Chapter 178: “filthy Thing”
The woman got irritated watching him and kicked the child in the face.
“Cry cry cry, you’ve cried away all our good fortune!”
In reality, the six-year-old boy who looked like he was four years old fell crookedly, his face full of terror, not daring to cry anymore, his little body stiff as wood, not even daring to breathe hard.
“Damn it, daring to fool me, sooner or later I’ll kill that idiot.” The woman vented her anger.
Seeing a person far ahead, she lowered her head and gave a warning look to the child in the bamboo basket, then put on a simple and honest smile on her face, bowing her waist as she hurried along.
The little boy looked at the passersby, his eyes red, his mouth moving, but thinking of the beatings he’d suffered, he didn’t dare ask for help.
Useless, no one would believe him.
He lowered his head and stared at the hand missing a finger, bean-sized teardrops smashing onto his knee.
The passersby didn’t notice anything wrong, just glanced faintly and brushed past the strange mother and son.
Once the person left, the woman stared at the boy, his little body trembled, trying hard to minimize his presence, and she smiled as if enjoying it.
She liked this feeling of controlling fate, and even more liked watching those men and women who prided themselves on loving children suddenly learn that the child was lost, weeping bitterly and grief-stricken—that made her feel great.
This trip was a waste, squandering half a day, the woman’s brows furrowed tightly, in a bad mood. She pinched the boy child a few more times, the anger stuck in her chest dissipated, and she strode away.
The little boy shed tears pattering down, calling out nonstop in his heart for Grandfather Grandmother Father Mother…
The enemy had quietly appeared and was in contact with Zhang Man Yue—these things Lin Zhao didn’t know for now, and might never know, after all, the latter was dead.
That night, Li Ergou quietly carried Zhang Man Yue up the mountain behind her back.
The wind rustled the treetops, with intermittent owl calls by his ears, and the slightest sound from the grass could scare someone into jumping.
Seeing Li Ergou stop, Li Da looked over, and then… saw the face sliding down his younger brother’s shoulder.
Half of that face had been bitten off, the eyeball dangling out, bloody and mangled—looking at it once would give nightmares for half a month.
Seeing it from such close range, Li Da was stunned, his face full of horror, his legs losing all strength.
After a few breaths, with an “ah,” he ran down the mountain like chased by a ghost.
“Ghost!”
Li Ergou was scared by this shout into dropping the person on his back, and bolted too.
“Elder Brother, wait for me—”
They forgot all about the purpose of going up the mountain, only caring about running.
Seeing the blood on the tattered jacket, he casually took it off and threw it into the river, the water spreading red, diluting in an instant, the jacket floating away with the current, the bloodstains and jacket soon disappearing.
They ran headlong into the village, Li Da stopped, panting heavily.
That bloody face kept popping up involuntarily before his eyes, he slapped himself across the face.
“Don’t think about it, don’t think about it. Heaven bless, Heaven bless…”
As he muttered, a hand landed on his shoulder, Li Da screamed in fright, grabbed the hand and yanked hard, closed his eyes and lifted to slam the dirty thing to the ground.
“Ah…” Li Ergou sprawled on the ground crying out in pain, his waist hitting a stone, his face turning pale from the pain.
“Elder Brother what are you crazy about!” He sucked in air.
Li Da heard the familiar voice, looked over—it was his unlucky younger brother whose wife had died.
“You’re the one saying, I was almost scared to death by you, what are you sneaking around for.”
Li Ergou was so angry he wanted to jump up, but his waist hurt too much to get up.
“How was I sneaking around, I was right behind you.”
He reached out to Li Da, “Pull me up.”
Li Da pulled his unlucky brother up.
“Slowly slowly, it hurts!” Li Ergou hissed in pain, “My waist! Elder Brother, where’d you get that brute strength, it hurts so much!”
Li Da grinned sheepishly, “I thought some dirty thing had me in its sights.”
