Wang Shi glanced at the small bamboo cage on her granddaughter's waist as soon as she saw her approach.
She subconsciously took a few steps back.
"Didn't you not believe me? Back then, the heavens and earth would listen to the old..."
"I'm just asking if it's true or not. Stop saying things I don't understand, Grandma."
A Jiu interrupted her.
"Alright, alright, fine. I'll say what you can understand. This old man says yes."
Wang Shi looked at the small king snake hanging from her waist again, her heart filled with mixed emotions.
"Then who's next?" A Jiu asked directly.
"What?" Wang Shi looked at A Jiu, completely bewildered.
"You make it sound easy."
"So, you can't?" A Jiu continued to get straight to the point.
This made Wang Shi think her granddaughter was a bit dim. She shook her head and walked away.
"Can you or can you not, Grandma?" A Jiu followed, grabbing Wang Shi's arm and shaking it.
"Oh, she's learned to act cute now."
What was Wang Shi angry about? Didn't she know if she could or not? He needed spiritual energy, spiritual energy.
He was always so stingy. If he wasn't so resourceful and knew how to sneak some spiritual fruits to eat, who knew what fate would have befallen him by now, just like that Wu Shi.
"Can you or can you not?" A Jiu pestered Wang Shi.
Annoyed by A Jiu's persistence, Wang Shi stopped, put her hands behind her back, and looked at A Jiu. "I suspect my master sent you down to torment me."
With that, she continued on her way.
Suddenly, they had to go uphill. Perhaps the stride was too wide, and Wang Shi clutched her backside, gritting her teeth as she climbed over the large rock.
A Jiu wanted to laugh but dared not. She ducked down, climbed over the rock, and said, "Still not raining, and you're bragging."
Did the provocation work?
"What did you say?" Wang Shi turned to look at her granddaughter.
"I said you're bragging, so loud your bragging has exploded." A Jiu cautiously observed her grandmother's expression. As expected, her face was red and her neck was throbbing with anger.
"I'm too lazy to bicker with a young child like you."
Wang Shi remained steadfast, like an iron block.
The provocation seemed to have no effect on her grandmother. A Jiu clicked her tongue.
"Old Meng, what is that thing?" As Cai Lihua said this, the small group's footsteps abruptly stopped.
A Jiu almost ran into Wang Shi's backside.
What was going on? A Jiu scrambled up the hill on all fours.
She saw her mother pointing to a pit not far ahead.
A Jiu covered her mouth and turned away, spitting.
With A Jiu leading the way, Cai Lihua also vomited, and Wu Dalei bent over, unable to straighten up.
Meng Shaode swallowed, belched with his hand over his mouth, and barely managed to hold it in.
"Let's go around it. It's too smelly." Meng Shaode led the two families along the ridge for a while before finding a path down the mountain.
However, both A Jiu and Cai Lihua cast hesitant glances back.
Suddenly, as if understanding each other, no one dared to speak.
"Alas... there are just too many people dying these days," said Zhao Di, who didn't know the specifics, hugging her child and sighing.
Dead bodies were everywhere, but A Jiu recognized the person immediately. It was the one her father had described, with all bones shattered, the skin like a bag filled with a puddle of mud.
After days of sun exposure, the entire body had swollen and split open.
A Jiu felt like she wanted to vomit again.
Those who knew what had happened said nothing, a sense of dread rising in their hearts.
If it were truly some monster or ghost, they needed to quicken their pace even more.
On the contrary, Wang Shi seemed indifferent to life and death. She covered her backside with one hand, placed the other on her abdomen, and followed slowly with her eyes cast down.
"Little sister A Jiu."
Everyone was focused on quickening their pace, when a familiar voice called out from ahead.
"I've finally found you all. I saw you hadn't arrived, so I returned to the wooden house to find you. I discovered you had already left, and I didn't know which mountain path you took, so I decided to wait here."