After the Stand-in Hugged the White Moonlight's Thigh Tightly - Chapter 27

Chapter 27: The Two of You are Big Bad Guys

After much effort, Song Chenxi finally agreed to communicate with the spirits.

However, the ritual had to wait until nightfall. Since it was still early, Ruan Mingyu started tidying up the medical hall. Looking at the large spirit field and the spacious courtyard, he felt delighted. If he became capable enough in the future, he would keep the medical hall running.

But as he tidied, Yueya stood stubbornly to the side.

“Don’t touch that! Wait, don’t touch that either! Zhao Ziping will be unhappy!”

“What can’t be touched?” Song Chenxi came over to support Ruan Mingyu. “This entire area belongs to him now. He can do whatever he wants. If you keep wailing around, I’ll chain you up again.”

Yueya seethed but didn’t dare to speak out. Once she walked far enough away, she cursed: “The two of you are big bad guys!”

Ruan Mingyu suddenly sneezed for no reason.

…

When night arrived, there were no lights, and everything was pitch black. A window in the room had a hole, and the cold wind blew right through.

Yueya paced back and forth, clearly anxious but not daring to hurry them, so she just stood there glaring.

It wasn’t until Ruan Mingyu signaled to Song Chenxi: “Senior Brother, it’s already dark.”

Only then did Song Chenxi begin his preparations. He went outside to an empty space and told Yueya: “Go find an item he used during his life, preferably one deeply connected to him.”

Without thinking, Yueya told Ruan Mingyu to bring out the booklet filled with pill formulas.

Ruan Mingyu handed the booklet to Song Chenxi.

Song Chenxi nodded and busied himself alone, drawing a massive magic array called a Spirit Gathering Array, specifically used for communicating with spirits. He placed the book right in the center.

Next, Song Chenxi activated the array. In the darkness, golden flames ignited where the array was drawn.

As Song Chenxi poured his spiritual energy into it, the golden light gradually formed a blurry human figure.

Yueya stared intently at the figure reappearing in the array, barely holding back her tears.

A refined and scholarly-looking man appeared above the array. His body was semi-transparent. It was Zhao Ziping in his youth, without a single strand of white hair.

Yueya wiped her tears and walked closer to him.

“Yueya, why have you turned back into a child?” Zhao Ziping reached out to touch Yueya’s head, but his hand merely passed through her body. He had forgotten that he was now a spirit, only existing due to his last thread of attachment to the world.

He smiled at Yueya, seizing the time to say everything he wanted to: “I’m gone now. You must take care of yourself. Since this medical hall has been sold, let the new owners make good use of it. If you’re not happy staying here, just go back to the mountain. The osmanthus cake you like to eat—the recipe is in the bottom drawer of my study. If you can’t make it yourself, ask the neighbor’s auntie to help you…” He spoke a great deal, mostly trivial things, but he meticulously told Yueya everything.

Yueya bawled, but after a moment, she covered her own mouth because if her voice was too loud, she wouldn’t be able to hear Zhao Ziping speak.

Yueya quietly listened to him, not interrupting for the first time. Only after he finished speaking did she ask him, “Zhao Ziping, can we still meet again?”

Zhao Ziping smiled: “There will definitely be a chance.”

Yueya wiped away her tears: “Then go. Don’t worry about me. I’m a Great Demon, not a real child.”

Zhao Ziping looked at her gently: “Then I have no regrets.”

His body became even more transparent. Before he completely vanished, his last words were actually directed at Ruan Mingyu: “As a fellow physician, I give this booklet to you. It records many of my insights from these years. I hope you can use it to help the suffering of patients…”

Ruan Mingyu nodded.

He took one last look in Yueya’s direction, and his figure instantly dissolved into a sky full of shimmering lights.

Yueya stared blankly as he left. Under the immense sadness, she couldn’t cry anymore.

Ruan Mingyu went over and sat next to her: “He wouldn’t want you to be so sad.”

Yueya shook her head: “I knew this day would come sooner or later, but I didn’t expect it to come so quickly. The life of a mortal is truly as fleeting as a mayfly…”

Hearing her words, Ruan Mingyu also fell silent with her.

The night sky in this world was very bright; the moon and stars were clearly visible. The moon was half-full; if even the moon cannot always be perfectly round, how can life be?

Ruan Mingyu pondered for a moment, then suddenly said, “Just live one day at a time, as long as you have no regrets.”

Yueya looked up at him and said, “Then you must properly read and learn from the booklet he gave you. His wish was to save more people. Now that it has been passed to you, you must do the same.”

Ruan Mingyu teased: “Oh, so this is forced buying and selling.”

Yueya said: “Just consider it… fulfilling his wish.” As she spoke, she suddenly revealed her true form again, and countless roots and leaves shot out from underground.

Ruan Mingyu was startled and quickly scurried to hide behind Song Chenxi.

“Grandma, I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it! Why are you trying to hit people again?”

