This night, Chiang Xiao did not know what the mood was like in the Old Chiang Family.
However, she knew that Chiang Baoguo had hastily brought food to town, and it was very late when Chiang Songtao came back. After returning, she heard Ho Laidi’s voice, which carried a bit of harshness, though she didn’t know what she was shouting about. Chiang Songtao’s voice was much quieter than hers, and it sounded somewhat gloomy, but after a while, it returned to silence.
Chiang Xiao’s own mood was quite good.
The events of today had finally dissipated much of the gloom in her heart, and the sudden relaxation made her lose the desire to sleep for the time being, so she simply went into "Space" and painted for half the night.
She painted quickly, and the paper was used up just as fast, but now she already had a stack of paintings stored in "Space", perhaps they would be useful someday.
Now when she used the "Magic Brush", she felt even more adept, and always felt that the paintings she created had more "spiritual energy" than before.
Chiang Xiao was really looking forward to the trip to Bai Gu Mountain tomorrow.
Although she had only gone to sleep past midnight, she still got up extremely early the next day.
With not much time left, she simply told her grandmother and then took her paints to the school to work on the mural.
She wanted to avoid the times when students would be arriving, so as not to attract too much attention.
After painting for an hour, she had completed two paintings, adding a few short idiomatic stories, this old wall immediately looked different.
In one of the paintings, she depicted the story of Kong Rong giving away pears, and on a whim, she switched to the "Magic Brush" while painting a large and a small pear.
The result was that when she finished and took a look, the two pears looked incredibly lifelike, the unique sweet scent of pears even seemed to waft from the wall, making her feel like salivating.
Chiang Xiao felt an immense joy in her heart, standing there and admiring her work for a long time.
When she returned home, the door of the Old Chiang Family was still tightly shut, and even Ho Laidi, who usually got up early, was nowhere to be seen.
"Just after you left for a bit, your great-uncle also hurried out. I reckon he went to the town hospital, seeing as Baoguo stayed up all night," Ge Liutao whispered to her when she saw her looking next door.
Last night, she and Chiang Songhai had talked for a long time, both of them recalling their years of interaction with Ho Laidi. Initially, they thought Chiang Xiao was too cruel and cold-hearted towards her grandaunt and wanted to find some memory of kindness from Ho Laidi towards her, hoping to use it to persuade Chiang Xiao to show her grandaunt some respect, possibly convincing her to go and apologize to Ho Laidi.
However, upon careful reflection, they were unable to recall a single good memory provided by Ho Laidi.
It was all various taunts and insults; recalling the painful parts even made Ge Liutao weep for a good part of the night.
Especially after the incident with Chiang Qingzhu, Ho Laidi’s verbal abuse was even more vicious than that from any outsider in the village.
This made it so Chiang Songhai and Ge Liutao really couldn’t proceed with their original plan to persuade Chiang Xiao.
Moreover, although they still felt Chiang Xiao was wrong, she had already done what she did, and now they only thought about how to remedy the situation; they certainly couldn’t let the Old Chiang Family beat her.
Therefore, they also got up extra early today, quietly paying attention to the movements next door.
When Chiang Songtao left the house carrying his things, he even gave Ge Liutao quite a scare, afraid he would kick the door in and come to settle scores with Chiang Xiao. It was only after they saw him hastily heading towards the village entrance did the old couple breathe a sigh of relief.
After Chiang Xiao put the paints back in the room and came out to wash her hands, she saw her grandfather sitting on the bamboo bed in the western room rolling a cigarette. Normally, she would have gone in to help him roll them, but today she didn’t want to go there; she didn’t want to listen to Chiang Songhai’s lectures at this time.
Chiang Songhai also thought she would come in, but when he looked up, Chiang Xiao had already walked away, and that sour feeling surged up in his heart again.