rray. I wonder what else needs to be changed" I desperately tried to steer the conversation back on track.Teacher Xiao Wang frowned and said, “I've noticed that my wife has been a bit cold lately, so...“Because he doesn’t have your phone number,” my brother said bluntly, “In his heart, he doesn’t take this seriously. You’re being too modest and keeping it to yourself. Do you expect a man like him to constantly think about his little daughter's feelings Xiao Qiao, don’t be naive.”

I'm speechless. Looks like my brother has more dating experience than me.

We packed up our luggage and drove back to Shiquan溝 Village. We originally planned to pick up Old Chen, after all, this sleazy charlatan is a local snake.

But, he's actually at the hospital!

I twitched the corner of my mouth and couldn't help but cover my forehead and say, "Could it be that Miss is about to give birth"

My brother nodded with a black line on his face: "Old Chen said he wasn't willing to give up, insisting on watching the child be born and then doing a paternity test. He even asked me for money just now!"

I sighed, "How much, lend him it."

"No way, Xiao Qiao, you're actually lending him!" My brother stared at me in surprise: "Didn't you hate this about him"

"Well... I hate him because I think he betrayed his wife; I also pity him because he's blinded by love for the children..."

I leaned against the car window, watching the vehicles whizzing by outside.

Suddenly, I have a bit of regret.

We left in such a hurry that we only called our father at the hospital and were unable to see him.

That old man's got a mouth on him, even better than my brother. I saw him making the doctors and nurses laugh their heads off. He was so calm and collected, not even bothered by the white hairs sprouting at his temples.

My dad is only in his forties, but after lying in bed for these past few months, he looks ten years older.

My brother whispered to me that Dad actually didn't care about life or death. He lied to us saying he was going back home, but he actually wanted to destroy himself and take the Ghost King down with him. However, the Ghost King sensed his plan and foiled it.

He didn't care about life and death, because there was no one he loved in this world anymore.

while the grandfather was unwilling to bring disaster upon his descendants and couldn't bear to die, it was because he was afraid that after death, he would never find his beloved again.

And I, blindly lost myself to him, both in body and heart.

Looking into his eyes, I saw a cold compassion, a longing to be different from the rest.

Even though it's a wishful thinking, I can't help but indulge in it.

》》》

Shiquan溝 New Village is very large. I found it last time I came, and it is uniformly planned. The houses all look very similar, making it difficult to find my way around.

My brother's GPS led him to a roadblock. A pile of scrap metal blocked the path to the nursing home.

"Damn… is this to keep the press out" My brother got out of the car and looked around. He couldn't drive it in.

"Of course! When something happens in a nursing home, public opinion is quick to judge. Whether there's evidence or not, they'll slap on the label of elder abuse first. Those families don't want to make a fuss either, because they'll be criticized for being unfilial... Hey, brother, we can climb over here." I found a low wall.

My brother covered his face and said, "Ah... I actually brought a pregnant woman over the wall. It feels so guilty, Xiao Qiao you've gone bad, you're getting wilder and wilder!"

"Cut the crap!" I laughed and scolded, tossing my backpack to him.

Behind the wall, there was a path leading to the nursing home. On one side, there was a pond filled with moss and aquatic plants, it looked slimy and green, quite disgusting.

I knocked on the iron gate of the nursing home, and a gloomy fat man pulled open the small window and stared at us, asking, "What do you want"

"We're here to visit Old Man Kang, his son asked us to come and see him, and we brought some local specialties." My brother said as he slipped a few sheets of paper through the small window.

The fat man, seeing my brother so capable, softened his expression and said, “Now is not the time for visits—”

"Could you do us a favor We drove here, so we'll be leaving soon." My brother slipped a few red bills into the hand.

That face, full of flesh and fat, smiled: "Alright, come on in! There can't be too many people!"

"Just the two of us!" My brother pointed at me,

That fat man squinted at me, then opened the iron gate. The rusty hinges made my skin crawl.

The nursing home was filled with a chill, and I secretly took out my compass to have a look.

The needle trembled restlessly, oscillating slightly back and forth—it seemed there was a ghost here, possibly an elderly person who had died suddenly and was still lingering, not yet sent off.

"Little sister, what are you looking at..." The fat man's greasy face suddenly stretched over my shoulder.

I was so scared I jumped, clutching the compass to my chest and taking two steps back. "Where's my brother" I asked.

"Didn't you come to visit Old Master Kang Your brother has already gone inside." He pointed to a room on his right.

The atmosphere here feels off. Under the banyan tree, there's an elderly woman in a wheelchair. Her eyes are cloudy and fixed on me, her fingers twitching nervously. She even opened her shriveled mouth towards me.

She seemed to have something to say.

The fat security guard stared at me with a sinister smile, his greasy face made me feel sick.

Under the banyan tree, the old woman took advantage of the guard's inattention. Her two thin hands, like withered claws, rose before me and made a gesture.

I was startled. This person is in the know!

She was wearing a string of handmade wooden beads. If I'm not mistaken, they were made of peach wood and had quite a few runes carved into them.

I wanted to walk towards the old woman, but the fat guard actually stopped me and even rubbed his belly against me on purpose!

"Little sister, don't run around here. The elderly people in here like it quiet, don't disturb their rest." The fat man smiled and said, "Why don't you go sit in the security guard room for a while I'll pour you a cup of tea."

"No, I'll stay here by myself." I firmly walked past him and went to the wheelchair-bound old woman.

As she walked by, she suddenly asked, "Girl, do you know what I do"

I clutched my backpack, bowed my head pretending to pack things, and muttered softly, "I see. With the peach wood amulet in your hand, you're a yin witch, aren't you"

"Hmph... quite the eye for detail." The old woman remained motionless, her voice emanating from within her abdomen.

She can actually talk to herself!

We often talk about the three realms of monastic, taoist, and secular. People like her who specialize in the occult belong to the "secular" realm.

They can burn charms and communicate with ghosts, allowing a certain ghost from the underworld to possess their own body. After settling accounts with their family, the ghost returns to the underworld to be punished or reincarnated.

"Can you feel it, girl With that compass in your hand, you must be a disciple from some sect, right" she whispered to him with a knowing smirk.

"Do you know anything" I asked softly.

She trembled all over, her eyes glazed and trembling as she stammered, "A ghost told me that someone tricked them, saying that if they took out half their soul, they could live forever. Those old people who died were descendants of Huang Dao Village, they were being avenged! Back then... the karmic debt, came to collect souls!"

I frowned. It was a common ailment among witches: speaking in fits and starts, always managing to perfectly sidestep the point.

Because they also know that talking too much will lead to creating karma hindrances... up, I smelled a whiff of wood smoke and grass. My arm was yanked upwards with force, pulling my bones with an unsettling cracking sound.Ouch!I opened my eyes to see two women tying ropes around me.My...