pjbooks Chapter 65 Undercurrents of the Past
Chapter 65 Undercurrents of the Past
Time flows by like water.
A few days seemed to pass in the blink of an eye.
During this period of time.
Yang Xiyi's experimental design underwent another round of refinement and received high praise from CERN.
The entire experimental team was mobilized in a flurry of activity, with relevant experimental data from East Korea and Europe being transmitted back and forth at a rapid pace. However, most of the work that simply required energy and attention was handed over to Zhang Xuyan.
However, Zhang Xuyan was happy to do it.
Because his and Professor Gu's mutual application to change advisors had been submitted to the Academic Affairs Office, Professor Fang could hardly stop it. He would soon be able to rise from the ashes, which made him extremely happy even if he spent his time in the laboratory as a data dog handling dirty and tiring work.
Yang Xiyi's main responsibilities each day are remote communication and direction control.
For her, it wasn't actually that tiring.
After all... the progress of a team experiment ultimately depends on the less efficient members.
Therefore, she still spends most of her time in that rented studio apartment.
However, when no one else knows, she occasionally goes to a place that no one else would expect.
Yiguang International Private Hospital.
……
"Seven days have passed, and there's still no response from them."
In the presidential suite, Jiang Songjing sat cross-legged on the carpet, looking at her phone, which was still silent in front of her, with her eyes slightly narrowed.
Seven days have passed, and he has completely stabilized his cultivation at the first level of the Fetal Breathing Realm. He is even approaching the Flowing Realm. He only needs a few dozen more days of painstaking effort to step into the second level.
—In fact, he had already mastered his first breath of true energy on the very first day he checked into the hotel.
Now that he has fully grasped the basics of cultivation and the road ahead is smooth, he can finally free up his hands to completely resolve his relationship with Ying Manyuan.
But to everyone's surprise, seven whole days passed, and there was still no news from Ying Manyuan!
This is five days past the agreed-upon "two days later"!
During this time, Jiang Songjing naturally wouldn't wait idly or waste her time.
He repeatedly tried to enter the private hospital, but the nurses and doctors there stopped him outside the ward, and his panic seemed genuine.
It was as if... something had really gone wrong with Ying Manyuan's body!
He also called Yang Ruixing to inquire, but Yang Ruixing remained silent with a worried expression.
Because Ying Manyuan hadn't contacted him during this time either, and as the eldest son of the Yang family, he was being relentlessly pressured by his second uncle, Yang Zengyun, within the group, struggling to make ends meet every day.
"If Father were healthy, I would have gone to see him immediately... and my second uncle wouldn't have been so arrogant!"
Hearing Yang Ruixing's resentful voice, Jiang Songjing was naturally helpless.
"Could it be... that Ying Manyuan's health is really in trouble?"
A question, neither big nor small, lingered in Jiang Songjing's mind, leaving her momentarily at a loss.
He exhaled softly, stood up from the carpet, walked to the huge French windows, and quietly looked down.
With just a glance, he showed no arrogant air, but instead frowned in distress.
"After entering the embryonic breathing stage and beginning cultivation, my mind became increasingly sharp... Even just looking down, I could see something different."
Jiang Songjing peered out the window and quietly focused her gaze on a few pedestrians downstairs at the six-star hotel who appeared to be playing on their phones and taking photos.
This is another thing that has been troubling him lately.
During these seven days, although Jiang Songjing focused on cultivation, he occasionally searched online and learned that some major and minor events had occurred in Jingzhou.
For example, there's a ghost story somewhere, or strange figures have appeared in other places...
Or perhaps it's the sudden announcement of the death of some important figure, a bolt from the blue that strikes somewhere in the suburbs...
Although those are all urban legends, Jiang Songjing thought that if those things were true, they must be related to the spiritual energy surge that the sect leader in Minjiang had started.
Since you have doubts.
Jiang Songjing naturally paid attention to her surroundings and thus discovered some remarkable things.
"I'm afraid I'm being watched by the authorities now."
Jiang Songjing gave a self-deprecating laugh and looked away.
