Chapter 154
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Lou Yan was in good physical condition, and with his strong mental power, coupled with the rest he had at Fu Xuezhou’s house a few days ago, even staying up all night wouldn’t burden him much.
Lou Yan woke up when he heard a slight movement in the house. Getting up to investigate, he found Lu Haoxiu getting ready to wash up.
The high schooler’s face no longer showed the gloominess of the past few days; instead, he was all smiles. His pale complexion even gained a bit of color, showing signs of liveliness again.
He poured a glass of water from the tap, chuckled twice, then carefully squeezed toothpaste onto his toothbrush.
However, such delicate actions were too difficult for someone who couldn’t see or hear anything. The toothpaste didn’t land successfully on the toothbrush but fell directly beside it. Lou Yan quickly produced a stream of clear water to catch the toothpaste and placed it on the toothbrush without leaving a trace.
“Lucky!” Lu Haoxiu exclaimed in joy after successfully squeezing the toothpaste on the first try, “Today is definitely a lucky day!”
Lou Yan leaned against the door frame, smiling.
Quietly watching Lu Haoxiu finish washing up and return to bed obediently, waiting for the others to wake up, Lou Yan quietly left Lu Haoxiu’s room and went back to his own to freshen up.
Upon opening the door to his own bedroom, Lou Yan saw the phone lying on the bed, as dark as night.
Lou Yan: “…” F*ck!
He suddenly remembered what he had forgotten before going to bed last night.
Feeling somewhat guilty, Lou Yan walked over and picked up the phone.
Last night, he had thrown the phone before finishing his words, and it really seemed like he was intentionally playing with Fu Xuezhou. But Fu Xuezhou should have hung up the call by himself soon after, right? After all, there was no one speaking from his end. As long as Fu Xuezhou hadn’t waited too long, even if he was angry, it shouldn’t be too serious.
Lou Yan turned on the phone screen to check the call duration. To his surprise, the phone was still on the call screen, and the call hadn’t been disconnected yet.
Lou Yan was stunned, his heart skipping a beat. He couldn’t believe that Fu Xuezhou hadn’t hung up the call yet.
Did Fu Xuezhou forget that the phone was still on the call?
Lou Yan tentatively called out, “Fu Xuezhou…?”
He thought it would take a long time to get a response, but to his surprise, Fu Xuezhou replied immediately after he finished speaking.
“Lou Yan,” his voice was cold, with a slight hoarseness, “What’s the matter.”
There was a hint of impatience in his tone.
Lou Yan looked at the phone number in surprise, confirming that the person on the other end of the call was indeed Fu Xuezhou, not someone else.
It was incredible how anything could happen in this world. Even after he had “played” Fu Xuezhou like this, Fu Xuezhou didn’t get angry or sarcastic. His first question was still about what Lou Yan wanted.
Lou Yan thought of a possibility and hesitantly asked, “Fu Xuezhou, did you wait for me all night?”
“How is that possible?” Fu Xuezhou immediately retorted coldly, “You’re overthinking it, Lou Yan. Stop beating around the bush and tell me what’s the matter.”
Was he trying to change the subject?
Lou Yan gasped silently, becoming even more certain that Fu Xuezhou had waited for him all night.
Lou Yan licked his dry lips and, after realizing what was going on, couldn’t help but smirk. Instead of continuing to discuss this issue, he asked the question he had wanted to ask earlier, “Do you know Count Grey?”
Although he learned from Lu Haoxiu how to find Count Grey, Lou Yan still wanted to hear Fu Xuezhou’s answer. Because he wanted to know the relationship between Fu Xuezhou and Count Grey.
Fu Xuezhou frowned and asked in return, “Are you doing business with Count Grey?”
“I received a business card from Count Grey and have been to his shop before. Count Grey said we have a connection,” Lou Yan looked down at the wrinkled carpet on the floor, using his foot to smooth it out, “He looks a bit like you. Do you have any relationship with him?”
Fu Xuezhou chuckled lightly, as if hearing some absurd joke, “Similar how.”
