DSMC Chapter 181

Fortunately, Yan Jiyun was just an ordinary little cat right now. He hid behind the flowerpots, so no one could see the excitement in his eyes.

Liu Jinghao’s death was both unexpected and expected.

He had just been thinking that nothing had happened yet, and now here it was — and it had come so abruptly.

Yan Jiyun could hardly wait to rush to the scene, and that was exactly what he did. He ran toward wherever the commotion was loudest, showing even more enthusiasm for gossip than the aunties he had encountered on the street earlier.

Perhaps his body had grown larger, because he now ran with great vigor, and his speed was noticeably faster.

The Liu family servants had shouted that the Third Young Master had fallen into the water. Had he fallen into the pond?

Liu Jingxi, Ouyang Jing, and Cen Xinzhi all hurried toward the place where Liu Jinghao had fallen into the water.

Was he alive or dead right now?

The place where Liu Jinghao had fallen was a lotus pond in the rear courtyard. The water was not deep, but there was mud underneath. By this point, someone had already gone into the pond and pulled him out.

Someone was currently performing CPR on Liu Jinghao. Yan Jiyun had never expected that in this strange town that mixed ancient and modern elements, there would actually be someone who knew how to perform CPR.

Yan Jiyun crouched behind a strange rock that he had no idea where the Liu family had found. The person performing CPR was a woman wearing a white top and a red skirt.

Could this be the bride?

According to the formula of those Mary Sue-style melodramas, this plot seemed oddly familiar.

Usually, the female protagonist would save someone in the nick of time, only for the male protagonist to witness it, and the two would fall in love at first sight. However, because of their identities, countless stupid obstacles would appear on the road to their relationship. After numerous twists and turns and enduring all kinds of drama, the two would finally end up together.

Although Yan Jiyun did not like watching those eight-o’clock soap operas filled with melodrama,, that did not stop him from recognizing these clichéd plotlines.

Yan Jiyun’s attention was not on the bride. He looked at Liu Jinghao lying flat on the ground. His chest was no longer rising and falling, and because his face had been soaked in muddy water, it was impossible to make out his complexion. But Yan Jiyun felt that no matter how many times the bride performed CPR, she would not be able to save him.

Because he suspected that Liu Jinghao was already thoroughly dead. If he did not die, how could the next part of the plot begin?

The members of the Liu family gradually appeared after hearing the commotion, but no one called the police or an ambulance.

Before long, cries of grief and wailing rang out around the pond.

“My son! What happened to you? Don’t scare your mother!”

“Son, wake up, wake up!”

“Ahhh, my son, my poor son! What have I done to deserve this?”

At this point, the bride, whose forehead was covered in sweat from performing CPR, was suddenly shoved aside by a forceful push!

“You jinx! Did you do this to my son? What were you trying to do to him?”

The bride’s body swayed slightly. “I was trying to save his life. What you’re doing will only make him miss the best chance for rescue!”

Yan Jiyun: ‘Here we go. Here we go. The most classic chaotic scene.’

What a pity. Liu Jinghao had only appeared for less than half a day before getting murked. He had married a wife in grand fashion today, only to be given an equally grand funeral tomorrow. His newlywed wife might even run off with someone else. Truly the most tragic NPC in history.

The woman making all that noise was probably Liu Jinghao’s biological mother. When Liu Jinghao’s father arrived and saw her interfering with the bride’s attempt to save him, he was so furious that he nearly staggered backward. He immediately ordered the people beside him to pull Liu Jinghao’s mother away so the bride could continue performing CPR.

However, during that brief period when Liu Jinghao’s mother was making a scene, Liu Jinghao completely lost any hope of being revived.

Liu Jinghao was neither the eldest nor the legitimate heir, so his death was actually rather unjust. He had become cannon fodder the moment he appeared. However, Yan Jiyun felt that his death was not that simple. He remembered that on the day of the wedding, the wine in his glass had been replaced with water, so he should not have fallen into the pond because of drinking too much.

Besides, the rear courtyard where he lived was still some distance from here. What had he come here for?

If there had not been so many people around, Yan Jiyun would have wanted to immediately check whether there were any traces of someone else having been around the area.

Liu Jinghao was truly dead. The Liu family’s steward felt for his carotid artery and found no response at all. He shook his head at Liu Jinghao’s father. “Master, Third Young Master is no longer breathing.”

Just moments ago, Liu Jinghao’s biological mother had been loudly blaming the bride for trying to save him, but now she rolled her eyes back and fainted dead away.

Liu Jinghao’s father looked extremely grim. His second wife had already fainted, so he could not afford to faint as well at a time like this.

There was no need to continue performing CPR on her newlywed husband. The bride slumped onto the ground and turned to Liu Jinghao’s father and mother. “Aren’t you going to call an ambulance? He might not be dead.”

The bride’s tone was remarkably calm. When she turned around to face everyone, the Liu family servants who had rushed over after hearing the commotion all gasped.

A young male servant whispered to his colleague, “The bride is unbelievably beautiful. Didn’t they say the Second Young Lady Cheng has been mentally ill since she was little?”

