Chapter 27 In the Name of Xiang Beichen (Part 2)
Since Beichen started to understand things and had memories, he has been following his grandmother Xiang Zhiyan in T City, constantly changing their residence until he was eleven years old.
Grandma said that she was an orphan who was picked up. She adopted Beichen and let her take the surname Xiang. When Beichen was a child, she saw that other children were spoiled by their parents, so she often pestered her grandmother to ask where her parents had gone. However, Xiang Zhiyan never answered her, but just told her that now her only relative was her grandmother. Although her grandmother had no blood relationship with her, she would do her best to protect her as she grew up.
Xiang Zhiyan moved with Beichen because she sold the house Zhao Yuan gave her. She moved three times and sold it three times, and the place she lived in became worse and worse - because she needed money.
Perhaps because she was an experimental subject, her health deteriorated rapidly after she turned forty, so she had to use a lot of expensive drugs to keep herself alive - because she couldn't die before finding the "witch".
Finally, she brought little Beichen to live in the oldest district of T City.
That period was probably the most difficult time. Her health was getting worse and worse. She couldn't spend the remaining money carelessly and had to save it to buy medicine. Beichen was in the growing period. She didn't want to let her down, but she couldn't go back to being a hacker. She wanted to be a tutor or a clerk to make money, but in that era when people relied on diplomas to make a living, no one was willing to trust her without any academic qualifications. For a few months, she had to put away her self-esteem and followed a few old people on the street to pick up rags.
Little Beichen is very sensible. She knows that her grandmother saves money just to buy her some delicious food in the evening, so she starts to help pick up the trash. She doesn't mind the dirt and often picks up all kinds of trash and curiously asks what they are, which makes Xiang Zhiyan, who was originally in a depressed mood, happy.
Fortunately, such days did not last long. One time when Xiang Zhiyan went to the hospital to get medicine for herself, she met an acquaintance - a researcher who used to work at "Hongya".
He wasn't particularly surprised to know that Xiang Zhiyan was still alive, nor did he seem to have any intention of settling scores with her - perhaps, after more than 20 years, he had already gotten used to being an ordinary person.
He solved the problem of "accelerated aging" that Xiang Zhiyan was most worried about.
He said that the reason Xiang Zhiyan's body weakened so quickly was because her brain was too active. Humans can only conserve so much energy, and when the brain robs the energy, the body naturally weakens quickly - so it would be better to adjust the energy level back to normal.
He took Xiang Zhiyan to several physical therapy sessions using the small amount of equipment from the base that he had at home, and also gave her some medicine he made himself. From then on, Xiang Zhiyan recovered her normal physique, but at the same time, the speed at which her brain worked also returned to the level of an ordinary person.
However, she didn't care about this. After Zhao Yuan died, she no longer wanted to touch the computer.
Now she is a real ordinary person──Xiang Zhiyan was actually a little excited about this.
What made Xiang Zhiyan even happier was that because of the appearance of that old friend, she saved the last penny of her savings, and she could spend it all on Beichen.
In order to protect her own health, she had delayed Beichen's studies. Although she had taught Beichen a lot of knowledge in her spare time, Xiang Zhiyan still did not send her to school until Beichen was eleven years old. Now she can finally make up for the guilt that has been accumulating for a long time.
As if to apologize, she paid money and used her connections to find a very good primary school for Beichen to be a transfer student.
Beichen has never been to school. She has always been dealing with a wise and calm old lady like her grandmother, which made her a little precocious. However, she still has a child's yearning for this kind of group activity of studying with many peers. Therefore, she seemed very excited and happily carried a set of learning tools prepared for her by her grandmother and went to school.
──As a result, she came back with a sour face at night.
Because she was only 11 years old and still in first grade, the outspoken kids in her class had said things that had hurt Beichen several times. Her teacher wasn't entirely clear about the circumstances surrounding Beichen's transfer to the class, and she always looked at her like she was mentally retarded and spoke to her in an exaggerated tone, as if she were trying to appease someone with dementia.
Eleven years old is a very sensitive period for the precocious Beichen. The experience of the first day of school directly made her develop a serious aversion to school. In the following week, she came back every day and shouted that she didn't want to go to school and would rather stay with her grandmother.
Then Xiang Zhiyan touched Beichen's head and smiled gently.
"Is it really okay to just come back like this? Even if you leave like this, those little classmates in your class will still call you an idiot when you're not around, okay? If you just don't go to school like this, then in the eyes of those classmates and teachers, you will always be a big idiot."
