My girlfriend was reborn.

Chapter 94 Why don't you just sleep here tonight?
With two bowls of ice jelly and two servings of rice on a plate, Zhou Heming returned to Lu Bai's side.

"You've put in pretty professional ingredients."

Lu Bai glanced at the ice jelly that Zhou Heming had brought out. In addition to the sugar water and the ice jelly itself, there were also toppings such as crushed peanuts and raisins.

"There are instructions on the other side of the platform."

As they sat down, Zhou Heming confirmed that their chairs were now a little closer together.

A pot of spicy hot pot has been served, its red oil clear and its aroma irresistible, making your mouth water.

"Although this restaurant isn't the most authentic, the food is very good."

Lu Bai didn't stand on ceremony and simply picked up his chopsticks and started eating from the pot.

Zhou Heming picked up a slice of pig liver.

"It's very tender; it's definitely fresh pork liver."

He was initially a little apprehensive when he saw Lu Bai take out the two plates of fresh pig liver, worried that it might have a fishy smell. But when he actually tasted it, he found it to be incredibly tender. Clearly, it was not the kind of frozen food that had been in the refrigerator for a day or two.

"You should try cilantro too."

Lu Bai was very pleased with Zhou Heming's praise and put another chopstick of cilantro into his bowl.

Looking at the cilantro in the bowl, the boy glanced at Lu Bai, who was eating heartily, remained silent for a moment, and then ate it.

"It really is quite delicious."

It's said that not being able to eat cilantro is a genetic issue, but Zhou Heming doesn't have that concern. He finds the whole cilantro, when cooked, to have a very rich flavor that helps cut through the greasiness and instantly invigorates him.

Although this pot looks bright red, it's actually not particularly spicy; the chili oil is mainly for adding aroma.

"However, if you actually go to Sichuan, don't believe the claim that the slightly spicy wontons are not spicy at all. If you really want something light, order the clear soup wontons."

Lu Baitou and Zhou Heming started chatting about their hometowns over hot pot.

"Is it true that no rabbit can escape Sichuan?"

Zhou Heming recalled the comments he had seen online.

Have you ever eaten rabbit meat?

Lu Bai countered with a question.

"I don't remember, I don't think I ever ate at my maternal grandmother's house."

Zhou Heming recalled for a moment.

Was your maternal grandmother from Sichuan?

Lu Bai immediately became interested.

"Yes, it's a small town under Rongcheng. Do you know about Heming Mountain near Rongcheng?"

Zhou Heming picked up the oyster mushroom he had ordered. The folds under the cap were full of red broth, which made him a little hesitant, so he could only eat it with rice.

The taste is quite good.

"I know, could it be that your name comes from there?"

Lu Bai was taken aback.

"Pretty much. They say that when my mother was pregnant with me, she was recuperating in her hometown and kept feeling unwell. My maternal grandmother took her to Heming Mountain, where there is a Taoist temple. After praying there, she felt better. The Taoist priest there suggested that we name the child after this to protect him and ensure his safety."

Zhou Heming rarely talked about these things with his classmates, not even to Qiao Jinchen and Xu Youyou.

Of course, Cheng Shuangjiang knew this.

"No wonder, I was wondering why most people wouldn't use words like 'crane's cry' in their names."

Lu Bai ate a spoonful of ice jelly.

"why?"

"Because he passed away peacefully, or to put it in a superstitious way, most people can't bear the weight of his name."

Lu Bai picked up a hot slice of winter melon and blew on it twice.

“My hometown is also near Heming Mountain. When I was a child, there were traditional sacrificial ceremonies in the town, but they looked rather scary to the children.”

"I think I heard my grandmother mention it, it's once every seven years, right? I think it's about worshipping some kind of Mystic Lord?"

Zhou Heming picked up his phone, intending to search for something.

Because the internet wasn't as developed seven years ago, and it was a local tradition, it hadn't developed into any popular online festivals, so there wasn't much information available, and the first few ads were still small hospital advertisements.

