Chapter 091: Mother.

Chapter 091: Mother.

After a brief pause on the line, Yuan YiPing suddenly remarked, "You don’t sound surprised at all."

"Oh, but I am." Chi Shen's eyes relaxed as they continued to rest on the black child. If he had something at hand, he might have tried to play with him. Sadly, without a suitable object, he had to refrain.

Yuan YiPing went silent on the other end. He probably wanted to ask if Chi Shen was smilingly surprised. But given Yuan's character, he wouldn’t voice it and instead chose to remain quiet.

"If you don't believe me, perhaps you'd like to see my expression in person? I truly am surprised," Chi Shen said with a chuckle.

Yuan YiPing still ignored him. Chi Shen, without further ado and hearing noises from the kitchen, deduced that Sheng Yulan was almost done cooking. He spoke into the phone, "We still need to visit the crime scene this weekend, right? After all, it concerns sending spirits to their rest. You wouldn’t want the spirits to remain in perpetual sorrow, would you?"

"Yes," replied Yuan YiPing. "I’ll accompany you and ensure your safety."

Chi Shen laughed, "Thanks a lot then."

Setting the phone aside, the voice of Sheng Yulan drifted from the kitchen, "Dinner's ready."

Getting up, Chi Shen headed towards the kitchen, "Mom, let me help serve the dishes. You take a rest."

Sheng Yulan hastily replied, "It's okay, I can manage. Just wait by the table."

"It’s hard for you to move around. Let me do it. Wait for me by the table." Chi Shen insisted, primarily concerned that the dishes tonight might be too heavy. If she were to accidentally damage her paper-like structure, it would be a hassle.

Huang Lingling, watching this, quickly intervened by holding Sheng Yulan's arm, "Mom! If brother asks you to wait, just wait. Let him do the work. Don't fret over him!"

As Huang Lingling dragged her to the dining table, Sheng Yulan still attempted to argue, "It's okay. I’m used to it..."

"From today onwards, it's my turn. There’s no rule saying only moms do the chores," interjected Chi Shen as he stepped into the kitchen.

Out of habit, Sheng Yulan wiped her hands on her apron, despite the fact that she had been extremely careful while cooking. She always wore rubber gloves to prevent any damage to her delicate, paper-like body. Now, as she took them off, her hands were impeccably clean without a trace of grease or water. It was a long-standing habit.

Yet, her hands bore scars from years of work, signs of wear and tear of a soul. In the winter, the skin would crack. Wearing gloves to do household chores might seem like a delicate act to others, something she wasn’t allowed to do. If she did, she would face rebukes.

She watched with contentment as Chi Shen served the soup and rice in the kitchen, a smile gracing her lips. As she smiled, her vision suddenly blurred.

All she ever wished for was a warm family, where her children were present, and they could share the simple joy of having dinner together.

Little did she expect that the first time this wish came true would be when they were separated by life and death.

Sheng Yulan wiped away her tears, fearing they might wet the paper figure and cause trouble for Chi Shen to mend. However, the tears didn't stain the paper. They seeped through and vanished without a trace.

After all, they were the tears of a ghost, passing right through the paper figure.

"Mom!" Noticing Sheng Yulan's expression, Huang Lingling immediately tugged at her dress, crying out, "Mom, mom, mom! Tell me a story, please? You've never told me a story before!"

"Alright, what story would you like to hear? Have we ever listened to the tale of the Three Little Pigs together?" Sheng Yulan asked with a smile. Her features weren't extraordinary; she would easily blend into a crowd. Years of hard work and mistreatment made her appear timid and weary, but her smile was genuinely warm and radiant, reminiscent of the nurturing sun in March.

Huang Lingling, with her overly large eyes, stared at Sheng Yulan's smiling face. After a brief moment of surprise, she beamed back, "I haven't heard it. Tell me! You're the best mom in the world!"

"Once upon a time, there were three little pigs who lived together, and they were brothers..."

Suddenly, a chilling breeze blew from the balcony, a tangible darkness swirling outside. However, the engrossed Sheng Yulan and Huang Lingling remained oblivious. Bai Wan glanced toward the balcony with concern, then looked at Chi Shen, who was calmly moving in and out of the kitchen. She seemed to understand something and decided not to alert them.

Inside the wardrobe, two trapped ghosts were exhausted. They had been confined for a day, having quarreled and fought. Their attempts at arguing with and overpowering the wardrobe spirit failed. Their attacks were rendered futile, absorbed by the seemingly invincible wardrobe. The ghosts named Gui Lian and the lady in red had given up struggling, lying at the base of the closet, waiting for Chi Shen to finish his act and release them.

