Chapter 21 The End

“I’m sorry, we are just passersby who got lost. We noticed this residence, so we thought we could go inside and ask for directions. We’re terribly sorry if we scared you.”

“Is that so?” The young man pushed his glasses up and asked. “But this place has been abandoned for many years, no one lives here.”

My heart sank a little, but before I could ask him, Zhu Xuan opened his mouth.

“Since when was this house deserted?” Zhu Xuan asked. “Do you know if there was an old lady living here?”

“An old lady?” The young man was surprised. “you mean grandma Yang Yuxiang? She was my neighbor for many years.”

Zhu Xuan’s eyes lit up. “Yes, that’s her name!”

The young man laughed. “Oh, you know her, no wonder then.”

“How is Grandma Yang?” Zhu Xuan hurriedly asked.

The young man seemed a little uneasy. “Well, she passed away, that’s why the house is empty now.”

My heart suddenly sunk. Did that mean that even after spending so much effort and going through the time loop for two days, we still failed to save the old lady?

“She died on her 80th birthday last winter,” The young man added.

Zhu Xuan immediately looked up and asked, “She died last year?”

“Yeah,” The young man suddenly became a chatterbox and began to talk continuously. “Grandma Yang suffered a lot when she was alive. When she was young, her family arranged her marriage to her husband. It was said that at the beginning, she refused firmly to marry that man, but at last, she was forced to marry him. Later, I heard that by the time she was 50, her husband and her only son suddenly died. But she survived, and no one knew what happened. Occasionally, whenever someone asked her, grandma Yang wouldn’t say much about it. She just said that two teenagers saved her life back then. Although she was unwilling to bring it up, she did talk a lot about the two men who saved her life. She said that one of the two teenagers was wearing white clothes, while the other was wearing a hoodie. Ah, speaking of which, you two look a lot like the two teenagers she mentioned.”

After hearing this, I smiled. I turned around and met Zhu Xuan’s gaze, and he smiled back.

“Alright, let’s go then,” Zhu Xuan said.

“Yeah, let’s go. We should find Wen Jiubo now.”

Upon saying that, we turned around and headed for the old residence.

“Ay, ay! Where are you going? Didn’t you say you were lost? Why aren’t you asking for directions? Hey!”

——————

Just like that, the case in the veterinarian’s house was perfectly solved by Zhu Xuan despite the time-loop. The loop was broken, and the timeline returned to normal.

However, the mastermind behind this ridiculous game didn’t show up in the end. We found nothing useful after investigating the vicinity of the house. It seemed that the mysterious time loop just appeared from nowhere.

Zhu Xuan and I had no choice but to give up the search and return to the old residence to tell Wen Jiubo about this strange case.

“I see.”

That was the first sentence Wen Jiubo said after hearing the story. He showed no surprise and was as peaceful as a calm lake.

“Is this your reaction?” I said angrily. “Did you pay attention to what I said?”

“Of course I did.” Wen Jiubo raised one eyebrow. “You said that you and Zhu Xuan appeared to stay in that house for only one day, but you actually stayed there for three days?”

I looked at Wen Jiubo and didn’t know to cry or laugh. “Wen Jiubo! How could you care about such menial details right now?”

“It’s not irrelevant.” Wen Jiubo glanced at Zhu Xuan, who was petting his dog. The light in his eyes was sharp and cold. “You stayed with that person for three days, of course, I would be worried. Perhaps he did something bad to you.”

Before I could speak, Zhu Xuan replied coldly.

“Yeah? As far as I’m concerned, it’s a worrisome problem for Gu Yu to stay with a man like you.”

‘Come on, not again,’ I thought. They literally gave me a headache. You could always feel the tension in the air as long as these two stayed together.

‘I’m afraid that I’m the one who will be in great danger if they keep bickering with each other until they start fighting,’ I thought depressedly.

“I’m talking about something serious,” I interrupted them before they started to fight. “Wen Jiubo, this is about your life. What’s your opinion?”

“Who knows?” Wen Jiubo’s reply was vague. “Just like what you said, that person wanted to play a game with you.”

“No, Zhu Xuan and I think that the trap was meant for you. It’s highly possible that he let us go easily when he noticed he failed to catch you,” I interrupted Wen Jiubo and said hurriedly. “That is to say, you are his real target.”

However, Wen Jiubo just nodded, his face impassive. “I know. Isn’t it obvious since I received that letter?”

What? You’re the target! Haven’t you realized that?

Then, Zhu Xuan opened his mouth, “Gu Yu, when dealing with this kind of person like him, you should leave him alone. The emperor is not worried, but the eunuchs are worried to death (TL note: a Chinese saying means the person involved is calm and collected, but the observers are very worried.) If he really wants to die, you can’t stop him.”

I helplessly glanced at Zhu Xuan. Big brother, stop messing around, okay?

I was not sure if Zhu Xuan read my thoughts through my eyes, but he smiled and stood up.

“It’s getting late, I should leave now. Gu Yu, see you again if fate wills it.”

I was a little confused since I didn’t understand what he meant by, ‘see you again if fate wills it.’

Zhu Xuan laughed. “Don’t worry, we will meet again. Since I’m already involved in this whole thing, I won’t stand idly by. When the time is right, I will show up again.”

I was relieved and nodded. Just like previous times, he did not leave any way to contact him and disappeared from my sight.

Now there were only Wen Jiubo and me in the old residence. I sighed secretly and turned around. I thought that I should have a serious discussion with Wen Jiubo about why he was being targeted.

But, unexpectedly, as soon as I turned around, Wen Jiubo slightly lifted his chin, his displeasure was written all over his face. He said cynically, “You really don’t want him to leave, do you?”