Mu Anxiao nodded, and her gaze happened to fall on Shen Yan's face for a moment, making her feel guilty.
Shen Yan: "Take care of yourself."
However, Mu Anxiao had expected Shen Yan to say something harsh. To her surprise, after looking at her for a long time, he simply offered a casual reminder. This made her feel guilty again.
"..." She lost the courage to look at Shen Yan.
Shen Yan noticed the guilt on Mu Anxiao's face and said calmly, "You have no right to change the past. I don't blame you, so you don't need to blame yourself. I'm leaving. Take good care of yourself."
Hearing this, Mu Anxiao's body stiffened. She then looked back at Shen Yan. "I understand."
"That's good," Shen Yan nodded and looked at the old man. "Master, let's go."
The old man, seeing Shen Yan's relief, let out a sigh and looked at Mu Anxiao. "We're going."
Mu Anxiao nodded. "Okay, I will listen to you and act accordingly."
"I believe you," the old man said, glancing at the younger Mu Anxiao. He thought about everything the young Mu Anxiao had seen here and said, "Oh, right. I've reordered your memories. In your memories, you were very attached to your mother. Although your life wasn't happy, in your memories, you were a relatively happy child. You'll also forget about that girl's death. In short, there are many things you won't remember."
"Why are you telling me this?" Mu Anxiao asked in surprise.
The old man: "Since you've seen some things, if I don't tell you, you'll definitely feel like you've returned to a fake past. To prevent you from going insane, I think it's better to make things clear."
Mu Anxiao had figured out these issues the moment the old man appeared. Of course, if it were in the past, she would have said, "I know," without any hesitation.
However, considering the old man's past disapproval of her, she felt it would be better to leave a good impression on him, lest he add more trouble to her past self.
Therefore, she smiled. "Alright, thank you." She nodded.
The old man smiled. "You're welcome."
Mu Anxiao continued to purse her lips and smile. "Um, don't you want to know about your future disciple?"
"No," the old man refused outright and turned to Shen Yan. "Let's go."
"Yes, Master." Shen Yan nodded slightly, cast one last glance at Mu Anxiao, and disappeared with the old man.
A few minutes later.
Mu Anxiao tilted her head back, looking at the sky gradually returning to clear. She let out a sigh of relief, bent down, and hoisted the young Mu Anxiao onto her shoulder. Then, she glanced back at Mu Xi and turned to leave.
A moment later.
Mu Anxiao brought the young Mu Anxiao to the woods. Following the old man's instructions, she put the young Mu Anxiao down. As she transformed into the appearance of a maid, the young Mu Anxiao stirred.
Seeing this, Mu Anxiao remained silent.
The young Mu Anxiao opened her eyes, stared blankly at Mu Anxiao for a few seconds, and then said, "It's you."
Mu Anxiao: "It's me. Shall we play hide-and-seek?" she said, relying on her memories from her previous life.
Young Mu Anxiao: "Play hide-and-seek?"
"Yes, didn't you just say you wanted to play hide-and-seek? Let's play."
At this moment, Mu Anxiao knew clearly that in the young Mu Anxiao's memory, the person who had drugged her was the female housekeeper. As for her previous memories, she no longer recalled them, including her role as a human trafficker.
She had even forgotten being locked in the woodshed. She only remembered that the maid had saved her, and the next day, the maid had taken her out.
In short, her childhood memories were a complete mess.
"Hide-and-seek?" the young Mu Anxiao touched her head and stood up. "Just the two of us?"
"The two of us..." Mu Anxiao said, suddenly remembering that there were other children at that time. She looked around, then unintentionally looked at the children running not far away. "Let's go find them," she said, pointing at the group of children.
Upon hearing this, the young Mu Anxiao followed Mu Anxiao's finger and smiled. "I've never played with children outside the manor before."
"Then let's play together," Mu Anxiao said, looking down at the young Mu Anxiao.
The young Mu Anxiao nodded.
Then, just as in her past life's memories, she accompanied the young Mu Anxiao and played with those children.
A quarter of an hour later.
Mu Anxiao reverted to her original self and then invisibly followed behind the young Mu Anxiao.
As before, the young Mu Anxiao walked alone in the dense woods, looking around fearfully and calling out, "Where are you?"
Mu Anxiao silently followed behind the young Mu Anxiao, feeling waves of helplessness wash over her.
Not long after, the sky changed drastically, and raindrops began to fall. The young Mu Anxiao stopped by a tree, trembling all over as she looked around, continuing to call out, "Where are you?"
Mu Anxiao stood beside the young Mu Anxiao, thinking about what she was about to face. She murmured, "Don't rely on others. You must rely on yourself. You must rely on yourself." With that, she couldn't bear to face her past self any longer and turned to leave.
In the blink of an eye.
Mu Anxiao, following her memory, returned to the alley where she had first left. As she had guessed, Mu Xi was still there, but Xi'er was now by his side. Xi'er: "Mu Xi, wake up." She was squatting beside Mu Xi, holding an umbrella, and pushing his arm forcefully. Mu Anxiao watched this scene and frowned.
At the same time, Mu Xi, under Xi'er's pushing and patting, began to stir.
Seeing Mu Xi's fingers move slightly, Xi'er's lips curved, and she stood up. "He's awake."
Mu Anxiao glanced at Xi'er, crossed her arms, and decided to watch the show quietly.
Upon hearing this, Mu Xi's body trembled noticeably. He then raised his hand to wipe the rain from his face, opened his eyes, looked at Xi'er, and his eyes widened. "You're okay."
Xi'er: "Did you want me to be hurt?"
Hearing Xi'er's words, Mu Xi thought about his action of stabbing Xi'er with a dagger just now. He was stunned. "You really are a demon." He said, supporting himself on the wet ground, and stood up.
Seeing Mu Xi stand up, Xi'er deliberately took a step back. "Do you want to feel what it's like to have a dagger plunged into your body?"
"I..." Mu Xi shook his head. "I don't want to."
"You don't want to," Xi'er smiled. "You abandoned me and hurt me. Do you think I will forgive you?"
"You lied to me." Mu Xi still couldn't accept the fact that Xi'er cultivated demons.
Xi'er: "I lied to you. I've already explained everything to you, yet you still say I lied. That's too much."
"I married you because I thought you were a cultivator, but..." Mu Xi swallowed. "You practiced demon arts under the guise of cultivation. I can't accept this."
"You harmed your own sister like that, do you think," Xi'er looked coldly at Mu Xi, "you have the right to say that?"
"I..." Mu Xi didn't know what to say.