"Baba, we're back!" Liu Guangru yelled as the door opened on its own. He raced towards the sleeping man and frightened another male out of the way. The child climbed the side and sat next to Liu Xiaodan. He then patted his father's forehead as if waking him up from his sleep.
Li Feng, who was supposed to get water for the newly-risen Li Yunru, ended up on the floor as he evaded the child. Ghost or not, he wouldn't want to knock over a child. Then again, he knew Liu Guangru's voice so well that his reflex kicked in. He was also shocked to see Liu Xiaodan's parents walk in along with Ruan Jin... and the infamous Weeper.
His eyes flickered not more than Li Yunru's. What was wrong with these people? Couldn't they see all the possible danger of getting close to evil spirits?
"Oh, my. Are you okay, Xiao Feng?" Wu Qianqian noticed Li Feng topple as Liu Guangru run by. She opted to extend a hand and help him up as no one did. However, Liu Li took the male's hand instead, in fear of his weight toppling his wife over. She only dusted him when he was already on his feet. "Sorry, Xiao Ru could become inconsiderate sometimes." Sometimes? They only met him today, right?
"Xiao Ru..." Li Feng's expression grew worse. He even had a nickname from them now?
Li Feng had been in the industry ever since he and Li Yunru were middle schoolers. With all the cases that he had handled and worked with, never did he see any person willingly place themselves in the company of an evil spirit. Most people who go through these experiences would always cry in fear and frustration, hoping to get rid of these creatures. Those who stayed with evil spirits were doing it out of fear. They, too, wanted to be saved.
Looking at the circumstances of this mogui's case puzzled Li Feng. He thought Liu Xiaodan was only being forced by the mogui to stay with him. However, he had seen how attached and invested Liu Xiaodan was towards the ghost child... like he wasn't even talking to a bloodthirsty creature. He felt so wrong when he assumed he could even ask his parents' discouragement to make Liu Xiaodan give up on the child. Right now, it seemed that even the parents were charmed by the awfully beautiful mogui.
As he recounted his experiences, he was staring straight at Wu Qianqian who was also staring straight at him. His thinking time was up when the mother reached out to cup Li Feng's face with both hands. Slowly, she would turn his head as if taking in every facial feature he had.
Liu Li made his way to the couch after helping out Li Feng; he didn't think Wu Qianqian would stay behind and take a closer look at the much-handsome and dashing male. He narrowed his eyes as he noticed Li Feng staring as intently as his wife at him. Then, he watched her turn his head from one angle to another. The father cleared his throat. "Xiao Qian, you're going to break his neck." His tone seemed to add 'let me do it instead' to his words.
Wu Qianqian only stopped turning Li Feng's head and let it rest at its normal angle. She then smiled deeply at him, curling her eyes in an almost-flirtatious manner. Of course, it was enough to bedazzle Li Feng. Wu Qianqian was a looker even at her age, but her beauty was quite an acquired taste. People wouldn't normally be attracted to her, but her smiles were a surefire way to make men kneel. She could be like a fairy who would descend from the heavens to tease men when her lips curl deeply and her eyes curve into sweet-looking crescents.
Thump. Thump. Li Feng couldn't help but feel cooked by the warmth rising from his body—especially his face. Wu Qianqian was too beautiful for him to look away from; not even a smiling or teasing Chuan Nayi could compare to this. No wonder that Kang Jun was so smitten by this Wu Qianqian.
"Every inch of this handsome face was from Bingbing! She must be very proud!" The mother broke eye contact with Li Feng and turned to her husband with a very huge smile on her face. "Am I right, Xiao Li? Am I right?"
As if a popping bubble, the rage in Liu Li's face disappeared upon hearing the name 'Bingbing'. He then took a closer look at Li Feng and had this very surprised expression. "Now that you've said it... yes, very. It's a good thing, too."
Wu Qianqian chuckled, her laughter now sounding like tinkling bells to Li Feng. "You really hate those two, don't you?" She then turned to Li Feng again, taking her hands off of him and combing his hair using her fingers. "Wow, this hair! It's as if you're hundred-percent Bingbing! Guess Li Heilong only gave you money..."
Li... Heilong? Bingbing?
Li Feng finally moved and stepped back, away from Wu Qianqian and using his arm to block even just a part of his blushing face from their sight. He then stepped to the side, gaining distance from the mother. His eyes flickered a little, glancing at the confused Li Yunru. He then spoke, "...You... you knew my parents?"
