"Chen Ying and the others have already gone to Kunyu Mountain, so they should not be home now."
Zhang Chenran was carrying several large bags of things he had just bought, feeling a little depressed.
He could obviously put these things into the storage space, but the Fire Witch insisted that he carry them.
"Wouldn't it be better if they weren't here?" The Fire Witch blinked.
Zhang Chenran was a little dazed. For some reason, his heartbeat inexplicably accelerated.
Through the chain of contract, the Fire Witch could sense his somewhat flustered mood.
"When did you become so nagging?" she said somewhat unhappily.
"Ah?" Zhang Chenran looked up at her.
"Let's go, we're almost there."
The Fire Witch hugged him, then took his hand and led him towards the beach
...
A small house in an urban village near the sea, facing the sea.
There was an old lady lying on a recliner in the yard. The bright sunshine fell on her wrinkled face, making her look particularly peaceful.
Two strange auras walked in. The old man slowly raised his eyes, and a hint of confusion flashed in his eyes when he saw the young man in his early twenties.
When her eyes fell on the woman with skin as white as snow and who looked somewhat like Chen Ying, her eyes shook violently.
But soon, she recovered and continued to close her eyes.
Zhang Chenran took in every move of the old woman, but the Fire Witch did not notice the intense shock to her soul.
The Flame Witch's beautiful eyes were filled with complexity, guilt, joy, and grievance. All of them surged into her heart. In the end, all these emotions were suppressed and turned into a smile of relief.
She walked over to the recliner, squatted down, and whispered, "Mom."
Although the old man didn't show any movement on the surface, his soul was in great turmoil that took a long time to calm down.
Yan pretended to be angry and snorted,
"Who are you? I don't remember having a daughter like you."
Facing her mother's cold face, the Flame Witch seemed to have expected it. She smiled awkwardly and said,
"Mom, I was wrong back then. I shouldn't have ignored your advice and insisted on getting married."
"You've been away for so many years and you haven't even come home once. If you don't come back, will you forget my old face completely? Forget it, you have no conscience. Chenying will take care of me in my old age. You don't need to worry about her." Yan still looked angry.
The Flame Witch's beautiful eyes trembled slightly.
It has been more than ten years since she was afflicted with the flames of heaven and earth and became a creature of fire.
In order to repay the kindness of Old Lady Yan, she has been guarding the northern corner of Zhuoyuan for more than ten years. In the loneliness of more than ten years, how could she not miss her mother?
In her memory, her father Jiang Xia had divorced her mother, and her mother had raised her since she was a child.
In the end, she was not able to let her mother enjoy a happy life, and even had conflicts with her mother. She insisted on marrying into the Zhao family, although her mother forgave her in the end.
"Mom, I know I was wrong." The Flame Witch's voice was a little choked, and tears rolled in her eyes.
Yan finally looked her in the eye.
Seeing his daughter like this, Yan's resentful mood suddenly disappeared, and was replaced by an unprecedented heartache.
Yan avoided her gaze and asked without any emotion:
"I heard from Chenying that you have left Zhao. How are you doing now?"
When she asked this question, her eyes glanced at the young man who was standing there stupidly and motionless.
"Mom, I'm doing fine." The Fire Witch smiled.
Yan nodded slightly and looked at Zhang Chenran:
"Who is this brat? Is he here to pursue Chen Ying as well?"
The Fire Witch was stunned. She had already thought of how to explain Zhang Chenran's identity to her mother, but was stumped by this sudden question.
Pursuing Chenying?
Yes, Zhang Chenran is the same age as Chen Ying and looks to be in his early twenties. It is normal for Yan to understand it this way.
But, can she say that Zhang Chenran is not pursuing Chenying, but pursuing her?
"Mom, you misunderstood, he really is..."
The Fire Witch stammered, the words she had prepared were disrupted and she couldn't utter them.
"Chen Ying is different now. There are more and more guys pursuing her. I don't know who will win her in the end. Once people have determined something in their hearts, they will pursue it regardless of everything, whether it is belief, strength, or love."
Yan narrowed his eyes and sighed deeply:
"Okay, it's getting dark soon, and I'm a little hungry. Chenying has been cooking for me over the past few years, and I almost forgot what your food tastes like."
"I'll do it for you right away." The Fire Witch felt inexplicably relieved when she saw that her mother did not continue to ask questions.
When she walked to Zhang Chenran, the Fire Witch wanted to pull him along.
"I want to talk to the old man alone." Zhang Chenran said in a low voice.
The Flame Witch's beautiful eyes were filled with surprise. She glanced at him, then looked at her mother lying on the recliner.
"Believe me." Zhang Chenran continued.
The Flame Witch nodded slightly:
"Well, don't say anything wrong. Mother is old and can't stand the stimulation."
Zhang Chenran knew what she was worried about and gave her a confident smile.
After the Fire Witch left, Zhang Chenran blocked the connection with her contract chain and stopped three meters away from Yan.
Yan glanced at him sideways, the cold light flashing in his eyes piercing his heart and soul!
"Senior." Zhang Chenran said respectfully with the attitude of a junior.
"You have ulterior motives." Yan retracted his gaze and said calmly.
"Your cultivation and soul are so powerful that it would be hard for me not to detect them." Zhang Chenran said with a smile.
The moment he saw the Fire Witch Jiang Feng, he caught the soul tremor emanating from Yan, even though she hid it very well.
To be honest, at that moment Zhang Chenran even doubted whether he had perceived it wrongly.
How could an old woman who looked frail and frail be a top-level mage who had touched the threshold of forbidden spells?
Judging from what the Fire Witch said, Yan was just an ordinary person since she was a child. She had never seen her mother cast or emit any magical fluctuations.
"I can see that now she seems to have found a new goal. She no longer has to guard the Burning Plain alone. She has found the happiness she deserves."
Yan was talking to him, but his eyes were fixed on the somewhat gloomy sky.
Zhang Chenran was not too surprised by these words.
She had guessed something from Yan's violent soul fluctuations and words before. She knew, she knew everything!
"I am a failed mother who could not save her when she was frightened and in pain."
This time, there were many emotions hidden in her words, not just guilt towards her daughter, but also something else.
"Why?" Zhang Chenran asked.
"Child, there are many things you don't know. I must stay here. If I leave, no one can fight it."