Volume 3, Chapter 10 – Soul Resonance

At noon, Bai Zhuqing specially invited Han Yuanfeng and Bai Chenyu to have lunch on the second floor of Tingyu Tower. Han Yuanfeng used studying the equipment as an excuse, so in the end only Bai Chenyu came.

During this time, Bai Zhuqing had been quietly observing how he interacted with his companions, and discovered that Bai Chenyu was quite popular within this student team. Not only had “Luoyan” openly shown affection toward him, even that big-sister-like figure “A’jiu” always had her attention tied to this boy.

Teenage boys are at their most competitive, yet he managed to draw girls’ eyes without stirring jealousy. Was that because he was genuinely good-natured and likable, or because his methods were simply too clever for these kids to notice?

Bai Zhuqing realized she had fallen into a kind of inner conflict. She both hoped Bai Chenyu was Third Uncle’s child so she could bring him back before Grandpa to be acknowledged as part of the family, and at the same time she didn’t want him to have anything to do with the Bai clan.

How strange… why was that?

She chalked this contradiction up to the aversion she felt whenever she met Bai Chenyu’s gaze, but she had no idea what exactly that aversion was trying to tell her.

There was a large table by the window on the second floor of Tingyu Tower. It was already filled with dishes, just waiting for the destined guest to sit down.

Bai Zhuqing remembered all too clearly the crash-and-burn scene from the novel’s picture-book version. Afraid that having only herself there wasn’t safe enough, she called over her little junior brother—Lian Feng—and had him hide behind the door. She told him to rush out the moment he heard her give the order, and only then did she go downstairs to bring their guest up.

“This Miss Bai.”

Once Bai Chenyu sat down, he looked up only to discover that the girl called Bai Zhuqing had been staring at him this whole time. He couldn’t help lowering his head to look himself over. “…Is there something strange about me?”

“I won’t keep you guessing.” Bai Zhuqing drew in a light breath and finally decided to be straightforward. “I want to know what your father’s name is.”

Bai Chenyu’s reaction was strange as well. At first his brows knit tight, his nerves visibly tense for an instant, then he suddenly relaxed, letting out a soft, “So I’ve been found out after all…”

Bai Zhuqing frowned as well. “You…”

“My father is Bai Qingmin.” Bai Chenyu lifted his head to look her way. “If I’m not mistaken, I should count as your younger brother.”

He just admitted it like that?

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It wasn’t only Bai Zhuqing—Lian Feng behind the screen was also startled.

Granted, this had been Elder Sister (the Dao Lord)’s idea in the first place. She was the one who first pointed out that they could look into this Bai Chenyu, which meant she had already been suspicious of his identity for some time.

But did it really have to go this smoothly?

Was it really that much of a coincidence? Third Uncle, who left for Liangzhou to do business, just happened to have a son, who just happened to make it into this year’s Liangzhou University genius class, and even more coincidentally got pulled into Han Yuanfeng’s investigation assignment and set off on the road to Xinzhou?

You couldn’t even call this a coincidence anymore; it was practically a “destined encounter” kind of plot.

Bai Zhuqing’s head felt blown to pieces. On top of that, the chill and nausea in her mind that came from looking Bai Chenyu in the eye at close range refused to fade. Throughout the entire meal she was thoroughly distracted.

Aside from a few stories and speculations about Bai Qingmin that Bai Chenyu volunteered, she barely remembered anything at all.

After Bai Chenyu left, Lian Feng quietly stepped out from behind the screen. As he glanced toward the stairs, he asked, “Should we report this to the Old Dao Lord?”

“You don’t have to take it so seriously…” Bai Zhuqing pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. “Second Uncle didn’t take you in because he was recruiting a servant.”

“Heh…” Lian Feng scratched his head in embarrassment, then sighed. “But I can’t not take it seriously.”

His great vengeance had been avenged, and he’d been given a method to make a living. That counted as a life-reforging grace anywhere.

The Bai clan could shrug it off, could joke with him, treat him as friend, brother, peer—but he didn’t think he could start getting presumptuous because of that. He took these kinds of rules very seriously.

“Oh!” Bai Zhuqing sighed. “If this Bai Chenyu had the same temperament as you, I’d be contacting Grandpa right now.”

“Senior Sister doubts him?” Lian Feng frowned. “You think he’s lying?”

It wasn’t exactly that she thought he was lying.

