Chapter 51: “gone”
Da Zai and Er Zai stopped in their tracks, not even making eye contact, tacitly stepping back half a step.
“Bro, the taffy girl came looking for us again. What do we do now?” Er Zai asked in a low voice.
The brother-obsessed little friend always listened to his older brother on big matters.
Da Zai slightly turned his body, wanting to shield Er Zai behind him with his own, his clear eyes fixed on Lu Baozhen. “What are you doing here?”
Lu Baozhen acted as if she didn’t notice the rejection, smiling sweetly. “I came to play with Da Zai brother and Er Zai brother.”
Er Zai poked his head out and rolled his eyes dramatically. “Do you not understand human speech? My brother and I don’t like playing with you, and we don’t want to play with you. Stop following us all the time. Aren’t you annoyed?”
Ever since Gu Mu got injured, in Er Zai’s heart, Lu Baozhen’s reputation as a harbinger of misfortune was unshakable. He wished he could never see her again for the rest of his life.
Lu Baozhen had never suffered such grievance before. She pouted, looking aggrieved as she turned to Da Zai.
Da Zai: “?”
Why was she looking at him!
Did he have to side against his own younger brother to help an outsider like her?
His brain wasn’t muddled, nor had he been kicked by a donkey.
“I don’t want to play with you either.” Da Zai said seriously, word by word.
Lu Baozhen pretended not to hear, her dark eyes staring at the thing in the twins’ hands.
“What do you have there?”
Er Zai looked vigilant, using his body to block the wooden box they’d picked up. “None of your business. Get out of the way. We’re going home.”
The superstitious little kid thought Lu Baozhen was unlucky and didn’t want to get too close to her. He just wanted her to leave quickly.
Lu Baozhen seemed not to understand, walking forward a few steps. “My grandma said all things belong to the brigade. You can’t take them home.”
Hearing this, Er Zai got furious, his eyes blazing as he glared at her. “We picked this up. Why can’t we take it? If you keep talking nonsense, watch out or I’ll beat you.”
He waved his sandbag-sized fist.
Lu Baozhen shrank her neck but wasn’t scared off, still standing in place.
“Even if you beat me, I’ll say it.” Her voice was soft but infuriating.
She felt there was something good in that box, and it should be hers.
Da Zai countered logically. “This is the first time Er Zai and I picked up something. You’ve picked up stuff several times already. If the brigade wants us to hand things over, you’d have to hand yours in too.”
Er Zai clapped his hands, delighted. “Right! You picked up a stack of money before, a bag of White Rabbit Toffee, and a gold ring. You’d have to hand those over to the brigade too, or we won’t either.”
Lu Baozhen’s mind couldn’t process it. Bean-sized tears rolled down her cheeks as she cried, “You’re bullying me, wuwuwu.”
She was furious and instinctively called for backup, raising her hand to shout for the Black Carp.
“Li Li, I need you to help me.”
Seeing this, Da Zai and Er Zai were both dumbfounded.
They synchronously looked around—
A sparrow leaped from the branch into the sky. Hot wind blew, making grass and trees sway. Insects hidden in the deep grass chirped. The blazing sun in the sky had silenced the cicadas in the trees.
They were certain there were no talking creatures within ten meters.
“Bro, who is she talking to?” Er Zai’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
Fearless as a newborn calf, the little friend feared neither heaven nor earth, his voice full of thrill. “Is it a monster?”
“You’re the monster. Li Li is my best friend.” Lu Baozhen shouted angrily.
Er Zai deliberately provoked her. “Where? Where? How come I don’t see it? You’re lying, aren’t you?”
“I’m not lying.” Lu Baozhen’s voice sharpened as she yelled into her palm. “Li Li, come out.”
If the Black Carp had a face, it would show utter despair.
Sure enough.
Human cubs were unreliable.
Er Zai had almost believed it. He tiptoed, peering at Lu Baozhen’s hand, curious and excited, flames practically shooting from his eyes.
Half a minute passed. His eyes grew sore from staring, and he hadn’t seen even a hair. His expression turned disappointed.
He pointed at Lu Baozhen. “You’re a harbinger of misfortune and a big liar too.”
