After staying at the hospital for a little while, Ji Hua couldn’t stand it anymore. The faint, lingering scent of other people’s blood oppressed her senses, making her pores feel as though they were swarming with dense, crawling bugs—it was nauseating. The little girl didn’t know anyone here, so Ji Hua had no choice but to take her along. Besides, this child’s blood seemed unusual; perhaps it was worth studying.
Ji Hua schemed her dark plots with malicious intent.
The little girl had no idea what she was thinking. She only knew that, instinctively, she was terrified of this woman who looked so pretty. Therefore, when Ji Hua pulled her out of the hospital, the little girl let out a shrill cry and struggled with all her might to break free from her grasp, shouting, “I don’t want to go with you! You’re a bad person, I don’t want to!”
People passing by in the hospital stared at Ji Hua with scrutiny, looking at her as if she were a child trafficker.
Ji Hua’s already limited patience was running thin. Since she couldn’t throw a huge temper tantrum in front of all these people, she had no choice but to squat down, gently stroke the little girl’s face, smile slightly, and soften her tone. “Kid, if you don’t want to go with me, then stay here by yourself. If you get kidnapped, I won’t care.”
Tears still hung on the little girl’s eyelashes. She blinked, trying very hard to understand what was being said. A child’s mindset is easily swayed; seeing that the girl was wavering, Ji Hua curved her lips into a smile, her tone turning fierce. “So if you cry at me again, I’ll throw you straight into the river.”
The little girl wasn’t stupid. At the moment, she didn’t know anyone else—she only knew this bad woman right in front of her. Frightened of staying alone amidst the crowd, she could only follow behind her all the way, crying tearfully with her sobs held back, feeling utterly aggrieved.
Once it rained in the green lane, the stones became slippery. Under the dim yellow streetlights, the little girl walked unsteadily, wearing wet shoes and holding an umbrella that was much too big for her. Ji Hua walked ahead with one hand in her pocket, feeling slightly dizzy in the head with a somewhat blurred vision.
This was the aftereffect of coming into contact with too much of other people’s blood. In the past, consuming blood didn’t cause this kind of problem, but having gone nearly a hundred years without drinking any, her own immune system had gradually begun to decline.
She thought to herself that she needed to find a suitable blood source as quickly as possible.
Clatter. There was a sound from behind.
Ji Hua turned her head to see that the little girl had fallen to the ground. The child’s mouth drooped, and she was about to cry again when Ji Hua stopped her. “Shut up. No crying.”
She walked over, frowning. “All you know how to do is cry. You can’t even walk properly. Useless.”
The rain was falling rather heavily, and Ji Hua didn’t want to delay any longer. With one arm, she scooped the girl up, while holding the umbrella with the other. The little girl was freezing cold, and feeling the comforting warmth of Ji Hua’s neck, she threw her arms around her without a second thought.
“Freezing to death. Take your hands off,” Ji Hua said impatiently.
“No, I’m cold,” the little girl said in a very quiet voice, pouting grievously.
Too lazy to bother with her, Ji Hua strode all the way back to her home. As soon as she got inside, Ji Hua dumped her straight onto the living room sofa and turned around to pour a cup of hot water.
The little girl looked at her with wide, pleading eyes.
Understanding, Ji Hua asked, “Want a drink?”
The little girl nodded.
With an unkind smile, Ji Hua said, “Come over and get it yourself.”
The little girl slowly climbed down from the sofa. Perhaps because she hadn’t eaten anything for too long, she moved too abruptly; her vision blurred for a moment, and she tumbled to the floor, accidentally knocking over the potted cactus on the coffee table with her hand.
The little girl’s finger was pricked by a thorn on the cactus, drawing a few drops of blood. She held back her tears and clumsily scrambled back up.
Ji Hua cast a lazy glance in her direction, the hand holding her cup pausing abruptly. The previous craving surged back up, flooding down her throat as emaciated cells stirred, desperate to rush toward the source of desire.
Her mouth felt intensely dry.
