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Stepping out of the room, Xing Ruyi saw Old Beggar standing under the eaves, motionless, watching her.
"Lord Pixiu, do you have something to discuss with Fox Demon?"
"Follow me!" Old Beggar pointed to his room.
Xing Ruyi hesitated for a moment before following him inside.
Old Beggar stood still in the room, turned around, and looked at Xing Ruyi with his uncovered eye. "If it weren't for Lu'er, I wouldn't bother explaining these matters to you. I can see that Lu'er likes you very much and cares about you. It's hard for me not to care about what she cares about, and even if I didn't care, I wouldn't want your issues to cause Lu'er to be upset with me."
"Fox Demon can also see that Lord Pixiu cares a lot about Aunt Sheng. If there are just some misunderstandings from the past, Lord Pixiu might as well open up and talk to Aunt Sheng. Aunt Sheng is not the kind of person who holds grudges; she would forgive Lord Pixiu."
"Lu'er is certainly not that kind of person. If she resents me, it's my own fault." Pixiu glared at Xing Ruyi. "I called you here for reasons unrelated to Lu'er."
"Is it related to Luo Fu?" Xing Ruyi asked lightly.
Just now, Xing Ruyi realized that Pixiu's temperament didn't seem as strange as Oni Beast's. He looked somewhat intimidating but was not aloof or eccentric in their interactions.
"Old Beggar loves wealth; my greatest interest in life is engaging in various trades with people. As long as someone pays a certain price, they can exchange what they want from Old Beggar. I find this very interesting. The only downside is that my memory isn't good; usually after completing a transaction, I quickly forget it. Forgetting doesn't bother me until I encounter them again.
There was a middle-aged couple who squeezed into the crowd of refugees with their two children. The man looked ordinary but was gravely ill; the woman was quite beautiful and bore some resemblance to Lu'er. You know that Lu'er is Old Beggar's soft spot, so seeing someone similar naturally made me take a second look.
Upon looking closely, I discovered a deal. They asked Old Beggar to take their two children away to secure a chance at survival for them. In exchange, the man was willing to give up what little life he had left, while the woman offered her beautiful face to Old Beggar. It was a profitable deal, and I gladly accepted."
"Did Lord Pixiu take those two children to Yun Family Village?"
"No! I took them to Yun Stronghold and handed them over to a relatively well-off family. The male head of that household had no sons; any children born would surely be daughters. These two children had difficult fates, but the boy bore an official seal in his palm; if he grew up safely, he would surely become an official. Moreover, these two children were gentle by nature; if raised by others, they would definitely feel grateful and would not mistreat their adoptive parents in the future. At that time, I believed this was the best choice."
The Old Beggar had calculated everything, but he never anticipated the selfishness and malice of human nature. The family was overjoyed to know about the Boy's fate, but they held a great deal of disdain for the Girl. Months later, the male head of the household used the excuse of his grandmother's passing to bring the two children to the Yun Family Gathering for mourning, but he took the opportunity to sell the Girl to a place known as the Flower Pavilion.
"That Girl must be April, right? But how did April, who was sold into the Flower Pavilion, end up meeting Luofu and lending her eyes to him?"
"The Old Beggar has a poor memory, and once a transaction is done, he rarely inquires further. After handing over the two children to that family, the Old Beggar took on new business."
"Was it related to Luofu?"
"Exactly! The Father of Luo Fu asked the Old Beggar to help restore his Daughter's sight, even if it was only for a few short years. The Old Beggar thought it was not difficult and agreed. He promised that as long as he found suitable eyes, he could help borrow them. The term was ten years, and before that ten years were up, there would be no more offspring born into the Luo Family."
"Brother Luo and Sister-in-law have been married for many years but have had no children. Could this be related?"
"This was a transaction between the Old Beggar and the Luo Family. At that time, the Old Beggar found it amusing; for a family like the Luo Family, if they went several years without children, one could only imagine what kind of turmoil would arise. Unfortunately, the Old Beggar forgot that Luofu was still a child back then, and her Brother was only a few years older than her. It was ten years; what truly tested them would only be those three to five years."
"What disappointed me even more was that Luofu's Brother and Sister-in-law seemed to have a good relationship and did not appear troubled by their lack of children. This also shows that the family values of the Luo Family are quite good."
"What about April?"
"After reaching an agreement with the Luo Family, the Old Beggar handed over the spell paper to them so they could find suitable eyes on their own. While searching, the steward of the Luo Family happened upon April crying in the Flower Pavilion. Struck by her eyes, he spent a large sum of Silver to buy her. You already know what happened next. The Luo Family used the excuse of helping April find her Brother to easily gain her consent and exchanged her eyes for Luofu's."
Subsequently, April, who lost her sight, was mistreated and became a wandering soul. The Luo Family felt guilty about this incident and began to build good relationships as a form of atonement. Although the Old Beggar found April, seeing her so understanding made him quite sad; he always felt that April's misfortune was closely tied to him.
