71. A Dead Woman

Master Liu informed of his decision to RuQian the next day. RuQian just nodded not saying anything else. Other than the day they met where she recognized him, Master Liu had never been able to read RuQian's expressions again. She could hide her real feelings too well, she would only show what she wanted the other person to see.

He wondered how she was able to do this. Even his master had to practice a lot to be able to do that and it looked like she was still better than Mu Chen at this without even receiving any proper training. He wondered how and why this girl was able to do this.

RuQian on the other hand was actually in deep thought. Was Mu Chen really ready to send his best employee with her to another country for who knew how long? "Actually I will be living with my friend..."

She hadn't even finished when, "She can join us. It would be nice for your friend to learn some martial arts as well. She can also protect you if necessary." Master Liu nodded his head seriously.

RuQian stared at his face. 'Did Mu Chen say something like this, about his own cousin? No, he wouldn't.' But then she thought again. She did not want to accept it but he could totally say something like this. The man was mostly emotionless but that image of his shattered in her eyes due to the weird decisions he had been making recently.

He had sent his best man to train her and he was having bodyguards follow her. It felt to her that he was trying to protect her.

'Am I special?' RuQian mentally shook herself to remove that thought. She had not even met the man. Why was she thinking so much about him?

RuQian informed her friends about her decision that evening.

Lan Xie jumped in her seat in the car, "Really Qian Qian? Will you also be coming with me? I changed my major thanks to your help in convincing my parents. Ooh we can stay together in the villa. I was going to rent a room if it was just me." She clapped her hands excitedly.

"It would be better to buy a smaller house near the university. And if it's that villa, the workers would update your parents on what we are doing. The reason I want to leave here is to not be under scrutiny constantly."

"Oh. Right. Okay we can just buy another house." Lan Xie pumped her fists happily, not knowing her friend had different plans for avoiding close scrutiny by their family.

Amy was unusually quiet though. RuQian sighed internally, "I really want to take you but are you sure you can finish those exams with us Amy?"

"I... I can't." Amy sighed. She really did not want to lose her friends.

She wasn't a genius like RuQian who just needed to look at things and remember them immediately. She only recently found out that RuQian had a very good memory, eidetic memory Lan Xie called it. But RuQian had quickly disproved them that eidetic memory had not been proven but yes she could inspect different events, or things she had seen before and observe her memory to the finest details. In fact she could recall things she had missed before when that particular moment occurred. Xiao Xie had told her separately that RuQian had this ability when she was younger but had later forgotten many details of her past after her grandmother's death but it seemed that she had recently remembered everything.

Amy had only found out about this through Lan Xie because she had wanted to ask RuQian about her grandmother. Lan Xie had pulled her away from RuQian and had explained to her that talking or asking about madam Zhang Xie was forbidden. It was not that RuQian couldn't talk about her grandmother, but the last time the late woman was mentioned, RuQian had gone quiet and had dazed off into the space the whole day. She did not eat or talk to anyone.

This had happened when Lan Xie had realized her Qian Qian had remembered her childhood and had questioned how it was to spend time with her beloved grandmother. Grandpa Zhang had called her the next day and asked Lan Xie about what transpired the previous day. He told her how RuQian had had nightmares and had woken up the whole house with her screams in the middle of the night. From then on Lan Xie and grandpa Zhang had come to the consensus that they would not bring up the late madam again.

Grandpa Zhang was mortified when he found out that his granddaughter's odd behaviour was due to his late wife. RuQian had not had supper with him as she usually did and when he went to call her he found out she had locked herself in her room. He tried knocking and talking to her but there was no reply.

He wanted to barge in there, he had the key, but he stopped himself. She was a teenage girl, she needed her privacy. But he was terrified when he was awoken in the middle of the night with shrill screams. He was used to these screams but they were only an yearly occurrence. Every year on the death anniversary of his wife, RuQian would come and stay in his house, and on that day she would have severe nightmares where he had to stay awake the whole night to take care of her.

He wanted to send her to therapy but his granddaughter always forgot everything by the next day. She would wake up in the morning to find her grandfather in her room and question him why he was there. He had to lie and say that he just missed her grandmother so he did not want to stay alone.

He had no idea what to do but since RuQian never remembered any of it, he did not want to tell her lest she recalled whatever horrifying nightmares she experienced.

Grandpa Zhang dashed to his granddaughter's room to find his butler waiting with a key for him. He quickly unlocked the door to find his granddaughter on her bed, drenched in sweat, shrieking out of her lungs. The grandfather and the butler got to work immediately.

One of them started lighting many of the scented candles while the other started playing soothing music in the room. Grandpa Zhang took a seat near her bed and slowly and carefully held her hand, which she violently pushed away and started shrieking even louder. He sighed. Looked like it was the hand this time.

She had different hotspots each time she had a nightmare. He carefully placed his hand on her head and when she did not scream he started stroking her hair in slow soothing motions. At first every time she had a nightmare, he tried waking her up but she never woke up. After consulting with the doctor he could only soothe her in her sleep.

Lan Xie had known about RuQian's nightmares but she never attributed them to her grandmother. She always thought it was just because RuQian was reminded of her mother at her grandmother's death anniversary. It was only a few months back that Lan Xie and grandpa Zhang finally found out that her Qian Qian had nightmares because of her grandmother.

They had wanted to ask RuQian why her grandmother triggered such bad dreams for her, especially when RuQian thanked grandpa Zhang when she woke up in the morning for taking care of her. It seemed that she had remembered her dream or nightmare this time.

But Lan Xie was quick to stop him. She did not want her Qian Qian to go back into that world of nightmares. If she wanted to share this she would've already done so but after thanking grandpa Zhang she completely avoided the topic. They just decided they would not mention her grandmother again. It was not a big deal to avoid talking about a dead woman anyways.