Han Li and Naruto exchanged a glance and smiled, then followed her inside without saying anything.
"Mother, look who I brought!" The moment Naruto, his companion, and Han Li stepped into the shop, they heard Mo Caihuan's voice, as delighted as if she were showing off a treasure.
Then came the somewhat aged voice of another woman. "Only Aunt Xianglian from next door ever comes to see us!"
"No, my senior brother is here! I ran into him inside the castle!" Mo Caihuan exclaimed excitedly.
"Your senior brother? Didn't all your senior brothers die long ago? Child, have you lost your senses?"
Yan Shi's tone grew noticeably worried.
By then, Naruto, Han Li, and their companion had taken in the shop's interior.
It was a small room with several wooden counters, neatly displaying a few dozen low-grade talismans and some inexpensive materials.
A wooden door led to an inner room. Behind the counter, a woman lay in a bamboo armchair, looking worriedly at Mo Caihuan before her.
She was none other than Doctor Mo's wife, Yan Shi, whom Han Li had not seen for nearly ten years.
Naturally, the arrival of Naruto, Han Li, and their companion caught Yan Shi's attention. Her gaze first fell on the tall, handsome Naruto, but she realized she did not know him.
Then, when she recognized Han Li beside Naruto, she froze and instinctively tried to stand.
But that was clearly beyond her in her gravely ill state. She had barely raised herself halfway before collapsing again.
Seeing this, Mo Caihuan hurriedly reached out to support her.
"You're Han Li?"
After struggling to catch her breath, Yan Shi was every bit as astonished as Mo Caihuan had been. Yet beneath her surprise, there was a faint glimmer of hopeful delight.
Han Li walked over