Chapter 47: Prepare A Surprise For Me?
Two miserable howls rose to the sky, but Lin Xin didn’t spare them another glance. She turned around, descended the mountain, and hurried home.
Upon entering the house, she didn’t see the two people and one tiger who should have been home. Instead, she saw Lin Duo lying unconscious in her courtyard, with a piece of firewood burned down to just the end discarded beside her.
“Nan Nan,” Lin Xin ignored Lin Duo and first looked for Lin Nan.
“Sis～Wah～～～” Lin Nan had been holding it in for a long time. If Mo Ziyuan hadn’t kept stopping him, he would have definitely gone out to find his sister long ago. Now hearing Lin Xin call him, he couldn’t hold back anymore. He called out “sis” and burst into loud sobs.
Lin Xin followed the sound toward the kitchen. At the door, she came face-to-face with Mo Ziyuan who had just opened it. Afraid that Lin Xin would misunderstand and think he was bullying Lin Nan, he quickly explained, “He saw you weren’t home and thought you didn’t want him anymore. No matter how I explained, it was useless. He only started crying when he heard your voice.”
By now, Lin Nan had run over and hugged Lin Xin’s leg. Hearing Mo Ziyuan’s words, he buried his little face into Lin Xin’s clothes and complained in a small, tearful voice, “Big brother is bad. He stopped me from going to find sis.”
Lin Xin bent down to pick up Lin Nan, pressing her forehead against his cheek as she said, “Sis left suddenly, so she asked big brother to look after Nan Nan. Sis didn’t tell Nan Nan ahead of time—that was sis’s fault. Next time something like this happens, sis will definitely let Nan Nan know first, okay?”
“Okay.” To Lin Nan, as long as his sister hadn’t abandoned him, it was the best thing in the world. As for what would happen next time, that was a problem for the future, so he agreed very readily.
After soothing the little brother in her arms, Lin Xin looked at Mo Ziyuan. “Thank you for stopping Nan Nan for me. You’ve taken good care of him—many thanks!”
“No need, no need,” Mo Ziyuan waved his hands repeatedly, not daring to take credit. “Your little brother is pretty well-behaved. Except for the beginning when he tried to run out and I stopped him, the rest of the time he stayed with Big Tiger and didn’t need me to watch him.”
As he waved his hand, Lin Xin noticed the circle of bloody tooth marks on the web of his hand. She immediately understood how it happened and patted Lin Nan’s back. “Did you bite big brother’s hand? Shouldn’t you apologize to him?”
Lin Nan squirmed a bit in her arms, a little embarrassed as he looked at Mo Ziyuan. He also saw his own handiwork and felt even more embarrassed as he said, “Big brother, sorry. It was wrong of Nan Nan to bite you. Does it hurt? How about letting sis put some medicine on it for you!”
Lin Xin: “······” Definitely her biological little brother—no doubt. Sis is confirmed as a tool!
Mo Ziyuan waved it off, saying it was no big deal. Of course he wanted Lin Xin to apply medicine for him, but based on his understanding of her over the past half afternoon, his intuition told him she probably wouldn’t agree. He didn’t want to outright refuse either, so he was thinking about how to change the subject when he turned his head and spotted Lin Duo still lying on the ground. His eyes lit up—here was the new topic!
He quickly pointed at Lin Duo and said to Lin Xin, “About half a shichen after you left, this woman showed up. She was muttering sneakily about some surprise she prepared for you and even wanted to go into your room. I couldn’t openly stop her, so I knocked her out.”
“Prepared a surprise for me?” Lin Xin thought for a moment and understood the meaning. She also recalled the words Lin Shu and Wang Laizi had whispered earlier. Her expression suddenly turned cold. So she had schemed it all out!
She had Lin Shu and Wang Laizi drug her, then she came to the house. If she caught Lin Shu and them inside, she would call the villagers to completely ruin her reputation, making it so she could never hold her head up in the village again.
If Lin Shu and them were too cowardly to stay after drugging her and took her outside, with no one home she could rummage for things—probably aiming for silver. By the time she was done being toyed with by those two beasts, she wouldn’t have the mood to look for the stolen items, and even if she did, they definitely wouldn’t admit it.
She might even threaten her for more benefits or hide Lin Nan away to extort money!
All in all, for an ignorant farm girl, this scheme of hers was indeed quite clever. She had grown a brain, but not much of one.
First, she didn’t understand Lin Xin’s combat power—taking on Lin Shu and the other alone was no pressure at all. Second, she picked the wrong timing, unaware that Mo Ziyuan was here today. By a twist of fate, not only did Lin Shu and them fail, but she got herself caught too.
Lin Xin showed her no mercy. Seeing signs that she was waking up, she hooked her toe and kicked—Lin Duo’s occiput suffered a second injury, with the same piece of firewood end as the weapon.
“Trouble you to watch Nan Nan a bit longer. I’m going to deal with her.” Lin Xin said to Mo Ziyuan, her whole body radiating cold menace.
Mo Ziyuan naturally had no problem, but he worried Lin Nan wouldn’t agree and quietly gave Lin Xin a look.
A tall, handsome young man standing there winking and pursing his lips at her—Lin Xin didn’t know what expression to make. She felt this guy was acting a bit too frivolous. Could someone like him really help the Crown Prince eliminate the Third Prince’s faction?
She shook her head to dismiss the untimely thought, then squatted down and said to Lin Nan, “Nan Nan, sis has to go out again. You stay home obediently with big brother, okay?”
Lin Nan looked at Lin Xin, then at Mo Ziyuan, then at Lin Duo on the ground, and nodded sensibly. “Is sis going to teach the bad guy a lesson? Then go ahead! I’ll wait here with big brother for you to come back.”
Lin Xin: “······” Why did those words feel somehow off?
Mo Ziyuan, however, was overjoyed and quickly assured her, “Miss Lin, go without worry. I’ll watch Nan Nan. You be careful and come back quickly.”
Lin Xin nodded, grabbed Lin Duo’s belt, hoisted her up, and dashed out the door, racing into the mountains.
Lin Shu and Wang Laizi were tied to a tree, blood soaking their pants. The drug had mostly flowed out with the blood by now, but they were in a semi-comatose state.
Lin Xin went over and gave each a whack on the back of the head to ensure they were thoroughly knocked out. Then she used her wood element ability to stop their bleeding and slightly heal their wounds—otherwise, they might bleed out before anyone found them.
She untied them from the tree, positioned them on the ground, then dragged Lin Duo over and positioned her similarly. Lin Xin stood by, stroking her chin as she looked, but something still felt off no matter how she saw it.
She thought hard, then suddenly realized.
Those two were deposed—how could they do anything to Lin Duo now?
So she quickly adjusted the plan, swapping Lin Duo’s head and feet position, stuffing a sharp stone into her hand—no, she took the stone back out. Then she gave Lin Shu and Wang Laizi another injury on top of their wounds, smashed their tools to pieces, and stuffed the bloody stone into Lin Duo’s hand.
Now the scene looked much more pleasing. Lin Xin adjusted a couple more awkward angles, then clapped her hands in satisfaction and headed down the mountain. She didn’t forget to use her wood element ability to have the roadside grass erase her tracks.
Lin Duo, oh Lin Duo, knowing your own days are numbered, you wanted to drag me to hell early? Too bad you miscalculated!
Sleep well tonight so you’ll have the energy tomorrow to welcome the surprise I’m returning to you! Hope you like it!
Lin Xin returned home in a great mood. Though what she’d just done was a bit bloody, in the apocalypse she hadn’t killed few people, and zombies numbered beyond count. Tonight’s little thing was nothing to her.
