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Chapter 263: There’s a Strange Person Outside the Door
“Yao Yao…” The empress of the Zhu Family stretched out her head from the kitchen, and waved the bottle in her hand. “There’s no more soy sauce in the house, buy me a bottle downstairs.”
“Ou!” Zhu Yao responded. She then changed into her shoes and left the house as ordered.
“Isn’t this Yao Yao?” Just as she reached the stairs, an auntie walked over towards her.
“Aunt Chen.” Her house was located in a rather old and small district, and her surroundings were filled with old neighbours who had lived there for several dozens of years, all of whom were extremely familiar with each other.
The auntie nodded, and asked with a smile. “Yao Yao, when did you get back? How many days of leave did you take? Do you have a boyfriend yet? When are you planning to get married?”
“Uh…” Zhu Yao had an awkward look, as she diverted from the topic. “Aunt Chen, my mom is currently cooking and is waiting for me to buy some soy sauce for her, I will chat with you once I get back, alright?”
“Oh.” Only then did she nod and step away. Suddenly, she recalled something, and informed her. “Oh right, Yao Yao. You have to be careful outside. I heard that a strange person has appeared at the entrance of the small district. He’s dressed in a strange attire, and has been standing for an entire day.”
“Thank you, Aunt Chen. I’m just going over to the convenience shop downstairs, there won’t be any problems.” Zhu Yao replied and then hurriedly went downstairs, afraid that Aunt Chen would stop her again for a heart-to-heart talk of some sort.
Faintly, she could hear Aunt Chen sighing behind her. “Haah, youths these days! Not learning the good, and end up doing all these strange things…”
Zhu Yao did not mind about it, and directly sprinted towards the convenience store downstairs. It was presently lunch hour, yet a crowd was unexpectedly gathered in the store. She lowered her head and found the soy sauce. After paying for it, she heard the heated discussion by the people outside.
“That guy can’t be a bad person of some sort, right? I heard that there’s recently some lunatics going around chopping people.”
“With looks like that, how could he possibly be a bad person? Though, he’s dressed a little strange!”
“We can’t say that for certain, you can’t judge a book by its cover. Even if he looks handsome, he might still be a bad person.”
“This is a society where face is the only thing that matters. As long as he has the face, anything can be forgiven.”
“That person is dressed in ancient attire, and he’s not speaking either. He’s just standing there. He can’t be mute, right?”
“He shouldn’t be. Didn’t the guard Xiao Li mention this? That person is here to look for someone, but he doesn’t have the access card, and he doesn’t know where she lives, that’s why he’s just standing outside the gate.”
“Oh? Then who is he looking for?”
“She seems to be surnamed Yu… And her name is Yu… Yu what again?”
Zhu Yao’s heart skipped a beat, as she fiercely turned to look at the few people. “That person you people are talking about, where is he?”
They gave her a strange glance, and then pointed to the right. “Right at the entrance to the small district.”
Zhu Yao lifted her feet and charged out, sprinting towards the entrance of the small district. From afar, she saw a large crowd gathering at the side, and all of them were pointing at the center, having heated discussions. Some had even taken out their phones to take pictures.
And at the center of the crowd, a man in a white robe was coldly watching everything. His ice-cold expression had forcefully shunned everyone, creating a vacuum zone within a radius of three meters from himself.
The soy sauce in Zhu Yao’s hands fell onto the ground. She was simply unable to believe her own eyes.
“Master…”
“Miss Zhu, you’re back.” The gate guard Xiao Li waved at her, and followed her line of sight. “What? You know this strange person?”
Zhu Yao’s eyes reddened, as she heavily nodded. With a louder voice, she shouted. “Master!”
“Mister? What mister?” A taxi mister? Xiao Li was startled. Wearing an ancient robe to attract customers? Taxi drivers nowadays sure are going all out!
Just as Xiao Li was about to clarify this, Zhu Yao had already charged into the crowd and broken through that vacuum zone, hugging onto that snow-white robe.
“Master.”
The person in front of her startled for a moment, and tightly return her hug an instant later. A familiar voice rang in her ears, carrying a feeling as if he was heaving a sigh of relief. “Yu Yao, I found you.”
Never in her dreams would she have expected that her master would come to the modern era. Even now, she still could not believe everything was real, as she carefully pulled his hand, touched his face, and then pulled it, and then rubbed it, and then…
“Yu Yao.” Yu Yan pulled down her mischievous hands. “It’s me.”
“Master…” She was simply surprised to the point of wanting to cry, alright? She had been looking for Realmspirit through QQ for an entire day, but for some reasons, that QQ account had never lighted up, showing that he was offline the entire time. If not for the QQ chat log that still existed, she would have begun to suspect if she actually knew such a friend online, and if she had actually experienced those incredible things.
She was also becoming a little uncertain if she could actually see her master again.
However, in a blink of an eye, he was properly standing before her own eyes.