"I'm not stupid!"
Beichen, who was already feeling very aggrieved, suddenly had tears in his eyes.
"Grandma, of course, knows you're not stupid." Xiang Zhiyan smiled gently yet cunningly. "You're going to school so late. It's Grandma's fault. It was Grandma who gave you a bad initial environment. But—Xiaochen, the environment can be changed. If you're not satisfied with your current environment, crying or running away is useless. Just like Grandma said, if you run away, you'll always be seen as a failure in the eyes of others."
“…Then what should I do?”
"Don't cry about this. My Beichen's tears are very precious, don't waste them on things like this. It's very simple, all you have to do is work hard. Don't pay attention to what others say, just study hard. In a year—no, in half a year, come back and see what those who are laughing at you now will say."
“Is it all just a matter of trying hard?”
"Yes. The spirit of hard work...is the most important asset in life."
You have to work hard to live well, so that I won’t worry about you when I leave this world—Xiang Zhiyan said this while thinking about the biggest worry in her heart.
"Hard work doesn't guarantee success, but success definitely comes from hard work. An elegant and proud woman is captivating, a beautiful woman makes one lose their mind, and a hardworking woman makes one feel real. Grandma really hopes to see Beichen become an elegant, beautiful, and hardworking girl."
"What a hassle—"
Beichen probably didn't understand, so he kicked his legs on the edge of the chair and complained dissatisfiedly, which made Xiang Zhiyan smile bitterly: Yes, although this child is precocious, it is still too early to say these things.
However, after that, Beichen did not complain after returning home, nor did he cry about it again.
She endured other people's gossip silently and tried her best to make up for the knowledge she lacked. Because of this, the teachers began to look at her with admiration, while she seemed a little lonely in the group because of her long-term silence.
In the second grade, there was already a trend in the class of finding a "punishing bag" to bully.
Being a "bullshit"—many of us have probably experienced this from childhood to adulthood. A student who's not particularly popular in class, because of some flaw—maybe not very smart, not good-looking, overweight, or stuttering—becomes the butt of everyone's jokes. Anyone in a bad mood can curse or even kick them. Or, even more dramatically, if you don't bully the bully, you become one of them. As a result, this herd mentality forces even those who don't want to bully the other student to join in the fun, unwilling to stand out.
Beichen became the bully in the class because of his "mental retardation".
They looked down on her because she was five years older than the average age of her classmates, and thought that she was a head taller than everyone around her and was a disgrace to the class. She was silent and only knew how to read books in a gloomy manner. There were also some little boys who were a little shy because of her pretty face and played pranks on her. In short, she would be bullied several times a day, either lightly or heavily. The light ones were a few ridicules, and the heavy ones were slapping her on the back of the head, snatching her books and throwing them from the second floor, and other overly vicious jokes.
Human nature is evil at birth. Children will trample on ants, chickens or cats as toys without any sense of guilt. When they grow up, they know the hurtfulness of words and learn to think from other people's perspectives, so people begin to put on themselves the gentle shackles called morality. These children who have not yet put on shackles rarely consider the harm their actions will bring to others.
So what ended up happening was Beichen's outburst.
--Once, when a boy was dragging her around the classroom by her braids, she picked up her pencil case and hit the boy's head hard with the sharp corner of it, then kicked him to the ground and beat him up --until the boy burst into tears and snot.
The matter became a big deal and Grandma Xiang Zhiyan was called to the school.
In front of the head teacher, grandma bowed and apologized with a smile on her face. Beichen said nothing and stared at the boy standing opposite with gloomy eyes. He even forgot to continue crying and stood there in a daze.
Finally, Xiang Zhiyan paid some medical expenses and the matter was settled.
When she held Beichen's hand and walked back, Beichen thought she would scold her, but Xiang Zhiyan just smiled, patted her on the head, and gave her the thumbs up.
"Well done! Every child is the apple of an adult's eye. Only that little bastard is valuable, but isn't our Beichen valuable too? Kindness should be repaid tenfold, and resentment a thousandfold! Why should we be bullied by others?!"
"Ten times... a thousand times? What?"
Grandma smiled and pinched Beichen's nose.
"I'll treat those who are good to me ten times better, and I'll bully those who are not good to me a thousand times better!"
"oh!"
Beichen nodded in sudden realization, and his face, which had been gloomy for a while, gradually became bright again.
"Then I have to be a hundred times nicer to grandma, right?!"
"Haha, you little bastard, you're really good at talking. Come on, as a reward, grandma will buy you some kebabs!"
