Inherited 100 Million - Chapter 13

The cicadas’ incessant chirping gave Xue Yizhuo a headache. She felt like annihilating the one buzzing not far from her. Xue Yizhuo gritted her teeth in frustration, then suddenly lunged forward and scooped a ginger cat with a lazily wagging tail into her arms. The cat, caught off guard, let out a confused meow. In the blink of an eye, Xue Yizhuo had already landed on the ground as lightly as a feather.

The sun was scorching. The little girl took the cat and buried her face in its furry belly. Xue Yizhuo just watching felt hot.

When the girl looked up, her face was flushed red from the heat, and she looked shy, but her eyes shone brightly as she looked at Xue Yizhuo. “Thank you, big sister.”

Xue Yizhuo waved her hand, fanning herself with her fan. “It’s nothing.”

Xue Yizhuo was doing a quest. The quest was to catch a cat for the little girl.

She could trigger four or five of these daily quests every day. They were all trivial matters that she could do or not. Xue Yizhuo had gone through a cycle of enthusiastically doing them, then finding them boring and giving up, then getting even more bored from giving up and starting them again.

Her plan to live a secluded life in Qingping Town seemed to be dying in its infancy due to a lack of entertainment.

Xue Yizhuo felt like her face was about to spell out the word “boredom.” Transmigrating was fun for a while, but a lack of internet was like being in a crematorium.

The quest reward was a few pitiful copper coins. Xue Yizhuo felt embarrassed to take the little girl’s money. After taking the coins, she gave the girl a candied hawthorn stick in return.

The little girl murmured, “The candy’s going to melt.”

The candied hawthorn stick was perfectly preserved in her inventory, but as soon as she took it out, the thin layer of sugar would begin to melt in the hot weather.

There was no air conditioning in this weather, which was a real bummer.

A few days ago, Xue Yizhuo had found an ice-element artifact robe in her inventory. When she put it on, she no longer felt hot, but the heat still made her feel irritable.

The little girl bit into a hawthorn berry and said to the bored Xue Yizhuo with a mouthful of food, “Big sister, can you go to the house next door for me? No one’s lived there for over a hundred years. I’ve been hearing footsteps from there lately, and it’s a little scary.”

“Over a hundred years?” That was an exaggeration.

The little girl said, “That’s what my grandparents say. They say a lot of people died there, so it’s empty, and no one dares to live in it.”

On the hot summer day, it felt as if a cold wind had just blown by.

Xue Yizhuo was a little hesitant, but she pursed her lips and said, “I’ll go take a look.”

She had initially planned to go through the main gate, but putting aside whether it would open, she felt like nothing good ever happened by going through the front door in a horror movie. So Xue Yizhuo climbed up the same tree she had just used to get the cat.

The wall was tall, but the tree was not short. The branches got thinner the higher she went. Xue Yizhuo carefully stepped on the shaky branches and got a clear view of the courtyard next door.

There was a person in the courtyard.

The person was wearing stain-resistant gray clothes and holding a broom. There was a small pile of withered leaves in front of him. He seemed to be cleaning the courtyard, but for some reason, he just stopped and stared blankly into space.

Xue Yizhuo saw the person’s profile and gasped.

How could it be Old Li?

Xue Yizhuo was so stunned that she blurted out, “Old Li!”

Old Li was startled by the sudden voice. The broom in his hand fell to the ground with a clatter.

Xue Yizhuo waved at him. Afraid that Old Li couldn’t see her, she even stood up straight. With that movement, the branch beneath her couldn’t bear the weight. Crack. It broke in half.

Xue Yizhuo: “…”

The little girl crunched on her candied hawthorn stick, looking as if she had seen it all before. She watched Xue Yizhuo and Old Li question each other about why they were here.

The ginger cat let out a “meow” as if it found humans incredibly boring. It flicked its tail and curled up on the ground to sleep.

Old Li patted Xue Yizhuo’s back hard, brushing off the dust and leaves that had stuck to her. He asked, “Why are you here?”

“I’m doing a good deed, helping the little sister catch a cat.” Xue Yizhuo felt like Old Li had stolen her line. “I should be asking you the same thing!”

Old Li said righteously, “I’m helping an old friend clean his house!”

“An old friend?” Xue Yizhuo pointed to the house next door with a look of disbelief. “Hasn’t that house been empty for over a hundred years?”

Xue Yizhuo looked at the little girl, who nodded firmly to confirm her words.

Old Li spoke without hesitation. “The person in that house and I are close friends with a big age gap!”

Xue Yizhuo was sure Old Li was making things up.

Old Li had so much going on in the initial game story. Although there was no concrete evidence yet, Xue Yizhuo didn’t think he was just an ordinary NPC. She also didn’t want to pressure him. Everyone had a past they didn’t want to share.

Xue Yizhuo simply asked, “You’ve been gone a lot lately. Have you been coming here all this time?”

Old Li hesitated for a moment, as if he decided it was okay to be truthful. “I’ve been missing an old friend recently, so I come here often to pay my respects.”

“Oh,” Xue Yizhuo nodded. “What do you want for dinner tonight?”

Old Li looked at her in surprise, unable to believe that she would just casually let the matter go.