The voices of discussion in the surroundings grew even louder, as the crowd curiously sized the two people up. Only then did Zhu Yao regain her senses. She suddenly recalled that her master was definitely an unregistered citizen on this side. In order to prevent a news article popping out tomorrow titled ‘Amazement! Strangely-dressed Man at the Entrance to ** Small District’, she immediately corrected her words.
“Why did you rush over here right after the drama shoot? You gave me a fright. Come in for now then.”
Only then was the spectating crowd enlightened. He was actually an actor. But the drama crew was a little too rich, right? That hairstyle and costume were simply too professional and appealing to the viewers’ eyes.
Zhu Yao took the opportunity to pull him and sprint all the way back to her own home. Then, she heavily closed the door.
“Why are you so slow?” The empress walked out from the kitchen with a potato in hand. However, the moment she raised her head, she dropped it on the ground.
Crap, I have forgotten that there’s still two esteemed buddhas at home.
The empress took in a deep breath, and then turned to face the dining room, roaring out loud. “Her dad, come quickly, Yao Yao brought a man back home!”
“What!?” A cry resounded from the dining room. In a blink of an eye, a middle-aged man, carrying a broom charged out, filled with killing intent.
Zhu Yao: “…”
“Dad…” What are you trying to do?
“What are you doing?” The empress had already snatched the broom off his hands, and glared at him. “Yao Yao brought her first man back home at the age of twenty-eight, what are you going to do if you frighten him away?” As she said that, she looked at her daughter with a face that looked as if spring had bloomed. “Yao Yao, how did you suddenly get enlightened after a short trip downstairs? This is?”
“Uh…” The corner of Zhu Yao’s lips twitched. “I bought soy sauce, and this came for free!”
“What nonsense are you talking about?” The empress raised her hand and sent a slap towards the back of her head. She then lowered her head and looked at her hand. “Where’s the soy sauce!”
It dropped earlier!
“Forget it, hurry in and settle down.” The empress waved at the two people with a passionate look, gesturing the two of them to enter. While she was at it, she picked up the potato on the ground.
I wonder if we run out now, will it still be too late?
She wondered if all girls would experience the three sessions of trials when they bring their boyfriends back home for the first time. During the meal, Madam Yang wanted nothing more than to gather information about someone’s family and his eighteen generations of ancestry. The key thing was, a certain master was someone without a keen sense on things, and when it came to something like facing parents, he had completely no experience whatsoever. Though, from the time he came into the house, he had already guessed that the two people in front of him were his disciple’s parents.
As to how he was supposed to interact with his disciple’s parents, his own master did not teach him about it though?
“This mister, what’s your name?” The empress flashed a harmonious smile.
“Yu Yan.” Yu Yan replied.
“Surnamed Yu? Now that’s a very rare surname. Where do you work?” The empress continued.
Yu Yan blurted out. “I’m Jade Forest Peak…”
“Jade Forest Peak… Industrial Corporation!” Zhu Yao instantly intervened and filled the hole. “Mom, he undertakes nature-related work.”
“Oh!” Madam Yang nodded. “Then what do you do specifically?”
Yu Yan replied with a stern look. “I cultivate in lightning…”
“Lightning… electrical energy harvesting and its usages.” Zhu Yao’s face was drenched in cold sweat. “Hoho, mom. It’s a study that concerns the field of new energy sources. You have never heard of it.”
“Oh…” Mother Yang was puzzled as expected, but it sounded rather important and expensive. “Then what position are you holding in your company?”
“Position?” Yu Yan pondered for a short while. She might be referring to his level of cultivation. “I’m presently a High…”
“High… Level Manager!” Zhu Yao continued to intervene. “Mom, he’s really incredible. In their company, other than the boss, no one has a higher position than him.”
“I’m asking him, not you!” Mother Yang glared at her, expressing dissatisfaction at her interrupting behaviour.
Zhu Yao felt like crying. How could she not interrupt? With someone like her master who was naturally slow-witted and cute, and had never known what a lie was, if he were to speak honestly, it would be strange for people not to think he was a lunatic.
Thus, with Zhu Yao forcefully stepping in at the right moments, this Q&A dinner session finally concluded.
Questions related to work and family were brought up in the beginning. Then, Mother Yang pushed all the way to topics like what kind of wedding he was planning to have, and how many children they were aiming for. Zhu Yao could only use the excuse of there still being a lot of work to do in the company, and then pulled her master back to A City.
This time, she had no choice but to move into the new home which she had long renovated properly.
In regards to Zhu Yao, who had taken up her guest room for an entire year, being enlightened all of a sudden, Feng Guoguo sent a congratulatory message, and asked with absolute seriousness. “Are you certain you don’t want to head over to the hospital for a full body check-up, or go for a brain scan or something?”
This was simply a sign of their friendship collapsing at any moment.
