Chapter 14

To the Yellow Springs

The filming finally wrapped up at 7 in the evening. The male and female leads, along with other big names, immediately left in their RVs, leaving only the poor 18th-tier actress, Lin Qianyou, to sit alone in the makeup room, removing her makeup.

Today’s filming wasn’t exactly smooth. Before leaving, Director Li repeatedly emphasized that she and Zhou Ziqing should go back and study how to film kissing scenes. His attitude was very bad, and he even tried to make a move on Lin Qianyou. If Zhou Ziqing hadn’t been there, Lin Qianyou might have fallen victim to his inappropriate behavior.

Lin Qianyou responded that she would study properly, but inside, she felt very uncomfortable. How could anyone kiss someone they had just met? Even though it was acting, it still felt awkward.

After removing her makeup and changing into her own clothes, Lin Qianyou walked out of the makeup room, preparing to go home. However, as soon as she stepped outside, she heard loud cheering sounds coming from the back of the classroom.

It was the high school students playing basketball after class.

Although Lin Qianyou wasn’t from Yangcheng, she had been there as a child, and the place she had visited was Lingchuan School.

At that time, she was in her first year of high school in Ningcheng. The school organized several first-year advanced classes to visit Lingchuan Middle School, which had the highest graduation rate in Yangcheng.

The school leadership had communicated with Lingchuan Middle School, saying they wanted their students to observe the study habits of Lingchuan’s advanced class, but they were told that the advanced class was holding a parent meeting, and all the students were free to roam the campus.

With no other choice, the school allowed the students to explore Lingchuan Middle School on their own.

Lin Qianyou was dragged to the playground by several female classmates. They said there was a handsome basketball player in the first-year advanced class of Lingchuan High who loved playing basketball, and he was probably on the court right now.

Lin Qianyou rolled her eyes and said they were being infatuated, even knowing about handsome guys from other cities so well. The girls were eager to go to the playground and didn’t have time to chat with her, so they dragged her along.

Perhaps the basketball game had been so intense and exciting that the playground was surrounded by a large crowd, with students from Lingchuan Middle School, Ningcheng No. 1 High School, and other cities who were visiting Lingchuan Middle School.

By the time Lin Qianyou and her friends squeezed through, the game had already ended.

“Ah? It’s over already? I didn’t even get to watch!” Jiang Xiaoyue said regretfully. “But what about the handsome guy? At least let me see him in person.”

“You’re calling him handsome without seeing him in person?” Lin Qianyou asked.

“Uh, I’ve only seen a blurry photo of him on their school’s forum, but I can tell he’s really handsome.”

Lin Qianyou: …

“Is that him?” Lin Qianyou pointed to a bench by the basketball court where a boy was sitting, wearing a white T-shirt and black shorts.

“Which one?!” Jiang Xiaoyue stood on tiptoe, looking in that direction, and immediately spotted Qi Shanglan, who stood out in the crowd.

He was sitting with his legs spread apart, his elbows resting on his knees, his right hand still dribbling the ball. He was covered in sweat, with several strands of hair soaked through. Sweat trickled down his well-defined jawline and dripped onto the ground, making him look sexy and charming.

“But it looks like he has a girlfriend,” Lin Qianyou added, just as Jiang Xiaoyue noticed a tall, slender girl walking toward Qi Shanglan. She had a graceful demeanor.

Wang Xinyu was holding a bottle of mineral water. She walked up to Qi Shanglan, ignoring the teasing from the group of boys nearby, and handed the water to him. “Drink some water.”

Qi Shanglan looked at her expressionlessly, “I have water.”

This is a rejection.

“This is your water. I brought it from over there.”

Qi Shanglan paused for a moment, glanced at the half-empty bottle of mineral water in her hand, and said calmly, “Thanks, but you don’t need to bring it next time.”

He took the bottle, placed it at his feet, but didn’t drink from it.

Wang Xinyu pressed her lips together, didn’t say anything further, and turned to leave.

“Is that his girlfriend? What did they say? I don’t know, it didn’t feel like it. He’s so indifferent to his girlfriend, isn’t he?” Jiang Xiaoyue asked Lin Qianyou.

“Who knows, handsome guys are usually jerks,” Lin Qianyou replied.

Just as she finished speaking, Qi Shanglan suddenly looked over at them. Lin Qianyou froze for a moment, then immediately lowered her head and hid behind Jiang Xiaoyue, muttering softly, “No way, can he hear us from this far away? Does he have super hearing?”