His colleague was also staring fixedly at the Second Miss of the Cheng family. “Maybe she’s too beautiful, so they didn’t want her to come out? Being beautiful doesn’t mean she isn’t mentally ill. Some people with mental illnesses seem completely normal when they’re not having an episode, but once they have an episode, they become a completely different person. They can be as frightening as you can imagine.”

A bout of coughing came from behind the crowd. Xie Huishuang, immediately turned her head toward the sound.

Yan Jiyun had already heard it earlier. Considering how noisy things had been, Liu Jingyi probably had not managed to fall asleep. He had followed them outside, with Ah-Juan supporting him.

Liu Jingyi covered his lips with a handkerchief. “Cough, cough, cough. What happened? What’s wrong with Jinghao?”

Yan Jiyun felt that the way Liu Jingyi asked that sounded a little like he was pretending to be innocent. The Liu family servants had shouted so loudly just now that there was no way he could have heard nothing. Clearly, he was pretending not to know.

Yan Jiyun carefully thought through the circumstances surrounding every member of the Liu family. Every single one of them seemed to have countless secrets hidden in their hearts, and each person also seemed to have another side that they kept concealed. He just did not know exactly why Liu Jinghao had died.

The Liu family was also all show and no substance now. Even the gossiping aunties outside knew that their family was running out of money. So what exactly had caused Liu Jinghao’s death?

Since the steward had confirmed that Liu Jinghao was no longer breathing, and Old Master Liu was someone who cared deeply about saving face, he did not want the family scandal to become public knowledge. He therefore ordered the servants to carry Liu Jinghao away from the lotus pond.

When they were about to lift the body, Yan Jiyun found a suitable position and carefully examined Liu Jinghao from head to toe. There were no unusual objects on him. When he fell into the water, he had still been wearing a traditional Chinese men’s wedding banquet outfit. Yan Jiyun remembered that this was the outfit he had worn during the wedding toast. Normally, an ordinary person would not continue wearing this outfit after the wedding banquet was over, right?

Could he have been in a hurry to meet someone by the lotus pond, which was why he came out without changing clothes?

There was another possibility: this was not the original scene of his death. Perhaps he had already changed clothes after being killed somewhere else, but his clothes had gotten dirty, and the killer had simply thrown him into the lotus pond.

Any possibility was conceivable.

After Liu Jinghao was carried away, Yan Jiyun noticed that everyone at the scene had rather solemn expressions, yet not a single person shed a tear for him.

The bride, Cheng Yingxue, had already been helped to her feet by Cen Xinzhi. She said gently, “Sister-in-law, my condolences.”

The day of the wedding was supposed to be a joyous occasion, when the bride should have been hearing blessings and well-wishes for her marriage. Instead, she was now hearing this. One could imagine just how inauspicious it felt.

Yan Jiyun felt that this sister-in-law was not a simple character either. The moment she opened her mouth, she went straight for the heart. The key was that no one could really fault her for what she had said. Given the situation, those words were perfectly logical.

The bride nodded. “I did my best.”

Cen Xinzhi: “We all saw that.”

Mr. Liu began arranging what needed to be done next. “Steward, make the arrangements for the funeral.”

After night fell, the Liu residence, which had been covered in bright red decorations during the day, began hanging hemp cloth.

Going from the height of celebration to the depths of grief all in a single day was truly an eye-opening experience.

Yan Jiyun was just wondering why no mission had been issued even after Liu Jinghao was gone when the system, like a timely rain, sent him a notification.

[Congratulations, player. You have triggered Main Mission 1: “Funeral Vigil”] 

He read it twice and discovered that there were no further details about the quest.

Yan Jiyun’s scalp began to tingle. Who was supposed to keep vigil? The player or the NPCs? Please, anything but making the players participate in keeping vigil. That would be terrifying.

After Liu Jinghao’s father confirmed that nothing could be changed, Xie Huishuang glanced at the bride. She then said to Ouyang Jingjing, whom she was clearly quite satisfied with, “Jingjing, I’ll have Jingxi take you home first. With something like this happening in the family, it wouldn’t be appropriate for you to stay here as a guest.”

Anyone would find it inauspicious for a joyous occasion to suddenly turn into a funeral.

Yan Jiyun had never stopped observing Liu Jingxi either. Just now, his gaze had remained fixed on the bride, as though he were investigating something.

Hmm? Could Liu Jingxi be the male lead who was supposed to have a romance with the bride?

He looked at the bride again and discovered that her gaze also occasionally fell on Liu Jingxi.

Liu Jingxi seemed to have become much less opposed to the idea of escorting Ouyang Jing home.

He asked Ah-Juan, who was supporting Liu Jingyi, “Where does my little cousin live? I drank this afternoon and can’t drive. Have him drive my car and take Ouyang Jing home for me.”

Yan Jiyun: ‘So, in this big brother’s eyes, I’m basically just being treated like a driver?’

They had not even eaten dinner yet!

Although Yan Jiyun was thinking about dinner, none of the Liu family members were in the mood or had the appetite to go to the dining room and eat.

