Garfield's Revenge - Chap 94 - Side Story 1
Before they knew it, it was already the Lunar New Year.
Li Jianglin was discharged from the hospital before New Year’s Eve. Although his body had not fully recovered, he did not want to stay in the hospital for New Year’s Eve.
Li Zhenruo stayed at Li’s house for the New Year’s Eve dinner.
Every year he had a New Year’s Eve dinner at Li’s house, but this year was the first time as a guest. Li Zhenruo felt that the atmosphere was a bit strange.
There were only two of Li Jianglin’s four sons left. Wen Chun also packed up and moved away from Li’s house, so now the house seemed a little desolated. In addition, Wang Ma was taken back by his children for the Chinese New Year, and the whole family was even more deserted.
After dinner, Li Jianglin didn’t go back to his study or bedroom and sat in the living room watching TV.
He didn’t leave, and neither Li Zhenran nor Li Zhenzi went back to the room but sat down on the sofa to accompany him. On the other hand, Zhu Kai went out to walk the dog as usual after eating and sat down beside Li Jianglin obediently after walking the dog.
Li Zhenruo was sitting on the sofa and stared at the TV screen absent-mindedly wondering whether to sleep here tonight or pretend to leave later and sneak back in as a cat.
Although Li Jianglin did not object to him and Li Zhenran, his attitude was far from that of an amiable father-in-law. He was always polite and distant.
It must not be Li Jianglin’s intention to invite him to Li’s house for New Year’s Eve dinner, but rather it was that he had no objection when Li Zhenran. If he kissed and followed Li Zhenran back to the room in front of Li Jianglin, he wondered if it would make Li Jianglin’s illness even worse.
When he was thinking about it absent-mindedly, Li Zhenruo’s cell phone suddenly rang.
Li Zhenran glanced at him.
Li Zhenruo took out his mobile phone and saw that Xia Hongshen was calling, so he picked it up and went to the dining room to answer the call.
As soon as the phone was connected, Li Zhenruo said to Xia Hongshen, “Happy New Year, Master!”
In the end, Xia Hongshen just said, “Can you come out now?”
“Now?” Li Zhenruo was stunned. Although it was only after eight o’clock in the evening, it was already dark outside. He glanced at Li Zhenran again and asked in a low voice, “What’s the rush?”
Xia Hongshen said, “Come to the city amusement park, the demon market will be opened tonight, and I will show you.”
“Demon market?” Li Zhenruo felt like he heard something incredible.
Xia Hong felt that Li Zhenruo was too long-winded, “Coming?”
Li Zhenruo glanced at Li Zhenran, “But…”
Xia Hongshen said, “Whatever,” and wanted to hang up the phone.
“I’ll come!” Li Zhenruo hurriedly called out to him, “But I want to come back early to spend the New Year with my second brother.” He said the last sentence in a low voice.
Xia Hongshen replied, “You can come back whenever you want.”
As he hung up the phone, Li Zhenruo walked over and said, “I’m going out.”
Everyone in the room turned to look at him.
However, Li Jianglin just glanced at him and turned back to continue watching TV, while Li Zhenzi smiled meaningfully.
Li Zhenran stood up and asked him, “Where are you going? Shall I drive you?”
Li Zhenruo had already put on his coat and said, “My Master told me to go out, I should be back soon. You can watch TV with Uncle Li for a while.”
Li Zhenran didn’t say anything, but caught up when Li Zhenruo had come out of the building and walked into the yard. Li Zhenran an arm around his waist from behind, pressed his chest against his back, and whispered in his ear, “Where to?”
Li Zhenruo felt the heat lapping at him and his ears were tingling. He said, “Master asked me to go out.”
“It’s New Year’s Eve Day,” Li Zhenran said as he reached out and gave his waist a squeeze.
Li Zhenruo shrank his waist and said, “Then I have to spend the New Year with you later. I will be back soon. Just wait for me.”
After he finished speaking, he reached out and grabbed Li Zhenran’s arm. He found that he was not wearing a coat, and quickly said, “It’s too cold outside, you go back first.”
Li Zhenran held his hand tightly and said, “It’s eight o’clock now, and you must be back before twelve o’clock.”
Li Zhenruo turned around and put his arms around his shoulder, kissing his lips, “Wait for me.”
The streets on New Year’s Eve were very deserted, with hardly a car to be seen coming and going. On the way, Li Zhenruo received another call from Song Jun, telling him that because of New Year’s Eve, the demon market was opened ahead of schedule today, and it was now possible to get in.
Li Zhenruo was very curious and asked Song Jun, “Why do you want to go to the demon market on new year’s eve?”
Song Jun said, “You human beings celebrate the New Year, Senior Brother Xia also wants everyone to have a good time together. Otherwise how lonely would it be if a demon lived in solitary?”
Li Zhenruo felt that his words were surprisingly reasonable.
