My Gorgeous Neighbor Is Cooking Every Day - Chapter 53

Chapter 53

To call it a remote small village was too euphemistic; accurately speaking, it should be described as an abandoned small village.

Walking inside, most of the houses were dilapidated, and moss grew in places where water had accumulated in front of the doors or even inside the houses.

There was nothing usable inside the houses. Even some wooden chairs or tables that couldn’t be carried away had rotted and turned into piles of rubble, barely recognizable as their original shapes.

Xia Xingye glanced at Jiang Yingyue beside her. Jiang Yingyue didn’t intend to stop and continued walking further inside.

She cautioned Xia Xingye to be careful of the holes in the ground and not to fall.

Xia Xingye looked at the pockmarked ground. This should have been a road, but now it was covered with weeds due to the lack of traffic for too long.

It was difficult to see clearly if there were any holes under her feet as she walked.

Xia Xingye relied on instinct to follow Jiang Yingyue and asked, “Jiejie, what is this place?”

“I’ll tell you in a moment. It’s just up ahead.” She led Xia Xingye through the small village and towards the mountain behind the village.

The mountain path was difficult to walk. Xia Xingye walked ahead anxiously, asking Jiang Yingyue, “Is this the way?”

Receiving Jiang Yingyue’s confirmation, she walked in front, reaching out to help Jiang Yingyue up a slightly higher slope.

After walking for a while, they saw a small clearing ahead with a pile of small stones stacked up.

She blinked and unconsciously stopped.

Having grown up in the city, Xia Xingye rarely saw stones formed naturally without any human carving, and these stones looked like they had been intentionally piled together.

Although they looked unremarkable, the way they were stacked seemed to follow a certain pattern.

While Xia Xingye was looking, Jiang Yingyue said softly, “This is where I met Xiao Jiang.”

The words “Xiao Jiang” caused Xia Xingye to tremble. It felt as if something she had forgotten was urgently demanding to be remembered.

She grabbed Jiang Yingyue’s hand anxiously.

Jiang Yingyue pulled her forward, stopping and crouching down in front of the stone pile.

Seeing Xia Xingye still standing, she gently tugged her hand. Xia Xingye followed her lead and crouched down too.

“I was a bit surprised when you brought Xiao Jiang back that day.”

Xia Xingye paused, and immediately the image of the object Sheng Rudong had slipped her on the mountain flashed into her mind.

Her face turned pale. She stared blankly at the stone pile and asked, “Did I kill it?”

“No, it had already passed away. What you took was just what it left behind in this world. It would be happy if it knew what you did.” Jiang Yingyue was telling the truth. If Xiao Jiang knew that the husk it left behind could still be helpful, it would probably be very proud.

Xia Xingye frowned, her head hurting.

She felt like she had heard a voice in her ear saying, “You two must be well.”

Fragmented memories emerged. She seemed to have entered a messy room with signs of a struggle.

In the confusion, she heard someone calling her, and then saying something in her ear? That voice was exactly the same as the one that had just appeared in her mind.

She remembered. She shouldn’t have forgotten Xiao Jiang.

Xia Xingye looked at Jiang Yingyue beside her.

Jiang Yingyue saw her suddenly look over, reached out to tuck the strands of hair behind her ear, and smiled at her gently as always.

She felt as if she had seen this smile hundreds, thousands of times. It seemed Jiang Yingyue had always smiled at her this way since she met her.

To others, she might seem aloof, but only Xia Xingye knew how gentle Jiang Yingyue was.

In an instant, all her memories rushed back like a tide. She remembered everything clearly.

The memories of her first meeting with Jiang Yingyue, the sadness of avoiding Jiang Yingyue out of worry for the future, even the little things in their daily lives, and Xiao Jiang’s antics…

Xia Xingye didn’t want to forget any of it.

Xia Xingye stared blankly at the stone pile, then suddenly reached out and lightly touched it. She smiled and said, “Xiao Jiang is so capable; it must have gone to help others.”

She thought for a moment and added, “Maybe with all its merit, it even became a minor deity.”

As she said this, Xia Xingye felt a touch of self-deception in her words.

She hoped Xiao Jiang would receive good karma, but if the thing she brought up the mountain was Xiao Jiang’s…

Xia Xingye closed her eyes, unwilling to think further.

If she had been stronger, there would have been no need for Xiao Jiang to intervene. Unfortunately, she wasn’t strong enough.

A gentle pinch on her cheek made Xia Xingye open her eyes.

Jiang Yingyue said earnestly, “I’m not humoring you. I don’t know how to explain it to you, but Xiao Jiang is not as miserable as you think, and I mean it when I say it would be happy.”

Then, Jiang Yingyue stood up, extending her hand and saying, “Alright, get up. We will see Xiao Jiang again someday. I have something else I need to tell you.”

Xia Xingye took Jiang Yingyue’s hand and stood up without using any leverage.

Once she was standing straight, Jiang Yingyue continued, “Xiao Jiang wasn’t the only one who helped us that day.”

“I know. Sheng Rudong and the others helped us too.”

“Besides them, there were Hua Hua and the others.”

