There was only one last ingredient left for the hot pot. But Su Yanke wasn't in a hurry. She would visit Chen Yonggui's place later. The matter about Xiaobao was more important.
Su Yanke looked up at the sky. She'd set off soon!
She briefly gave Xiaobao some instructions and also told him about going to school the next day.
Xiaobao remained as calm as ever. Su Yanke used to feel frustrated about this, but not anymore. She was just curious about what kind of thing could make Xiaobao react strongly.
Watching Su Yanke's departing back, Xiaobao fell into silence. It seemed that his sister had been a bit impatient these days.
What on earth was she in a hurry for?
Why did it give him the feeling that she was going on a long - distance journey after arranging the family affairs?
Xiaobao took a deep breath to suppress the inexplicable restlessness in his heart.
Since it had rained last night, the sky was especially bright today. The wind carried a bit of chill.
Su Yanke felt that they should speed up the process of making winter clothes. So she told Aunt Li to find a time to visit Aunt He and see if she was available to make clothes.
After giving the instructions, she put on a shawl and got a little waistcoat for Xiaobao.
Since only Su Yanke and Xiaobao were going this time, they didn't slow down. Su Yanke took this opportunity to test Xiaobao to see how explosive his leg strength was.
Xiaobao was really up to the task. He didn't stop all the way. When they finally reached Chen Yonggui's house, he didn't even gasp for breath. Su Yanke was truly impressed.
"Uncle Chen? Yongshun!"
This time, there were really great changes in Chen Yonggui's house. The entrance no longer looked as desolate as before. The weeds in the yard had been cleared, and there were no more withered leaves. The whole house looked brighter, cleaner and more like a home.
"Miss Su?"
"Sister Su!"
Chen Yonggui, wearing a dark - colored suit and with a cloth wrapped around his hand, walked out. Seeing Su Yanke, he smiled.
Chen Yongshun followed right after Chen Yonggui came out. Seeing Su Yanke, he exclaimed in surprise.
Chen Yonggui quickly told Chen Yongshun to pour some water for them. He took off the cloth wrapped around his hand and casually put it aside. Then he invited Su Yanke to sit in the hall for a while. He said he would go wash his hands first as he looked really dirty at the moment.
Su Yanke was wearing a sky - blue long dress and a white shawl today. She looked extremely gentle and noble, which made Chen Yonggui subconsciously feel that his appearance would sully her eyes.
People almost always subconsciously feel a sense of inferiority in front of beautiful things. That was exactly how Chen Yonggui felt at the moment.
Chen Yongshun was really fast in serving the tea. He came almost as soon as Su Yanke sat down. After Su Yanke took the tea, she got straight to the point.
"Uncle Chen, the matter about going to the school we talked about last time can be put into practice. We plan to go to the school in the city to have a look tomorrow. When do you plan to go?"
Chen Yonggui had guessed Su Yanke's purpose for coming, so he was only a little surprised at her words. He also had some thoughts in mind and said,
"I talked to Yongshun about this before, and he also agreed. I was thinking about whether to wait until the matter of the stoves was over. Since Xiaobao is going tomorrow, we might as well go together. It will be better to have someone to take care of each other."
Su Yanke looked at Xiaobao to see his opinion, but Xiaobao seemed not to be listening at all. He was just staring blankly at Chen Yongshun. Su Yanke tried to call him, and sure enough, she saw Xiaobao blinking his big, blank eyes at her.
"Xiaobao, are you not feeling well? You seem to be in a bad state these days."
"Maybe I've been too excited these days and didn't sleep well at night, so I'm a bit out of energy during the day?"
Su Yanke thought about it. It made some sense. There had indeed been great changes in the family these days. The quality of life had risen sharply, and they were going to school. The excitement just came one after another. It was normal for Xiaobao to be a bit nervous.
But was Xiaobao really like this?
Xiaobao had been staring at Chen Yongshun since he entered the door. When he saw that Chen Yongshun's sight was about to fall on Su Yanke, he skillfully blocked his view with his small body.
Hearing Su Yanke's question, Xiaobao focused his attention back on their conversation. In order not to arouse Su Yanke's suspicion, he stopped paying attention to Chen Yongshun's gaze.
After the matter was settled, Su Yanke told Chen Yonggui that she would go to teach Qiu Xu's people some tips about the stoves in the next few days. Chen Yonggui wrote them all down.
She also chatted with Chen Yongshun for a while. When they were going home, it was getting dark. Su Yanke got back to Uncle Lao Ji's place just in time for dinner. After having a good meal, she went back to her room to rest early.
Su Yanke had been going back to her room early at night recently. She was also stimulated by Xiaobao's talent. Coupled with her eagerness to go home, she couldn't let her spiritual power lag behind!