"Ohhh! I'm going to buy ten kebabs for grandma from now on!"
An old man and a young boy were holding hands and walking slowly along the old street as the sun was setting. The young one was chewing on the barbecue skewers with relish, as if he had forgotten the unpleasantness of the day.
"But, Xiaochen, don't do this again in the future."
After Beichen calmed down, Xiang Zhiyan spoke this. Seeing Beichen pouting a little unhappily, she winked cunningly and patted Beichen on the shoulder.
"Where does grandma get so much money to pay for medical expenses?"
“…Oh, that’s right.”
"Besides, what's the point of always looking at those people you hate and who also hate you? It makes you unhappy all the time. We only have a few decades to live. When you're happy, time passes the same way. When you're unhappy, time also passes the same way. If your time is completely filled with unhappy memories, wouldn't that be a big loss?"
Beichen nodded, not quite understanding.
"Besides, it's a good thing if some people hate you. The scariest thing in the world is thinking that everyone should revolve around you. Everyone should understand their true position - and then they can climb up step by step."
Xiang Zhiyan reached out and wiped the oil stains from the corner of Beichen's mouth.
"Repay kindness tenfold, remember your benefactor; repay resentment a thousandfold—after repaying, completely forget the other person, because that is of no use to us."
"Hmm...this is so troublesome..."
Beichen started complaining again, and Xiang Zhiyan tapped her forehead with her fingers helplessly.
"Anyway, grandma wants you to be happy, so just don't think about the unpleasant things!"
"I didn't think about it at all. It was grandma who kept bringing it up!"
“…”
The conversation ended with Xiang Zhiyan rolling her eyes.
At the end of the semester, Beichen's hard work paid off. She applied to skip a grade, and after several exams, she was finally approved with high scores. She entered the fourth grade directly in the second semester. A year later, she skipped a grade again, entering the sixth grade. Finally, at the age of fourteen, Beichen finally caught up with the average school age and entered junior high school.
Since that incident, no one dared to ridicule her until she graduated from elementary school. In her graduation year, she even developed good relationships with many of her classmates. In fact, unless she was pissed off, she was generally gentle and easy to talk to.
After entering junior high school, because she was starting from the same starting line as others, Beichen's relationship with her peers improved a lot. She smiled more often and had a few close friends in the class who went in and out together, watched movies, talked about comics, and talked on the phone for long hours. The shadow of her elementary school days was gradually forgotten by her.
But the good times did not last long. The financial situation of Xiang Zhiyan and Beichen began to become tight again. Because Xiang Zhiyan had to go out during the day to look for candidates for the witch, she had no time to work full-time. Her daily expenses were maintained by her part-time job, and Beichen's tuition was paid by the money left over from the medical treatment.
But recently, news came that the land of the cemetery where Zhao Yuan was buried was going to be used for other purposes, and the government provided subsidies to allow the families of the deceased buried in that cemetery to relocate the graves.
It would have been fine if it was just Zhao Yuan, but Beichen's parents were also buried there, as well as the tombs of Zhao Yuan's several single brothers. With this calculation, money became tight. I'm afraid that after all the tombs were moved, there wouldn't be enough money for Beichen's subsequent tuition.
After discussing with Beichen, the sensible Beichen prepared to apply for skipping a grade again to reduce the tuition for one year, and Xiang Zhiyan also went out for several nights in a row with the knife she used against the Red Moon Witch.
With the knife, she "persuaded" a wealthy employer to hire her as a tutor for his son several times. Because the price was high, she saved a small amount of money in just a few months, and Beichen also successfully skipped a grade again.
The danger was once again averted - but what Xiang Zhiyan didn't know was that a hidden danger that she had not discovered was gradually forming.
At the age of sixteen, Beichen enrolled in B Middle School, a key school in T City, at Xiang Zhiyan's insistence.
B Middle School - Although Beichen's test scores were good enough, Beichen didn't want to go because it was too luxurious and the tuition was too high. However, Xiang Zhiyan insisted that she not worry about the money because of the debt she owed to elementary school.
──Anyway, there is still the knife──Xiang Zhiyan thought so, but she didn’t consider that since it was such a useful thing, no matter how well she hid it, how could it not leak out.
In fact, Zhao Yuan’s hostile organization had already set its sights on Xiang Zhiyan when she first used the knife.
Perhaps it was because gangsters had extraordinary willpower. Although Xiang Zhiyan had conducted mental interference on the cadre, he did not forget what happened before and after the incident - that is, he remembered the knife. Everyone else laughed it off, but the deputy mayor's son took it to heart.
