Taoist priest goes to America

Chapter 94 Fanatical Believers (Part 2)

Chen Houde was holding his granddaughter and trying to lull her to sleep by the charcoal stove when the sudden noise startled him. The little girl, half-asleep, blinked blankly, not yet understanding what had happened.

Su Jingxian rushed to them, squatted down, and with trembling hands pulled off the seal on the glass tube, hurriedly putting the tube to the little girl's mouth.

"Yueyue, be good, drink it quickly, Mommy will be relieved after you drink it————"

Chen Houde instinctively hugged his granddaughter back, stood up from the stool, took two steps back, and used his body to shield Su Jingxian and the little girl.

He looked down at his daughter-in-law squatting on the ground, at the blue liquid in her hand that had an eerie fluorescent glow, and his voice trembled slightly.

"Jingxian, what is this? Why are you giving it to the child to drink right away?"

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Su Jingxian suddenly raised her head. Her eyes widened even more, her bloodshot eyeballs churning with fanaticism and rage, like a devout believer who had heard someone blaspheme her god.

She stared at Chen Houde, then began to shout and scream, her voice trembling.

"Dad, you don't understand!" She held up the glass tube, and the blue liquid sloshed around inside.

"This is the Three Pure Ones' Buddha Water! I spent a fortune to personally obtain it from the sect leader!"

"It contains the relic powder of the Three Pure Ones Buddha. Children who drink it will be free from disasters and difficulties for the rest of their lives!"

"Do you know how precious this is? Do you know how long I knelt at the morning meeting to beg for this tube? You're stopping me now, you're harming Yueyue!"

As she spoke, the fervor in her eyes was completely undisguised. She looked up at Chen Houde, her lips twitching, the veins on her forehead bulging beneath her skin, and her hand gripping the glass tube trembling violently from excessive force.

Startled by the noise, Li An stood up from his workbench, put down his tools, walked to the shop entrance, leaned against the door frame, and looked at the tube of blue medicine in Su Jingxian's hand.

Su Jingxian continued to talk at length about how precious this tube of "Sanqing Buddha Water" was, how compassionate the leader was, and how missing this opportunity would ruin Yueyue's life.

Her speech was abnormally fast, and her mental state was also very abnormal.

Chen Houde's son also came over at this time. He stood behind Su Jingxian, and his expression was slightly more normal than Su Jingxian's. He put his hand on his wife's shoulder to comfort her.

"Dad," Chen Houde's son spoke, his voice hoarse, "The sect leader's things can't be wrong. We've seen the sect leader cast spells with our own eyes, what's a potion compared to that?"

"Just let Yueyue drink it. Jingxian hasn't slept well for days because she's trying to get this."

""

"Chengyan————

Chen Houde looked at his son, at his dark circles and chapped lips, and at his staring eyes.

Chen Houde felt that he had lived for more than 60 years and had seen many cult members, but the two people in front of him were his son whom he had raised and his daughter-in-law whom he had personally chosen.

His hands, which were holding his granddaughter, began to tremble. The little girl curled up in his arms, curiously peeking out half of her face to look at her mother who was squatting on the ground.

She was too young to understand what was happening; she only felt that her mother was different from usual today.

"Won't it cause any harm?" Chen Houde's voice was hesitant, as if making a last-ditch effort. "Don't give the child medicine of unknown origin—"

"No! No! No!" Su Jingxian said three times, each time louder than the last, her expression changing from anger to madness. She pushed the glass tube forward a little further, almost shoving it in front of Chen Houde.

"The cult leader himself said that the Three Pure Ones' Buddhist Water is the best blessing for children! Are you doubting the cult leader? Are you doubting the Three Pure Ones?!"

"Dad, everything will be alright. Trust the leader, and trust Jingxian this once too," Chen Chengyan chimed in from the side, his tone calmer than his wife's, but with the same unwavering stubbornness.

Chen Houde stood there, holding his granddaughter's arm tightly, his gaze shifting between his daughter-in-law's fervent face and his granddaughter's curious expression.

He didn't want to give this stuff to his granddaughter; he didn't even know what it was. But the two people in front of him, his son and daughter-in-law, were staring at him with a crazy look he had never seen before, as if it were a mistake for him not to give in.