Jiang Xiaoyue, worried that Qi Shanglan would come over and catch them, quickly turned around and pushed Lin Qianyou out of the crowd.

—

Before they knew it, Lin Qianyou had walked over to the same basketball court from years ago.

In the afterglow of the setting sun, a group of energetic young boys ran across the court, full of passion, just like the scene from many years ago.

However, Lin Qianyou’s gaze moved past those boys, landing on a tall, slender figure in the distance.

He was extremely tall, his long legs straight, his physique superior. He was staring at the wall next to the court, lost in thought. Lin Qianyou walked around the track on the edge of the playground and approached him without him noticing.

“Qi Shanglan?” Lin Qianyou called his name.

Qi Shanglan was startled and turned around slowly. Lin Qianyou smiled and waved at him.

She had changed into new clothes: a white, loose off-shoulder T-shirt and light blue denim shorts, with a pair of white sneakers on her feet.

“What are you doing here? Studying the wall?” Lin Qianyou asked curiously.

Qi Shanglan grunted, took two steps back, and frowned as he looked at the wall. “What about you? What are you doing here? Filming finished?”

He turned his head to look at her. In the setting sun, her cheeks were bathed in a soft glow, and her lashes were outlined clearly.

Lin Qianyou tilted her head to look at him. She nodded, “Yeah, it’s done. The filming was terrible. It didn’t pass, so we’re filming again tomorrow.”

Qi Shanglan: “…”

“So, why are you studying the wall? Are you planning to climb over it?” Lin Qianyou asked again.

“It’s not me, it’s that student,” Qi Shanglan explained. “We couldn’t find out how that student disappeared in the surveillance footage. There’s no surveillance on the playground, so I suspect he might have climbed over the wall to leave.”

“Climb over the wall?!” Lin Qianyou frowned. She thought for a moment, then suddenly slapped her hand and excitedly said to Qi Shanglan, “He did climb over the wall! I saw it this morning!”

“What?” Qi Shanglan still hadn’t fully reacted.

“I got stuck in traffic when I came this morning, so I got off near the school. Then, by accident, I saw a figure in blue and white moving on the wall here. At the time, I didn’t think much of it. I just assumed he was skipping class, but now that I think about it, he might be the student you’re looking for,” Lin Qianyou explained in one breath.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

Lin Qianyou nodded confidently. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

Qi Shanglan immediately dialed Bai Meng’s number, asking her to check the surveillance footage from the road outside the playground wall. After hanging up, he turned to Lin Qianyou and said, “Thanks for the lead.”

Lin Qianyou waved her hand, feeling a bit embarrassed. “No problem, it’s a small thing. Are you going to look for him now?”

“Yeah, I’ll climb over the wall and see if I can find any other clues.”

“Climb the wall?” Lin Qianyou glanced at the wall. It wasn’t that high, and with his height, it would be easy for him to climb over. But there was a much simpler way…

“What’s the point of climbing the wall? Don’t you have superpowers?” she joked. Without waiting for Qi Shanglan’s response, she continued, “If you have superpowers, let’s use them to climb this wall, okay?” She patted his shoulder, and the next second, the two of them disappeared from the playground and reappeared on the other side of the wall.

Qi Shanglan froze for a moment. He had no idea what to say. The inexplicable powers, the mysterious divine beings, the strange messengers—it all felt like a supernatural story, both unreal and real at the same time.

“So, where are we going to look for him first?” Lin Qianyou asked.

“We?” Qi Shanglan raised an eyebrow. “You’re coming too?”

“Yeah, is that not okay? I’m so useful, what if I can help you? Like, teleporting you around—it’s definitely faster than you walking around looking for him, right?” Lin Qianyou explained seriously.

Her reasoning made sense, but Qi Shanglan was still hesitant. “It’s so late, aren’t you going home?”

Lin Qianyou shook her head. “No, I’m not going home. Anyway, I’d be alone at home. At least I can chat with you while we’re out.”

Qi Shanglan didn’t want to trouble her, but hearing her say that, something inexplicably tightened in his chest. He held back the words of refusal.

The sun had completely set. In the dim blue light, she smiled at him, and after a long pause, he said, “Alright, then we’ll start by looking around the Yangcheng Cemetery nearby.”

Lin Qianyou: ?!

“The cemetery?!”

“Yeah. What? You don’t want to go?” Qi Shanglan asked, his lips curling up into a faint smile that wasn’t easily noticed.

Lin Qianyou put on a brave face. “No, no, I’m going, I’m going.”

