Chapter 56: Vague Clues

After dinner, the family went to bed early, saying that they wanted to save oil, and they asked us to put out the oil lamps early.

The village doesn’t even have electricity!

After the oil lamps were extinguished, the already dark room became even darker. Fortunately, the moonlight was exceptionally bright in the mountains at night, and after adapting for a while, I could still see things in the room by the moonlight shining in through the window.

With a lot of questions in my mind, I really wanted to talk to Ling Ruxue. I didn’t think she had anything to hide from me, and if I asked her, she would probably answer, right?

But the problem is that this bark house has no sound insulation at all. The coughing sound of Laishun, the voices of the children talking in a low voice, and the voice of Laishun’s wife scolding the children, how can I ask Ling Ruxue these questions? They might not like it if they heard it.

Ling Ruxue was sleeping in the other bed, which was exceptionally quiet. At least I couldn’t hear a sound. Just as I was hesitating whether to go over and speak to her in a low voice, I heard Lai Shun in the other room roll over and stop coughing. I heard his footsteps coming toward our room.

Could it be that Lai Shun was up to no good? I adjusted my posture, my whole body was in a state of readiness, when it comes to fighting, I have been practicing martial arts since I was a child, I can fight 5 Lai Shuns like this, I can’t let him hurt Huigen and Ru Xue.

But Laishun obviously had no intention of coming in. He just coughed twice at the door and then shouted a few words at us: “Hey, are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?”

Ru Xue was quiet, and I didn’t know if she was really asleep or if she was holding the same idea as me, which was not to answer and see what Lai Shun wanted. Fortunately, Hui Gen’er was really asleep, otherwise Lai Shun might have called and the kid might have answered stupidly.

After shouting a few times, Laishun saw that we were not moving, so he turned around and left. Then I heard Laishun open the door and leave the room. Immediately after that, I heard Laishun’s wife get up and chase after him out of the room. The two of them were arguing in the courtyard.

I don’t know if it was out of curiosity or because I was born a ‘womanizer,’ but I couldn’t help but quietly roll over and get up, then I reached under the window and really wanted to hear what they were saying.

But as soon as I got to the window, I saw a dark figure already crouching there, which scared me and made me think I had encountered a ghost. I thought to myself, “Am I really a Taoist priest? Do I encounter ghosts everywhere I go?” But when I looked more closely, I realized it was Ling Ruxue crouching there, faster than I was.

I was delighted. It turns out that this girl has a ‘chatty’ personality too? At least she is much more lovable than the cold and emotionless girl who is always on a high horse.

When she saw me coming, she moved a little to make room for me. I smiled at her and said, “So you’re also so ‘naughty’?”

Ling Ruxue didn’t even look at me, but just said, “I’m not too sure about the things in this village, but I heard the witch say it vaguely. Listen, maybe you can find out something.”

After that, she made a “shh” gesture at me, and I didn’t know what to say.

But I can’t help but feel that every move of this woman is so touching in my eyes. Perhaps she is really too calm in her daily life, so a little emotion and a little movement seem especially touching.

Leaning against the window, I could hear the sounds outside more clearly. I heard Laishun’s daughter-in-law yell at Laishun, “Do you want to go to the town to drink and eat meat, and then find a wild cat (a prostitute)? You have to pay at least half of the money.”

“I’ll give you fifty at most. I brought the girl here, and the money is for me. Why should you get half? I’m not going to find a wild cat, am I? I’m going to spend every day with you, this old hag?”

“You call me an old woman? Where are you going? You…”

Their conversation was almost entirely a pointless quarrel, punctuated by Lai Shun’s coughing, and it all started because I threw out a few hundred yuan.

This made me feel very sad. What kind of couple are they? They are arguing over a few hundred dollars, and from their words, I can clearly feel that they have no feelings for each other at all, just living together.

Just when I was bored and about to go back to bed, I suddenly heard Lai Shun yell, “I don’t care, you’re not getting the money! I’ve already started to have seizures, I won’t live much longer, anyway, I’ll drink today and get drunk, get out of my way.”