Yueya: “You’re too noisy. Be quiet! I’m looking for something. I don’t have time to fight with you.”

Ruan Mingyu: “…”

Song Chenxi let out a muffled laugh, pretending to pull him out from behind: “If you keep doing that, I’ll have to charge you a protection fee.”

Ruan Mingyu knew his nature too well and refused to move: “Charge away. I’ll go back and refine a few bottles of pills for you as payment.” He leaned on Song Chenxi’s shoulder to see what Yueya was actually looking for.

Song Chenxi enjoyed Ruan Mingyu’s dependence on him. The face that usually only showed sarcasm suddenly displayed a very normal smile, but Ruan Mingyu didn’t see it, or he would have been dumbfounded.

Yueya rummaged through the spirit field and eventually found a small box. The tentacle-like roots brought the box to Ruan Mingyu.

“For me?”

“Nonsense.”

Ruan Mingyu opened it to find a box full of spirit stones.

Yueya said, “You cultivators are the most greedy. Now that you’ve accepted my spirit stones, there’s no reason not to help me.”

Although he really wanted them, he couldn’t accept them. Ruan Mingyu closed the box and pushed it back onto her roots: “Take it back. I don’t want it. I will do what you asked without you having to pay me.”

Yueya didn’t hesitate at all and really took the box back: “Those words came from your own mouth! You can’t take back what you’ve said!”

Ruan Mingyu declared: “If I lie to you, may my Senior Brother strike me dead with a sword!”

Song Chenxi, standing nearby, raised an eyebrow: “You have such a request? I can grant it right now.”

Ruan Mingyu clasped his hands together, flattering and charming Song Chenxi.

Song Chenxi let out a humph and didn’t say anything more.

Ruan Mingyu then asked Yueya: “Grandma, are you going back to the mountain or staying at the medical hall?”

Yueya: “Of course, I’m staying at the medical hall!”

Ruan Mingyu smiled brightly—a smile that felt slightly cunning: “That’s great! In that case, you help me guard this area. When you’re free, help me manage the spirit field. I’ll pay you spirit stones every month at the market price. I’ll hire you. Since you’re staying here anyway, you might as well keep busy.”

His words sounded quite reasonable.

Song Chenxi chuckled softly: “Our Little Sparrow is truly a big philanthropist.”

Song Chenxi always spoke in that peculiar manner, and Ruan Mingyu never knew if he was being complimented or mocked, so he simply ignored the hidden meaning: “Haha, I am a little bit.”

Yueya thought for a moment and said, “I charge a lot. You’ll have to give me at least two spirit stones a month.”

Ruan Mingyu was overjoyed to hear this. Hiring a Great Demon to work for him for just two spirit stones a month! What a bargain!

Ruan Mingyu gloated while pretending to be reluctant: “Alright, then I’ll reluctantly agree.”

…

After bustling around the medical hall for a few more days, the two finished tidying up their belongings. Ruan Mingyu then bought some medicinal herb seedlings and planted them in the spirit field. He couldn’t stay here all the time, but thankfully, he had Yueya—cheap and useful—a very satisfactory employee.

With things mostly settled, the two decided to return to the sect. Ruan Mingyu calculated in his mind that this trip down the mountain had nearly depleted all the spirit stones he had saved over the years. He needed to figure out a way to earn more money when he got back.

Upon returning to the sect, the two disciples guarding the gate stopped them, or rather, they stopped Song Chenxi.

“Senior Brother, the Sect Elder requests your presence.”

Song Chenxi frowned: “Who complained about me this time? Was it Shen Yenyuan? He couldn’t win, so now he’s playing dirty.”

Song Chenxi scoffed, ready to go argue with the Elder. After he left, Ruan Mingyu asked around and found out that Song Chenxi’s private infighting had been discovered. Ruan Mingyu thought, Serves him right for not listening to my advice and fighting Shen Yenyuan.

Song Chenxi was gone for half a day. When he returned, his face was extremely sullen.

Ruan Mingyu probed for a while before learning that he was sentenced to be confined on Siguo Cliff (Cliff of Contemplation) for half a year.

Ruan Mingyu felt a bit schadenfreude. Who told him not to listen?

Song Chenxi had only just returned, and now he had to go stay on Siguo Cliff again. This sentence would last nearly half a year. By rights, the punishment shouldn’t have been so severe; fighting was commonplace. Ruan Mingyu later found out it was because Song Chenxi refused to apologize to Shen Yenyuan.

Ruan Mingyu had never been to Siguo Cliff, but he heard it was on the most remote cliff in the back mountains of the sect—a desolate place where not even birds would stop.

Before his confinement, Song Chenxi came to see Ruan Mingyu and told him: “It’s only half a year. It’ll pass quickly. Don’t you dare be fickle while I’m gone.”

His words were becoming increasingly confusing.

Fickle about what? Change his mind about what?

Ruan Mingyu was utterly perplexed.