Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
The fog spread, and on the long road, only one person walked aimlessly forward. But in the distance was a road shrouded in fog, and she kept walking forward without thinking. Her feet were worn raw, but she still didn't want to stop. She stubbornly kept moving forward.
"Ah Yuan, Ah Yuan, come quickly, I've cooked your favorite noodles with minced meat sauce." The voice was ethereal, and her steps forward came to a halt. Her heart felt heavy, and she looked ahead.
"Grandma?" Meng Yingying asked in surprise.
"Ah Yuan, my good child, come here quickly."
Meng Yingying was almost certain that it was her grandmother's voice. Since transmigrating into the book, she rarely dreamed, and even her sleep at night was restless, often waking up. What happened tonight almost broke her tense nerves. It wasn't that she wasn't afraid, but that she couldn't be afraid. This dream was like a gift, a gift that gave her the strength to keep going. Meng Yingying stood still and did not move forward.
She knew it was just a dream; her grandmother was still calling her name, her voice still so kind and gentle.
Meng Yingying lowered her head:
"Grandma, I've met many people in this world. I can't control my emotions, but I know I'll leave this world sooner or later. I can't leave any regrets behind, but I really, really want to help them."
"Is this really just a book? I can't tell anymore. If it were you, Grandma, what would you choose to do? There are so many things I can't understand. I could die at any moment, Grandma... Grandma..." Meng Yingying's lips grew colder and colder as she repeated herself, her voice trembling slightly. The longer she stayed in there, the less she could distinguish herself and the harder it was for her to judge right from wrong.
The tragic deaths of Li Zhaodi, Zhao Qiao'er, and Hua Liu—one life after another vanished right before her eyes. She had never imagined that death meant nothingness, that corpses would decompose, and souls would dissipate. How could she possibly ensure her own survival while still completing the mission? The final boss's strength was unknown; she knew nothing.
Crackling sounds—a cracking sound somewhere, like fragments shattering and exploding.
A sound rang out from deep within.
"Grandma, how do you write your name?" The young girl lay on the table, her hands awkwardly holding the pen, looking at her grandmother beside her.
Grandma put on her glasses, smiled, and held her hand: "Grandma, your name is Hu Pandi, it's very easy to write, come here, Grandma will teach you."
Meng Yingying wrote her name on the paper, traced it repeatedly, observed it carefully, and wrote it stroke by stroke several times.
Grandma was knitting a sweater nearby when she saw it and praised, "Ah Yuan's writing is really good."
Meng Yingying pursed her lips shyly: "Grandma, why am I called Meng Yuan?"
"Because of kites, they fly and fly." Grandma smiled, waving her hand twice in the air. "Our kites, they have to fly, fly to very far places."
Meng Yingying was taken aback, her eyes slightly bulging. She turned her head away as if avoiding the question, staring at the notebook: "Grandma, don't you like me?"
Grandma's heart softened when she saw Meng Yingying's frail figure. She put down the yarn she was knitting, went over and hugged Meng Yingying from behind, and whispered, "How could Grandma not like you?"
"Grandma doesn't want you to feel attached to me. Grandma will leave sooner or later, but you have to move forward and not look back."
Meng Yingying stubbornly rubbed her eyes and mumbled, "I got sand in my eyes, it hurts."
Grandma cupped her face and gently blew on her eyes, without poking her red and wet eye sockets. Meng Yingying let the gentle breeze blow on her eyelids, her eyelashes feeling a little itchy.
"Grandma, I'm so tired."
"Feeling tired from practicing calligraphy? Take a break."
"I can't rest, I haven't seen you yet."
"Don't worry about me, A-Yuan. You must fly away, fly far away, and never come back."
Creak, creak, the dim room grew darker and darker.
Meng Yingying slowly opened her eyes and uttered the first sentence: "Grandma, why do you call me Meng Yuan...?"
"Am I... Meng Yingying?" she muttered to herself.
Her mind was a jumble of conflicting thoughts, making her feel confused. She said anxiously, "Wait..."
"Maybe my memory is playing tricks on me, that's why Grandma said the wrong name." She thought to herself, but her mind was already filled with more than a dozen different versions of the reason due to her imagination.
