Remember it in your heart?
Xu Yiyi didn’t quite seem to understand her aunt’s words. Ruan Lan stroked Yiyi’s head. Although her niece was very smart, she was, after all, just a five-year-old child, so she didn’t elaborate and only let out a long sigh. If possible, Ruan Lan wished Yiyi could forever remain oblivious to this truth. Once dwelled upon, life’s partings and death’s farewells were simply too cruel.
Ruan Tang knelt before her grandmother’s grave and said softly, "Grandma, you always loved grapes the most. Don’t secretly leave any for me this time, eat them all, okay? I’ll bring you more next Qingming Festival.
"Yiyi is such a thoughtful little treasure, exceptionally obedient and sweet, but she’s a bit picky with her food and only likes to eat meat.
"You always said I was too kind-hearted and worried I’d run into a bad boy—and you were right. Xu Lai is a total rascal, but he makes really delicious food... it has the taste of home.
"I’m living on Mount Haitang now, not in the villa at the foot of the mountain we used to look at, but in Haitang Court at the peak. From there, I can overlook the whole of East Sea City; the view is especially beautiful."
Ruan Tang spoke of family, the company, her life, and all the changes she had gone through in the past half-year—a mix of sweet, sour, bitter, spicy, and salty.
Finally, Ruan Tang brought up Xu Lai.
She whispered, "Grandma, what do you think of Xu Lai?"
Naturally, there was no reply.
But listening to the mournful whistle of the wind on the mountain, Ruan Tang lowered her head and murmured, "You clearly promised you’d personally be here to give me your approval."
Two lines of tears silently streamed down her cheeks.
In the Ruan Family, Grandma was the only one who truly and wholeheartedly loved Ruan Tang. Unfortunately, the good times were always fleeting.
"Mommy, don’t be sad anymore."
Yiyi ran over, tenderly wiping the tears from her mother’s cheeks. Caught up in the emotion, the little girl’s own eyes began to well up, and she looked as if she was on the verge of crying herself.
"Silly girl, Mommy isn’t sad," Ruan Tang said, gently shaking her head.
"But Mommy, you cried," Xu Yiyi said in a soft, sweet voice. "Doesn’t crying mean you’re sad?"
Ruan Tang playfully rubbed her daughter’s nose and smiled through her tears. "I can’t fool you, can I? Yiyi is too clever."
"Alright, alright, let’s go home. We’ll come back to visit your great-grandmother again during the Qingming Festival," Ruan Tang announced as she stood up.
Xu Yiyi waved her chubby little hands and said obediently, "Goodbye, Great-grandma."
On the way down the mountain, Yiyi and Ruan Lan walked at the very front. Ruan Tang, however, turned back to gaze at the name on the tombstone, remaining silent for a long time.
Xu Lai took her hand and said gently, "Life isn’t the starting point, and death isn’t the endpoint. Your grandmother is watching over you from heaven, and she definitely wouldn’t want you to be so sad."
"My grandmother said she doesn’t like you," Ruan Tang declared.
Xu Lai was baffled. I personally watched her cross the Bridge of Forgetfulness and reincarnate. When could she possibly have said that!
"I just asked Grandma. Didn’t you see the leaves on the trees shaking their heads?"
My dear girl, that’s just the wind!
Xu Lai knew his wife was probably still angry about yesterday’s incident. He couldn’t help but smile bitterly. "You can’t blame me for what happened yesterday."
Ruan Tang’s beautiful eyes narrowed. "So you’re saying it was my fault?"
"...It’s not your fault either," he replied.
"Hm?" Ruan Tang was taken aback. "If it’s neither your fault nor mine, then who’s to blame?"
Xu Lai replied seriously, "It must be the fault of the timing."
Ruan Tang silently nodded.
The two of them tacitly agreed not to bring up the matter again, effectively turning the page.