Setting the cup down, she rushed to the little girl’s side without a second thought, grabbed her finger, and sucked on the meager droplets of blood.
The little girl was completely dumbfounded, her eyes wide open as she stared fixedly at Ji Hua without blinking.
What kind of feeling was that?
Ji Hua thought it was like dead, withered bones suddenly blooming with ten thousand flowers, or lifeless, bitter blood being replenished with sweet water as her meridians slowly flushed with vitality.
It was just like a weary traveler suddenly coming across a white pagoda ahead, instantly springing back to life.
Ji Hua hadn’t experienced this feeling in a very, very long time. She never expected that just a few drops of blood could drive her to such madness.
She raised her head, licking her lips in satiation, and looked at Wen Huaiyue with greedy eyes.
Without a doubt, this child’s blood was exceptionally compatible with what she wanted—even more suitable than the few she had previously found.
A once-in-a-millennium opportunity.
It would be an absolute pity to let her go like this.
Besides, since this child had amnesia, it might be better to keep her for a few days instead of sending her back to her sister just yet, giving herself time to recover from this period of discomfort. Furthermore,
It could also serve as a little lesson for her sister.
Tit-for-tat was a gene carved into Ji Hua’s bones, and coldness was her protective coloration. She had never recognized a traditional distinction between justice and evil; she only knew how to follow her own whims.
The original host had been suppressed quite miserably by the female protagonist. Even if the original host was in the wrong, so what? Should she just forgive her on behalf of the original host?
How could that be possible.
She merely felt that since she had taken over the original host’s body, she ought to stand up for her a little bit, more or less. Otherwise, occupying someone else’s body out of thin air without showing any gesture would be rather embarrassing.
Besides,
Ji Hua stared straight at Wen Huaiyue. Perhaps she could also be considered to have saved the female protagonist’s sister; asking for a reward shouldn’t be too unreasonable, right?
No matter how she looked at it, she was in the right. Ji Hua contentedly concluded that she was indeed a good person.
A knock on the door pulled Ji Hua back to reality. She went and opened it to find Auntie Lin holding a bowl. “Xiao Ji, this is some ginger soup I boiled. Drink it together with that child.”
“Thank you, Auntie Lin,” Ji Hua accepted it. Auntie Lin asked, “Is that child alright?”
“She’s fine, doing great,” Ji Hua smiled.
“That’s good, that’s good.” Auntie Lin didn’t have children of her own, so she always had a special fondness for them. “Tomorrow, the old man and I are going to my old sister’s house. Xiao Ji, take good care of this child first, and then take her to find her family. I won’t be able to keep you company.”
Ji Hua replied, “It’s fine, go ahead. I’ll take good care of her.”
Ji Hua placed the ginger soup on the coffee table and handed her a spoon. “Drink it yourself.”
The little girl looked uneasily at Ji Hua, seeming too afraid to drink it. Amused by her cowardly look, Ji Hua twitched the corner of her mouth. “What, don’t want to drink it? Then don’t!”
“No, I want to drink it.” Sitting on the blanket-covered floor, the little girl took a cautious sip, her brows furrowing tightly from the spicy taste.
“No spitting it out.” Sitting on the opposite sofa, Ji Hua lowered her eyes and commanded coldly, “If you don’t finish it, you aren’t sleeping tonight.”
Now knowing how fierce Ji Hua could be, the little girl dared not resist and slowly drank it spoonful by spoonful. Halfway through, she finally couldn’t help it anymore and burst into an instinctively tearful cry of grievance, “Aunty, this is really too hard to drink.”
Aunty.
Even though Ji Hua had lived for hundreds of years and was old enough to be her ancestor at this rate, her appearance was very youthful, making her look only around twenty-some years old.
No woman liked being called “Aunty,” and Ji Hua was no exception. Shamelessly, she made the girl change her form of address. “Call me Sister.”
“Ah.”
“If you don’t call me that, get lost outside.” Ji Hua was completely unreasonable.
After squirming awkwardly for a long time, the little girl finally whispered, “Sister.”