“I’m not a big liar!” Lu Baozhen’s face flushed red. She scratched at the spot where the Black Carp resided. “Come out. Li Li, come out quick and help me vent. Make Gu Da Zai and Gu Er Zai lie in little dirt mounds. I never want to see them again.”
Er Zai looked at her incredulously, his face full of “how can you be so vicious?”
“Little friends who lie in little dirt mounds never see their mom again. You’re the bad little friend! You don’t have a mom, so you go lie in a little dirt mound.”
Da Zai also disliked what Lu Baozhen said. He wanted to be with Mom forever.
He looked at Lu Baozhen discontentedly. Even the usually magnanimous Da Zai started to dislike this little friend.
Lu Baozhen’s wish was too intense. The Black Carp was forced to appear.
It sighed faintly.
But the pampered, lawless four-year-old girl who had long lost her innocence didn’t notice.
She issued the order as before. “Li Li, help me.”
“. . . Okay.” The Black Carp responded.
It came from another world where things couldn’t become spirits.
Its first host was a boy who had just turned twenty-two and graduated.
Back then, it was the red, white, and black koi representing an auspicious omen.
It used its good luck to help the host transform from a lowly young man living in a rundown rental, taking pitiful wages, agonizing daily over whether to add a sausage to his instant noodles, into a big boss of a transport company, reaching the peak of life and achieving class ascension.
But who knew human greed was insatiable. That young man who initially only wished to live with dignity became utterly unrecognizable. He used it to get back at those who had humiliated him.
At first, the little koi didn’t notice the problem until its tail turned black, realizing its power was being backlashed.
It wanted to stop, after all, it was a beloved auspicious omen—how could it turn black!
But a newly spirited it couldn’t outsmart a scheming human. From the start, that human had tricked out its biggest secret—this relationship was host-dominated.
The game started by it, but it couldn’t call it quits.
Gradually, its entire body turned black.
Later, the little koi learned the host wanted to eliminate it completely. It escaped in a near self-destructive way.
When it awoke again.
Newly born Lu Baozhen became its new host.
Affected by its bad luck, Lu Baozhen’s biological mother died miserably in the delivery room. Before dying, that woman wished to trade all her good luck and reincarnation chances for her child’s life to be smooth and worry-free.
Because of this, the Black Carp felt its power recover a bit.
Later, it discovered it could use Lu Baozhen to siphon others’ luck to restore itself, embarking on a path of no return.
Seeing the Gu Family’s third branch members’ luck shining as brightly as the sun, it grew greedy and urged Lu Baozhen to get close to them.
Things had been going well at first. Just waiting for Lin Zhao’s luck to be drained and her to die from misfortune, then those four cubs would be at its mercy.
Who knew an unexpected change would happen. Lin Zhao didn’t die. Her four cubs avoided Lu Baozhen, causing it to only expend and not gain during this time. The bit of good luck it had accumulated before was almost depleted.
That said.
As Lu Baozhen’s command fell, the Black Carp mark on her palm flashed suddenly.
In an instant.
The little girl’s eyes turned black as abysses, devoid of human emotion, pupils unfocused. Staring at people, it was extremely eerie.
Er Zai was thick-skinned and didn’t notice her transformation. He shook his sore arm from lifting the wooden box. “Bro, let’s go home. Ignore this annoying crybaby.”
He walked ahead to lead the way.
Countryside paths weren’t wide—barely enough for four or five grown men side by side.
Er Zai strode forward with a bold, unyielding gait. As he passed Lu Baozhen, she suddenly grabbed his arm.
“What are you doing!” Er Zai flung his arm like it was stung by a wasp.
Lu Baozhen reached to snatch the box from his hand. No one knew where she got the strength, pulling Er Zai’s body forward. “Give it to me!”
Er Zai never took a loss and gripped it tightly. “No.”
Lu Baozhen bit him in fury.
She chomped the flesh on his hand and yanked hard. Er Zai felt pain and flung her forcefully. Da Zai hurried to help. The three little friends tangled into a ball.
“Aaah, I’ll fight you to the death!!” Er Zai unleashed his iron headbutt, pulling his head back then slamming it forward hard into Lu Baozhen’s face.
“Bang!!”