They drove to the parking lot of the city’s amusement park, and Li Zhenruo found that there was more than one car parked, one of which was a familiar Hummer. When he looked at the license plate carefully, he found that it was his boss Luo Fei’s car.
In the so-called demon market, probably all the demons in the city would come, right?
As he thought of this, Li Zhenruo was a little nervous for no reason and wondered if he would see something strange.
It was dark in the amusement park, but there was a small passageway where the ticket was checked, and there were people checking tickets at the entrance.
Li Zhenruo realized that he had no tickets, and hesitated for a while about whether to call Xia Hongshen, but when he looked closely, he realized that the person checking the tickets turned out to be Feng Junyuan.
The handsome Doctor xiao Feng took off his white coat and stood at the ticket gate with an expressionless face in his down jacket. After he saw Li Zhenruo, he raised his hand and waved to him.
Li Zhenruo walked over, “Xiao Feng?”
Feng Junyuan said, “Come in quickly.”
Li Zhenruo still felt it was strange, “Are you checking tickets here?”
Feng Junyuan nodded.
Li Zhenruo asked him, “Why you?”
Feng Junyuan said, “Because my Master is the owner of the demon market.”
Li Zhenruo was stunned for a moment before he reacted, “You mean my Master?”
Feng Junyuan nodded and said to him, “Come in, Master is waiting for you.”
Li Zhenruo walked through the ticket gate and suddenly found that the amusement park, which looked dark outside, became brightly lit and crowded.
There were colourful lanterns hanging on the trees everywhere, children with balloons running back and forth, the Ferris wheel in the distance was turning gently, and cheerful songs reverberated throughout the amusement park. But even though it was the Chinese New Year, there was a Christmas song playing, and he didn’t know what it meant.
A child fell while running past Li Zhenruo. Li Zhenruo was about to squat down to help him but saw that the original little boy had turned into a large lizard and quickly crawled forward.
Li Zhenruo was taken aback. He stood there watching the people coming and going in the amusement park, and suddenly realized that these people were not human, but were all demons.
Then what is he?
Li Zhenruo thought about it for a long time and felt that he could only be considered a half-demon at most. Although he was a half-demon, he was at least related to a demon, so he calmly walked inside.
At the fork in the road ahead, a giant panda was selling balloons.
Li Zhenruo looked him up and down, thinking about whether it was a real giant panda, someone wearing a giant panda doll suit, or some other demon that had taken on the appearance of a giant panda.
The giant panda just handed the balloon to a child, and then looked in Li Zhenruo’s direction.
Li Zhenruo put the car key in his hand into his coat pocket and walked towards it, asking, “Hello, are you a real giant panda?”
The giant panda looked at him in a daze, suddenly approached him to smell it, and then said, “What is your real form?”
Li Zhenruo thought that he had already arrived in this environment. He was not afraid that others would see him as a cat. Instead, he should be afraid that others would think he was a human being, so he simply showed the giant panda his cat form.
But it was only a matter of moments. Li Zhenruo, who had recovered his human form, picked up the coat that fell on the ground to put it on and smiled at the panda.
The giant panda looked at him without saying a word.
Li Zhenruo was a little puzzled and wanted to go around it. He continue to walk inside, but unexpectedly the giant panda suddenly reached out and handed him a balloon, “For you,” the giant panda said.
Li Zhenruo took the balloon thread from its paws and said, “Thank you.”
Then, without further delay, they walked to the centre of the amusement park.
The surroundings were getting more and more lively, the amusement facilities were all open, and there were colourful lights and happy music everywhere.
Li Zhenruo saw Song Jun standing in front of the merry-go-round and beckoned to him from a distance, so he quickened his pace and walked over, “Song Jun!”
Song Jun looked in the direction behind him.
Li Zhenruo asked strangely, “What?”
Song Jun said, “The giant panda is watching you.”
Li Zhenruo also looked back and saw the giant panda holding a handful of balloons in his hand, and he was still looking at him. Because of the poor lighting, Li Zhenruo couldn’t see the expression on its face, so he turned around and said to Song Jun, “Where’s Master?”
Song Jun pointed to the merry-go-round behind him.
Li Zhenruo turned his head to look and saw that the merry-go-round was empty and there was no one else, only a black leopard was lying in the middle, his head resting on a wooden horse, expressionlessly following the giant carousel.
To say it was a black leopard was not quite right. When Li Zhenruo looked closely, he found that Xia Hongshen’s form was somewhat different from the leopard. It looked more terrifying and fierce.
When Xia Hongshen saw Li Zhenruo, he yawned deeply, turned into a human form and sat lazily on the wooden horse, and hooked his fingers at him.
Li Zhenruo jumped on the rotating wooden horse turntable, walked to Xia Hongshen’s side, and bowed slightly, “Master, what’s the matter with you calling me here?”
