Chapter 103

Jiang Ping originally thought that it would take a lot of time to get a clear photo. Even if that person worked fast, Jiang Ping thought that it would at least take one or two days. Unexpectedly, as soon as the day brightened, the work was done.

‘ He’s indeed an expert in this field, huh? ’

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Ping didn’t delay. After borrowing a subordinate’s computer to log into his email, sure enough, the picture was sent over.

The internet of the police station was a bit laggy, so the picture hadn’t been loaded yet. Qu Zhiwen stood aside, looking at the screen of the computer with squinted eyes, asking: “Whose picture is this?”

“Qu Zhiwen, let me ask you….do you really not know where Qin Cheng is right now?”

“If I knew, I wouldn’t have come to find you.”

Jiang Ping could see that Qu Zhiwen wasn’t telling lies. After all, Jiang Ping knew Qu Zhiwen’s methods quite well.

When Jiang Ping had to go to Pingyao, if it hadn’t been because Qu Zhiwen had tracked down Qin Cheng’s location, Jiang Ping was sure that he wouldn’t have been able to find that mountain on his own. This time, however, Qu Zhiwen didn’t seem to be able to find any traces of Qin Cheng, which can only mean that Qin Cheng’s kidnapper was above Qu Zhiwen’s skills level….?

“Then….in your profession, is there a man surnamed Chen whose skills are above you?”

“Chen? Are you talking about the man Jiang Bo mentioned in his diary? Didn’t I tell you last time that I couldn’t find anyone with this surname among the people I know?” When Qu Zhiwen heard Jiang Ping’s question, he guessed that Qin Cheng’s disappearance must also be related to this ‘Chen’ person.

“Is the person in this picture the one surnamed Chen?”

Jiang Ping shook his head. “I don’t know yet. In the original footage I wasn’t able to see his face clearly, but I felt as if I knew that person. He looked so familiar for some reason. Besides, Qin Cheng met this person only once.” Seeing that the picture on the screen still hadn’t loaded completely, Jiang Ping shouted at little Wang: “What’s going on with the internet today?! Why can’t a single picture be loaded?”

“Qin Cheng met with this person? Where did you get that information?” For some reason, Qu Zhiwen felt a bit annoyed all of a sudden. “Have you seen this man?”

“I don’t know….it’s just that, although I can’t see him clearly in the video, I have a strange sensation of familiarity. Maybe I’ve seen him before….”

As soon as Jiang Ping said these words, Qu Zhiwen’s face suddenly turned fierce: “Turn off the computer right now!”

“Chief, the internet is fixed!”

After hearing this, Qu Zhiwen desperately tried to shut down the computer, but Jiang Ping, who wasn’t quite sure why Qu Zhiwen was behaving this way, raised a hand and pulled Qu Zhiwen away from the computer. After being pushed, Qu Zhiwen took two steps back, and at that moment, the image completely finished downloading on the screen….With a quality much clearer than the video, the face of the man who collided with Qin Cheng in the hospital had been exposed.

After taking a single glance at the face of that man, Jiang Ping, in a daze, froze completely in place, as if he had been caught in a nightmare. At that moment, the dream he had been having ever since he returned from the tomb in Pingyao erupted inside him like an explosion, hitting Jiang Ping’s brain from within.

It wasn’t until Jiang Ping fell to the ground that people in the police station became aware that something wasn’t right.

“Chief!”

“Holy shit, what the fuck happened?!”

However, when they looked at the picture on the computer’s screen they couldn’t notice anything wrong with it. It was just an ordinary picture!

Qu Zhiwen was the first to react, immediately rushing to check Jiang Ping’s forehead and neck. After half-lifting Jiang Ping from the ground, Qu Zhiwen looked at the picture of that man with an ugly face.

‘ I knew it, he is…. ’

Jiang Ping, who had just fainted, dreamed of countless unfamiliar images appearing one after another in front of his eyes. These images showed a General who came from a civilian Court Official’s family, and how this General seemed to be close with a ‘Fifth Prince’. However, this General seemed to have other kind of feelings for the Fifth Prince other than friendship, to the point of turning his back on his clansmen, killing his relatives, and offering a lifetime of loyalty to the Fifth Prince….Finally, the images showed an ancient battlefield, where he seemed to be fighting the enemy at the vast expanse of the Gobi desert. But in the end, he was beheaded and his body was eaten by wolves and tigers. It was impossible for him to acquire a peaceful end….

