Following Uncle Zhong out of the courtyard, Yan Shouyi saw Liu Yiren changed into her riding gear again, astride her cool motorcycle, looking like she had been waiting for a while.
"How is the wound on your arm recovering? Is it inflamed?" Liu Yiren greeted him, showing a bit of concern.
Yan Shouyi directly untied the bandage to show her the wound. She was astonished to find that the injury, which had been raw and bleeding yesterday, had already scabbed over and healed today.
A wound that would take at least half a month to recover for an ordinary person, Yan Shouyi could heal in three to four days at most.
"Your recovery speed is too exaggerated. Aren't you afraid of being captured for scientific research?" Liu Yiren exclaimed.
Yan Shouyi replied with a smile, "When I was a child, my grandfather sent me to live in Yunnan for a year. I spent a year in a daze in Bai Cao Valley near Yulong Snow Mountain."
"What does that have to do with your incredible recovery ability?" Liu Yiren asked, puzzled.
"That year, I basically ate and slept, and slept and ate, but what I ate wasn't food, but various poisons. Every time my grandfather poisoned me, he immediately revived me, repeating this process. I consumed about twenty kinds of poisons daily, and in the end, I was forcefully rendered immune to all poisons, and my recovery ability far surpassed that of ordinary people. However, I was mostly unconscious that year and have almost no memories of it..."
Liu Yiren said, "That's too unbelievable. You're not lying to me, are you?"
"Then should I tell you I was injected with super-soldier serum?" Yan Shouyi retorted.
With this comparison, Liu Yiren found Yan Shouyi's previous explanation more plausible.
She didn't press further, handed the helmet she was holding to Yan Shouyi, and motioned for him to get on the motorcycle.
Yan Shouyi instinctively looked up, searching for any sign of crows, which earned him a glare from Liu Yiren.
He chuckled a few times, put on the helmet, and sat behind her. Due to the motorcycle's design, Yan Shouyi and Liu Yiren's bodies were pressed tightly together. Unaccustomed to this, Yan Shouyi occasionally bumped helmets with Liu Yiren, making clanking sounds.
Uncle Zhong waved goodbye to them and said, "Second Young Lady, Mr. Yan, have a safe trip and return soon. We'll have lunch ready for you."
"Got it!"
Liu Yiren made a gesture, shifted gears, twisted the throttle, and sped off with Yan Shouyi.
Liu Yiren's daring was truly remarkable. She took Yan Shouyi on a thrilling ride along the winding mountain roads, never slowing down for the curves, often passing the drainage ditch just by a hair's breadth.
If Yan Shouyi hadn't calculated before leaving that he wouldn't be in a car accident, he would never have dared to ride with Liu Yiren.
If everything went as expected, they'd be back for lunch. If anything went wrong, the entire Drunken Flower Pavilion would be preparing for a funeral feast.
The two rode for about an hour further into the depths of Gulang. The roads became narrower, and human traces grew scarcer. Eventually, Yan Shouyi checked his phone and found that there was no signal.
Occasionally, they saw signs on the roadside, such as "Arson will result in imprisonment" and "No hunting of wild animals."
This made Yan Shouyi breathe a sigh of relief: at least it proved there was still law in this place...
The asphalt road turned into a concrete road, the concrete road into a gravel road, and the gravel road finally became a dirt road.
During a break, Yan Shouyi couldn't help but ask, "If I weren't a man, I'd be truly scared you'd dump me in some mountain gully and sell me."
Liu Yiren retorted, "I'm not scared, and you have the nerve to be!"
"But your Liu family's ancestral home is too far. Have you been there yourself?"
"Of course, I have. We go to the ancestral home every week to offer sacrifices and pay respects to our ancestors."
"Then have you met your ancestors?"
Liu Yiren gave Yan Shouyi a glare, "Am I dead?"
Yan Shouyi understood. It turned out Liu Yiren didn't know they were a family of ghost kings.
He figured this was because Old Master Liu had a clear understanding of his own position and, to ensure his descendants remained low-key, had intentionally not disclosed these matters.
Compared to the arrogant Bai family, the Liu family was indeed much more low-key. Otherwise, it was possible that some ill-intentioned members of the Liu family might engage in the same practice as the Bai family, luring souls to offer to their ancestors, which would be terrible for the citizens of Rongcheng.
The Liu family was more like peaceful residents living in seclusion in the mountains, unconcerned with worldly affairs. Power and money were not what they valued; they valued the ability to live long and well in the mortal world.
