Watching Granny dash out, Ning Yitao followed suit. She extinguished the aromatherapy candle, placed Zhaocai beside Duan Qinghuai to protect him, and waited for him to wake up.
By the time Granny staggered out, the Xu family's house across the way had quietly turned into ruins. The house resembled the remains after an earthquake.
Granny's face grew paler. Her eyes were fixed intently on the ruins, her mind churning with countless thoughts.
It was as if all the misfortunes were like heavy stones weighing down on Granny. She collapsed to the ground, covering her face and sobbing. The knife she had been holding slipped from her limp hand.
Unwilling to accept the reality, she climbed onto the ruins and started moving the stones, hoping to find the familiar figure.
Tears dripped onto the ruins one by one. She didn't even feel the blood oozing from the cuts on her hands caused by the gravel. She just kept digging, digging...
She couldn't believe that the person she had always trusted had actually deceived her.
Her Mengmeng had become an enchanted being because of her own doing, trapped in endless hell.
All her efforts over the years had suddenly vanished. Only then did she realize that it was she who had been hurting dear Mengmeng, pushing him into despair and pain once again.
Granny let out a roar of unwillingness. As if God had heard her cries, it suddenly started pouring.
Granny's body was like a withered tree, the vitality in her seemingly gone. Exhausted, she lay limp on the gravel, her eyes almost numb and dull. Muttering to herself, she said,
"Dear Mengmeng, my dear Mengmeng, Granny is sorry for you..."
Ning Yitao, who had been following Granny, silently walked up to her.
"Maybe this is the best ending for Mengmeng. In this formation, all souls and living things will be destroyed. Mengmeng has disappeared completely from this world. Although there is no trace of him left, at least he doesn't have to suffer endless pain in hell, right?"
Granny grabbed onto Ning Yitao's corner of the clothes as if grasping at the last straw. Like a drowning man who had suddenly been revived, she asked urgently,
"Really? My Mengmeng doesn't have to suffer in hell? I'm sorry for him. I should atone for my sins. But I'm too afraid. I don't have the face to see Mengmeng's parents. It's all my fault." Granny's tears mixed with the rain and streamed down her cheeks.
Granny was filled with remorse and self - loathing, but what was done couldn't be undone. The cause and effect had been set.
"Granny, now can you tell me who the so - called noble person you mentioned is?" Ning Yitao asked the question again. And this time, Granny finally was willing to tell her, even though the answer was far from satisfactory.
At that time, Granny was hit hard by the double blow of losing her grandson and son. She managed to hold the funerals for her son and daughter - in - law. At the funeral, her son's in - laws blamed Granny and shouted at her. They said that if it weren't for the curse of her family's generations of raising gu worms, their daughter wouldn't have died.
Granny's heart was in agony, but looking at the in - laws crying on the ground, she couldn't say a single word in defense.
Raising gu worms was indeed a fact. She could only swallow her humiliation, even though she was deeply grief - stricken.
It all started on the night after the funeral when she met this "noble person".
Granny's family had raised gu worms for generations, but she didn't want her children to suffer the pain of raising gu worms. She decided to end this tradition with herself.
So she followed her children to the big city and lived an ordinary life, no longer bound by the family's mission. She enjoyed the happiness of family like an ordinary old woman. Everything was so wonderful.
But why, why did God destroy all of this?
After the funeral, Granny was silently guarding the memorial tablets alone. The "noble person" she met at the funeral was surrounded by a black aura. His face couldn't be seen. The strangest thing was that no one else could see him. Only Granny could.
He told Granny that he could help her find and resurrect her grandson and avenge her.
Anyone could tell that there was something wrong with this. There were too many doubts. But for Granny, who had nothing left and had nothing more to lose, as long as there was hope, she would hold onto it tightly.
Of course, everything came at a price. Granny gave the gu - related book passed down in her family to that person and raised a lot of gu worms for him as the price for his help.
That night, the so - called "noble person" took Granny to the river where Mengmeng had drowned and found him.