Remembering the main matter, he glanced behind Li Ergou and asked: “…how’s that thing? You buried it already?”
Li Ergou’s expression stiffened, “…no, not yet.”
His tone full of resentment, “You ran so fast, no one to help me dig a pit, how could I bury it alone?”
Li Da said unhappily: “So is that your wife or my wife exactly?”
Up on the mountain, he’d only heard people say his younger brother’s wife had been half-eaten by a wolf, not even a full corpse, scary as hell, he was afraid of nightmares at night and hadn’t dared go close to look, just now seeing that face had scared him half to death.
Li Da supported himself on a tree by the roadside, vomiting up all the sweet potato rice he’d eaten that evening.
“I can’t do it alone.” Li Ergou said all aggrieved.
“How can’t you? Whenever you hit a snag, working hard to solve it is what a good comrade does, did you try hard? Don’t always say can’t, there’s no such thing as can’t.” Li Da wiped the filth from his mouth onto the tree trunk, his thin black face full of seriousness, “I’m going to sleep, about your wife, urp…”
“You figure out a way yourself.”
Leaving these words, he quickly ran home, lay on the creaky broken bed, and only felt relieved hugging his own wife.
The weather was hot, the Li family windows small and poorly ventilated. Li Da’s wife slept covered in sweat, feeling a furnace emerge beside her, impatiently fanned over. Feeling the pain, Li Da didn’t mind, instead that seeping panic eased a bit.
To be fair, it had scared him to death.
There really were man-eating wild beasts in the deep mountains, he wouldn’t be so reckless anymore!
Meanwhile Li Ergou was also scared, once his brother left, he felt everything was off, didn’t dare go further up the mountain, turned tail and ran back.
What he threw away was far off, no one should discover it.
…
The Gu Family Old House was very quiet, doors tightly shut, everyone asleep.
They’d worked in the fields all day today, then gone up the mountain to search for someone and dealt with a wild boar… after eating meat, patting their oily bellies, they went back to their rooms and crashed, very comfortable.
Tie Dan rolled over and said to his younger brother: “Hammer, the meat was really good, what do you think about us digging a pit trap?”
“…I’m called Gu Zhili, Zhi from knowledge, Li from reason, not Hammer.” Li Bao also rolled over something, facing his brother, frowning in correction.
“Aiyo what’s the difference, it’s still you, I just shout it in the house.” Tie Dan didn’t care.
Hearing this, Li Bao angrily shouted: “Gu Tiedan.”
Gu Zhixing: “…”
He reached to tickle his younger brother’s itch spot, considering himself the big kid who didn’t want to hear his nickname anymore, Tie Dan hummed, “Who’s Tie Dan? No manners, call brother!”
“Call me Li Bao!” Li Bao deftly dodged his brother’s hand, his little face serious, the little friend very insistent.
Tie Dan compromised, “…Li Bao.”
Muttering under his breath, “Learned bad from the twins, got you all clever, not easy to fool anymore.”
“Yu Bao Heng Bao are great.” Li Bao’s little brows furrowed tightly, his childish voice full of displeasure, “You’re badmouthing them!”
He went to pinch Tie Dan’s mouth, and once pinched, wouldn’t let go, pinching his brother into a duck beak.
“Brother badmouthed Yu Bao Heng Bao, brother bad, spit out the meat, don’t eat the wild boar Third Uncle killed, spit it out!”
Tie Dan pulled down his younger brother’s hand, staring at him, “Did I badmouth them? Huh?”
“I said those two are clever, can you stop always listening to half and not the rest, pissing me off!” He said huffily.
Li Bao said: “You said it, you said learned bad from the twins… if that’s not badmouthing what is?”
Tie Dan’s vision went black, deep breath, “Grandma wasn’t wrong, you’re just a simpleton.”
“…” Li Bao puffed his cheeks in anger, retorting: “Grandma also said, with Yu Bao Heng Bao and Qian Bao around, I won’t suffer any loss no matter what!”
