A tense silence spread.

After a while, Miss Ikuko suddenly laughed out loud: "It seems you know a lot."

"But do you know?" Miss Ikuko stopped laughing and raised her eyelids to look at Qi Qiu, "Once you get into it, addiction is the hardest thing to quit."

The moment the words fell, Miss Ikuko's lips curved. She looked away from Qi Chu's face and looked out the window.

The moon has sunk below the horizon, and the sky suddenly appears.

For Ms. Ikuko, drinking human blood has become an "addiction" that is difficult to quit.

"Drinking blood makes me feel safe." She narrowed her eyes slightly and looked at the dawn clouds in the distance. "Just like others need to rely on cigarettes and alcohol, I also need to rely on fresh blood. Is this easier to understand?"

?”

Miss Ikuko seems to have never mentioned these words to anyone. Only when drinking blood does she feel safe in her heart, as if she can really control and manipulate everything.

Although she knew that she actually couldn't, this was just a fleeting illusion.

After all, she is different from that person. She is just an ordinary person. Ordinary people can't even control themselves while parading on this street. How can they try to control everything?

Qi Chu keenly understood Miss Ikuko's emotions, and he did not comment on them.

"But that will bring you trouble." Qi Jiu said.

Miss Ikuko smiled nonchalantly: "You don't understand, sometimes trouble is not worth mentioning in the face of a sense of security."

Qi Chu nodded and asked tentatively: "Did you start by secretly drinking blood brew?"

What he was referring to was that Miss Ikuko needed to drink blood to relieve her addiction and gain a sense of security.

"You can say that, but..." Miss Ikuko paused, then shook her head and said, "Who knows? Maybe nothing that happens now can be changed from the day I was sold to Yuzhiwu."

Qi Jiu looked at her steadily and finally nodded: "So that's it."

Secretly drinking blood brew may be just an introduction. The answer that can truly free Miss Ikuko needs to be found at an earlier point in time.

Regarding the branch line "Please help Miss Ikuko escape", Qi Gu already had a plan in mind.

Miss Yuzi also looked at Qi Qiu: "Is there anything else you want to ask?"

Qi Jiu looked out the window and saw that the newly lit sky was a bluish color without any impurities. It looked like a rare sunny day.

With the dawn wind blowing, Qi Jiu said in a chatty tone: "It's fifteenth tonight. Looking at the weather, the moon tonight must be very beautiful."

Miss Ikuko supported her face with her hands and narrowed her eyes comfortably in the wind: "Yes, I hope so."

"But there is a rule in Yuzhiwu that prohibits people from going to the atrium privately on moonlit nights. Tonight, we invite the Takeuchi family to come over and enjoy the night cherry blossoms... Is it really okay?" Qi Qiu asked lightly.

Miss Ikuko was slightly stunned, then said: "I set the rules of Yuzhiwu, and I can naturally change them. And if the guests are invited by me, how can they be considered private, right?"

She looked at Qi Qiu and asked.

Qi Jiu met her gaze and asked calmly: "Miss Yuzi, when it gets bright and the moon disappears, what are you going to do?"

Miss Ikuko's plan is already obvious.

The invitation to watch the cherry blossoms at night was an invitation to die. The Takeuchi family had never drank blood brew, and they did not know this rule. On the night of the twelfth lunar month, they were invited to watch the moon and drink under the cherry tree in the courtyard of Ikunoya.

It is equivalent to actively breaking the hidden rules. This man-eating demon cherry tree can easily kill them.

And Miss Ikuko, who once secretly drank blood brew, was the mastermind of this invitation to death.

Miss Ikuko knew that she couldn't escape this time, and it wouldn't be long before her secret of killing people and drinking blood would be revealed to the public, so she took the initiative to send out an invitation and use the cherry trees and rules to eliminate those who hindered her.

But even if Miss Ikuko is protected by the blood cherry tree, when the moon disappears behind the horizon, the man-eating monster cherry tree turns back into an ordinary cherry tree, and there is no way to protect Miss Ikuko who is in big trouble.

She will be imprisoned as a monster, and those people will do whatever they want to her, cut her mouth to eat people, and then tie her to the goddess's pillar and burn her alive.

Rather than becoming a piece of meat on someone else's chopping board and being slaughtered by others, Miss Ikuko prefers to control her own life and death, and even the life and death of others.

This is her pathological and extreme way of gaining a sense of security, and she knows this better than anyone else.

Miss Ikuko was stunned. She looked deeply at the young man wearing the mask. After a long silence, she said, "It seems you know the secret of the cherry tree."

Qi Jiu didn't make a sound, expressing his affirmation by silence.

Miss Ikuko suddenly raised the corners of her lips: "Aren't you afraid that I will silence you now?"

The little gray cat held in Qi Jiu's arms suddenly burst into fury: "Meow, meow, meow!"

