Chapter 1215: Chapter 628: Here?!_3
In Granny Liu’s kitchen, Ning Xiaoxian stretched lazily and continued her work.
A light breeze seemed to pass behind her.
She didn’t stop her hands, humming softly, "You’re scarier than a ghost!"
"Silly girl, if I really wanted to scare you, could you have noticed me?" A deep, rich voice sounded right by her ear, making her heart itch. "Hmm, what are you doing?"
"Making dumplings, it’s three days until the New Year. In my family, we must make dumplings ourselves for the New Year." She pointed to the table where the dumplings were lined up neatly, white, plump, and tender, truly endearing. She had asked Granny Liu for some pork, chopped it into mince. The kitchen also stored dried shiitake mushrooms, which she soaked in hot water, finely chopped, and mixed with the pork mince to make the filling.
Home-raised pigs have an incredibly fragrant meat, and the shiitake mushrooms were sun-dried in the summer and autumn, making the shiitake pork dumplings so tempting that she couldn’t resist. "Once we’re on the road, we might not find a place to make dumplings again, so I’m making them in advance today. I don’t know if you’ll like them. Hey... what are you doing?"
"Love them." Changtian brushed aside her thick hair, kissed her dainty earlobe, and mumbled, "They’re very delicious."
"It tickles!" That warm and moist sensation made her shrink her neck and try to dodge, but he held her waist tightly, leaving her no escape. "Let go, my hands are all oily..."
"Stop fooling around, in this cold weather, if we don’t finish making them, the dough will harden..." She gently turned her head, trying to dodge!
"You make yours, I’ll do my work." With a wave of his hand, the kitchen’s wooden door shut automatically. He placed two Cleaning Techniques over the stove and her hands, then took hold of her slender waist, turned her around, and lifted her onto it. It had been a long time since lunch, and the weather was cold, so the stove had gone cold.
"Here?!"
$$$$$
Both tired and sleepy, Ning Xiaoxian yawned, her eyes almost closing.
Changtian stifled a laugh and reminded her, "Ahem, that old couple..."
Her half-closed eyes suddenly widened: "Oh no!" She hurriedly nudged him, "You’d better get out!" Mr. and Mrs. Zeng weren’t stupid; with the kitchen door closed for so long during the daytime, anyone could guess what they were doing.
Stubborn girl, truly ruthless! He grunted in annoyance but decided not to pursue it, considering her good behavior just now.
As he pushed the door open and left, she quickly tidied up her hair and clothes. Outside, Old Man Zeng greeted him, but Changtian replied calmly, without the slightest hint of panic in his voice.
This guy, his skin must be several times thicker than a city wall!
She instinctively glanced over the table’s chopping board.
Oh dear, her dumplings!
#####
During dinner, none of the three were paying attention. The Zeng couple, about to meet their deceased daughter, had no appetite; Ning Xiaoxian felt even her chopsticks-holding hand tremble. Granny Liu had also entered the kitchen before, saying nothing, but the smile in her eyes...
She forced back the heat on her face and sneaked glances at Changtian. Only this guy was leisurely devouring the dumplings, with a seemingly excellent appetite, surrounded by a calm aura, completely different from before. How did he cultivate such thick skin, indifferent even if the sky collapsed? She felt she ought to learn from him.
That night, the house was lit with oil lamps. The Zeng couple was restless, Old Man Zeng wanting to smoke a bit but fearing the two esteemed guests disliked tobacco. He was genuinely uncomfortable, with Granny Liu pinching him several times yet unable to calm him down. Changtian had already mentioned that the ghost baby would only come around midnight to harass them, and considering his intimidating presence yesterday, the possibility of it coming today was only about fifty percent. The ghost baby, died at a very young age and remained ignorant of right or wrong. If it were an older evil ghost with deeper cultivation, frightened by Changtian’s divine power, it might never dare approach again.
This is the so-called fearlessness of the ignorant.
Such boredom lasted until midnight. Although the Zeng couple was elderly, they had been overly tense and excited earlier, so they now felt rather faintly sleepy.
Changtian, who had been meditating with closed eyes, finally opened them slowly and said, "It’s coming. Earlier than expected." He had concealed all his Divine Beast aura, appearing like an ordinary handsome mortal man; otherwise, the ghost might flee even faster than it came.
Apparently, the ghost baby was eager to drink the blood of its closest kin, even forgetting the threat it faced yesterday. Although he knew this creature hadn’t yet matured, lacking true reason, seeing it forget his divine power so quickly still sparked a flicker of anger in Changtian’s heart.
In a short time, she felt the eerie cold chill unique to ghosts. Ning Xiaoxian was slightly startled. This creature moved rather fast, covering several miles in just a dozen breaths, its speed rivaling that of low-level cultivators.
After a moment, it suddenly got quiet outside the Zeng Mansion. It was nearly midnight, the time for deep sleep, and the surroundings had been quiet, but an atmosphere close to dead silence covered the Zeng Mansion, seeming like even the wind had stopped. The entire house felt entombed in a crypt, heavy and oppressive.
Another moment passed, and the embers in the fireplace noticeably weakened, no longer full of heat. The room temperature dropped sharply, and soon, frost silently began to form on the windows. The Zeng couple’s teeth were chattering, their breaths visible as mist. Ning Xiaoxian, afraid of startling the ghost, dared not use her divine skills to warm them, only watching them with sympathy.
All of this happened in the dark. If the Zeng couple had been dreaming, they would be unaware. But their minds were clear now, observing the occurrences inside and outside inch by inch. Despite her longing for her daughter, even Granny Liu felt a trace of fear. She held onto Old Man Zeng’s arm tightly, and her husband gently patted her back to comfort her, then glanced apprehensively at Ning Xiaoxian.
Ning Xiaoxian gave a reassuring smile, silently transmitting, "Just sit still, don’t move, and you’ll be safe."
This was her first display of divine skills, her voice seemingly sounding right next to the elderly couple’s ears. They were astonished looking at her but felt slightly reassured, quickly picking a willow leaf from the clay bowl on the table and rubbing it on their eyes.
The bowl contained cow tears, and the willow leaf had been soaked for two hours, making it remarkably effective. It was the most common means in folklore to "open the Heavenly Eye" temporarily, allowing even a mortal to see ghosts.
A dozen breaths later, wisps of black smoke slipped into the house through the door crevice. Here, the windows and doors were tightly shut against the cold winter, so it took quite an effort for the smoke to squeeze in, finally gathering into a human shape.
Everyone in the house saw that the black smoke coalesced into the form of a little girl, with a small, cute face and a slightly prominent nose. She was probably from a farm family, as her skin wasn’t as fair as city girls, but her big eyes were clear and bright; perhaps she would grow up to be a pretty girl.
The little girl was startled to find the people in the house awake, then pouted at Granny Liu and cried, "Daddy, Mommy! I miss you so much!"
Granny Liu, even though prepared in her heart, was mesmerized upon seeing the beloved form she longed for day and night, uttering, "Indeed you are my child!" Unable to resist standing up, she wanted to embrace the child she had been separated from for over a decade.
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