Xue Yizhuo complained, “It’s so hot. I want to eat bingfen. I heard Xu’s bingfen is especially delicious. Should we go eat there tonight?”

“What a waste of money!” Old Li said instinctively. “I can make it just as delicious as Xu’s!”

“Okay,” Xue Yizhuo said happily. “Then I’ll go buy the ingredients, and you can make the bingfen tonight.”

If she went too late, she might not be able to get good ingredients. The words had just left her mouth when she started walking out of the courtyard.

She didn’t ask another question.

Old Li looked at her back as she walked away, his expression complicated and his heart filled with mixed emotions. Confused thoughts pulled at him, but in the end, Old Li made a decision.

Xue Yizhuo suddenly stopped and turned around, seeing that Old Li hadn’t followed. She waved to him.

Old Li answered and quickly caught up.

The ingredients for bingfen were quickly bought. The recipe was not complicated, and it wasn’t long before Xue Yizhuo got her dinner.

They were still in Old Li’s courtyard, under the shade of the fragrant osmanthus tree. The evening breeze blew gently, dispelling the daytime heat. Xue Yizhuo held a bowl of bingfen, stirring the crushed peanuts on top. She felt a sense of contentment.

Old Li grumbled, “Why didn’t you buy any alcohol again?”

“You’ve only been healthy for a few days,” Xue Yizhuo said. “You’re getting old. Stop thinking about drinking all the time.”

She saw that the hand Old Li was holding the spoon with was shaking a little. She said casually, “Drinking is bad for your health. You might not even be able to hold a spoon one day.”

Old Li was stunned. His gaze fell on his slightly trembling hand. Old Li’s hands were large, but they now looked aged and withered. His dry skin was full of wrinkles. It was as if his hand had no flesh, just a layer of skin wrapped around bones.

After a long silence from Old Li, Xue Yizhuo looked over and saw him staring blankly at his own hand.

She leaned on the cool stone table and carefully extended a finger to poke Old Li. “What’s wrong?”

“…Xue,” Old Li said in a low voice after a long silence. “I’ve decided to leave Qingping Town.”

Xue Yizhuo’s eyes widened in shock. She blurted out, “Why?”

She suddenly realized her tone was too much like an accusation. She sat up straight uncomfortably and asked in a gentler tone, “Why so suddenly? We haven’t been in Qingping Town for long.”

With a soft sound, Old Li placed the ceramic bowl of bingfen on the table.

A serious expression Xue Yizhuo had never seen before appeared on his aged face. Every word Old Li said was clear and firm. “There’s something I have to do.”

Xue Yizhuo looked at him, bewildered.

Old Li sighed. “I don’t know when I’ll be back… Xue, while I’m gone, I’m entrusting this courtyard to you.”

Old Li fumbled around on his body for a while. He took a set of keys from a hidden pocket at his waist and gently placed them in front of Xue Yizhuo.

Xue Yizhuo counted them. There were four keys in total, enough to open all the doors in the residence. He even gave her the spare keys.

Xue Yizhuo reached out, and the cool keys fell into her palm.

She couldn’t help but wonder if Old Li would ever really come back.

The bingfen in the bowl suddenly tasted bland. Xue Yizhuo couldn’t taste the sweetness of the brown sugar, and her favorite crushed peanuts were now flavorless.

Late into the night, lying in bed, Xue Yizhuo was still holding her pillow, anxiously wondering if Old Li would ever return to Qingping Town.

••••

It was just past 5 a.m., and the sky was turning a fish-belly white.

Some vendors had already opened their shops on the street. The small stalls and vendors had set up their stands before it was even light. The vegetable stalls were already bustling.

No one noticed that a person leaving town was walking among them.

Old Li carried very little with him. Just by looking at the small cloth bag on his back, you wouldn’t know he was going on a long journey. When he first came to Qingping Town, he didn’t bring many things either. Xue Yizhuo had once said his room was very empty. Old Li thought that maybe, when he was setting up the courtyard, he had a premonition that he wouldn’t be staying for long.

Coming and going. It felt as if nothing had been added or taken away.

Standing at the ferry, Old Li felt melancholic. He hadn’t been close to people for many years, so he didn’t have to experience the pain of separation. It was rare for him to feel reluctant to leave.

A boatman saw him waiting on the bank. He pushed off with a bamboo pole, and the small boat floated toward him.

Old Li had already planned his route. As soon as he got on, he asked if the boatman could take him to Jingcheng. After they agreed on a price, Old Li stepped onto the deck.

He took a deep breath, turning to take one last look at Qingping Town. Then, he saw a fast horse galloping toward him, and his eyes widened.

“Old Li!” Xue Yizhuo’s voice was a little panicked. She jumped off the horse before it even reached him.

The girl’s steps were light. She even moved faster than Old Li, holding up her skirt and jumping onto the boat.

The bow of the boat sank, and the boat swayed.

“Hey…” The boatman was startled by the sudden appearance of the girl. He quickly used his bamboo pole to steady the rocking boat.

Xue Yizhuo didn’t expect the boat to rock so violently. She struggled to keep her balance. After steadying herself, she let out a sigh of relief. She looked up at the boatman and smiled. “Sir, can you give me a ride too?”

She reached out and pulled Old Li onto the boat. “We’re together.”