But at that moment, his eyes narrowed slightly.
Because his phone, which had been lying on the carpet, finally vibrated.
……
"Da, da, da."
The sound of high heels echoed on the smooth, shiny tiled floor.
The little girl huddled in a corner under the bed, shivering.
"Come out... I'll treat you well this time, come out now."
The woman's voice was as sweet as a poisoned apple.
It seemed like a tempting offer, but upon hearing the voice, the little girl trembled even more, not daring to even breathe.
"Come out... Don't forget, without me, you'd be an orphan who could freeze to death on the street any day now. Think about it, shouldn't you thank me? Since that's the case, why can't you keep me company and have some fun? Don't worry, I just want to... play a game with you."
Upon hearing this, the little girl's teeth chattered.
Some incredibly painful scenes flashed through her mind, but she dared not recall them.
It seems to be a psychological effect.
Below her neck, the parts covered by her clothes—her back, abdomen, waist… those places that had been burned, torn, whipped, and then scabbed over and grew new flesh became itchy and painful, but she dared not reach out to touch them.
Outside the bed curtains, the woman's voice grew increasingly low.
While her voice was low and somber, it also carried a hint of sharp madness, as if she were suppressing her anger.
"Come out...come out!"
Suddenly, she seemed to go berserk, tearing away all pretense.
A piercing roar echoed throughout the room:
"Come out now! You know what you're doing, you worthless orphan! If you don't come out... you know what I can do!"
The woman's voice echoed in the empty space, but there was no response from anyone else.
It was as if everyone except that woman had been turned away.
But by this point, the girl didn't even dare to breathe.
She lay in the innermost corner, closed her eyes, and prayed frantically in her heart.
Before long, it seemed that her prayers had an effect.
The woman's roars and footsteps gradually faded away, and no other sounds could be heard in the room.
A faint hope began to stir in the girl's heart.
But she remained hidden under the bed, afraid to make a sound, silently counting in her mind:
"One, two, three, four, five..."
When she silently counted to one hundred, she was finally certain that the woman had left the room. So she quietly crawled under the bed, step by step, slowly moving to the edge of the bed.
While filled with hope, she cautiously lifted the bed curtains that hung to the ground, revealing a slight smile.
But in an instant, her smile froze on her face.
The moment she lifted the bed curtains, what appeared before her eyes was not the floor and the white wall in the distance, but a pair of bare feet on the floor, painted with bright red nail polish.
The little girl was gripped by fear.
She turned her head blankly and saw the woman bent to the side, her head drooping, staring at her.
A look of wild, ecstatic joy spread across her face as she spoke to the little girl, word by word:
"Gotcha!"
In an instant, an overwhelming chill swept over me.
But the girl covered her lips tightly. And what came to mind was a very familiar place name—
"Qingluo Orphanage".
……
Shangyin opened her eyes and saw the most familiar street scene.
But when she turned her head, she found that the scene around her was not the orphanage she remembered, but the interior of a Mercedes-Benz.
"...Shangyin, you're awake? You were sleeping so soundly just now."
"...It's rare to see you with such an innocent and pure expression these past few days. I wish you could always be that innocent."
Xu Xiu sat down beside her and said with some emotion.
But Shangyin didn't answer immediately; instead, she looked ahead.
In the driver's seat was a young woman wearing a security bureau uniform.
Shangyin already knew the woman's name when she left Baiyang Temple.
Her name is Yang Qing.
It was left behind by the security bureau chief, Jiang Yirong, specifically to organize personnel to escort the two of them back to the city.
Xu Xiu, sitting to the side, seeing that she didn't respond immediately, continued to ask:
"...But Shangyin, when you were asleep, why did you suddenly have a scary expression on your face towards the end...What kind of dream did you have?"
Shangyin smiled slightly.
"...Maybe it's because I dreamed about things at home."
"Home... Oh, right, I haven't heard you talk about your family yet."
Xu Xiu's eyes widened immediately with interest.
