Chapter 258 — How Could Anyone Blame You?

If I were the old demon, would I need to make up lies to hurt you? " Shen Mu thought it over: it was indeed so; compared with Granny Zhu he was pitifully weak, and if she were Fan Xuanshu there would be no need for such trouble. Only then did he step into the courtyard.

If she were Fan Xuanshu, with that bewitching air of his, one glance would have turned his soul inside out; he was more woman than any woman.

This house was very plain; after all, it had just been built, and there was hardly a piece of furniture. Shen Mu looked around and saw that the table and chairs were all crooked and askew, and only then was he reassured. Granny Zhu had none of Master Huo's nimble craftsmanship; she could manage sewing clothes, but at carpentry she was pitifully poor, and these tables and chairs must certainly be from Granny Zhu's hand.

Shen Mu sat on a chair to rest; it was high on one side and low on the other, thoroughly awkward, and his heart grew all the more easy: yes, this was a chair Granny Zhu had made. Curious, he asked, "Granny, why do you not go back to the Barren Ruins?

" Granny Zhu shook her head, walked out of the courtyard, and after a while several pieces of firewood drifted into the yard; she meant to make a bed. Shen Mu could not spare the time to rest; he hurried forward to help. Granny Zhu was a Holy Maiden of the cult, and though she had lived forty years in the village of the hidden maimed, she had never learned Master Huo's craft; Shen Mu, by contrast, was skilled in every kind of furniture-making.

Granny Zhu had no way to lend a hand, so she fetched some water from the river and came back to polish a bronze mirror, saying, "I cannot go back now. And what would going back accomplish?

In the Barren Ruins darkness holds the road at night; if the old demon gets out and runs wild again, how many days can the village head and those old bones hold out? Better to live here a while and grind down the old demon's temper.

" Shen Mu swiftly finished a large bed and carried it into the house; seeing that she had polished the mirror pitted and dented all over, he did not know whether to laugh or cry, and hurriedly took it from her hands. He transformed his vital essence into White Tiger vital essence, made a few calculations, and polished the bronze mirror smooth with filaments of vital essence, then went and built a dressing table.

Granny Zhu saw the Dragon Qilin sprawled on the ground snoring, and saw Shen Mu's bloodshot eyes and utter exhaustion. "You traveled the whole night?

Go sleep a while first. " "You will not leave?

" "I will not. " Shen Mu set his heart at ease and lay down fully dressed on the bed; there were no quilts or mattress here, but he was used to sleeping in the open, and soon sank into deep sleep.

How long it was, he did not know; he woke blearily and saw Granny Zhu staring lost in thought at the bronze mirror on the dressing table, a pair of scissors in her hand, the scissors turned toward her own face. "Granny!

" Shen Mu said in alarm.

Granny Zhu turned her head, put down the scissors, and showed a smile. Softly she said, "The Tathagata says there is only one way to break an inner demon: to make him cease utterly to pine for this face. Shen'er, I do not want to harm you all, and still less do I want to harm you.

. . " Shen Mu saw her lift the scissors again, and the tears would not stop rolling from his eyes: "Granny, it is not your fault. .

. I have never blamed you. . .

" "I cannot bring myself to do it! " Granny Zhu slumped, put down the scissors, and smiled.

"Shen'er, you help me.

" Shen Mu rose from the bed, took the scissors from her hand, and laid them gently in her little basket.

"It is not your fault. No one could blame you.

You have hidden yourself for more than forty years, more than forty years without showing your true face to anyone. " He crouched down and looked up at that face of a beauty such as no second existed in the world, the true face of the dearest one who had raised him.

Shen Mu showed a smile: "In your place, I could have held out a day or two, but to hold out more than forty years: that I could never do.

What you look like is not your fault. What beautiful woman would be willing to cover her face forever, to meet people with an aged face? " He stood up and said, "Granny, I will settle Fan Xuanshu.

You stay here; I will go to Bazhou. Trouble may break out there.

" Granny Zhu nodded lightly.

Shen Mu walked out of the room, turned his head, and smiled.

"Granny, eat when you should eat and drink when you should drink; do not torment yourself.

" "You little wretch, lecturing me again! " Granny Zhu said in angry reproach.

Shen Mu laughed heartily, kicked the Dragon Qilin awake, and shouted, "Still sleeping? Get up and travel! "