Earlier in the day, Qi Shanglan had heard from Fan Ming’s parents that Fan Ming’s grandfather passed away a few days ago. But they didn’t tell Fan Ming because they didn’t want it to affect his exam preparations. He didn’t find out about it until after the funeral and cremation.

Now, the reason Fan Ming had gone missing might be because he found out the news somehow and chose to sneak out to avoid everyone and climb over the wall.

However, the fact that Fan Ming didn’t go home right after climbing over the wall suggested that his purpose wasn’t to go home. Most likely, he was heading to find his grandfather.

At Yangcheng Cemetery, Qi Shanglan and Lin Qianyou suddenly appeared in front of a row of neatly arranged tombstones.

Lin Qianyou felt a little scared, the place felt eerie. She instinctively reached out to grab Qi Shanglan’s arm.

Qi Shanglan was about to lift his foot when he paused. He looked down at Lin Qianyou, who was looking up at him with pleading eyes, as if she were asking for something. “Um, I’m a bit scared. Can I hold onto your arm?”

Lin Qianyou really regretted saying that she’d come with Qi Shanglan to look for the person. How could she have known they’d end up in a cemetery? The place was so eerie and frightening, and she’d probably have nightmares if she went back.

“Alright, if you’re scared, go ahead and hold on,” he said.

The cemetery was divided into several areas, and blindly searching through them wouldn’t be effective, so Qi Shanglan planned to ask one of the cemetery caretakers.

But before he could take a step, Ah Fu suddenly popped up from somewhere and grabbed Lin Qianyou’s leg. “Great deity, you’ve finally come!”

Lin Qianyou froze, not understanding what it meant. She exchanged a confused glance with Qi Shanglan, and it was clear that he didn’t know what was going on either.

“Weren’t you supposed to stay in the earth temple? Why are you here? And what do you mean by that? You’ve been waiting for me here for a long time?” Lin Qianyou asked.

Ah Fu looked anxious, its chubby body bouncing off Lin Qianyou’s leg as it explained, “This morning, Meng Po sent a messenger to the earth temple to say that a human crossed the Wangchuan River and went to the Yellow Springs!”

“The Yellow Springs?!” Both of them exclaimed in unison.

“Yes, Great deity. The Book of Life and Death shows that his name is Fan Ming, 15 years old, and he crossed the Wangchuan River at the Chen hour and arrived at the Yellow Springs,” Ah Fu continued.

After hearing Ah Fu’s rambling explanation, Qi Shanglan and Lin Qianyou were still confused.

“But the Yellow Springs is a place for the dead, right?” Lin Qianyou asked. “How did Fan Ming… Did he…” She looked up at Qi Shanglan but didn’t finish her sentence.

Suddenly, Qi Shanglan realized something and asked in a deep voice, “So, did he accidentally end up in the Yellow Springs while alive? Or is he already dead?”

“No, Fan Ming is not dead. But he accidentally broke the boundary between the two realms—Yin and Yang. When Meng Po found out, she sent a messenger to the earth temple to notify Ah Fu. The only problem was, at that time, Great deity was not at the earth temple. Ah Fu couldn’t leave the temple, so I had to wait in the heavily Yin-filled Wangchuan River for you,” Ah Fu said anxiously, its cheeks flushed with embarrassment. It pleaded with Lin Qianyou, “Please, Great deity, you have to bring Fan Ming back from the Yellow Springs. If you don’t bring him back within a day, he’ll be trapped in the Yellow Springs forever. His name will be erased from the Book of Life and Death, and he will become a true dead person.”

Lin Qianyou was shocked upon hearing this and quickly asked Ah Fu how she could bring Fan Ming back from the Yellow Springs. However, Ah Fu stammered that she would need to go there herself, but refused to say how to get to the Yellow Springs, constantly glancing at Qi Shanglan’s face, as though it was afraid of him.

“What are you looking at me for? Just tell me how to get to the Yellow Springs,” Qi Shanglan said impatiently, pinching Ah Fu’s chubby face. Ah Fu winced in pain, pushing his hand away, and finally gave in. “Only the divine messenger can take the deity to the Yellow Springs, but… but…”

“That’s simple enough.” Lin Qianyou interrupted Ah Fu and immediately turned to Qi Shanglan. “Qi Shanglan, take me to the Yellow Springs.”

In the next second, the two of them disappeared, leaving Ah Fu behind, still muttering in hesitation.

In the quiet night, Ah Fu’s chubby face scrunched up, and it muttered to itself, “I’m sorry, Meng Po. I couldn’t stop them. Please don’t blame me…”