Still, whenever she thought about everything that happened yesterday, Ruan Tang couldn’t help but cover her face. It was just so embarrassing! The only silver lining was that the ’plot’ from the night they first met five years ago hadn’t entirely replayed...
After leaving the village, Ruan Tang, sitting in the passenger seat, leaned against the car window on the way home, remaining silent for a long time.
Upon returning to East Sea City that afternoon, Ruan Tang went straight to her company. She had a lot of new orders that needed her personal review.
Since the little girl had fallen asleep in the car, Xu Lai didn’t take her to kindergarten. Instead, he gently carried her back to her room and laid her down.
In the second-floor room with the balcony, he saw the rotund Xiao Hei deeply asleep on the floor with a stick of Purple Bamboo beside its paw. The warm sunshine poured over its body, and feeling so comfortable, it even rolled over in its sleep.
This fellow’s life is a little too comfortable, Xu Lai mused. Eat, sleep, repeat.
But this lifestyle would only last for a few years. Because of their innate talents, the Gold Swallowing Demon Race had a three-year Chaotic Period in their youth. Once they reached three years of age and had their Spirit Awakening, Xiao Hei would no longer be an adorable, round creature, but a fearsome beast on the verge of rising to power.
Upon reaching adulthood, even if a Gold Swallowing Beast were a once-in-a-million-year dud, unable to practice Cultivation, its power would, at a bare minimum, be on par with a Human Race expert in the Golden Core Realm.
This was the racial talent innate to the Gold Swallowing Demon Race.
However, as if sensing something, Xiao Hei groggily opened its eyes. It sniffed the air and, following the scent, spotted Beibei.
A bright light twinkled in its big, adorable eyes as it happily bounded over on its bear-like paws. The conch girl sensed the danger. Her expression changed drastically and she ran for her life, but she was still caught and pinned to the ground.
Beibei panicked, constantly pushing against the huge paw. "No! Get away from me! Don’t touch me!"
Xiao Hei made a cute noise, picked up the conch, and started to slurp at it.
Beibei was shaking with rage, yet she was powerless and unable to break free.
Her trembling, stuttering voice cried out, "H-help... help, help, help me..."
Hearing the cry for help, Xu Lai grabbed Xiao Hei by the scruff of its neck, tossed it into the backyard hot spring pool, and then picked up the saliva-coated conch shell.
Beauti, dressed in a beautiful cheongsam and now soaked to the bone, slid out of the shell looking completely worn out. Not only had her eyes lost their gleam, but the moist traces at their corners—whether from the Gold Swallowing Beast’s drool or her own tears—made for an incredibly pitiful sight, and a particularly heart-wrenching one at that.
This wasn’t the first time. Since when had she become a plaything for this round, black-and-white creature?
Carrying her shell on her back, her little nose sniffling, Beibei grew more and more aggrieved the more she thought about it. Finally, she couldn’t hold it in any longer and burst out crying.
Why must life as a conch be so difficult? Heaven, you are unfair!
Xu Lai didn’t know how to comfort Beibei. After all, during its Chaotic Period, a Gold Swallowing Beast wouldn’t listen to anyone. It acted completely on its whims, truly embodying the principle of "I am first, Heaven is second."
Because of this, no Gold Swallowing Beast under three years old was ever allowed to leave the ancestral lands of the Gold Swallowing Demon Race for fear of bringing disaster upon the clan. Though the Gold Swallowing Demon Race was strong, they were not invincible across the vast Universe.
And Xiao Hei was probably the only exception in numerous eras.
"I’m going to work hard on my Cultivation! Then I’ll throw you into the sea to soak for three days and three nights and make you drink seawater until you’re full!" Beibei vowed through her sobs, fleeing from Haitang Court and diving into the ocean.
I need a good bath, and I need to practice my swordsmanship. I swear on my name as the number one sword master in this sea—I will have my revenge! Thirty years east of the sea, thirty years west of the sea, never bully a conch for being poor! Follow current novᴇls on NoveIꜰire.net