My Gorgeous Neighbor Is Cooking Every Day - Chapter 49

Chapter 49

The headache intensified, drilling into her brain rhythmically. Her heart, too, felt an unfamiliar, uncontrollable ache, a dense and protracted pain, more unbearable than a knife cutting her body. It felt as if this pain would accompany her for the rest of her life, followed closely by fear.

She was losing something.

“Just hold on a little longer.”

Two voices came from the air. Xia Xingye looked at the two increasingly faint figures ahead, bit her lip, and continued to move forward.

She couldn’t remember who was helping her, but they were both working hard for her. What reason did she have to stop here?

The pressure squeezing her internal organs became stronger, a force that felt like it was almost crushing them.

Blood overflowed from the corner of her mouth, dripping down and staining the soil that had just been washed by the rain.

She heard talking in the distance. She was only a few steps away from her destination.

Xia Xingye’s legs felt heavy, like they were filled with cement. Every step drained her strength. She was drenched in sweat, which blurred her vision. She raised the back of her hand to wipe away the sweat from her eyes, but in just a moment, the sweat blurred her vision again.

She simply ignored it and walked with her head down.

Once she got there, she would know what was happening.

The two figures stopped ahead. The taller one embraced the smaller one and whispered, “The rest is up to you. You can bring her back. We’ll wait for you.”

Xia Xingye looked for a moment and nodded forcefully.

She would do it. She would bring the person back, even though she didn’t know who that person was yet.

Taking two more steps forward startled the people who were talking.

“Who is it!”

Xia Xingye didn’t speak. Soon, a person looked down from the slope. Seeing it was Xia Xingye, he widened his eyes, “You came back to die?”

He turned and shouted, “Boss! The previous one is back!”

Another voice complained, “I told you not to let her go. She was just pretending.”

A man came over, looked, frowned, and said, “She’s here, so what? Just deal with her, too. What’s there to be afraid of?”

When they saw Xia Xingye, they cautiously held their respective weapons aimed at her, afraid she might do something uncontrollable.

Xia Xingye glared at them. She hated these people, for no specific reason.

Her gaze angered one of them, who picked up a stone and threw it at Xia Xingye.

Dong! The stone hit Xia Xingye’s head. Xia Xingye fell forward, landing face down on the ground, motionless.

The few men looked at each other. Someone asked tentatively, “Boss, what should we do now?”

Long Dao thought for a moment and said, “Drag her over and throw her next to her. Let her see what the person she desperately tried to save looks like now.”

“Yes!”

There was an empty space on the slope. Strange candles were placed around the space, and a complex pattern was drawn on the ground. In the center, there was a person covered in blood. The flowing blood slowly filled the gaps in the pattern, already half full.

A person was thrown beside her. Jiang Yingyue wearily opened her eyes. Seeing Xia Xingye, she froze and looked at the people around.

Long Dao said innocently, “She insisted on coming back herself. We were going to let her go.”

Jiang Yingyue didn’t speak, but someone else said strangely, “She doesn’t remember you. I wonder how she found her way here.”

Long Dao glanced at the sky. “One more hour.”

The moon was gradually rising into the sky and would reach the zenith in an hour.

The dark clouds had long dispersed, and the rain-washed sky was eerily bright.

Jiang Yingyue lay on her back, but her eyes were focused on Xia Xingye lying beside her.

One hour. The people who had been up for days and nights were starting to wear out. They glanced at the two people lying quietly in the center.

Xia Xingye was unconscious. Jiang Yingyue’s wrists were still slowly bleeding. Her face was pale, and she lay still with her eyes closed.

With the two people unable to resist, they collectively sighed in relief and quietly closed their eyes to rest.

They initially intended to just pretend to sleep, but sharing the same idea, no one reminded the others not to fall asleep.

In a few moments, they were all sound asleep in the quiet night.

“Jiejie…”

Jiang Yingyue suddenly opened her eyes, looking in disbelief at the person beside her who was calling her in a hushed voice.

Xia Xingye blinked. Seeing Jiang Yingyue look at her, she smiled.

“You…” Jiang Yingyue looked around, then whispered, “You still remember me?”

Xia Xingye was stunned, “Aren’t we meeting for the first time?”

As soon as she woke up, she saw a beautiful profile and subconsciously called out.

Jiang Yingyue was also stunned, disappointed that Xia Xingye didn’t remember her, although she knew it wasn’t her fault. The next second, she heard Xia Xingye excitedly ask, “Jiejie finds me familiar. It must mean we have a connection.”

She was smiling, seemingly unaware of her current predicament, her eyes only filled with Jiang Yingyue.

Jiang Yingyue couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you scared?”

“Scared of what?”

As Xia Xingye spoke, she noticed their surroundings. Her eyes widened in surprise, but seeing Jiang Yingyue remain silent, she was smart enough not to make a fuss and whispered, “What should we do?”

Her mind was in a turmoil. She remembered looking for something. The fear from a little while ago still lingered, but upon seeing Jiang Yingyue, she was no longer afraid of anything. With Jiang Yingyue here, she didn’t need to fear or worry about anything. She could trust this person implicitly.

It was a very strange feeling. She had never experienced this before, yet she didn’t want to figure it out or resist her dependence on Jiang Yingyue.

“Am I disrupting your plan by being here?” This was Xia Xingye’s only worry.

“You came just in time.”

