My Gorgeous Neighbor Is Cooking Every Day - Chapter 45

Chapter 45

The Taoist priest spoke and walked over to the room next door. She twisted the doorknob, found the door unlocked, walked in, and immediately frowned.

When Xia Xingye saw the messy scene inside, her heart instantly sank.

“Wait a moment.”

The priest said, and began chanting something Xia Xingye couldn’t understand.

Soon, she told her, “There was a fight here. Do you know the person who lived here?”

Xia Xingye nodded then shook her head, saying, “I don’t know, I seem to have forgotten.”

The priest looked at her, searched the place again, and asked Xia Xingye, “Do you see anything familiar here?”

Xia Xingye walked into the room. Her body felt a sense of familiarity with everything here.

Her memory wouldn’t let her recall it, but as she walked past the door and held the doorknob, and walked to the bathroom sink, she instinctively took out a cup from the cabinet.

It was familiar, as if she had done this hundreds of times here.

Looking at the familiar cup, Xia Xingye was certain the owner of this room was connected to her, and the person she kept forgetting was likely the owner of this room.

“What are you doing here?” The property management’s voice sounded at the door.

She had forgotten why she came here, and being questioned by Xia Xingye made her unhappy, so she wanted to come back and check. She didn’t expect to see the door open as soon as she arrived.

A person dressed somewhat like a Taoist priest was standing in the living room, and Xia Xingye was still inside, and the room was a mess, which immediately angered her.

“Get out! This is not a place you can enter casually. If you don’t leave, I’ll call the police.”

“Wait a minute, don’t you think this place is strange?”

The property management looked at her oddly. “What’s strange about this room? Don’t talk nonsense.”

“Look, there are things here, someone has lived here,” Xia Xingye said.

The property management glanced, and indeed there were.

There were quite a few items in the room. Although it wasn’t packed, it was somewhat clear that someone had lived here.

“This might be something the previous tenant didn’t take. I’ll take care of it.”

The property management said, driving Xia Xingye and the Taoist priest out.

Xia Xingye could only fret anxiously, watching the property management call people. Before long, they cleaned up the items, preparing to throw them away.

Xia Xingye quickly said, “If you don’t want these things, send them to my room. You’re going to throw them away anyway.”

The property management looked at Xia Xingye, who stared back with wide eyes.

“Fine, we’ll put all the things in your room.”

She saw Xia Xingye continuously look at the empty room and warned, “I’ll have someone inspect this room. Don’t cause trouble.”

“Don’t find anyone, I’ll rent it, alright?” Xia Xingye said frankly. She had money anyway, and even if she didn’t, a word to Xia Wenyao would get her the money.

Seeing that Xia Xingye was serious, the property management said nothing more, only telling Xia Xingye, “I’ll give you two days to consider. If you decide to rent it after two days, then we’ll sign the contract.”

The property management had dealt with many people. She wasn’t foolish; there were many who rented on impulse only to cancel after a couple of days. Even if she collected a deposit, the deposit wasn’t high, and going through all the trouble made it less convenient than a long-term tenant.

After the property management left, the priest asked Xia Xingye, “Did you remember anything?”

“I can’t remember,” Xia Xingye said, agitated. She ran her hands through her hair. “There might be clues in the room. I’ll go check tonight.”

It was daytime now, and the property management might suddenly return. If that happened, they really wouldn’t dare rent the house to her.

“If you’re not busy, could you stay here today?”

The priest nodded. “I can.”

She was introduced by Xia Wenyao, so this was her job. It would be inappropriate to leave before solving it.

The two stayed temporarily in Xia Xingye’s room.

Xia Xingye was not in the mood to cook and ordered takeout directly.

After eating, she watched the time. In the meantime, the priest asked for details.

But no matter what, she couldn’t remember anything related to the owner of the room next door.

According to Xia Xingye, everyone around her, besides herself, had also forgotten.

She finished speaking and looked nervously at the priest; only the priest believed what she said.

But when she mentioned that no one remembered anyone being next door, the priest did not speak, and she worried the priest also thought she was lying.

After a moment, the priest said, “It should be the work of a fellow practitioner.”

“I knew I wasn’t wrong!” Xia Xingye stood up excitedly.

The priest looked at her, and Xia Xingye awkwardly sat down, asking humbly, “Taoist Master, what should we do next? I can go next door, I have the key, but what can I do once I’m inside? The things must have been cleared out. I’ve looked before and found no useful information.”

“We’ll search again later. I saw cinnabar in the living room just now. Perhaps the person next door was also a practitioner and left some things behind. As long as we find something related to her, finding her won’t be difficult.”

Xia Xingye nodded in pleasant surprise.

The priest then said, “However, if you can’t find anything related to her, it will be difficult to find her.”

“Something about her… there should be her clothes in the room?”

“Clothes won’t do,” the priest shook her head. “It must be something more personal.”

“What about hair?” Xia Xingye asked.

“Recent hair is fine, but hair from a long time ago probably won’t work.”

Xia Xingye became anxious. “Neither this nor that works! What if she was kidnapped? The person who took her must also know not to leave these clues.”

The priest looked at her without speaking.

