Chapter 323 Self-deception
It rains all year round in Guhu Town, and the weeds and mosses in the yard always grow faster than the turnip flowers. He simply attracted a patch of rapidly invasive red willow hibiscus and planted it in the yard. Soon, the yard was filled with the bright red of the red willow hibiscus flowers blooming everywhere.
Rutabaga likes bright red, a color that seems to always show the vitality of life. It is lively and tells him that he is not alone in this world.
Turnip flowers are most afraid of loneliness.
Standing on the porch, enjoying the breeze with his empty backpack, Wu Qinghua drifted off into a trance, contemplating the vast expanse of abandoned farmland outside Guhu Town. The vast expanse of land was prime paddy field, but without the oversight of a Buddhist monk, there was no need to cultivate it all. He planned to clear a section to plant rice, then a cotton field, or perhaps find space for mulberry trees.
All the other houses in the town were abandoned, and Luo Qinghua found a weaving frame from inside. When he figured out how to weave, he could help his mother and sister make some new clothes.
"Brother, I'm ready, let's go!"
Xuanyi came out jogging from the corner carrying her smaller backpack. Wu Qinghua said "hmm" and took slow and natural steps, just walking side by side with Xuanyi.
They still went up the mountain every day to collect magical herbs to treat their mother's illness. Wu Qinghua said nothing after that night, as if everything was normal.
But from then on, Wu Qinghua began to pay attention to her sister's life experience.
Originally, he was just using Xuanyi's knowledge of pharmacology, and Wu Qinghua could ignore any questions he had, but now Xuanyi is his sister, and he feels it is necessary to understand her.
While she was skillfully picking spiritual herbs in the mountains, Wu Qinghua pretended to ask casually, "Xuan Yi, where did you learn all this knowledge?"
"Hmm..." Xuanyi's hand paused while she was picking herbs, and her brows gradually frowned as she thought about it. She seemed to glance at Wu Qinghua secretly, but Wu Qinghua pretended not to notice.
In the end, Xuanyi lowered her head and answered vaguely, just like she did when answering Wu Qinghua's other questions.
“You learn by watching.”
It was like this again, as if she didn't dare tell the truth, or that telling the truth might cause something she didn't want to see. No matter where Wu Qinghua asked her about her origins, how she ended up living in that house, or where her family was, Xuanyi always had a face that was suppressing fear.
What is Xuanyi afraid of?
Wu Qinghua placed the spiritual herbs in his hand into his backpack, turned towards Xuanyi, and took a step forward. As he was trying to figure out how to ask the question tactfully, he stepped over a patch of vines when he felt a dead vine suddenly hook his ankle, causing him to lose his balance and fall face-first into the thick vines.
"Bang!"
"Hmm."
He put the backpack on his back over his head and pinned Wu Qinghua to the ground again as he was struggling to get up.
It was rare for Rutabaga to feel embarrassed. He hadn't made such a clumsy mistake in a long time. He fluttered in the vines for a few times before he remembered to take off the basket on his head. But before he could touch the basket, the darkness in front of him rose and revealed light.
Xuanyi stood in front of Wu Qinghua with a basket in both hands, bent down to look at him with a big smile on her face.
"Haha! All the spiritual herbs are on my head!"
The relaxed smile was as defenseless as if he was treating someone close to him.
Wu Qinghua was lying on the ground, looking up at her with a head of grass leaves on her head. Suddenly, she said seriously, "Xuan Yi, do you think that mother and I are your family?"
Xuanyi was stunned for a moment, pursed her lips, and handed the backpack to Wu Qinghua. Wu Qinghua climbed up and sat cross-legged on the pile of vines, placing the backpack in front of her and using her hands to pick up all the spiritual herbs that had fallen all over her head and body and put them back into the backpack.
He waited patiently for Xuanyi's answer, while Xuanyi silently squatted down, hugged her knees and looked at him.
"Well, I think so." She finally said softly.
"What do you think family means?" Wu Qinghua didn't wait for Xuan Yi to answer and began to explain. "To me, family is my world. I can tolerate everything about them, no matter what others think."
Taking a deep breath, Wu Qinghua put the backpack aside, stepped forward, and placed both hands on Xuanyi's shoulders. She looked directly into her eyes and said, "I know my mother died a long time ago. She is a corpse."
"But she's still alive, alive in front of us. We don't consider her dead, do we?"
Xuanyi seemed to gradually understand what Wu Qinghua was going to say. The corners of her mouth twitched slightly, and she looked at Wu Qinghua and nodded cautiously: "Yes, because mother is mother."
Wu Qinghua smiled and said, "Yes, mother is mother."
"And you are my sister, my family, my mother's daughter. You will never be an alien to us."
"So, don't be afraid."
Xuanyi's shoulders trembled slightly, and she couldn't help but clutch her clothes tightly. Wu Qinghua didn't put any more pressure on her, but just looked at her gently and tolerantly.
"...After you know this, you really won't be afraid of me, hate me, and abandon me and become a human again?"
What Xuanyi has always been afraid of is being alone.
Turnip flowers are most afraid of loneliness.
While driving away and getting no response from his mother, Rutabaga continued to chatter to his mother about everything he saw and heard, because he knew that as soon as his voice stopped, everything would return to silence.
Because he was alone.
"No, no matter what you say, you will always be our family. This fact will never change."
Wu Qinghua put her hands on her chest and swore to Xuanyi.
"You'll never be alone."
"I……"
As if she had finally made up her mind, Xuan Yi spoke with trembling lips.
"I am a Guixiu, I am not a human."
"Yeah, I see."
Turnip Flower accepted it without any hindrance.
Once the words were opened, the truth began to flow out. Wu Qinghua knew that Gui Xiu was a cultivator from the ghost world, just like a Buddhist cultivator. Xuan Yi didn't know how she got here, and she didn't know how to go back.
The strange cultivator does not need to eat, or rather, the food she eats is different from that of ordinary people, so she never eats rice porridge.
The strange cultivator has to rely on the dead energy to maintain his body shape, otherwise he will disappear.
"So if you don't kill people or beasts to absorb the dead air, you can't continue to exist in this world?"
"Yes." Xuanyi lowered her head, not daring to look at Wu Qinghua.
Wu Qinghua pondered for a moment before anxiously saying, "Then you gather herbs with me during the day and apply anointing to your mother at night. Doesn't that mean you don't have time to collect death energy? You're not going to disappear anytime soon, are you?"
After confirming that Wu Qinghua didn't see her as an alien, Xuanyi finally raised her head and said, "The demonic beasts and spirit beasts on the mountain would bite each other to death, so every time I go up the mountain, I'm actually secretly absorbing the death energy."
"Is that so? That's good." Wu Qinghua breathed a sigh of relief. He stood up, put the backpack on his back again, and stretched out his hand to Xuanyi with a relaxed look. "Let's go. It's almost evening and it's going to rain. It's time to go down the mountain."
Wu Qinghua's attitude did not change at all. Xuanyi finally smiled, took her hand and stood up.
"Um!"
In the rapidly darkened town of Guhu, a light still blazed on. Wu Qinghua knew it would be the same tomorrow, and the day after, too. The world would always be this peaceful, beautiful, and blissful.
Because this is a beautiful dream designed specifically for him.
Second update~By the way, sister Yi was watching the whole process from outside. Her mentality probably went from the joy of success to confusion and disgust. Wu Qinghua's evaluation of her was: a bit disgusting
I can go out tomorrow~
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