CHAPTER 438: CHAPTER 300: DISSECTION, BIZARRE

Chapter 300

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The villa on Yujiang Mountain was as always; when Sui Yi returned, the old lady was not at home, having been taken by Ye Xiuling to stay for quite a while now. Sui Yi didn’t tell her about her return, to save the old lady the trouble of running back and forth.

Of course, she didn’t tell Gong Jiu or Lin Yun and the others either.

Upon opening the door, Sui Yi saw that the home furnishings hadn’t changed... except for a few more vases, in which some fresh flowers were placed.

The flowers were still fresh.

A woman was watering them.

Hearing the door open, she turned to look.

Sui Yi, who was just entering the foyer, caught her glance.

However, it seemed that the woman was more interested in the Eastern Lady who followed behind Sui Yi; she held the watering can and looked over with a deep and enduring gaze.

And the Eastern Lady, as if she had activated "automatic captivating mode," lazily looked back.

On one side was the enduring and refreshing elegance of the orchid, on the other was the mandrake in full glorious bloom like Dugu Sheng...

Zhang Wei didn’t follow, so he missed this beautiful and dreamlike scene, while Sui Yi, who was present...

Seemed to be blind to it all, paying no attention to the strange atmosphere between the two, but instead slipped on her slippers, took off her coat, and said to the orchid.

"Have you eaten yet?"

All notions of beauty and dreaminess, elegance and allure, collapsed entirely under this rustic-themed interrogative.

Have you eaten yet?

Whether you have or you haven’t, the two of us certainly haven’t.

Therefore, the girl suffused with the elegant and everlasting aura of orchids, Jiang Chenyu, smiled faintly, "Not yet."

Then let’s make some food.

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Jiang Chenyu, with all the bearing of high society and rich nobility about her, couldn’t possibly be expected to cook, as for the Eastern Lady...

She simply said, "Why not just snatch a few kitchen maids then?"

"You can’t just snatch people; it’s against the law if it gets out," Sui Yi said indifferently.

"Then kill them."

"...Murder is also a crime, and you would be arrested and put on trial."

"Just kill whoever tries to arrest me as well."

Sui Yi seriously felt this person shouldn’t be allowed to go out into society alone, too anti-social, too brutal.

As Sui Yi was silently washing rice and preparing to cook, Jiang Chenyu suddenly came in.

To help her wash the vegetables.

Sui Yi glanced at her.

"Want to ask something?"

Jiang Chenyu methodically washed the vegetables, "You’ll say what you want to say, why ask?"

"I do indeed have something I want to say."

Sui Yi poured rice into the rice cooker, then turned to Jiang Chenyu, "Do you recognize Loulan?"

Jiang Chenyu paused in her task of washing vegetables.

"I don’t."

"I’ve seen you at the airport."

"Is that so... could you have mistaken someone else for me?"

"My eyesight is quite good."

"Then it must have been me seeing you off."

"What did you think of the scenery in Urumqi?"

"..."

Jiang Chenyu turned to face her too, hands still wet, looking at Zuo Wei with a steady gaze, like the unwavering light of a candle.

"What are you trying to say?"

Her voice soft and delicate, her flawless face untouched by dust or wind.

Sui Yi looked at her with an even more settled gaze.

"The coffin where the Eastern Lady was found was opened by you, and that mechanism... was also opened by you," Sui Yi said.

Sui Yi had examined the coffin before; although she hadn’t seen anyone physically open it, she knew there was a mechanism on the coffin that the person inside could not possibly use to open the lid... unless someone else had opened it.

What Zhang Wei saw was the Eastern Lady coming out of the coffin after the mechanism had been opened. As for the other person... perhaps they were watching Zhang Wei.

That person was Jiang Chenyu.

"Why must it be me?" Jiang Chenyu leaned against the kitchen counter, her face wearing a smile.

"I’ve always been unable to see through you... with people I can’t see through, I tend to be cautious and more likely to involve them in things that perplex me. You’re not ordinary; even though I don’t know your true background, we both know... we’re both tied to this connection, to Loulan and the Ancient City of Loulan, you must know something.."

"These are just speculations. If they were mere speculations, you’d heavily doubt them and wouldn’t confront me directly, unless you were certain and had absolute assurance... tell me why," Jiang Chenyu looked down, her gaze sweeping over the casual clothes on Sui Yi’s body. Even dressed casually in no particular fabric, her distinctive clear and exceptional quality shone through... more than ever before.

"Your Inner Strength... it has grown too fast, from nothing to nearly eighty years’ worth," Sui Yi revealed.

"The treasures hidden in Loulan, there’s something you needed and you’ve used it... it’s evident in just a month’s time," she added.

Jiang Chenyu’s eyes flickered lightly, showing no surprise but deep contemplation... looking at Sui Yi as if Sui Yi was the one harboring a great secret that had been discovered.

After a pause, she said, "Sometimes I really wonder if you’re playing the fool, or if you truly aren’t the person I think you are."

"So tell me, who could it possibly be... who would make you hate me like this?" Sui Yi pursed her lips. "From the moment I first saw you on Mao Bamboo Mountain, you’ve hated me."

Hate that was never concealed, only occasionally wavering.

"It’s not hate; it’s more like resentment," Jiang Chenyu suddenly stepped forward, closing the distance between them, face to face.