Xia Xingye had no choice but to plead pitifully, “Please, I really have no choice. As long as you can help me find her, I’ll agree to anything you ask.”

“I will do my best.” The priest did not make a definite promise. She couldn’t guarantee finding the person, nor did she need Xia Xingye to do anything for her.

Xia Xingye bit her lip and said nothing more.

As soon as twelve o’clock arrived, Xia Xingye immediately got up and went next door.

She opened the door, turned on the light, and searched every corner.

The items were basically cleared out; the plant on the balcony had not been thrown away.

Looking at the plant, Xia Xingye slowly walked toward it.

She turned to the priest standing behind her and said, “I always feel like I’ve been here before, but I forgot.”

Given that she couldn’t remember anything about the owner of the potted plant, Xia Xingye suspected she had been there more than once, only to forget each time.

Now that she hadn’t forgotten the events of the day, she suspected it was related to the priest.

The priest saw what she was thinking and nodded, “It is indeed because I am here.”

“Does this look familiar to you?” She showed the potted plant in her hand to the priest.

The priest shook her head. “It’s just a plant that looks a bit strange.”

After searching for a while and seeing no other clues, the priest said, “I’ll go back first. We’ll talk tomorrow if there’s anything.”

Xia Xingye was anxious. “Didn’t you say you would stay? If you leave now, I’m afraid I’ll forget again.”

“It’s alright,” the priest said, handing her a folded talisman. “Keep this with you, and you won’t easily forget.”

Xia Xingye carefully put the talisman away, patting her clothes to make sure it wouldn’t fall out, and asked her, “Are you really going? Can’t you really stay here? I can sleep in the living room.”

To keep the priest, Xia Xingye didn’t mind letting the priest sleep in her room while she slept in the living room.

The priest looked at her deeply and said, “I will only be in the way if I stay here.”

She left after saying that, leaving Xia Xingye alone.

Xia Xingye didn’t understand what she meant and quietly closed the door.

Just as she turned around, someone knocked on the door. Xia Xingye paused, then opened the door in surprise, “You’re ba…”

Halfway through her sentence, someone sprayed her with medicinal powder. Before she could clearly see who was in front of her, her eyes blacked out, and she fainted.

“Xia Xingye…”

Xia Xingye heard someone call her and felt only annoyance. She opened her eyes and immediately saw a familiar face.

The person she had forgotten and the forgotten events instantly flooded into her mind like a tide. Everything became clear.

Xia Xingye stared wide-eyed at Jiang Yingyue, instinctively trying to lean towards her, but her hands and feet were tied, leaving her to squirm awkwardly.

After finally managing to scoot up and lean against Jiang Yingyue, she complained plaintively, “Why are you here?”

“Shouldn’t you be worried about yourself right now?” Jiang Yingyue said, a mix of helplessness and amusement in her voice.

She had been locked up here for some time, but as she couldn’t see the sky outside, she didn’t know how long.

She had tried to cut the ropes binding her, but the rope quality was too good. She had rubbed it for a long time without success. At this rate, she didn’t know when she would be able to get out.

She was not happy that Xia Xingye had been captured; there was no excitement that Xia Xingye could help her leave this place.

Xia Xingye complained tearfully, “I almost forgot you.”

Jiang Yingyue paused.

Long Dao and his companions had indeed threatened her, saying no one would remember her existence and no one would remember her even if she died.

But they suddenly stopped when they were about to attack her. After leaving and coming back, they said those strange things, something about how there was such a strange person in the world, always dwelling on meaningless things.

Now that she thought about it, they were likely talking about Xia Xingye.

Since Xia Xingye still remembered her, they couldn’t directly attack her, or it might cause more trouble.

Even so, they hadn’t given up on her. Instead, they focused on Xia Xingye and captured her as well.

Now that Xia Xingye had been captured, she felt uneasy.

It was bad enough that they were attacking her, but were they also planning to attack Xia Xingye?

“Hurry up, stop dragging your feet!”

Hearing the voice, Jiang Yingyue whispered, “Don’t speak later.”

She deliberately shifted closer to Xia Xingye, trying to shield her with her body.

Xia Xingye looked at Jiang Yingyue’s back and toward the direction of the voice.

Two people appeared in her line of sight. They didn’t wear masks or anything to cover their faces, just openly appearing before them.

“Awake?” Long Dao smiled as he looked at Xia Xingye. “Didn’t you want to find her? We brought you here, so why don’t you look very happy?”

Xia Xingye glared at him and said, “What do you want to do?”

“Don’t speak,” Jiang Yingyue whispered.

“What else could we do? We’re fulfilling your wish. Originally, dealing with just her was enough, but you insisted on looking for her, so we couldn’t leave you alone.”

“What you’re doing is illegal!” Xia Xingye ignored Jiang Yingyue and loudly rebuked them.

Hearing her words, Long Dao and his companion burst into laughter.

“Illegal? What can being illegal do? Both of you will be dead, and no one will remember either of you, so who will find out we broke the law?”

“This has nothing to do with her. Let her go,” Jiang Yingyue raised her voice and said.

Long Dao said dismissively, “You say let her go and we should let her go? We certainly understand the principle of ‘cutting the grass by the roots’.”