Chapter 375

Let's go, we'll fetch our weapons.

At that moment, Yao Yirong, who had been crying loudly, suddenly gritted her teeth, clenched her fists, and snarled.

"Where are we going?" I asked in surprise.

"I, the old lady, can't take it anymore! I, the old lady, am going to teach those who bullied the old granny a lesson! I, the old lady, am going to wreck their eatery, beat those hooligans to death—they're utterly inhuman… boo-hoo." At the end, Yao Yirong burst into loud tears again and sank her teeth hard into my shoulder.

"My dear girl, this bit of hardship is nothing to me. Having lived to my age, I've seen everything clearly and let it go. But my poor granddaughter—if she remains like this, even if I pass on, I won't rest easy." Granny Zhao's tone held no hatred toward anyone, only a grandmother's longing for her granddaughter.

"Granny Zhao, rest assured—I, Wang Weiqiang, will take care of this. If I can't cure her once, I'll treat her for a lifetime. If this doesn't work, I'll take you both to Guangdong, to my home, and I won't stop until your granddaughter is cured." The red-eyed Pangzi, without hesitation, slapped his chest and promised to take care of everything.

"Great immortal, are you serious? You'll really cure my granddaughter?" Granny Zhao stared, then looked at Pangzi with overjoyed surprise.

"A real man stands by his word—spit and a nail. If I go back on my word, let me be struck by lightning!" His solemn face fully showed that Pangzi was more serious than ever.

"Good… I support you, Brother Weiqiang. As long as we can cure Shishi, I'll cover any cost." The wealthy, generous-looking man thus became a big-spending benefactor.

Even Silijing wiped the wet tears from her face, choking up as she muttered to herself: "This poor child surely hasn't even gone to school. If she goes to Guangdong, I'll definitely make time each day to teach her to read and write."

"If she comes to Guangdong, I…" I instinctively tried to follow the conversation, but when everyone turned their eyes to me, I stammered "I-I-I" for a while, couldn't get a word out, and finally just stood timidly to the side.

Because… when I got halfway through my sentence, I realized I couldn't do anything? What, let me teach Shishi to catch ghosts? Never mind that my idea is ridiculous—if I said it now, I'd surely be mobbed by everyone.

"Damn it, she's like this because she's been possessed by a ghost, and you want to teach her to deal with ghosts? That's practically asking for a beating!"

Sometimes I really feel that living to this point is unprecedentedly stifling.

"Thank you, thank you, you young people…" Suddenly, the stooped old granny tried to kneel before us again, frightening us into scrambling to help her up, comforting her repeatedly for a long while.

"It's already noon, Yirong—go buy some congee for Granny Zhao to eat." I told Yao Yirong to buy some congee for Granny Zhao and have Silijing keep her company chatting. Then I quietly pulled Pangzi aside.

"Pangzi, based on your experience, what do you think this is all about?" I didn't want to fight an unsure battle, so I prepared to discuss it with Pangzi beforehand.

Pangzi pondered for a long time, then shook his head in bewilderment: "According to usual cases, once you send these things away, they're gone, and there's rarely a second haunting. As for someone like Shishi who keeps relapsing, that's unheard of." Pangzi glanced at Granny Zhao, paused, then said again: "We'll just go see and see how it goes. If we can't cure her, we'll just take her back to Guangdong for my dad and seventh uncle to treat."

"That's all we can do!" I sighed, and given the situation, we could only take it one step at a time.

This time, I truly hoped the matter would stay within our control—not just an attempt, but a definite success. Both the granddaughter and grandmother have suffered too much, and I truly hope that with my and Pangzi's abilities we can help them.

Meanwhile, Yao Yirong came back with a bowl of congee, took a small spoon, scooped a spoonful, and carefully fed it to Granny Zhao's mouth.

At first, Granny Zhao was a bit reserved, flusteredly pushing away Yao Yirong's hands, seeming unaccustomed to being fed. After several attempts, the old lady couldn't resist Yao Yirong's insistence and had to let her feed her obediently.

This scene left me dumbfounded for a long while. All along, my impression of Yao Yirong had been that of an unreasonable, temperamental missy, but this time she completely overturned that image in my mind.

It was the first time I saw her so gentle—she lightly picked up the spoon, scooped the congee, blew on it a few times to cool it, then gently fed it to Granny Zhao. The bowl was full of congee, the spoon tiny, but Yao Yirong repeated the feeding motion tirelessly.

Each time she scooped congee with the spoon, she blew on it several times to make sure it wasn't hot before feeding it to Granny Zhao. Occasionally she used a tissue to gently wipe the corners of Granny Zhao's mouth.

At that moment, Yao Yirong emanated a mysterious warm aura that made me, watching from afar, momentarily lose myself.

People say a man working earnestly is most attractive, and a woman revealing her inner kindness is likewise most beautiful and charming.

