Chapter 17: Should We Report It To The Officials?
At this moment, Old Man Lin’s voice in the room gradually lowered and finally stopped.
After a long while, Lin Laoda and Lin Laosan exchanged a glance, supported each other as they walked over, gently pushed open the room door, and cautiously peeked inside.
Old Man Lin had already regained his senses by now, but he had no memory of what happened before, only feeling his throat extremely dry, like the sensation after talking too much. Looking around, the room was a mess, the quilt had fallen on the ground, and besides a pitch-black footprint on it, there were several brownish stains. The kang table was also overturned to the side, and the entire room looked like it had been robbed.
He couldn’t figure out no matter how he thought why the home had turned into this state after just sleeping a nap, and… and his body hurt all over. Could it be that someone beat him up last night while he was sleeping?
While he was randomly guessing, the room door was pushed open a small crack, and Lin Laoda and Lin Lao Er’s heads sneakily poked in.
“What are you standing at the door for? Come in quickly. How did the home turn into this? Where is your mother? Cough cough, quickly pour me a cup of water first. My throat hurts badly.” Old Man Lin said irritably.
“Oh,” Lin Laoda pushed Lin Laosan from behind, signaling him to go in first. Lin Laosan grabbed Lin Laoda’s collar in return, pulling him in as he entered.
“Dad, drink water.” Dodging the messy things all over the floor, Lin Laosan brought a cup of water and handed it to Old Man Lin. Old Man Lin took it and drank it all in one gulp, finally feeling his parched throat a bit better.
“What happened at home? Where is your mother?” He asked again.
Lin Laoda and Lin Laosan looked at their dad’s strange expression. Lin Laoda tentatively asked: “Dad, don’t you remember what you did last night?”
“Last night?” Old Man Lin thought of the matter discussed with his old wife before sleeping and asked: “What did I do? Where is your mother?”
“Dad, last night you don’t know why went mad and pinned down my mother and beat her hard. We couldn’t pull you away. It was my brother who called Uncle Lin Six and the villagers over to pull you apart. My mother was almost beaten to death by you. You don’t remember?” Lin Laosan had a hasty temper and immediately told him what happened yesterday.
“Went mad? Me? Beat your mother? Why don’t I remember?” Old Man Lin’s suspicious expression grew even stronger.
Seeing his appearance didn’t look fake, Lin Laoda and Lin Laosan were dumbfounded and simply called the old clan leader in again.
At the same time, Lin Xin was also in the courtyard asking the villagers what exactly happened last night. Clearly, that day at her home, Old Man Lin was still secretive about Lin Lao Er’s background. How in just one night’s kung fu did he say everything?
Then through everyone’s chatter, she pieced together the answer.
Last night, Lin Family’s neighbor Uncle Lin Six was called by Lin Laoda to help, but even he and Lin Laosan together couldn’t pull Old Man Lin away. He felt Old Man Lin must be possessed. Connecting it to the ghost soul manifestation of Lin Lao Er, he got scared too, so he had his youngest son call the clan leader.
Such a big commotion in the middle of the night alarmed almost all the villagers. They came over in twos and threes to join the excitement. It took four or five young men together to hold back Old Man Lin and rescue Old Madam Lin. During it, Lin Laosan was even hit on the head with a tobacco pipe pot, getting a big purple bump.
By then Old Madam Lin was breathing more out than in, so everyone hurriedly sent her to the doctor.
After busying half the night, when they returned to the Lin Family Old House, they found Old Man Lin arguing with an invisible person. Listening to his words, they realized the scholar who was saved back then was originally saved, but Old Man Lin saw he carried a lot of silver notes. Greed arose in his heart, so under cover of night he suffocated the scholar to death, hid most of the silver notes on him, then told everyone his injury was too severe and he was gone.
Not sure if it was because his evil deeds were too deep, a few days later, while Old Madam Lin was coaxing the two children to sleep, she accidentally fell asleep herself. The quilt covered too thickly, and his own young son was suffocated to death alive just like that.
Old Man Lin gritted his teeth, swapped the clothes of the scholar’s child and his dead son, and told outsiders that the scholar’s son also passed away due to weak body.
Just like that, the scholar’s son became Lin Family’s Lin Lao Er from then on, growing up under the grinding of the Lin Family old couple.
Actually, back then not everyone thought the two children looked right, but they were all cared for by Old Madam Lin. She wouldn’t admit it, and no one could verify. In the end, the matter was left unsettled.
Unexpectedly, Old Man Lin suddenly went mad and in the middle of the night spilled his own big secret.
Knowing the whole story, Lin Xin was satisfied.
What she threw into Old Man Lin’s room last night were magic flower seeds, which she accidentally discovered in the apocalypse. The flowers it bloomed had a strong stench that dispersed in the wind. Besides the stink, the flower had another effect: it could disrupt people’s minds, infinitely amplifying the things people cared about most in their hearts, even trapping them in illusions.
But people in the apocalypse had very strong willpower, and the magic flower itself was not high level. It worked on ordinary people, but almost no effect on supernatural ability users. It was a very useless thing.
Last night she heard Old Man Lin and Old Madam Lin discussing selling Lin Nan. In a fit of anger, she thought of this thing. Originally just wanted to tease them, but unexpectedly got such a harvest.
While she was thinking smugly, her expression inevitably twisted a bit. The villagers thought she couldn’t accept this fact and pulled her to comfort her.
Lin Nan listened in a daze, not understanding many parts. The only clear point was that his grandparents were not his real grandparents. They could no longer bully him and his sister, nor sell him and his sister under the name of grandparents. This was really the best thing.
“Sis, from now on we don’t have to worry about being sold, or being thrown into the mountain to feed wolves. Nan Nan is so happy!” Good news must be shared with sister.
“Being sold? What being sold? And what does feeding wolves mean?” Lin Xin immediately caught the key point. The nearby villagers also pricked up their ears.
“Last time when Aunt made me burn the fire, I heard Third Aunt tell Grandma that some yuanwai has no son and wants to buy one with money. She said I was just right, and would sell me over in a couple days. If Sis blocked it, sell Sis together, or throw Sis into the deep mountain to feed wolves also works.”
“What?” The villagers all widened their eyes, unable to believe Old Madam Lin and Zhou Shi were so heartless, especially Zhou Shi. She didn’t even know Lin Lao Er wasn’t Old Man Lin’s real son, yet thought of such a vicious way to treat her own niece and nephew. This person was too vicious.
“Nan Nan don’t worry, they are not our grandparents, nor any aunt or third aunt. If they have bad ideas about Nan Nan and Sis again, Sis will beat them until they search all over the ground for their teeth.”
“Mm mm, Sis is very powerful.” Lin Nan was happy, satisfied, showed his small millet teeth in a smile, and shyly hid his face in sister’s embrace.
“Xin Yatou, come in for a bit.” Lin Jing came out of Old Man Lin’s room and waved at Lin Xin.
“Uncle Jing, what happened?” Lin Xin carried Lin Nan over.
“They just told you everything, right? My dad called you to ask how you think about what happened back then. Do you want… to report to the officials?” Lin Jing asked somewhat troubled.
Lin Xin understood his meaning at once. So many years had passed, the evidence had long been buried in time. Even reporting to officials probably wouldn’t yield results, and if word spread about a murderer in the village, it would be hard for the young ladies and lads to find marriage matches.
“Uncle Jing, it’s been so many years. Reporting to officials now has no meaning, and if reported, spreading out would be bad for our village’s reputation. Just… let it be!” Lin Xin said.