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Bai Zhuqing tapped her smooth forehead with a fingertip.

The main thing was, she couldn’t see what Bai Chenyu would gain from lying.

He really was a fifteen-year-old boy.

He really had entered the genius class through formal examinations in Liangzhou—that checked out too.

And all of that had happened months ago. It wasn’t like he could have foreseen everything back then and taken the exam specifically in order to come acknowledge relatives, right?

So from a purely objective, rational point of view, there was no need for Bai Chenyu to lie.

He had also been frank at the table: aside from being able to be one hundred percent certain that his father’s name was Bai Qingmin, everything else—including whether his family was actually related to the Shenming Bai clan—was just his own conjecture.

“My father has loved drinking all his life. Every time he gets drunk, he’ll look off toward the direction of Qi and mutter some ‘wulong’ gibberish under his breath. No one is allowed to go near him at that time.”

“And when the Dao Lord Bai’s exploits reached Liangzhou this time, he became extremely repressed and gloomy. So I guessed that our family might have some connection to the Shenming Bai clan, that maybe our ancestors were once related.”

See? See?

The kid had already made it clear that all of this was just his guesswork.

He wasn’t sure, and he couldn’t take responsibility for it. You couldn’t pin this on him as lying, and he had no reason to rack his brains and stage so many details.

【Unless his goal from the very beginning was never to acknowledge kin with us.】

A flash of insight streaked through her mind, and Bai Zhuqing’s breath suddenly hitched.

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【But to use the excuse of acknowledging kin to shorten… the physical distance between him and Elder Sister.】

A demon?

She pulled together all the scattered clues in an instant, and one single term popped up in her mind.

Wait… that strange feeling I get from him—could it be something I inherited from Little Aunt?

By now, Bai Zhuqing could be counted as part of the Bai clan’s inner circle. She’d long since been told of Bai Nianchan’s old tragedy and wrongful conviction.

Back then, Little Aunt had developed an extremely strong suspicion toward the Heir of Nanling—suspecting that he was an Aberration disguised in human skin. That was why she had forcibly struck him down.

Although the final verdict later labeled the case a miscarriage of justice, the result of many factions going along with Qianyu Palace’s nonsense, the reason the whole thing happened in the first place… that part definitely hadn’t been manipulated by others!

Little Aunt had chosen to go cultivate at Nanshan on her own!

And the Heir of Nanling wouldn’t have cooperated with Qianyu Palace to sell his own life!

The two most important figures in that incident had only met by coincidence. At least everything leading up to the start of the trial process had been the natural development of events!

In other words—there was a high chance Little Aunt possessed some kind of ability that allowed her to sense Aberrations in disguise.

As for whether the Heir of Nanling had really been an Aberration in disguise, whether Aberrations truly could hide within human society without being discovered—that information was like it had been deliberately scrubbed away. From seventeen years ago until now, there had never been a definitive answer!

Boom—

Like a thunderclap on a clear day, Bai Zhuqing broke out in goosebumps all over again.

So…

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Had I inherited Little Aunt’s sensitivity toward Aberrations…?

Elder Sister’s rise had been far too sudden and mysterious. Aside from their own family, who could choose not to dig and just trust her one hundred percent, any outsider would inevitably suspect she had some secret art, and that this imperial amnesty was nothing more than a delaying tactic.

And among the forces who would suspect Elder Sister, the demon race would obviously be included.

Yao Qingyuan was nothing but a pawn the demon race had pushed to the front. They definitely wanted to figure out what exactly had happened to Elder Sister, and whether it posed a threat to them.

Elder Sister must have thought of this as well—that was why she’d told me to look into Bai Chenyu.

“Senior Sister?”

Lian Feng was a little puzzled.

He saw Bai Zhuqing staring wide-eyed, even forgetting to breathe, and couldn’t help calling out to her. “Senior Sister, are you alright?”

“I’m fine…”

Bai Zhuqing sighed, closed her eyes, and carefully replayed in her mind the scene of Bai Xiang’s final instructions to her—especially every single word Bai Xiang had spoken.

Only after a long while did she open her eyes again, turning to look at Lian Feng with an expression he found completely unfamiliar.

“Go arrange for two disciples to strike up a conversation with those students.”

She gave the order.

“Make sure they let it slip to them that Elder Sister won’t be at the Dao for a while.”