Chapter 30: Past Events (3)

Great-Grandma was a well-known witch doctor in the nearby villages in her early years, practicing underworld walking, divination, and medicine. She had helped many people and accumulated a lot of good karma.

But walking the Yin and Yang realms and revealing too many secrets of heaven naturally incurred karmic retribution.

This so-called retribution means karma. With good fortune comes bad, and some karma falls on oneself, while some falls on future generations.

Great-Grandma’s misfortune affected two generations. She married a well-known wealthy merchant when she was young and gave birth to two children, but both died before they reached the age of five. During her third childbirth, she suffered a severe hemorrhage, not only failing to save the fetus but also losing her ability to conceive.

Later, when the country was in turmoil and times were difficult, the wealthy merchant was ‘brought down,’ his family fortune was scattered, and she was labeled a ‘demon.’

Fortunately, Great-Grandma had accumulated good karma in the past, and someone helped her out of her predicament. After moving around to many places, she finally settled in a village below the city.

Over the years, Great-Grandma accumulated some wealth with her wisdom and special skills, and bought the courtyard house she now lives in.

And only practiced medicine and dealt with simple evil matters, such as children being frightened. She no longer looked into the Yin realm and charged fees at will, taking whatever the patients gave her.

In my eyes, she was just an unlicensed barefoot doctor, so she didn’t dare to charge fees in a big way, or it would be troublesome if someone reported her.

Great-Grandma and my stepmother were not direct relatives but distant relatives.

Because my stepmother had lost her soul when she was young, Great-Grandma helped call it back and dealt with strange things in my stepmother’s family. Gradually, the two families began to associate with each other.

In addition, Great-Grandma had no children of her own, so my stepmother recognized Great-Grandma as her grandmother and came to see her during festivals, so she had someone to care for her in her old age and bury her when she died.

Later, because of one incident, Great-Grandma and my stepmother broke off all ties.

One night twenty-three years ago, a severely injured woman came to Great-Grandma’s traditional Chinese medicine shop, and that was my biological mother.

“At that time, your mother had many claw marks on her body, some so deep that the bone was visible. She was almost dying. I took pity on her and took her in for treatment,” Great-Grandma said, squinting her eyes, recalling the old events.

“At that time, I didn’t know she was a witch. It wasn’t until one day when she had almost recovered and was sitting on the edge of the dry well under the jujube tree, holding my cat spirit, that I knew her identity.”

The cat spirit was a pure black cat that Great-Grandma had raised in her early years. After it died, she used spells to keep the cat spirit by her side to guard the house.

“Your mother rested here for more than three months, helping me manage the pharmacy and teaching me some medicinal principles that I had never heard of before.”

“I wanted to keep her here, but she said she still had important things to do.”

“The night before your mother left, your stepmother Xiao Fang brought your father to see me. The two of them were introduced to each other and were about to get married…” Great-Grandma sighed, “A karmic relationship, truly a karmic relationship.”

As a result, my father fell in love with my mother at first sight. My witch mother, I don’t know what she was thinking, slept with him that night, but left silently the next day.

And my father fell in love and insisted on calling off the engagement, but my stepmother refused to agree, and the two were entangled for several months.

Until more than ten months later, my biological mother came to the traditional Chinese medicine shop again, holding me in her arms.

She handed me over to Great-Grandma, left a bracelet and the Jiao spirit, and told Great-Grandma to tell my scumbag father not to look for her again. From then on, there was no news of her.

I gritted my teeth: “Slut! White lotus! Green tea b*tch! Homewrecker! Seducing someone else’s fiancé, ruining other people’s relationships, and then saying such a lighthearted sentence!”

“If you want to have fun, take safety measures! Why did you give birth to me! It’s okay if you gave birth to me and didn’t raise me, but you pushed me into a fire pit! Making me suffer all kinds of contempt!”

“Irresponsible! Irresponsible to yourself! Irresponsible to your feelings! Even more irresponsible to your children!” I was so angry that my mouth was crooked, enumerating her misdeeds.

“Le Xiaomai, if your mother was irresponsible to you, she wouldn’t have left her Jiao spirit to guard you. That is her most powerful weapon and her most loyal servant… Perhaps she had no choice,” Wen Ye replied indifferently.

Great-Grandma squinted and nodded: “I don’t know what your mother was thinking, but when she handed you over to me, her eyes were very reluctant.”

“After your father took you away, Xiao Fang always resented me for being the matchmaker between your parents, and she never came here again.”

“Your mother was worried that you would be sent back by your father, so she set up a magic circle in the courtyard in advance to prepare for the worst. In order to cover up your aura and protect your safety, she left the Jiao spirit. She could think so much for you, so she is definitely not irresponsible, perhaps she really had no choice…”

“In order not to let you grow up in fear, she didn’t let me tell you all this. It would be best if it could be hidden for a lifetime, unless…”

Unless I was discovered by those people and could no longer be hidden.

“If she really wanted to protect me, what about when I go to school? I can’t stay here for the rest of my life!” I retorted, trying my best to prove that she was an irresponsible mother.

Wen Ye said lightly: “In places with chaotic energy fields, you are not easily detected. Even if they find you, they dare not act rashly in crowded places.”

I still couldn’t convince myself that my scumbag mother loved me, and that all my suffering came from her!

Unless… she tells me in person what exactly is going on.

——————

After helping Great-Grandma clean up the room and feeding her a dose of soup to strengthen her foundation, it was already four in the morning.

I had no sleepiness, squatting by the well, my thoughts were chaotic.

Twenty-three years ago, she was sitting here, wasn’t she.

“Le Xiaomai, go to sleep,” Wen Ye leaned against the door frame of the east wing, “I’ve cleaned up.”

Wen Ye has severe cleanliness. While I was busy, he went to my room to clean up the bed, probably to check for dust or fleas.

I couldn’t be bothered with him.

I sighed and said, “Wen Ye, can I take Great-Grandma to live with us? The man tonight was obviously aimed at Ni裳 (Nishang – name of a dress), what if the originator still refuses to give up?”

If I hadn’t come back tonight, Great-Grandma might really have been beyond saving.

If the soul leaves the body for too long, it will never wake up, right?

“Your great-grandmother separated her soul from her body in order to protect herself. Even without your soul-calling, the cat spirit would have brought her back before dawn.”

“The Jiao spirit is a high-level Gu spirit. Do you think anyone can take it away? It cultivates here, and the spiritual energy it collects will also be supplied to your great-grandmother. Your mother should have taught her spells to prolong her life as a reward.”

“Instead of worrying about her, you should worry about yourself.” Wen Ye frowned and said, “Didn’t you notice that your mother was also seriously injured by claws back then? I suspect…”

My little light bulb lit up, and I took his words: “You suspect that it was the same person who seriously injured you some time ago, who is also the person who stole your spiritual pearl? And the man eaten by Nishang was also sent by him?”

He nodded and murmured, “This reminds me of another thing…”

“What?”

Wen Ye frowned and thought, shaking his head: “It’s nothing, it may be a coincidence…”

He raised his chin towards the washbasin, signaling me to fetch water.

I lifted my butt, scooped two basins of water from the water vat, mixed in some hot water, and brought him a small stool.

“My family’s conditions are difficult, so you have to make do for now.”