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Because of Elder Wu’s need for magic tools, Master Mao and Minister Lou used almost all their connections in the search for all the magic tools they could find.
But no matter how well-connected they were, in today’s post-divinatory era, it was still incredibly difficult to find good magic tools.
Although the magic weapon couldn’t be found for a while, Chen Yu’s first New Year in the capital came first.
Chen Yu, wearing a red sweater, helped Mayor Chen put up the couplets, and then went to the kitchen to give Mother Chen a hand. As the mayor’s wife, Mother Chen usually didn’t cook much, and she herself wasn’t very fond of cooking. But every year at New Year’s Eve, she would always personally cook the dinner.
One was because the nanny aunt was home for the holidays. The other was that on days like the New Year, Mother Chen wanted everything in the family to be made by her own family.
“Mom, will the dumplings fall off if I stuff them in like this?” Chen Yu asked as she packed the sizzling dumplings.
“A bit will, but it won’t be terrible,” Mother Chen finished and reminded her, “Remember to bring some vinegar too. Dumplings without vinegar will taste a little worse.”
“Oh…” Chen Yu responded. After thinking for a moment, she asked, “Mom, can Brother eat these things now?”
Chen Yang finally woke up two days before the New Year, and after another 24 hours of observation in the intensive care unit, he was finally transferred to a general ward. Although his condition had greatly improved, he still couldn’t be discharged from the hospital in a short time. Mother Chen was afraid that his son would be lonely in the hospital for the New Year, so she prepared some dishes for the New Year’s Eve family dinner and planned to go to the hospital to accompany Chen Yang to welcome the New Year.
“He can’t,” Mother Chen said and packed up the braised pork she had just made.
“Then why are we still preparing so much?” Chen Yu wondered.
“We eat them ah. Your brother can watch,” Mother Chen said with a smile.
“Mom, are we going there to care for my brother or to stimulate him?” Chen Yu couldn’t help but stammer.
“It’s just a formality. The point is that our family is eating New Year’s Eve dinner together.” Mother Chen reasoned. She looked at the second floor and said, “Or you should stay at home with Elder Wu.”
Mother Chen and Mayor Chen had to go to the hospital to spend the New Year’s Eve with Chen Yang, but it would be asking too much to let Elder Wu accompany them. Hence, their reunion meal was scheduled for noon. At dinner, they’d have to come home to accompany Elder Wu for another New Year’s Eve dinner together. However, Mother Chen felt that it was quite impolite to leave a guest in the house while the host  family headed out.
“It’s okay. I talked to the old ma… Grandpa.” Under her mother’s disapproving gaze, Chen Yu changed her address. “Besides… Grandpa never celebrates New Year’s Eve. Back when I was in Damu Village, he used to take me out every New Year’s Eve.”
“Take you out for what?” Mother Chen asked curiously.
“Take me out to exorcise gho… Er… just something like that ah.” Noticing that her mother instantly froze, Chen Yu hurriedly stopped the conversation.
After saving Chen Yang in the hospital that day, Mr. and Mrs. Chen only asked why Chen Yu knew these spells, as well as made sure that the spell that saved Chen Yang would not cause any harm to Chen Yu. They didn’t ask any more questions after that. They didn’t ask, so Chen Yu also didn’t say much. It was just that when they talked occasionally, they would no longer deliberately and sedulously avoid the topic as before.
Especially after Elder Wu’s arrival; he occasionally recounted the past and always mentioned exorcising.Whenever that happened, Father Chen remained calm, but Mother Chen was a bit scared. After one or two instances, Chen Yu slowly noticed it. Later, she restrained mentioning much about it in front of her mother.
Mother Chen packed the last dish and closed the lid of the thermos.
“Mom, give it to me. I’ll take it to the car,” Chen Yu said and took the thermos from her mother’s hand. She turned and ran outside.
Mother Chen watched her daughter’s cheerful back as she jogged away, and a trace of chagrin flashed in her eyes. She was chagrined at her own cowardice. It was rare for Shishi to take the initiative to mention her past experience. How could she be so useless that she couldn’t even control her fear even after listening?
After everything was ready, Mayor Chen drove the three to the hospital. The family of four ate a simple and delicious New Year’s Eve dinner in Chen Yang’s single ward. Of course, Chen Yang, who just awakened not long ago, could only drink a mouthful of chicken soup.
After eating, Chen Yu helped Mother Chen clean up the lunch boxes on the table together, and then the family sat down to chat. Mother Chen was holding a fruit knife and peeling apples for them.
Chen Yu found it too troublesome, so she just grabbed an apple and directly gnawed on it -nom-nom-nom.
“I’ll have it peeled in a minute,” Mother Chen couldn’t help but say.
“It’s okay.” Chen Yu smiled cheekily and continued to nibble on the apple in her hand.
Chen Yang smiled despite himself and asked, “I heard that Elder Wu came to Beijing?” Chen Yang woke up only the day before yesterday. His mental state had been bad for the past two days and barely improved today.