"Actually, you don’t need me to say it, you already have your suspicions, don’t you... High Priest."

If Xia Xianting’s previous abrupt turn of phrase could be considered an instinctive response, outside the realm of normal reactions and beyond control, then the last three words that followed Jiang Chenyu’s sentence...

Were the culmination of deliberate and deeply ingrained thoughts.

High Priest.

That name swiftly brought Sui Yi back to the Jade Bi underneath the Ye family’s ancient tomb.

On it was her face, not a complete likeness, but roughly seventy to eighty percent similar.

Time seemed to stand still.

Neither of them spoke, their breathing as if it had stopped as well.

"Do you believe in reincarnation?" Sui Yi suddenly asked.

"I don’t," Jiang Chenyu replied with certainty, even laced with some pain.

"Then... the High Priest has perished and does not belong to this era, while I... have been right here, for eighteen years," Sui Yi’s finger gently brushed the cold surface of the counter. "So, it’s impossible for me to be her."

"Time is meaningless; otherwise, what basis do I have to appear before you, just as that person outside?" Jiang Chenyu’s expression was somewhat weary.

"Cangwu," Sui Yi remarked indifferently, noticing a flicker in Jiang Chenyu’s gaze.

"Cangwu has such power... so you suspect that I might be the High Priest, using Cangwu’s power to come to this era?"

"Yes."

"And forgot the past?"

"Right."

Jiang Chenyu seemed to have no intention of hiding anything from Sui Yi at this moment, frank and almost devout.

Perhaps she too wanted to know the answer.

"When I was six... at the orphanage, and at the age of twelve, the orphanage was shut down, all the orphans were sent away, and I was adopted... Later, I left that family and wandered for two years, never finding a family willing to take me in. Do you know why?"

"Why?" Jiang Chenyu frowned, as far as she knew, this era was more respectful of human rights and life, though it had its dark sides, but for someone like Sui Yi... to be rejected?

"Back then, I couldn’t remember many things... couldn’t even remember a simple piece of text for long and had much worse memory than ordinary children. My health was fragile, I fell sick easily, and was once labeled as intellectually challenged and with hidden diseases... I couldn’t even beg as well as other children... When I was starving for over two days... someone split their begged-for pastry and gave me half."

Jiang Chenyu felt a chill in her heart, but met Sui Yi’s gaze.

"You tell me, if I truly were that omnipotent High Priest, either how could the heavens despise me so, or how could I have despised my past to fall to such lows?"

"Jiang Chenyu, no one’s fate is continuous, in this world... there is no forever, I am simply me."

"And you, you’ve always been you."

With that, Sui Yi said no more, turned around to tend to the other dishes, but heard Jiang Chenyu’s soft murmur, "What if you really are her?"

"Then so be it," Sui Yi replied without looking back.

"..."

If I truly am that High Priest, the karma she has entwined with you all, I shall bear its fruit.

These were the words Sui Yi left unspoken.

Even if I’m no longer her.

"You two, did you just mention the High Priest?"

The sudden voice made both turn their heads in unison; they had been so engrossed in their discussion that they hadn’t noticed the Eastern lady arrive.

The Eastern lady leaned against the door: "I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but seeing you two so absorbed in conversation, it seemed you’ve forgotten about the cooking, and I just so happened to be a bit hungry, which brought me here..."

"High Priest, you knew about this person too? Did Loulan tell you?" Jiang Chenyu didn’t conceal anything, directly posing the question.

"No, I’ve seen her..." The Eastern lady smiled.

"Before I was entombed... I saw her with Loulan..."

Sui Yi was fine, but Jiang Chenyu’s grip loosened, and the vegetable she held clattered onto the counter as she stared blankly at the Eastern lady.

"You were entombed over a thousand years ago by Loulan, and she... perished nine thousand years ago. How could you possibly have seen her?" Jiang Chenyu’s tone remained steady, but Sui Yi saw her moist palms clenched tightly...

"In fact, I did see her..." The Eastern lady folded her arms across her chest, giving Jiang Chenyu a glance: "Moreover, I saw her kill Loulan."

"..."

Even the vegetable in Sui Yi’s hand fell.

Which meant... the High Priest had never died?

And if Loulan was killed, then who was it that Loulan entombed? Who was behind the entire plot of the Ancient City of Loulan?

(Dear readers, do you guess whether Sui Yi is the High Priest or not, and who is the High Priest? Did she die or not? Ha-ha~)

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It appeared to be a callback to the strange stand-off at the entrance just moments ago, except now Sui Yi and Jiang Chenyu were staring, quite uniformly, at the Eastern lady, their eyes growing stranger by the moment.

After a moment, Sui Yi flicked the water off her hands and asked, "Then, how did you get entombed?"

"Loulan,"

Jiang Chenyu: "You just said, she was killed..."

"Yes," the Eastern lady smiled, an enigmatic depth to it: "But I saw her being killed... while I was in the coffin, and I wasn’t entombed after death."

Was she... buried alive?

Sui Yi’s brow furrowed as she looked at the Eastern lady: "If you weren’t dead, why were you entombed? What is your relationship with Loulan?..."

The Eastern lady: "I cannot say, I do not wish to say." (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes, monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please read at m.qidian.com.)