But Shangyin smiled faintly and said:
"...Of course. Because the home I'm referring to is, to be precise, an orphanage."
These words froze the emotion on Xu Xiu's face and the curious smile that was about to appear on her face.
But Shangyin quietly glanced ahead.
The woman named Yang Qing was clearly listening to her words, yet her expression remained unchanged, and her hands on the steering wheel remained as steady as ever.
"Sure enough, our information had already been thoroughly investigated by the government departments."
Thinking this way, Shangyin wasn't surprised at all.
Because this is simply the intelligence capability and basic skill that a state apparatus should possess.
However, seeing the lost and cautious expression on Xu Xiu's face, her sadistic desires were aroused, making her want to tease him.
So, Shangyin deliberately put on a somewhat disappointed yet carefully feigned expression and smiled:
"It's alright, Xu Xiu."
"...Just like I told you in the 'back room,' you don't even know which middle school I went to or who my classmates were, so how could you possibly care about my family and my background?"
"...However, I originally thought that after that, you might be able to notice something."
Shangyin deliberately dragged out the last syllable, making Xu Xiu's expression even more guilty, and she even made helpless gestures.
"I...I...I'm sorry, Shangyin! But if you grew up in an orphanage...then...you must have been bullied a lot...I can understand your feelings now."
"...Okay, okay."
Shangyin burst into laughter. Having completely satisfied her sadistic desires, she felt an immense sense of pleasure.
Then she laughed loudly at Xu Xiu:
"Don't be so formal, Xu Xiu. Because..."
At this point, her expression turned cold.
"...For me, that orphanage really felt like home."
A cold, dark light flashed in Shang Yin's eyes.
"It's just that living there means you'll definitely miss out on a lot of things that normal children should have."
"Aside from that... there's not much to be sure about in terms of safety. When I first entered the orphanage, I heard that one of the children from another ward had died in an accident."
"...How pitiful."
Upon hearing this, Xu Xiu's expression froze completely.
But Yang Qing remained unmoved.
Seeing the various expressions on Xu Xiu's face—pity, shame, sadness, helplessness—Xu Xiu's sadistic desires were completely satisfied. He finally couldn't help but laugh and patted the other's head.
"Haha, don't do that! I was just kidding..."
"But, Shangyin, you..."
"If you feel guilty—"
Shangyin smiled and slid her hand down to pinch Xu Xiu's cheek.
"...When the time comes for us to fight to the death, I hope that you will remember how you feel now."
These words immediately froze Xu Xiu's expression on her face.
But Shangyin ignored her, raised her hand, and said in a charmingly innocent way:
"Sister Qing, let's stop here. It's very close to the hospital. I want to go home."
"it is good."
Yang Qing, as expected, already knew about him. She smiled and turned slightly to open the car door for him, but said with a radiant expression:
"But Xiaoyin, don't forget what I said before. Our country welcomes and hopes that you can come to Jingzhou together."
"...You won't need to take the college entrance exam then; you can choose any of the top universities in Jingzhou!"
"I will definitely consider it."
Shang Yin casually uttered those words and then pushed open the car door and got out.
As soon as she got off the bus, a burly young man leaning against a roadside tree naturally caught Shang Yin's eye, as if it were his right to be there.
After emerging from the white mist, Xu Xiu used her magic on Chen Fangyuan, but it also healed Jiang Wanren's leg.
But now, he seems to have gotten used to it, always finding a place to lean against no matter where he is.
Only after seeing Shangyin get off the bus did he stand up and walk to her side.
But his face remained calm, devoid of any expression.
"Let's go back together."
"it is good."
Shang Yin simply answered with one word, and then naturally walked shoulder to shoulder with Jiang Wanren into a small alley.
After several turns, we arrived at the entrance of a building that looked somewhat dilapidated but was very clean.
"Qingluo Orphanage".
The orphanage, nestled among the surrounding buildings, does indeed appear small, like a snail in the city.
Shang Yin and Jiang Wanren were having a brief conversation as they walked toward the orphanage.
Their conversations were very brief, often consisting of no more than ten words per sentence, but the information density was incredibly high.
