Demoness in the Deep Forest

On the way back, the two of them chatted and laughed. As soon as they arrived at their residence, they were informed by the guard that Li Shouji had been waiting for them in the house for four hours.

“Four hours?”

Puzzled, Xiaoguo repeated the question.

“Yes, four hours.”

The guard’s answer was firm. Xiaoguo and Jiang Danhe looked at each other. It didn’t feel like that much time had passed. How could four hours have passed during that short while? They didn’t think that they had walked for so long.

“Wow… You’re finally back!”

Li Shouji was starting to feel sad for himself. He had been waiting in the house for so long. Finally, they came back before he turned into stone.

“Why are you looking for us?”

Jiang Danhe asked curiously. Unexpectedly, Li Shouji looked at Xiaoguo and said, “Sister-in-law, I haven’t had the chance to say hello to you over the past few days. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s fine. I know you’re busy.”

Xiaoguo said with a smile. Li Shouji wanted to say more to her, but he was quickly interrupted by Jiang Danhe. “Do you have something to say to me?”

“Yes!” Li Shouji said confidently. “Why would I come to visit you if I had nothing to tell you?”

“What is it?”

“It’s nothing serious. I just wanted to say hello to Sister-in-law and have a meal with you two.” Before Jiang Danhe’s patience ran out, he told him his purpose of visiting.

Of course, eventually he could not escape from Jiang Danhe’s beating. He actually waited for four hours to say this. He must have nothing better to do.

Xiaoguo rubbed her stomach and realized that she was feeling a little hungry. Since four hours had passed, it must be past lunchtime now. In a few hours’ time, it would be time for dinner.

And Li Shouji actually waited so long for them. When they didn’t come back, he didn’t eat as well. There was no other choice. The three of them were already starving before dinner time. They could only get someone to prepare dinner in advance.

After having a satisfying meal, Li Shouji left happily.

“Let’s go see the flower fields tomorrow and bring Zhuang Zhuang along.”

Before going to bed, Xiaoguo said to Jiang Danhe. It had been a few days since she last saw Zhuang Zhuang. She missed him so much.

“Got it. Go to sleep.”

Jiang Danhe also missed Zhuang Zhuang, but he could go visit him whenever he wished. Xiaoguo couldn’t do that.

With his assurance, Xiaoguo fell asleep in satisfaction.

—-

The next morning, Jiang Danhe brought Zhuang Zhuang back, with Xiaoyi tagging along. The three of them returned together.

It was a lively scene. Originally, there were only two people, but now there were four of them. Halfway through, it became a five person group.

The group members were Xiaoguo, Jiang Danhe, Zhuang Zhuang, Xiaoyi, and Li Shouji, who had joined the group halfway.

Over the past few days, he didn’t have much time to spare. Now that he had time, he spent all his days hanging around Jiang Danhe. No matter how much beating he received from the man, he simply refused to leave his side.

“Aiya, so what if I’m following you? The four of you are going together. What’s wrong with bringing me along?”

Jiang Danhe was determined to shake him off, but Li Shouji was like a piece of plaster that he couldn’t shake off.

“Alright, just let him follow us. The more the merrier.”

Since Xiaoguo had spoken, Jiang Danhe could only give up.

Hence, the five of them headed for their first destination, the flower fields.

The air at the fields was very refreshing. The scorching sun was blocked by the towering trees, revealing only filtered rays of sunlight. The heat was completely blocked out by the shade. In the background, the birds were chirping and leaves were fluttering in the breeze. The scent of the trees and earth was Xiaoguo’s favorite woody fragrance. It was an intoxicating setting.

Xiaoyi and Zhuang Zhuang skipped to the front. In the meanwhile, Li Shouji walked beside Xiaoguo callously, intruding into the small space between her and Jiang Danhe.

“Sister-in-law, I saw you dressed so beautifully yesterday morning. I couldn’t take my eyes off you. In my opinion, even fairies can’t compare to your beauty.”

“Is that so?” Xiaoguo was thin-skinned to begin with. With Li Shouji shamelessly praising her, she was starting to feel uncomfortable.

“Yes, yes!”