After a short rest, the two resumed their journey. About half an hour later, Liu Yiren finally stopped the motorcycle outside a large mansion.
The mansion was built in a mountain valley, flanked by lush, ancient trees. A small path connected the residence to the outside world, with thick yellow fallen leaves lining the path. From a distance, one could see the characters "Liu Residence" inscribed on the plaque.
Two locust trees were planted in front of the Liu Residence's gate. These two ancient trees lent a touch of gloom to the mansion; sunlight could not penetrate, and even the wind blowing through felt cold and somber.
Liu Yiren said, "This is it. We usually don't dare to stay here for too long. Grandpa says the Yin energy here is heavy, and staying too long will make us sick."
Yan Shouyi crouched down, pushed aside the fallen leaves, and brought a handful of soil to his nose to smell.
Indeed, as Liu Yiren had said, the Yin energy here was already quite dense. If not for Liu Yiren's blood relation to the Liu family ancestors residing here, she likely would have fainted before even reaching the gate.
But even so, given her physical condition, staying in the Liu family's ancestral home for more than half a day would definitely lead to illness due to Yin energy contamination.
"You wait here. I'll go in and take a look myself," Yan Shouyi said.
Liu Yiren asked curiously, "Why are you suddenly going to our ancestral home to take a look?"
Yan Shouyi fabricated an excuse, "Your grandfather wants me to help your Liu family improve their Feng Shui, so he asked me to examine your ancestral home. You wait outside. I won't be in there for too long. If I'm not out by noon, you can go back first, and come back to pick me up at noon the next day when the sun is strongest."
"Hearing you say that, I somehow feel like you're going to do something not so good..."
A trace of worry appeared in Liu Yiren's eyes.
Although she hadn't known Yan Shouyi for long, her woman's intuition told her that Yan Shouyi was hiding something from her.
To alleviate Liu Yiren's concerns, Yan Shouyi took out the wooden bird from his satchel and handed it to her.
"If you get bored, you can let it keep you company. Or if there's anything important, you can have it fly in to notify me. In short, once I go in, you shouldn't follow. "
Liu Yiren examined the wooden bird, "It's just a wooden bird, can it talk?"
"You saw a wild boar demon yesterday, and you still doubt if a wooden bird can talk?" Yan Shouyi smiled mysteriously and no longer said anything, then walked towards the Liu family's ancestral home.
Liu Yiren watched Yan Shouyi push open the door and enter the ancestral home. After waiting for a while, she couldn't hear any sounds from inside.
She leaned against the motorcycle and idly teased the wooden bird, "Wooden bird, wooden bird, what's your name?"
Unexpectedly, the wooden bird, which had been motionless, actually flapped its wings and flew up, emitting a sound like "San Yuan."
"It can actually talk..."
Liu Yiren was very surprised and asked, "Are you named San Yuan?"
The wooden bird landed on Liu Yiren's palm and nodded its small head, seemingly answering her question.
Liu Yiren became interested, never expecting that such a small wooden bird could actually chat with her. Suddenly, this empty mountain valley didn't seem so boring.
She recalled the wild boar demon Zhu Shanzao from yesterday and couldn't help but ask, "San Yuan, are you a monster?"
The wooden bird thought for a moment, flew to the ground, picked up a small twig, and wrote the character "鬼" (ghost) on the dirt.
This scared Liu Yiren so much that she turned pale and took several steps back.
In the wilderness, with Yan Shouyi nowhere in sight, and the talking wooden bird claiming to be a ghost, even the bravest person like Liu Yiren would be frightened.
Seeing Liu Yiren's fear, the wooden bird quickly added two characters after "鬼": 弟弟 (younger brother).
Liu Yiren, seeing this, asked timidly, "You're saying you're Yan Shouyi's younger brother?"
The wooden bird nodded again.
Liu Yiren breathed a sigh of relief. Since it was the ghost of a relative, it probably wouldn't harm her, right?
No, since Yan Shouyi dared to leave San Yuan behind, it meant San Yuan definitely wouldn't harm her.
With this realization, Liu Yiren's emotions stabilized slightly. She even found the wooden bird to look like a sturdy little brother, quite adorable.
The person and the bird began to chat idly outside the Liu family's ancestral home.
Meanwhile, inside the Liu family's ancestral home, the situation Yan Shouyi encountered was far from simple.