Strange Cards

Chapter 444 You've Lost Weight

Seeing Gu Yue's hand raised high, Gu Nian subconsciously shrank his neck and covered his head with his hands.

"Sis, I'll accept it if you hit me."

"There's a child involved, you can't hit someone in the face!"

Gu Yue didn't actually slap Gu Nian; she just gently touched his face.

"Xiao Nian, you've lost weight."

"His face is much sharper now, compared to ten years ago."

"You've become so thin you look unrecognizable."

Gu Nian looked at her older sister, who already had some crow's feet, and remembered the last time she was by her sister's side, her sister was a stunningly beautiful young woman.

Now, with the passage of time, even the once stunning beauty has developed crow's feet around her eyes.

Gu Yue's next sentence completely shattered Gu Nian's mental defenses.

"These years..."

"You must be having a hard time living alone out there, right?"

"It's good that you're back."

Gu Yue looked at Gu Nian, who was a whole head taller than her, and stood on tiptoe to hug him.

Gu Nian, unable to contain his emotions any longer because of Gu Yue's hug, finally broke down.

Even though she had crippled her left hand to seal Joker's consciousness, Gu Nian never shed a single tear.

Today, Gu Nian, who had finally resolved her inner conflict, burst into tears when Gu Yue hugged her like a flood.

Gu Yue looked at Gu Nian, who was sobbing with his head buried in her shoulder, and gently patted Gu Nian's back to help him catch his breath.

"Don't cry."

"My sister is here."

Gu Nian cried more and more agitatedly until she was sobbing uncontrollably.

Qi Wu had already left with his daughter; such a touching reunion between siblings didn't need bystanders.

After crying for an unknown amount of time, Gu Nian gradually calmed down under Gu Yue's comforting words, which were like coaxing a child.

As Gu Nian withdrew his hand, the bionic mechanical arm that was disguised as a normal arm in the left sleeve suddenly fell down and crashed to the ground.

Gu Yue was so frightened when she saw Gu Nian's left arm suddenly fall off that she almost lost her soul.

It wasn't until Gu Yue watched Gu Nian insert the left arm as if it were a normal arm that Gu Yue realized that the arm was actually a bionic mechanical arm.

The delicate parts were dropped but showed no abnormalities; they could be reused simply by dusting them off.

Gu Yue looked at Gu Nian, whose face seemed perfectly normal, pulled open Gu Nian's clothes, and looked at the bionic mechanical arm attached to his body.

"Xiao Nian, what happened to your left hand?"

"How did it turn into a robotic arm?"

Looking at Gu Yue's worried face, Gu Nian thought for a while before taking out Bai Lei from behind his waist, pulling it out, and saying.

"A disaster lies dormant within me, a disaster inherited from my elder brother."

"To prevent the calamity from awakening and seizing my consciousness, I used this sword, which can slay all the undead, at the cost of crippling my entire left hand, to suppress the calamity's consciousness once again."

"After being suppressed by the Mortal Blade, the consciousness awakened by the disaster no longer had the right to contend with my consciousness."

"And all I paid was my left hand."

"That's already a great deal."

As he spoke, Gu Nian put Bai Lei back in, reattached the mechanical arm, and then lowered his sleeve to make himself look like a normal person.

At least from the outside, the robotic arm was quite useful; even upon closer inspection, it was impossible to tell the difference between Gu Nian and a normal person.

Looking at Gu Yue's distressed face, Gu Nian patted his left hand with a smile with his right.

"It's okay, sis."

"Lizards shed their tails to survive, and I'm just a relatively large lizard."

"This hand works just fine, it's no different from a normal hand."

After a long build-up, Gu Nian finally spoke.

"Sis, don't tell Mom and Dad."

"No one knows that I lost my left arm except for the group of people who are with me. I came back to install this prosthetic arm to keep it a secret from you."

"Now that you know, don't tell Mom and Dad."

"The old folks combined are over 150 years old, don't let them worry about me anymore."

"I am an unfilial son and grandson, and I am not worth your heartache."

As he spoke, Gu Nian suddenly knelt down and respectfully kowtowed to Gu Yue.

"Thank you, sister."

"You've stayed by my parents' side for so many years, and as their younger brother, I have no way to thank you."

"It seems that only in this way can I express my feelings."

Seeing Gu Nian kneeling on the ground, Gu Yue quickly pulled him up.

"What kind of mess is this?!"

"What kind of younger brother kneels on the ground and kowtows to his older sister?"

Gu Nian shook his head seriously.

"No, sister."

"You can handle it."

Gu Yue looked at Gu Nian, then pushed him out of the kitchen and said.

"I'm cooking in the kitchen, don't come in and make things worse."

"Call your brother-in-law over to start the fire."

Gu Nian glanced at the time on the wall and realized it was only a little past ten o'clock.

"Sis, is it really necessary to eat lunch so early?"

"I'll be able to stay home for at least three days this time, unlike that kid Shiyu who leaves right after dinner."

"If I'm lucky, I'll leave at the end of the month and come back to see my parents after a while."

"Go away, go away, you're welcome to wander off, but you'd better never come back."

"You'd better not bother me while I'm cooking, or you'll be approaching fifty."

"Even if you're almost eighty, I'll still hit you."

Gu Nian looked at her sister, who had a sharp tongue but a kind heart, and left the kitchen.

Gu Nian looked at Qi Nannan, who was practicing martial arts with Qi Wu in the courtyard, and spoke up.

"Brother-in-law, my sister wants you to cook."

"Leave the task of teaching Nan Nan martial arts to me."

Qi Wu looked at Gu Nian, and then remembered Gu Nian's terrifying strength. He wiped the sweat off his face with the towel around his neck and handed over the wooden knife in his hand.

"Thank you for your help."

"It's no trouble at all."

"Nan Nan is my niece after all, so as her uncle, I naturally have to teach her some self-defense skills."

After handing over the knife, Qi Wu didn't linger but quickly walked towards the kitchen.

Looking at the light wooden knife in his hand, Gu Nian went to the warehouse and took out two solid iron knives, handing one of them to Qi Nannan.

"Nannan, you must have learned quite a bit of your father's martial arts skills."

"Your martial arts style is already quite mature."

Qi Nannan grasped the knife Gu Nian handed her, feeling its heavy weight, and almost dropped it to the ground.

Gu Nian tossed several streams of ghostly power into Qi Nannan's hand, allowing her to grip the knife firmly, and then said.

"However, your uncle also has a lot of martial arts skills. He and your mother are from the same school, and they both learned them from your maternal grandfather."

"I will send it to you today."

"It can be considered a kind of inheritance."

As Gu Nian spoke, he demonstrated a series of sword flourishes with one hand, and Qi Nannan imitated Gu Nian's movements, performing a series of sword flourishes before struggling to finish.

"Uncle, how much do I need to learn?"

Gu Nian looked at Qi Nannan's appearance and said with a smile.

"all."

P.S.: I'm taking a day off tomorrow to review the main storyline one last time, make sure everything is in order, and figure out how to kill off the last few characters before I start writing the ending.

I'll try to finish writing this month, but I need to prepare for exams this month, so I might have to take breaks from updating from time to time.

Ask for forgiveness in advance.