“Hehe, if you hadn't married me, how could we have such successful children like Sister Zhi, Brother Yi, and Sister Ye?”
Nan Dazhuang sat on a stool, tinkering with the bottom of a pot, his honest face full of smiles.
“Just two days ago, Sister Ye told me that Immortal Hua thinks highly of her and encouraged her to take the Demon Suppression Division exam next year. If she passes, our family will have two officials!
Once Brother Yi’s injury heals, whether he wants to study for the imperial exams or take over the ancestral trade and open another pork stall, it’s all up to him.”
Mentioning the children, the usually taciturn man spoke a few more words:
“I’ve already looked into it. The cousin from Lady Qiao's uncle's family is planning to sell his shop. It’s two connected units. It used to sell burial shrouds and paper money, so nobody else wants it, which makes it a bargain for us.
Once we knock down the middle wall and merge them into one, forget about the live pigs in Dingyuan—even people from the other two counties will come to our shop to buy meat.”
“Yes, yes, and when Sister Zhi becomes an immortal too, that will be truly incredible.
Maybe even immortals will come to buy the pigs you slaughter! Then the Nan family will truly bring honor to the family; it’ll be like smoke rising from the ancestral graves!”
Listening to the scene Nan Dazhuang described, Chen Jingui couldn't help but beam with joy, as if she could already see that future waving at her:
“Then I’ll be the mother of an immortal. I’ll eat fatty pork and ducks, golden pears and honey melons every day. I’ll also get a very heavy gold hairpin—seven taels, no, ten taels! I’ll wear it while selling pork, and when people see it, they’ll surely be drooling with envy.”
What would an immortal want with pork?
Would they refine it instantly into pork jerky?
And as for a ten-tael gold hairpin, Chen Jingui would have to braid a massive hair bun just to support the weight.
Her father and mother were truly endearingly simple.
Nan Zhi couldn't help but laugh out loud.
She didn't expect that her laugh would startle the couple.
Seeing Nan Zhi descend from the clouds, Chen Jingui froze for a moment. She blinked hard several times, as if trying to confirm what she was seeing, before suddenly rushing forward, throwing her arms around Nan Zhi and wailing:
“You heartless girl, you finally decided to come back! If Immortal Shen and the others hadn't told us you were fine and asked us to wait here, your father and I would have gone to the capital to find you!”
“Look at you, running off and disappearing after leaving only a short note! I’ve been praying to the Bodhisattva and the City God every day, hoping you wouldn't lose your little life out there!”
Nan Zhi felt a dampness on her cheek and pulled back to look at Chen Jingui.
Sure enough, even though her mother had been laughing just moments ago, she looked quite haggard now, with two fierce, red heat blisters on the corner of her mouth from stress.
Chen Jingui was a very proud and strong-willed person. Even when selling pork, she would always tidy herself up to ensure no one looked down on her.
If she hadn't been consumed by worry and anxiety for Nan Zhi, how could she have neglected her appearance so much?
“Mom, haven't I come back in one piece? Besides, I’m an adult now; I can't stay by your side every single day.”
Nan Zhi quickly took out a Blood Supplementing Pill, crushed it, and gently sprinkled the powder on Chen Jingui’s lips, coaxing her like a child:
“I just heard you and Dad laughing and joking. Why is it that as soon as I return, you’re pulling a long face like a bitter gourd?”
“No matter how old you are, you still crawled out of my belly and grew up on my milk! They say ‘a child lives to a hundred, but a mother worries for ninety-nine years.’ You’re out there running around, fighting demons and spirits—you could lose your life!”
Chen Jingui started wiping away tears again. Suddenly remembering something, she began patting Nan Zhi down. Only after seeing that all her limbs were intact did she let out a heavy sigh of relief.
Nan Dazhuang was also trembling. He wanted to reach out and hug his daughter, but remembering how Nan Zhi had just descended directly from the sky, he awkwardly wiped his hands on his clothes and tentatively pulled them back:
“Aye, good, you’re back... it’s good that you’re back...”
“Brother Yi, Brother Yi! Your eldest sister is home! Stop sleeping!”