A weapon that can control a person's consciousness would be extremely useful if you could get your hands on it.
The man began to find opportunities to observe Xiang Zhiyan - but she had always been cautious and was well protected by Zhao Yuan. After Zhao Yuan's death, she disappeared again, and it took a long time to find her whereabouts. This time, he finally caught her using the knife.
But Xiang Zhiyan guarded the knife very carefully, and was incredibly shrewd. They'd been secretly guarding their residence for a few days when Xiang Zhiyan discovered them. Instead, the knife had driven them insane and landed them in a mental hospital. It looked like if they'd robbed it, she might have destroyed it before they even found it—after all, she was Zhao Yuan's woman, and her ruthlessness would likely have caught on to her.
After hearing his son's story, the deputy mayor felt itchy, but he didn't dare to speak out. What if someone else also wanted the knife? So they decided to solve the problem privately. Finally, they chose Xiang Beichen, the person closest to Xiang Zhiyan, as a breakthrough point.
The deputy mayor's niece, Jin Mingjing, happened to be the same age as Beichen. The father and son called Jin Mingjing over, discussed a plan with her overnight, patted her chest and told her that she could get any support she wanted, and then transferred her to School B where Beichen was.
Beichen started his high school life at School B and quickly became friends with his classmates. Jin Mingjing, who came prepared, also successfully became her good friend. During that time, Beichen thought that there would be no happier days than this.
While she was in a good mood, she also did not forget to take care of her grandmother. Fearing that she would be overworked because of tuition fees, Beichen started working part-time early. With the introduction of an acquaintance in the old street, she went to a nearby small food factory to do odd jobs after school every day, organizing packaging bags and doing some porter work.
Then she met Yin Lingsi there, also known as Redis.
Naturally, Redis came to Feinheim with Xifeng to look for the weapon that killed the Red Moon Priestess - because they had just entered the Thirteenth Block of the Moon-Slaying Sect and the information they received was that the weapon had been stolen to Feinheim, and their mission was to get it back.
The raw material of the Moon-Slaying weapon is star debris. Redis and Zephyr took a small piece of star debris sample and began to search around the vast Feinheim - that is, the earth. But Zephyr was still okay - as a human being, Redis had to find a way to gain a foothold in a completely unfamiliar world. This was also his minimum pride as a prince.
So he found a way to get into a logistics company, started from the bottom, sat on the truck every day to help unload goods, and that's how he met Beichen.
Because they met every day when transporting goods, it didn't take long for them to go from strangers to acquaintances. After they got to know each other, even though Redis quickly switched to a better position, he would still come over often to check on Beichen - probably because he thought this gentle and hardworking girl was interesting.
Two months later, Redis, who felt that Beichen was a good place to stay, confessed his love to Beichen, and the two officially began dating. Xiang Zhiyan also had a good impression of this taciturn but wise and mature man, and she assured Redis the right to come directly to their house if he had any problems.
When in love, Redis was not full of sweet words and promises like those young boys in school, but he would silently make arrangements for Beichen in many details, thinking about her, and even reporting all of Beichen's data, whether it was height, blood type, or ID and bank card number. This made Beichen, who had fallen in love, very dependent on him, and she would smile foolishly for no reason when she thought of him all day long.
Beichen's abnormality was immediately discovered by his "best friend" Jin Mingjing. She remained calm on the surface, but secretly followed Beichen to the small food factory where she worked. Then she saw Reddis driving a luxury car to pick up Beichen. The moment she saw Reddis, overwhelming jealousy occupied all of Jin Mingjing's thoughts, and she almost forgot the mission she was carrying out.
But she quickly calmed down and came up with a plan.
She began to please Beichen more and more, sticking to her, but she didn't ask to meet Beichen's boyfriend, but just said she wanted to visit her home. Beichen, who had always felt inferior because of his poor financial situation, refused several times, but in the end he couldn't resist her persistence and finally agreed.
And then—something unexpected happened.
Not long after entering Beichen's house, Jin Mingjing suddenly took out a dagger and put it against Beichen's throat to restrain her, and then threatened Xiang Zhiyan to hand over the Killing Moon Knife.
Unexpectedly, Xiang Zhiyan quickly compromised and handed over the knife without any hesitation.
Jin Mingjing was so happy that she ran to her uncle, the deputy mayor, to take credit for it. However, she soon discovered that what she had brought was only the blade, without the handle, so the knife could not be used at all. Realizing that his niece had so recklessly torn her relationship with Xiang Beichen, the deputy mayor was furious and scolded her.
