Striving for Science C104

The Bedside Granny looked at the Bedside Grandpa statue that had fallen into the mud, slowly raising her head: "What do you want to do?"

"Do you know why this world has lasted so long without collapsing?" The man looked at the poor old woman and suddenly smiled, "You know, don't you?"

The Bedside Granny's lips moved slightly, but she didn't speak.

"As long as he dies, your companion god can be resurrected and even flourish, without relying on the incense of other living beings." The man walked to the edge of the mud pit, grinding the stone statue's head with his foot. The entire statue sank deep into the mud.

"Shen Chang'an and Heavenly Dao cannot be together." The man suddenly laughed with glee, "Do you think, if he had to choose between the lives of tens of thousands of humans and Heavenly Dao, who would he choose?"

The Bedside Granny trembled all over. She asked in a trembling voice, "What do you want to do?"

"Nothing, I just want to know..." He looked up at the azure sky, his voice laced with sarcasm, "Can the high and mighty Heavenly Lord experience a perfect and eternal love, you know?"

The Bedside Granny suddenly asked, "Who do you hate, the Life Dao or the Heavenly Dao that protects the rules for living beings?"

The man scoffed, "A tiny god like you, who can't even maintain your own body, should have less curiosity."

The Bedside Granny fell silent again.

"I hope I can hear good news from you next time we meet." The man kicked the stone body of the Bedside Grandpa far away, "Otherwise, I'll be very disappointed."

The stone body rolled on the ground a few times before shattering into several pieces.

The man sneered disdainfully and vanished.

The Bedside Granny sat on the ground for a long time, until she was sure the man wouldn't come back. Then she lay down on the ground, picked up the broken pieces of the stone body, and tremblingly piled them together.

But the already inferior stone material couldn't withstand the man's kick. As soon as the pieces were piled together, there was a clatter, and they fell to the ground, becoming a pile of useless rubble.

The Bedside Granny looked at the pile of rubble, turned around, and dug out the stone head from the mud pit with her bare hands. The stone head was covered in mud. She took off her coat and rubbed it hard, but no matter how hard she rubbed, she couldn't get it clean.

Suddenly, she stopped rubbing and hugged the stone head, crying.

"Granny, are you alright?" A boy in a school uniform, carrying a backpack slung over his shoulder, sneaked out of a small alleyway. Seeing an old lady sitting next to the abandoned construction site, he was a little nervous about skipping class and wanted to turn around and leave. But seeing the old lady crying so sadly, he turned back, walked over to her, and squatted down beside her, "Did something happen to you? Do you want me to call the police?"

Although calling the police would expose his skipping class, he couldn't bear to see an old person being bullied.

He'd just have to take a beating at home. Anyway, he was tough and thick-skinned, it wouldn't be a big deal.

The Bedside Granny stopped crying and looked at the boy squatting in front of her. The boy was only fifteen or sixteen years old, his face still youthful, and there was a faint purple glow of good fortune on his body.

His ancestors must have been virtuous people, which is why their descendants still have the good fortune accumulated by their ancestors.

"You're so old, if you cry yourself to death, it wouldn't be worth it to spend a few days in the hospital." The young boy was a little flippant, "What if your children are unfilial and argue about taking care of you? You'll be even more miserable then."

As he said this, he patted his mouth, "Granny, I'm not very good at talking, don't take what I said to heart. How about I call you a car and send you home?"

The Bedside Granny hugged the stone head tightly, "Kid, didn't anyone tell you not to get close to old people easily, lest you get scammed?"

"I'm not afraid of that, I have money at home." The young boy pointed to the corner, "Besides, there have been several cases of theft of building materials here recently, and they've installed security cameras. You can't scam me."

"Since you're so smart, why are you here during class time?" The Bedside Granny, holding the stone statue head with one hand, slowly got up from the ground.

"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down, old lady! If you really trip in front of me, even with cameras, I wouldn't be able to explain myself." The young boy said with a hint of annoyance, carefully helping the Bedside Granny up. "If you need something, don't cry. Let's find a warm place to sit first. If that doesn't work, I can take you to my cousin. His job is to help people with any problems they have."

The Bedside Granny listened to the young boy's rambling, and used her mud-stained hand to touch his head. "You're a good child. You'll grow up healthy and strong, and become a pillar of society in the future."

The young boy saw the mud on her hand, but didn't dodge. He took off his backpack and pulled out a crumpled scarf, shaking it off before putting it around the Bedside Granny's neck. "This scarf might look a bit wrinkled, but it's clean. I haven't used it."

"Thank you." The Bedside Granny expressed her gratitude, gently wiping away the five illnesses and three disasters from the young boy. As a guardian spirit of children, she couldn't do much else, but she could still bless this child with a healthy life.

"No need to thank me." The young boy felt a little embarrassed. He scratched his head. "My grandma used to think I was going to be a pillar of society too…"

He helped the old lady walk slowly. After a while, he pointed to a semi-old building. "This is where my cousin works. Go through the main entrance, and the second floor of the building on the left is their office. My cousin's name is Xu Ze. He's not very talkative, but he's a good person. His colleagues are all easy to get along with. If you have any troubles, just go to them."