“My honest Monarch, I’m loyal-….” Jiang Ping felt a sudden pain surging in his heart. A pain that felt like a tidal wave flooding his entire body….

Waking up with a jolt, Jiang Ping was covered in sweat, even though the weather was gradually turning colder and colder.

Without realizing it, the bright day had turned into the darkness of night. The house he was in was so dark and quiet that he could only tell that this was his house by the soft light coming through the window. At that time, Jiang Ping was lying on his own bed, but he didn’t get up. He just stared at the ceiling as he recalled the dreams he has been having recently, trying to remember the moment he started to have them.

Jiang Ping knew very well that ever since he came back from Pingyao, he had been having dreams in which countless images appeared and disappeared in front of his eyes, some of which he could see in detail from time to time. As to why this was happening to him, he wasn’t sure.

He only remembered that when he was on that mountain in Pingyao, he had to fight three strange men. At that time, Qu Zhiwen told Jiang Ping that those three were half-immortals, but since they were in a critical situation, Qu Zhiwen had to enter the tomb and leave Jiang Ping behind. Qu Zhiwen let Jiang Ping know that these half-immortals couldn’t hurt him, as it was a sin for them to hurt living beings. If any of them were to commit such a sin, it would take them longer to ascend, so they would be afraid of hurting him, even by accident.

However, something unknown happened inside the tomb, and a burst of light came out of it, hitting Jiang Ping directly and causing him to faint….

After that, the strange dream kept appearing as soon as he went to sleep.

‘ No wonder the man from the video looked somewhat familiar to me. I actually saw him in my dreams…. ’

‘ I originally thought it was nothing more than a dream….but now it seems to be more than that? ’

Jiang Ping didn’t have time to think about it, as at that moment, he heard the sound of keys opening the front door of his house. Jiang Ping became alert and sneaked up with the intention of attacking the intruder. However, Jiang Ping stopped as soon as he saw the face of the ‘intruder’.

“You actually stopped this time. Last time you hurt me really bad.” Qu Zhiwen turned on the light and looked up and down at Jiang Ping. “You seem to be….alright….?”

Jiang Ping didn’t reply, instead, he asked back: “Why do you have the keys to my house?”

“I sent you back home from the police station, so of course I took the keys from you.”

“Oh….thank you then.”

Qu Zhiwen smiled, sat down on the sofa, and said: “You’re pretty wary of me lately… but I guess you must also have some things you want to ask me.”

Jiang Ping frowned. He did have a lot of things he wanted to ask Qu Zhiwen, but when he thought about it, Jiang Ping realized that when he wanted to see that man’s photo, Qu Zhiwen had probably realized something and thus wanted to stop him from looking at it.

‘ Qu Zhiwen must know why I passed out and ended up unconscious…. ’

“You….you know who that man is, don’t you? You also know about my nightmares.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. Jiang Ping looked at Qu Zhiwen in detail, as if wanting to see the answer reflected on his face.

“I didn’t know, but I could guess. In that mountain in Pingyao, you fainted out of nowhere and you couldn’t wake up, so I chased after the three half-immortals for an explanation. Only then did I learn from them that you fainted because the soul present in the tomb dissipated.” Qu Zhiwen paused, but then he continued: “No, it’s impossible to affirm that. The formation broke and the soul should have dissipated. But it just so happened that you were outside the tomb. What remained of the soul of the General was nothing more than a trace of his original soul in ancient times, and because of his profession in life, his spirit had accumulated a lot of evil qi. Coincidentally, the soul of a policeman also carries a bit of evil qi due to his profession, and because the soul of the General didn’t have a place to stay, it found you as a host.”

“You mean….the trace of that soul is inside my body?”

‘ Why does it sound so ridiculous? ’

“You think this kind of situation is rare? In reality, it’s not uncommon for a body to contain two complete and independent souls.”