As a result, Jin Mingjing's stubborn nature came out. She declared that she would get the remaining knife handle within a month, and then she went out angrily to look for someone.
When she returned to school, she first reported Beichen's premature love to the discipline director, and then hired a few gangster girls to take Beichen to the toilet every day to humiliate him and force him to tell her the whereabouts of the knife handle. Beichen was no match for four hands, and even if he tried to resist, he would still end up with bruises in a few days. She went to find the class teacher, but the class teacher's eyes were wandering. She went to find the academic dean, but the academic dean avoided the question. She went to find the principal, but the principal advised her to keep a low profile and not embarrass the school. Obviously, no one dared to offend Jin Mingjing, the big Buddha.
The people in the class gradually began to distance themselves from Beichen, and the only ones willing to talk to her were a few bad boys with bad reputations. Xiang Zhiyan had a good relationship with the gangsters near the old street because of Zhao Yuan. Influenced by her, Beichen didn't really dislike these people. He often joked with them, sometimes let them copy homework, and often frowned and scolded them after they fought.
Because of this, these bad boys regarded Beichen as their "brother" and stood up for him when he was neglected and bullied.
The price they paid was that, a few days later, one of the delinquents was arrested and taken to a detention center on trumped-up charges. The others came to school the next day with bruises all over their faces, and one had an eye so swollen it couldn't be opened.
So Beichen silently and proactively distanced himself from them.
She did not tell Xiang Zhiyan what happened at school - because Xiang Zhiyan told her after that day that the knife was related to the lives of hundreds of millions of people and must never be handed over.
Although it sounds a bit ridiculous, since Xiang Zhiyan said so, Beichen would believe it, so she didn't want to be the reason for her grandmother's deviation in judgment.
Unable to get the truth out of her, Jin Mingjing followed Beichen to his workplace in anger. When Redis showed up, she pretended to be Beichen's friend and talked to him. Beichen didn't expose her because in her eyes, Redis was not someone who would be snatched away by such a woman.
But that night, Redis went to Beichen's house and asked Beichen to act as a matchmaker between him and Jin Mingjing - he said that the woman had something very important to him and he had to get it - it turned out that Xifeng, who was observing from a distance, sensed a trace amount of star energy on Jin Mingjing's body and judged that the Killing Moon Sword was in Jin Mingjing's hand.
Although Reddy repeatedly stressed that he approached Jin Mingjing only for a purpose, Beichen still felt a pang of sadness - in fact, because she was so infatuated with love, she did not even think carefully about whether the thing Reddy was talking about was the Killing Moon Blade - no, she did not think about it at all, because Xiang Zhiyan said that only a few people knew about this knife, so she instinctively imagined the "important thing" Reddy was talking about as "something that can only be obtained by clinging to the powerful and wealthy."
She suppressed her grief as she introduced Reddis to Jin Mingjing, not once mentioning how she'd been treated by Jin Mingjing. What good would that mean? Given the power of the other party, could Reddis defeat them? Since he had something he "had to get," even if she spoke, it wouldn't change the outcome.
At least Redis kept emphasizing that he liked me - Beichen thought sadly.
Repaying a grudge a thousand times over—yes, she wanted to pay it back, but facing such a huge disparity in strength, what could she do? If she didn't pay it back, she might as well lose her life.
Now, there seems to be no other way except to persevere and save enough money to move away.
So, Redis began to date Jin Mingjing on the surface, and came to Beichen's residence to visit Beichen at night.
The interrogation at school during the day did not stop - she accidentally lifted her sleeve and was discovered by Reddis. Beichen just mumbled over it - she was afraid that her grandmother in the outer room would hear it, and Reddis, who was busy extracting information from Jin Mingjing, did not care.
Not long after this happened, he was discovered by Jin Mingjing's men.
Jin Mingjing was still obsessed with Radis and was furious with Beichen, so she hired a few low-class thugs, gave them a bottle of aphrodisiac, and asked them to deal with Beichen. So Beichen did not go to work that day because he was kidnapped on the way back. Fortunately, one of Beichen's classmates, who were bad boys, saw this scene and immediately gathered some friends to rush to rescue him, so that no disaster was caused.
Beichen was in a trance when he was sent home, and wanted to attack anyone he saw. Only then did Xiang Zhiyan hear about what happened in the school from the mouths of those bad boys - including Reddis's strange two-timing behavior.
