Chapter 32 - Long Exposure

When he woke up the next day, the room was filled with light, and Xiang Cheng was still playing “Defense Carrot” on his iPad. There were a few pieces of papers thrown across the quilt. 

Chi Xiaoduo yawned and said, "You can even find exorcist materials online now?"

"En." Xiang Cheng turned off the game and said, "The benefits of technology."

"Found it?" Chi Xiaoduo shrank into the quilt and wriggled against Xiang Cheng’s body.

"Check and see if it's this," Xiang Cheng said.

"That's it!" Chi Xiaoduo looked at it. It was a scanned PDF with a line of incomprehensible text below.

"What's it called?" Chi Xiaoduo asked in surprise.

Xiang Cheng said, "I can’t read it either, it’s something from the Qin dynasty."

"It’s so old?" Chi Xiaoduo was surprised.

"The power of these two devils is not trivial." Xiang Cheng said, "To hide in the capital for so long without making an appearance, they must be up to something important. Have you woken up now?"

Chi Xiaoduo nodded. Xiang Cheng pulled open the quilt and said, "Get up." Then he opened the door and went downstairs.

Chi Xiaoduo thought Xiang Cheng would go out immediately and go to the Lingjing Hutong to make his report. Unexpectedly, Xiang Cheng went straight to the kitchen. Keda had gone to work, and Xiang Cheng washed his hands in the kitchen. He found an apron, put it on, and began to make breakfast.

Chi Xiaoduo: “.....”

Chi Xiaoduo sat at the table and watched Xiang Cheng cook porridge. Xiang Cheng said, "Go and see how Zhou Wanyuan is doing."

Chi Xiaoduo went up and knocked at the door. Zhou Wanyuan was on a phone call inside. "Uh-huh, Okay, okay." Her color had already recovered.

"Xiang Cheng is asking for you to come down for breakfast." Chi Xiaoduo said.

Zhou Wanyuan nodded to show that she knew. Her expression when talking on the phone was very gentle, as if she was talking to a loved one. 

Xiang Cheng was busy in the kitchen. Chi Xiaoduo saw a message that Keda had stuck to the refrigerator door: Use whatever you want at home after getting up. Don't be polite.

"Keda is so nice." Chi Xiaoduo unscrewed a bottle of Evian water, drank happily, and looked for snacks.

"En, he’s also very rich," Xiang Cheng said. "And he likes you a lot."

Chi Xiaoduo laughed and glanced at Xiang Cheng. “But he can’t cook.”

Xiang Cheng washed the tomatoes, skillfully cut them into flowers, and said to the vegetables in the sink, "Rich people don't have to cook, they all hire people to do it."

Chi Xiaoduo thought about it, agreed, and said, "The rich also have rich people’s problems."

"Do you have any problems?" Xiang Cheng turned his head to look at Chi Xiaoduo.

"I used to have some," Chi Xiaoduo said, "But after getting together with you, I’m not troubled anymore."

"What were you troubled by?" Xiang Cheng asked.

Chi Xiaoduo smiled but didn't speak. He felt very happy watching Xiang Cheng boil water, uncover the pot, and put in the tomatoes and vegetables. If he could live in a small villa like this with Xiang Cheng one day and eat a meal with him in the morning that he had made, that would be enough. 

"Were your troubles that," Xiang Cheng said to himself, "you couldn’t eat delicious things, and you couldn’t be bothered to make them yourself?"

Chi Xiaoduo laughed with a loud “haha.” Xiang Cheng tasted the soup, and Zhou Wanyuan also came down and sat quietly at the table watching Xiang Cheng cook.

"Where did you go to find such a Budget Husband?" Zhou Wanyuan rubbed her hands and asked Chi Xiaoduo.

Chi Xiaoduo glanced at Zhou Wanyuan and asked, "Do you feel better? Does it still hurt?"

Zhou Wanyuan nodded and said, "I just called my dad."

"What does your dad do?" Chi Xiaoduo asked.