Chen Jingui shouted toward the house and then pushed Nan Dazhuang:
“Sister Zhi is back, why are you standing there acting all sentimental? Hurry up and boil some water to slaughter a chicken. Make a pot of rich chicken soup—
Oh, and go get Sister Ye back. If anyone asks, just say... just say there’s a celebration at home today.”
Nan Dazhuang nodded dumbly and walked out quickly. Suddenly, he poked his head back in, staring at Nan Zhi for a long while as if looking at something rare.
After confirming it wasn't a dream, Nan the Butcher, whose ugly face was usually enough to make children cry at night, happily cupped his face and went to bring his younger daughter home.
...
Nan Yi was currently bedridden. Although autumn had only begun less than half a month ago, he was covered with a thick quilt from the waist down. Despite this, the boy’s once healthy face had thinned by more than half.
“Eldest Sister, you’re back?”
Nan Yi smiled, but his haggardness became even more apparent, and his chin had grown sharper.
The way he looked at Nan Zhi was a bit strange, but he simply leaned quietly against the wall, listening to Chen Jingui’s incessant chatter.
When asked about the cause of Nan Yi’s condition, Chen Jingui’s face filled with resentment:
“It was all because of those plague-ridden scoundrels, that whole family is wicked to the core! They didn't show any filial piety to their dead father, so he came back to haunt them. Then, they turned around and burned the horoscopes of our Brother Yi and Sister Ye! Ptooey!
That Ji Wencai’s heart is as poisonous as if it were soaked in strychnine and heart-breaking grass! Back then, my aunt was actually willing to marry her daughter into the Ji family for a bit of silver!
If the immortals of the Demon Suppression Division hadn't stepped in to handle it, I would have torn that Chen Hehua’s mouth apart myself!”
Nan Zhi dug through her memories and finally pulled out these two minor characters.
Weren't they the couple who had been unfilial to their father and were subsequently haunted by his spirit every day?
To think they actually dared to target Nan Yi and Nan Ye.
It turned out the two had been tormented so badly that they sought out a wicked scheme. They were told that by burning a pair of children as offerings, they could send their dead father away.
Being naturally black-hearted, they had someone pose as a matchmaker to obtain Nan Yi and Nan Ye’s Eight Characters. Upon returning, they made paper effigies to curse them, causing both siblings to fall seriously ill.
If Shen Luohe hadn't arrived in time and brought the Nan family back to the Demon Suppression Monastery, there was no telling what would have happened.
“How were they dealt with afterward? There are many medical officers in the monastery; did no one come to check on him? Did you not take the pills I left behind? And how is Sister Ye?”
Nan Zhi reached out to check Nan Yi’s pulse. He didn't pull away, simply extending his hand calmly for her to examine:
“Cough, cough... Sister Ye recovered faster. The pills Eldest Sister left at home didn't seem to do much when I took them.
Immortal Shen brought someone to see me, and they only said I have a weak constitution, unlike Sister Ye, and that I would recover after resting for a few days.”
Only then did Nan Zhi realize that Shen Luohe had not informed the Nan family about her being a wanted person by the Demon Suppression Division.
She sent a strand of spiritual energy into Nan Yi’s body, only to find his meridians sluggish and his spiritual energy flowing slowly. It was as if he were someone born with a natural deficiency or a fragmented soul!
Before she had left for the capital, Nan Yi had been the healthiest one in the family!
The pulse she was feeling now was something that would appear in an old man whose oil was spent and lamp was dry, or in a patient suffering from a deep-seated ailment or a recurring old injury.
But it should never appear in a youth who wasn't even eighteen and was in the prime of his life!
How could a single illness leave him this weak?!
Nan Zhi was confused, but she didn't let it show on her face.
“Cough, cough, cough... Mom, my throat hurts a bit.”
Nan Yi coughed a few times. Taking advantage of the moment Chen Jingui turned around to pour some tea, he grabbed Nan Zhi’s hand and quickly wrote on her palm with his fingertip:
【There is a ghost in the monastery. Escape quickly.】
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