Lou Yan calmly continued, “Hair color, skin color… and a certain demeanor.”
“I have no relationship with Count Grey,” Fu Xuezhou said lightly, “Let me remind you, don’t touch anything in Count Grey’s Shop without permission.”
Lou Yan’s expression turned serious, “What if something is taken from Count Grey’s Shop without permission?”
Fu Xuezhou warned, “Don’t do that. Taking something from Count Grey’s Shop without permission will incur Count Grey’s curse.”
Lou Yan’s breath hitched, “What kind of curse?”
“He’ll take away your soul,” Fu Xuezhou replied.
So, what Lu Haoxiu lost wasn’t just his physical senses but also part of his soul.
Lou Yan’s grip on the phone tightened as he asked, “Can the soul that’s been taken away be redeemed?”
“It can, as long as you pay a price that satisfies Count Grey,” Fu Xuezhou said.
Lou Yan felt relieved. He wasn’t afraid to pay the price; he was afraid that it couldn’t be redeemed. As long as it could be redeemed, they would do their best to satisfy Count Grey.
After asking the questions he wanted to know, Lou Yan changed the subject with a smile, “Fu Xuezhou, you said you have no relationship with Count Grey. If you have no relationship, why are you so familiar with him?”
“If you can receive a business card from Count Grey and do business with him, then so can I,” Fu Xuezhou’s impatience in his tone became more apparent, sounding like he was running out of patience, “I’ve only done business with him a few times. Are you done asking?”
“I’m done,” Lou Yan raised an eyebrow, then continued, “Tha—”
Before he could finish his sentence, the phone emitted a busy tone, and Fu Xuezhou actually hung up on him.
“…” Lou Yan stared at the phone screen wide-eyed, “D*mn!”
He threw the phone onto the bed with a black expression, unable to help but suspect whether Fu Xuezhou had really waited for his call all night.
Would this be the reaction if he had indeed waited all night? This was the first time in Lou Yan’s life that someone had hung up on him before he finished speaking!
***
Fu Xuezhou looked at the phone that had run out of battery and silently plugged it in to charge.
The morning sunlight streamed into the room through the curtains, casting a slender beam of golden light diagonally onto Fu Xuezhou’s waist and abdomen.
His shirt was pulled up, revealing a small patch of pale and tight abdominal muscles, and the sunlight, warm like a gentle touch, brushed over it.
Below his waist, he was firm.
The more suppressed he felt, the more restless his body became. Just hearing Lou Yan’s voice elicited such a strong reaction from his body.
Fu Xuezhou didn’t understand why he was like this. He placed his hand over his eyes, his thin lips pressed tight. He told himself that this was just a normal morning reaction.
He didn’t want to pay attention to this reaction, so he closed his eyes and waited for his body to calm down. Within a few minutes, Fu Xuezhou heard the hotel cleaner going from room to room outside, asking if they wanted their room cleaned.
Soon, the cleaner knocked on Fu Xuezhou’s door, “Sir, do you need your room cleaned?”
Fu Xuezhou didn’t speak, nor did he get up. He laid calmly on the bed, as if he hadn’t heard anything. But after the cleaner received no response after asking once, they began to knock on the door continuously, the banging sound becoming annoying.
“Sir? Sir?”
A hint of suppressed annoyance appeared on Fu Xuezhou’s face. He suddenly opened his eyes, his voice cold, “No need!”
After apologizing, the cleaner left.
Fu Xuezhou clenched his fists, the blue veins on the back of his hand protruding. His eyes fluctuated, and suddenly, he reached down, his pale and slender fingers encircling himself.
Just as he was about to take action, the words of his psychologist came to Fu Xuezhou’s mind.
Suppress it, restrain it. If such a situation arises because of the other person, try to resist it. If you want to quit this addiction psychologically, you must first not relax your body’s obsession.
Fu Xuezhou’s mind flashed with Lou Yan’s face, and what he held in his hand grew larger.
