The Hellborn Heiress​ - Chapter 19

Jiang Ci deliberately tried to scare him: “I was talking to your grandma.”

Hao You’s face changed instantly. He stared at her for a long while, and when he finally spoke, his voice was a little hoarse: “Is she really here?”

Jiang Ci glanced at Grandma Hao, who was tugging at her thick cotton jacket, and nodded.

“Grandma…” Hao You looked around, and finally his gaze landed on the bed where Grandma Hao used to sleep.

Then he reached out and groped his way over.

Sitting on the bed, Song Ran leaned away repeatedly, both amused and helpless. “Your grandma is in the corner.”

Hao You couldn’t hear or see anything and kept calling out for his grandma with red eyes.

Jiang Ci simply said, “If you want to see your grandma, bring some Cinnabar and Yellow Talismans. I can let you see them.”

“Really? You can do that? Just a second!” Hao You excitedly brought over a thick stack of Yellow Talismans and shoved them into Jiang Ci’s hands. “Here, take them! As long as you let me see Grandma, these talismans are free!”

He was rarely this generous.

Seeing Hao You’s eager expression, Jiang Ci glanced at the three ghosts in the room and kindly reminded him, “Your grandma isn’t the only one here, you know.”

But Hao You was so overwhelmed with excitement that he didn’t care about anyone else. “Hurry, let me see Grandma!”

Jiang Ci picked up a brush, dipped it in Cinnabar, and with one stroke imbued it with spiritual power to complete the talisman.

“Carry this Ghost-Seeing Talisman with you. It’s effective for three days.”

Without hesitation, Hao You took the talisman.

The moment he touched the talisman paper, three shadowy, pitch-black ghostly figures suddenly appeared in the once empty room.

He immediately looked at the bed and saw a pretty girl ghost sitting there.

Song Ran greeted him with a bright smile. “Hi~”

He was a bit surprised-he hadn’t expected ghosts to be not scary at all, but actually rather pretty!

Hao You shifted his gaze to the bottom right and saw a familiar figure. He barely had time to grin before he noticed a headless ghost next to her.

Most crucially, his grandma was holding a hand, knocking it against the neck of the Headless Ghost.

“What the hell…”

Hao You’s eyes rolled back, and he collapsed straight to the ground.

“Oh no, my precious grandson!” Grandma Hao rushed over and slapped Hao You’s face repeatedly with that hand.

“Xiao You, wake up! Want Grandma to call your soul back for you?”

In a daze, Hao You vaguely heard his grandma’s voice. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was that decayed hand slapping his face.

He rolled his eyes again and fainted from fright.

“So easily scared-how does he dare to guard the Incense and Candle Shop alone at night?” Jiang Ci muttered.

She had thought this kid must be pretty brave to run the Incense and Candle Shop by himself.

Turns out, he was quite a coward.

It took Hao You several minutes to slowly come to.

When he saw Grandma Hao’s shadowy but kind face, he burst into tears like a child. “Grandma!”

Unfortunately, they were now separated by the Yin-Yang divide, unable to hug each other.

Both reached out, but grasped only air.

Jiang Ci thought for a moment, then drew another talisman to strengthen a ghost’s power and stuck it on Grandma Hao’s back.

At last, the human and the ghost were able to touch each other.

Grandma Hao hugged Hao You with tears streaming down her face. All the scolding she had wanted to give for his laziness stuck in her throat; all her words merged into just one sentence: “My precious grandson, did Grandma scare you?”

“Grandma, you’re the person I miss most-I could never be scared by you. It was the ghost in the corner that scared me.” Hao You was sobbing. “I always felt you were still with me, and it turns out it’s true. Grandma, you didn’t leave!”

“After you passed away, I watched over the shop by myself. Sometimes I’d play games until I fell asleep from exhaustion, and when I woke up, I’d find an extra layer of clothing on me for no reason. Paper Offerings that had been scattered messily the day before would be neatly arranged in the corner the next morning. And Da Huang, the dog that used to bark at the door, doesn’t dare come and bark anymore…”
Grandma Hao is an ordinary wandering spirit, so logically, she doesn’t have much power to manipulate objects.

But her love for her grandson allows her to do small things for him within her ability.

Jiang Ci mused, “So when you said there was surveillance in the shop yesterday, you were talking about Grandma Hao?”

“Yeah, I always feel like Grandma is right by my side, so if anyone tries to steal something, Grandma will definitely haunt them relentlessly!” Hao You said.

Song Ran commented, “Why does the word ‘haunt relentlessly’ sound so weird to me?”

Grandma Hao said, “That’s my clever grandson! But Xiao You, even though our business isn’t doing well, you can’t let yourself get lost in distractions. If you don’t like this line of work, Grandma won’t force you to keep the shop. You can go do what you truly love.”

Song Ran’s eyes showed a hint of envy. “If only my great-grandmother were like that.”

To be able to do what you want, freely and at will, is a truly blissful thing.

There are so many people in the world, but how many can really live as they wish?

Most are just the walking dead.

Jiang Ci gestured for her to come outside.

The Headless Ghost couldn’t see her expression and squatted pitifully in the corner by the wall.

In the square courtyard, many vegetables and beans were planted. Jiang Ci and Song Ran sat under the eaves to cool off, while inside, the grandmother and grandson chatted excitedly.

“About my suicide… Was Grandpa and Dad very angry?” Song Ran lowered her head. “They must think I embarrassed them, right?”

Jiang Ci gently held her hand. “You don’t have to care about others’ opinions. Your life is your own, not something to be lived for others.”

“If you want to talk, I’m here.”

Although Jiang Ci was decisive and cold by nature, when facing another female victim, she couldn’t help but show her gentle side.

Song Ran was stunned for a moment before slowly revealing the grievances she had suffered over the years.

“Since I was little, I’ve hardly had any time for myself. Every day, my dad forced me to go to the Youth Palace to practice calligraphy. Any free time had to be spent in the library reading famous classics and ancient poetry. When I got home, my dad would quiz me, and if I couldn’t recite them, I’d have to kneel all night on an empty stomach…”

“At school, I wasn’t allowed to play with classmates with poor grades, nor was I allowed to have any other hobbies.”

“To my dad, hobbies are all a waste of time.”

“Especially when he found out I was secretly acting behind his back, he almost beat me to death.”

“But I’m still happy, at least I can do what I love now.”

“But Master Jiang, why are there so many unreasonable people in the world?”

“Just because I played a vicious second female lead, I get personally attacked, verbally abused… Even all my upcoming jobs were reported and canceled. My Weibo comment section and even my private messages are full of curses, telling me to die.”

Song Ran’s face was covered in tears as she spoke.

“There’s a netizen who chases after me every day, photoshops me into ghost images, pornographic pictures, car crash scenes, and sends them to me. When I block him, he just uses a thousand alternate accounts to keep scaring me…”

“He makes me feel like I’m the worst person in the world.”