When Lisa returned to the study on the second floor, instead of first calling his mother, he made a video call to Master Mao. "Master Mao." Lisa frowned as he looked at Master Mao opposite him on the video call.
"Looks like you already met the Jiang family's miss." Even if it was something that involved his evil spirit breaking out, Lisa wouldn't wrinkle his brows like this in front of him. So, when Master Mao saw Lisa's expression on the video call today, he guessed the reason why Lisa contacted him.
"Sure enough, you tacitly consented to it?" Lisa was somewhat speechless, "I always thought that you were the person who understood me best."
"I understand your point, but I also understand your mother's." Master Mao sighed, "Miss Jiang's fate is one in millions, Madam Lou must have gone through a lot of effort to find her."
"But with my condition like this, wouldn't it only hold up others?" Lisa asked.
"If Miss Jiang understands your condition and is still willing, it might not necessarily be a bad thing." Master Mao sighed, "I shouldn't say these things, but I've watched you for so many years through the harsh road, what you did, and what you had to endure... Lisa, you're worthy."
"Master." Lisa asked, "I want to ask if I take off the jade clasp, can the other party not be harmed?"
"Impossible." Master Mao shook his head.
"Then... even if I don't take the jade clasp off, if one day the evil spirit in my body broke out again, can you be sure she will be fine?" Lisa asked again.
"It's also impossible." Master Mao continued to shake his head.
"Then, why do you say this might not necessarily be a bad thing?" Lisa said, "You can't. Just because you think I'm worthy, you're willing to sacrifice the life of an innocent girl."
"Do you remember what I asked you when I was young?" Lisa continued, "I asked you, Master Mao, I didn't do anything wrong, why did I become like this? Why would I hurt others even though I did nothing?"
Master Mao sighed a long breath. How could he forget?
"You couldn't answer. You could only deduce it was karma from the past." Lisa smiled bitterly, "I thought back then, what did I do in my previous life that my present life is like this? I didn't understand it, no matter how hard I thought about it, so I gave up thinking about it."
"Miss Jiang's fate is one in millions, if there really is karma from the past, then her fate must have been cultivated from her previous life too. If I harm another's culmination of good karma for my own gain, I'm afraid I would stay just like this in my next life." Lisa's voice was full of self-deprecation.
"I didn't mean it like that." Master Mao explained, "These past few years your control over the evil spirit in your body is really good. Also, during this time, the evil spirit's growth has slowed down. If you pay careful attention, you won't hurt the Jiang family's miss. Because of this, I gave tacit approval to your mother."
"Master Mao, I know you care about me, but... I hope when my mother comes to see you, you wouldn't help her with this again." Lisa requested, "If you really can't refuse, you should at least let me know."
"I understand!" Master Mao felt quite ashamed as he hung up the phone.
Lisa looked at the blank phone screen and was in a daze for a long time. He knew he should call his mother next, but he didn't know how to face his old mother.
Lisa once saw a sentence on the internet, it said after living alone for a long time, one will gradually get used to that kind of life. Although Lisa had long been accustomed to this lonesome life, he was more eager for a life where he could interact with others, where he can meet face to face, touch other people and be touched. The kind of life where everyone can laugh together by telling a joke.
Therefore, he felt unhappy during New Years and holidays, so he always insisted on making a phone call home.
Although he never hugged any of the juniors in the family, he couldn't help saying a few words out of concern.
He can even clearly remember the little girl he met by chance fifteen years ago.
In his days of being alone, there were only a few people for him to remember so he can't bear to forget even one person.
He always thought he was hiding his pain well, but he still couldn't hide it from his mother's eyes. His mother has been unyielding all her life. She followed his father from his turbulent years and now that the family has peace and wealth, Lisa became the only knot left in his mother's heart.
Ding-a-ling~
The phone rang abruptly, interrupting Lisa's thoughts. Looking at the name on the screen, Lisa hesitated for a while before reaching out to answer the phone.
"Lis..." Madam Lou's uneasy voice came through the phone. In fact, she had sent people to watch the small courtyard since Jiang Siqi entered. When Jiang Siqi ran out crying, Madam Lou waited for Lisa's call, but Lisa didn't call her for quite a long time and she became too impatient to wait.
"Mom." Lisa spoke with a complicated expression.
"Are you blaming Mom for acting on my own?" Madam Lou asked.
"Mom, you..." Lisa said helplessly, "Don't do this next time."
"It's not okay? Is it that you don't like Miss Jiang? If so, Mom can find others..."
"Mom, you know that's not what I mean." Lisa sighed, "You know my situation best. I believe Master Mao also told you about the so-called people with an extremely noble aura can only bear my evil spirit from a certain distance, they can't live a normal life together with me."
"But Master Mao said the evil spirit has been very stable so that there won't be any big problem." Madam Lou emphasized.
"But I still can't leave the small courtyard casually or go in a crowd. When I go to the Academy of Science in the dead of the night, I have to make a trip to Xiaohan Mountain and close the road for half a night." Lisa said.
"What if she doesn't mind?" Madam Lou asked.
"Mom, it's not fair." Lisa sighed, "Moreover, it also makes me feel like some kind of charity case."
"How can it be a charity case, ah?" Madam Lou was annoyed, "Our family won't treat her badly."
