Chapter 578

Chapter 578: Facing Death

During the evening meal, Shan Shan clutched his milk bottle with swollen, red eyes, sniffling as he drank.

“What happened? Did Shan Shan get hit again?” Rong Che couldn’t help but ask.

Shan Shan pitifully looked at his father, his big, tear-filled eyes attempting to stir paternal sympathy.

“Ji-ji… hit…” His babyish voice was hoarse, making him seem even more pitiful.

Rong Che nodded. “Your sister hit you?”

Under Shan Shan’s hopeful gaze, Rong Che clapped his hands and nodded again. “Good! She did well!”

Shan Shan, who had been expecting his father to uphold justice: ???

“If your sister hit you, there must be a reason. You must’ve been naughty… acting up again.” With that, he turned to Shi Yun. “Make sure you tell Chao Chao—she can hit her brother, but she mustn’t hit her father.”

Shan Shan’s mouth quivered as he prepared to cry.

But at the sight of Lu Chao Chao’s sideways glance, he immediately swallowed his tears.

He had it coming—stealing the Book of Life and Death and scribbling his sister’s name into it. He truly had been asking for trouble.

Once Lu Chao Chao finished her meal, she had Zhu Mo carry Shan Shan as they went in search of the unfortunate soul whose name had been mistakenly altered.

He had learned the Summon character but had written the wrong name.

Following the location marked in the Book of Life and Death, Lu Chao Chao arrived outside the city.

In a quiet mountain village, a funeral was underway. The villagers had gathered to help, and the entrance of the home was strewn with paper money.

Wreaths were set outside the courtyard, and faint wailing echoed from within the house.

Lu Chao Chao poked Shan Shan’s forehead harshly. “Look at what you’ve done! You erased one person’s fate and caused another’s death.”

“His young child, his elderly mother—how will they live now?”

“One person dies, but an entire family suffers.”

“Shan Shan, every life is worthy of respect.” Lu Chao Chao’s expression was solemn. Shan Shan, resting in Zhu Mo’s arms, stared at the scene in confusion.

Had his careless stroke really caused such a disaster?

He was too young to fully comprehend.

The carriage halted outside the courtyard, surrounded by guards. The presence of the outsiders soon drew a crowd of villagers, who whispered among themselves from a distance.

“They look like nobles from the capital. Does Li Zhao’s family actually know such important people?”

“Shh, lower your voice…” The villagers murmured.

Zhu Mo stepped forward and cupped his hands. “Is this the residence of Li Zhao?”

“Yes, yes! I’ll call someone for you!” A villager at the door quickly ran inside.

“Li Zhao’s family, someone’s here to pay respects to Li Zhao!”

“They look like people Li Zhao knew. Go on, greet them! They seem to be important guests from the capital…”

As soon as the words were spoken, a woman dressed in mourning white emerged, leading a small boy by the hand. Her eyes were red, her face pale, and her expression dazed, with a hidden air of despair.

Lu Chao Chao frowned slightly.

The woman immediately knelt and bowed her head, following the etiquette of receiving mourners.

Knowing the truth, Zhu Mo quickly stopped her. “We had some ties with Li Zhao and came to see him one last time.”

“I heard he had just passed the scholar’s examination? He had even gone to the capital to find a mentor recently…” Zhu Mo had already investigated.

At these words, the woman’s tears flowed uncontrollably.

“Please, come in. Li Zhao… yes, he had just passed the scholar’s exam…” The woman’s voice was choked with sobs.

“He studied for ten bitter years, finally achieved success, and then suddenly passed away. How will we—his widow and elderly mother—survive…” She struggled to suppress her sorrow as she invited them inside.

The small boy beside her, eyes red, bowed politely to them before standing quietly by his mother’s side.

“Li Zhao was raised by his widowed mother. She went blind from sewing to afford his studies. His wife came from a family of refugees—Li Zhao was the pillar of their household.”

Inside the house, an old woman had fainted from grief multiple times. Now, clutching the coffin, she wailed, “Take me instead! Let me exchange my life for his!”

“My Zhao’er… do you wish to carve out your mother’s heart?” She sobbed bitterly, clinging to the coffin.

Shan Shan, still in Zhu Mo’s arms, was forcibly turned around by Lu Chao Chao.

“Look closely.”

“With a single careless stroke, you took not just one life.”

Her voice was cold, with deeper meaning.

Shan Shan dared not look, his small body overwhelmed by the heavy sorrow in the room.

The young widow sat emotionless in the mourning hall, surrounded by sighing villagers.

“The old lady raised her son alone, took in a refugee girl as a daughter-in-law, and was finally seeing better days after he became a scholar. Now he’s suddenly gone… how will they survive?”

“Yes, her family perished in the famine. She was starving when she first arrived in this village. The Li family barely nursed her back to health…”

The little boy was too young to understand life and death.

At that moment, he tugged on his grandmother’s sleeve. “Grandmother, don’t cry. What’s wrong? Father will be sad…”

The coffin was still open. He tiptoed, trying to reach inside.

“Father, get up! Don’t be lazy. Wake up… Mother and Grandmother are crying. Don’t sleep anymore. Yu Yu is scared… Father…”

The child’s sobbing voice cut through the air, bringing everyone to tears.

Lu Chao Chao shot Zhu Mo a look, and he set Shan Shan down.

At less than ten months old, Shan Shan could barely manage a few wobbly steps. Now, he plopped down in the mourning hall, unsure of what to do.

The weight of Lu Chao Chao’s gaze made him restless.

The weeping and grief pressing in from all sides unsettled him.

He looked left, then right—his sister wasn’t speaking, so he didn’t know what to do.

Neither did Lu Chao Chao.

Could Shan Shan truly be saved?

After a moment of hesitation, Shan Shan mimicked those around him, crawling forward and clumsily bowing twice.

Then, cautiously, he glanced at his sister.

He bowed only because she frightened him.

At such a young age, he was already trying to gauge her thoughts.

Before he could crawl back, a woman’s wail rang out beside him: “Husband, if you leave, I will go with you!”

He watched, wide-eyed, as the woman threw herself at the coffin.

With a sickening crack, her forehead struck the coffin’s corner.

She collapsed, her limp body falling right before him.

Shan Shan was utterly shaken.

Blood trickled from her forehead, and the mourning hall descended into chaos. Shan Shan remained kneeling, motionless.

The boy’s cries mingled with the panicked shouts of the villagers. Shan Shan did not move.

Perhaps because he was soon to be a father, Zhu Mo felt his heart soften at the sight of Shan Shan’s expression and stepped forward to pick him up.

But Lu Chao Chao gently shook her head.

She had noticed the woman’s deathly aura from the moment she arrived—she had likely planned to die with her husband.

She had been watching closely.

Just now, as the woman threw herself forward, Lu Chao Chao shielded her with spiritual energy.

Her life was not in danger—only her forehead suffered a superficial wound. But to the onlookers, the scene was terrifying.

Including one particular person, who had never held any reverence for life.

The old woman’s wails, the child’s cries—chaos erupted in the hall.

No one noticed Shan Shan.

He, too, was enveloped in the tragedy.

Lips pressed tightly together, his chubby hands clenched his robe.

This moment had shaken him to his core.