What was the trigger?
Just now, she had thought about it but didn't act, yet there was a simulated feeling in her mind that made her giggle. Usually, if she held a stone and wished it turned to gold, nothing happened.
What was the difference?
Let's test it out! Practice leads to truth!
Su Cui went to a small shop and bought a tissue packet. She stared at her finger and mentally chanted "Pierce the tissue!"
Nothing happened.
Su Cui: "..." No reaction?
Had she guessed wrong?
Or was she missing some trigger key...
She reviewed her silly action of poking Zhou Shixiang and suddenly remembered that she had visualized the scene in her mind.
So Su Cui first constructed an image in her mind: she pierced through a tissue packet.
Then she looked down. Her cheat faintly glowed, and indeed, she pierced through the tissue!
Mm, so she needed to visualize the image first.
She was strong enough that piercing a tissue packet wasn't hard. She'd try something else.
What to try...
Just then, Su Baixue linked arms with Su Cui and leaned close to whisper, "Grandma, who was that old gentleman you danced with? Is he spending the holiday alone today?"
Su Cui glanced at her. Eh? That expression was a bit subtle...
Su Cui gave a faint smile. "A friend of Grandpa Li's. He came over to celebrate together. I don't know him either."
"Oh," Su Baixue said uneasily.
Li Guizhi suddenly interjected, "Does Bai Xue have a crush?"
"She's still young," Su Cui said with a smile. "But if she does like someone, they can take it slow. I won't object, as long as it doesn't affect her studies."
"That's right. My daughter-in-law always says don't let kids date early, but after my grandson graduates, she'll rush him to find a wife. Where's she going to find one out of thin air? As long as it doesn't affect studies and they can improve together, there's no harm in dating." Li Guizhi was a bit wistful. "Youth is wonderful... At your grandmother's and my age, we don't think about much else. Getting together with old friends and having family spend time with us—that's already happiness."
"When young, you think about love and romance. When old, you just want companionship. But birth, aging, sickness, and death—who can accompany whom for a lifetime?" Li Guizhi thought of her deceased husband and felt sad. Then she remembered Su Cuihua's husband had also died early, so she quickly shut up and changed the subject.
"I say, Cuihua, you haven't been to that church yet, have you? It's small, but a very nice place!"
Su Baixue caught the implication.
Su Baixue's mother was an orphan. When her parents were alive, her father had told her that her biological grandfather died early, and her grandmother had raised her father alone as a single mother.
Widowed in middle age, losing a child in old age. She couldn't really remember how she and her grandmother got along many years ago. After her parents died, she was anxious and fearful, but her grandmother took her in. Later, her grandmother fell ill...
She wanted to stay with her grandmother forever, but she had so much to do every day: studying, reviewing. In the evenings, if her grandmother didn't go dancing, she'd be bored at home alone. She could spend more time with her, but she had to work and study. She wanted a good education to earn more money and give her grandmother a better life.
For the poor, companionship was a bit of a luxury.
Su Baixue couldn't forget a few years ago. Every day after a busy day, she would check her grandmother's breath. If she had money, she'd send her grandmother to the hospital; if not, she'd stay home. She taught herself to give injections, massage her grandmother, and clean her body... Many times, she was afraid to push open the door.
She feared that when she opened the door, her grandmother would have stopped breathing.
That she would be alone in the house.
She feared many things, preferring to turn everything into a dream rather than face it.
...
The church was small.
It was a small Christian church in A City.
With a high spire and bluish-gray walls, Su Cui had never been to a church before. She could hear Christmas music playing from outside. There weren't many people around, only a few cars speeding by. Their group of six old ladies plus Su Baixue crossed the crosswalk and arrived at the church entrance.
Upon entering, Su Cui saw a painting of the Madonna and Child. She gazed at it quietly.
Familial love.
Su Cui thought of her parents. Twenty years ago, on an ordinary weekend, her parents were at home with her. In the middle of the night, a robber broke in. When her father discovered him, he killed both her parents. Perhaps because she was just a child, they spared her life.
She lived with her grandmother until she was ten, then her grandfather fell seriously ill, and her grandmother, overwhelmed, sent her to her maternal grandmother's home.
Later, she was successful in her career. She took the elderly out for a trip, but there was a car accident. The other driver was drunk and fully at fault. Yet she was the only survivor in her car.
She returned to a rural hometown to clear her mind.
Then, after one sleep, she woke up in this book world.
Maybe she had never done any wrong in her life, but life was funny—others would drag innocent people down with their mistakes.
That was an accident.
It was sudden, unintentional, not an illness, but often devastating.
Li Guizhi smiled. "On a day like this, looking at this Madonna and Child, it feels like the heart calms down..."
"Yes," Su Cui nodded.
"Boom!" Suddenly, a loud noise came from behind.
The people in the church stopped what they were doing and looked back. The church doors were closed. What was happening outside?
Su Baixue glanced at Su Cui, nodded, released her grandmother's arm, and ran outside to see. Two minutes later, she burst through the church door in panic.
"Grandma! Outside... a car accident!"
[Author's note]
kacutu 1 bottle