Ye Huohuo felt increasingly agitated the more she thought about it. She decided to stop thinking, her master always spoke of destiny, and destiny couldn't be forced.
Let fate take its course!
So she placed the bronze wine vessel into the box. Originally, she had intended to paste a talisman on the outside of the box, but the moment the lid was closed, the malevolent energy was sealed within, without a trace leaking out.
Ye Huohuo returned the box to Li Yuan, asking him to find a secure place to store it, and said she would find an opportunity to deal with the wine vessel inside. She would retrieve the purple jade treasure chest later.
As noon approached, after eating, Ye Huohuo took Nie Ming and walked towards the outside of the Li family villa.
"Where—where are you going?" Nie Ming asked, perched on her shoulder, tilting his head.
"To find someone and do something," Ye Huohuo replied, taking out a small black bottle from her bag. A small seal was still attached to it.
"Th-this is Lihua's soul. Are you going to find her husband and mother-in-law?" Nie Ming cried out, his voice hoarse, making Ye Huohuo squint her eyes as he spoke near her ear.
"Stop yelling so loud, Senior Brother. You're deafening me. If others hear you, they'll think you're a monster and capture you."
"You—you're blaming me for being su-surprised? You've been chased and beaten these past few days, and now that things have calmed down, you can't stand still again!"
Ye Huohuo poked her ear, "Senior Brother, are we the kind of people who only passively endure attacks? Isn't the tenet of our Wuji Temple always 'If someone strikes me, I strike back with a sword'?
Revenge taken ten years later is not our way.
I have a feeling Lihua knows something. We can't always be on the defensive. The other side has harmed us many times, yet we still don't know who they are.
These fights have been too humiliating. We need to at least understand what they are trying to do. Right now, Lihua is the only breakthrough. However, her obsession is too deep. To make her speak, we must first resolve the obsession in her heart."
"Th-then how do you plan to investigate?"
Ye Huohuo quickly performed a few finger calculations and smiled faintly, "It seems forging a connection with the Li family really does make things easier."
In front of the graduate building of the Law and Politics School at Haicheng University, a young girl dressed in a goose-yellow casual outfit attracted everyone's attention.
Most of the boys were stunned, thinking, "How come we never noticed such a little beauty before? Isn't she from our university? She's so cute, she must be studying acting!"
The girls, however, were mostly drawn to the large black bird perched on her shoulder.
A girl in a white dress, graceful and elegant, walked up to Ye Huohuo. "Classmate, which department are you from? This myna is very interesting. Could I take a look?"
The girl in the white dress smiled very gently, but her tone carried a hint of assertiveness, giving Ye Huohuo the feeling that refusal was not an option.
With the girl in white approaching to strike up a conversation, several girls nearby also came over, all extremely interested in Nie Ming on Ye Huohuo's shoulder.
Two of them were even eager, reaching out to touch Nie Ming.
Ye Huohuo ignored the girl in white and took a step back, waving her hand. "Be careful, he has a bad temper. Don't let him bite your hands."
In reality, she was afraid Nie Ming would be embarrassed. Her Senior Brother, when he was alive, would blush whenever he saw girls, and would stammer so badly when nervous that he couldn't speak.
Even now, as a myna bird, he was still a shy myna bird. Once, he had been so scared by a few girls "crowding around to touch him" that he had lost consciousness on the spot and flew away for several days before returning to the Taoist temple.
If he lost consciousness here, she wouldn't have to do anything else but look for him.
Seeing Ye Huohuo step away, the faces of several girls turned displeased. "It's just a myna bird, why so stingy!"
"Exactly. Acting like you're part of a traveling circus, carrying a myna bird around campus all day. I think you're just trying to attract the attention of boys. You know there are many rich young men at our university, trying to catch a sugar daddy, right!"
"I think so too. Hey, which department are you from! How come we've never seen you before? Not just anyone can enter our school freely, can they?"
Ye Huohuo felt her head throbbing. She really was stepping into one disaster after another. Why did she attract so much gossip wherever she went? All because she had a myna bird on her shoulder? Was it necessary to provoke so much animosity?
University was a place she yearned for. Seeing her peers living and studying happily here, she felt immense envy. She hadn't even finished high school and had to go out into society to build good karma, otherwise she would have died years ago.
