An Encounter with the Tsundere Immortal Lady Chapter 33

Lin Wuxi, it was said, had floated down the clear river next to the village. A baby, placed in a broken wooden basin. There was nothing else in the basin, and she was so hungry she was already crying.
If not for her grandmother, she might have starved to death long ago. That she survived was something even her birth mother probably never expected.
Her grandmother was very, very old, so old that walking a short distance took her several times longer than others. She was also very, very poor, so poor that she could only live in a dilapidated, shaky little wooden hut on the very edge of the village, a hut that leaked every time it rained. But it was this grandmother who, with her wrinkled hands, had stopped that little wooden basin floating on the river and, all by herself, raised her.
So Lin Wuxi was very grateful to her. Ever since she was old enough to understand, she would do chores to lighten her grandmother’s load. But her grandmother, despite Lin Wuxi’s insistence, would not let her. The heavy and complicated chores were indeed tiring, but Lin Wuxi always wished she could do more, just a little more. That way, her grandmother, whose hair was already white, could rest more and not work so hard. After all, her grandmother was the closest person to her in this world.
Because of this, in front of her grandmother, she was always a sensible and well-behaved little girl, a source of pride for her grandmother. To keep the smile on her grandmother’s face a little longer, she naturally didn’t tell her what was happening.
Since she was little, Lin Wuxi always wore long sleeves and long pants. Even in the hot summer, she would cover herself completely. Partly because her family didn’t have extra cloth, and partly to hide the small scars on her body.
A child like her, an orphan with only an elderly grandmother who could barely walk, coupled with her quiet nature, easily became a target for bullies.
She didn’t know when it started, but the attitude of the village children towards her became strange. At first, they would just get angry at her for no reason over small things, surrounding her to mock and curse her. Then, even when she was just walking down the road, they would throw stones and dirt at her. Eventually, they became bolder and would beat her as if it were a matter of course.
She had tried to resist, but whether it was because she missed the best chance or for some other reason, her small struggles couldn’t achieve anything for her. She could only sink helplessly into despairing loneliness.
This was the nightmare that troubled and haunted her day and night, waking her with a start on countless nights.
The only thing she could do was try her best to hide the wounds on her body. Fortunately, she protected her face well and never let her grandmother discover her injuries.
If Grandmother knew, it would only make her sad. All I had to do was pretend nothing happened and go home with a happy smile.
Humiliation, despair, coldness, loneliness—it was enough for me to bear these alone. As long as I grow up, I can take Grandmother away from here, and all this suffering can end.
She was too naive.
When she returned from the mountains with enough food, she never imagined that what awaited her was a village engulfed in raging flames.
The overwhelming firelight devoured everything—among them, those who had always bullied her, and also, her grandmother.
“Grandmother!” The food in her hands fell to the ground. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Even though she desperately wanted to escape the constant insults, ridicule, and beatings that followed her like a shadow, she never thought it would be this way—that buried in the sea of fire, along with that darkness, would also be her grandmother.
“Grandmother!” She ran like a madwoman to the river beside the village, filled a wooden basin with clear water, and ran back and forth, trip after trip, splashing the water in her arms onto the flames that shot up to the sky. At that moment, she had never wished so hard for the heavens to send rain, a torrential downpour, to completely extinguish this damned fire.
She knelt on the packed dirt path outside the village, tears streaming down her cheeks. She buried her head in the earth, biting her lip hard to keep from making a sound. The pain of her nails digging into her palms, drawing blood, couldn’t bring her a moment of clarity.
Finally, accompanied by deafening rumbles of thunder, the heavens did grant her a downpour. Large raindrops pelted her face, stinging with pain, but they rekindled hope in her eyes. Once again, she ran back and forth between the river and the village, splashing handfuls of water onto the burning village, hoping the rain would extinguish the fire.
The rain fell harder and harder. Lightning split the sky, illuminating the heavens shrouded in dark clouds. The rain drenched her hair, her clothes, her eyes, but it couldn’t put out the fire before her.
The fire burned for a day and a night.
When she walked into the village again, the simple houses built of bricks and tiles were gone. The villagers who would walk, laugh, jump, and show joy or anger were gone. Even the group of children who always provoked and bullied her were gone.
And, her grandmother, the one who had pulled her from the river, her only family, was gone.
Only a pile of ruins, ruins everywhere.
She went to her grandmother’s small hut and, with her hands, began to dig through the rubble bit by bit. She had to find her grandmother.
On the third day, she really found her. Her grandmother’s wooden hut was in the most remote corner of the village and hadn’t been too badly affected by the fire. In the end, she found her grandmother’s body.
Yes, a body. Her grandmother hadn’t died in the fire. She had been stabbed through the abdomen with a knife and died from blood loss.
The world spun, and she finally fainted.
How she woke up later, she couldn’t remember. How she buried her grandmother with her own hands, she couldn’t remember either. All she remembered was a bone-chilling cold. In her body, and in her heart.
The torrential rain kept falling, but she couldn’t see it. The thunder kept booming, but she couldn’t hear it. She walked to the river that had brought her here and sank her body into the cold water, letting the river wash over her, over her tear stains.
She wished this was all just a dream. That, like usual, she would wake up, and Grandmother would still be there.
No matter how hard life was, as long as Grandmother was there, she still had hope. She was still alive.
But now, Grandmother was gone. What was she supposed to do?