His breath warmed, and he raised his head to look at the ceiling, his eyes dark with a hint of red. Fu Xuezhou involuntarily thought of how Lou Yan looked lying on the bed and couldn’t help but move his hand. The tattoo of the ghost marriage contract on his back began to heat up.
Fu Xuezhou abruptly let go of his hand, expressionless, and quickly walked into the bathroom, turning on the cold water for a shower.
The ghost marriage contract would also react when the host did such things. This was a reminder to the other host who possessed the ghost marriage contract: their host was craving intimacy.
Just like animals emit mating scents, but at this moment, Fu Xuezhou didn’t want Lou Yan to know what he was doing.
After showering, Fu Xuezhou immediately called his psychologist.
The psychologist had just woken up and was a bit confused when answering the phone, “Mr. Fu, what’s wrong? I remember we scheduled our session for 2:30 this afternoon.”
“Start treating me right now,” Fu Xuezhou said, “I want to extend the treatment time.”
The psychologist hesitated, “This… Mr. Fu, it’s not easy to change the time.”
“Do as I say. I’ll pay more,” Fu Xuezhou looked at himself in the mirror, his tone indifferent, “If you can cure me quickly, I’ll give you extra money. From now on, you just need to focus on treating me.”
After probing for the price, the psychologist hesitated for a moment before saying, “Then I’ll go to the hospital now, Mr. Fu. See you later.”
Fu Xuezhou hung up the phone, looked at Lou Yan’s phone number, which was second on the call log, and rubbed it with his finger before turning away and turning off the phone.
***
After Li Sanxin and Duan Zege rested well for a night, they were in high spirits. They quickly finished breakfast and left with their packed belongings.
Because there were many people, they drove a seven-seater car, with Li Sanxin sitting in the back taking care of Lu Haoxiu and Little Yu. When the car approached the intersection, Li Sanxin suddenly said, “Yanzi, stop at the intersection ahead. We’ll pick someone up.”
Lou Yan asked in confusion, “Who?”
Li Sanxin helplessly said, “Ye Buyan.”
Ye Buyan had always felt responsible for Lu Haoxiu losing his senses, so when he was in the hospital, he asked Li Sanxin about Lu Haoxiu’s condition dozens of times a day, feeling guilty and worried. Yesterday, when Li Sanxin told Ye Buyan that Lu Haoxiu might recover today, Ye Buyan secretly slipped out of the hospital with the determination to go to Rongcheng with them to find Count Grey.
Li Sanxin advised Ye Buyan, but Ye Buyan didn’t listen. Ye Buyan was a bit stubborn. If they didn’t let him come along, Li Sanxin worried that he would sneakily follow them, so he agreed to Ye Buyan’s request.
As the car approached the intersection, Lou Yan could already see Ye Buyan standing there. Ye Buyan had bandages wrapped around his hands and was wearing a loose black zip-up jacket and casual pants, with a cool expression on his face. When he saw them coming, he limped towards the roadside.
It had been five days since Ye Buyan was rescued, and the minor injuries on his body had healed, but his severely injured right foot and both arms had not recovered. Looking at Ye Buyan’s current state, Lou Yan could imagine how serious his injuries were when he was injured.
Li Sanxin pulled Ye Buyan into the car, and Ye Buyan looked first at the quiet Lu Haoxiu sitting in the back before sighing in relief. He called out to everyone.
Li Sanxin smiled and said, “Sit down, we still have several hours of driving ahead of us.”
Ye Buyan nodded and sat down beside Lu Haoxiu, keeping an eye on him throughout the journey.
It took five and a half hours to drive from Chengjiang City to Rongcheng, and Lou Yan drove quickly. When they arrived in Rongcheng, it hadn’t even been five hours.
The people in the car were all hungry, so Lou Yan followed the navigation to find a restaurant to stop and eat. By the time they finished eating, it was already two o’clock in the afternoon.
Lou Yan walked at the back of the crowd. After paying and coming out, he raised his eyes and immediately stopped in his tracks.
Across the street from him, a shop with plants arranged in front and an extremely cute fairy-tale style caught his eye. The signboard of the shop read: “Count Grey’s Shop.”
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