Chapter 84: A Warm Response

A bad feeling welled up in my heart. I looked up, and the sky was still blindingly blue, but the feeling of being enveloped in shadows was still there.

The indistinct sound, sometimes like a whisper close to the ear, sometimes like a distant cry, was not a strange sound in the dense forest, but a clear cry of a ghost.

Judging from this chilling feeling, this could not be just an ordinary ghost, but at least a fierce ghost, or even a ghost king that transcends fierce ghosts!

People often hear strange sounds in the dense forest, but they instinctively don’t think about it, or they comfort themselves that the sound is just something moving in the forest… and it passes by peacefully.

However, this obvious gurgling sound is not something that can be ignored, because it is definitely a very powerful being that will follow the scent of humans… My master told me from a young age that I should avoid water and not enter the forest, especially at night, because the ghosts in these two places will be the most powerful.

In an instant, I thought of all this in a jumbled mess, and inexplicably, goose bumps rose on my back. In this strange Ghost Bay, it would be strange if there were no ghosts.

I subconsciously felt that as a descendant of the Shan family, I absolutely should protect my teacher’s wife, Ling Qing, and I wanted to protect her behind me and let her leave quickly… But I didn’t want to, and before I could do it, I felt a force suddenly pull me away, and I began to run towards the other end of the jungle.

I came to my senses and realized that it was actually Grandma Lingqing who was pulling me along. I had complete trust in her, so I let her pull me along.

“There are terrible things inside. Once I met one, and if it weren’t for Little Flower, I would have died… Little Flower didn’t wake up for a long time to save me…” The light of the sky was scattered in the dense forest, and Grandma Lingqing ran with me like the wind, but I stumbled… and the wind kept blowing on our cheeks as we ran, and suddenly I felt very happy.

Even at this point, can’t we forget the instinct to protect the younger generation? Even so, can we still rely on it?

A smile appeared on the corner of my mouth, the most reassuring smile I’ve had in years, but my eyes were still red… I almost died? In this dangerous forest, it felt like Ling Qing, who had lost her wisdom, was having a hard time.

I don’t know how long I ran, but it seems that I ran back to where I had just landed. It shouldn’t be far.

Grandma Lingqing finally stopped, then patted her chest and panted, exaggerating, “This is the safest place. Me and Little Flower won’t be afraid. Don’t go too deep into the forest, and don’t cross the river. There are many monsters that eat people across the river.”

As I listened to what Grandma Ling Qing said, my eyes unconsciously fell on the opposite shore, just like Cheng Xin’s habit, I squinted my eyes slightly.

At this moment, the river on the other side had quieted down. Had the gray-eyed people finally lost patience waiting for their prey? In any case, it was as if they had never appeared… I didn’t dare to be so relieved, but it was definitely unrealistic to say that I wouldn’t go to the other side, because I dared not forget Lin Jianguo’s words. The so-called god was on the other side of the river, and if you went south in the depths of the forest, you would find it.

In addition, Ling Qing’s grandmother is in this state now, which is definitely not helpful in finding my master and them. I have a hunch that if I really want to find my master and them, I still have to face that “god.”

But what if I go? I have finally reunited with her, and if I go alone, what if something happens to her in the next few days? Not only would my master and Ruoxue and Ruyue not forgive me, I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself either…

But if I take her with me… I’m afraid I’ll be walking into a tiger’s den…

It seemed a bit complicated, but things had to be resolved. I stared blankly for a few seconds, then gathered my thoughts. I saw Ling Qing, who was once again frolicking in the forest, picking flowers and pulling grass, but a trace of warmth appeared in my eyes. No matter what they had become, they were still the people I wanted to protect.

Before, they protected us younger generation, now it is our turn to protect them.

Even if things are complicated, I always have a clear idea of what I have to do in my heart… I have to do it.

The riverbank was quiet, and I had to make a lot of effort to build a good fire, which was now burning fiercely.

Because I had soaked in the water, my lighter and other things were no longer usable… so I had to use the most primitive method to start a fire.

I didn’t mind the trouble at all, and again I labored to find a suitable stone and make a deep groove in it, like a thin stone pot, and then I tried to set it on the fire. The water was boiling in this big stone pot.

The huge snake, which I had cleaned with a sharp stone, was also placed next to the fire… I took off the black shirt I was wearing and was left with only the red shirt I was wearing before I put on the black shirt, struggling with a tree stump.

Grandma Lingqing watched all this with great interest.

After I successfully dug a hole in the stump, the water in the stone pot boiled. I grabbed my clothes and walked to the river, filled them with water, and then poured the water into the hole in the stump.

I repeated this process a dozen times, and then carefully removed the stone pot. After it had cooled down a little, I wrapped the stone pot in several layers of clothing and added the hot water in one go.

In this way, I finally had the warm water of a “big tree stump.” I tore off a sleeve of my shirt and beckoned Lingqing to come over. She had full trust in me, and she quickly ran over from where she was playing with an unknown insect on the ground.

I used the sleeve to dip into the warm water and began to wash Lingqing’s face. She obediently let me wash her like a child, and I didn’t know if she could understand. I said to myself, “Lingqing, do you know? You were so beautiful before, and age was not a disadvantage for you, but rather made you more elegant. At that time, I thought you were the most beautiful in all of China… Hmm, Grandma? No wonder my master liked you.”

“Like me, hehe…” Grandma Ling Qing didn’t understand what I was saying at all. She was just like a little child, happy that someone liked her. She really forgot that she had once said to my master, “I will always follow you.”

With the warm water washing, Ling Qing’s face began to become clean, but compared to the well-maintained appearance of the past, there were really a lot of fine lines on her face at the moment, and there were even a few shocking wounds, not knowing how to get them.

She was no longer as beautiful as before, but the kind and affectionate expression on her face would never change with the passage of time.

I endured the pain and began to coax Grandma Lingqing to wash her hair. There was no shampoo or anything like that here, and there wasn’t even a wooden comb, but I knew that she loved cleanliness, so I could only wash her hair over and over again with warm water, tying her graying hair up strand by strand.

This is how I treat my mother, and this is how I should treat her.

Surprisingly, throughout the whole process, Grandma Lingqing was very patient, allowing me to mess with her, knowing that I had done my best to make her a little cleaner.

If it were my master, I would give him a bath, but not my master’s wife.

However, I once again prepared warm water and told Grandma Lingqing how to wash her body. At least I understood that as a younger generation, I could not “bully” the elders and treat them perfunctorily because they had forgotten their old habits.

So, I patiently prepared the most water, then explained to Grandma Lingqing in detail how to wash her body, and then put the so-called “black wedding dress” that I had deliberately cleaned and dried before aside, and patiently explained to her how to wear it.

“If you dress up cleanly, Grandma Lingqing, you might see your master tomorrow,” I said to her.

She didn’t feel anything, just pretending to be very obedient, nodding to me non-stop.

But she once loved my master so much, she must not be able to tolerate seeing my master in such a messy state.

I sat on the other side of the forest, smoking and waiting for Grandma Lingqing. After a long time, I came back to see that she had put on the clothes I had left for her. Is this a woman’s ‘talent’?

At that moment, I even thought that the Ling Qing grandmother had returned, but in the end… I sighed.

Then I invited Grandma Lingqing to sit down in front of the fire. She gobbled up the snake meat, which lacked saltiness, and the wild vegetable and mushroom soup, while I felt a little bit reluctant to eat it… I almost wanted to give it all to her.

Hearing her say over and over again that it was delicious, my heart actually softened.

In this place called Guidaowan, the constant noise and the blue sky even gave off a warm feeling. Tomorrow, will I really be able to meet my master?