CHAPTER 219: 198: FIFTH GRANNY’S BELONGINGS, PLANNING TO MAKE A MOVE ON MASTER SHI

Bai Shirui’s gaze fell upon the pile of porcelain shards, immersed in her own thoughts, and she sank into silence.

After a long while, she slowly lifted her eyes and suddenly displayed her usual gentle smile: "Han Han, do you believe everything she says?"

A simple sentence easily made Meng Han stop her frantic movements and gradually calm down.

"Are you saying she lied to me?" Her eyes held a glimmer of hope and expectation.

"What else? Master Shi is just seeking novelty; he wouldn’t want her to bear his child."

"But they are together now," Meng Han said, her face full of unwillingness.

To this day, she could not understand what it was about that woman that attracted Brother Wei.

Bai Shirui remained silent for a moment, her gaze fixed on the dazzling sunset outside the window. Her brows furrowed, then relaxed, and she softly murmured: "They’ll break up."

For someone as unreachable as Shi Wei, there is no one in this world who could truly match him or walk alongside him.

As time goes on, as he realizes the gulf between himself and that girl, everything will return to the beginning.

"I don’t want to wait any longer!" Meng Han walked to the wardrobe, picked out some clothes, and began changing right in front of Shirui.

"Han Han, it’s pointless to go to Master Shi now."

"I’m not going to see him."

"..."

The golden rays of the setting sun spilled over a remote mountain by a clear stream, wrapping it in a halo of light that seemed cut off from the world.

Birds resting on trees, upon hearing the faint sound of branches being pressed, raised their heads and cried out before flapping their wings to flee.

A woman in her fifties, carrying a bamboo basket, walked slowly up a winding path and arrived at a wooden cabin halfway up the hill.

This place was extremely secluded; unless someone lived here long-term, it would take considerable effort to find it.

"Creak—"

The rickety wooden door swung open, and a chill rushed out like venomous snakes locking their gaze on prey, sending shivers down one’s spine.

The woman moved skillfully toward the bedside, put down her bamboo basket, and turned on the room’s only source of light.

As the light blazed forth, the bottles and jars scattered on the table were revealed, around which insects crawled in faint circles.

She picked up one of the porcelain jars, poured out a small creature resembling a cicada into her palm, and examined it closely.

Confirming it was still alive, she unhesitatingly popped it into her mouth.

The crisp sound of chewing echoed as gray-black liquid oozed from the corners of her mouth. When one of the insect’s legs escaped, she swiftly flicked her tongue to pull it back in.

The insects crawling around the jars scattered frantically at the sight of her actions, disappearing from view within moments.

"Fifth Granny, are you here?"

A coarse voice came from outside the door.

Fifth Granny calmly returned the jar to its place, sat down on a stool, and showed no intention of opening the door: "What is it?"

Her voice sounded as though her vocal cords had been slashed by a sharp knife, hoarse beyond recognition.

"Miss Meng is here to see you."

"Come in."

At her agreement, Meng Han took a deep breath to steady herself before politely knocking twice and entering, accompanied by Bai Shirui.

"You brought someone?" Fifth Granny sat slightly turned, her black robe trailing on the ground, absorbing the yellow dust and grime.

Meng Han could not discern her mood and nervously explained, "She’s a close friend of mine and wanted to see. Please don’t mind her, Fifth Granny."

The air turned still as the chill blanketed both of them, causing inexplicable shivers and forcing them into silence.

After a moment, the gravelly voice like stones grinding together said: "No next time."

"There won’t be, definitely not."

Meng Han’s fear only fueled Bai Shirui’s curiosity about Fifth Granny, yet when she truly turned to look at her, that curiosity was immediately replaced by terror.

Fifth Granny’s face had been utterly ruined, crisscrossed with dense scars. Her right eye was sunken in, the eyeball... nowhere to be found.

Her lips were dark purple as though poisoned, and peculiar characters were faintly tattooed from her chin to her neck, adding to her eerie appearance.

"Shirui, stop staring at Fifth Granny." Meng Han tugged her hand and softly reminded her.

"Mm, got it."

Bai Shirui steadied her nerves and quickly looked away. But as she lowered her eyes, she spotted a cobra rising up, tongue flicking.

Covering her mouth, she tried not to let her scream escape, but her legs wobbled, nearly giving out beneath her.

She suddenly regretted coming to such a sinister place.

Meng Han held her and tried to ignore her fright, focusing on the matter at hand: "Fifth Granny, when will my item be ready...?"

"Still needs time."

"Can you give me an estimate?"

"Four months." Fifth Granny toyed with the jars on the table, pouring out their contents wholesale onto the ground.

In mere moments, the room was crawling with snakes, bugs, rats, and creatures of unrecognizable shapes.

Chilling cries echoed one after another, making it feel as though they’d stepped into a ghostly valley where one wrong move would lead to a bottomless abyss.

When Bai Shirui felt the slithering touch on her foot, she shut her eyes in terror and fainted silently.

"Shirui!?" Meng Han paled, glancing at the floor. The vision instantly sickened her, wringing her stomach into dry heaves.

Some blackened bugs had already surrounded the woman, with several slimy creatures burrowing into her limbs.

Even her nostrils and ear canals were not spared.

"Fifth Granny, please, save my friend..." Meng Han’s voice trembled with anguish.

She crossed her arms, pleadingly gazing at the elder.

"They’ll leave her alone," Fifth Granny casually glanced at Bai Shirui before resuming her fiddling with the jars.

Her indifference oddly calmed Meng Han a little, though her urge to leave intensified by the second.

She bit her lower lip hard. "Fifth Granny, four months is too long. The person I love already has a girlfriend. I’m afraid... can’t you make it faster?"

"Do you think this kind of thing is easy?"

"But I..." Tears welled in Meng Han’s eyes, shimmering as though they might fall any second.

If not for the sting she felt at the dessert shop, four months—eight even—might have been tolerable.

But now, she couldn’t wait any longer.

Fifth Granny’s cold gaze pierced Meng Han as she unsealed a jar and beckoned her: "Come here and drip your blood again."

"If I do, can you shorten the time?" Meng Han cautiously avoided the writhing creatures, her shaky legs carrying her to the elder’s side.