"Legend has it that a mysterious lord once suppressed evil spirits in the mountains and left behind secret scriptures. Later, the Taoist Heming cultivated here and passed down seven chapters of Taoist magic, which have the power to bring the dead back to life, grant immortality, and reverse time. Therefore, the Taoist temple on Heming Mountain was built by the Taoist Heming, and the one who first protected this place was the mysterious lord?"

He read aloud the contents of a rather old blog that he had found through the search.

This blog post was written seven years ago, around the time of the last Xuanjun sacrificial ceremony. It's a bit vague and more like a supernatural story that used to circulate on old forums than a travelogue.

"This is quite interesting. It is said that there are nine families in the town who preside over the Xuanjun sacrificial ceremony. They are all families who fled here during the war years ago, also known as the 'Nine Streams'. Every time the ceremony is held, one family from the Nine Streams will be selected to take charge and serve as the Xuanjun. Then they will be sent to the cave to stay for a period of time."

Zhou Heming showed Lu Bai the phone screen.

"It is said that the true Mystic Lord will possess the chosen person and give prophecies in the following years. In the past, the people in the town relied on the instructions of the Mystic Lord to plant in spring and harvest in autumn. For a long time, the Mystic Lord was equivalent to the position of town mayor."

"That's just superstition."

Lu Bai seemed to scoff at this.

"It's definitely a custom now. The blog also mentioned that an accident happened seven years ago and someone died, but it didn't go into details. It only mentioned that the people in the town said it was a curse or something."

Zhou Heming looked at the blurry photo taken seven years ago.

have to say.

The natural landscape is intact, and the townspeople are dressed in ancient style, with solemn expressions. The sight of them carrying red sedan chairs does indeed give off a somewhat eerie and unsettling feeling.

Especially the "Xuanjun" sitting in the sedan chair, dressed in ancient red costume. Those who know him might not understand, but those who don't might mistake him for a film set of a Lam Ching-ying movie.

"Ok?"

After looking at a few photos, Zhou Heming's gaze suddenly fell on one of them.

"look."

He called out to Lu Bai, who was enjoying his meal.

"how?"

Lu Bai looked over, frowned, wondering what Zhou Heming wanted her to see.

"Look here."

This is a photo of a ceremony held by "Xuanjun" in a dense forest, with many people standing around, including men, women, and children.

Zhou Heming was pointing to a corner in the distance of the forest.

There, there was a face that stood out abruptly.

"Fuck."

Lu Bai jolted and almost stood up from his chair.

"It looks like a little girl, wearing a green dress."

Because the pixel quality was so poor and the lighting conditions were bad, the face was completely unclear. Zhou Heming stared at it for a long time before recognizing it. It was only because the other person's clothes and the bushes were so similar that it seemed like there was only one head.

"However, I've heard that some children who die young..."

"Ugh, stop talking, you'll have nightmares tonight."

Lu Bai immediately interrupted Zhou Heming, who was preparing to make up a story. She seemed to dislike this kind of strange tale or supernatural story.

"Ok."

Zhou Heming exited the webpage.

"But it seems there's a sacrificial ceremony for Xuanjun this year. If it happens to be during the summer vacation, we might be able to catch a glimpse of it."

"Are you interested?"

Lu Bai ate a slice of lotus root.

"I don't know if I can go yet."

Zhou Heming shrugged.

"If I fail the college entrance exam, I'll have to find another way out."

"You can pass the exam."

Lu Bai spoke without hesitation.

"I believe you."

"Because Cheng Shuangjiang asked me if I could pass the exam?"

Zhou Heming recalled this topic that the three of them had discussed before.

"I don't believe her, I believe you."

Lu Bai said something, and before Zhou Heming could respond, she pointed at the pot with her chopsticks.

"If you don't eat the last shrimp paste, I'll take it away?"

".what ever."

As Zhou Heming watched the girl skillfully eat the shrimp paste with a happy expression, he looked away guiltily.

*
After lunch, they returned to Lu Bai's house.

After eating his fill, a warm breeze made even Zhou Heming feel a little sleepy, and he yawned.

After sitting on the sofa for a while, Lu Bai went straight into the bedroom and plopped down on the bed.