No matter how strong Lu Baozhen’s “cheat” was, she was still flesh and blood. The impact made blood flow from her nostrils in two streams.
“Ow—” The little girl’s two braids came loose as she shrieked shrilly.
She wiped her nosebleed and saw Da Zai and Er Zai running off. She chased and grabbed the red rope on Er Zai’s wrist.
Her bloodied hand just touched it.
Lu Baozhen screamed shrilly and retreated rapidly.
She clutched her hand and crouched down, head buried.
In the unnoticed spot, the black koi on her palm flickered faintly then suddenly detached from Lu Baozhen’s body.
It immediately turned to black dust.
Er Zai noticed the little red rope from Mom had turned black. He exclaimed in shock, “Ah, my little red rope, the little red rope Mom gave me!”
He touched it to wipe off the blackness, but as soon as his hand made contact, the little red rope turned to powder and scattered in the air.
Er Zai was dumbfounded.
“My little red rope!”
Furious, he wanted to rush up and hit Lu Baozhen, but Da Zai held him back. Da Zai removed his own little red rope and put it on his brother’s hand.
“Mine for you.”
Er Zai was instantly soothed but unhappy seeing his brother without one. “Bro doesn’t have one.”
“It’s fine. This afternoon, we’ll ask Mom if she can buy another.” Da Zai thought of Mom saying they’d all have lucky money from now on. Could he ask for a few cents early to buy a red rope?
Er Zai happily rubbed against his brother.
At that moment, Lu Baozhen stirred.
Da Zai tensed up and quickly said to his brother, “Er Zai, carry the box. Time to go home for the meal.”
“Okay!”
The two little brothers left the foot of the mountain.
Not long after, news spread in the village.
Even the Gu family members who had just finished work heard it.
“Why did Baozhen go to the foot of the mountain for no reason? She almost got gored by a wild boar charging down, fainted from fright. Luckily Aunt Lu got there in time, or else…” Huang Xiulan didn’t spell it out, but the Gu family understood.
Gu Mu had taken medicine for two days, plus bowls of brown sugar water and malt extract to nourish her body. She was more spirited than before the injury. Bored inside the room, she sat in the yard.
Hearing the eldest daughter-in-law’s words, she asked, “Baozhen fainted? Doesn’t Lu Old Woman always say her granddaughter is a big bundle of fortune, Old Man Heaven’s own daughter? How come Old Man Heaven’s own daughter got gored by a pig?”
As she spoke, Da Zai and Er Zai came in and heard everything. The brothers exchanged a glance.
Lu Baozhen got gored by a pig?!
Er Zai grabbed a small stool nearby and silently sat by Gu Mu, ears perked to listen to Eldest Uncle’s Wife.
Huang Xiulan was washing the dragon-phoenix twins’ faces.
Countryside kids loved the soil. Once in the fields, they rolled around everywhere happily.
The fair and tender San Zai and Si Zai had dirt on their cuffs, hems, and knees that couldn’t be patted off, even in their fine soft hair. Their fair faces were flushed, eyes bright and watery—clearly they’d had a blast.
“No Old Man Heaven’s own daughter. Who knows whose lifesaving money that stuff Baozhen picked up before belonged to.” Huang Xiulan commented lightly.
Then continued, “I didn’t see what happened at the foot of the mountain myself. Heard people say it was mealtime and Baozhen hadn’t come home, so Aunt Lu searched the whole village and found her there. When found, her face was full of blood, and a wild boar charged out from the woods.”
“Were the villagers okay?” Gu Mu asked quickly.
“Fine.” Huang Xiulan said. “They saw the wild boar’s shadow and didn’t dare make a fuss, quietly ran back to the village. The village head said he’d take people to hunt those beasts another day.”
The usually silent Gu Fu couldn’t hold back. “They do need hunting. The village is full of kids. If those beasts come down the mountain, it’d be disastrous.”
Gu Yucheng sharpened his knife eagerly. “Hunt ’em. Hunting means meat to eat.”
More than ten villagers had died to wild boars before. Gu Mu truly feared these tusked beasts and glared at him. “What makes you think you can hunt wild boars with your puny self? Careful or the wild boar hunts you.”
“The family could use less of your meat-eating. Grown man still craving that bite.”
