Chapter 62: You Have Contracted a New Illness

In an elegant and tranquil café, Xiao Nan and Liu Binglan sat opposite each other.

Liu Binglan had originally intended to treat Xiao Nan to a meal, but Xiao Nan had eaten lunch not long ago and wasn't hungry at all, so they simply found a nearby café.

"You grabbed me and said those things in public just now weren't you afraid of scandals?" Xiao Nan looked at Liu Binglan with mild curiosity.

Compared to when they last met, her fair skin seemed even more tender and rosy now.

Her slender, swan-like neck was as alluring as ever.

However, the jade necklace that used to adorn her graceful neck was gone, replaced by a dazzling platinum necklace embedded with a blue gemstone.

It seemed this woman had taken his advice and stopped wearing the necklace that harbored the life-devouring parasite.

Hearing Xiao Nan's words, a blush flashed across Liu Binglan's face.

Thinking back now, her actions and words from a moment ago certainly seemed prone to misunderstanding.

Especially given her status as a celebrity, such ambiguity would undoubtedly be magnified. She looked at Xiao Nan with a trace of apology in her eyes: "I'm sorry. I was just afraid you would run away like last time and didn't think it through. Now that I think about it, I'm afraid I've brought you trouble. I'm sorry."

Xiao Nan understood what she meant. If nothing unexpected happened, it probably wouldn't be long before scandals started circulating between him and this major celebrity.

However, he didn't care about that at all. He shrugged and joked, "I'm just an ordinary citizen, what do I have to be afraid of? Who knows, maybe I'll even get a boost of fame from you. But you're a big star, and you're probably going to lose a lot of fans."

"The trouble I'm talking about isn't that," Liu Binglan said suddenly.

"Oh? Then what is it?" Xiao Nan was somewhat curious; aside from that, what other trouble could there be?

Liu Binglan hesitated, her words hanging on her lips.

She hadn't given the scandal a single thought.

What she was truly worried about was whether that person from the capital would come looking for Xiao Nan to cause trouble because of today's events.

That man clung to her like a phantom, a man she could shake off no matter what she tried.

Although she had continuously used various excuses to stall him over the years, she knew her time was running out and his patience was wearing thin.

Out of nowhere, she had suddenly popped up with a rumored boyfriend.

That person would undoubtedly be furious.

Thinking of this, Liu Binglan felt a deep sense of self-reproach; she really had been too impulsive just now.

"Go ahead, why did you look for me?"

Liu Binglan was struggling with how to remind Xiao Nan to be careful in the future, but Xiao Nan didn't dwell on the topic and instead changed the subject.

"I still don't know your name," Liu Binglan asked in return.

"Xiao Nan." Xiao Nan took a sip of the coffee handed to him by the waiter.

"I have two things for which I've sought you out."

Liu Binglan temporarily pushed that person to the back of her mind and said, "First, to thank you for saving me last time and keeping me from fainting right there on the street."

"Second, I wanted to ask if you completely cured my illness last time?"

"Because ever since I saw you, that illness hasn't acted up once, whereas before it would flare up every few days."

"If that's truly the case, then you are my great benefactor, and I must thank you properly."

As she spoke, Liu Binglan's beautiful eyes stared fixedly into Xiao Nan's face.

Naturally, she hoped her lingering ailment had been thoroughly cured by Xiao Nan.

She never wanted to endure that bone-deep agony of each flare-up ever again.

Having long guessed that this was why she sought him out, Xiao Nan smiled faintly: "I really only helped you suppress it last time. I did that because I had taken your purple ginseng, so you don't need to thank me for anything."

"Then will this illness of mine flare up again in the future?" Liu Binglan asked, her expression full of trepidation.

Xiao Nan's gaze shifted once more to Liu Binglan's fair, smooth neck as he examined it. "Actually, you never had an illness to begin with. The reason you were like that before was entirely because of that jade pendant necklace you wore playing tricks."

"You listened to me and threw that necklace away, which is why your illness hasn't acted up recently. It's as simple as that."

"A necklace?"

Liu Binglan found it hard to believe: "You're saying that the reason I kept having those inexplicable attacks was because of that necklace?"

"Yes." Xiao Nan nodded. Seeing her look of wanting to get to the bottom of it, he simply came out and told her directly: "Living inside the pendant of your necklace was a type of Gu worm from Yunnan Province. If you kept wearing it on your body, it would slowly devour your life force."

"Every time this Gu worm ate its fill, it would fall into a deep slumber that lasted several days."

"Once it woke up, it would continue devouring your life force, repeating the cycle over and over."

"And every time it woke up and devoured you was when your illness would flare up."

"If you had continued to wear that thing on your body, it wouldn't have been long before your life force was completely devoured by that bug, and your fate, naturally, would have been an untimely demise."

This was the first time Liu Binglan had ever heard of something so terrifying.

A jade pendant could actually harbor a Gu worm.

And what was more, it would devour one's life force.

Although she couldn't quite fathom what life force actually was, she knew all too well the agony of her previous attacks—it was truly worse than death.

A figure involuntarily surfaced in her mind.

That good girlfriend who had given her that necklace as a gift.

"Were you doing this intentionally, or were you completely unaware?" Liu Binglan murmured softly to herself.

Thinking of how terrifying that necklace was—and how, after Xiao Nan warned her last time, she hadn't thrown it away immediately but had even brought it home—she couldn't help the lingering fear that gripped her heart.

She resolved to throw that dreadful thing away the moment she got back. She looked at Xiao Nan: "So that was it. In that case, you really did save my life."

"If you hadn't told me to throw it away last time, I would have foolishly kept wearing it."

With that, Liu Binglan pulled out a bank card and slid it across the table toward Xiao Nan. "Though I know a life-saving grace cannot be repaid with mere money, I have no idea what else you might need."

"There are fifty million here; I hope you will accept it first."

"If you have any other needs, you are welcome to tell me."

Without a trace of false modesty, Xiao Nan reached out and took her bank card directly: "I don't need anything else. Having this is enough."

Liu Binglan stared at him blankly, momentarily rendered speechless.

Ever since they parted ways last time, Xiao Nan's parting image—leaving behind no trace of dust, burying his deep achievements and fame, possessing the quintessential demeanor of a true master—had lingered persistently in her mind.

She had assumed this man was a renegade hermit who regarded wealth as mere dirt.

She had even prepared a bellyful of arguments to persuade him to accept the money.

She never expected this fellow to accept it with such breezy readiness.

It was somewhat disorienting.

Xiao Nan looked at her with an amused glint in his eyes: "What's with that look? Do you think I'm too greedy for money?"

Liu Binglan shook her head repeatedly: "How could that be? Even if you didn't want it, I would have found every possible way to give it to you. Accepting it so readily suits me just fine."

"Actually..." Xiao Nan twirled the bank card in his hand and slowly continued, "Earlier, I only reminded you to throw that thing away. It was just a sentence, not worth fifty million."

"The reason I'm accepting your card now is because..."

"You have now contracted a new illness."