Inside the Goddess Temple, over a hundred clay dolls stood silently, all in the same form, exuding a gentle luster in the morning light.
Mrs. Xu and Cui Weiqi stood among them, their expressions lost.
They were not celestial masters and had no ability to distinguish souls. The clay dolls in front of them were so dense and almost identical that a suffocating sense of despair overwhelmed them. How could they find their Shanshan among these hundreds of children?
"Let me give madam a hand," Liu Ruyan said gracefully as she stepped forward. Today, instead of wearing her disciple's uniform, she had deliberately changed into a moon - white Taoist robe with cloud patterns. Her fluttering robes made her look even more celestial.
She took out a gilded compass and declared loudly, "This is the Soul - Seeking Compass. It's most adept at tracing the whereabouts of souls. With a bit of magic power, it can point the way."
As she gently tapped her finger on it, the compass suddenly glowed brightly with golden light. After the pointer spun rapidly, it steadily pointed to the southeast corner.
Seeing this, all the disciples exclaimed in admiration.
"This Soul - Seeking Compass clearly isn't an ordinary item!"
"It seems that not only Shen Cuiyu can distinguish souls. Ruyan has this ability too!"
Liu Ruyan smiled slightly and walked calmly towards the clay doll. As she formed hand seals with both hands, a soft white light enveloped it.
Under everyone's expectant gazes, the clay doll indeed trembled slightly, and a faint halo appeared on its surface.
"We've succeeded!" a disciple cried out excitedly.
Mrs. Xu was overjoyed and was about to step forward when the halo suddenly dissipated, and the clay doll fell silent again.
Liu Ruyan remained calm. She calmly took out another magical item—a jade flute as white as snow. "It seems the soul is still weak and needs to be nourished by the Soul - Soothing Melody," she said.
The clear and melodious sound of the flute rang out, full of pathos. Guided by the flute sound, the clay doll glowed faintly again. This time, the light was brighter and lasted longer. The disciples watched intently, and even Mrs. Xu held her breath.
However, just when the halo was about to solidify, it quietly faded away again.
Liu Ruyan sighed softly. Her face was a bit pale, but she still maintained a proper smile. "It seems... we're still lacking some fate," she said.
She turned to Shen Cuiyu and then said, "I've done my best. Next, it may have to rely on you."
Shen Cuiyu took in all of Liu Ruyan's actions. Her series of "brilliant" spell - casting performances, although not fully successful, had left a deep impression on the disciples.
At this moment, everyone thought that if it weren't for Liu Ruyan's previous attempts weakening the connection between the soul and the clay doll, it would have been even more difficult to succeed later.
Mrs. Xu withdrew her disappointed gaze. For some reason, the memory of many years ago suddenly flashed through her mind. Her mother had taken her to pick up her elder brother from school. Her mother could always spot her elder brother in the crowd at a glance.
She had thought it was amazing at that time and had asked her mother the reason. Her mother had said that there was always a pair of eyes following her in the crowd. Looking in the direction of those eyes, one would surely find her child.
But now, would Shanshan, or rather Jiaojiao, really be willing to come back with them? Even if she did, would she still rely on them as before?
Mrs. Xu closed her eyes and recalled all the things that had welled up in her mind during her sleepless night last night.
When Shanshan took her first wobbly steps, she had staggered into her arms. When Shanshan had a fever, her little hand had tightly grabbed the corner of her clothes. Shanshan had left her favorite pastries for her and had insisted that she eat them, even though her speech was slurred...
These little things that she had deliberately forgotten now turned into fine needles, pricking at her heart.
She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and when she opened them again, there was a determined look of desperation in her eyes.
"Shanshan, mother's here to take you home," Mrs. Xu said hoarsely. "Where are you? Can you tell mother?"
She waited for a long time, but there was no response. The hundreds of clay dolls in front of her still smiled, as if mocking Mrs. Xu's belated motherly love...
Mrs. Xu's face turned even paler. She stood blankly in the sea of dolls, and a huge sense of helplessness almost drowned her.
After a long silence, Mrs. Xu began to hum a lullaby softly.
"The wind doesn't blow, the trees don't sway, the birds don't chirp. Mother's Shanshan, go to sleep quickly so you can grow up..."
Back then, she had sung this song to lull the silly Shanshan to sleep. Later, she had also sung it to accompany Jiaojiao through every night.
Mrs. Xu wasn't proficient in music, and the song she hummed was a bit out of tune, but no one interrupted her at this moment.
Because this gentle and lingering song carried a mother's deepest repentance and expectation. The nursery rhyme echoed in the temple, as if traveling through seven years of time.
Mrs. Xu sang for a long time, but the clay dolls in front of her remained expressionless. She felt sad in her heart and thought this attempt would surely fail too.
But just as the last note was about to fade away—
Suddenly! Among the hundreds of clay dolls, one in the corner shook extremely slightly but clearly!
Mrs. Xu's singing stopped abruptly, and her gaze immediately locked onto that doll!
She and Cui Weiqi stared at the clay doll carefully, like a young couple who had just become parents, and hope rekindled in their eyes.
"Shanshan... Is that you?"
However, the clay doll remained silent again, still looking cold. Mrs. Xu almost suspected that she had been hallucinating. It seemed that everything just now had been an illusion.
But Mrs. Xu still didn't want to give up this last glimmer of hope. She staggered through the other clay dolls and almost ran towards the clay doll in the corner!
The moment her fingers touched the cold clay body, Mrs. Xu's tears couldn't be held back anymore.
Perhaps there really was a telepathy between mother and child in this world. In the dark, Mrs. Xu was certain that this was her child.
Shen Cuiyu quietly watched the scene in front of her. Many years ago, Mrs. Xu had taken a clay doll that didn't belong to her out of selfishness during the temple fair and hadn't completed the solemn doll - tying ceremony. And now, she was standing in front of hundreds of clay dolls again, looking for the one that truly belonged to her.
The great wheel of fate rolled forward, and at this moment, it completed a closed loop.
Mrs. Xu hugged the cold clay doll tightly in her arms with all her strength, as if embracing a long - lost treasure.
Warm tears welled up and fell one by one on the cold clay body.
"Shanshan... Mother's Shanshan... Mother is sorry for you... It was I who lost you..." She sobbed uncontrollably, repeating these words over and over again, as if trying to make up for all the debts of the past seven years at this moment.
The clay doll remained silent in her arms. Then, suddenly, it slowly blinked its eyes, transmitting a weak but clear sense of attachment and admiration.
Actually, last night, she had already made up her mind to leave and start a new life.
But mother's embrace was so warm...
She hadn't felt such warmth for a long time.
It was like a person who had walked in the cold, snowy wilderness for many days and finally smelled the scent of firewood...
She didn't want to leave anymore.