Xiang Zhiyan sighed that she was the one who harmed Beichen, and then she immediately made up her mind.
She asked Redis to contact Jin Mingjing and meet with her secretly.
There was a reason why Xiang Zhiyan handed over part of the Killing Moon Sword so easily.
——Besides Beichen, Jin Mingjing was the only other qualified person to become a shrine maiden. Since it would eventually be hers, it wasn't a bad idea to give it to her.
So, Xiang Zhiyan took the hilt of the knife and told Jin Mingjing the whole story - and asked - she could take the hilt, but she had to become a witch and go to another world to carry out the mission of destroying the world.
Jin Mingjing initially found Xiang Zhiyan's words ridiculous, but when she thought of the knife in her uncle's house, whose composition could not be detected by any scientific method, she gradually stopped laughing - that knife might really not be a thing of this world. In fact, manipulating human consciousness has long been beyond the scope of science and technology here.
She refused Xiang Zhiyan and ignored the knife handle, and hurried back home.
The more she thought about it, the more fear she grew. She feared that this old woman would drag her to another world, where she would take up her sword and kill millions of people. Killing people was the least of her worries, but the question was, would anyone in that world be so willing to be killed? They would surely resist and attack her. She might even die without a burial place!
No! I absolutely don't want to be a shrine maiden! So──
Jin Mingjing stopped trembling and sneered.
...So, just kill that old woman, right?
A week later, on a rainy night, Beichen returned home and found that Xiang Zhiyan was not there. There was a strange smell in the house and no one answered her cell phone.
She called Redis anxiously, but Redis hung up on her, saying that he was having dinner with Jin Mingjing and it was inconvenient to talk.
Beichen called everyone from the old street and asked them to look for her separately. Finally, they found Xiang Zhiyan in an empty alley.
She was lying in a pool of blood, with a big hole on her waist. Her chest was heaving with difficulty, and she was breathing out more than she was breathing in.
Beichen hugged her and cried incoherently, but she just forced a smile.
"Remember... what Grandma told you? You can cry, but no more than five minutes. Grandma wants you to be sad about her death, but... Grandma only wants... five minutes from you."
As she spoke, she held Beichen's hand and used her last bit of strength to put Pandora's Box into Beichen's body.
Ahh ...
Will this child she raised eventually become a witch with blood on her hands?
No.
In fact, deep down in her heart, she had already made her choice.
Someone like Jin Mingjing could indeed become a shrine maiden, as long as she handed over the Pandora's Box to her when she wasn't paying attention when handing over the hilt.
But is that really a good thing?
Why did she say to Beichen, "Even if the whole world is your enemy, there will always be people who love you"?
Why should she be repeatedly encouraged to become a down-to-earth hard worker?
Why did she teach Beichen to be a kind, calm and clear-cut person?
Why does she hope that Beichen can live happily and open-mindedly?
Does a witch really need to be an unforgivable criminal?
No... Only a kind girl, a determined girl, a girl who can endure what ordinary people cannot, can shoulder such a burden - only such a person can find a way...
Try to change that bloody future.
Beichen, please forgive grandma - in the end, grandma still subconsciously regarded you as the best candidate for the witch.
"I'm sorry, Grandma... I couldn't hold onto the hilt of the knife in the end. From now on... you won't have any shackles to restrain you. So, you must rely on your own reason... to win..."
She spoke with difficulty and incoherently - but Beichen was crying loudly and shouting for an ambulance, and didn't hear much of what she said.
"...Also,...they're...the deputy mayor's men...You can't defeat them...so just hide. ...Grandma, I hope you...live well."
Beichen was still crying, with one hand pressing on Xiang Zhiyan's bleeding wound, as if trying to cover up the blood that would not stop flowing.
"You need to become stronger—don't be like grandma... and become a burden that causes your loved ones to suffer."
"Grandma is not... not a burden!! Grandma, please don't leave me──You are all I have left...! Grandma, I haven't even repaid your kindness tenfold, and you haven't even enjoyed happiness──"
“Live. …Live. …Live!!”
After repeating those emotion-filled words three times in a row, Xiang Zhiyan died as the sound of an ambulance slowly appeared in the distance. No matter how Beichen cried or shook her shoulders, she could no longer open her eyes.
Ten days later, Beichen dropped out of school and left T City with Xiang Zhiyan's inheritance.
When Redis learned the news and rushed to Beichen's residence, the place was already empty.
There was only one text message from Beichen in his phone, and the message only contained two short words.
"goodbye."
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