This Damned Thirst for Survival

So the masters are around!

In this bizarre and dangerous world of mirrors, having someone powerful as a companion on your side suddenly makes you feel safer.

Lian Qiang ingratiatingly approached Jiang Luo and smiled, “Senior brother is senior brother, using such a difficult technique as the Eight Trigrams Formation so easily and casually that he deserves to be the first place winner of the competition, a model for our young people.”

“I thought you were just a one in a million Fu Lu master, but I didn’t know you were more than just a Fu Lu master, you’re good at everything else,” Lian Bing also came over and kept bragging about Jiang Luo, making Jiang Luo’s skin tingle, “I From now on, I will be your loyal brother, I will do whatever you want me to do. Brother – can you give me a life-saving Fu Lu?”

The purpose of the amulet was revealed, as the Master Fu Lu’s life-preserving amulet was a priceless item.

Lian Xue smiled, “Don’t be a good boy, since senior said there are many ghosts and monsters in this world, let’s be more careful. We have to investigate about the evil spirits, but only if we keep ourselves alive.”

Jiang Luo nodded, “Lian Xue is right. I don’t have any Fu Lu, Lian Bing, you work in the back kitchen, but you can get me some rooster blood and yellow talismans. If you don’t have them for safety, there are a few spells to ward off evil spirits, so remember, they can save your life in a pinch.”

These words were spoken mainly to the four ordinary people of Du Ge.

“The blood from your middle finger and tongue is the most yang, bite through and fling the blood on the ghost at the critical moment. Don’t lean against a wall, ghosts like to cling to cold walls, doing so tends to attract ghosts ……”

A few moments later, several people walked out of the cave in a low profile, ready to return to their respective posts. Qin Yun suddenly remembered something and asked, “The owner of the house we borrowed followed the mirror, so he must have come in too, but how come I didn’t see him?”

Jiang Luo didn’t answer this, and as he and Lian Xue walked back, Lian Xue suddenly sighed, “Brother, you should also know what the young master of this household is called.”

“Hmm.”

“His name was Chi You,” Lian Xue fretted at the mention of the name, “although our Lian family took refuge in the mountains and never saw Chi You, I still knew the name. At a rough count, it’s been almost half a year since he died, and here he is in the mirror world. Not only him, but also this Chi family, which is a clear allusion to the Chi family in reality.”

“Chi You in this world also looks too much like the host family who took us in …… Do you think that the host family is the Chi You who has died and that we are the ones he got into the mirror world?”

“Looking in the mirror at midnight, that’s what Duan Zi asked for,” Jiang Luo said disapprovingly, “If it was really Chi You who got us into the mirror world, was it just to get us to kill an evil spirit? By the way, when you woke up, the voice that told you to kill the evil spirit to get out, was that the only thing he said to you?”

Lian Xue : “Yes, he only said one thing to me.”

But the voice spoke to Jiang Luo in many words.

In retrospect, the voice became a blur. Jiang Luo could not tell whether it was a man or a woman, old or young. But every word seemed to point to something else.

What sin looked like at its birth ……

Jiang Luo could only be sure that it was definitely not Chi You’s voice, and definitely not something Chi You would say.

“Brother, we ……” Lian Xue saw the man standing in front of him and abruptly bowed his head in silence.

Jiang Luo looks up and sees the teenage boy standing by the bridge, smiling and waiting for them.

It was still a dull day, with a slight breeze. Chi You stands by the lake with a pale face, his black hair blowing in the wind, smiling at Jiang Luo and Lian Xue with a gentle look on his face.

After noticing that Jiang Luo had seen him, Chi You extended his hand towards him, ” Jiang Luo, come here.”

It was clear that he had only just come of age, and the words he uttered were not forced, but his dark eyes gave no room for refusal when they fell upon him.

Jiang Luo stepped forward and looked down at his hand, not really wanting to shake the little brat’s hand, “You here to see me?”

Chi You smiled and instead took the initiative to shake his hand, leading him to turn away, “The elders of the family want to see you.”

This hand, which belonged to Chi You as a teenager, is no different from the one he had after he died. It is also so lifeless that one wonders if the blood that flows beneath his flesh is inherently cold.

But …… this is the first time Jiang Luo has actually held hands with Chi You.

Jiang Luo tugged outwards uncomfortably, but the grip on his hand looked gentle, but it was inappropriate to break free, and Chi You held it harder instead, smiling back, “What’s wrong?”

“Good brother,” Jiang Luo said with a leathery smile, “let go.”

“Bear with me a little,” Chi You smiled apologetically at him, “the elders have sent maids and boys to watch us along the way, you’ve only just started, if I don’t act close to you it will be hard for you for the rest of the eight years.”

Jiang Luo looked at him with realization, “So, I have you to thank for that?”

Chi You said unhurriedly, “You’re welcome.”

Heh.

