Chapter 49 Storytelling

Gu Jiayue's storytelling stopped abruptly, but everyone was still immersed in it and unable to come back to their senses.

Just at this moment, a cool breeze blew, and the oil lamps in front of everyone were blown to flicker.

Gu Bailu, the most timid one, was so frightened that she screamed "Ah" and quickly hid in her sister's arms. "Grandma Denghua, please don't eat me!"

Only then did everyone withdraw from the story.

"That's all?" Gu Zhigeng felt that the story was not yet finished.

Gu Jiayue nodded and said, "The story in the book ends here."

My cousin's wife, Zhao Xing'er, looked disgruntled. "This Liu guy really doesn't know how to repay a favor. Even when Granny Denghua helped him heal his wife, she only asked him to help make a wooden figurine, and he refused."

The two aunts nodded in agreement. "That's right, that's why they say most men in this world are heartless and lack loyalty."

"Perhaps, Mr. Liu has long wanted to change his wife. It's all because of Granny Denghua's meddling."

But Grandma Gu held a different view. "Didn't you hear the article about Liu Jizhong's friend seeing a demon holding his sister's heart and liver? Doesn't this simply indicate that Granny Denghua caused both his wife and sister's illnesses? This was all orchestrated by the demon."

After Grandma Gu explained this, everyone finally understood the deeper meaning of the story. "Isn't it true that it's easier to invite a deity than to send it away? You don't even know if it's a deity or a demon you've invited."

Everyone agreed and nodded.

"Second sister, is there anything else? Tell me another one."

Listening to stories is extremely addictive.

In ancient times, there was a lack of nighttime entertainment, and it was rare to have stories to listen to. Everyone was attentive and wanted to hear more.

Even the most timid Gu Bailu secretly raised his eyes to look at Gu Jiayue.

Gu Jiayue also became interested. "Okay, then I'll tell you another story about 'Mrs. Xiong's Wife'."

Once upon a time, there was a family of four in the mountains.

One day, the parents had to go out to visit relatives. Before leaving, they told their child that their grandmother would come to take care of them later. When the child heard the grandmother's voice, he opened the door for her.

The children were full of joy and looked forward to their grandmother's arrival.

An old bear spirit got the news and became evil. He quietly devoured the grandmother. Then he put on the grandmother's clothes, disguised himself as the grandmother, and came to the children's home.

In the evening, "Grandma" knocked on the door. The children saw through the crack that it was "Grandma" and happily opened the door to welcome her in.

At bedtime, the youngest sister noticed that her "grandmother's" hands were hairy, so she asked curiously, "Grandma, why are your hands so hairy?"

Mother Xiong was startled and quickly replied, "This is because grandma is old and has grown old hair. Don't be afraid, dear child."

In order to dispel the children's doubts, he took out the candies he had prepared earlier and distributed them to everyone. The children tasted the sweet candies and gradually relaxed their vigilance.

After a while, the elder sister noticed that the voice of "Grandma" was very different from usual. She became suspicious again and asked, "Grandma, why did your voice change?"

Mother Xiong forced herself to remain calm, cleared her throat, and said, "Grandma caught a cold on the way, and her throat is a little sore. Go to sleep quickly, my dears."

Late at night, the children fell asleep one after another, except for the youngest sister who was still awake.

She suddenly heard a strange chewing sound, and in the dim moonlight, she was horrified to find that "Grandma" was swallowing something in big mouthfuls.

My sister then asked Mrs. Xiong, "Grandma, what are you eating?"

Fearing that her secret would be exposed, Mrs. Xiong hurriedly said, "I'm eating fried broad beans."

Because she had not eaten at night, her sister was very hungry and kept making a fuss about eating.

Mrs. Xiong had no choice but to hand it over to her younger sister.

The younger sister took it in her hand and took a closer look, and found that it was actually a finger.

She quietly groped under the quilt, but her sister, who slept with Grandma Bear, was nowhere to be seen.

My sister was terrified, but she didn't dare to make a sound.

At this time, Mrs. Xiong asked again, "Sister, sister, are grandma's fried broad beans delicious?"

My sister suppressed her fear and said, "It smells good."

Grandma Bear continued to tempt her, "How about you come sleep with me, little sister? If you sleep with me, you can eat more fried broad beans."

The younger sister suppressed her fear and said, "Okay, but I want to go to bed. When I come back from going to bed, I'll sleep with Grandma."

Mrs. Xiong never expected that a child would deceive her, so she agreed.