"Ah, just for a short while, I think." Wu Qianqian managed to vanish the flirtatious fairy aura she had and morphed to being a cute housewife and a mother of one. "Bingbing was quite an excellent woman. She mostly did all the business boost for the Mian family... and probably with the Lis', too. How is she?"
"She's... she's okay. She's with her aunt abroad..." Li Feng had no idea how they knew each other... but he knew his parents had a lot of enemies. He just couldn't feel good discussing family matters with outsiders.
"Aunt? Auntie Ni?" Wu Qianqian tilted her head to the side and placed a finger on her chin. "Since when did they become close to travel together?"
"...Uhm, Auntie!" Li Yunru got up from the bed, still seemingly cautious of the child who ended up lying down next to Liu Xiaodan. "How did you know Auntie Bing? She didn't seem to be one who had friends?" If it was a normal person, that would be an insult; but it was Mian Bingbing they were talking about. She was even proud to say she was immune to betrayal as she had no friends.
"Ah, still no friends? That woman never learns..." Wu Qianqian pouted as she turned to Li Yunru. A melancholic smile soon surfaced on the mother's face. "Bingbing is my cousin. Her father is my mother's older brother... but my mother ran away from the Mian family. They had already taken her name out of the family registry.
"Then again, Aunt Ni still finds time to visit me once in a while so I guess Bingbing knew where I was. When I gave birth to Xiaodan, she was there to watch over me. Too bad she didn't have her own son with her by then. She said something about—" Wu Qianqian twitched as she realized she was running her mouth. She only smiled with closed eyes at Li Yunru. "Please say 'hi' to her for me sometimes. It would be nice to see her again after so long."
Li Yunru only nodded at the woman. She then looked at the direction of Liu Xiaodan who was still sleeping. A sad glint flashed across her eyes before she walked to get across the room. She wanted to come near Li Feng for protection. Ignoring the next actions of the mother and the ghost girl seated next to another man in the room, she went beside Li Feng and held onto his arm. Her soulful gaze was enough for Li Feng to know what she was thinking about.
Wu Qianqian only sat next to Liu Li and chatted a little with him. She suddenly grew excited when she thought she could see Mian Bingbing again. Liu Li was only smiling at her, helping her plan out a not-so-awkward meeting for them.
A giggle escaped Ye Ling's lips as she shrunk closer to her Ruan Lang. She then began combing the hair on Ruan Jin's forehead. However, the look of his face was so sour and hard to paint. His eyes were twitching as he laughed in ridicule and helplessness.
So... Liu Xiaodan and Li Feng were related to each other by blood? How could he even break that news to the other two who were dealing with other things? Right, this blood connection might even complicate the case against them all. He went here to talk to Liu Xiaodan about this... and he was only able to walk out of the precinct this early because Officer Yu was there. His police-officer cousin could vouch for him a lot. However, his friends were all stuck in there, hoping they wouldn't suddenly conjure any fake evidence to detain them.
He then looked at the parents in the room. One way or another, the police would contact them about this soon enough. He didn't know how to explain that... that sweet child was responsible for setting an avalanche, and Liu Xiaodan was left at the receiving end of it all.
All the while, Liu Guangru was sensing everyone else. If he didn't feel something was wrong with Ruan Jin, he would have let Liu Xiaodan wake up. The child then rose from his bed and turned towards the friend of his father's. His gaze then connected with Ruan Jin who suddenly bathed in cold sweat. Liu Guangru slipped off of the bed and walked towards Li Feng.
The man was busy chatting with his cousin when he felt something tugging on the edge of his shirt. When he turned, he was shocked to see the mogui already holding onto his shirt. He would jump back a meter away, but he was frozen by the mogui's aura in his spot. Weird. His stomach wasn't reacting to Liu Guangru's ghostly presence, but the aura permeating from his black eyes was enough to freeze his muscles.
"Big brother..." The mogui's words were slow. He didn't know how to approach this gentleman. If his father was awake, he would have dealt with this without involving Liu Guangru. However, the child wanted to clean up after himself these days. He had caused too much trouble for his father.
"Big brother, I shouldn't have taken him to you, but he was dying... he was calling your name."
His words were like a freezing tide splashing everyone who heard him. Even Ruan Jin shot up from his seat as he heard those words.
Li Feng's eyes widened in confusion... before his breathing hitched. He then fell onto his knees and grabbed the child's shoulders. "Are you talking about Jiang Hou?! Who killed him? Who killed him?!" he ended up shaking Liu Guangru. "What did you do to him? What did you do?! Why... why did he have to die...?"
The child only stared at him before smiling maliciously like a mogui that he was. It even stopped Li Feng's movements. "Nothing really. They just wanted a human to die so they picked him."