Chapter 18: Today, Let’s Go Dig Traps
Lin Jing listened to Lin Xin’s words, feeling even more guilty inside, while his disgust toward the Old Lin Family deepened a few degrees.
“Uncle Jing, if there’s nothing else, Nan Nan and I will head back first.”
“Go ahead. If there’s anything you can’t resolve, remember to come find Uncle Jing.” Lin Jing said mildly.
“I know!” Lin Xin smiled at him, grabbed Lin Nan’s little claw and made a bye-bye gesture, then left the Lin Family Old House amid the villagers’ sympathetic gazes.
Lin Jing watched their backs until they were far away before retracting his smile, turned around and returned to Old Man Lin’s room. As soon as he entered, he heard Old Man Lin say to his own father: “Even if you are the Clan Leader, you can’t just twist right and wrong like this. Everyone saw back then that the scholar died from severe injury. How can you say I killed someone?”
“This isn’t something my dad said—it’s what you yourself said, and from last night until just now, the whole village heard it.” Lin Jing looked at him with a gaze like he was looking at a pile of big dung, snorted and said.
“I don’t know what I did last night, so how can my words be taken seriously?” Old Man Lin stubbornly refused to admit it. He wasn’t stupid—killing someone wasn’t a small matter; it could cost him his life. So much time had passed, and as long as he didn’t admit it, no one could do anything to him.
“Old Uncle Lin, don’t worry. It’s been so long since the incident, even if you were the one who killed him, there’s no evidence left long ago. We really can’t do anything to you. Xin Yatou just said it too—she won’t report to the officials. As long as you feel no guilt in your heart, that’s fine. You can deceive the living, but can you deceive the dead? You can deceive others, but can you deceive yourself? Think about it carefully!” After Lin Jing said this sarcastically, he helped up the Old Clan Leader. “Dad, let’s go back!”
The Old Clan Leader let out a long sigh, glanced at Old Man Lin with disappointment, and under his son’s support, walked away tremblingly.
The excitement was over, and the villagers left together, discussing animatedly as they walked. Though their words varied, the content was much the same: Old Lin head was too ruthless, able to kill without blinking, so in the future they had to stay far away from his family, and when they got home they needed to remind their own children to play less with his family’s kids.
Back home, Lin Xin was in an extremely good mood. She hummed a tune, cracked four eggs, steamed two bowls of steamed egg custard, took two big meat buns from the space, ate them fragrantly with Lin Nan, then shouldered the back basket and headed into the mountain again. This time, she specially brought the only hoe at home.
Today she was going into the mountain to dig a few traps. Gathering wild chickens and wild rabbits in small amounts every day was too troublesome to sell. It was better to catch big things like wild boars—they were easy to sell and valuable.
“Sis, are we continuing to gather firewood today?” Lin Nan clutched a small wooden stick in his hand, imitating properly by tapping it in the grass. His sister had told him that this was to drive away snakes in the grass.
“Today we’re going to dig traps.” She answered while evenly spreading wood-series energy to the grass on the ground.
“Once we dig the traps, will there be meat to eat every day?” Lin Nan licked his little lips and asked expectantly.
“Yeah! As long as there’s prey in the trap, Nan Nan will have meat to eat every day. Happy or not?” Lin Xin pinched Lin Nan’s little nose and asked with a squinting smile.
“Happy!”
The siblings walked deep into the woods while having this nutrient-poor conversation.
The little grasses, having received Lin Xin’s supernatural ability, were all very excited, and the feedback information was very positive. Soon Lin Xin identified a few suitable places to dig traps.
“Sis, is it here?” Seeing Lin Xin put down the back basket and pick up the hoe to start digging, Lin Nan came over and asked curiously.
“Mm, see, there are many beast footprints here, but very few human footprints. So if we dig a trap here, we don’t have to worry about someone accidentally falling in.”
“Oh.” Lin Nan nodded to show he understood, squatted to the side with wide eyes watching.
“Sis, ······” Not long after, he had a new question, and Lin Xin patiently answered.
Time passed in their question-and-answer exchange. With the boost from her supernatural ability, Lin Xin had great strength, and soon a trap two people deep was dug. She walked around it once, thought for a moment, then found a few thick dry branches nearby, sharpened them, and inserted them upside down into the bottom of the trap. Only then was she satisfied and patted the mud off her hands.
“Is it done now?” Lin Nan leaned over halfway to look down.
“Be careful! See those branches? If you accidentally fall in, you’ll turn into a candied haw.” Lin Xin was startled and quickly pulled his little body back a step before saying seriously.
“Got it, sis don’t be mad. Nan Nan will be good from now on.” Seeing Lin Xin’s rare stern face, Lin Nan instinctively tried to please her.
“Sis isn’t mad.” Lin Xin softened her expression. “Sis is just scared, scared that Nan Nan will be in danger.”
“Mm, Nan Nan knows sis loves Nan Nan the most.” Lin Nan rubbed his little face against Lin Xin’s arm that was holding him, acting spoiled.
“If you know, then do fewer dangerous things in the future, got it?” Lin Xin stood up, packed the hoe, picked up Lin Nan, and walked to another selected spot.
While Lin Nan wasn’t paying attention, she also tossed a small piece of shredded meat into the trap to lure prey. Without bait, it wouldn’t work.
Not far from the second spot was a small river where animals often came to drink. Lin Xin checked the sky and saw it was past noon, so she casually caught two wild chickens. The riverside mud was ready-made, so she made beggars’ chicken again. The two ate it contentedly with steamed buns.
After digging two more traps, it was almost dark.
“Sis, when are we going home?” Lin Nan, having played all afternoon, was a bit tired, yawned and asked softly while lying in Lin Xin’s arms.
“We’re done, heading back now. Can Nan Nan hold on a bit longer?” Lin Xin had completely forgotten that Lin Nan wasn’t one of those apocalypse kids who awakened supernatural abilities. Seeing his tired appearance, she felt some guilt.
“Okay!” Though Lin Nan was a bit listless, he was still very sensible and helped Lin Xin pack things.
Suddenly, a low tiger roar came. The nearby grass parted to both sides, and a huge tiger head appeared in front of them.
“Ah! Big Cat!” Lin Nan cheered, forgetting all about being tired, and ran over in a little dash.
The ferocious king of the mountains faced this little one not even enough to fill its teeth gaps, froze in place without daring to move, then simply lay down, resting its big head on its huge overlapping claws, and bared its teeth at Lin Xin.
“Pfft!” Lin Xin couldn’t help laughing at the tiger’s aggrieved look.
To compensate it, Lin Xin took out the leftover beggars’ chicken from noon and tossed it to its mouth.
Big Tiger sniffed twice, turned its head and bit, and half a chicken went into its mouth. Then ······ then Lin Xin saw expressions of surprise, longing, expectation, and more flash across the face of this ordinary big tiger without spiritual intelligence.
Well ······ hard to evaluate.
“Alright, Nan Nan, it’s getting late. Say bye to Big Cat, and let’s head home.”
“Okay!” Lin Nan reluctantly hugged Big Tiger’s fur and rubbed hard, then followed his sister while looking back every step.
Big Tiger lay in place licking its lips and nose for a long time, shook its tail and stood up, ran off in another direction, and its sturdy body soon disappeared into the dense forest.
