Chapter 208: Chapter 208: The Demon-Banishing Flower Ripens

She wanted Xu Huaiyu and his wife to taste the same despair and pain she had once endured.

Yan Lijun was always on guard against her, never touching anything she offered, making it truly difficult to make a move.

When Gu Qinghuan and Xu Huaian brought Xu Huaizhi back, Lin Xiaomeng’s eyes lit up as an idea suddenly struck her.

So, she greeted Gu Qinghuan with great enthusiasm.

“Second brother, sister-in-law, thank you so much. He drank too much—he didn’t cause you any trouble, did he?”

Gu Qinghuan shook her head. “You’re too polite, sister-in-law. It’s nothing.”

Xu Huaian put Xu Huaizhi down on the kang bed.

“Sister-in-law, it’s getting late, so we’ll head back now. Dad told us to come back to the old house for lunch tomorrow. Big brother’s drunk, so don’t forget.”

Lin Xiaomeng hadn’t expected this—what a timely opportunity!

She smiled sweetly at Gu Qinghuan. “Alright, no problem. Sister-in-law, why don’t we go over early tomorrow to help out?”

Gu Qinghuan neither agreed nor refused. “We’ll see how things go.”

She was planning to put up couplets and paper cuttings with the kids in the morning—there was plenty to do.

In any case, she didn’t care much for the Xu family’s food, so what they ate didn’t matter—she just needed to make an appearance.

Of course, she wasn’t foolish enough to say any of this to Lin Xiaomeng.

When the two of them got home, the house was already tidied up by everyone, even the kids had helped with the cleaning.

As usual, there was a big basin of water for washing feet, and everyone bustled about, washing up together before finally settling down to rest.

The New Year was drawing closer.

After everyone fell asleep, Gu Qinghuan slipped outside under the pretense of needing the bathroom.

Xu Huaian was already waiting for her.

Gu Lanting had spent the whole afternoon shoveling cow dung, then came home to do laundry and tidy up, and had long since fallen asleep from exhaustion.

The two of them hurried into the space.

The space hadn’t been tended to in a while, so Gu Qinghuan left all the chores to Xu Huaian.

Her attention was drawn to a purple flower floating above the demon-banishing spiritual spring.

From a tightly closed bud to a vibrant, dewy blossom, it had fully bloomed. Its fragrance was refreshing and intoxicating.

Remembering what the King of the Underworld had said, Gu Qinghuan decided it was time to get rid of the hidden threat that was Lin Xiaomeng.

And tomorrow would be the perfect opportunity.

It looked like she really would have to put on a good show with her tomorrow.

With that in mind, Gu Qinghuan reached out to pick the flower.

Unexpectedly, the sable suddenly appeared, blocking her path in a very human-like way.

Gu Qinghuan tried to reason with it. “This is mine. I need to pick it now, don’t stop me.”

The little sable seemed to regard the flower as its own, guarding it jealously and baring its teeth at Gu Qinghuan.

“Fine, I’ll pick it and give you a petal. Happy now?”

The little sable considered this, then nodded and stepped aside.

It had been eyeing this flower for a long time. The spiritual spring water no longer satisfied it, but for some reason, it had never been able to touch the flower itself—otherwise, it would have picked it long ago.

Its beady eyes watched Gu Qinghuan’s every move.

Gu Qinghuan reached out and easily snapped the flower stem, the demon-banishing flower now in her hand.

The little sable was frustrated—why could this human pick the flower, but it never could, no matter what it tried?

No matter how hard it thought, it couldn’t figure it out.

Gu Qinghuan brought the flower to her nose and sniffed it—the scent wasn’t unpleasant.

Then she plucked a petal and tossed it to the sable. “Here you go, this is for you.”

The little sable stared at her in disbelief. Didn’t she just say she’d give it half? How did it become just one petal?

But Gu Qinghuan was already walking away with the flower, leaving the sable scratching its head in frustration. The more it thought about it, the angrier it got. In the end, it stuffed the petal into its mouth and chewed it up fiercely."