After saying this, the young boy secretly looked around. He saw his cousin and his colleague walking towards them from afar, so he quickly took off his school uniform and stuffed it into his backpack. "Granny, if you need something, go to the police or the Civil Service Department. Don't cry alone. I'm going now."

He didn't wait for the Bedside Granny to thank him, and ran off in a flash.

"Xu Jiang! You're skipping class again!" Xu Ze, who had just finished distributing flyers, saw his younger brother's back from afar. He had just yelled this out when he saw his younger brother, like a monkey, darting even further away.

"This little rascal!" Xu Ze pushed his glasses in frustration and turned to Shen Chang'an helplessly. "He's got a sharp mind, but he just refuses to use it for good."

"He's still young. He'll grow out of it." Shen Chang'an noticed that Xu Ze's younger brother had come with the Bedside Granny. He observed Xu Ze's expression, but Xu Ze couldn't see the Bedside Granny who was only a few steps away from him.

The Bedside Granny looked at Shen Chang'an who appeared with Xu Ze, and hugged the stone statue head tightly.

"Xu Ze, you go back to the office first. I'll go buy some milk tea across the street." Shen Chang'an turned to Xu Ze. "I'll be back soon."

"Okay." Xu Ze took out his phone. "I'll call my uncle and aunt and tell them to keep that kid in line."

Shen Chang'an gave the Bedside Granny a look, signaling her to follow.

The Bedside Granny hesitated for a moment, then followed behind him. She waited for a while, and saw that Shen Chang'an really went to buy a few cups of milk tea and was holding them in his hand. He didn't speak to her, so she could only take the initiative to speak. "Lord, your... spiritual energy is getting stronger."

"Yeah, after all, I'm also the man of the Heavenly Lord." Shen Chang'an put one hand in his pocket, wearing headphones and pretending to talk on the phone. "Isn't it normal for my spiritual energy to be strong?"

"You... have made up your mind to be with him?" The Bedside Granny asked.

"I don't understand why you insist on thinking that he and I shouldn't be together." Shen Chang'an turned to look at the Bedside Granny. "If I'm not with him, who do you think I should be with? Or should I just be single for the rest of my life?"

The Bedside Granny couldn't answer.

"Actually... as long as Lord is happy." The Bedside Granny suddenly said. "This old woman has watched Lord reincarnate life after life, always living for the sake of all living beings. This life, just live for yourself."

"Oh?" Shen Chang'an was a little surprised. "I thought you were here to persuade me to break up with him."

The Bedside Granny smiled. "Lord, this is your choice. I should respect you."

She hugged the stone statue head tightly and lowered her head. "But this parting, this old woman and Lord may never see each other again. Please take care of yourself, Lord."

"Are you going on a long journey?"

The Bedside Granny shook her head with a smile: "The world is vast, perhaps."

Deities born from human belief, after losing human belief, their final fate is only extinction.

She should have let go long ago.

Shen Chang'an saw that the Bedside Granny's expression wasn't one of leaving, but rather of saying goodbye forever. He had a faint guess in his heart: "What is in your arms?"

"He's the companion god of the Bedside Granny, the Bedside Grandpa deity." The Bedside Granny said, "I became a god because of the incense offerings of mortals. Later, mortals felt that the Bedside God should be a pair, so they built a Bedside Grandpa deity statue next to my temple. After years and years of incense offerings, the statue came to life and became my companion god. In the thousands of years, we have experienced wars, disasters, and the changing of dynasties together."

"A hundred years ago, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth dried up, and incense offerings dwindled. He... simply dissipated."

Taking care of children is not solely the responsibility of women, so with the emergence of Bedside Granny, Bedside Grandpa gradually appeared as well. But how many people even know about this deity, Bedside Grandpa?

"So you two are a couple." Shen Chang'an nodded. "You're both quite old now, you should go out and travel, see the world, and take a look around. You can also educate those dads who are just sitting back and letting their wives do all the work. They need to take better care of their children and not forget their responsibilities as fathers."

Bedside Granny was about to say that Bedside Grandpa had already perished, and her divine body was growing weaker, but then she suddenly discovered a faint trace of divine power on the head of the deity statue she held in her arms.

This is...

Could this be... a sign of a deity's revival?!

She stared at Shen Chang'an, then suddenly knelt down in front of him.

"Hey, I'm telling you, what's wrong with you old gods?" Shen Chang'an quickly dodged, "Don't kneel down for no reason, I'm still young, I can't handle this kind of treatment."

"Lord, please be careful." Bedside Granny said, "Someone is going to threaten you with human lives."

"Threaten me with what?" Shen Chang'an was a little confused. He wasn't a savior, why would anyone threaten him with human lives?

"Threaten you to leave Heavenly Dao."

The Bedside Granny's words had barely left her lips when a bolt of lightning suddenly struck from the heavens, aiming straight for her.

"My man is the Heavenly Lord himself! How dare anyone dare to strike lightning under my very nose?" Shen Chang'an widened his eyes, pulling the Bedside Granny aside to avoid the lightning. After dodging it, he placed his hand on his hip and shouted, "Who's so shameless?!"

Today's Shen Chang'an was brimming with confidence, super emboldened by his connection to the Heavenly Lord.