In just a few short minutes walking back, Jiang Wanren had already understood what Shang Yin had gone through at Baiyang Temple.
"...So there really are immortals in this world."
Jiang Wanren sighed.
"Moreover, he was indeed a compassionate immortal who not only granted me such a great destiny but also left a glimmer of hope for me and Xu Xiu."
Although it sounds a bit sarcastic.
But when Shangyin said these words, there was no hint of yin or yang; she was simply indifferent.
Jiang Wanren couldn't help but turn his head to look at her, and smiled:
"...What a compassionate immortal! If He could have seen it all, would our two families have been spared from being burned to the ground, leaving only us two orphans and widows?"
Although he was smiling, his tone was cold.
"The whole school knows that Su Xu and Xu Xiu are childhood sweethearts."
"But...we were childhood sweethearts living across the street from each other, born on the same day. If our families had survived, we probably wouldn't have fared much worse off than them."
"...It's not bad now."
Shang Yin chuckled in response, causing Jiang Wanren's gaze to momentarily falter. He noticed Shang Yin's slightly upturned eyes and his heart skipped a beat. He nodded emphatically and said:
"Yes."
Just then, at the entrance of the Qingluo Orphanage, a hunched-over middle-aged woman approached with a large group of children.
Among those children, the oldest was only thirteen or fourteen years old, and the youngest was four or five years old.
For some reason, when they saw the two people approaching, they both showed joyful and enthusiastic smiles.
Shang Yin and Jiang Wanren, as if they had shed all pretense, laughed naturally and joyfully.
"Sister Yin! Brother Wanren! Wow, I heard something big happened at your school!"
"Yes, it's being said at several schools... I heard the government is conducting military training at your school to select special talents! Is that true?!"
"Yes, right... And weren't Sister Shangyin and Brother Wanren chosen? I had a feeling yesterday that older brothers in military uniforms came to the compound!"
"...That's amazing!"
Hearing this, Shangyin was slightly taken aback, but replied with a smile:
"Yeah, but I was the only one chosen. Wan Ren is too weak."
Jiang Wanren scratched the back of his head, said nothing, but gave a simple, honest smile.
The middle-aged woman, however, held Shangyin's hand tightly, stroking it incessantly.
"Shangyin! People from the government have come... They say you've been selected by a special department and will be specially recruited to Beijing, where you'll receive a degree from Peking University... and you'll also receive a certificate of commendation!"
"...If the neighborhood committee director hadn't come along, I would have suspected this was a scam!"
"Shangyin...you child, you are truly remarkable!"
"...I remember back in junior high, I was worried about you and Wan Ren. I never imagined... something like this would happen now..."
"Thank you so much, Deanie!"
Shang Yin let the middle-aged woman continue to stroke her hand. Hearing this, her face was gentle, but inwardly she was sneering:
"A certificate of commendation... commendation for what? Commendation for almost killing my classmate in the [back room]? Ha..."
"And... right now, when I return to the orphanage, the civil affairs department and local officials should, in theory, be here to make their presence known, but instead, there's not a single one to be seen..."
"...Is it also a national order to make bureaucrats curb their urge to show off? It seems the state has figured out my personality completely?"
Thinking this, Shangyin became secretly wary.
But seeing the middle-aged dean in front of him moved to tears, he couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion. He gently patted the dean's shoulder and hugged her close.
The other children and adults in the orphanage were also envious of this scene, wanting to share in the good fortune of Shang Yin, a legendary orphanage student who was about to be selected by the country and specially recruited by Peking University.
Shangyin smiled and hugged them one by one. But after hugging them all, she looked puzzled and, craning her neck, asked the headmistress:
"Why isn't Zhuoran here?"
"Zhuoran?"
Upon hearing this name, the kindergarten principal, who had been wiping away tears, suddenly showed a worried expression.
"You... come with me quietly, I'll tell you something."
As she spoke, she called Shangyin aside.
"Zhuoran has been staying in his dorm room for the past two days and hasn't dared to come out."