Jiang Luo took his hand in return, inserted his five fingers into Chi You’s and said with a smile, “In that case, let’s do it more thoroughly.”

Chi You froze and looked down at the two men’s interlocked hands. Jiang Luo had already reached him and tugged at him, looking back sideways with a teasing smile at the end of his eyes, “Young master, it’s time to go.”

Chi You was pulled along by him for two steps before he looked back at Jiang Luo’s back, a dark light flickering in his eyes.

This young master of the Jiang family is surprisingly and unexpectedly interesting.

*

The elders of the Chi You family said they wanted to meet Jiang Luo, but in fact they were just having dinner with Jiang Luo. No, to say it was a meal would be an understatement; the elders just looked at Jiang Luo for a moment and then skipped him, talking around Chi You the whole time.

Jiang Luo has finally found out how many people there are in the Chi You family. Chi You is the last of the Chi You family’s direct lineage. Apart from the direct lineage, there are six side lines, and four patriarchs, all of whom are Chi You’s grandfather’s elders.

At dinner, there were 11 or 12 of these elders. At the end of the meal, they didn’t even eat a few mouthfuls of food, but each one of them kept talking to Chi You.

“Now that you’re married, you’ll have to take care of the whole Chi family. Don’t be the same as before, you got into so much trouble when you were a kid and we had to wipe your ass, can’t we wipe your ass for the rest of your life?”

“Since you are a first line, you have to do everything to the best of your ability, don’t be as disgraceful as your father …… Your first line’s reputation is notorious, dragging us side lines down with you.”

“Have you forgotten all the rules of eating? Don’t give him any food, doesn’t he have any hands of his own?”

“In the presence of our ancestors, eat slowly and chew carefully, you are in such a hurry to be reincarnated? You’re really a hungry ghost, you can’t change no matter how much you’re taught.”

“You don’t say a word even after talking about you for half a day, you just know how to eat, what else can you be useful for?”

Chi You put the food into Jiang Luo’s bowl with an unchanged expression and continued to eat.

Jiang Luo watched him eat, the young man sitting upright, his face light. Every move was elegant like a textbook, and this was called rushing?

Wouldn’t he have had to eat this meal for two hours to fill his stomach if he had been any slower?

The eleven or twelve never stop talking. They seem to take it as an honour to “teach Chi You a lesson”, and one word of reprimand to Chi You gives them a sense of pleasure that their sidekick is overpowering the full-blooded. One word from you and two from me, and Chi You is picked on from start to finish, making it seem like Chi You’s life is a waste of air. Jiang Luo was completely ignored by them, but by the end of the meal he had lost his appetite and felt surrounded by a cacophony of ducks, so loud that his mind was on the verge of exploding.

Jiang Luo sees in these elders of the Chi family a reflection of his father Jiang Pingcheng.

This annoyed him so much that he wanted to lift the table and leave. But this is clearly not the time for him to lose his temper, and Jiang Luo keeps his smile on his face as he looks down at his rice, but no one can see the hostility building up in his heart.

At last, all of them found a sense of satisfaction in the process of silencing Chi You. They left the table with their heads held high, poised as if they had won a battle, as if they had become full-fledged members of the real family.

The table of sumptuous food that hadn’t been touched much was already cold, the aroma twisted into a revolting, greasy smell. Chi You turned to Jiang Luo, “Why aren’t you eating?”

Jiang Luo glanced at him and said in a long, drawn-out voice, “No appetite.”

He couldn’t hold back his anger to shut those people’s mouths, how on earth did Chi You hold back?

Chi You looked at the table and pointed to a crispy chicken not far away, “You can try this dish, the cook’s specialty, the skin is crispy, the meat is tender and juicy.”

“Forget it,” Jiang Luo said nonchalantly, “I’m afraid which one of you will be sprayed on it.”

Chi You laughed out loud as he gently put his bowl down and grunted, “So I only eat what’s in front of me.”

Jiang Luo didn’t know how he could still laugh, so he straightened up, “Have you had enough? If you’re full, leave.”

Chi You took a hand towel and wiped her hands and lips before she stood up and said, “Let’s go.”

The meal he had just eaten was lunch, but at midday the sky was still as dark as the afternoon sun. The air was cold and Jiang Luo took a deep breath, but the cold air entered his mouth without quenching the irritation in his heart.

“Got a cigarette?” He asked.

“Smoke?” Chi You looked at him in surprise.

Jiang Luo tugged his lips at him and smiled, “Cigarettes.”

Chi You looked at him steadily for a moment and led him towards Chi’s front door, “I don’t have one, but I can take you to it.”

The two of them went out of the gate, and there were few people in front of the Chi house. Jiang Luo looked up at the sky, the sky was odd in the mirror world, he couldn’t see much of it and said with some uncertainty, “Come back as soon as you can, it should be raining soon.”

Chi You nodded and, after walking a little way, said, seemingly unintentionally, “That girl who was walking beside you this morning, she looked as if she knew me.”