Chapter 128: [Harboring a Ghostly Secret] Lakeside Conversation
Bai Cha glanced at Jin Qiao and said, “Maybe her memory isn’t very good. On the way here, she said she had a high fever the year before last, and her brain hasn’t been the same since.”
“Pfft!” Xu Shengsheng couldn’t help but laugh beside her.
Jin Qiao’s face flushed red and then paled, but she couldn’t refute. Because this was indeed giving her a way out.
Otherwise, if she couldn’t answer, she would be finished.
Jin Qiao nodded, both annoyed and resentful, her face flushed, and said, “Right… I had a bad illness, and my memory has gotten much worse.”
Ji Xiaolan looked at her for a long time, so long that Jin Qiao’s face gradually turned ashen, and a coldness spread through her body, before she finally said slowly, “The past is the past, it’s not important.”
Jin Qiao: “…”
Her face turned white and then red, then red and then white again.
She almost made a taboo remark, and in the end, she didn’t get any information.
Her chat was open and was being frantically mocked.
[LMAO, this streamer is really hilarious]
[With this little skill, might as well die early and reincarnate!]
[Always targeting people, and they’re still giving you a way out. Streamer, you should kowtow to such a kind person]
[To be fair, that streamer is excessively kind. If I were that streamer, I wouldn’t care about her at all. I’m not saying anything more, I’m going over there]
Jin Qiao’s fingernails were about to tear through her clothes.
What did they mean by that streamer being kind? Clearly, if she didn’t help herself, everyone’s identities might be suspected later!
Bai Cha had casually helped her, not for that reason.
Whether it was out of guilt or something else, the bank transfers in Chen Shuya’s phone records that she could find were all from a long time ago.
Secretly finding someone to give money to Ji Xiaolan, regardless of the reason, ultimately showed that she had a strong sense of morality and conscience.
So… she had spoken up.
This instance probably didn’t require too much acting. However, since they were already in front of Ji Xiaolan, she had to put on an act.
“If you don’t have anything else, you should go back first. Shuya, stay with me for a while.”
The players’ eyes flickered slightly, and they nodded and stood up.
However, many couldn’t help but glance at Jin Qiao, who was clearly a troublemaker.
Otherwise, they had been chatting well, so why were they suddenly being rushed away?
Although the players didn’t say anything, Jin Qiao was once again heavily mocked by the chat.
Ji Xiaolan also stood up to see them off.
Just as they left the living room and walked into the courtyard, the courtyard gate was pushed open.
Ji Xiaolan’s grandmother, wearing a blue cloth jacket and black pants with a lot of mud on the legs and wet cloth shoes, walked in.
She was carrying a bamboo basket with a red cloth covering it, and it was unclear what was inside.
Seeing the people in the courtyard, her gaze slowly swept across each person’s face.
Although the sky was gloomy now, it was still daytime.
The players could see the grandmother’s appearance more clearly.
The grandmother was really thin, as if a gust of wind could blow her over, just skin and bones.
Her eye sockets were sunken, her cheekbones protruded, and her skin sagged.
Even now, they couldn’t see her eyes clearly, and when she stared at people, it made them feel uneasy.
“You’re all here?” the grandmother said.
“That’s good, have you eaten? Stay for a meal.”
At this point, the players really didn’t want to stay.
“They said they wanted to take a walk,” Ji Xiaolan said, “I’ll take them out for a stroll.”
Hearing this, the grandmother looked at Ji Xiaolan.
The two stood there facing each other for a while before the grandmother slowly nodded.
“That’s fine too. It’s still early before noon. I caught several fish, we can eat them at noon.”
Ji Xiaolan opened her mouth, then lowered her eyes.
She took Bai Cha’s hand and pulled her out.
The players also left the courtyard.
Ji Xiaolan clearly wanted to talk to Bai Cha alone, and the players weren’t so tactless as to interfere.
Joking aside, exploring the plot was important, but as long as one person could explore it successfully, everyone could clear the instance. It was just a matter of how many points they got.
So there was no need to rush to their deaths.
Thinking of this, Wang Jiangtao couldn’t help but glance at Jin Qiao.
“Some people are really something, useless at everything, yet they still have to open their mouths and ask tough questions.”
Everyone also looked at Jin Qiao.
Jin Qiao’s face was ugly, and she coldly glared back at each of them.
“Isn’t it just that she knows how to act weak? Pui!”
She left the others angrily and walked towards the village.
The others ignored her.
Bai Cha followed Ji Xiaolan all the way to the lakeside, under a tree.
This tree was unidentifiable because it was already dead.
Bai Cha looked at the tree thoughtfully, then at the grass on the ground, and the lake not far away.
“Run tonight,” Ji Xiaolan suddenly said.
Bai Cha was stunned.
A trace of pain crossed Ji Xiaolan’s face.
“There shouldn’t be any cars here, but if you leave the village and follow that road straight ahead, it’ll take about three hours of walking to reach the town. There are cars there.”
Bai Cha fell silent.
After a long while, she finally spoke, “So… something still happened to you, didn’t it? I haven’t seen Shao Lei the whole time. Is he already…”
Ji Xiaolan closed her eyes, tears falling from the corners. The dampness around her intensified at that moment.
“Tell me what happened, please? I failed to stand by you back then. For the past ten years, I haven’t been able to let it go. If I run away again today, I’ll never be able to forgive myself.”
Bai Cha grasped her increasingly damp hand, as if she hadn’t noticed her change.
Ji Xiaolan opened her eyes and met Bai Cha’s gaze.
Bai Cha’s eyes were filled with pain, worry, and guilt.
Ji Xiaolan looked away slightly.
“What’s the use of you asking these things? Just listen to me. This time is different from back then. Back then, it was just the loss of cultural relics. There was no evidence to prove I did it. It was just malicious media deliberately misleading people. It had nothing to do with you.”
After saying this, she looked at the quiet lake, suddenly let go of Bai Cha’s hand, and squatted down by the water’s edge.
Bai Cha walked to her side and squatted down on the somewhat damp soil with her.
Black shadows swam in the water.
But they were clearly not fish.
Bai Cha frowned and said, “Are there many water snakes in the water? Should we go somewhere further away?”
Ji Xiaolan paid no attention. She even reached out and placed her hand on the water’s surface.
A black water snake crawled up her wrist.
Bai Cha let out a brief gasp of surprise, wanting to step back and also wanting to reach out and grab Ji Xiaolan’s hand, but in the end, she stopped. Because the snake was looking at her with an aggressive gaze.
“Don’t be afraid.” Ji Xiaolan tilted her head slightly. In just a short while, water was already dripping from her hair.
“It won’t hurt you now, but it might later, so hurry up and leave.”
Ji Xiaolan’s tone gradually became strange.
“Otherwise… I can’t guarantee…”
Bai Cha stood up with suspicion and took two steps back.
She did turn around, wanting to run, but quickly suppressed the urge.
She turned back again and squatted down in front of Ji Xiaolan, her eyes filled with shock and doubt.
“Xiaolan, tell me the truth, are you also dead?”