Xia Hongshen said, “The demon market will be opened tonight, let’s see if you can find anything to improve your cultivation.”
Li Zhenruo was turned dizzy by the merry-go-round, and he said, “Master, can we talk in another place?”
Xia Hongshen said, “No good.”
In the end, Xia Hongshen still didn’t go down, Li Zhenruo simply sat down cross-legged beside him, closed his eyes and leaned his head on the wooden horse in front of him, and asked, “What is the thing that enhances my cultivation?”
Xia Hongshen thought for a while, “I don’t know, you can watch it at the auction tonight.”
Li Zhenruo asked again, “What will happen to me if I improve my cultivation? Become an immortal?”
Xia Hongshen said, “As if. Do you think it’s easy to become an immortal?”
Li Zhenruo was silent for a while, “Immortality?”
Xia Hongshen said to him, “It is still possible to live for hundreds of years.”
Li Zhenruo heard the words and said in a sullen voice, “Then I don’t want to, I just want to live for a few more decades and die with my second brother.”
Xia Hongshen looked down at him. He had raised his foot, but in the end, he couldn’t bear to step on him, and finally said only one word, “Get lost.”
He accepted a super unpromising apprentice, but Xia Hongshen didn’t think there was anything wrong. Li Zhenruo was not like him, he had Song Jun and the others by his side for a long time. If only one person had an endless lifespan, sometimes it might be a tragedy.
Li Zhenruo didn’t really go away. Although he was thinking about Li Zhenran’s desire to go back to spend the New Year with him, he still wanted to stay and watch the so-called auction.
Song Jun rubbed up to Li Zhenruo’s side and said to him, “Don’t worry about it, senior brother is actually doing for your own good.”
Li Zhenruo said, “I understand, but I’m just embarrassed for causing Master to accept an apprentice who can’t learn anything from him.”
Song Jun said, “He was just saying that. He can’t afford anything on the auction tonight.”
Li Zhenruo couldn’t help turning his head to look at Song Jun, “Master is already so poor?”
Song Jun smiled, “Actually, he is not poor. He has a few priceless treasures around him, but unfortunately, he is reluctant to sell them all his life.”
As soon as he said that, the lights of the carousel dimmed, and all the projection lights shone on the small stage next to it. A host took the microphone to the stage, announcing that the auction was about to start, and the entire amusement park crowded over there, including those that Li Zhenruo thought of as children.
Li Zhenruo couldn’t help but turn his head to look around. He saw Xi Anling standing with a gentle young man in the crowd, snatching cotton candy from the man’s hand; Long Xing was with a tall young man and he didn’t know what they were talking about, and he was hugged up by the young man; Feng Junyuan stood beside Luo Fei, grabbed a c0cktail from somewhere and wanted to drink it, but Luo Fei snatched it away.
The very lively New Year’s Eve was much more lively than that of the Li family sitting in the living room and watching TV. For this reason, Li Zhenruo was more and more eager to go back to accompany Li Zhenran.
Xia Hongshen shifted his position and lay on the top of the merry-go-round with his black tail swinging carelessly behind him.
The host saw that almost everyone gathered, knocked on the auction hammer, and announced the official start of the auction.
Li Zhenruo felt that tonight was an eye-opener. There were all kinds of messes in the entire auction. Of course, most of them were valuable to these monsters, but he didn’t know the significance of those things.
Until the host took a wooden box and showed it to everyone, and said, “This is the elixir that fell out of Taishang Laojun’s1 single furnace. Eating one can increase your cultivation for five hundred years.”
“Do you want it?” Xia Hongshen suddenly appeared behind Li Zhenruo and asked him in a low voice.
Li Zhenruo was startled, but he didn’t rush to say whether he wanted it or not, but instead asked Xia Hongshen, “Can you afford it?”
Xia Hongshen said confidently, “I can afford a black box2.”
As he said that, he heard someone beside him bidding loudly.
Li Zhenruo heard the voice and looked over, and saw that the bidder turned out to be a giant panda. For a while, all the people who could talk began to whisper, and Li Zhenruo heard an old man next to him say, “Giant panda, how many are there richer than him? If he wants this thing, the others must have no hope.”
Another person said, “We can’t just give it to him without raising the price, right?”
The old man said, “Are you stupid? You can’t win the auction, and you even raise the price to offend the giant panda. What are you trying to do?”
The man pondered for a moment and stopped talking.
Song Jun asked curiously, “Why does the panda want this?”
No one answered him. The giant panda stood in the distance, holding a bamboo in his hand, nibbling on it and looking at the auction table on tiptoe.
Li Zhenruo was also curious, “Are giant pandas rich and powerful?”
His voice was not too loud, but people around him all looked at him, and someone gave him a roll of eyes, “Giant panda, national treasure, don’t you know?”
Li Zhenruo suddenly felt a little stupid.