“So the dreams I’ve been having lately were all caused by the trace of this soul? Are they the General’s memories from when he was alive?”

Qu Zhiwen nodded, “Therefore, I assumed that the photo of that man would cause the General’s soul to be in turmoil, which would consequently impact your physical body and harm you.”

Jiang Ping rubbed his forehead feeling a bit tired. Originally, he thought those dreams were memories from his past life, which is why he asked Qin Cheng if he believed in past lives….but in the end, it turned out to be a General’s soul influencing his dreams?

“Is there anything I can do to get rid of it? There are memories inside me that don’t belong to me.”

“….I….have no way of suppressing it for the time being….”

Jiang Ping didn’t speak. Now, when he closed his eyes, the face of that man appeared in his mind, along with a tear-like pain surging inside his heart. This feeling….Jiang Ping didn’t like it at all.

‘ Who would have thought that there would be a man who looks exactly like the Fifth Prince present in my dreams? Who can also be, most likely, the assassin who kidnapped Qin Cheng. ’ The more Jiang Ping thought about it, the more annoyed he was….but there was no way to vent this irritability.

“That being said, where did you get that man’s photo?”

Qu Zhiwen’s words broke the silence that filled the room. It was only at that moment that Jiang Ping remembered that Qin Cheng had told him that Qu Zhiwen should already know who this man was, which could only mean that Qu Zhiwen must have realized almost immediately that he was the one who had kidnapped Qin Cheng. ‘ It must have been for that reason that Qu Zhiwen wanted to prevent me from seeing that guy’s face…. ’

“Qin Cheng left me a message before he disappeared. That’s where I found it.” Jiang Ping walked to the sofa, blocked the light in front of Qu Zhiwen, bowed his head, and said: “But it seems you already know who he is, am I right? Not only that, but you seem to know why that man’s appearance would impact the General’s soul. Is there really a man in this world who looks exactly the same as the man in my dreams?”

“Not only does he look exactly the same,” Qu Zhiwen looked at Jiang Ping and smiled, but that smile didn’t reach his eyes. “He’s also the reincarnation of the man in your dreams.”

As soon as Qu Zhiwen said this, Jiang Ping felt a tremor in his heart, and his entire body shuddered slightly. At that moment, Jiang Ping realized that the spirit of the General was trying to control his body. Jiang Ping was so angry that he clenched his fists, piercing his flesh with his nails without realizing it.

When Qu Zhiwen saw Jiang Ping’s appearance, his heart became more and more sour. After a long while, he said: “In your current situation, I’m afraid it’s impossible for you to save Qin Cheng. After all, what will happen to you once you see that man?”

‘ The shuddering fear I feel within me is light, and although the General’s spirit doesn’t control my mind, sometimes, I can feel the great impact it generates within me…. ’

“….Shit!” When Jiang Ping thought of this, he couldn’t help but curse out loud.

Qu Zhiwen didn’t say anything for a while, but before he left, he said coldly: “I’ll find a way.”

After Qu Zhiwen left Jiang Ping’s house, he went directly to the tomb in Ninghua Village.

No one has come to visit the tomb recently, and Su Jingmo has been really bored. This time, an acquaintance came to visit, so of course Su Jingmo would welcome him.

With a clear and loud laugh, Su Jingmo said: “I haven’t seen you in so long. How has Qu-xiansheng ¹ been?”

After saying these words, the gates of the big tomb opened, revealing the gloomy expression of Qu Zhiwen, who was standing on the other side.

“You don’t look so good. You look even gloomier than me, and I am a ghost.”

An entire chapter dedicated to Jiang Ping and Qu Zhiwen!!! My fav 2nd couple !! 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰

The thing abt General Ning and Jiang Ping seems sus 👀 do you think it was just a coincidence, or…. 👀👀👀👀

Su Jingmo xDDDD you can be so effortlessly funny sometimes lmao 🤣🤣

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(´,,•ω•,,) ♡ ♡

Footnotes

<ol><b>先生</b> <b>xiān sheng</b> ; The term “Xiansheng” has been around for a long time. However, in various periods in history, the term “Xiansheng” was addressed to different targets; like teachers. Used as an honorific for intellectuals and adults of certain status.</ol>