From outside the courtyard came a loud clang. Startled, Old Man Sui accidentally kicked over a basin of hot water at his feet.
Ignoring his soaked straw sandals, he hurried into the house in a few quick strides.
“Old woman, what did you say? Wuyou can call you Grandma now?”
Old Madam Sui wiped her tears and nodded repeatedly. “Old man, she just called me Grandma!”
She helped Sui Wuyou sit up and coaxed gently, “Wuyou, this is Grandpa. Call him Grandpa.”
Sui Wuyou looked up at the old man before her. His back was slightly hunched, and his wrinkled face was filled with anticipation.
A dull pain throbbed at the wound on her head, and her thoughts were in a tangled mess.
Grandpa? Her own grandfather didn’t look like this. Could it be that after arriving in the underworld, her grandmother had already found a new companion?
That was awfully fast.
Meeting the hopeful gazes of the elderly couple, Sui Wuyou felt a pang of softness in her heart.
Grandpa it is, then!
As long as Grandma liked him, that was all that mattered. She would spoil her own grandma.
With that thought, she called out crisply, “Hello, Grandpa.”
“Ah—!” Old Man Sui danced with joy.
He had always said his Wuyou wasn’t foolish. Look—she could call him Grandpa now!
“Wuyou, say Grandpa again.”
“Grandpa!”
“Good, good, good child!” He nodded, his eyes stinging with tears.
Thirteen years. A full thirteen years. His Wuyou had finally spoken.
Old Madam Sui shot him a look, then gently helped Sui Wuyou lie back down.
“Wuyou, rest well. Your head is still injured.”
“Okay.”
Sui Wuyou obediently closed her eyes. Everything before her felt like a dream, leaving her utterly confused.
Seeing their granddaughter fall asleep again, the elderly couple quietly tiptoed out.
Old Madam Sui clasped her hands together and bowed toward Wolong Mountain.
“Amitabha! Thank you, Heaven! Thank you, Mountain God! My Wuyou can finally speak!”
After several devout bows, she lowered her hands, her eyes turning fierce.
“That wretched bastard made my Wuyou suffer such harm. Let’s see if I spare him!”
Grabbing a broom from the corner, she was about to rush out.
Old Man Sui stopped her with a sigh. “Old woman, calm down. Let Wuyou’s wound heal first.”
Still fuming, she muttered curses.
“That Shi Chengcang’s family is truly shameless. Their two brats smashed Wuyou’s head open, and not a single one of them has come to apologize!”
“When our eldest and second sons return, we’ll go reason with them. If you go alone, I’m afraid you’ll suffer a loss.”
Old Man Sui took the broom from her hands and placed it back by the courtyard wall.
Old Madam Sui lifted her chin stubbornly. “If I were a few years younger, I’d turn their house upside down.”
“Yes, yes, you’re the fiercest of them all,” Old Man Sui replied absentmindedly.
After they left, Sui Wuyou opened her eyes again and carefully surveyed her surroundings.
The mud walls were mottled with age, and gray-black tiles covered the roof.
The room was small. The only wooden window was pasted with paper, yet the interior was spotlessly clean and tidy.
Drawing back her gaze, she still could not determine where she was.
A faint stab of pain from her forehead made her thoughts stir.
That beast of a professor had imprisoned her in the laboratory because he discovered her wood-element ability.
But what he never knew was that she also possessed a spatial dimension hidden within her body.
If he hadn’t used her grandmother as leverage, how could she have obediently stayed there?
Thinking of this, Sui Wuyou steadied her mind and activated the wood-element power within her.
Feeling the vigorous life force circulating in her body, she was overjoyed. Though weaker than before, her wood-element ability still existed.
She was about to use it to heal the wound on her head but hesitated.
Everything here felt strange. From what Grandma had said, it seemed her forehead had been injured by some child from another family.
Yet she had no memory of it at all.
She had clearly been imprisoned in that professor’s laboratory—and had self-destructed her space, dying completely.
If she was already dead, why could she still feel pain?
Do ghosts feel pain too?
Her head throbbed as she shook it, deciding not to overthink it.
Once she went outside to look around, she would understand.
Thinking of her space, Sui Wuyou sank her consciousness into it.
She had obtained it at the age of five, after digging up a jade pendant while playing alone in the mountains.
Back then, she had been too young to know its purpose.
Later, she had been captured and imprisoned.
During the five years in that laboratory, she had wandered through her space whenever she had nothing else to do.
It remained unchanged—just as before.
An endless stretch of black soil lay within, vast and empty.
Having grown up working the fields with her grandmother after losing her parents at a young age, she could tell at a glance that the soil was fertile.
Later, she would bring in some seeds and see if they could grow.
As she pondered, her eyelids grew heavy, and she drifted off to sleep.
When she opened her eyes again, she was awakened by a burst of noisy chatter.
The room had grown dim—it must be evening.
Old Madam Sui entered, lifting the curtain while carrying a large coarse porcelain bowl.
Seeing Wuyou awake and looking around, her joy nearly overflowed.
Since birth, her pitiful granddaughter’s beautiful eyes had been dull and lifeless.
Though delicate and doll-like, she neither cried nor laughed, like a porcelain doll without a soul.
As she grew older, she became even more beautiful.
Old Madam Sui had always worried—once she and her husband were gone, who would protect her?
Thank Heaven, Wuyou was no longer foolish.
“Wuyou, you must be hungry. Grandma made you egg drop soup.”
She set the bowl on the wooden table and helped Wuyou sit up.
“Grandma.” Warmth filled Sui Wuyou’s heart. At last, she could live an ordinary life with her grandmother.
“Yes.” Old Madam Sui responded tearfully, her voice choked with emotion.
“Grandma, what’s wrong?” Seeing her cry, Wuyou grew anxious.
Old Madam Sui wiped her tears and handed her the bowl.
“It’s nothing. Grandma’s just happy. Wuyou, drink the soup. You lost quite a bit of blood today—you need nourishment.”
In the dim light, she gazed lovingly at her granddaughter’s porcelain-like face.
Such a large wound—she wondered if it would leave a scar.
“Okay.”
The aroma of egg soup reached her nose, and Sui Wuyou suddenly felt ravenously hungry.
She took the bowl and drank in small sips.
The warmth spread through her body, and she sighed in satisfaction.
“Ah… so comfortable.”
During her years imprisoned in that laboratory, she had never tasted such warm, flavorful food again.
All she had known were endless nutrient injections and nutrient solutions.