"He’s a teacher," Zhou Wanyuan said, "Great Immortal Xiang, can we eat now? Laoniang is about to become flat from hunger."

Xiang Cheng brought over a bowl and put it in front of Chi Xiaoduo. Chi Xiaoduo considered Zhou Wanyuan an injured person and gave it to her first. Zhou Wanyuan pushed it back, making an ambiguous expression——I don’t dare, I don’t dare. 

There were three bowls of steaming vegetable noodles each with golden yellow poached eggs lying on the surface of them. Everyone quieted down and desperately scarfed everything down. Zhou Wanyuan also drank the soup until not even a drop was left.

"These cooking skills..." Zhou Wanyuan didn’t know whether to cry or laugh and said. "It's over, I won’t want to eat the gutter oil outside anymore."

"You're so rich," Chi Xiaoduo said sympathetically. "You can choose a better restaurant ma. Although it's not as good as our family’s Xiang Cheng, it's just barely passable."

Zhou Wanyuan said, "When did I tell you I was right? These are all high-quality imitations I bought off Taobao. To be rich, I still have to rely on fengshui ah."

Chi Xiaoduo: “.....”

"You make money from fengshui?" Xiang Cheng took away the bowls and asked while washing the dishes.

"It's alright ba," Zhou Wanyuan said. "It's just there’s a little professional sexism. Male fengshui masters earn more than female ones. I also sometimes do people’s astral charts and read their palms."

"Then show me ba." Chi Xiaoduo said, "Check my love line."

"That’s just tricking people." Zhou Wanyuan said, "Last night, Keda told me to help you prepare for this year’s exam..."

"Shh." Chi Xiaoduo quickly stopped Zhou Wanyuan from saying any more.

Xiang Cheng: "?”

Xiang Cheng glanced back at them. Chi Xiaoduo immediately took Zhou Wanyuan's shoulder and whispered in her ear, "Don't say anything."

Zhou Wanyuan nodded knowingly and said, "My dad has a lot of information. I'll send you a copy of it by email."

"Thank you, thank you." Chi Xiaoduo was beside himself with joy.

"What does your family do?" Chi Xiaoduo asked.

Xiang Cheng turned his head and looked at them suspiciously while washing the dishes. 

Zhou Wanyuan rolled her eyes at Xiang Cheng and obviously didn't want to say anything. Xiang Cheng turned his head away, and Zhou Wanyuan said, "They’re part of the Ministry of Research and Information, the legendary 'Zone Zero.'"

Chi Xiaoduo didn't know what that was, but it sounded cool and domineering, so he nodded in admiration. Xiang Cheng finished washing the dishes and came over. "Cinnabar."

"Don’t have any," said Zhou Wanyuan, "What era are we in, who still uses that."

Xiang Cheng dried his hands and called Keda, then went upstairs to find the cinnabar. A moment later, he mixed a plate of cinnabar in a cloisonne plate and spread out a white cloth before closing the living room curtains. It was now completely dark.

Xiang Cheng followed the iPad and outlined the magical array on it. Chi Xiaoduo and Zhou Wanyuan looked at his drawing, and Zhou Wanyuan was also a little surprised and asked, "You can even draw out an array?"

Xiang Cheng didn't answer. After the magical array was painted, Zhou Wanyuan said, "But this one is used by yao, so how can people use it? It can’t be that you’re going to recruit a yao or mo over here to inject their spirit into it?"

"Cellphone." Xiang Cheng spread out his hand.

Zhou Wanyuan found B's cellphone and gave it to Xiang Cheng. Xiang Cheng put the deceased's cellphone in the center and said to Zhou Wanyuan, "You go away for a bit."

Exorcists had different factions, and unless they were in a life or death battle, sometimes they would need to avoid their peers prying into their matters when using unique spells. Knowing that Xiang Cheng was going to use some spells that he couldn't let her know about, Zhou Wanyuan got up and went upstairs.

Xiang Cheng hugged Chi Xiaoduo's waist and made him stand in front of him. With one hand, he turned on the cellphone and scrolled to the pitch-black video of that night. 