Just as Zhou Heming turned around to ask a question, he saw Lu Bai taking off his hoodie, revealing a slightly tight long-sleeved T-shirt underneath.

"I'm going to the living room to read."

He immediately looked away, grabbed a book, and stood up.

"I'll sleep for a little while, just a little while."

Lu Bai was so sleepy he could barely keep his eyes open. He even put down his bracelet and crawled straight into bed.

Zhou Heming had no choice but to close the sliding door.

"They really don't treat me like an outsider."

He sat on the sofa where Lu Bai had just been sitting and realized that he was holding a math workbook, while his pen was still on the bedroom table.

"Forget it, I'll just do the questions on my phone."

He was glad he had taken his phone out.

Leaning back on the sofa, Zhou Heming started to feel sleepy as he worked.

He simply lay down, his eyelids drooping, his fingers moving mechanically, not even knowing what the question was saying.

Soon, Zhou Heming also fell asleep.

In the quiet apartment room, only the sound of the air conditioner whirring could be heard.

When Zhou Heming woke up, he found himself covered with a blanket.

The blanket has a faint fragrance, different from Cheng Shuangjiang's, with a citrus-flavored milky scent.

"you're awake?"

The voice came from above his head. Zhou Heming looked up and saw Lu Bai, wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt, sitting next to his head, playing with his phone.

"!"

The boy suddenly woke up and immediately sat up.

"Sorry, I just felt sleepy and lay down."

"It's alright, you seemed to be sleeping quite soundly. You're just prone to catching a cold, so I got you a blanket. Is your neck okay?"

Lu Bai pointed in the direction of his neck.

"It should be fine."

After moving his neck, Zhou Heming realized he didn't have a stiff neck.

"what time is it now?"

As he asked, he took out his phone and saw that it was already four o'clock in the afternoon.

He slept for a little over two hours.

"I actually slept for so long."

Perhaps because his sleep quality hadn't been very good lately, Zhou Heming, who doesn't usually take naps, didn't expect to be able to lie on Lu Bai's sofa for two hours.

"You must be quite tired lately, right?"

Lu Bai said softly, rubbing the bracelet on his left wrist with his right hand.

"A little bit."

Zhou Heming spoke frankly. "Actually, there's no need to force yourself so much. I can roughly sense that you want to keep yourself busy so as not to dwell on the past and think about the present, but you're putting yourself under too much pressure. It would be good to stop and rest for a while."

Lu Bai intended to reach out, but he withdrew his hand halfway through the movement.

“I’ve met a lot of people like this while I was filming. Some of them have lost someone important to them, just like you. Others don’t know what they really want, so they just throw themselves into their work and don’t give themselves any breathing room. It’s easy to break down like that.”

Although Zhou Heming has goals, they are all long-term.

Whether it's taking the college entrance exam, writing a screenplay, or anything else, it all requires persistent effort.

He was like a marathon runner, giving it his all and only thinking about the finish line, as if reaching the finish line meant completing his entire life.

He was so eager to get everything done that he forgot to rest.

"Why don't you try to cheer yourself up first?"

"The act of making yourself happy is itself not a very happy thing."

What do you usually like to do to relax?

Lu Bai casually took off his bracelet and asked directly.

"Watching movies, reading novels, writing eulogies."

"Is the last one considered relaxing?"

Lu Bai frowned.

“A eulogy is a person’s life. When writing a eulogy, it’s like going deep into someone else’s life and being able to detach yourself from reality.”

Zhou Heming explained.

"Writing novels and screenplays is the same principle. You see, when treating children with mental illnesses, they are asked to draw, which is something similar."

"Oh."

Lu Bai didn't delve into it, implying that the more words you use, the more reasonable you are.

She rubbed her hair, squeezed the bracelet in her hand, and put it back on her right wrist.

"Then you pick a movie, and we'll watch it tonight."

"what?"

Zhou Heming didn't understand.

"I want to watch a movie, but I don't really understand the classics, so could you help me pick one to watch tonight and then explain it to me, okay?"

Lu Bai exuded a powerful aura.