It raised its tail fiercely, and its pupils formed a straight line and stared at Miss Ikuko warily.

Qi Jiu rubbed the little gray cat's head with his chin again and again, whispering: "Be good, don't be afraid."

He was sure that Miss Ikuko would never do anything to him at this moment, so he dared to ask straight to the point.

After all, Miss Ikuko had just entrusted him with the little gray cat that she couldn't let go of.

"It's really weird, Xiao Hui can't live without you like this," Miss Ikuko said with a smile. She looked at the swaying cherry trees in the atrium again and said as if to herself, "I won't disappear."

Qi Ku paused slightly as he comforted the little gray cat——

Won't disappear?

Could it be that at this time, Miss Ikuko already knew that her resentment would become the fuel of a dark fire that would last for hundreds of years and never go out?

In other words, Miss Ikuko has already reached a deal with Yao Sakura.

"I will always exist here, in Yuzhiwu, just like that ancient cherry tree, forever..." Miss Ikuko spoke as if dreaming, her voice was very soft, so soft that it seemed that it might dissipate at dawn at any time

In the wind, there was an extremely crazy and obsessed look on her face.

The scenery in front of me was indescribably strange. At dawn when the white mist in winter had begun to lift, the courtesan, who had been awake all night, was leaning against the window, smiling at the corners of his lips, looking at the swaying cherry trees infatuatedly.

I see.

From the other party's dreamy words, Qi Jiu had figured out what exactly happened to Miss Ikuko during this period of time.

At the cherry blossom banquet on the night of the twelfth lunar month, Miss Ikuko used expensive wine and enchanting cherry blossoms to ignite a fire, burning down the nobles who could do whatever they wanted to her, the entire Izuku House, and herself.

After burning, the demonic cherry blossoms absorbed Miss Ikuko’s soul and resentment, and the two merged into one. Miss Ikuko was also able to use resentment and demonic cherry blossoms to continue the continuous Yin Fire for hundreds of years, and she became an eternal flame in this land.

evil spirits.

"Do you think I'm talking in my sleep?" Miss Yuzi came back to her senses and asked Qi Chu with a smile.

"I believe it," Qi Jiu said seriously, "then we will definitely meet again."

Miss Ikuko looked at him steadily: "You are so interesting, you remind me of an old friend."

Qi Jiu smiled: "The previous generation of oiran?"

Miss Ikuko was stunned for a moment, then clicked her tongue and said, "I told you that talking about the previous generation of oirans is not allowed in Izuku's house."

Qi Jiu nodded slightly: "I took the liberty."

"Take Xiao Hui and leave quickly," Miss Ikuko looked out the window again and stretched, "before I change my mind."

Qi Jiu: "Before that, I have one last request."

Miss Ikuko raised her eyebrows: "You say."

"You need to personally announce that I will be fired from the staff of Yuzhiwu." Qi Gu said.

Ms. Ikuko: "Is this important?"

Qi Ji nodded: "Yes, it is very important to me."

Miss Ikuko shrugged indifferently: "Okay, from now on, you are no longer an employee of Izhiwu."

"Thank you." Qi Jiu hugged the little gray cat and backed away: "Miss Yuzi, see you later."

He glanced at the long knife behind the screen with his peripheral vision, then hugged the little gray cat and left the Ikuya house full of ukiyo-e paintings before it got completely bright.

But he didn't go far.

After all, he has been fired by Miss Ikuko, and now he is no longer an employee of Ikuzhiwu.

If he is not an employee, there are no rules to restrict him.

*

It was a sunny day and it was not completely dark yet at six o'clock in the evening, but Yuzhiwu was already bustling with lights.

Under the white cherry blossoms in the atrium, Miss Ikuko is dressed in a red dress made of gold brocade, with a thick layer of white powder on her face, and rich scarlet lips. She is wearing the grandest bun and holding a handful of unique shamisen.

Sit under the scorching white cherry blossoms and play and sing.

The invited guests arrived one after another, the banquet was served, lanterns with ambiguous light were lit at the four corners of the courtyard, and white cherry petals fell like fine snow in the mottled lights.

Even though the Takeuchi family did not intend to give up after being treated so well by the famous courtesan who paraded through the streets, everyone tonight was indulging in such unique hospitality.

The night wind blew the petals into the cup, and the guests drank with the shamisen teased by the oiran's fingertips.

There is a blissful scene under the cherry trees in the atrium.

After three drinks, the evening mist filled the air and the sky became completely dark.

Soon, the moon shined through the clouds.

The pale moonlight filtered through the lush cherry blossoms and sprinkled fine pieces into the wine cup. The guests were surprised to find that the wine in the cup turned into mottled red.

"Everyone, what follows is the most exciting show tonight. I believe you will like it." Miss Ikuko, who was holding the shamisen, moved her clogs slightly and smiled charmingly. "Please come closer and come to this cherry tree to enjoy it.
To be continued...