“No, did Grandma say me too? What about me?” Tie Dan tugged his cheeks.
“Hmph!” Li Bao rolled over, stuck to the wall to sleep, saying the most infuriating words in the most casual tone, “Can’t rely on you.”
“You’re not smart yourself…”
Tie Dan: “?”
“Who’s not smart?” Tie Dan was unconvinced, sat up to mess with his brother, “How am I not smart, explain clearly!”
Li Bao looked toward their parents’ bed, complaining: “Dad, Mom, I’m sleepy, Brother won’t let me sleep.”
Gu Yuanshan and Huang Xiulan were watching the fun, enjoying it immensely.
Hearing their younger son’s words, the father said: “Tie Dan, stop messing around, go to sleep!”
“Dad’s biased.”
Gu Yuanshan: “Biased your head, looks like your butt’s itchy!”
Tie Dan hummed, turned his back. Noticing his younger brother’s breathing wasn’t quite right, he sat up to look—this kid was already asleep?!
“…”
*
Gu Family new brick and tile house.
Lin Zhao slept in the children’s room tonight, as for Gu Chenghuai, he didn’t want to be separated from his wife, and with the children’s agreement, slept over too.
Luckily the dragon-phoenix twins’ low bed was big enough for two adults and two kids.
Yu Bao Heng Bao slept on their own bed, the small pillow close to the low bed, near Dad and Mom, the two little brothers didn’t fuss to stick to Lin Zhao.
“Mom, our room is so lively tonight, I like it.” Heng Bao said grinning.
“I know, you like liveliness.” Lin Zhao hugged Qian Bao, lightly patting her younger son’s back. The little one hadn’t slept with Mom in a long time, happily curving his dark eyes in a smile, not a bit sleepy.
Heng Bao rolled over, sprawled on the upper bunk, his little short legs folded and sticking up, his milky voice tinged with excitement, “Yeah yeah, I like lively. I’m always so happy every time I go to the old house.”
“Not happy at our house?” Lin Zhao asked back.
She even wanted to ask, with your little aunt at home, are you happy—this killjoy doesn’t deserve to be in such a warm night.
“Happy too, but a different happy.” Heng Bao said cleverly.
Gu Chenghuai lifted his eyelids, glanced at the kid on the upper bunk, his voice clear and steady, “Lie down properly. Want to hear a story tonight?”
Zhaozhao was sleepy, time for the children to sleep.
Today Gu Chenghuai led people to hunt wild boars, got several, his prestige unprecedentedly high, the whole village praising, little friends surrounding the twins in envy of them having someone who could hunt wild boars…
Because of this, little friend Heng Bao was floating on air, his worship of his dad endless like the Yellow River.
The kid on the upper bunk immediately lay down properly, pulled the corner of the blanket to cover his belly.
“Listen. Lying down now.” He said loudly.
Gu Chenghuai reached to pull the blanket for his wife, found a children’s book and read aloud, voice deliberately lowered, very soporific.
Soon, the four kids were asleep.
Yao Bao fell asleep the fastest.
Lin Zhao whispered softly: “Yao Bao might not like studying in the future.”
Gu Chenghuai chuckled, “She’s so young, sleeps a lot is normal, can’t tell at this age, maybe later she’ll like it.”
“True.” Lin Zhao looked at the two similar little faces, her brows and eyes gentle.
She’d given birth to them, had to pave the way for them, wait for the college entrance exam restoration then go to the capital, buy several properties then, to back them up.
“Gu Chenghuai, don’t you think today’s incident with Qian Bao getting lost was very strange?”
“I do. Everything about it is strange.” A cold glint quickly flashed in Gu Chenghuai’s dark eyes, vanishing instantly, “I’ll investigate. Whoever’s behind it stirring trouble won’t get off easy.”