“Hua Hua?” Xia Xingye spoke the name, remembering the little girl.

During her memory loss, she seemed to have heard people talking, but she couldn’t see them.

Now, looking back, were those two voices Hua Hua and the other girl?

“How are they now?” Xia Xingye asked with difficulty.

Sunlight suddenly broke through the layers of leaves and fell in front of them.

Meeting the bright light, Xia Xingye’s anxiety reached its peak.

They were already ghosts. How else could they have helped her?

“You just can’t see them for now,” Jiang Yingyue said, both pained and amused.

She knew what Xia Xingye’s reaction would be when she decided to tell her this, but she still had to tell Xia Xingye.

They had all helped the two of them. Even if she didn’t say it now, Xia Xingye would eventually find out later. At that point, Xia Xingye’s self-reproach would be no less than now, and perhaps even greater.

Since she mentioned Xiao Jiang, she told her about Hua Hua and the others as well.

“Can’t see them for now?” Xia Xingye asked, half-doubting. “Jiejie, are you comforting me?”

Jiang Yingyue asked, “Would I lie to you about something like this?”

Xia Xingye certainly believed Jiang Yingyue wouldn’t lie, but she still felt uneasy and asked anxiously, “Where are they now? I want to go see them.”

“They’re at the school. Someone there is making offerings to them.”

Xia Xingye was confused.

Jiang Yingyue pulled her, walking slowly down the mountain step by step.

Xia Xingye didn’t know how Hua Hua and the others were, but she knew clearly.

When she felt a little better, she asked Xia Xingye to call Sheng Rudong and the others over. That’s when she asked Sheng Rudong, who was a fellow practitioner, what had happened.

Sheng Rudong told her everything, including how Hua Hua had proactively sought her out and told her about Xia Xingye, which allowed Sheng Rudong to find Xia Xingye so quickly.

Sheng Rudong initially thought there was no hope for Hua Hua and the others, but she was surprised to find that they still had a faint presence remaining.

The two had no consciousness but were tightly clinging to each other, heading towards the school.

When they reached the school, Sheng Rudong was surprised to find that someone at the school was making offerings to them.

She was both surprised and delighted by these two spirits and planned to tell Xia Xingye after they had recovered.

Since Jiang Yingyue brought it up herself, Sheng Rudong knew the matter was out of her hands. Whatever happened next, Jiang Yingyue would discuss it with Xia Xingye herself.

“I still want to go see them.”

Jiang Yingyue nodded and said, “You can, but we’ll wait a bit. Didn’t you say you were going to move in next door to me?”

She looked at Xia Xingye teasingly.

Xia Xingye’s face flushed. She puffed out her cheeks and said, “Jiejie, you know I live right next door to you, so why would you say that? Taking advantage of my amnesia to bully me.”

“Are you angry?” Jiang Yingyue tilted her head and looked at her.

Xia Xingye was so charmed by the small gesture that she immediately clutched her heart and stood still.

Jiang Yingyue always brought her surprises. Even a tiny gesture was enough for her to savor repeatedly.

This analyzing posture made her wish she could record Jiang Yingyue’s every word and action to watch over and over again.

But that felt a bit abnormal. Xia Xingye shook her head vigorously and said, “I’m not angry.”

Although she wanted to, she wouldn’t do it.

Perhaps she could take some photos with Jiang Yingyue later.

But Jiang Yingyue was always by her side, so why waste time looking at her through a lens?

Earlier, Jiang Yingyue’s belongings had been moved to Xia Xingye’s room.

The property management called Jiang Yingyue, very flustered, saying they didn’t know what had happened, but they had mistakenly said the room was unoccupied and had thrown out her things.

Jiang Yingyue knew the whole story and didn’t blame them.

The property management just sighed in relief and offered to move her things back, but Jiang Yingyue said, “No need. I’ll be living with her from now on.”

Xia Xingye, listening beside her, stared at Jiang Yingyue with wide, glistening eyes.

After hanging up the phone, Xia Xingye asked tentatively, “Jiejie, are you going to live with me?”

Jiang Yingyue smiled and asked her, “You stayed at my place before. Isn’t it the same if I stay at your place now?”

For Jiang Yingyue, where she slept made no difference.

Her allowing Xia Xingye into her territory was equivalent to her allowing Xia Xingye into her world.

They tidied up together, moving some things into Xia Xingye’s room.

Xia Xingye looked at the wall next to the bed, walked over, and tapped the wall, saying to Jiang Yingyue, “Jiejie, let’s take some photos and hang them here.”

She tapped twice and suddenly heard a strange sound.

She looked at the wall connecting her and Jiang Yingyue’s side, and the wall immediately cracked.

She was startled, quickly stepping back to stand with Jiang Yingyue.

The repaired wall cracked again, just like the first time they met.

Xia Xingye and Jiang Yingyue exchanged a look and simultaneously burst out laughing.

Jiang Yingyue took Xia Xingye’s hand. The sunlight streamed in through the window. The suspended dust motes, yet to settle, spread out before the two of them like tiny stars, like an eternal universe, and that eternity belonged to the two of them.