Mengmeng was sitting on the ground, shivering all over. His small head was buried in his knees, and he was muttering to himself,
"Dad, Mom, Grandma, I'm so cold. Save Mengmeng." Granny hugged Mengmeng, who had been lost and found again, with tears in her eyes, even though Mengmeng was in a soul state.
But the truth was that the "noble person" tricked Granny into convincing Mengmeng to become the host of the enchanted being, pushing Mengmeng into another cage.
On the surface, the "noble person" helped Mengmeng absorb infant spirits to lay the foundation for his resurrection. But every time Mengmeng absorbed an infant spirit, he had to endure great pain, and his pain was just the nourishment for the so - called "noble person's" cultivation.
The whole thing was under the control of the "noble person". The Xu family's excessive spoiling and Granny's over - concern were all pushed by this "noble person" behind the scenes.
At this time, Duan Qinghuai, who had been in a coma, finally woke up. Zhaocai explained everything to him. Before he could be shocked that Granny was actually a bad person, he rushed out to find Ning Yitao, worried about her safety.
When he reached Ning Yitao's side, Ning Yitao had already got the answer she wanted. Granny staggered to her feet, picked up the kitchen knife that was covered in mud, and said,
"Mengmeng, you're gone. Granny has no reason to live anymore. Granny is going to atone for her sins."
Saying that, she raised the knife, trying to commit suicide. But Duan Qinghuai, who had just arrived, rushed up and stopped her.
Ning Yitao asked Duan Qinghuai puzzledly, "Why did you stop her? You can't stop her forever."
Looking at Ning Yitao's sincere face, Duan Qinghuai was at a loss for words for a moment.
"Don't mind her. Don't think she's so capable. She knows nothing about the ways of the world. No one has ever taught her, and she doesn't even bother to learn. Actually, it's not her fault. There were too many despicable people around her when she was young." Zhaocai explained helplessly.
Seeing that both of them wanted to save Granny, Ning Yitao thought for a while and called out to her, "Granny, if I say you still have a reason to live in this world, would you trade the other half of the gu book for it?"
"The other half of the gu book? What do you mean?" Now it was Zhaocai and Duan Qinghuai's turn to be full of questions.
That's right. When Granny made the deal with the "noble person", she had taken precautions. She was sure that this person didn't understand the ways of raising gu worms, so she had hidden the other half of the book.
Ning Yitao continued,
"When I saw the enchanted being, I noticed that there was still a wisp of Mengmeng's soul that hadn't been polluted. I sent that wisp of his soul to the Sanhua Taoist Temple. You can protect him and let him regain his soul and be reincarnated. If you don't want to, I can also let his soul dissipate directly. What do you think? Do you want to make a deal with me?"
Hearing that Mengmeng still had a chance to enter the cycle of reincarnation, Granny nodded quickly, indicating her willingness. Granny knew that the person in front of her was completely different from the "noble person".
The aura of Ning Yitao standing in front of her was completely different from that of the "noble person". She knew that what she said must be trustworthy. So she went home and dug out the hidden half of the gu book and gave it to Ning Yitao.
"This half is completely different from the first half. The first half is extremely yin, while this half is extremely kind. But both are hard to handle. Use them with caution." Granny reminded.
After getting the book, Ning Yitao waved her hand, and the book disappeared. Instead, there was a triangular glass bead in her hand. Looking at Granny, she said, "Take this and go to the abbot of the Sanhua Taoist Temple. He will guide you."
*****
As the rain gradually stopped, the two groups of people took different paths.
The afterglow of the setting sun shone on Ning Yitao and Duan Qinghuai's faces.
"So can we finally have something to eat? I'm starving to death," Ning Yitao complained.
Duan Qinghuai watched Granny's disappearing figure and finally felt relieved. Looking at the girl in front of him, who had always been by his side, protecting him. Although she said she wouldn't stop Granny, she still left a glimmer of hope for Mengmeng.
Duan Qinghuai's eyes were filled with smiles, and Ning Yitao's reflection was in his eyes. "Let's go. I'll take you to have a big meal!"