“Well, I didn’t expect…” The old man wiped his tears and shook his head. “You’re so kind to me, I’m so lucky to have you here!”
“It’s our pleasure.” Zhu Xuan held his chopsticks, picked up a piece of eggplant and put it into the old man’s bowl. “Let’s finish our dinner first. We need to give the old lady her medicine afterward.”
The old man picked up the bowl with a smile. He exclaimed, “Your cooking is so delicious that I really wish I had four mouths.”
Zhu Xuan and I both laughed.
After dinner, we went to Mrs. Yang’s room with the medicine.
“My dear, this is the medicine prescribed by the master’s friend. Drink it and get better quickly.” Holding the medicine bowl, Mr. Yang scooped up a spoonful of medicine and tried to feed the unconscious old woman.
“Wait, it’s going to spill out!” I shouted.
As I expected, the old woman’s lips were tightly closed. She kept shaking her head due to the fever. As a result, the medicine spilled out on her quilt.
“You can’t feed her like this,” Zhu Xuan said. He came closer to the bed, then grabbed the old lady’s jaw with his index finger and thumb. With a little push, her mouth was opened.
“Give me the medicine.” Zhu Xuan held out his hand towards the old man.
“It’s okay. I can do it.” The old man hurriedly shook his head. He leaned over with the medicine bowl and scooped up another spoonful of medicine. “My dear, you have to drink it.”
The medicine in the spoon flowed into the old woman’s mouth. Zhu Xuan held the old woman’s chin and closed her mouth, the medicine was swallowed.
“She drank it!”
“Good.” Zhu Xuan looked pleased. “Go on, let’s feed her all of it!”
After she drank Zhu Xuan’s medicine, it seemed like her condition improved. She stopped convulsing and fell asleep.
After that, we sat in the courtyard with the old man and talked for a while. Before we knew it, it was almost nine o’clock in the evening.
“…Thank you very much, if it weren’t for you today, I would definitely have lost my mind.” Mr. Yang sighed. “Life was so peaceful. Who knows why we suddenly became victim to this tragedy.”
“Don’t worry. I promised you I’m going to thoroughly investigate this matter,” Zhu Xuan reassured him. “Besides, I invited this brilliant master to help us.”
Zhu Xuan mentioned my fake identity again, and I had no choice but to laugh in embarrassment.
“Well… it’s late. I have already cleaned out the guest room for you. If you don’t mind, will you stay over for the night?” The old man looked at us expectantly.
Zhu Xuan and I looked at each other, and then he nodded.
“Okay, we’d better stay here so we can monitor your wife’s condition, if that doesn’t trouble you too much.”
“Of course it doesn’t. I am so grateful!” Upon saying that, the old man was about to bow to Zhu Xuan. Zhu Xuan hastily held him up.
“Well, it’s been a long day today, please go and take a rest. We’ll watch your wife for you, don’t worry.”
“Um…” The old man looked at me and Zhu Xuan, hesitant.
I hurriedly interrupted, “Please get some rest now. Zhu Xuan and I will stay here. Don’t worry.”
“Alright, but don’t stay up too late.” The old man bowed to us before slowly walking towards his room, leaving only Zhu Xuan and I sitting in the courtyard.
I let out a long deep breath. “It’s exhausting to deal with that old gentleman.”
Zhu Xuan laughed. “What’s wrong?”
“He’s too polite,” I complained. “It feels like we have to behave like some inflexible scholars from ancient times, otherwise it would be impolite.”
Zhu Xuan laughed. “That’s because the old man thinks of us as the last hope for his wife.”
“But Zhu Xuan, don’t you think something is weird?” I asked. “This family seems very fogyish, not only the words he used when talking but also the furniture in the house. I can’t believe they have a hearth in the courtyard in this era. Their refrigerator is also the oldest model.”
“It’s not weird at all.” Zhu Xuan clearly didn’t think this was a concern. “There are still many people living in old-fashioned ways even today, especially for the seniors, you can’t expect them to accept all those modern things overnight, can you?”
I looked at Zhu Xuan, feeling confused. “But I think you, an old man, has adapted to this new world quite well.”
“Don’t compare me with human beings. My learning capacity is far better than those of humans.” Zhu Xuan helplessly looked at me. “Let’s get back to business. We’ve been here for half a day. Have you found anything?”
“Have I found anything?” I was speechless and laughed dryly. “Isn’t it the question I should ask you? What else could I find? I haven’t noticed anything except that this family is very old-fashioned.”
“Nothing strange?” Zhu Xuan asked again.
I shook my head.
“That’s weird, because I haven’t either.” Zhu Xuan frowned. He held his chin with his hand.
“You didn’t either?”
“Yeah. I didn’t sense anything wrong.” Zhu Xuan looked around. His expression gradually became solemn. “However, according to the old man, if the demon was able to freeze people to death in their bathroom then it must be very powerful. Before we came here, I also thought it over and ruled out several kinds of demons and monsters. Yet, to my surprise, I didn’t feel any demonic energy here at all. Isn’t it strange?”
Indeed, Zhu Xuan was right. Although I didn’t possess the power of Zhu Xuan and Wen Jiubo, I could more or less feel the existence of evil creatures. Perhaps because I had encountered various demons and spirits, I could always feel something in haunted places. But this time, I didn’t feel anything.
“Are you saying the demon here is more powerful than we thought?” I asked.
“Maybe.” Zhu Xuan furrowed his eyebrows and I couldn’t tell what he was so seriously thinking about
“It doesn’t matter, nothing will happen,” I reassured him. “We can contact Wen Jiubo if anything happens. This is his case, and we’re just helping him. Though he looks lame, he’s actually quite good at exorcizing demons and spirits.”
Zhu Xuan smiled lightly and shook his head. “Well, you’re the only person who would call for him under such circumstances .”