My sister walked out of the room, took the opportunity to run to the yard, and climbed up the big tree in the yard.

Mrs. Xiong waited for a long time, but the children didn't come back, so she went to the yard to check.

Seeing her sister in the tree, Granny Xiong was furious. She circled the tree several times and shouted angrily, "Come down now, or I'll knock this tree down!"

My sister was so scared that she hugged the tree trunk tightly and dared not make a sound.

At this time, the younger sister thought of a clever idea and said to the Xiong family grandmother, "Grandma, I see there is a honeycomb on that tree. The honey inside is very sweet. If you want to eat it, I can help you get it down."

When Mrs. Xiong heard that there was honey, she immediately became interested and nodded in agreement.

My sister climbed to the place where the beehive was, kicked it down with her foot, and it landed right on Mrs. Xiong's face.

The bees swarmed out of the hive and flew towards Mrs. Xiong.

Mrs. Xiong's face was covered with blisters from bee stings. She rolled on the ground in pain, howling in agony.

My sister took the opportunity to come down from the tree and ran towards the village like the wind.

Mrs. Xiong finally got rid of the bees, but when she saw her child running away, she chased after him.

My sister ran and shouted, "Help! Mrs. Xiong is coming!"

When the villagers heard the cries for help, they rushed over with hoes, shoulder poles and other tools.

With the concerted efforts of the villagers, Mrs. Xiong was finally subdued.

"Beep~~"

Just at this moment, the oil in the oil lamp burned out, and the already flickering flame struggled for a few times before finally going out. The main room was instantly swallowed by darkness.

"Ah! Who pulled my clothes?" Grandma screamed in horror, her voice particularly harsh in the darkness.

My aunt hurriedly fumbled for a lighter and lit it with a "puff".

In the dim light of the fire, Gu Yuhe, who had woken up at some point, was seen with his hand still awkwardly resting on his grandmother's clothes, his face showing a bit of childish cunning and curiosity.

Gu Yuhe noticed everyone's gazes, scratched his head awkwardly, and stammered to explain: "I, I just wanted to see if grandma had a bear tail."

It turned out that the kid woke up at some point and heard the story of Mrs. Xiong just now. The child actually came up with such a weird idea.

Grandma was so angry that her face turned red. Without saying a word, she raised her hand and slapped him several times, her movements were fast and fierce.

Gu Yuhe covered his buttocks in disbelief, his eyes reddened, and he shouted loudly: "You are the mother-in-law of the Xiong family!"

This really annoyed Li's mother. She raised her eyebrows and slapped Gu Yuhe twice, scolding him. "You naughty boy, you are becoming more and more unruly!"

With Gu Yuhe's noise, the tense and wonderful atmosphere when listening to the story just now disappeared without a trace in an instant.

Gu Chunyan, who was usually taciturn, looked at Gu Jiayue with a faint smile on her face and asked softly, "Jiayue, did you often hear stories like this when you were in Kyoto?"

There was a hint of curiosity and yearning in her eyes, and she seemed to be full of fantasies about life in Kyoto.

"Yes, occasionally Aunt Cai would tell me some folk stories." Gu Jiayue responded with a smile.

Actually, this story happened when she was a child and she was disobedient and wanted to go out to play late at night. Her grandmother told her this story to scare her. As a result, she was afraid to go out at night for many years.

"No wonder, the story you just told is similar to the one I heard when I was a child. But I heard that the old woman was called the old witch, and in the end the old witch was hanged to death by the child's parents. Right, grandma?" Gu Chunyan turned her head to look at her grandmother who was still staring at Gu Yuhe angrily.

Grandma finally came to her senses, coughed lightly, and said seriously, "Yes, we call her the Old Changeling here. She often changes into various appearances to trick children into going home with her, and then eats them! So you guys must not talk to strangers casually. Especially you!"

As he said that, he glared at Gu Yuhe again and raised his hand as if he was going to hit him.

"Haha, that's really strange. I heard something similar when I was a child. But she was called Tiger Aunt. She also turned into a grandmother and ate children, but in the end she was put into a water tank and drowned by the children." The aunt also smiled and shared the story she had heard when she was a child.

Gu Jiayue couldn't help but feel amazing. In those ancient times when there were no telephones or the Internet, these stories could be passed down orally and different versions were derived. It was really interesting.

The family chatted with each other and told a few more stories, and before they knew it, it was late at night.

Just when everyone was about to fall asleep, a noisy sound came from far away, as if a group of people were rushing towards the Gu family.