your parents or family," Fatty said. "I know you don't have those."
"Tsk." Jiang Cheng immediately became unhappy upon hearing this, muttering under his breath about how times had changed, and even a fool like Fatty had learned to scheme.
"Doctor," Fatty said after a pause, "do you think... if we hadn't shown up, she wouldn't have died?"
"That question is meaningless," Jiang Cheng said directly. "It's not like we wanted to go there."
"And even if we hadn't shown up, wouldn't someone else have? She was just a..." At this point, Jiang Cheng suddenly stopped. After a moment, he changed his tone. "That child was a key character. As long as a player triggered her, her fate was sealed."
Fatty hung his head low, and Jiang Cheng wasn't sure if his words had gotten through to him.
"You saw the final outcome. The most important step in this task was actually gaining the child's trust. Otherwise, even if we knew the brocade pouch was on her, forcibly taking it would only result in the other half, which was useless. I suspect there might even be a trap on that half."
"And the person who gained the child's trust would ultimately become the groom, placing the phoenix crown on Xuanji's head and resolving her regrets." Jiang Cheng paused. "If I'm not mistaken, that Young Master Huang was probably a decent person in life, someone who took good care of the child, which is why she trusted him so much."
"Just like she trusted you," Jiang Cheng said, looking at him.
As if recalling the child's kindness toward him, Fatty's eyes grew even redder. In the end, he simply averted his gaze, no longer looking at the doctor.
"Back in my hometown in the county," Fatty said in a low voice, "I had younger brothers and sisters. They were very good to me, always following me around. Our family wasn't well-off, so I had to take odd jobs to help out. No matter how late I came home, they would always wait to eat with me."
"Every night when I came home, I would pass by the window and see the small light they left on for me." Fatty described it: "It was a small, orange light, very energy-efficient. There would be a row of little heads by the window."
As if recalling the scene, Fatty's expression softened. "They would gather together, waiting for me, and then compete to open the door for me. Whether or not I brought them gifts, they were always equally happy."
"They told me... I was the best gift the heavens had given them." Fatty looked up at Jiang Cheng. "Doctor, in that child's eyes, I saw the same light I saw in my sister's eyes."
After a long while, Jiang Cheng nodded. "I understand."
After a moment, Fatty seemed to realize he had lost his composure. He quickly rubbed his eyes and laughed awkwardly. "Doctor, I must really be getting old. I get emotional so easily now. My younger brothers and sisters must be adults by now, maybe even married."
"Haven't you been in touch?"
Fatty rubbed his face vigorously. "With the way I'm living now, what's the point of reaching out?" He turned his face away and muttered, "I'd just be a bother."
"Alright, alright," Fatty waved his hand. "Doctor, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's talk about something serious. When are we going to—"
In the next second, Fatty noticed the doctor's expression change instantly, his gaze fixed on the door. A moment later, there was a knock.
But there was no politeness in the sound.
Immediately after, the door was pushed open, and a long shadow stretched across the floor. The person hadn't even entered yet, but a chilling aura could already be felt.
"It's you?" Fatty was so startled that he sat up straight.
The middle-aged man strode in, then very casually found a seat and sat down. Without any hesitation, he picked up the chopsticks Jiang Cheng had left on the table and helped himself to a piece of fish, chewing it slowly.
"Sit down," he said naturally, not even looking at Fatty.
Fatty pursed his lips and, seeing that the doctor didn't react, obediently sat down.
"Have a couple of bites and that's it," Jiang Cheng said, looking at him reluctantly. "You really don't see yourself as an outsider, do you?"
The middle-aged man took out a tissue, wiped his mouth, and then turned to look at Jiang Cheng. "Goodbye," he said coldly, making as if to stand up and leave.
"Wait!" Jiang Cheng asked, "I've completed the task. According to our agreement, shouldn't you tell me something?"
The middle-aged man said matter-of-factly, "But I'm an outsider."
Fatty looked at the middle-aged man as if he were an alien. He wondered if the man had taken the wrong medicine. In such a short time, his ability to shut people down had become almost as good as the doctor's.
Jiang Cheng said with a mix of tones, "Fine, you're not an outsider, okay?"
The middle-aged man didn't bother arguing with him and got straight to the point. "The last time we entered the nightmare, it was just a fanatical follower of Deep Crimson, not a core member. So our agreement can't be fully honored."
Fatty swallowed hard. "You're not thinking of breaking the agreement, are you? You're not young anymore. You can't just—"
The middle-aged man glanced at him, and Fatty swallowed the rest of his words.
"What do you want to know?" the middle-aged man asked, looking at Jiang Cheng.
"Benefits," Jiang Cheng said without hesitation. "What benefits can you gain from entering the nightmare?"
He had been wondering about this for a while. Being dragged into a nightmare unknowingly was one thing, but why would someone like Xia Meng actively enter nightmares and use clues to keep triggering them?
It was like grinding dungeons in a game.
This couldn't simply be explained by wanting to protect their lives or the clues provided by the newspaper.
After thinking for a few seconds, the middle-aged man nodded. "Good question."
(End of the Chapter)
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