Chu Zhiyuan beside them covered his nose, trying to block out the stench from A Lai.
He called out to Ning Yitao, "Ancestor, come and take a look at Duan Qinghuai. He suddenly went all strange and kept calling your name."
Only then did Ning Yitao hurry to Duan Qinghuai's side. She saw that his hair was already damp with cold sweat as he lay unconscious.
Ning Yitao felt his forehead and blurted out the next second, "He's burning up. Someone, go get a doctor."
Right after she said this, she froze in place. Having been Ye Qianmo for so long, some of her habits after coming back hadn't changed yet. They had become muscle memory. But now, she was Ning Yitao.
Those memories kept reminding Ning Yitao over and over again that those past events were real. Those tragic stories were already engraved in her bones, not allowing her to forget.
Even now, when she returned to her body as Ning Yitao and saw Duan Qinghuai for the first time after getting out of the illusion, it was undeniable that she was truly relieved over and over again in her heart that he was still alive. He didn't die in such a tragic and lonely way. He could still have a new life.
Just as Ning Yitao was about to pull her hand back, Duan Qinghuai, who was sleeping restlessly, suddenly grabbed her hand.
After grabbing Ning Yitao's hand, Duan Qinghuai miraculously stopped moving around.
Chu Zhiyuan beside them didn't notice anything wrong with what Ning Yitao said. After she said that Duan Qinghuai had a fever, he immediately took out a cooling talisman to lower his temperature.
In a short while, the cold sweat on Duan Qinghuai's forehead lessened a lot.
In a daze, Duan Qinghuai slowly opened his eyes.
This was the first time Ning Yitao didn't know how to address Duan Qinghuai.
She tried to pull out the hand that was held by Duan Qinghuai, but he unconsciously held it tightly as if he sensed her intention.
Ning Yitao wasn't sure if he had the memories of Gu Jiangli.
Anyway, she decided to treat him as Duan Qinghuai, as her friend.
She forced herself to stay calm and pretended not to care about their intertwined hands. She asked softly,
"How do you feel?"
Duan Qinghuai was helped to sit up by Chu Zhiyuan. His mind was a bit muddled.
He shook his head with his eyes closed. When he opened his eyes again, his gaze landed precisely on Ning Yitao. He was silent for a long time, which made Ning Yitao feel a bit guilty.
Duan Qinghuai asked doubtfully,
"I had another really long dream this time. It was even longer than last time. I caught that girl. In the dream, I was a general and that girl was my bride, but I still couldn't see her face clearly."
At this point, Duan Qinghuai looked a bit anxious. Ning Yitao wanted to know how much he remembered about the things in the dream, so she asked,
"Do you still remember what happened between you and that girl in the dream?"
Duan Qinghuai lowered his eyes and fell into deep thought. His eyebrows were knitted together. He found that the more he focused on thinking about this, the harder it was to remember.
When he first woke up, he thought he had remembered the general idea, but when he really tried to sort out his thoughts, he couldn't even imagine a single scene.
While his attention was diverted to other things, Ning Yitao silently pulled her hand back.
Duan Qinghuai scratched his hair dejectedly and sighed like a deflated balloon, "I can't remember."
Ning Yitao, who got the definite answer, felt relieved instead. If he really remembered everything that happened between Gu Jiangli and herself, she really didn't know how to face him.
Should she admit her identity as Ye Qianmo?
But she was Ning Yitao. Those were just illusory memories.
She couldn't just rely on this memory and abandon her identity as Ning Yitao, put on the shell of Ye Qianmo, and continue to live in this world that belonged to Duan Qinghuai with Gu Jiangli without any concerns.
Moreover, Ning Yitao still didn't quite believe that memory until now.
Now that Duan Qinghuai didn't remember anything about Gu Jiangli, they could still get along normally.
Ning Yitao patted Duan Qinghuai. The big stone in her heart finally dropped. She said briskly,
"It's okay. Don't force yourself if you can't remember. It's time to get up. We're going to meet the 'witch'."
***********
Ye Zheng, who was running through the forest, was tripped several times by the messy tree roots. Her old bones felt like they were about to fall apart, but she didn't dare to stop. She knew that if she was caught by Ning Yitao, she wouldn't be able to escape death.
Only when she saw the entrance of the village did Ye Zheng dare to relax. She had put a lot of effort into this village. She had carefully chosen the location. Only here did she feel safe.
The sun was about to set. Today was the middle of the month, a full - moon night. Every household had their doors tightly closed, and the villagers had already placed the offerings in front of their doors early.
This was a night that belonged solely to Ye Zheng.
Ye Zheng showed a fierce look on her face. It would be even better if no one else came to disturb her.
As soon as Ye Zheng stepped into the village, someone immediately sensed her arrival and came out of the house to greet her.
They even brought a "gift" and presented it.
The person who came was Di Sumu, Xie Qian's son. At an age when he should have been lively and playing, he was now dragging the unconscious Xie Qian in front of Ye Zheng.
Xie Qian had obediently stayed within the circle drawn by Ning Yitao. As time passed, there was a hint of coolness in the wind.
Silently, fog rose in the forest. It got thicker and thicker, like boiling a frog in warm water. Xie Qian's psychological defense was almost at its critical point.
In the thick fog, she couldn't even see her own hand when she stretched it out.
Xie Qian closed her eyes tightly and murmured, "I can't see, I can't see."
She remembered clearly what Ning Yitao had said. No matter what she saw or heard, she couldn't move an inch.
But a clear childish voice broke her train of thought.
A tender voice came from the fog, shouting, "Mom, come and save me. There are bad guys trying to kidnap me."
This was the last words her son, Di Sumu, had left for her when she was watching the surveillance camera.
The scene around her changed. She found herself on a busy road. The honking of cars filled her ears.
She turned her head absent - mindedly and saw a black van.
"That's the car. That's the car that kidnapped my son," Xie Qian glared angrily. Blood rushed to her head. She gritted her teeth in hatred.
Who would have thought that the next second, at the corner where the van stopped, two men wearing hats and masks were holding a child and walking in a hurry.
Taking a closer look, one could see that the man's hand was tightly covering the child's mouth.
Just as they were about to get in the car, the child bit down hard on one of the man's hands. The man let out a cry of pain and let go of the hand covering the child's mouth.
The child got a moment to catch his breath and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Mom, come and save me. There are bad guys trying to kidnap me!!"
After hearing these words, Xie Qian's mind went blank. Without thinking, she had already taken a step forward. She had only one purpose: to save her child.