It's clearly a request to someone, yet it carries an air of unquestionable self-righteousness.

Is this what extroverts are like?

What type of movie would you like to watch?

Zhou Heming opened a movie rating app and casually browsed the recently released movies. None of them were interesting. As for the older movies, he couldn't think of any that he could watch with Lu Bai for the time being.

"Is there anything related to your profession? I remember there was one that was pretty good, it even won an Oscar."

Lu Bai said casually.

You mean "Departures"?

Zhou Heming had naturally seen that movie.

Rather, it would be more accurate to say that, as an actor, Lu Bai's film experience is rather dismal.

To put it succinctly, Lu Bai is very talented. He can handle the camera and perform roles with ease just by figuring things out on his own, without any formal training.

To put it bluntly, Lu Bai is a complete academic failure in every aspect, and his acting skills are purely a matter of luck.

"Yes, yes, this is the one. Is it good? Is it scary? There aren't any zombies or ghosts or anything like that, right?"

Lu Bai was in high spirits.

"Of course not, at most there are only corpses. If there were really zombies or ghosts, it would probably be an action movie where the protagonist uses firearms to physically bury these guys."

Zhou Heming thought to himself, if Lu Bai could cry his eyes out while watching "Farewell My Concubine," he would need to prepare a whole pack of tissues to watch "Departures."

"Let's watch this one then. We'll come back and watch it after we finish eating at that steamed dish restaurant tonight."

As expected of Lu Bai, the happy little dog who thinks of things on a whim, he immediately finalized the evening's itinerary.

Is it evening?

Zhou Heming pondered for a moment.

Fortunately, it's not far from home; it takes less than 30 minutes to walk there if I walk fast. I should be able to get back home tonight.

"Then hurry up and study some more. We'll leave at 5:30."

Lu Bai suddenly stood up, clapped his hands, and seemed quite satisfied with his arrangement.

*
Putting everything else aside, the restaurant that Lu Bai recommended really did have delicious food.

Especially the steamed chicken with vinegar, which is sour and spicy, with tender and smooth chicken meat, is very appetizing.

The portions were a bit large, and considering Lu Bai's appetite was close to that of a boy, ordering three dishes was a bit too much.

"I'll pack it up and take it home to reheat in the microwave tonight."

Lu Bai asked the waiter for a takeout box and packed up the remaining two dishes to take away.

Lu Bai then hailed a taxi.

Unlike other first-tier cities, taxis in Jiangcheng are very responsive. Unless you're a complete novice, any driver over forty years old can immediately know where to go just by saying a place name, and they drive extremely fast.

As a result, Jiangcheng's traffic is known as the most chaotic in the country. There are countless jokes about how three people standing together can get a green light, cars and people racing each other, and people cutting in line without using turn signals or honking their horns.

In addition, the presence of driverless taxis in Jiangcheng has exacerbated the already chaotic traffic situation.

Fortunately, although they were fast on this trip, they didn't violate any traffic regulations.

Back at Lu Bai's house.

Lu Bai fiddled with the TV for a bit, found the video app, and opened "Departures".

She and Zhou Heming sat at opposite ends of the sofa, with about one person's width of space between them.

Only a dim desk lamp was left on, and in the slightly dim room, the light from the television reflected on the two people's faces, which suddenly reminded Zhou Heming of the scene in "Goodbye Erii" where the male and female protagonists sat on the sofa in an abandoned building watching a B-movie.

Unlike her usual cheerful and carefree demeanor, Lu Bai was very serious when watching movies, even with a somewhat solemn expression. Of course, she would laugh or feel melancholy as the plot unfolded, her emotions rising and falling with it.

Because Zhou Heming had seen the movie, he often stole glances at Lu Bai's reaction.

When he encountered an interesting passage, Lu Bai would laugh so hard his shoulders would shake, just as he expected.

When faced with a difficult passage, Lu Bai would furrow his brows just as he had imagined.

Then came what Zhou Heming considered the most tear-jerking part.

The old woman at the bathhouse the protagonist frequented passed away, and the old man of similar age who also frequented the bathhouse was a crematorium worker.