Li Shouji sang her praises continuously. Xiaoguo felt a chill travel down her spine and could only smile awkwardly.

Jiang Danhe’s patience was at its limit. Just now, he didn’t make any moves in consideration of the two children in front of him. However, when he received his wife’s gaze, he couldn’t bear it anymore and began to move his hands in preparation.

Xiaoguo immediately stepped forward and took the two children’s hands, before speeding forward with them.

Li Shouji was even thinking of getting closer to Xiaoguo to chat with her. Unexpectedly, Jiang Danhe stopped him from leaving.

“What’s wrong?” Wearing an innocent look on his face, Li Shouji still didn’t know what was coming for him.

“…”

—-

“Mother? Why aren’t Father and Uncle Shouji following us?”

Zhuang Zhuang had walked quite a distance when he suddenly realized that the two men were missing from the group. Before Xiaoguo could speak, Xiaoyi suddenly hugged her leg nervously. His entire body was trembling uncontrollably.

“What’s wrong, Xiaoyi?”

Xiaoguo didn’t understand. The boy was fine earlier on. What had come over him all of a sudden?

“I’m fine…” Although he said that, his body was very honest. After saying those words, he held on tightly to Xiaoguo again.

Seeing him like this, Zhuang Zhuang suddenly thought of something and became inexplicably nervous. Unknowingly, he wrapped his hands around Xiaoguo’s other thigh as well.

Seeing their behavior. Xiaoguo was puzzled. She couldn’t figure out what was wrong.

“Mother, do you think Father and Uncle were captured by the forest demoness?”

Zhuang Zhuang asked with a trembling voice. Xiaoyi inched closer to Xiaoguo and looked at her for confirmation.

“What forest demoness?”

“It’s a female demon who lives in the deep corners of the forest. Her long black hair covers her face and her white clothes are tattered. She preys on people who travel alone and captures them to eat their internal organs…”

Towards the end, Zhuang Zhuang and Wen Xiaoyi shivered at the same time. It was obvious that they were frightened of the monster Zhuang Zhuang was describing.

“Pfft, haha…” Xiaoguo couldn’t help but laugh. “Where did you hear that from?”

“In the book I brought with me.”

Xiaoyi said from the side.

“The ghosts in the books are not real. The tales are just fabricated to deceive children. There are no monsters in this world. Don’t scare yourself. The two of them have something to discuss. Therefore they are walking at a slower pace. Let’s wait a while for them. How about that?”

Xiaoguo was still wondering what was going on with the two boys. Now she knows.

“…” Wen Xiaoyi and Zhuang Zhuang looked at each other and nodded. “Okay!”

They believed Xiaoguo’s words completely. She would not lie to them.

Xiaoguo found a large rock and sat on it. Xiaoyi and Zhuang Zhuang followed closely behind her. Although they were not afraid now, it was better to stay close to an adult.

After a while, Xiaoguo was getting tired from waiting. Zhuang Zhuang and Wen Xiaoyi were getting bored too, and they started playing with a grasshopper.

Seeing that they were having fun, and she was feeling tired from sitting for so long, Xiaoguo stood up to stretch her muscles. Just as she was humming a tune quietly to herself, she suddenly saw a white figure flash across the woods beside her. She was so frightened that she froze in an instant. Could there really be a forest demoness!

At this moment, she heard some noise coming from ahead. Xiaoguo was so frightened that her hair was standing on end. On second thoughts, she thought that there could be some truth to it. The zombies shown in movies were real, let alone ghosts. Just because she had never seen them before did not mean that they didn’t exist.

However, she still pretended to be calm. She had just said that there were no ghosts, and now she was saying the opposite. That was as good as slapping herself in the face. Besides, she had two kids beside her. She forced herself to calm down so that she wouldn’t frighten them.

Xiaoguo wasn’t the only one who heard the noise ahead of them. Zhuang Zhuang, who had sharp ears, also heard it. Just as the thoughts of demons appeared in his mind, he stopped himself. He turned around, intending to tell Xiaoguo about it when he saw her startled expression. She looked like she had just seen a ghost.

This time, he started panicking. He threw down the grasshopper in his hand and ran anxiously to her side. “Mother, Mother?”