"If you feel sad about it, has Lord Pixiu ever considered asking for Luofu's eyes back early?"
"A transaction is a transaction; if it's not time yet, how can one forcibly take it back?"
"Was it Lord Pixiu who helped erase Luofu's memories?"
"Old Beggar doesn't have such a habit. It's you humans who always like to engage in self-deception and cover your ears while stealing a bell. You think that as long as you forget, those things can be treated as if they never happened." Old Beggar glanced at Xing Ruyi: "Do you really believe that Luofu was completely unaware? If she truly knew nothing, then why did she see April in her dreams and personally propose to return April's eyes? As the cherished daughter of the Luo Family, after buying April back, they took her to see Luofu, and the first person Luofu saw when she opened her eyes was April.
The ten-year agreement is something Luofu is aware of. Did she really think that as long as April didn't exist, her eyes wouldn't need to be returned? Oh, Fox Demon, human hearts are far more complex and terrifying than you can imagine."
Old Beggar's tone suddenly became solemn. He clasped his hands behind his back and walked up to Xing Ruyi: "Those Rascal Rascal, no matter how unreasonable they are, would not go out of their way to trouble a blind girl dressed in mourning clothes, alone and helpless. The reason Old Beggar has transformed his face into what it is now is to remind himself that he owes a debt to April."
Pixiu made it very clear that the mastermind behind April's tragic death was likely the young Luofu. The Luo Family, fully aware of what Luofu had done behind the scenes, still chose to protect their daughter but could not withstand the pangs of conscience, which led them to frequently do good deeds as atonement.
If it weren't for April, Master Luo might not have been so enthusiastic about doing charitable work; if he hadn't harbored good intentions, he might not have saved April's Brother by chance on a rainy night; if he hadn't saved April's Brother, he wouldn't have taken him in to study at his home; if he hadn't taken him in to study, there wouldn't have been the later engagement between April's Brother and Luofu. All these events connect together, echoing that saying: fortune depends on misfortune, and misfortune depends on fortune. Now, with everything entangled, even the involved Old Beggar and the outsider Xing Ruyi don't know what to make of it.
This New Year's Eve, everyone except for Yin Yuan was unable to sleep. Luofu tossed and turned restlessly, her mind filled with fleeting images related to April, along with an inexplicable phrase: "Remember, before Chen Time, do not look in the mirror!"
Why is it before Chen Time? Why can't one look in the mirror? If one does look in the mirror, what will they see?
These questions had never crossed Luofu's mind before. Even though she had heard that phrase countless times, she dismissed it as mere noise. Tonight, upon realizing that these eyes did not belong to her, curiosity began to stir within her about what she might see in the mirror with these borrowed eyes.
Coincidentally, she heard the sound of the Night Watchman signaling the time; soon it would be Chen Time. She got up and walked over to the Copper Mirror, sitting down.
Reflected in the Copper Mirror was a face both familiar yet somewhat strange. As she gazed into the mirror with Rui'er's visage, she wondered if that forbidden phrase would still hold true. She sat quietly, even her breathing becoming light and gentle.
Under the candlelight's glow, the image in the Copper Mirror grew increasingly blurry until even her brows and eyes were nearly indistinguishable. As she reached out to wipe away the mist rising from the mirror, she noticed something peculiar: through the mirror, she seemed to see younger versions of her parents and an older brother who had yet to grow up. Her voice echoed from within the mirror.
"Are her eyes really beautiful? If Luo Fu were to wear those eyes, would she be able to see her parents and brother?"
"Turns out, my parents really weren't lying about Luo Fu. These eyes are truly beautiful. Fortunately, they have now grown on Luo Fu's face. If they had grown on April's face instead, that would have been quite a pity."
"What do you mean, ten years? Luo Fu can only have these eyes for ten years? No! That can't be! Luo Fu doesn't want to become blind again, and Luo Fu definitely doesn't want to return these eyes to her."
"Grandma, please, help Luo Fu. Luo Fu grew up under your watch; you wouldn't want Luo Fu to become blind again, right?"
"Grandma, if that April disappears, does that mean Luo Fu won't have to return her eyes? If that's the case, then let April disappear!"
Those cold and cruel words did not sound like they came from a child at all. Luofu tightly grasped the hem of her clothes and slowly shook her head.
"No! That's impossible! This isn't me... these aren't my words!"
"This is you! You think that changing your appearance makes you ugly, but you don't realize that the you from before was even uglier than this face!" The reflection of Luofu in the Copper Mirror let out a cold laugh, and suddenly a face appeared, filling the entire Copper Mirror.
That face was so cold, so numb, and so venomous, yet those features were all too familiar to Luofu. It was her former face... the face she once thought was somewhat good-looking!
"Clang!" With a loud crash, Luofu knocked the Copper Mirror to the ground.
All those memories she had deliberately forgotten came rushing back!
It turned out that the most terrifying thing in life isn't seeing a ghost, but seeing a version of yourself that's even scarier than a ghost!
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