Chapter 60: Why Was He Wandering Into Another Person’s Room?

“There’s someone that doesn’t want to come?”

In the room, Bian Zhonghua frowned after hearing Master Lu’s words.

Qi Ci, who sat aside drinking tea, paused.

Master Lu simply wiped the cold sweat on his forehead. After all, he came here to consult secretly with Bian Zhonghua, but he didn’t expect that the Prince would also be present.

The Prince’s room was obviously much more spacious and comfortable than this one, so why was he wandering into another person’s room? Did he like the furnishing of this room better?

“Lord Bian, let me tell you the truth. The one who refused to come is a scholar who doesn’t live in the Lu Family Village. He came here a year ago, and I heard that both his parents died when he was a child. He’s an inauspicious man who lives at the south of the forest, and he’s always alone, with no relatives or friends around him, so ….”

At that moment, Lu Ren hesitated to speak. He had the intention to persuade Bian Zhonghua into letting that man alone, but no matter what he said, it didn’t sound good.

Bian Zhonghua nodded and said: “I understand. Master Lu, sorry to bother you.”

Lu Ren then asked cautiously: “Um, Lord Bian, what–…”

Bian Zhonghua interrupted him: “I’ll go find this man on my own to understand his situation. As for the night vigil, it will be the same as usual.”

Lu Ren took a long breath and sighed with relief. After thanking Bian Zhonghua for his kind words, he withdrew from the room.

At that, Qi Ci put the teacup on the table and said to Bian Zhonghua: “I want to go find this man with you.”

Bian Zhonghua raised his eyebrows and said: “What?”

“It’s just that,” Qi Ci hesitated for a long time before he could say: “I think this man’s situation is similar to what I went through.”

Then, Bian Zhonghua asked: “Apart from losing his parents at a young age and living on his own, how is his situation similar to yours?”

Qi Ci smiled and tapped his fingers on the table, feeling a bit embarrassed. When he noticed that Bian Zhonghua was still looking at him, he hurried to move his gaze back to his hand and said: “In the past, I was also told that I was cursed by an evil spirit and that my fate was inauspicious.”

Bian Zhonghua’s eyebrows knitted up at once while his eyes turned cold. He asked: “When? By whom?”

Little by little, Qi Ci pulled out that memory from his unconscious mind and said: “It was around the time I was 12 years old. That year, a scammer, who presented himself as a Great Immortal, came to the town. He would sell scrap metal as magic weapons, deceiving people for their money. At that time, my mother was seriously ill and confined in bed, so I gritted my teeth and took all the money we had left to buy a pill that could cure all diseases from that scammer. In the end, my mother died as soon as she took the pill….”

Qi Ci paused, looking very sad. After calming down, he continued: “So, I exposed that liar. The day my mother was buried, that scammer appeared again. He said that I was cursed by an evil spirit and that I had an ominous fate. He said that I will provoke the death of people around me, and that my mother died because of me. After telling me that I will die at the age of 20, he spilled black dog blood all over me and covered me with the ash of a yellow talisman. At the time, because I was too young, I didn’t understand that it wasn’t my fault, and I really believed that my mother died because of me. As I buried my mother with tears falling down my eyes, an Aunty from the neighborhood found me. Since she saw I was dirty and crying miserably, she hurried to ask me what had happened. Can you guess what happened next?”

Bian Zhonghua slightly clenched his right hand into a fist and frowned: “Did they ostracize you?”

‘If I think about it, why else would Qi Ci move to the suburbs when he was living in the town? It couldn’t be simply because he wanted to be close to the grave, right?’

The burning anger rolled all over Bian Zhonghua’s chest, making him want to find that scammer and cut him into pieces.

However, Qi Ci smiled at him, shook his head slowly, and said: “They didn’t ostracize me, on the contrary, that Aunty called several neighbors who had also been scammed and ran together to the next village. After they found the scammer, they beat him up and scolded him for scamming them and bullying a child. Then, they came back to help me bury my mother.”

Bian Zhonghua’s anger was instantly replaced by surprise.

Qi Ci lowered his gaze, clasped his palms together, and interlocked his fingers. Then, he whispered: “I just think that not everyone can have the fortune to meet so many kind-hearted people, so when I see people that are going through something similar, I want to help them.”

“You,” Bian Zhonghua, who wondered for a moment, finally asked: “Did you move to the suburbs later on because you actually believed the words of that scammer? Did you really think that you were cursed and destined to bring death to people close to you?”

“….” Qi Ci looked at Bian Zhonghua with surprise. As he scratched his face feeling somewhat embarrassed, he smiled gently and said: “It was just in case. I was really young at the time, and when I heard someone say that I will bring death to my relatives and friends, I was a bit doubtful. After all, the neighbors were good people, and I didn’t want to harm them….”

Bian Zhonghua took a long breath, exhaled, and showed a helpless smile. Even though he wanted to scold Qi Ci for being a fool, he was reluctant to do so. In the end, he reached out and rubbed Qi Ci’s head. Then, he got up and said: “Let’s go find that scholar who doesn’t want to come here, to see what his situation is like.”