Demon King's Repayment - chapter 260

Yuan Xiang didn’t sleep very well. She could always hear the sound of rushing water in her sleep. Yuan Xiang opened her eyes and found herself on the edge of a big river with vast smoke and waves. In the reed field, an old man in white was sitting on the edge of the river fishing.

Beside him, a carp floated in the air and swam slowly.

Yuan Xiang knew that she was probably in a dream.

“He Bo,” she went to the old man’s side, and said, “I have come to Lianghe Town, what do you want to tell me, and where are you now?”

The old man seemed to have not heard.

He smiled, leisurely, fishing by the river, and said with his chin in one hand, “Danluo, don’t eat humans, okay?”

The fish that was swimming in the air turned around and looked at them. Only then did Yuan Xiang realize that the fish’s head and mouth were ticking with bright red blood.

“Why? I want to eat. What’s the difference between humans and other creatures? Tigers and wild boars can be eaten, then humans can also be eaten.” There was a muffled sound from the fish’s stomach, “Besides, they sacrificed their own kind to me.”

“But I once was of the human race, if you want to eat my compatriots like this, I have to stay far away from you,” He Bo said.

Danluo swam in the air for a while, and then finally said, “I’ve lived for too long, I always feel very lonely. It’s rare to have someone who can talk to me. Forget it, I won’t eat humans while you’re alive.”

 He Bo laughed, “Thank you, my friend.”

…

Yuan Xiang was awakened by a slight knock on the door.

She opened her eyes and Dahua had already opened the door. It was not yet dawn, and outside the darkened door, stood the pale girl Dong’er.

“Dong’er, why are you here?” Dahua led her little niece into the room, “Why did you come here alone in the middle of the night?”

“Auntie, I… can I sleep with you here?” Frightened, she was shivering on a hot summer night.

Dahua put her on the bed, let her sleep between her and Yuan Xiang and patted her back lightly, “What’s the matter? Were you scared by your father’s reckless behavior? Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid, I’ll be with you tonight. Auntie and Sister Ah Xiang are here.” 

The little girl curled up in the thin blanket, her small body trembling,  “It’s not my father…it’s my mother…”

Her small whispering voice was drowned in the darkness, and she was sleepy. Neither Dahua nor Yuan Xianger heard it.

After dawn, Dahua got up early to clean the courtyard, boil water to cook, and was very busy.

Yuan Xiang saw her husband before breakfast. The scholar who had been studying hard all year round was a little weak. After nodding to Yuan Xianger from a distance, he intended to leave.

Dahua restrained her escaping temper, and stood outside the door to talk to him. With a bit of respect and restraint, she handed him a box of freshly steamed dim sum and watched him go to the study room.

In Yuan Xiang’s eyes, the man was pulling several harmless little demons on the top of his head and the back, and the invisible weight pressed his back a little.

That was probably a timid and stressed man in her heart. When a person’s momentum got weak and his heart was full of anxiety, the little demons would prefer to sit on his shoulder and bully him like that.

After Dahua came back, Yuan Xiang teased, “Why are you talking so nervously with your husband? You have been married for more than half a year, but you’re still shy?”

“You don’t know, since my husband passed the exam, the whole family wants him to enter Juren. He just looks forward to studying every day, which makes me nervous as well.” Dahua sighed, “I am looking forward to him making progress, but I am also afraid that he would really pass and become an official. Then I, as a butcher’s daughter, won’t be able to stand in his eyes.”

“Don’t sigh all the time, you’ve sighed so much since I came here.” Yuan Xiang patted her on the shoulder like a child, “You feel nervous all the time. Your husband is only afraid of more pressure. I think you should encourage him more instead of holding him respectfully, you will only increase his pressure like this.”

“Is that so? How can a rude person like me be qualified to encourage him?”

“Sister Dahua is the best girl in our group, don’t look down on yourself. Listen to me and show the energy you used to have. You are already husband and wife, I think he needs your encouragement very much.”

After eating breakfast with Dahua, Yuan Xiang was going to take Nan He to the temple to verify that vague dream she had the previous night.

Dong’er’s mother, Lin Shi, walked through the door and came to pick up her daughter.

“Dong’er, go back with mother,” Lin Shi’s smile was gentle and loving. Her husband’s drunken violence the previous night didn’t seem to have any effect on her. Instead of looking tired and haggard, she looked somewhat radiant.

When Yuan Xiang saw her the day before, she habitually hunched over her chest and lowered her eyebrows. But at that moment, she straightened her waist and neck, smiled sweetly, and calmly saluted and talked to people, like a flower that suddenly opened, adding that rare radiance.

But Dong’er uncharacteristically shrank behind Dahua.

“You child, what’s the matter? You can’t keep bothering your aunt. Go back with me, okay?” Lin Shii’s tone was gentle, and she lowered her face to look at her daughter. She reached out and pulled her.

The five- or six-year-old girl seemed to see some terrifying monster, shook her head desperately, and avoided her in fear.

‘Nan He, did you smash the roof yesterday? Did you notice anything? I feel a little strange,’ Yuan Xiang contacted Nan He, who was still on the roof.

‘No, she looks human, but there seems to be something wrong. I’m not good at distinguishing this, if Wu Yuan was here, he could tell at a glance,’ Nan He’s voice came.

‘Yes, I feel that this Lin Shi is different from yesterday. But I don’t know what’s wrong,’ Yuan Xiang hesitated.

“Sister Lin, Dong’er is probably frightened because of last night. I was just about to go out, why don’t I take her with me to relax?” Yuan Xiang smiled and said to Lin Shi, in a negotiating tone. But she had already taken Dong’er into her own hands.

With the early morning sun behind her back, Lin Shi’s smile seemed a little stiff and false.

She opened her mouth to speak, but saw a silver-white Sirius fall from the sky, jumping into Yuan Xiang’s arms, and his cold eyes turned to look at her.

“Is that so…” Lin Shi took a step back, “Okay then.”

Yuan Xiang embraced Nan He and led Dong’er to walk outside the gate.

Yuan Xiang remembered the strange fish that ate people in her dream the previous night, and couldn’t help but ask, ‘Xiao Nan, if we didn’t know each other, would you also eat humans?’

‘My body needs a lot of food. Although I will not kill indiscriminately, when hunting, humans and other animals are no different to me.’

‘Then you don’t eat now, is it just because of me?’

‘Well, because I like you, I also like all humans.’

For the first time, Yuan Xiang truly realized that for many demons, humans were just a link in the food chain.

Queqiu Town, where she lived since she was a child, was so quiet and peaceful, and she had never seen excessive blood and darkness, probably because a powerful being like her master had always lived there.

Walking along the way, she could see that Jingdu, the most stable city, was also quiet due to the presence of the head teacher Miao.

So, where there were demons restrained or where powerful human beings lived, there would be far fewer little demons wantonly cannibalizing people.

Lianghe Town had always been a quiet town in the past, because of He Bo’s management.

But the newly spawned little demons could be seen everywhere on the streets.