Chapter 186: Yun Laidai And Jiaojiao’s Goodwill
Yun Chenbei also thought of the strange things his sister had found, so he nodded.
“Okay.”
“It will take a week.”
The wooden frame was simple, but he had to choose the wood, design the shape, and other issues.
Yun Jiao’s eyes curved as she hugged his arm and shook it.
“Fourth Brother is so nice.”
“Cough, cough…”
Old Man Mu’s voice came from behind.
“It won’t take that long. Since I’m free anyway, I’ll help you make it.”
Yun Jiao’s eyes lit up. She ran to Old Man Mu’s side, her little face looking at him happily.
“Thank you, Grandpa Mu, Grandpa Mu is so good.”
Old Man Mu nodded with his hands behind his back, satisfied.
He couldn’t resist patting her little head. His apprentice’s sister was, in a way, like his granddaughter.
When Yun Jiao was leaving, Old Man Mu gave her another small item.
It was a mechanism box.
Old Man Mu taught her how to open it.
From the outside, it looked like a solid polygonal block of wood, but when opened, it revealed many hidden compartments and small boxes, suitable for storing small items.
Without knowing how to open it, the box was perfectly sealed. Yun Jiao held it and studied it for a long time but couldn’t figure out how it was made.
Never mind, she wasn’t studying this kind of thing anyway.
She would put her favorite small items inside when she got back.
“Big Black, come, let’s go to my home.”
Yun Jiao successfully lured Big Black away with a few dried fish.
Of course, she had already told Grandpa Mu.
Yun Jiao also held her small stool in front of Big Black and whispered a lot of things in its ear.
So, it was unclear whether Big Black was lured away by the dried fish or followed because Yun Jiao’s nagging annoyed it.
On the way back, Yun Jiao, with Big Black and several little furballs, held a little turtle in her arms, humming a song.
The animals seemed to really like her singing, their tails wagging especially cheerfully.
Even the rabbit’s ears twitched up and down to the rhythm of her song.
“Rustle…”
A strange noise came from the bamboo forest. Big Black immediately became alert, leaped in front of Yun Jiao, bared its teeth at the spot, its eyes extremely vigilant, and its body in a posture ready to attack at any moment.
Cat Leader leaped lightly to Yun Jiao’s feet, its emerald eyes also fixed on the direction of the haystack.
Yun Jiao tilted her head, “What is it?”
Under the gaze of one person and several animals, a person slowly emerged from the haystack.
Yun Jiao recognized her, “Sister Laidai?”
That’s right, this was Yun Zhaodi’s second sister, Cai Jinhua’s second daughter, Yun Laidai.
“Why are you here?”
Seeing that it was someone Yun Jiao knew, Big Black and Cat Leader relaxed their guard a little, but they still kept their eyes on her.
Yun Laidai was seventeen years old but looked like fifteen, thin all over, with dark skin and dimness in her eyes.
At this moment, she looked at Yun Jiao with complicated eyes.
There was envy and jealousy towards Yun Jiao, as well as confusion about her own future.
Seeing that she didn’t speak and her stomach rumbled, Yun Jiao thought for a moment, took out a few biscuits, a twisted doughnut, and a few candies from her small bag and handed them to her.
“Here, Sister Laidai.”
Yun Laidai looked at the items in front of her. She was so hungry that she grabbed them and ate them ravenously.
But as she ate, Yun Laidai’s eyes turned red, and she started to cry.
“I want to leave here.”
Her voice was a little hoarse. For some reason, she poured out her heart to the three-year-old child.
Perhaps, those emotions had been suppressed too deeply in her heart.
“My mother sold me for two hundred yuan, saying it was for marriage, but I found out through some means that their family lost their youngest son a while ago. On the surface, I’m marrying their third son, but in reality, I’m marrying their dead youngest son.”
Yun Jiao walked over, sat on some dry grass not far from her, hugged her knees, and tilted her head to look at her.
“Ah? Didn’t the youngest son die?”
Why would she still marry him?
Yun Laidai looked down, her gaze falling into a pair of excessively clean and beautiful eyes.
“Because they want me to have a ghost marriage for their son.”
Yun Laidai had heard of such things. In the village where her maternal grandmother lived, there were people who arranged ghost marriages. A healthy person would marry into a family, but would die not long after.
It was said to be death from illness.
But Yun Laidai keenly knew it wasn’t that simple.
Her current life was very difficult, but she didn’t want to die.
She still wanted to live.
Yun Jiao asked her, “Then do you want to report it to the police?”
Yun Laidai shook her head, “It’s useless.”
“On the surface, I’m marrying their third son, and it hasn’t happened yet. Even if it’s found out and they send me back, my life at home will be even more difficult.”
So, she wanted to run.
Fortunately, an introduction letter was no longer needed now. As long as she could buy a train ticket, she could leave.
Yun Laidai licked her lips, but where would she get the money to buy a train ticket?
None of the girls in their family ever had a single cent.
In two more days, that family would come to pick her up.
She had gathered her courage and come here to hide, planning to leave at night. But the waiting was agonizing. She had even considered just accepting her fate, thinking that life was hard anyway, and death would be better, but… but she was truly unwilling.
As Yun Laidai was lost in thought, some money was placed in front of her.
Her slightly unfocused gaze gradually sharpened, then fell upon the money.
Following the money, she looked at Yun Jiao.
Those clean eyes.
She was so envious. She had family members who loved her like that.
Tears unknowingly streamed down her cheeks.
“To leave here, you need to take a train.”
“Sister Laidai has no money, but Jiao Jiao does. Here you go.”
Although she didn’t know why, Yun Jiao wanted to help her leave here.
“Go out and earn money, support yourself.”
Yun Jiao thought for a moment and then said, “But be careful, don’t get tricked. There are many human traffickers nowadays, they catch children and girls.”
Yun Laidai wiped away the surging tears with the back of her hand. She took the money with trembling hands.
It wasn’t much, only five yuan.
But for Yun Laidai, it was enough.
Her voice was hoarse, “Thank you, Yun Jiao.”
Yun Laidai never expected that at the moment of her despair, the last kindness she received would come from Yun Jiao, whom she had always envied.
Yes, envy.
Girls born into families like theirs, no one wouldn’t envy and be jealous of Yun Jiao.
But Yun Jiao was too clean and too beautiful.
Even with her jealousy, Yun Laidai felt that it was only right for someone like her to be protected by her family.
It was like the most beautiful doll should be protected in a delicate and ornate display case.
Yun Jiao left. Before leaving, she gave Yun Laidai everything edible from her small bag.
She told her to eat enough to have the strength to escape from here.
In the small bag, there was also a bracelet, made for her by Fourth Brother.
It was made of pretty stones found by the seaside.
She also handed it to Yun Laidai.
“Sister Laidai, I hope you will have a better future.”
Yun Laidai tightly held the bracelet in her hand, her gaze fixed on Yun Jiao and her animals until they disappeared from sight.
She murmured, “Thank you…”
