The old man continued, "I remember, their family was quite wealthy and famous around here. They were well-known philanthropists... they often set up congee stalls at the street corners to help the poor..."
As people get older, they tend to ramble when talking about the past.
Likely, if no one interrupted him, this old man could talk until dark.
Su Qing felt a bit helpless. I’m an old-timer over a thousand years old and I don’t love talking about the past this much. You’re just a centenarian; how can you talk so much?
If it weren't for the risk of exposing her magic, Su Qing would have liked to cast a Silence Curse on him...
But of course, she only thought about it.
Even if she could expose her magic, she wouldn't do such a thing.
It would be too much like bullying.
Su Qing looked at the old man, interrupting his reminiscence. "Old man, we didn't come here to learn about the past. We just want to know if that family has any descendants left. Where are they now? Are they still in this town?"
Though she didn't use magic, Su Qing directly spoke up to break his train of thought.
Time waited for no one. Although they weren't in a desperate hurry, it didn't mean they could waste time aimlessly.
Seeing Su Qing speak up, Ruan Shuxiang breathed a heavy sigh of relief...
She also wanted to know the specifics quickly and didn't want to keep listening to the old man's personal history...
It would be fine if it were related to her master.
But as the old man spoke, he had long since drifted off-topic...
She didn't even know where he was going with it anymore.
The old man didn't take offense at Su Qing's interruption.
After all, young people rarely enjoyed listening to the past of old folks.
Besides, his past was indeed quite boring.
As for Su Qing's question, the old man thought back carefully.
Then he shook his head. "If you're looking for that family's descendants, I'm afraid you won't find any... That family offended a high-ranking official in the imperial court. The entire household of over seventy people was killed. How could there be any descendants left? Even their great manor now belongs to someone else."
Hearing this, Su Qing wasn't surprised in the slightest.
Though she didn't know the exact details...
She already knew that the family of Ruan Shuxiang's master had been wiped out.
Therefore, this was all within her expectations.
However, she was a bit worried about Ruan Shuxiang...
After all, Ruan Shuxiang had a significant obsession with this matter.
She turned to look at Ruan Shuxiang...
But Ruan Shuxiang's reaction surprised her slightly.
Ruan Shuxiang appeared very calm... as if this news hadn't hit her too hard.
It was as if, like Su Qing, she had already anticipated this outcome.
Su Qing remained silent, considering how to proceed with her questions.
Meanwhile, Ruan Shuxiang spoke up and asked the old man, "Then, old man... where was that family buried?"
"Where were they buried? At the Luanzanggang mass grave on Hulu Mountain outside the village..." the old man replied after a moment's thought.
"A mass grave?"
"Under those circumstances, who would give them a proper burial? Their bodies were slowly carried out and buried by people like us who had received their kindness! Otherwise, I'm afraid there wouldn't have been anyone to even collect their remains."
"This... then how can we tell them apart?"
"Even though it's a mass grave, there are still tombstones. If you look carefully, you might still find them." The old man shook his head and said, "It's a pity this old bag of bones is so aged, otherwise I could take you there myself. After all, I experienced it back then and remember a bit."
"..." Ruan Shuxiang sighed helplessly. "Thank you, old man... I am already very satisfied that you could tell us this much."
The old man seemed very pleased with Ruan Shuxiang's attitude, so he nodded with a smile. "Do you have anything else to ask?"
Ruan Shuxiang shook her head. "That's all we wanted to know. Thank you, old man."
"No need to thank me. This old man only did what little he could," the old man said, shaking his head with a smile.
In truth, the old man hadn't told the complete truth.
When he had helped move the bodies back then, he hadn't seen the body of the family's mistress...
So the mistress might still be alive.
However, living might be even more tragic than death...
So he didn't tell them.
He didn't want them to overthink it or be too grieved...
Although he didn't know their relationship with that family, since they had come to ask, there was likely a deep connection.
If he could help a little, he would.
It wasn't a big deal anyway.
Su Qing saw that Ruan Shuxiang didn't seem too affected, so she said, "Thank you, old man. By the way, this is a small token of our gratitude. Please accept it."
Since they had received help, they naturally had to give something in return.
It was a gesture of appreciation, however small.
At the very least, it wouldn't make the man feel like he had helped for nothing.
Sure enough...
After receiving the gift, the old man's smile grew even wider.
He was clearly very satisfied with Su Qing's ten-tael silver reward...
They left the old man's courtyard.
Su Qing turned to Ruan Shuxiang and asked, "Your master's descendants are dead. What are your plans now?"
Ruan Shuxiang looked at Su Qing, thought for a moment, and then said, "I plan to bury my master's belongings in her children's grave. Then I'll follow Big Sister to High Eagle City. After that... I plan to find Bi Ling Yuanjun..."
Su Qing nodded. "It's good that you have a plan for the future... But you don't seem very sad? Or even surprised?"
Ruan Shuxiang shook her head. "Actually, I already anticipated this possibility. I just didn't want to believe it and held onto a sliver of hope. But now that I know for sure there are no descendants... naturally, I should let it go. Once I deliver those items to the grave... I will have settled one of my obsessions."
Ruan Shuxiang was incredibly calm—so calm that Su Qing felt it was a bit abnormal...
She looked at Ruan Shuxiang, words forming in her mind.
In the end, she didn't speak.
She decided to let her process it herself.
Some things couldn't be explained away in a few sentences.
Ultimately, Ruan Shuxiang had to handle it herself.
Along the way, everyone was relatively silent.
Even Yudie was very quiet.
It seemed they were all waiting for Ruan Shuxiang to process everything...
They didn't walk fast.
It took a while before they reached the Luanzanggang mass grave on Hulu Mountain.
