Chapter 296

The warm sunshine of Yundu spilled into the ward, which was filled with the sweet fragrance of flowers, through the gaps in the curtains.

Feng Feng Yushu came to the bedside table and replaced the wilted autumn begonia in the vase with a bunch of bright yellow osmanthus.

In late autumn, September, it is the season when osmanthus is in full bloom. People in Yundu like to use osmanthus trees as street trees. At this time every year, the sweet and rich fragrance quietly permeates every street and alley of this ancient city, and the flower buds bloom into pieces of golden yellow in the green belts.

The soaring fragrance permeates Chang'an, and the whole city is covered in golden armor.

Feng Feng Yushu looked down at the stamens in the bottle, her vision somewhat blurred.

I still remember this time last year, when A-Zhi left her hometown for the first time to go to Yundu for her freshman year. I, who was worried about my daughter, also came along and bought a house in the residential area next to the university to accompany her in her studies.

It was also autumn at that time, and the residential building was covered with fresh osmanthus shaken down in bamboo trays.

The aunt living downstairs had just picked up her child from school in the afternoon. Perhaps seeing that Bai Zhi, who was standing on the side of the road waiting for her mother to park, was beautiful, she insisted on stuffing two pieces of osmanthus cake into the shy girl's hand.

"By the way, A-Zhi likes to eat osmanthus cake..." Feng Feng Yushu woke up from her memories, bent down, and threw the wilted autumn begonia in her hand into the trash can.

Straightening up, Feng Feng Yushu looked at her daughter, who was lying on the hospital bed in a deep sleep, and said bitterly: "A-Zhi, Mom is going to buy some osmanthus cake. You wait for me here, okay? Be good..."

Large teardrops rolled down her cheeks, blurring her vision of her daughter and drowning the words that had not yet been spoken in her throat.

Feng Feng Yushu wiped away her tears and was about to step away when she looked up and met a pair of eyes as clear and soft as autumn water.

"A-Zhi?" Feng Feng Yushu's brain went blank, and the tears she had just wiped away surged out again, sobbing: "You, you're awake?"

Seeing her mother crying by the window just after waking up, Bai Zhi was somewhat dazed and asked: "Mom? I... how long have I slept?"

Feng Feng Yushu hurriedly crouched down to the hospital bed, held Bai Zhi's hand, and said: "It's been almost 4 days. You have been lying on the bed and couldn't be woken up no matter what... The doctor couldn't find the reason, so they had to give you some nutrient solution..."

Four days?

Bai Zhi felt the weakness of her body, and the details of the nightmare were still vivid in her mind: "I..."

"A-Zhi, did you have a nightmare again?" Feng Feng Yushu held her daughter's palm tightly, her expression serious.

"... Hmm." Bai Zhi nodded.

"Can you tell Mom what you dreamed about?" Feng Feng Yushu asked again.

She is no longer the helpless mother who didn't understand anything. She knows the existence of strange things and understands many secrets that ordinary people cannot touch, and even she herself is an Ascender who has mastered two different ghosts. Now she can understand what those 'nightmares' in Bai Zhi's diary mean.

Bai Zhi thought for a while and briefly described her experience in the dream to her mother: "I dreamed that I was in a castle, where there were ghosts wandering in another world, and lamps that could illuminate the surface and inner worlds..."

Feng Feng Yushu listened quietly with great patience, and suddenly her face changed: "You mean, you dreamed of Ning Zhe?"

"Yes..." Bai Zhi pursed her lips and smiled shallowly, saying: "However, it's not 'dreaming of Ning Zhe', but 'seeing Ning Zhe in the dream'. He seems to be troubled by nightmares just like me, and was involved in that world in the dream... We had the same dream, Mom."

"Huh?" Feng Feng Yushu was stunned, even forgetting to blink. As one of the two survivors of the Hejia Village strange event, she knows the rules of 'Tai Yi'. It is a strange thing that can steal other people's identities. Not only identities, but also memories, abilities, and even the strange rules mastered by Ascenders, and the divine power mastered, can be stolen to a certain extent.

So, Ning Zhe stole her daughter's identity?

Why did he do this? Was it to get A-Zhi's ability to enter dreams? Is this also a kind of Ascender ability?

For a time, Feng Feng Yushu thought of many things. She regarded this only daughter as her life. If anyone dared to move a finger of Bai Zhi, Feng Feng Yushu would immediately react to protect her cub and use any possible means to retaliate crazily against the other party regardless of everything.

But Ning Zhe, only Ning Zhe, even though she knew that Ning Zhe was very likely to have done some dangerous things to her daughter, she couldn't raise any hostility toward him in her heart.

"How could this be... I..." Feng Feng Yushu grabbed Bai Zhi's slender wrist, lost her head: "What's wrong with me...?"

"It's all thanks to Ning Zhe, otherwise I guess it would take a long, long time to wake up." At this time, Bai Zhi continued: "Ning Zhe found the castle we dreamed of in reality, went there himself to solve the strange event there, and ended this nightmare."

"Is, is that so?" Feng Feng Yushu immediately smiled, as if a drowning person had grabbed a straw: "Did he save you from that castle?"

Bai Zhi nodded: "At the end of the nightmare, I vaguely saw a small closed room. In the cramped space, there was simple furniture. A thin, hunched figure was curled up in the corner of the wall. The dry skin was tightly attached to the bones, like a skeleton. It was sleeping in the corner..."

"The skeleton was wearing a necklace on its chest, with countless curved fingers tied to a rough hemp rope, like a monk's prayer beads coiled around its neck. It was a ghost wearing 'prayer beads', and it was sleeping in the corner..."

"It fell asleep, and I woke up."

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Bai Zhi said, her smile blooming like a flower on her pale face: "Ning Zhe didn't lie to me. He really solved the puzzle in the castle and caught the ghost there..."

"Yes, yes, thanks to him." Listening to her daughter's voice, the panic in Feng Feng Yushu's heart gradually subsided.

Yes, yes, Ning Zhe stole her identity to help A-Zhi. It must be like this. How could he do that kind of thing with evil intentions? It must be that I misunderstood him. Ning Zhe was just helping A-Zhi in his own way. How could I suspect him like that?

Yes, it must be like that...

Feng Feng Yushu kept repeating the same words in her heart until the huge panic that almost tore her soul apart gradually extinguished.

"Mom."

"Hmm?" Feng Feng Yushu looked up at her daughter's eyes.

"I want to eat osmanthus cake."

"Okay, Mom will go buy it for you right now." Feng Feng Yushu stood up, touched Bai Zhi's forehead gently, turned, and left the ward: "Wait for me here."

Bai Zhi lay on the bed, turned her head to watch her mother's back disappear at the door, and whispered to herself: "When I have a nightmare next time, will I meet you in the dream again?"

Thinking of that possibility, for the first time in her life, Bai Zhi was actually looking forward to the arrival of the next nightmare.

(End of chapter)