The aura radiating then, naturally springing from a woman's inner heart without any cosmetic embellishment, could warm all the coldness in the world—this is what people call inner beauty. Even the most luxurious clothing or cosmetics provide only fleeting visual stimulation; they can never replace this inner impact, nor surpass this natural beauty that springs from within.

Only then did I realize… Yao Yirong also had such a gentle, kind side.

I couldn't bear to interrupt this scene, so I just watched silently, even unaware that I myself had been staring blankly.

"Sigh… sigh sigh…" Pangzi kept pushing me several times before I snapped out of my daze.

Having come to, I let out an "Ah," stared blankly at Pangzi, only to be greeted by his eyebrows raised twice, a very lewd and lascivious grin.

Pangzi rubbed his hands, smiling amorously: "You couldn't be falling for Miss Yao, could you?"

"Holy shit, how could that be? You're overthinking." As soon as Pangzi finished speaking, I hurriedly defended myself.

"Really? Then why were you just staring intensely at someone? I called you over a dozen times and you didn't answer once." Pangzi's tone had a hint of laughter and also of interrogation.

"I… I wasn't looking at her; I felt sorry for Granny Zhao, felt moved, so I glanced a few more times." I don't know why, but the words I just said even sounded unconvincing to myself.

"Hehe, don't forget—you first sullied her reputation, and then, while at her hometown, you even kissed her."

"Damn it, shut up!" Seeing Pangzi spout more nonsense, I panicked and clapped my hand over his mouth. Although we stood not far from where Yao Yirong and the three were sitting, we weren't too close either—if we spoke louder, she might actually hear us.

Since returning from Anhui last time, for some reason, Yao Yirong and I have become very tacit and discreet; neither of us has mentioned those two incidents, treating them like chalk marks that we've wiped from our minds.

But, although it's like chalk on a blackboard, human memory doesn't work that way—erasing it doesn't mean it's gone; once brought up, it's recalled. I don't want Yao Yirong to remember past events and fly off the handle again for no reason.

I glanced discreetly at where the three of them were, and saw only Silijing looking this way; Yao Yirong was still gently feeding Granny Zhao congee, unaware of what was happening here, and my tense heart finally relaxed.

"Heh heh, scared now? Call me 'big brother' and I'll drop it." This nasty friend of mine, whenever he grabs onto my weakness, will shamelessly throw his weight around to take advantage of me.

"Damn you, you still have the nerve to say that!" Just seeing Pangzi like that, plus recalling those two incidents, made me furious beyond measure.

"If you hadn't yelled on the phone in the classroom so loudly, would the whole school have found out? Being loud is bad enough, but you twisted facts and misled the masses. If it weren't for you, this troublemaker, would I have gotten a pervert's reputation? And back in Anhui, if you hadn't screwed me over, drawing those Pusam Buddha talismans to ward off illness for me to go ghost-hunting, would I have ended up so miserable?" The more I thought, the more I gritted my teeth. Originally Yao Yirong and I had been getting along fine, but it's all because of this troublemaker Pangzi that we've gotten into a whole mess of trouble.

"Well… actually the process doesn't matter, it's the result that counts." Pangzi's face flushed, and he hastily gave a forced smile to cover up.

"You heartless wolf!" I grabbed his throat with both hands and cursed; Pangzi wouldn't back down, clutching my neck as we scuffled together.

"What are you two doing? It's time we went to Granny Zhao's house." While we were grappling, Yao Yirong had finished a bowl of congee, supported Granny Zhao, and walked over to us.

"We'll settle this later." I glared hard at Pangzi, signaling him not to talk nonsense, then let him go.

"Hai Sheng, help Granny Zhao pick up her things; I and Jingjing will help her walk." Yao Yirong pointed to the burlap sack Granny Zhao had left on the ground.

"Oh, okay," I replied instinctively, then crouched to the ground to gather Granny Zhao's belongings.

Pangzi, behind us, winked and gave a weird chuckle: "Hai Sheng, Yirong… I'm freaking out."

I glared at him, and he quickly gave a lecherous laugh, rushing to Silijing's side to ostensibly help her support Granny Zhao—clearly he was trying to cozy up to her.

However, as I was putting the empty bottle that had fallen out of the bag back inside, I couldn't help but startle, and Pangzi's earlier wink and remark began to nag at my mind.

"Hai Sheng, Yirong…" these are two terms so familiar yet should feel strange; I still clearly remember that Yao Yirong and I used to call each other 'Lonely Freak' and 'Spunky Lass', but at some point we started calling each other Hai Sheng and Yirong instead.

I don't know when this shift began, but right now a voice in my heart keeps asking myself over and over.

For me, a ghost child burdened with the five flaws and three deficiencies, destined to a life of solitude, is this really a good thing?