It was already past eleven o’clock in the evening when the auction ended. Li Zhenruo said that he did not want to increase his cultivation. Xia Hongshen disliked him for not being ambitious but didn’t make it difficult for him.
Li Zhenruo looked at the time and planned to say goodbye to Xia Hongshen, but when he was about to leave, the giant panda stood in front of him and blocked his way.
“?” Li Zhenruo was baffled.
The giant panda suddenly reached out, stuffed a wooden box into Li Zhenruo’s hand, and said, “It’s for you!” Then his heavy body ran away like a gust of wind.
Li Zhenruo stared at the wooden box that was stuffed into his hand, and after a while, he responded and said, “Is this the elixir just now?”
Song Jun leaned closer to smell, “It should be.”
Li Zhenruo raised his head to look for the giant panda but found that he could not find the panda. He said blankly, “He said it was given to me?”
“Well,” Song Jun nodded.
Li Zhenruo said, “Then what should I do?”
Song Jun said, “It’s yours if he gave it to you, you can do whatever you want. This is a matter of no regrets.”
Li Zhenruo still didn’t know what was going on, “Why did he give me this?”
Song Jun thought for a while and said to Li Zhenruo, “It’s getting late, you go back first, and I’ll ask him for you.”
When he heard this, Li Zhenruo took another look at the time. He had to go back quickly, otherwise, Li Zhenran would probably be angry if he didn’t get home at twelve o’clock, so he could only say, “Well, if you have any news, give me a call.”
He was only able to put things away first.
When he drove back to Li’s house, the lights in the living room were already dimmed. It must be because Li Jianglin couldn’t stay up too late. After returning to the room, everyone went to rest.
When Li Zhenran heard the sound of the car, he went downstairs to pick him up and opened the door of the living room. Li Zhenruo rushed into Li Zhenran’s arms with air-conditioned air, and said vaguely in the kiss, “Happy New Year.”
When they returned to the room, Li Zhenran pressed Li Zhenruo behind the door, sucked his earlobe and asked, “Where did you go? Can you tell me now?”
Li Zhenruo gasped slightly and replied, “I was called by Master to the amusement park.”
Li Zhenran raised his head, “There are still people in the amusement park at this time?”
Li Zhenruo raised one leg and hooked his waist, “Keep going, please.”
Li Zhenran moved slightly away from him, and reached out to touch his chest, “What is this?”
What he took out from the inner pocket of Li Zhenruo’s shirt was the box given to Li Zhenruo by the panda. He inexplicably lifted the lid to see it.
Li Zhenruo didn’t stop him, just stared at the so-called elixir in the box thoughtfully.
He didn’t want a few hundred years of cultivation to increase his life expectancy by a few hundred years, but if this thing could increase Li Zhenran’s lifespan, it would be another matter.
If he could add a few hundred years of cultivation to Li Zhenran’s body, even if he could not live forever, he would certainly be able to prolong his life. At that time, he might have had the mind to cultivate, just to spend more time with Li Zhenran.
However, this thing should not belong to him, but to a giant panda. Although the other party said that it was given to him, Li Zhenruo still did not understand what happened.
What if the giant panda comes back at the end?
Li Zhenran saw that Li Zhenruo was starting to fret and asked, “What?”
If the giant panda came to ask for it, he could say that he had accidentally eaten it, and he would return all the money that the giant panda spent at the auction.
Li Zhenran raised the box, “Something your master gave you?”
Li Zhenruo shook his head, “The panda gave it to me.”
“Giant panda?” Li Zhenran looked at him strangely.
Li Zhenruo felt that he should not continue to be indecisive. He reached out and picked up the medicine pill in the box and said to Li Zhenran, “Open your mouth.”
Li Zhenran asked suspiciously, “Ah?” Li Zhenruo threw the medicinal pill into him.
This time, he swallowed too quickly and almost choked on his organs. Li Zhenran covered his mouth and coughed a few times. He frowned while pouring water and asked, “What is that?”
Li Zhenruo was still standing there, suddenly unable to contain his excitement. The corner of his mouth lifted into a smile, “Good thing,” he said.
The next morning, Li Zhenruo woke up in the warm bed, and before he opened his eyes, he subconsciously reached out to touch Li Zhenran who was beside him, trying to shrink into his arms.
But the hand felt empty and nothing was touched.
He thought that Li Zhenran had gotten up. Li Zhenruo opened his eyes blankly and saw a pair of dark eyes looking at him at a very close distance.
He was startled and stepped back suddenly, only to realize that it was a black and white Garfield lying on the pillow.
“Where did the cat come from?” Li Zhenruo sat up in shock, looking back and couldn’t find Li Zhenran’s shadow.
He turned his head to look at the cat again. When he saw that the cat was serious and a little angry, he suddenly had a strange thought. He asked, “Who are you…?”
