"The latter half of the night..." Jia paused as he was repeating himself, then glanced back at the pavilion and asked, "Can you still see any... children there?" He turned back to stare at Mu Anxiao, wanting to confirm if she had indeed been affected by the medicinal ointment.
Some things, when left unsaid, don't feel impactful, but once spoken, the feeling arrives.
After Jia's question, Mu Anxiao slowly tilted her head back to look at the pavilion... her eyes widening in disbelief.
Seeing this, Jia furrowed his brow. "What's wrong?" he asked, his own tension rising with Mu Anxiao's reaction.
Mu Anxiao's eyes were fixed above... at two children waving at her. Her nerves tightened, and she quickly lowered her head, taking several deep breaths before saying, "They're still there." Her voice trembled even more severely than before.
"..." Jia was stunned.
Xiao Fei looked down at Mu Anxiao's entranced expression, then looked up at the pavilion again. "Perhaps it's the work of a demon soul," she suggested, glancing at Mu Anxiao.
Upon hearing this, Mu Anxiao immediately turned her face to Xiao Fei, her eyes filled with fear. "Impossible."
"Why?" Xiao Fei asked, puzzled.
Mu Anxiao swallowed, involuntarily glancing at the pavilion again. "If there were a demon soul, I would sense it immediately, but..." She paused, her expression filled with suspicion, and continued, "I don't. And I sensed it wrongly. I'm definitely poisoned, I'm finished." With that, her lips quivered.
In the less than a year they had spent together, Jia had come to see Mu Anxiao for who she truly was. Before this, he had always believed Mu Anxiao to be a woman who feared nothing. For all manner of demons and ghosts, she would confront them head-on.
However, after interacting with her... he discovered that Mu Anxiao was just an ordinary person who could cower at any moment. Seeing her jumpiness now, he had grown accustomed to it. "Let's think of a solution now."
"What solution? Just tell me how to save me. I don't want to become truly foolish," Mu Anxiao said excitedly, crouching down and immediately placing her hands on Jia's shoulders.
Jia stiffened, looking down at Mu Anxiao's hands. "I've truly never encountered a situation like yours. You need to let me think."
"Think... by the time you think, I'll be finished," Mu Anxiao said, releasing her grip and standing up, beginning to cry in earnest.
Not far away.
The maids who were supposed to pass by heard Mu Anxiao's crying and fled.
Feng Qishi glanced back at the startled maids, sighed, then hesitated before deciding to wait a bit longer!
Over there.
Jia looked up at Mu Anxiao's desperate display of wanting to avoid foolishness and, after a moment of thought, said, "There is a type of spell that can help you."
"..." Mu Anxiao stopped crying abruptly, looked down at Jia, and asked, "What method?"
"This method might be a bit... peculiar," Jia said, raising his hand to scratch the back of his head.
"Tell me."
"I'll tell you..." Jia hesitantly glanced at Xiao Fei, took a deep breath, and said, "It's for the person you like to kiss you, just like in our fairy tales."
"..." Mu Anxiao was stunned.
"I'm being serious. It might just work," Jia said, tilting his chin up.
"It might just work..." Mu Anxiao repeated, letting out a light laugh. "So, this is a solution you just made up."
"There's no immortal like you," Jia said, pointing to Mu Anxiao's mouth. "It's not that I'm saying it, but why did you apply so much? If you hadn't, you wouldn't be in this situation." He then shifted his gaze.
"Do you think there's an antidote?" Mu Anxiao, not wanting to argue with Jia, chose to change the subject.
"No..." Jia said, a look of uncertainty on his face. "To be honest, I'm not sure either."
"Not sure, which means there is an antidote," Mu Anxiao said, looking up at the pavilion again. The two children were still there, but this time, she wasn't as afraid. "If that's the case, I'll just find that person."
"Who are you looking for?" Jia asked curiously.
Mu Anxiao looked back, then down at Jia. "Who else but the person who gave me the medicine?"
"The one who gave you medicine... do you know where the demon soul is?"
"I don't know, but I know he's definitely got something to do with this." With that, Mu Anxiao immediately bypassed Xiao Fei and, guided by her senses, ran off in a certain direction.
Jia was startled, and he and Xiao Fei watched Mu Anxiao's hasty departure. Xiao Fei asked, "Is it really that way?"
"I don't know," Jia shook his head. After a moment, he said, "It's not safe to linger here. Let's go." He then looked around and disappeared with Xiao Fei.
At the same time, Feng Qishi emerged from behind the scattered rocks. He looked in the direction Mu Anxiao had gone, sighed, looked up at the pavilion, and muttered, "Strange, why would she see children?" He pondered this, crossed his arms, and waited for Mu Anxiao to return.
Minutes later.
Mu Anxiao, panting, stopped again at the foot of the rockery, looking confused. "Why am I back here? I..." She glanced sideways in the direction she had just run, her eyes darkening. "No way, I just ran in a circle around this rockery." As she spoke, she looked up at the pavilion, and the two children were playing rock-paper-scissors again.
Seeing this scene, Mu Anxiao was startled and quickly withdrew her gaze. She then looked forward and was stunned.
"Are you tired?" Feng Qishi said, walking up in front of Mu Anxiao.
Mu Anxiao looked up at Feng Qishi blankly, stepping back half a pace. "Who are you?" She suddenly felt as if everything around her... had become unreal.
Feng Qishi frowned. "Mu Anxiao, are you alright?" He observed Mu Anxiao's expression and realized... she was indeed not acting normally.
"Mu Anxiao..." Mu Anxiao repeated, looking up at Feng Qishi. "You're Shen Yan."
"..." Feng Qishi was stunned.
Mu Anxiao blinked. Before she could ask anything, the voices of the two children from above reached them.
"You idiot, why do you always lose."
"Brother, I'm not stupid, you can't talk to me like that."
"Mu Anxiao, you're an idiot."
"Mu Xi, you're no better."
Hearing their conversation, Mu Anxiao's eyes widened in terror. Immediately, with tears in her eyes, she looked up at the pavilion... the two children had disappeared. Standing there now... were herself and the deceased Mu Xi.
"What is happening?" she muttered, her eyes darting around. Then, she had a realization. "Right, I'm poisoned. I... I can't be foolish... Shen Fengzi, where are you? I need you... where are you?" She babbled incoherently and crouched down.
Everything had happened too suddenly... Feng Qishi had always thought this was just a prank by Jia. But now, seeing Mu Anxiao's deranged state, he suddenly realized... this was no laughing matter.
With that in mind, he stepped forward and tentatively asked, "Mu Anxiao, do you know who I am?"
Mu Anxiao heard no sound and just kept shaking her head.
Seeing her reaction, Feng Qishi was truly frightened.