After eating and drinking her fill, Mu Ran regained her vitality. She grabbed the corner of his sleeve and said with a smile, "You must have come into the secret realm looking for something. Let's go find it together."
Shu Qingyi's fingers twitched slightly restlessly. In the end, he forcibly resisted the urge to pull his sleeve away and just said casually, "Your body..."
"It's fine. The baby is very well-behaved and won't cause me any trouble. We can both help you."
That inexplicable throbbing in Shu Qingyi's heart surged up again. He suppressed it forcefully, withdrew his gaze to stop looking at her, and merely gave a low "Mm."
The secret realm had been open for some time now. Most of the people who had entered were already dead, and those still alive were either incredibly powerful or exceptionally good at hiding and surviving.
As for Shu Qingyi, he was probably both.
Mu Ran had witnessed his caution along the way. It could even be said to be cautious to an abnormal degree. Whenever there was the slightest rustle in the wind or grass, even if it was just an animal's cry, he would deliberately walk over. Only when he saw that there was indeed an animal there and no other people within a radius of several miles would he turn and leave.
At first, Shu Qingyi would deliberately try to avoid appearing so guarded in front of Mu Ran. But when he occasionally looked back and saw Mu Ran standing quietly behind him, just smiling at him, he suddenly had an illusion.
It was as if no matter how despicable he was, she would tolerate him without hesitation.
Another question suddenly popped into Shu Qingyi's mind.
Did she look at her husband like this too?
She grabbed his hand and pulled him to the side. A drop of water from a leaf just brushed past his hair and fell to the ground.
Mu Ran asked him, "You look absent-minded. What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
Shu Qingyi pulled out his burning hand, his Adam's apple bobbing, his throat inexplicably dry. "The further we go this way, the colder and damper it gets. The thing I'm looking for should be in the deepest part of this place."
"That's great. Let's hurry up and go, lest it be taken by others."
Lest it be taken by others.
For some unknown reason, Shu Qingyi's breathing also grew slightly hot.
She seemed to have classified herself and him as people of the same realm, while everyone else could only be summed up as "others."
Thus, the situation now turned into Mu Ran leading him forward.
The dense forest was dark and damp, the ground covered with rotting leaves. Miasma coiled around the trees, and poisonous insects lay dormant in the shadows.
Scattered little pink flowers dotted the wet soil, blooming exquisitely, their fragrance sweet, cloying, and bizarre.
Mu Ran walked in front and saw through the trap here at a glance. She said, "The fragrance of these flowers has the effect of bewitching the mind. However, those with a firm will won't be confused by it. Let's walk a little faster. Maybe we can find a place to rest before dark."
A hand with a rather high body temperature suddenly gripped her wrist tightly.
Mu Ran stopped and turned to look at him, unexpectedly bumping into a pair of dark, profound eyes.
His body trembled uncontrollably, his fingertips pale, as if his soul was being choked by some invisible force.
In those dark pupils, the reflection was no longer the gloom of reality, but faintly revealed a trace of scarlet madness.
He was trapped in an illusion.
Mu Ran truly felt surprised.
Having been companions with Cangshu Bai for hundreds of years, she naturally understood him very well.
He was firm in will. Even if he fell into demonic ways, he would never do anything to hurt her. Even though he was still young right now, his journey so far had been filled with blood and slaughter, so he definitely shouldn't be easily bewitched by the mere fragrance of these confusing flowers in the forest.
But at this moment, the hand gripping her wrist was frighteningly hot, the knuckles taut, as if he was desperately resisting something, or as if in the illusion, he treated her as the only piece of driftwood he could grab onto.
Looking at the young man before her, Mu Ran suddenly felt a sense of curiosity. Just what kind of illusion could trap him?
She first set up an array around them to isolate any outside intrusion. Then, holding his face, she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her forehead against his. She closed her eyes and, without encountering any resistance, gently intruded into his divine sense.
"Jinzhi, your father and I are doing fine working at the Cangshu family. Don't always worry about us."
"Yes, just take good care of yourself. Today is the Little New Year. Eat something good, have some more meat, and don't always be so frugal. On New Year's Day, your mother and I will come home."
The sixteen or seventeen-year-old youth sat in the empty courtyard, listening to his parents' voices coming from the flying letter, and then glanced at a bowl of long-cold dumplings on the stone table.
He had cooked them himself that evening.
In the distance were the lights of ten thousand homes, but in this courtyard, only one lamp was lit, leaving nothing but continuous darkness.
With downcast eyes, he softly replied to the voice from the letter, "Okay."
The flying letter fell onto the stone table and went silent.
He picked up the bowl of cold dumplings, but a pair of hands snatched it away.
The young man raised his eyes and saw a girl standing close at hand.
She smiled. "Heat them up before you eat."
This was an illusion. Looking at the unfamiliar girl, there was a bit of confusion in his eyes.
But this girl seemed as if she was a member of his family. She was actually very familiar with the layout of the courtyard and walked into the kitchen with unerring accuracy.
The youth stood up in a daze and subconsciously followed her.
She poured water into the pot and said naturally, "Jinzhi, start the fire."
Hearing this, his body already had an instinctive reaction. He crouched down and added firewood to the stove.
Water was placed in the pot, and the bowl containing the dumplings was then put into the heating water. By using the hot water to heat them through the bowl, the dumplings wouldn't be boiled until they were mushy.
She took two steps to the side and took two eggs from the shelf.
Then she turned around, grabbed a coarse porcelain bowl, cracked the eggs into it, and stirred briskly with chopsticks. The egg whites and yolks merged in the bowl until they were beaten into a smooth, thick liquid. Only then did she slowly pour in a spoonful of warm water and skim off the foam.
She covered it with a celadon lid and placed it on the bamboo steamer in the pot. The water in the pot was bubbling, and steam escaped through the gaps, turning into curling white mist in the air.
At some point, the youth had come behind her. He watched her quietly for a long time and finally asked, "What are you doing?"
She turned her head, her eyes curving in a smile. "Didn't Mom and Dad tell you to eat something good? If you gave me a little more time, I could figure out a way to stew a bowl of meat broth for you. But conditions are limited right now, so let's just have steamed egg custard."
His body slowly moved forward, his chest slightly brushing against her back. He lowered his eyes to look at the top of her head, his fingertips inadvertently touching a strand of her black hair, trembling slightly.
"Who are you?"
She went back to staring at the water in the pot and said cheerfully, "I am Mu Ran, your wife."
The young man's hand slowly moved up and wrapped around her waist, his palm resting on her bulging lower abdomen. "And what... is in here?"