"When will this end..." Gui Lian muttered, "Suddenly, I miss my study machine. If you let me out, I can study non-stop for days! I'll study until I ascend!"

"It's called a television!" The lady in red corrected, shaking her head in exasperation, "Television! You dummy!"

Gui Lian retorted, "...Even so, why does being called dumb by you sting so much?"

The lady in red lunged at Gui Lian, but froze mid-action. Both of them then turned their attention to the living room.

The next moment, the lady in red blurted out, "It's broken!"

Gui Lian, perplexed, added quickly, "It's Bai Wan's protective candle! I've never seen a ghost powerful enough to break it. What's happening to Wan? Has a formidable spirit come? Who is it? Wardrobe spirit, let us out! We need to help!"

The wardrobe spirit gestured dismissively, as if to say, 'You two think you can help if something's really gone wrong?'

This was met with an even fiercer barrage of curses from the lady in red and a series of protests from Gui Lian, who felt underestimated.

In the living room,

Chi Shen was serving the last dish on the table. The feast Sheng Yulan had prepared tonight was quite lavish, almost like a banquet. Hence, it took him a while to serve everything.

The tale of Sheng Yulan reached its middle: "The Big Bad Wolf approached the second little pig's house, which was made of wood..."

A gust of black wind rushed into the living room. Instantly, the room's temperature dropped. On the balcony, a shadowy child with a face full of malevolence had blood-red eyes that seemed on the verge of shedding blood. With every word Sheng Yulan spoke, the red in the child's eyes deepened. At that moment, the child's malevolent aura even surpassed that of Bai Wan. The candles Bai Wan had arranged flickered dimly for a moment.

It was at this moment that a surge of ghostly energy, like a tidal wave, filled the living room, sweeping towards Sheng Yulan and Huang Lingling.

Huang Lingling tilted her head slightly. Her large, vacant eyes looked towards the ghostly energy, a smirk on her lips. The ghostly energy was cleaved apart around her, like bamboo being split. She coldly remarked, "It's just a mere child—"

The next second, her voice suddenly halted.

While she cleared the ghostly energy before her, she didn't pay any attention to Sheng Yulan. For many years, whether alive or in her ghostly existence, she had been alone. She had forgotten what it meant to protect family.

A surge of the ghostly energy hit Sheng Yulan, causing her paper-like body to disintegrate into shreds, floating down. Fresh wounds appeared on Sheng Yulan, who was enveloped in the ghostly energy, and blood oozed out.

Ghosts can bleed too. Depending on their self-awareness, they might bleed or emit ghostly energy when injured.

The blood from Sheng Yulan's wounds indicated that in her self-awareness, she was closer to being a living human, not a ghost who could do as she pleased after death.

The shadowy child acted quickly. By the time Huang Lingling noticed Sheng Yulan, the child had already pounced on her. He bit into Sheng Yulan's chest, attempting to violently extract her heart and lungs, seemingly wanting to consume her whole.

Huang Lingling's fury was instantaneous. This was her newly acknowledged mother. She wouldn't allow another ghost to intervene. Witnessing Sheng Yulan soaked in blood, Huang Lingling's legs started to decay, her once pristine dress tearing apart, and blood spatters appeared on her face.

"You're out of character," Chi Shen suddenly restrained Huang Lingling.

The blood on Huang Lingling faded, her legs began to mend, and she stared blankly at Chi Shen. She wanted to inform him that the child was a malicious ghost who grew by consuming other spirits and that she must save Sheng Yulan. But under Chi Shen's suppression, she couldn't utter a word, not even expressing her anger.

"Shush," Chi Shen raised a finger, "Just watch."

After biting Sheng Yulan, the shadowy child suddenly stopped. He looked up blankly and uttered a meaningless sound: "Ah—"

"Bao'er?" Sheng Yulan softly called. She looked at the shadowy child, sensing something. Gently, she said, "You are my Bao'er, aren't you?"

"Ah—"

Sheng Yulan suddenly embraced him, "I recognize this sheet. They wrapped you in it back then. You are my Bao'er, my true Bao'er."

The shadowy child was momentarily stunned in her embrace. Having been a spirit since infancy, he was unfamiliar with the world and human sensibilities. But now, he slowly reached out, mimicking Sheng Yulan, and embraced her.

After what seemed like a long pause, or perhaps no pause at all, he murmured in a muffled voice: "Mama?"

That's a syllable understood universally. As one of the first sounds a child makes closely resembles this pronunciation, it has become the term for "mother" across the world.

Tears fell instantly from Sheng Yulan's eyes as she softly responded, "Hmm."

Chi Shen released his hold on Huang Lingling, who resentfully looked at the two of them and shouted loudly, "Mama!"

Sheng Yulan embraced her as well, murmuring, "Hmm."