Then I heard the sound of the two fighting, and then I heard a ‘plop’ sound, like someone falling to the ground. This made me look up.

With the moonlight, I could see clearly that it was Lai Shun’s wife who had been kicked to the ground by Lai Shun, and then Lai Shun went out cursing. I could vaguely hear him cursing about someone who was going to die, and he was afraid of nothing, so he went to gamble first and then went to town the next day.

I was shocked, and I saw a hint of shock and unwillingness in Ling Ruxue’s eyes.

The people in this village are so poor, but they still have a gambling den. It can be seen how degenerate and hopeless their lives are. From Shun’s words, I seemed to hear something, but I couldn’t quite grasp it. But Ruoxue must have known something clearly.

Before I could say anything, I heard the sound of children getting up and going out next door. I peeked out of the window and saw a little boy and a particularly cute little girl going out.

I had some impression of the little boy because I always felt that Laishun’s wife took special care of him. Not only did she give him extra potatoes, but she also gave him two extra bones in the meat soup. I don’t know if I was just imagining things, but I always felt that the little boy was the only child who looked like the couple.

The little girl rushed to her mother-in-law’s side, crying, “Mommy, don’t cry,” but her mother-in-law pushed her away. The little boy was held in his mother-in-law’s arms, and she said, “I have no other hope for you, other than that you will live a good life in the village, better than being a piglet in this village.”

“The people in the village are so fierce, Mom.” The little girl couldn’t help but say this, but was pushed by Laishun’s wife, who said, “What do you know? You’ll never be able to go there. You’re a pig for life. Go back to sleep.”

After that, Laishun’s wife stopped crying, picked something up from the ground, and then led the two children back to the house, cursing and scolding. I noticed that the thing she picked up was actually two 10-yuan bills. In the end, Laishun still gave her 20 yuan. As for what she scolded, it was a bit unbearable to hear. It was all about how it would be better to die early and be reincarnated early. What? You’re dead, you’re relieved, you’ve used the money, you’re heartless, and so on.

After that, there was the sound of her going into the room and lying down. After a long time, there was no more movement from that side.

But Ling Ruxue and I both crouched under the window for a long time without moving. I guess both of us were shocked by what the other person said and needed to digest it properly before we could think normally again.

I really wanted to discuss something with Ru Xue, but when the words came to my mouth, I still didn’t dare to accept them. So, we didn’t say anything, just quietly stayed for a while, and then went back to bed to sleep.

Early the next morning, we got up and left. Of course, we didn’t see Laishun. As he said, if you have money, you should enjoy it. He wouldn’t be back so soon. I don’t know why, but I quietly slipped 500 yuan to Laishun’s wife.

I said to her, “It’s not for you, it’s for the children. If you treat the children well, you will be doing good deeds for your next life. You don’t want to be as miserable in your next life as you are in this one, do you?”

Lai Shun’s wife was overjoyed at the sight of the ‘huge sum of money’, but after hearing my words, she looked at me as if she were facing a great enemy and said, “What do you know?”

I actually didn’t know anything, but I pretended to be wise and said, “You don’t need to ask me what I know. You only need to know that the three of us are going to the village and are guests of the village. As for the money, you’d better spend it on the children.”

After I said that, I left. I noticed that Ling Ruxue had been staring at me the whole time, probably because she had seen and heard my performance!

I took Huigen by the hand and walked with her on the road. I said, “You told me not to ask anything and not to care about anything, but I couldn’t help but care about it. You won’t blame me, will you?”

She gently brushed the wind-tossed hair from her ear, then said softly, “If I were in her place, I might tell that woman that I am a very important guest in the village. If I knew that the money was not being used for the children, I would guarantee that your son would never be able to enter the village and would have to stay in this village for the rest of his life.

I was shocked when I heard this, and I turned to look at the calm woman in front of me. I thought to myself, “She’s ruthless. You have to hit the snake at the seven-inch mark, and you have to capture the king before you can capture the thief. She’s a hundred times better than me.”

“Then why don’t you go and tell her?”

“Because I don’t have any money to give her. The 500 you lent me last time, I spent it all.”