“Pay more attention, I feel this isn’t over.”
Gu Chenghuai nodded.
–
Fengshou Brigade’s dragon-phoenix twins boy was abducted up the mountain by someone from the same village, came back without missing an arm or leg, but the abductor got eaten by a wolf—this spread through the surrounding brigades in no time.
The Lin Family heard too.
Early next morning, Lin Heling and Song Xiwei brought their two sons to visit.
As soon as they entered, seeing Qian Bao holding a milk bottle drinking milk, sitting side by side with his sister on the rattan chairs, swinging their lotus-root-section-like little short legs, faces full of smiles.
Lin Heling and Song Xiwei in front exchanged a look and laughed.
Looks like nothing wrong.
Qian Bao saw Grandmother Grandfather, his eyes lit up slightly, slid down from the rattan chair, and pattered over.
“Grandmother, Grandfather, Second Uncle, Third Uncle.” His milky voice called each one.
Yao Bao followed her brother calling, then continued drinking milk.
The short and chubby little one hugged the pink milk bottle drinking milk, cute enough to melt anyone.
Lin Shichang walked over, picked up his little niece, grinning to show white teeth, “Yao Bao still recognizes me? I thought she wouldn’t remember, so clever.”
After saying that, he pulled out a White Rabbit Toffee.
“Call once more, candy for you.” He coaxed with mischievous fun.
Yao Bao didn’t even look, just kept glugging milk.
At this time, Heng Bao walked over, “Yao Bao won’t take it.”
“?”
Lin Shichang’s mind popped a question mark, a kid who doesn’t like candy?
“Yao Bao doesn’t like candy?”
Heng Bao reached out, “Give me two and I’ll tell you why.”
Lin Shichang: “…”
Where’d this clever imp come from, even knows how to haggle.
He pulled out two candies for him.
Heng Bao neatly took them, one for himself, one for his brother.
“Yao Bao won’t take anything when drinking milk.”
Lin Shichang asked: “Meat?”
“Mom says she and Qian Bao can’t eat meat.” Heng Bao looked at his younger brother and sister with great sympathy.
On second thought, at their age he hadn’t eaten meat either, so nothing strange, and he calmed down again.
Lin Zhao came out hearing the voices.
“Dad, Mom, Second Brother, Third Brother.”
Song Xiwei looked her over carefully, saw she was in good spirits, and relaxed, “Such a big thing at home, how come no message to the family? Who knows the mountains better than me? Your dad and I got scared hearing the news, came right away.”
“Didn’t think of it.” Lin Zhao said righteously, “As soon as we got back we heard, my mind went blank.”
“Good thing the child is fine.” Song Xiwei hugged Qian Bao, her eyes full of unspeakable heartache.
“Yeah.” Lin Zhao thought, if something happened to Qian Bao, she didn’t know what she’d do.
But she knew Qian Bao wore a red string on his hand, this thing could at least protect his life.
“Did Qian Bao sleep well last night?” Song Xiwei asked again.
“Very well, slept till broad daylight.” Needed to pee, pushed Gu Chenghuai’s face to wake him and carry him to pee.
“Where’s Chenghuai?” Lin Heling asked casually, not seeing his son-in-law.
“Went to buy candy.” Lin Zhao poured water for the maternal family with the twins, “Yesterday lots of villagers helped search the mountain, buying candy to thank everyone.”
“Should be.”
Lin Shichang pulled out a handful of tickets from his military uniform pants pocket, all sorts, “Zhaozhao, take these tickets, lots of sugar tickets inside, for you to buy candy.”
He’d just sent money back before, so no money this time.
Lin Zhao unceremoniously took them, “Thanks Third Brother, when you go back to the troops I’ll send two bottles of meat sauce.”
“So generous, worthy of my own younger sister.” Lin Shichang grabbed Xiao Jin, held him and stroked, asked again: “Does Little Four know… about the drug trial succeeding?”