Xie Huishuang was clearly trying to create an opportunity for her son. Liu Jingxi had not objected to taking Ouyang Jing home, but why had he brought along another third wheel? And the excuse about not driving drunk had genuinely convinced her. When it came to her son’s life and his future wife, she naturally prioritized her own son.

Ouyang Jing was delighted when she learned that Liu Jingxi would be taking her home, but she did not dare show it too obviously, desperately suppressing the corners of her mouth that kept trying to curl upward.

Setting up the mourning hall would take some time. Yan Jiyun figured that he could interact with Ouyang Jing along the way and learn more about her situation. This time, even if he had to go hungry, he would just have to play chauffeur for a while.

He returned to the southern courtyard ahead of time.

When Ah-Juan came to the southern courtyard to look for him, he was sitting by the window admiring a blue-and-white porcelain vase in the room. He quickly put the vase down with the expression of a country bumpkin who had never seen anything so sophisticated before. Yan Jiyun even paid close attention to detail and rubbed his hand along the crease of his trouser leg. He carefully observed Ah-Juan’s reaction. Although she habitually kept her head slightly lowered, he still caught a fleeting look of disdain toward him in her eyes.

So Ah-Juan was not as simple as she appeared on the surface either.

Yan Jiyun followed Ah-Juan and once again met Liu Jingxi in human form. This time, he was lazily leaning against the car and lighting a cigarette. Ouyang Jing was looking at him shyly, her eyes filled with deep affection. It did not seem fake either.

When Liu Jingxi saw Yan Jiyun arrive, he immediately tossed the cigarette onto the ground and crushed it beneath his toe. “Let’s go, Didi. Get in.”

Yan Jiyun thought that Liu Jingxi really did not like Ouyang Jing. The moment he saw Yan Jiyun, he looked as though he had just seen his savior.

The three of them got into the car.

Yan Jiyun drove, while Liu Jingxi sat in the passenger seat. Ouyang Jing had no choice but to sit alone in the back. The young lady was obviously unhappy about this, but in front of the man she loved, she dared neither get angry nor complain, so she could only take it out on Yan Jiyun.

“Jingx-gei, did your cousin come to your house to work as a driver?”

Yan Jiyun: “……”

It seemed the acting skills he had learned in the previous instance were actually quite useful. He had somehow managed to land himself a position as the Liu family’s driver.

Liu Jingxi emphasized, “He’s not a driver. He’s my cousin.”

“Oh, cousin.” There was a hint of displeasure in Ouyang Jing’s voice. She sounded jealous. “Jingxi-ge seems to really like your cousin.”

Yan Jiyun thought that he certainly did not want to be used as a shield by Liu Jingxi. “Ah, my cousin is just taking his little cousin out to broaden his horizons. I don’t know anything.” Then he quickly changed the subject. “Second Sister-in-law, how do I get to your house? I just came from the countryside, so I don’t know the roads around town.”

Ouyang Jing was clearly amused by the way he addressed her as “Second Sister-in-law.” Her impression of Yan Jiyun immediately improved, and her face broke into a wide smile. She casually pulled out several hundred-yuan bills and stuffed them into Yan Jiyun’s pocket.

“Don’t be shy, Didi. Take this pocket money and buy yourself some good clothes or something.”

Liu Jingxi gave Yan Jiyun several long, meaningful looks, but said nothing, merely smiling.

Ouyang Jing enthusiastically gave Yan Jiyun directions back to her home. She did want to stay at the Liu residence, but she also wanted to spend some time alone with Liu Jingxi. In the end, she chose to leave for now.

Yan Jiyun drove through the town, making several twists and turns before finally reaching the Ouyang residence. The darkness did not affect his driving speed, and the distance was not particularly far, so he got her there quickly.

Although Liu Jingxi did not look particularly reliable, he still accompanied Ouyang Jing inside the Ouyang residence.

Yan Jiyun wanted to enter the Ouyang residence as well, so he very eagerly got out of the car to help carry her luggage.

Liu Jingxi looked at him coolly and said, whether he meant it as praise or something else, “Cousin, you’re pretty good.”

Yan Jiyun gave him a foolish grin, and Liu Jingxi responded with an eye roll.

The three of them entered the Ouyang residence. Unlike the Liu residence, the Ouyang home had a very Western architectural style. It was a beautiful villa, with a garden outside and a several-hundred-square-meter mansion inside.

Compared with the Liu family’s overcrowded household, the Ouyang residence was incredibly quiet. Only a middle-aged woman came out to greet them.

When the middle-aged woman looked at them, Yan Jiyun nearly had the fright of his life. Her left eye was missing, leaving behind a pitch-black, hollow socket that was extremely frightening!

Liu Jingxi placed Ouyang Jing’s luggage in front of them. “There’s still something going on at home, so I’m leaving first. Ouyang Jing, think carefully about what I told you before.”

Then, before Ouyang Jing or the middle-aged woman could say anything, Liu Jingxi grabbed Yan Jiyun, who was eager to dig up some gossip, and dragged him away.

Yan Jiyun was utterly depressed.

He did not want to go back to the Liu residence to “keep vigil”!