Li Wenxi was also very concerned about this, watching Wei Shishi, waiting for her explanation.
Wei Shishi remained silent, her gaze slightly vacant, seemingly contemplating something.
Seeing Shishi unresponsive for a while, Xu Ying waved a hand in front of her eyes: "Hey, snap out of it!"
Wei Shishi returned to her senses, looked up at the two of them, and softly said: "I only saw it once, more accurately, just a glance, just one glance, which made me think I must have been seeing things at the time."
She began to recount the events of that time.
It was one night, and at that time she was still young, only six years old.
Back then, her parents had only been dead for less than a year.
Wei Bai was very depressed during that period, almost ignoring affairs and losing interest in food for an entire year.
Wei Bai had a high reputation among the Wei Family, and everyone greatly respected him. Seeing him like this, everyone was worried.
Initially, people thought that with time, Wei Bai would eventually emerge from the shadow, but nobody expected that this situation would worsen over the year.
During the year, Wei Bai gradually became emaciated.
Back then, little Wei Shishi often saw the untouched meals being brought in and then taken out untouched.
Eventually, he even stopped eating, and wouldnāt allow anyone to enter his room.
The Wei Family was very concerned about Wei Baiās situation, so someone suggested getting Wei Baiās last remaining relative, little Wei Shishi, to bring him meals.
During that year, only when Wei Bai saw Wei Shishi did he show a trace of a smile.
Only Wei Shishi was allowed to enter Wei Baiās room at that time.
Of course, little Wei Shishi hoped her grandpa would get better, even though she was so small then that she couldnāt carry a plate steadily, she courageously volunteered that she could do it.
The door wasnāt locked. She was carrying the meal to her grandpaās room when she heard a strange sound from inside, followed by Wei Baiās groans.
Worried about her grandpaās safety, she immediately dropped the meal and pushed the door open.
Afterward, she saw Wei Bai sitting against the floor, leaning against the bed, one arm resting on it, panting.
"Grandpa, whatās wrong!" Wei Shishi tried to rush over at the time.
"...Shishi? Donāt come over!" Wei Bai sternly scolded her, "Get out!"
Back then, little Wei Shishi had never been sternly scolded by her grandpa like that, and thinking that she had come to bring him meals but was being scolded so harshly, she instantly burst into tears and ran away.
"Thatās where the story ends," Wei Shishi said, not continuing further.
"Huh? Whatās the point then?" Li Wenxi blinked, "Didnāt you say you saw your grandpaās youthful face? Was it then that you saw it?"
"Yes. I saw it at that time," Wei Shishi nodded.
"At that time, I was young, scared by grandpaās words, and ran away crying.
But in retrospect, grandpa...who had turned gray-haired after my parentsā death, had most of his hair turned black again, and when he scolded me, his facial expression was somewhat... fierce, yet without wrinkles."
"Did Wei Bai, at that time, seem very uncomfortable?" Xu Ying suddenly asked.
"...Iām not really sure, I was only six then, my memory at the time is not very clear. It seemed... his body was weak, seemed like he wanted to vomit? I remember, after shouting at me, he immediately started to retch."
After answering Xu Yingās question, Wei Shishi continued recalling: "I cried outside inconsolably, no matter how others tried to comfort me. After about ten minutes, grandpa came out to console me, and at that time, he had turned back to gray-haired, with wrinkles on his face."
"Turned back?" Li Wenxi murmured.
"Disguise perhaps...?" Xu Ying thoughtfully pondered.
She wasnāt familiar with this area; when she met Wei Bai earlier, she couldnāt detect any signs of disguise on his face.
But Wei Bai indeed appeared to have changed from a middle-aged man back to an elderly man in the eyes of her and Li Wenxi within a day.
"Do you have water?" Wei Shishi felt a bit thirsty, likely because she was speaking a lot and also due to the turmoil in her heart.
Her grandpa...was indeed problematic.
"Yes." Xu Ying got up and poured her a glass of water.
Wei Shishi took a sip of water, saying: "At that time, I was very young and didnāt pay much attention to grandpaās change in appearance. Although I have good eyesight and saw clearly, I dismissed it as a misconception.
After all...who could casually switch between youth and old age?"
While speaking, Wei Shishi looked at Xu Ying.
"Hmm? Why are you looking at me?" Xu Ying waved her hand when she saw Wei Shishiās gaze, "I canāt randomly grow old or young; I just look like this."
"But...you can travel through time."
Wei Shishi took another sip of water and put down the cup: "Before meeting you, I couldnāt imagine that anyone could have such abilities. Especially after you told me about the teleportation device and the hypothesis of underground people being replaced, I immediately thought of... grandpa."
Indeed.
At that time, Wei Shishi did blurt out that her grandfather had drastically changed his personality.
"Since then, Iāve been thinking about this matter, constantly thinking about it." Wei Shishi bit her lower lip, her eyes showing signs of struggle, "Then I became increasingly suspicious of some of my grandpaās actions."