The Demon Lord Is Carrying My Child - Chapter 8

“Zhuang Yi, you’re awake!” Ji Shutao’s jubilant voice rang out by Zhuang Yi’s ear.

Following the sound, what entered Zhuang Yi’s vision was Ji Shutao’s face, ecstatic with joy.

She used Ji Shutao’s strength to sit up. After surveying her surroundings, she realized this place was unfamiliar to her, so she asked Ji Shutao: “Where is this?”

Zhuang Yi’s awakening allowed Ji Shutao to heave a great sigh of relief. After steadying herself for a moment, she said: “I carried you on my back for half the night and truly couldn’t walk any further. Fortunately, there was a household here.”

In the middle of a deep mountain forest, for there to be a single household like this, Zhuang Yi couldn’t help but suspect a trap. She moved to get straight out of bed. “Let’s go.”

Ji Shutao pressed her back down. “Go where? Do you even know how badly you are injured? It’s entirely thanks to the blessing of the Heavens that the little fellow in your belly and your own life were even preserved.”

Zhuang Yi touched the bridge of her nose. The physical pain was still within her range of tolerance; she didn’t feel it was as severe as Ji Shutao described.

Seeing her indifferent attitude, Ji Shutao’s anger flared: “Rest properly, do you hear me?”

Meeting Ji Shutao’s indignant gaze, Zhuang Yi immediately put on a solemn expression: “Alright.”

Now that’s more like it, Ji Shutao thought, nodding with satisfaction. She rested her chin on her hand and chattered to Zhuang Yi at the bedside about the events of the previous night.

“When you fainted back then, it really scared me to death. But luckily, there was still a heartbeat. I carried you and walked and walked, covering quite a distance. I estimated that person probably wouldn’t catch up before I finally found a place to rest.”

Zhuang Yi pointed at the house with her eyes.

“Originally, I thought about just starting a fire in the woods to make do for the night. I didn’t expect to meet a young girl. That girl said she lived nearby and that if we didn’t mind, we could stay at her home. So, I carried you to this house.”

“Don’t you find it suspicious?” Zhuang Yi asked.

“Of course, it’s suspicious for a young girl to appear in the middle of the night. But that girl said she was going up the mountain to gather pine mushrooms to trade for money during the day. I observed her and she didn’t seem to be lying; there wasn’t the slightest hint of any other aura on her body, so I felt safe following her to this house. Even if that demon is powerful, I don’t think he could be so calculating at every single step.”

Zhuang Yi didn’t ask further. She also didn’t believe that the demon could set an ambush at every point of her journey westward.

“Regarding the demon who injured you, do you have any clues?”

“His cultivation is not low, and he was eager to kill me quickly. There’s no need to think much to know who it is.” Zhuang Yi paused before clarifying the origins to Ji Shutao: “In the Demon Realm, besides the Demon Sovereign, the Left and Right Elders are the most respected. The Right Elder enjoys traveling the world and has no interest in power. The Left Elder, however, has always been covetous of the Demon Sovereign’s position. Our journey west will not be easy.”

Ji Shutao was about to speak when she heard Zhuang Yi add: “If we encounter another trap, I will send you back to North Star Mountain.”

“You don’t want me to recover my memory anymore?” Ji Shutao was stunned.

Zhuang Yi gave a forced smile: “How can memory be more important than your life? The Left Elder is sinister and cunning. Facing him, I truly have no certainty that I can bring you out safely.”

Ji Shutao’s heart began to beat wildly. Last night, when she was carefully examining Zhuang Yi, she discovered that Zhuang Yi was covered in wounds both internal and external. It was obvious she had already been badly injured while at North Star Mountain, yet she hadn’t made a sound, and had even gone back up the mountain a second time to take Ji Shutao away.

She wanted Ji Shutao to remember the past so badly, yet now she could retreat for the sake of Ji Shutao’s life. Ji Shutao had never felt such a profound sense of being cherished.

Her senior brothers had never given it to her, nor had her master.

They doted on her and loved her, but they had never looked after her in the way Zhuang Yi did.

“Zhuang Yi, your injuries are very heavy, and I have no way to treat them. You should return to the Demon Realm first.”

Ji Shutao thought that the Demon Realm would surely have highly skilled doctors. Since Zhuang Yi was the Demon Sovereign, she shouldn’t lack capable people under her command. It would be better than wasting time here with a half-talent like Ji Shutao.

“Now is not the time to go back.”

Although Zhuang Yi was prepared to retreat, that was a contingency plan made as a last resort to protect Ji Shutao.

Right now, she wouldn’t retreat a single step.

She still intended to head west, and would absolutely not give up until the very end.

“Is your life not important?” Ji Shutao stood up with a whoosh and shouted.

“It is important, but I’m not at the point of losing my life yet.” Zhuang Yi reached out to hook her finger around Ji Shutao’s hand. “I know what I’m doing.”