Now, when asked what department she was from, she was momentarily speechless. She didn't even know what departments Haicheng University had.
Driven by an inexplicable impulse, she replied, "I'm from the Law and Politics department."
She knew this because she was here to find Li Mochen. He was currently working on a thesis with a professor, and had just asked Ye Huohuo to wait for him downstairs for a while over the phone.
But she hadn't expected that her casual remark would draw a crowd of people to question her.
She had forgotten that she was standing right below the Law and Politics department building, and most of the people around were students from that department.
The girls who had just questioned her were also there. Upon hearing Ye Huohuo's response, they immediately began to question her sharply, "What? You're from the Law and Politics department? Which year are you? There are not many female students in our Law and Politics department, so we couldn't possibly not have seen you."
Ye Huohuo was instantly rendered speechless. She hadn't expected her casual remark to land her in such a predicament. Truly, when one is unlucky, even drinking cold water can get something stuck in their teeth. She had never entered a university before and had no idea of the rules here.
Haicheng University was one of the best universities in the country, and its students naturally possessed a sense of superiority. They detested students from less prestigious universities posing as their own.
And today, they had caught one, who was foolish enough to impersonate a student from the Law and Politics department right under their noses. Truly, not knowing the immensity of heaven and earth.
Most students from the Law and Politics department went on to become lawyers. They were the best at debate competitions, and whenever there was a debate competition at Haicheng University, their Law and Politics department consistently took first place.
These Law and Politics students could argue their way through anything, let alone when they were in the right.
Now, the girls who had been rejected found their "dignity" to defend, instantly transforming into combative chickens. If they had feathers, they would surely be standing on end.
Ye Huohuo was left speechless by their questions and was contemplating how to explain when the girl in the white dress walked up to her with a cold smile.
"Do you know who I am? I'm the Minister of Cultural Affairs for the Law and Politics Department Student Union. I have an impression of every student, regardless of their year. Don't try to fool me with nonsense. If you are one of us, just tell the truth, and you might get leniency for confessing."
Ye Huohuo thought to herself, it was true, why had she lied so inexplicably? In fact, she didn't even realize how much she longed for university. Her casual remark was precisely an expression of her deepest desire.
"I-I'm sorry, I, I'm not from the Law and Politics department. I... I'm not from Haicheng University. I'm here to find someone. He still has something unfinished, and he asked me to wait for him downstairs for a while!"
"I knew you weren't from our department. How shameless, daring to impersonate a student of Haicheng University. Truly, there are all sorts of birds in the big forest. Someone with such poor character dares to impersonate us.
No wonder our university students have such a bad reputation outside now. It's people like you who cause it. Low quality, lying, you're just a liar who speaks with eyes wide open!" another girl, wearing a blue suit, said, looking at Ye Huohuo with disdain.
Ye Huohuo felt that she had indeed lied earlier. Regardless of the reason, it was her fault first, so she endured it, biting her lip and remaining silent.
However, her attempt to de-escalate the situation did not earn her their understanding. The girl in blue only intensified her accusations. "This is the entrance to our Law and Politics department. People who are full of lies like you are forbidden to stand here. Don't taint our ground. Hurry up and take your ugly myna bird and get lost!"
Two boys nearby saw this and wanted to step forward to say something, but they were pulled back by people beside them, who quietly told them that the Law and Politics students were not to be trifled with and that they might end up in trouble.
Being scolded was the least of it; worse, they might be accused of something and receive a disciplinary action.
Upon hearing this, the boys dared not step forward. However, looking at Ye Huohuo, who was surrounded by several shrill and aggressive girls, they felt a bit of pity for her.
Ye Huohuo had initially thought that if she remained silent, they would eventually get bored and leave. She hadn't expected these girls to be like flies spotting blood, refusing to leave and instead wanting to drive her away.
Her anger was also provoked. "Classmate, although I'm not from the Law and Politics department, this is outside the Law and Politics department building. This area outside no longer belongs to your Law and Politics department, so why can't I stand here?
If you want me to leave, you can. As long as you can prove that this place belongs to you, I will leave immediately. Otherwise, in this public area, you have no right to drive me away!"
Ye Huohuo's attention was entirely focused on these girls, and she didn't notice a pair of venomous eyes staring intently at her from the shadows of the building.