Lin Zhao had sent plenty of meat. She had the daughter-in-law cook it all for the family to eat together.
Gu Yucheng ignored his mom’s eye-roll and grinned. “Who complains about too much meat?”
As he spoke.
Lai Mei sidled up to her dad, eyes shining. “Dad, can you hunt wild boars?”
“. . . No.”
Lai Mei realistically withdrew her admiring gaze, dejected. “When’s Third Uncle coming back? I miss Third Uncle.”
Gu Yucheng laughed in anger. “If you dislike your dad, go be your Third Uncle’s son!”
“Can I?” Lai Mei looked expectant.
“. . .”
Take him away, take him now—whoever wants this son can have him.
Zhao Liuniang came out from the kitchen and called, “Meal’s ready.”
Bang Bang took his younger siblings to wash hands.
Ever since expelling the worm, the Gu family kids had become much more hygienic, drinking cool boiled water, washing hands before and after meals.
At this time, at the Lu Family.
The Lu family thought their big lucky star was injured and hurriedly fetched the barefoot doctor.
The half-baked doctor examined repeatedly and laughed in exasperation.
“What injury? It’s a nosebleed. Wipe it and it’s fine. No need to rush me over like this, wasting my time.”
After complaining, he packed up and left.
The Lu family was stunned.
Su Yuxian, bearing the name of unlucky wife, eagerly tried to show off. She quickly fetched water to wipe Lu Baozhen’s face.
“It’s really just a nosebleed. Who said Baozhen was disfigured by a wild boar? What a vicious mouth, slandering even a kid.” Lu Xiaomei cursed angrily.
She sat by the bed and felt all over her niece’s body.
Finding no good stuff, disappointment flashed in her eyes.
Lu Xiaomei was pampered at home and knew where all the money was kept. She went familiarly to get some but saw the money box empty.
Thinking Lu Mu had moved the money, Lu Xiaomei, full of resentment, confronted her mom.
“Mom, why didn’t you tell me you moved the money? Made me run for nothing. Where’s the money? I need it.”
Lu Mu looked baffled.
“What money location did I change?” she asked. “Isn’t it still in the box? I didn’t touch it.”
Lu Xiaomei still didn’t grasp the severity. “No money in the box.”
Lu Mu wiped her hands and hurried to the room.
The box that originally held lots of money was empty!
The cloth bag full of bills that Baozhen picked up, the 15-gram gold ring, the blue-and-white porcelain tea cup… all gone!
Even the money Lu Yizhou sent back was gone!
Lu Mu’s eyes nearly popped out, nearly fainting. She grabbed the money wooden chest and searched desperately.
“It’s all here. The money’s all inside. I didn’t touch it.”
Lu Xiaomei helped search but found nothing.
Suddenly, she thought of something, dropped what she held, and went after Su Yuxian.
“Was it you? Did you steal the family’s money?” Lu Xiaomei gripped her shoulders and demanded harshly. “No outsiders came. It must be you. Hand over the money, hand over the box’s money.”
Lu Mu suspiciously stared at her daughter-in-law too, scratching her with a claw, leaving red marks on Su Yuxian. “Where’s the money? Where did you hide it?”
Su Yuxian was dumbfounded.
She felt more wronged than Dou E.
“What money? I didn’t see any.” Su Yuxian clutched her stinging face and explained. “I never even entered Mom’s room.”
Lu Mu regained reason. “Then where’s the money?”
“Was it Dad who took it?” Lu Xiaomei said. “I’ll go find Dad.”
She dashed out after those words.
Su Yuxian dragged her injured foot to sit, glancing at the room where her parents-in-law lived, eyes flickering.
The dead old woman and knife-stabbing little sister-in-law were so frantic—there must be lots of money at home.
Remembering when she hurt her foot, not one Lu family member got her a doctor, just casually using wood ash. Su Yuxian lowered her gaze, fierce light flashing at the bottom.
Saw the treasured ones’ comments, all complaining I update too little.
New month, let’s boldly do a monthly ticket extra update event, set a flag:
Every 50 cumulative monthly tickets, add one chapter. Hope everyone helps cure the author’s indecisiveness and procrastination.
Seeking monthly tickets, seeking recommendation tickets (＞＜)☆