*
"A Yan, A Yan..."
"Who!"
An old and hoarse voice rang out around Su Yanke. She felt that the voice was very familiar, but she just couldn't remember where she had heard it.
"A Yan, where on earth are you? Can you come back quickly? I really don't have much time left, A Yan..."
Hearing this, Su Yanke was jolted. Didn't have much time left?
Who didn't have much time left?
Could it be...!
Yuan Hexiao!
"Yuan Hexiao, A He, is that you? I'm here! I'm also trying hard to find the way home, but... but it's so difficult..."
Thinking of her experiences in that world, Su Yanke felt less and less confident. She didn't know what the way back was.
After Su Yanke said this, the voice disappeared.
Suddenly, a white light shone. Su Yanke tried hard to open her eyes and slowly adapt to the sudden brightness.
A suppressed sobbing sound came. When Su Yanke opened her eyes, she saw many familiar people, such as Agent Liu, Lu Xingmi, Chen Maohua, Feng Qiuhan and a series of other people she knew well. But no matter how hard she searched, she couldn't find the person she was longing for.
Su Yanke noticed that they seemed to be crying.
For whom were they crying?
Su Yanke looked in the direction they were facing. At this sight, her pupils suddenly shrank, and her face turned deathly pale.
"A He? A He! Don't scare me. Say something! A He!!"
Su Yanke walked unsteadily towards a rectangular box not far away. The person lying inside was Yuan Hexiao!
Su Yanke felt that she couldn't hear any other sounds around. Her mind and eyes were full of Yuan Hexiao's lifeless face.
Su Yanke stretched out her trembling hand to touch Yuan Hexiao's skin to test if he had really "gone".
But the coldness she felt made the string in her heart snap completely.
Su Yanke couldn't hold back anymore. She threw herself beside Yuan Hexiao and cried.
"A He, A He... I'm back... Open your... eyes and look at me... okay, A... He!"
Su Yanke was crying so hard that she could hardly say a complete sentence. Great grief and collapse enveloped her.
She didn't know how long she had been crying. She was so weak from crying. She felt that her vision was getting dark. This was a symptom of oxygen deficiency caused by excessive crying.
Just when Su Yanke was in such a state, someone suddenly grabbed her neck. Almost instinctively, Su Yanke punched out, but the person she hit seemed not to feel any pain at all and still tightly held her neck.
Su Yanke's legs were lifted off the ground by those hands. She frowned, wrapped her legs around the person's body, exerted all her strength, and struck the person's elbow hard. But that person seemed to be against biology. Even so, those hands still tightly held her neck.
There was almost no air left in Su Yanke's lungs. Her limbs began to lose strength, and her consciousness was gradually blurring due to the lack of oxygen.
Just when Su Yanke's consciousness was about to disappear, she heard a young boy's voice coming from afar.
"Jie... Jie..."
"Jie Jie... Wake up quickly..."
"Who?"
Su Yanke's brain had become a bit slow. She tried hard to recognize who was speaking. Why was the voice so familiar?
"Jie Jie? Who is this calling? Whose name is Jie Jie?"
"Jie Jie?"
Su Yanke suddenly had a jolt. It was her sister. They were calling her sister!
It was Xiaobao's voice!
Su Yanke suddenly realized something was wrong. Shouldn't she be sleeping in the room? How could she meet Yuan Hexiao?
Almost at the moment when Su Yanke realized this, the hand that was pinching her neck disappeared all of a sudden. Around her was black again, pitch - black.
But Su Yanke was no longer as scared as before because her brain had realized that something was wrong here.
The first thing Su Yanke did was to check if there was anything wrong with her body. Sure enough, there was a faint purple aura around her dantian. Su Yanke was too familiar with this purple aura. It was the Purple Copper Coin causing trouble!
Su Yanke refined that purple aura and integrated it into her body. It took Su Yanke nearly half an hour to deal with just this little bit of purple aura.
As the purple aura disappeared, the voices in Su Yanke's ears became clearer.
Su Yanke's body also regained control. Her eyelashes fluttered, and a warm yellow light entered her sight.
"Xiaobao."
Su Yanke was also startled by her hoarse voice.
"Sister, you're finally awake! You scared me to death." Xiaobao cried and hugged Su Yanke tightly and didn't let go for a long time.
"What's wrong? Your sister is right here. Don't cry. Otherwise, your eyes will be swollen tomorrow and you won't look good!" Su Yanke gently patted Xiaobao's back to comfort him.
"Sister, I... I'm so scared. No matter... how I called, no one came. And... I couldn't wake you up, wu... wu wu..." Xiaobao stammered.