"Mom, I'm always telling myself I live a very meaningful life that I'm not the least bit pitiful." Lisa said with difficulty, "You're going to make me feel pitiful if you're like this."
"..." There was no sound from the phone, but Lisa knew his mother must be sad. Lisa's fingers trembled slightly while holding the phone.
"Lis, Mother knows you like children very much. At that time, no matter if you damage your body, you still stuck a Calming Spirit Talisman and came for a look." [T/N: I'm not quite sure with my translation in this sentence] Madam Lou said with difficulty, "Mother is just thinking, if I explain everything clearly to Jiang Siqi and if she's still willing, then why don't you try? Even just having a child is okay, ah."
"Mom!" Lisa's voice revealed a deep pain, his fingertips holding the phone were white because of the force he exerted.
"You think about it again, Mother will hang up first."
Listening to the busy tone on the phone, Lisa's expression was complicated and painfully sad. He didn't know how to comfort his broken-hearted mother, nor could he hurt Jiang Siqi.
"Clack..."
The sudden sound made Lisa jerk back. He frowned as he watched potato chips rolling in from outside the door, then half the head and the frowning eyebrows of an embarrassed girl peeked through.
"If I say... that I just came here, do you believe me?" Joohyun asked cautiously, showing her head from outside the door.
"What do you think?" Lisa asked rhetorically.
"Then I won't explain it." Joohyun saw that her beating around the bush wouldn't pass, so she simply squatted on the ground and picked up the fallen chips.
"..." this little girl really broke the jar, Lisa found it irritating but also funny, "It's already fallen, don't pick it up to eat again."
"It's okay, the floor is so clean, I can eat it once I pick it up." Joohyun said indifferently, "Besides, a couple of germs won't do me any harm."
Lisa didn't say anything further when she said that. Joohyun's sudden appearance dilutes his sadness from talking with Madam Lou. Lisa put down the phone, looked at the half-drawn blueprint on the table, and picked up a pen to continue drawing.
Joohyun picked up all the potato chips on the ground one by one then went out to find a broom to sweep away some fine debris on the ground. Seeing that everything was more or less done, she walked to Lisa's desk while holding her picked up potato chips. She looked at the blueprint and asked in surprise, "Is this a rifle?"
Lisa raised his head in surprise, "You haven't gone out yet?"
"Third Brother, are you angry?" Joohyun asked cautiously.
"You..." Lisa really was disinclined to fuss about one little girl, it wasn't a big matter but it's just a bit embarrassing, "Don't do this again."
"En, en, I promise, if I accidentally hear it again in the future, I will turn my head and leave." Joohyun vowed solemnly.
"So, you eavesdropped on purpose just now?" Lisa laughed in a bit of anger.
"Third brother, haven't you guessed it already?" Joohyun covered her mouth in horror, "You tricked me!"
"..." Lisa suddenly felt rather stifled, he didn't want to talk anymore so he just bent his head and continued calculating data.
After a while had passed, Joohyun suddenly called out again, "Third Brother..."
"What's the matter?" Seeing that she delayed and didn't leave, Lisa guessed Joohyun had something she wanted to say with him.
"I have a very powerful grandfather; he was the one who taught me all my skills. Although he's sometimes very unreliable, his skills are undoubtedly good." Joohyun said all of a sudden.
"I know ah." Lisa was a bit astonished, "You told me before."
"Some time ago, my grandpa suddenly contacted me. He gave me the way to deal with the living dead." Joohyun said.
"But I only have my grandpa's penguin number, I don't know why he keeps on not giving me his number." Joohyun was vexed, "But I left a message for him."
"Left a message?" Lisa looked at Joohyun suspiciously.
"I left a message asking my grandpa to see if there's any way to solve the evil spirit in Third Brother's body." Joohyun said, "I have never forgotten the things I promised Third Brother."
Lisa was taken aback for a moment. He didn't expect Joohyun to mention this out of nowhere, but he nodded happily, "Thank you."
"So, Third Brother..." Joohyun remembered what she overheard, "Do you want to try and be in contact with the sister who has the noble aura now?"
Lisa's expression became stiff. It took him a while before he said, "I can't do anything until the evil spirit is completely resolved. I can't hurt Miss Jiang, nor can I give my mother groundless hope."
"Then, Third Brother, how about you?" Joohyun asked with her eyes wide open, "You neither want to hurt the sister nor your mother. Everyone is worried about you, but you're not worried about yourself."
Lisa's hands trembled and the pen he held snapped off, leaving a black mark on the manuscript paper.
"Sure enough, you still have to rely on me!"
Lisa jerked his head up.
"Who told me to overhear you just now?" Joohyun smiled, "I'll take care of your evil spirit. I will definitely think of a way."
Lisa's heart warmed up and he smiled, "Don't talk big, what if you can't solve it?"
"Huh??" Joohyun said while eating chips, "Third Brother's mother wants Third Brother to have a blind date. She definitely doesn't want Third Brother to be alone. If I can't solve the evil spirit, then I'm just gonna stay with Third Brother, ah, I won't let Third Brother be by himself."
"Stupid girl." Lisa flicked his fingers on Joohyun's forehead with a warm smile in his eyes.
Author's NOTE:
Lisa: So, you'll stay with me?
Irene: I'll stay.
Lisa: Alright.
Irene: I feel like something's not right...