Zhaocai, being a beast, had a natural affinity for these plants that had developed spiritual intelligence. He carelessly reached out and touched them.
Who would have known that the next second, the vine unceremoniously crushed the meat worm right in front of Zhaocai.
The dark liquid splashed all over Zhaocai's face, and the vine wriggled its body, showing off triumphantly in front of him.
Provoked, Zhaocai took a deep breath on the spot, suppressing his temper. He silently told himself not to get angry. Anger was the devil, and getting angry would make Taotao lose face.
As Ning Yitao's partner, Zhaocai had to be magnanimous. If he directly tore apart Ye Jin's spiritual pet, it would surely embarrass both Ning Yitao and Ye Jin.
He forced a fake smile on his face, roughly wiped off the dirty stuff on his face, and said with a bitter smile, pretending to be magnanimous, to Ye Jin, "It's okay. I'm very magnanimous."
Ning Yitao found Zhaocai's aggrieved look a bit funny.
Zhaocai, the majestic Teng Snake, one of the ten great fierce beasts, when wronged, could only run behind Ning Yitao aggrievedly and secretly feel sad, showing with his actions that he didn't want to play with the vine anymore.
Zhaocai thought he had to swallow this bitter pill, but unexpectedly, Ning Yitao spoke up.
"This isn't fair, is it? You're openly bullying my people," Ning Yitao said coldly to Ye Jin.
Zhaocai looked at Ning Yitao with teary eyes. Woohoo, Taotao was actually standing up for him.
Ye Jin didn't want to provoke her either. Their relationship was already complicated and on the verge of collapse.
If it weren't for the fact that they had a common enemy this time, they wouldn't have had any interaction, let alone talk nicely to each other.
Out of the corner of her eye, Ye Jin saw the vine still provoking Zhaocai, who was hiding behind Ning Yitao.
Ye Jin suddenly felt a bit embarrassed.
Ye Jin stepped forward, grabbed the vine, and pulled it to Zhaocai's side. "Apologize," she said.
The vine realized that Ye Jin was really angry, so it reluctantly lowered its head towards Zhaocai and became a listless vine.
Zhaocai's mood immediately brightened, and he wore a beaming smile on his face.
Duan Qinghuai couldn't help but laugh at them.
They were like parents leading children who had quarreled to apologize to each other.
The aggrieved vine went back underground and hid.
Ye Jin apologized and explained, "They're some plants with spiritual intelligence that I accidentally planted in my grandmother's yard. They've been following me ever since. They're just a bit naughty by nature."
Afraid that Ning Yitao would dig deeper and try to get justice for Zhaocai, she changed the subject. "The mother gu is dead. Di Yong's twenty - year lifespan will disappear on its own. As the nourishment for the mother gu, he won't die before his natural lifespan ends, but he can't avoid the illness and pain in the meantime."
Suddenly, a scream erupted among the villagers.
Everyone's attention was drawn to it.
It was Xie Qian's voice. She was holding Di Sumu, who had suddenly fainted, looking helpless and not knowing what to do.
She looked at Ning Yitao with a pleading look in her eyes.
Ye Jin stepped forward before Ning Yitao and placed her hand on Di Sumu's wrist to feel his pulse.
Ye Jin took out a small knife from her clothes and cut Di Sumu's finger.
The blood that flowed out was actually the same dark color as Di Yong's, but there was very little of it in his body. In a moment, it turned back to red.
Ning Yitao squatted beside Di Sumu, caught the dark blood that flowed out, smelled it. It had the stench of a corpse. She carefully crushed it and found granular things in the blood.
Feeling the granular things, Ning Yitao relaxed her furrowed brows and said to Xie Qian, "Don't worry. The child gu in his body is dead, and his soul is returning. Later, let Chu Zhiyuan carry him back. Let him sleep for a few days, and your child will be back to normal."
Ye Jin nodded in agreement.
Di Dahong and Chen Chunhua finally reacted. Chen Chunhua shrieked, "What do you mean? How could Di Sumu get better? If he gets better, what about my son? What did you do to my son?"
Her voice was shrill and ear - piercing.
Di Yong's parents couldn't move, but they were determined to get an answer.
Chen Chunhua once again looked at the "Diviner Woman" with hopeful eyes, hoping to get the "Diviner Woman"'s help again.
She lay on the ground, but the light in her eyes was extremely bright. She lowered her stance and pleaded with Ye Jin, "Diviner Woman, save my son one more time. I can give you anything you want."
She said in a flurry, "Diviner Woman, it's okay if you take another twenty years of my lifespan. As long as you're willing to show mercy to this old woman, don't let me see my son die before me."
As she spoke, she began to sob.
Ning Yitao was a bit surprised. She didn't expect that Chen Chunhua had actually sacrificed her own lifespan to save Di Yong.
She was willing to make such a concession for Di Yong. No one could say that she didn't love her son.
But she constantly blamed Xie Qian for trying to save her son, just because it encroached on her interests.
After thinking about it, Ning Yitao seemed to understand where Di Yong's selfishness came from. In fact, Di Yong was even more selfish than Chen Chunhua.
Hearing Chen Chunhua's words, Ye Jin just smiled faintly. "If I take another twenty years of your lifespan, you'll die."
Chen Chunhua thought there was hope for saving Di Yong when she said this, so she quickly replied, "I'm willing. Even if I die, my son will burn a lot of paper money for me. I'll have plenty to eat and drink in the afterlife."
Duan Qinghuai couldn't help but frown. He really wanted to ask her where she got the confidence that Di Yong would treat her well.
Ye Jin shrugged. "Sorry, I can't help you with this. If I take your life, I'll become a sinner."
Ye Jin glanced at the children who had just been rescued. They should have been happy to escape, but now they were standing there dejectedly, scolded by their parents.
It was because Ye Zheng had said that they were the divine messengers chosen by heaven to serve in the sky. When the children suddenly fled in a swarm, their parents were worried that the gods would punish them, so they were reluctant to accept them.
Every time Ye Jin saw these villagers blindly obeying, she couldn't help but sigh at Ye Zheng's ability to manipulate people's hearts. Ye Zheng was extremely patient.
For so long, she had only maintained this image in Di Village and had even brought the role of the "Diviner Woman" to life.
Ye Jin glanced at the dejected children, then looked at the villagers. She deliberately said to them with authority, "Now, everyone claim your children and go home. From today on, there will be no more Diviner Woman in this village."
As soon as she finished speaking, there was a murmur of discussion in the crowd.
"It's over. The Diviner Woman is leaving. The Di family is doomed."
"Without the Diviner Woman, who will protect the Di family for generations to come?"
"If the Diviner Woman leaves, there will be no one in the village to be the divine messenger to pave the way for the Di family."
...
Xie Qian ignored the noisy discussions of the villagers. She turned a deaf ear to them all.
She said to Ning Yitao, "I'll take good care of A Lai for the rest of our time. I'll deal with the villagers' matters. I'm leaving now. I need to find A Lai's body."
Ning Yitao stopped her. She took out the dagger that Ye Jin always carried close to her body from Ye Jin's pocket. Then she turned around, took Duan Qinghuai's hand, and said to him, "It'll hurt a bit. Bear with it."