After working busily for an entire day, she finally dragged her master back to the nest- ah pui, back to her own home. Thinking that she would from now on go off for work, while she would have a husband staying at home to warm the blankets, it was simply the peak of life. Uh, something’s a little off here?
“This is the world you live in?” Yu Yan adopted the serious attitude of an academic researcher, and inspected his disciple’s little nest. He discovered many mystic artifacts he had never seen before, and strangely, he was unable to sense the circulation of spiritual energy within them.
“Master…”
“Mn?”
“If you dismantle it any further, that clock will spoil.”
Before she could finish, the clock in Yu Yan’s hands, with a crack sound, broke into pieces. The gears fell off the casing, rolling onto the ground.
Yu Yan: “…” He had never seen such a frail mystic artifact.
Zhu Yao: “…” Fine, she could still afford another clock, as long as he did not dismantle…
“Master, what are you doing? Hurry and release that television!” That was the newest 50-inch model with liquid crystal display, costing over tens of thousands of dollars!
That white figure was startled for a moment, and then slowly retracted his hands. He was simply curious why his disciple wanted to embed a pitch-black stone onto the wall, and it looked so glossy too. Could it be? “This is Glazed Stone?”
“No, that’s a television?”
“What’s a television?”
“Television is a terminal used to receive radio waves. The radio waves received by the satellites will be transmitted here, reverting back to the original images and sounds.”
“What’s a radio wave? And what’s a satellite?”
“Uh… These matters are very complicated. In any case, people first film and record their performances or the events that happened. Then, they change them to various types of waves, and then broadcast them to machines like this one through the satellites, allowing countless of homes to view them.”
“And what’s film?”
“Uh…” Are you ‘Hundred Thousand Whys’1?
Zhu Yao decided to simply click on the remote. The television instantly brightened, and it was presently show the newest episode of《Where Did the Silly Person Go》.
Yu Yan stared for a few moments, and then nodded with an understanding look. “So it’s a Voice Recording Stone.”
“…” Why did she feel that a television that costed tens of thousands of dollars, had instantly plummeted in quality!?
“It can record sounds and images, if it’s not a Voice Recording Stone, what else can it be?”
Uh… Fine, Voice Recording Stone it is then.
Then, he walked to the right. “What is this?”
“Refrigerator… No, it’s a large-scale ice type mystic art, one at the first rank.”
“This?”
“It’s a Blazing Fire Stone, third rank.” – Induction cooker.
“The one next to it?”
“It’s a second rank mystic artifact that makes use of a water type Dirt Removal Art.” – Washing machine.
“The one in your hand?”
“This is a multi-purpose voice transmission talisman.” – Mobile phone.
Only then did Yu Yan nod. “Why are all the mystic artifacts in this world so low class?”
“Uh… right.” After learning to let things be, she discovered that the world had suddenly become a happier place!
“The thing on the table?”
“Now this thing here is incredible. This is a celestial book of records. Inside, a large portion of the knowledge of the world is recorded within.” – Laptop. “Of course, there are more information concerning entertainment. As long as you have things you wish to find out about, you can search for them inside.”
“Mn.” Yu Yan had completely satisfied his curiosity and walked back, sitting next to her on the sofa. Probably he felt that it was too soft, he was a little unaccustomed to it and nudged a little. Pulling up her hand and interlocking her fingers with his, he held onto her hand firmly. “Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere after returning here?”
Zhu Yao shook her head. “No, I don’t. Oh right, master, how did you come to this side?”
“I don’t know.” He frowned. “Back then, you were damaged by Yue Ying’s Soul Devouring Devil Formation, and even after your master had tried every possible method, I was still unable to hold back your quickly dispersing soul.” His hand suddenly tightened, a few hints of anger surfaced on his forehead.
“Master…”
Zhu Yao called out to him, and only then did he regain his senses. He reached out his hand to stroke his disciple’s head, and then casually pulled her into his embrace. Only then did that restless heart of his slowly regain its calm. “After that, the Light of Guidance shifted from its original position, and struck onto your body. Your master recalled that a form of energy seemed to have torn space apart, sweeping the two of us within it. After that, I sensed your aura in front of that building…”
Back then, Zhu Yao had already fainted, and basically did not witness the incident her master spoke about. When she regained her consciousness, she had already returned back to Guoguo’s place, sitting in front of the computer, like how she was before she transmigrated.
“Yu Yao…” As if he had recalled something, he reminded with a frown. “Before entering this world, I seemed to have heard the voice of someone apologizing to you. Within that voice, faintly contains the energy of the Heavenly Dao…”
Apologize? Could it be Realmspirit? Why did he apologize to her?
Zhu Yao immediately moved the laptop to where she was, connected to the internet, and picked out Realmspirit’s QQ chat window. However, his avatar was still showing a grey colour. Realmspirit was not online.
1. Hundred Thousand Whys: It’s a popular general encyclopaedia in China, with many renditions.