Chapter 73: A Gift For My Younger Sister
“Mm~ Xiao Hong is indeed amazing. Quite a bit of the weird thread on your soul has been devoured. In a few more days, it might be completely cleaned up.”
Nan Yuanman satisfactorily withdrew her little chubby hand. As she looked up, she saw Gou Dan staring straight at her.
The little girl blinked her eyes and tilted her head: “What’s up? Why are you looking at me like that?”
Even if the five-year-old cub was thin, her face still had chubby baby fat. The meat on her cheeks pressed against her shoulders with her movements. Her eyes were big and round, exceptionally clear with distinct black and white, making her look like an absolute adorable treasure.
Gou Dan suddenly felt something strike his heart. His distinctly jointed fingers twitched slightly as he restrained the desire to pinch those chubby cheeks, and he slowly asked her: “We… did we know each other before?”
Nan Yuanman shook her head: “No.”
Gou Dan pursed his lips and lowered his eyes dejectedly, letting out an “oh.”
Seeing such a big lump of him slumping especially low in the chair, looking all pitiful, the little girl’s heart softened. She sighed like a little adult and patted his hand.
“Don’t worry. Once Xiao Hong devours all the threads on your soul body, you should be able to remember your relatives.”
Gou Dan nodded lightly without saying a word. His subconscious told him that the memories he had forgotten were probably not good ones.
Whether he remembered sooner or later, it was all the same.
“Yuanman, are you awake? Breakfast is ready.” Yao Xianglu gently knocked on the door, calling her in an especially gentle voice.
“I’m awake! Sister Lu, I’ll be right out!” Nan Yuanman replied in her childish milky voice. She lifted her hand to stuff Gou Dan back into the small coffin, put on her clothes and shoes, slung on the small shoulder bag, and trotted out to eat.
After breakfast, Yao Xianglu and Nan Yuanman set off back to S City.
After all, Nan Yuanman had been out with her for a day and a night, and her family adult must be anxious.
Half an hour after Nan Yuanman and Yao Xianglu boarded the bus heading to S City, inside the house where the old woman at the village end lived.
The old woman cooked the meal as usual, gently tapping the bead and calling the man inside to come out for breakfast: “Cub, breakfast is ready. Come out and eat with mom.”
The bead trembled lightly but showed no response.
The old woman frowned and tapped the bead again.
Still no response.
The old woman tapped the bead again, her mild and kindly expression gradually turning gloomy: “Cub, if you don’t come out, mom will get angry.”
Still no response.
A bad premonition suddenly rose in the old woman’s heart. She forcefully yanked the bead from her neck and cut a gash in her palm with the fruit knife on the table.
She gripped her palm tightly, dripping the seeping blood onto the bead. A red light flashed over the bead, instantly absorbing the blood completely.
She closed her eyes and muttered a string of strange, awkward words. Moments later, the old woman opened her eyes, her face full of shock and anger: “Gone! How could it be gone?!”
The cub she had painstakingly bound in the bead was gone!
How could this be?!
Ever since she came to Daba Village, she hadn’t interacted with anyone. Even the daily vegetables and meat were bought by someone and left at the doorway for her to carry in herself.
She had been this cautious, so why had the cub still disappeared?
Who exactly had taken her cub?!
The old woman screamed out of control, her hands sweeping the prepared meal on the table to the ground. The porcelain plate that fell shattered instantly.
She tremblingly pulled out her mobile phone that she hadn’t used in a long time, but because her hands were covered in blood, the mobile phone slipped from her fingertips and smashed into pieces on the ground.
The old woman’s eyes darkened for a moment. She breathed heavily, trying to calm down, then turned and staggered into the room, quickly packing her things.
She had to ask that person what exactly was going on. Hadn’t he said it was foolproof and no one would discover his trace? Why had he suddenly disappeared from the bead!
She had finally nurtured that person’s living soul to this point. She was just one step away from fulfilling her wish… just one step away…!
At the same time.
A low-key black sedan drove up to the entrance of Daba Village.
The car door opened, and a young man dressed in a black casual suit, with pale skin, a black stud earring, and wearing sunglasses, stepped out with his long legs.
The young man took off his sunglasses, narrowing his slender eyes slightly. The other car door was opened by someone, and a tall and burly man with a green buzz cut, wearing a black tank top, and a green dragon tattoo on his shoulder walked up to him: “Brother Chi, the trace of that woman we last locked onto is in this village.”
“Let’s go. I’ll say hello to my dear grandma.” Feng Xingchi put his sunglasses back on, pocketed one hand casually, and strolled toward the village: “She’s so close to S City. It wouldn’t be right not to take her to see my dear father.”
The tall and burly young man responded in a deep voice and followed slowly behind him.
It was right in the middle of the day now. Most people in the village were out working in the fields, and those not in the fields were busy with housework at home. The two strangers entering the village didn’t cause much stir.
Feng Xingchi accurately found the house where the old woman lived and knocked on the door: “Grandma, it’s me, Xingchi.”
It was quiet inside the door, with no response.
Feng Xingchi patiently knocked on the door for another half minute, still with no movement.
Feng Xingchi raised his eyebrow slightly and gave a look to the young man behind him. The young man understood, stepped back two steps, then rushed forward suddenly, using the momentum to climb the wall and jump inside from the top of the wall.
Moments later, the tightly shut door was opened from inside.
Feng Xingchi strode in. What he saw was an especially desolate farmhouse courtyard. All the flowers planted in the flower pots were withered, and the grass and vines in every corner were also completely dead.
Under the eaves was a wooden table, with food scattered messily on the ground and fragments of porcelain plates and bowls splattered around, looking especially chaotic.
He and the tall and burly young man searched several rooms but found no one. Only in the east room was the bed piled messily with clothes.
Feng Xingchi stood by the bed looking for a while, his gaze falling on a drop of blood remaining on the edge of the bed. He bent down, lightly dipped his fingertip in the blood and rubbed it gently, then tsked: “She’s run off, but not long ago. Call Rat and them to see if we can intercept her.”
The tall and burly young man: “Yes!”
It seemed, just as big brother said, this nominal grandma of his really was weird.
If she wasn’t weird, why would she run so fast?
And this was even after he had rushed over overnight upon receiving the news. If he had been two days later… this place would probably have become an empty house, and these clothes, bloodstains, and such wouldn’t have been left for him.
Now… it should still be in time.
“If it’s really as big brother said, and father’s coma is this old woman’s doing, then perfect… this time, catch the old woman and bring her back, wake father up, and give it as a gift to that sister I’ve never met~”
–
On the other side.
Nan Yuanman and Yao Xianglu returned to S City. Jiang Lixuan, who had been worried all night, couldn’t hold back and came to the Daba bus station to wait for her.
Yao Xianglu carried Nan Yuanman off the bus, and Jiang Lixuan came striding over energetically, shouting loudly: “Yuanman!”
“Someone’s here to pick me up. See you later, Sister Lu. Contact me if there’s any problem!” Nan Yuanman waved her little chubby hand to say goodbye to Yao Xianglu, pointed at the watch on her wrist, then turned and ran da-da-da toward Jiang Lixuan.
Jiang Lixuan scooped her up from the ground in one go and looked her up and down: “How was it? Not hurt, right? Not hungry, right? No danger, right?”
“No.” Nan Yuanman answered honestly. She quieted down for a moment, then couldn’t help struggling: “Jiang Lixuan, put me down.”
“No manners, call me uncle.” Jiang Lixuan grumpily set her down on the ground and ruffled her soft hair.
He then forcibly took her wrist and said: “Let’s go. Uncle will take you to pick out the little dress for tomorrow’s family reunion banquet.”
