Only when Dahu ventured out into the world did he realize that without the protection of the witch, no one outside would fawn on him or indulge his every whim like the villagers back home.
In the village, people treated him with deference because he was the child raised by the witch. But in the cruel real world, without capital or skills, one could only be bullied by others.
Dahu, who was over - ambitious but under - qualified, suffered a great deal outside. Eventually, all his money was swindled away.
He learned nothing in the city except how to deceive. By chance, Dahu, who was struggling at the bottom of society, met Ning Hong, a naive girl fresh from the countryside. With his clumsy acting, he managed to deceive Ning Hong, and she gave birth to Ning Yitao.
Dahu was not the type of person to take responsibility. Seeing that Ning Hong was about to give birth, he chose a day to run away, taking with him the money Ning Hong had earned from her odd jobs.
One could say he had a shred of conscience, as he did pay for Ning Hong's hospital bills, preventing her from being kicked out of the hospital during her child - birth.
However, after Ning Hong gave birth to Ning Yitao, she found that the man who had said he was going out to do some odd jobs to earn money for baby formula had disappeared without a trace.
Ning Hong, not willing to give up, went to all the places where Dahu had said he would work, but she couldn't find him.
At that time, Ning Hong was just a young girl who had just started to make her way in the world. She had no idea about the intricacies of such things.
When she went to the police station to report the case, faced with a series of questions about Dahu from the police, Ning Hong blushed and racked her brains before finally stammering out, "I know where his hometown is. Is that okay?"
Only then did Ning Hong realize that the man she had trusted whole - heartedly had never revealed any information about himself to her.
She had only known where Dahu's hometown was because he had said he was also from the countryside to get closer to her. But now, it was too late for Ning Hong.
Full of youthful pride, Ning Hong borrowed some money and rushed back to Dahu's hometown with the baby in her arms.
As soon as she entered the village, she found out where Dahu's family lived. But inside, there was only the witch.
Ning Hong directly threw the baby at the witch, believing that the witch had hidden Dahu. Then she searched the whole village.
Finally, she was scared out of her wits by the villagers and ran back home the same way she came.
Ning Hong had to swallow her anger. All the matters had to be left unresolved. Once again, the witch had to clean up Dahu's mess.
After Ning Yitao was taken away by Ning Hong, Dahu suddenly came back for no apparent reason.
No one knew why he had returned. But this time, his return greatly satisfied his vanity.
Dahu was wearing famous - brand clothes, something the villagers had never seen before. He drove a luxury car, a dream in this small place. All these things were now on Dahu, the once - poor boy.
The villagers were secretly astounded, sighing that the big city was truly a wonderful place.
The whole village came out to see Dahu's luxury car and the new and strange things he had brought back. Only the witch stayed in the house, ignoring the outside world as if she didn't know Dahu at all.
This time, Dahu brought back a mysterious expert.
Dahu blatantly arranged for the expert to stay in the house next to the witch's.
The expert wore a black outfit every day, with a mask and a hood that covered his eyes. The villagers couldn't see his face, and he never spoke. He always relied on Dahu to communicate with them.
Dahu boasted in the village, "This is a divine expert I brought from the big city. He can fulfill everyone's wishes. No matter what the wish is, as long as you tell it to the expert, it will come true immediately."
Dahu also didn't forget to belittle the witch next door. The sound insulation in the village was poor, and Dahu knew this well, but he still loudly told the witch that he was doing well, "This expert is much more powerful than the witch who acts like a god in the village."
Although the villagers didn't show their longing on the surface, when they looked at Dahu's shiny clothes and luxury car, there was a glimmer of expectation in their eyes.
The witch pretended not to care, but through the thin wall, she felt that the person Dahu had brought back this time was not ordinary.
At first, the villagers chose to believe in the witch and firmly told her that they would never betray her.
The witch didn't take it seriously. She no longer had the energy to believe in such illusory things.
And the villagers didn't disappoint her "expectations".
People say that rumors are fearsome. The witch first felt the truth of this saying when it happened to her.
In the second month after the expert came to the village, most of the villagers had "defected".
When they found out that the expert could do more than just cure diseases, the situation began to change.
The villagers all started to side with the expert.
The expert naturally grasped the greedy nature of humanity. When he fulfilled the villagers' wishes, the balance in the villagers' hearts began to tilt towards the expert, and the abyss of their desires became an insatiable bottomless pit.
After the expert came to this village, he truly understood what was meant by the inherent evil in human nature.
The people in this village seemed to be born evil.
The villagers seemed only distantly related on the surface, but upon closer inspection, one would find that every family in the village had been entangled in a web of bad karma for a very long time.
They didn't like to solve problems directly but preferred to do some underhanded things secretly to satisfy their desire for revenge.
As a result, the entanglement of cause and effect became deeper and deeper, which led to the scene Ning Hong had seen.
The death of that child was not an accident but a pre - meditated act by the villagers.
The grudges in the village had been passed down from generation to generation. That dog was deliberately led there by the villagers.
Their purpose was to take the child's life.
None of the villagers were willing to help the child. This was the reality.
No one wanted to get involved in trouble.
Most importantly, due to the village's long - standing improper way of handling things, the cause - and - effect relationships among every family in this small village were so complex that they could neither be sorted out nor resolved.
No one knew how to solve these problems.
Even the witch didn't know how to make them let go of these grudges. But since the villagers had ignored the loss of life, the witch knew that the grudges in this village could never be resolved.
The villagers lived in this village in a strange but peaceful way.
When faced with the back - stabbing among themselves, no one fought openly.
They accepted the passing of any life with a calm mind. Sometimes, even the witch didn't know whether they hated or not.
But soon, the witch would know the answer.
How could they not hate? Of course they did. But they didn't show it. They hid it deep in their hearts, letting the hatred grow bigger and bigger, waiting for the day when it would completely explode.
The villagers tacitly directed their anger at the witch.
This also made the witch realize how terrifying the dark side hidden in the villagers' hearts was.
The villagers' greed was obvious. They didn't know what it meant to be modest. Once the door of desire was opened, it was not easily closed.
When the expert fulfilled all their requests, their ambitions were gradually expanding.
They even started to point fingers at the former witch, thinking that she was unworthy of her position.
The witch stood at the door, looking at the house next door where people came and went constantly.
But for the witch, this situation was something she had expected long ago.
So she wasn't very sad. The only thing that made her sad was Dahu's actions.
After Dahu left alone, he smashed the witch's house to pieces. The witch had never thought of punishing him.
But he kept challenging the witch's bottom line again and again.
The witch looked down on the expert Dahu had brought back.
All the actions of the so - called expert made the witch feel ashamed.
On the surface, the expert fulfilled the villagers' wishes.
But he knew exactly what he was doing.
The villagers' desires and wishes naturally had to come at a price.
As the medium, the expert transferred all the costs to the villagers.
Although there was nothing wrong with what he did.
The only thing wrong with him was that he never told the villagers what the price would be.
He only showed the benefits in front of the villagers and coaxed them into nodding.