“En.” Chen Yu nodded.
“Then Shishi… are you alright?” Chen Yang asked.
“Me?” Chen Yu blinked in confusion. “What can happen to me?”
“If you were fine, Elder Wu wouldn’t have come to the capital,” Chen Yang said with certainty.
Although Chen Yang had no memories of when his soul left his body, he himself knew best how his injuries were at that time. His parents also both mentioned about Chen Yu saving him. As a person who had witnessed Chen Yu’s battle against a Ghost King, Chen Yang felt that his assumption was completely reasonable.
“There’s nothing… Grandpa came here just to celebrate the New Year. Didn’t you guys always urge me to ask him to come here for the New Year?” Chen Yu laughed it off, trying to muddle through it.
“Shishi… Since you’ve saved me, it makes no difference to say anything now. But at least you should let us know what happened to you in order to save me.” Chen Yang said seriously, “Otherwise, Mom, Dad and I can’t be at ease.”
Chen Yu was taken aback. She turned and looked around only to see that their father and mother, at some point, looked at her worriedly.
“Although… you keep saying that saving Yangyang has no effect on you, but… even if we don’t understand metaphysics at all, we know that it is extremely difficult to bring the dead back to life,” Mayor Chen remarked.
In the past, no matter how they asked Chen Yu to pick Elder Wu up to the capital, Chen Yu always said she couldn’t contact him. However, as soon as Chen Yu fainted, Elder Wu rushed to the capital the next day without being informed.
It was such a coincidence. Even if Chen Yu insisted that her move that day completely had no impact on her, how could they believe her? They didn’t pursue it, firstly because they didn’t understand how the Metaphysical world worked. They were afraid that they might touch a taboo that shouldn’t be known to the public. Secondly, Chen Yu obviously intended to conceal it, so they found it inconvenient to dig deeper.
However, not asking didn’t mean they weren’t worried deep inside. Luckily, Elder Wu came just in time. He made them feel a lot more at ease.
“On Zhang Ziyang’s matter before, you told me that the price of reversing fate against the natural order is tremendous. Then, when you saved me…”
“Not the same, it’s not the same. Your situation is different from Zhang Ziyang,” Chen Yu quickly interrupted without waiting for Chen Yang to finish.
“Where is it different?” Chen Yang asked.
“It’s just…” Chen Yu didn’t know how to explain Metaphysics to three ordinary people, so she once again attempted to muddle through. “Aiya, you guys won’t understand it even if I say… Anyway, I’m perfectly fine.”
The three of the Chen family looked at each other. Finally, Father Chen spoke, “If you really don’t want to tell us, we don’t have to know. Just… if something bad really happened to you, you must tell us.”
“Shishi, your dad and I are ordinary people, and we don’t understand anything in your Metaphysical world. You don’t know how worried we were after you passed out that day. If Elder Wu hadn’t arrived the next day, we…” Mother Chen choked on her voice as she spoke, “I only want you to live well. You and Yangyang are both my children. Nothing can happen to either of you.”
Seeing how Mother Chen was crying while talking again, Father Chen sighed and comforted his wife gently while wiping her tears.
“I… I…” When Chen Yu saw her mother crying, she panicked: “I’m really fine, Mom. Don’t cry. “
Chen Yu deliberately concealed everything because she was most afraid that her mother would react like this.
The more Chen Yu pacified her, the more Mother Chen imagined things, and so her cries turned sadder.
“Aiya… I’m really fine.” Chen Yu was tangled for a long time before resigning to her fate. “Alright, I admit it. Grandpa came to the capital indeed because of me.”
Mother Chen immediately stopped crying, and the three people looked at Chen Yu in unison, listening to her attentively.
“At that time, I used a forbidden technique when I saved Big Brother, and this technique had a certain backlash on me. That’s why I suddenly fainted that day. Grandpa sensed that I had used the forbidden technique that day. He was afraid that I would suffer a backlash so he came here to find me, and then healed me,” Chen Yu briefly explained the cause and effect.
“Healed you?” Mother Chen still had some doubts.
“Really. If I wasn’t cured, do you think the old man would be in the mood to lounge around in his room playing games all day?” Thinking of that internet addicted old man, Chen Yu couldn’t help but want to castigate him, even forgetting to call him Grandpa.
“…” Mother Chen and Father Chen exchanged glances, and both saw the incredulity in each other’s eyes. It turned out that Elder Wu was hiding in his room all day, not practicing making talismans, but playing games?
“So you guys just rest assured. I’m really fine,” Chen Yu reiterated anew.
“Then you must not mess around again in the future,” Mother Chen instructed uneasily.
“Mom, why do you always talk about me? Why don’t you talk about my brother. Had he carried his amulet properly, these things wouldn’t have happened,” Chen Yu directly dumped the blame.
The Chen couple immediately turned their attention and looked at a certain ‘culprit’.
“Ouch… Why do I feel a little pain in my chest? I may need to rest for a while,” Chen Yang said, lying down spontaneously, and covered himself with his quilt.
“…”