You don’t know a damn thing, Ji Shutao thought. She was so angry her chest felt tight, yet she couldn’t bring herself to fling Zhuang Yi’s hand away.

She always resorted to hooking her hand. Ji Shutao swore that next time, this trick would no longer work.

“I’m going out to make you something to eat.”

“Okay.”

Just as Ji Shutao had finished putting the porridge on to boil, she saw Ye Yiran returning with a bamboo basket on her back.

Ji Shutao waved at Ye Yiran: “Yiran, you’re back.”

“Yes, Sister Ji.” Ye Yiran put down the bamboo basket and pulled out a chicken and several packets of medicine. While handing the medicine to Ji Shutao, she shook the chicken in her hand. “Sister Ji, this is medicine to stabilize the pregnancy. As for this chicken, it’s to nourish that sister inside.”

When Ye Yiran left this morning, Ji Shutao had asked her to fetch a few doses of pregnancy-stabilizing medicine. She didn’t know if ordinary medicine would be effective for Zhuang Yi.

If the pregnancy wasn’t stable, Zhuang Yi wouldn’t be able to get better either, so she had to try this first.

“We only met by chance, and you’ve helped us to this extent, it’s really…”

The young girl clearly had a difficult life, yet she could actually bring herself to buy a chicken to nourish a stranger.

“Sister Ji, isn’t that sister pregnant? Pregnancy requires good nourishment most of all.”

After putting the chicken and the medicine on to boil as well, Ji Shutao went inside to take a look. Zhuang Yi had fallen into a dazed sleep again. She sat down on the steps at the door next to Ye Yiran.

Ye Yiran seemed to have something to say; she hesitated for a long time without speaking.

Ji Shutao looked at her with a smile: “Yiran, do you have something you want to say?”

Ye Yiran was startled. After a moment, she looked ahead and said: “My father is coming to take me back.”

“Your father?”

Ye Yiran looked to be only seventeen or eighteen, yet she lived alone in these mountains. Ji Shutao had assumed her parents had died early and she was forced to live a hard life on her own.

Since she had a father, why did he leave her here alone? Judging by Ye Yiran’s familiarity with these woods, her time living in the mountains must not have been short. Why hadn’t her father taken her back sooner?

“Father has never liked me. I don’t know what his reason is for taking me back this time.” Ye Yiran was somewhat melancholic. Although she had a biological father in this world, she had never felt a father’s love.

“Then don’t go back with him.”

“Sister Ji, he is my father after all.” Ye Yiran stood up. “Even if he doesn’t love me, I have no choice but to be filial to him. Sister Ji, you can stay in this house for as long as you like. I have a feeling… I won’t be coming back.”

“If the path ahead is a dragon’s den or a tiger’s lair, will you jump in anyway?” Ji Shutao asked.

Ye Yiran didn’t speak, only gave a bitter smile.

Ji Shutao couldn’t understand her. She stood up, patted her shoulder, and went to check on the porridge.

In the afternoon, Ji Shutao quietly watched the people who came to fetch Ye Yiran. Although those people were guards, their clothing was even better than Ye Yiran’s. Ji Shutao stroked her chin, a whole drama playing out in her mind.

Perhaps Ye Yiran, originally the daughter of the first wife, had a very difficult life after a concubine took over. Who knows what schemes that concubine used, but after a few days, she actually made Ye Yiran’s father kick his own biological daughter out.

Ji Shutao shook her head as she thought. Taking Ye Yiran back now surely meant something bad had happened.

“What are you doing?” Zhuang Yi sat up and saw Ji Shutao staring at the window and shaking her head.

“I’m thinking about that girl,” Ji Shutao answered without thinking.

“You’re thinking about a girl?” Zhuang Yi questioned back.

“Yeah, I’m…” Ji Shutao, who was about to agree, realized something was wrong. What did she mean, “You’re thinking about a girl”?

“I’m wondering what that girl’s father wants by taking her back this time,” Ji Shutao explained flusteredly as she walked to the bedside.

Wait, why am I flustered? Ji Shutao realized.

“Did you figure it out?”

“In any case, it won’t be anything good.”

Ji Shutao brought the porridge and medicine, which had been kept warm outside, in for Zhuang Yi. The chicken soup would likely have to wait until evening; Ye Yiran hadn’t even had a chance to drink a sip before she left.

“Since you’re worried, go and take a look.”

Zhuang Yi drank the medicine like it was water. In just a moment, the bowl was empty.

Ji Shutao watched with wide eyes as she took the empty bowl. “Don’t you find it bitter?”

“It is bitter. But with you, the greatest ‘sugar’ here, even all the hardships in the world would have flavor.”

Zhuang Yi continued to stare unblinkingly at Ji Shutao. Ji Shutao nearly dropped the bowl. She ran out in a panic and splashed a ladle of water on herself before finally calming down.

She was on the verge of falling in love with Zhuang Yi.

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