Jiang Yingyue was lying on her back. She clearly saw the movement of the moon. She knew what Long Dao and his companions were planning and was waiting for an opportunity.

If Xia Xingye hadn’t come, she might have had to risk dying with them. She believed Xia Xingye would come, but she also privately hoped Xia Xingye wouldn’t risk coming.

“Do you have any cinnabar on you?”

“I don’t know.” Xia Xingye confusedly felt around her body and touched the withered strange plant Sheng Rudong had given her earlier. “I only have this.”

She was about to put it back when Jiang Yingyue suddenly called out, “Wait a minute.”

Xia Xingye held the strange plant, looking at Jiang Yingyue.

Jiang Yingyue stared blankly at the plant in her hand. Others might not recognize it, but how could she forget?

She suppressed the bitterness and smiled, saying, “This is better than cinnabar.”

“Are you okay?” Xia Xingye felt inexplicably sad. Did she also recognize this strange plant?

“I’m fine. Give it to me.” Xia Xingye placed the strange plant in Jiang Yingyue’s hand. Jiang Yingyue then said, “If possible, try to rub away some of the pattern.”

Xia Xingye glanced at a corner of the pattern, reached out, and rubbed it. The smell of blood made her stomach churn. Since she woke up, she had been intentionally ignoring the injuries on Jiang Yingyue’s body. Now that the patterns were soaked in blood, she could no longer ignore it.

Biting her lip, she rubbed away a little. Her feet restlessly moved around.

This thing definitely wasn’t good. Why would normal people do this?

She had stumbled into a world that didn’t belong to her. She hated it, but she wasn’t in a hurry to leave. She had to take Jiang Yingyue with her and leave this disgusting place.

“You’re awake?!”

A furious shout woke everyone up. Long Dao saw Xia Xingye’s movement. His blood boiled, and he immediately threw the long knife in his hand.

Xia Xingye was startled and quickly retracted her hand.

Long Dao roared angrily, “I think you want your hand tendons cut like hers!”

“What?” Xia Xingye froze.

Long Dao saw her stunned and said maliciously, “I almost forgot your relationship. I’m telling you, she secretly tried to untie the ropes. We found out and crippled her hands.”

Xia Xingye’s head buzzed. Her eyes uncontrollably looked at Jiang Yingyue’s hands. She thought they were just injuries.

The bloody, bruised wrists came into view. Jiang Yingyue wanted to pull her hands back, but the pain made every movement torture. She said softly, “It’s alright. We can just go to the hospital later.”

Her voice was soft and gentle, as if the person whose hand tendons were cut wasn’t her.

“You still think you can leave?” Long Dao sneered, looked up at the moon. “It’s time.”

He looked at the others. They immediately stood in their positions, as if they had practiced thousands of times, without any hesitation, chanting the same complex phrases.

Aside from throwing the knife at the beginning, Long Dao made no further movement and didn’t walk towards them.

“He doesn’t dare to come in,” Jiang Yingyue whispered.

Xia Xingye snapped back to attention, quickly looking down and stepping on the lines beneath her feet, messing them up. Her body was still trembling, but her movements were swift and decisive.

Long Dao mocked, “Don’t waste your energy. You can’t break it.”

Xia Xingye ignored him, focusing only on messing up the lines beneath her feet.

The lines seemed to be reflected from the soil. The more she rubbed, the deeper lines in the soil became visible.

Xia Xingye didn’t stop and looked at Jiang Yingyue. The latter was still lying on the ground. Seeing Xia Xingye look at her, she gave a reassuring smile.

After a moment’s pause, Xia Xingye moved faster. Long Dao went from being relaxed to becoming anxious, his expression twisted as he stared at Xia Xingye.

“Nothing will go wrong,” Long Dao muttered.

He had been preparing for so long. How could he fail so easily because of a young girl?

He looked up hopefully. Just a little more. Just a little more, and it would be over.

Unless it was destroyed in this short time, it would be impossible to stop him.

If it could be stopped, Jiang Yingyue would have acted already. There’s no reason she would wait until now.

He convinced himself, but he still couldn’t control the worry in his heart.

Xia Xingye simply squatted down, trying to dig out the lines. The soil was soaked by the rain but still hard. Her fingernails stung. They must have broken.

She frowned and continued to dig down.

Just a little more. She just needed to try a little harder.

The instant the blood spread, it stung her eyes. Xia Xingye resisted the urge to look up at Jiang Yingyue.

She just needed to do what she had to do. She believed Jiang Yingyue could handle her side.

They had agreed they would leave this place together.

The moment this thought appeared in her mind, Xia Xingye was momentarily lost in thought, and even the pain in her hands disappeared.

Yes, they had agreed they would leave together.

They were just a few bad people. Why should they stop them from leaving this place together?

Blood fell into the pit. The pit in front of her was almost entirely her blood, repeatedly staining the freshly turned soil red, completely obscuring the lines.

Xia Xingye squinted, trying hard to discern if the lines still existed, when she suddenly heard a frantic voice.

“Stop it! I told you to stop!”

Xia Xingye’s eyes lit up. She must have succeeded.

She looked up. Jiang Yingyue had stood up at some point. She was beside her, shielding her from Long Dao.

Xia Xingye instinctively supported the swaying person. The touch was warm, and she looked at her hands, which were red.

She suddenly walked in front of Jiang Yingyue. There was a dagger in her abdomen.

Jiang Yingyue was standing here not because it was time, but simply to protect her.