"Concentrate," Xiang Cheng said. "Use your dragon pupil to see what's in this video."

"Okay." Chi Xiaoduo felt very nervous internally. Xiang Cheng hugged Chi Xiaoduo from behind and recited an incantation. Then, a green light came out from behind him, and the entire dark dining room was filled with an ubiquitous green light. 

Chi Xiaoduo suddenly vaguely remembered this scene, but he had forgotten where he had seen it before. He only faintly remembered that as if on a dark rainy night, Xiang Cheng had protected him while also surrounded by a strong green light, with translucent yaoguai like spirits flying around them. 

Then, a yao spirit went shua and tunneled into the magical array!

In just a short moment, the table was covered with cinnabar magical runes, emitting a purple light, impressively reproducing the seal outside the morgue! The purple light spun and flowed, and the cellphone in the center buzzed and vibrated. Chi Xiaoduo immediately leaned over to click on the video, closing his right eye as he watched it with his left eye.

Xiang Cheng closed his eyes and controlled the energy flow in the whole magical array.

"Take a picture, take a picture!"

"Did you see it?"

"Don't take pictures, don’t take anymore pictures! Let’s hurry up and go ah——I'm so scared! Leave it alone!"

The cellphone buzzed and droned, floating up, playing the dialogue of the four students shortly before their death.

Chi Xiaoduo: "......”

Chi Xiaoduo couldn't see anything. After the video finished, as soon as the light of the array went away, the cellphone fell with a pa onto the table. 

"Did you see it?" Xiang Cheng asked, a little confused.

"Nothing," Chi Xiaoduo replied.

Xiang Cheng let go of Chi Xiaoduo and sat in a chair with his fingers rubbing against the center of his eyebrows.

"Are you all right?" Chi Xiaoduo asked anxiously.

Xiang Cheng waved his hand.

On the stairs, Zhou Wanyuan's voice asked, "It's over?"

"Come down ba," Xiang Cheng replied.

When Zhou Wanyuan came down, she saw Chi Xiaoduo standing behind Xiang Cheng, massaging his temples. She asked, "A fruitless endeavor?"

Xiang Cheng didn't answer and frowned deeply. Zhou Wanyuan asked again, "Do you want to try again?"

Xiang Cheng took a deep breath and was about to speak when Zhou Wanyuan took out the three developed photos from her bag and put them on the table.

"These are photos that my dad specially commissioned, they were developed in a special way," Zhou Wanyuan said. "It’s an exposure technology that uses magical artifacts to image things, so it may do better than a video."

"I'll try again," Xiang Cheng said. After looking at the small white spots in the photos, they really were clearer than the video. At least, there were no white spots in the video.

Zhou Wanyuan self-consciously drew away, and Chi Xiaoduo said, "Take a break first, we don’t need to get it done right now."

Xiang Cheng said, "It’s fine." Then he got up, hugged Chi Xiaoduo and repeated the spell from just now.

Chi Xiaoduo prepared to concentrate all his attention, and Xiang Cheng said, "Stare at the white spots above, you may feel something. Whether or not you feel like it’s you just seeing things, you need to tell me."

"Okay." Chi Xiaoduo nodded.

Xiang Cheng launched his magic. The room was filled with a green glow, and the magnificent purple light shone across the magical array. The photo floated up and turned over in front of Chi Xiaoduo.

Chi Xiaoduo covered his right eye, opened his left eye wide, and stared at the small white spot in the photo.

Suddenly, there was a "shua" sound. Under the influence of the magical array, the dragon pupil added a flash from three months ago to the photo. Chi Xiaoduo was thunderstruck; not just the white spot of light but the whole photo was clearly revealed to his eyes under the green light——!

The photo showed a dark Japanese style tatami room. There were two girls and one boy, and their expressions were twisted in extreme fear. 

On the low table in the middle of tatami, there was a tea tray with three small red dots at the bottom.

The tea tray was flying in the air. In the dark photo, that white point of light was the slight reflection from the edge of the ceramic tea tray.