The little girl, nestled in her grandfather's arms, looked innocently at the bright blue medicine in her mother's hand. "Come on—Yueyue, drink it!" Su Jingxian brought the bottle close to her daughter's face, her eyes filled with anticipation.

Just then, Li An pinched his fingers and secretly flicked out an extremely fine wood shaving, which pierced Su Jingxian's fingernail at a tricky angle.

Su Jingxian's fingers loosened in pain, and the glass tube fell from her palm and crashed onto the cement floor.

With a "whoosh," the glass bottle shattered, and the blue liquid spilled onto the cement floor, filling the air with a pungent chemical odor.

Su Jingxian's fanatical expression froze at that moment. Her eyes widened as if they were about to pop out of their sockets, and her knees buckled, causing her to kneel on the ground.

Su Jingxian frantically stretched out her hands to grab the still-flowing blue liquid on the ground, her palms pressed against the cement floor, and pulled it forcefully toward herself.

The medicine leaked through her fingers, mixing with shards of glass, and she gathered it in front of her, forming a puddle.

Su Jingxian desperately tried to hold on, but shards of glass cut her palm, and bright red blood flowed from the wound, mixing with the blue medicine.

"Sin—sin—sin—" she began to repeat these two words over and over, as if reciting a scripture of repentance.

Each time the medicine was recited, Su Jingxian would twitch, as if she were enduring pain. Her body slumped lower and lower, her forehead almost touching the ground, and her floral dress, soaked in the blue liquid, had changed color.

Chen Houde was so frightened by this scene that his face turned pale. He instinctively hugged his granddaughter and stepped back, using his body to completely block the little girl's view.

His son was still standing there, staring at his wife who was still desperately trying to get the medicine from the ground.

At this moment, Su Jingxian's hands were covered with glass shards, her palms were dripping with blood, and the blood kept flowing, completely staining the blue medicine liquid purplish-brown.

She finally realized that the medicine was beyond saving.

"Ah!" Su Jingxian screamed, clutching her head. She raised her hands and grabbed her hair, tearing apart her carefully styled hair bun. Pearl hairpins flew out and shattered into pieces.

She pulled hard, once, twice, three times, and clumps of hair were forcibly pulled from her head, scattering on the cement floor along with broken glass.

"Waaah—" The little girl cried loudly in Chen Houde's arms. Her small body trembled violently in her grandfather's arms, and large tears rolled down her cheeks.

She didn't understand why her mother had become like this; all she felt was fear.

Chen Houde's face turned ashen. Holding his wailing granddaughter in one arm, he strode forward and scolded, "Su Jingxian! You've frightened the child!" The sixty-year-old man's voice was full of vigor, and his eyes burned with anger.

Su Jingxian didn't look at him. She knelt between the broken glass and the blue liquid, clutching her hair with both hands, and didn't react to any sounds from the outside world.

Chen Chengyan finally snapped out of his daze. He quickly walked forward, squatted down next to Su Jingxian, and reached out to take her arm.

He clumsily pulled Su Jingxian's arm off her head, put one arm around her shoulder, and used the other to pry open her fingers that were clutching her hair, his voice weak: "Jingxian, don't do this, please don't do this—"

Ang Lee walked out of the store and headed towards where Chen Houde's family was.

When Chen Houde saw him approaching, an embarrassment appeared on his livid old face. Family scandals should not be aired in public. He originally did not want any outsiders to see this matter, but Li An ended up seeing it from beginning to end.

Chen Houde opened his mouth as if to say something to ease the tension, but couldn't utter a word.

Ang Lee walked up to him, raised his right hand and waved it, saying, "Don't worry about me, I won't go around spreading it."

He bypassed Chen Houde and stopped next to Chen Chengyan.

Su Jingxian was still kneeling on the ground, being half-supported and half-carried by her husband. Her shoulders were trembling and her fingers were still gripping the air. Li An also squatted down, looked at Chen Houde's son, and asked a question: "Brother, I also admire the leader very much. Can you help me take the lead and bring me into the society?"

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