Perhaps she wasn't a transmigrator at all? Maybe she was a native, just possessing someone else's memories? No, if that were the case, how could she be wrong about the events she personally experienced? Did she really transmigrate into the book? Or something else? Another dimension? A wormhole?
An unnamed anxiety filled her, and she didn't sleep well. At this moment, bloodshot veins were faintly visible on the surface of her eyes, her oval face was deeply tired, her eye sockets were sunken, and her lips were pale. She stuck out her tongue and licked her lips, only to find that they were dry and peeling.
She shifted her body, and Shang Mang's limp hand fell to the ground. Meng Yingying turned around and saw that his cheeks were very red and his forehead was covered in sweat. When she reached out to touch him, he opened his eyes, which were bloodshot. The moment he saw her, he suddenly raised his hand and pushed her away forcefully.
"Get out of my way." He gritted his teeth, sweat soaking a strand of hair on his cheek, sticking to his face, and stood up, supporting himself against the wall. Meng Yingying reached out to help him, but Shang Mang spoke again fiercely, "Don't touch me." His voice was restrained, but Meng Yingying could still hear a tremor in it.
"You're sick, you need to rest," she said.
Shang Mang glanced at her sideways before looking away: "It's none of your business." He suddenly became cold and violent again, but Meng Yingying was not as angry as before. She watched helplessly as he tried to leave, barely able to walk.
Meng Yingying crossed her arms and said, "Don't you think you have a lot of flaws? Or are you deliberately showing them to me?" She asked back, noticing that his movements were neither slow nor paused, and his loose curly hair draped over his waist.
Shang Mang turned around, gritted his teeth, and said, word by word, "There's no need to blow me up. I do know a lot of things, but what do you suspect me of?"
“I’ve never hidden my intention to kill you, so what do I need to reveal to you?” He laughed mockingly.
Meng Yingying gazed deeply into his eyes, her mind racing with a jumble of thoughts.
He was like this before at Biyun Temple, but suddenly he changed, and at that time, his eyes turned red. This red side was tyrannical and indifferent, while the other side always wore a hypocritical smile. No matter which side seemed insincere, which side was the real him?
Ever since she transmigrated into the book, she, who was originally not a curious person, found Shang Mang and Zhou Xiuqi to be completely wrong, deviating entirely from the rigid character that a novel NPC should have.
Shang Mang stood there watching her, lost in thought again. He forced a smile that was hard to decipher, then turned and left. The moment he opened the door, a person stood outside. He saw him and they smiled at each other.
Shou Changyue's smile was somewhat forced. No one could smile happily at someone who had tried to kill their brother yesterday. Shou Changyue looked at his face and said politely, "Are you... feeling unwell?"
Shang Mang didn't speak, but turned his head. Meng Yingying was still thinking and hadn't noticed Shou Changyue's appearance. He held back. He walked over to Meng Yingying in a few steps, and she was pulled by him, coming back to her senses and looking at him.
"Don't go out with him." He didn't lower his voice. Before Meng Yingying could react to who he was talking about, he had already walked out. Shou Changyue only entered the house after he left, her gaze fixed on her.
Meng Yingying then realized who Shang Mang had been talking about. She felt a little embarrassed. Seeing that he had stopped at a suitable distance, Shou Changyue rubbed the corner of his sleeve: "Did you sleep well last night?"
Meng Yingying said politely, "We slept very well. Thank you for taking us in. As for him... that's just his nature..." She thought of a few words to describe him, but finally managed to say, "He's not a bad person at heart."
Shou Changyue smiled nonchalantly, "I know, my brother is the same way." Meng Yingying didn't understand why he came to find her. Was it just to ask if she slept well?
"I don't know why, but I feel like we get along really well. Can we chat for a bit?" he said hesitantly.
Meng Yingying remembered Shang Mang's words and instinctively wanted to refuse, but then she thought, why should she listen to him? But it was indeed not safe to go out with him.
"Let's talk inside," she said understandingly, dragging a chair to sit down. She wasn't really in the mood to listen to him or chat with him right now, but since he was an NPC, he might have some crucial information.
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