Their relationship was ambiguous, like the kind of twilight romance that happens when two elderly people are together.

Now, the old man is going to personally send his beloved into the incinerator.

Every time Zhou Heming sees this part, he can't help but shed tears.

This time, however, he turned his head and secretly glanced at Lu Bai.

A sniffling sound was heard.

Lu Bai rubbed his eyes, then bent down and pulled out a tissue from the tissue box on the coffee table, blowing his eyes hard.

As the visuals and music played, Lu Bai cried harder and harder, curling up on the sofa, his shoulders trembling, like a wounded little animal.

Zhou Heming was no longer interested in watching Lu Bai's reaction. He was a little flustered and didn't know whether he should pause or say something comforting.

Then, he saw Lu Bai turn his head and look at him with teary eyes.

The two looked at each other.

Lu Bai sobbed as he reached out his hand to Zhou Heming.

"?"

Zhou Heming then reached out and placed his hand above Lu Bai's palm, as if shaking hands with a dog.

Immediately, Lu Bai pulled Zhou Heming over, threw himself into his arms, and burst into tears.

Let's pause it, otherwise we'll miss some plot details.

Zhou Heming stiffly picked up the remote control and paused the movie.

In the dim, quiet, and warm room, for a moment, only the brief sobs of the girl in the boy's arms could be heard.

Zhou Heming didn't say anything like "Don't cry," he just let Lu Bai hold onto his clothes and keep sobbing.

He thought Lu Bai must have felt a connection to this. Perhaps, during this time, she had also been forcing a smile and finding it hard to accept Cheng Shuangjiang's departure.

Now that you have an outlet for your emotions, it's better to let it all out and have a good cry.

Zhou Heming actually wanted to have a good cry too.

Suddenly, Lu Bai raised his face.

In the instant their breaths mingled as they stood so close, she spoke.

"Can't you just reach out and hug the girl?"

The tone was slightly complaining.

"I dare not move."

Zhou Heming spoke the truth.

"I allowed it."

As Lu Bai spoke, he buried his head in Zhou Heming's chest again.

My snot and tears are almost staining my clothes. I should have recommended "Escape from the Tiger's Mouth" instead; at least it's a pure comedy.

Zhou Heming thought to himself, raised his hand, and gently put his arm around Lu Bai's back. He didn't move around, but hugged her with a very respectful and intimate gesture, befitting a good friend.

Unexpectedly, Lu Bai simply wrapped his arms around Zhou Heming's waist and snuggled into his embrace.

Sure enough, a woman who is crying doesn't know what she's doing. Even if you gave her a real bear in springtime, she would still hug it.

He guessed that Lu Bai was using him as a giant body pillow.

Unconcerned about the girl's delicate and soft body, Zhou Heming only felt that the girl in front of him was not as strong as he had imagined.

I don't know how long I cried.

Lu Bai sniffed and finally let go of Zhou Heming.

"Excuse me."

She tore off a tissue and tried to wipe away the traces of tears and snot on Zhou Heming's clothes.

"I'll wash it later."

Zhou Heming looked at the tears and snot on his clothes.

So even a pretty girl's snot is sticky.

He suddenly realized something.

"There's still half an hour left in the movie, shall we continue watching?"

Considering there was a short, tear-jerking scene to come, Zhou Heming checked the time.

It's 11:30.

Lu Bai cried for almost half an hour.

Even now, her eyes are still red and she looks like she could burst into tears at any moment, giving her a pitiful and broken appearance.

To be honest, Zhou Heming didn't dare let her continue watching, afraid that she would cry herself to death.

"Read it, read it all."

Lu Bai sobbed for a moment before answering.

"Then it will be a bit late for me to get back."

Zhou Heming glanced at his phone.

"Isn't your heating broken? You'll freeze to death if you go back."

Lu Bai wiped the tears from his eyes with a tissue, blew his nose, and threw it into the trash can.

"Why don't you sleep here tonight?"

She spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

*
Today is Zhou Heming and Lu Bai's birthday, but unfortunately, the birthday storyline wasn't written in time for the main plot. What a pity.

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(End of this chapter)