True to its name, the mass grave was filled with haphazard mounds... tombstones were scattered everywhere at odd angles, and some corpses were even left exposed, not even laid to rest in the earth.
Seeing this, out of simple kindness, Bai Rou'er performed a quick earth control spell to bury the exposed bodies.
This could be considered a good deed.
Chen Mei was slightly surprised by this, but she didn't say much...
She just followed Ruan Shuxiang to search for the graves of her master's relatives.
Bai Rou'er also came to help...
Knowing it was inconvenient for Su Qing to use magic, she took the initiative to use her spells to help search.
Under the perception of Divine Sense, finding a few graves wasn't a difficult task...
In just a short while, they found the cluster of graves.
"Found them. They're right by the edge of the woods," Bai Rou'er said to Ruan Shuxiang.
Ruan Shuxiang nodded, thanked Bai Rou'er, and then silently walked toward the cluster of graves...
Seeing this, Su Qing held back Yudie, who wanted to follow. "Let her go alone. In this matter, we are outsiders after all..."
Yudie looked at Su Qing in confusion but obediently stayed by her side...
She didn't try to go over and look anymore.
They didn't wait for Ruan Shuxiang for long...
In just a short while, Ruan Shuxiang returned.
"Thank you, everyone..." Ruan Shuxiang looked at them and said with a faint smile, "With this, I have finally fulfilled a wish."
"Is that enough?" Su Qing asked, looking at her.
Ruan Shuxiang nodded. "This is enough... This is all I can do. Actually, I originally wanted to find my master's reincarnation... but I thought about it and decided it's better not to disturb the peace of her reincarnated life! I am a demon, after all... if I were to build a deep emotional bond with her reincarnation, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to help myself when she leaves me again in the future. Besides, I have somewhere else to go now..."
"To find Bi Ling Yuanjun?"
"Mhm... I'm destined to never be able to repay my master's kindness. But I still have a chance to repay the Sovereign's kindness... so..."
"Actually... I know Bi Ling Yuanjun," Su Qing said after some thought. "She is actually a Mountain God from my hometown... a great deity who protects the local people."
Su Qing thought for a bit and decided to give Ruan Shuxiang a more concrete goal... so she wouldn't lose her way and become aimless.
Besides, this wasn't a particularly big secret. Ruan Shuxiang would surely find out eventually if she kept searching.
Ruan Shuxiang was slightly stunned. "Big Sister Su, you aren't just worried that I'm too sad and specifically made this up to give me a clearer goal, are you?"
It had to be said that Ruan Shuxiang wasn't stupid...
She had actually guessed that much.
However, she was wrong about one thing.
Su Qing wasn't lying to her.
Su Qing shook her head. "I have no reason to lie to you about this... Bi Ling Yuanjun is indeed the Mountain God of my hometown!"
"You're really not lying?" Ruan Shuxiang asked, looking at Su Qing with a hint of suspicion.
Before, Ruan Shuxiang would have believed her instantly, but this time she was a bit skeptical...
After all, Su Qing likely had 'ulterior motives.'
Su Qing curled her lip. "I don't need to lie about this... Bi Ling Yuanjun is truly the Mountain God of the Changbai Mountains."
"Then Big Sister... why didn't you say so before?" Ruan Shuxiang looked at Su Qing, already believing her to some extent...
However, she still found it strange. Why hadn't Su Qing said anything before, but was speaking up now?
Su Qing curled her lip. "You never asked... and I forgot. For one thing, I don't believe in gods and have never worshipped her. For another, it's been many years since I left the Changbai Mountains, and I've forgotten many things about that place."
Yudie and Bai Rou'er struggled to hold back their laughter...
Su Qing indeed didn't believe in gods, because she was a god. Why would she need to believe in one?
Yudie spoke up at this point. "Mother really isn't lying to you. I wanted to tell you earlier, but Mother thought my talking would disturb you while you were processing the news about your master's family having no descendants, so she wouldn't let me speak. I didn't even get a chance..."
Yudie naturally backed up her mother...
In small matters, she might bicker with her mother.
But in matters like this, Yudie knew right from wrong.
Su Qing glanced at the girl. It wasn't that she hadn't let her speak; the girl just hadn't said anything herself.
But now wasn't the time to nitpick that.
"..."
"So Big Sister really isn't lying just to give me a new goal?"
"Of course not... You know me, I've always hated lying the most," Su Qing said shamelessly.
Beside her, Yudie couldn't help but cast a look of disbelief...
After all, her mother lied to her quite often.
Unfortunately, Ruan Shuxiang didn't know that. She just nodded. "That's true. Big Sister has always been very honest."
Well, she's been tricked by Mother again, Yudie thought to herself. But by telling her about the Changbai Mountains, did Mother get the idea of finding me another stepmother? No way? Surely not... well, if it's Mother, it seems there really is a possibility.
Yudie had zero trust in her mother, especially in this regard.
Her mother really loved picking up beautiful girls...
Just on this journey alone, her mother had picked up quite a few.
So Yudie didn't believe her mother didn't have any ideas!
No, I have to ask clearly later. If she really is a stepmother... my other mothers will definitely be angry, Yudie thought. I can't let Mother just pick up girls willy-nilly. It was already too much when she picked up a fox spirit...
Yudie was very troubled...
Even now, she couldn't understand why her mother was so popular with women.
It was clearly a source of trouble, yet she still ended up picking up a beautiful fox spirit.
Yudie was extremely distressed...
Ruan Shuxiang naturally couldn't know what Yudie was thinking.
She just looked at the sky and said, "Since what Big Sister said is true and Bi Ling Yuanjun is in the Changbai Mountains... then after everything is over, I'll take a trip there! I wonder if I'll be able to meet the Sovereign who loves to travel."
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