Why?
Shangyin was stunned for a moment. But the next sentence from the headmistress made her eyes narrow and she immediately became alert.
"Because...do you remember that Zhuoran had a roommate back then...who was about eight years old when they were roommates, and who took good care of Zhuoran, who was only four at the time...a kind of older sister?"
"Is it the girl I heard about who died in the accident when I first entered the hospital?"
Shangyin's eyebrows furrowed slightly.
But what the principal said next shocked her again, and her eyes became even colder.
"Yes... I heard from Zhuoran that she saw that woman on the street a couple of days ago. She looked exactly like the woman she remembered..."
"...So Zhuoran has been saying this for the past two days..."
"...It's haunted!"
……
Jiang Songjing picked up the phone.
It was an unfamiliar number.
Jiang Songjing glanced at the number, memorized it, and then answered it.
But what came from it was an unexpected sound.
...That was Uncle Shan's steady voice.
"Hello, are you Young Master Jiang Songjing?"
"...I've finally finished dealing with things here with the master, and now I can come see you."
These words made Jiang Songjing immediately narrow her eyes, but she felt no fear, only a little doubt.
"Give me an address, I'll be right there."
……
Yang Xiyi held her phone, looking at the enthusiastic text message that Professor Gu had sent.
"Yang, the experiment has been initially successful... This direction is correct, and the paper should be ready within two months at most."
Upon seeing the news, Yang Xiyi did not show any joy. Instead, she let out a soft sigh of relief, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from her heart.
"I see."
After sending the text message, she put her phone away.
Then I left the room.
But Yang Xiyi was not going to Jingzhou University.
At that very moment, a black sedan had already stopped downstairs.
Silently, I got into the car; my destination seemed to have been decided long ago.
But the driver remained silent, and Yang Xiyi didn't say a word either.
The car drove smoothly toward a very special place.
It was a cemetery.
The cemetery was built in the hills behind Yang Family Manor.
The car stopped at the entrance of the cemetery.
After opening the car door, Yang Xiyi walked into the cemetery.
This is the Yang family's own cemetery, which is usually off-limits to outsiders. Today, apart from the guards and security personnel, there was no one there.
Moreover, due to the recent rain, the weather was inexplicably foggy, adding to the somber atmosphere of the cemetery.
Yang Xiyi moved unimpeded through the gloomy mist, passing by rows of neatly arranged graves and rows of tombstones.
Finally, Yang Xiyi stopped in front of a rather large cemetery.
On the tombstone, the right side reads: "A virtuous woman, beautiful and intelligent," and the left side reads: "A kind and loving mother who nurtured my family." But in the middle is a black and white photograph of a woman.
Ying Manyuan's wife.
Yang Huifang's daughter
The former matriarch of the Yang family...
Yang Yuyin.
Just as Yang Xiyi was gazing at the tombstone, amidst the wisps of mist in the cemetery, a gaunt old man in a wheelchair was slowly pushed to Yang Xiyi's side by a young man in a black suit.
That was Yingmanyuan.
Upon reaching Yang Xiyi's side, Ying Manyuan waved her hand, dismissing the young man.
So, within a radius of several dozen meters, only the two of them remained.
"...It was originally just an excuse, but I never expected to almost die on the operating table, nearly ruining the whole plan..."
Ying Manyuan laughed self-deprecatingly.
"...But thankfully I made it to the end and was able to successfully arrange everything."
"From now on, it's all up to you, Xiyi. You won't let me down after all these years of nurturing you, will you?"
Ying Manyuan's voice, now truly hoarse from age, still retains a trace of its former majesty.
Yang Xiyi looked at the tombstone in front of her and the photo embedded on it.
The image of that woman, her face that was both elegant and noble, yet utterly insane, floated into my mind.
Even after so many years, those old wounds, where cells have been renewed countless times, still ache faintly.
But Yang Xiyi understood that it wasn't a physiological reason, but a psychological one.
So she gazed at the photograph, her eyes slightly narrowed:
"...I know, Uncle Ying."