Chapter 77 Affectionate Eyes

Gu Mansheng's hand, which was gripping Zhao Dongmei's trouser leg, slipped limply to the ground.

"You can't do this to me... If the Lu family finds out about this, my life is over..." She slumped to the ground, muttering to herself in a daze. Then, her eyes turned sinister as she looked at Zhao Dongmei.

Just as she was about to struggle to get up, a rope came around from behind and tied her up tightly!

"What are you doing!" Gu Mansheng struggled frantically.

Xu Zhihong tightened the rope, snorting coldly, "I've already laid it all out on you, do you think I'd let you get away? You'd better go back to the woodshed and wait to be judged by the masses!"

She and Zhao Dongmei, like dragging a dead dog, worked together to throw Gu Mansheng back into the woodshed and locked the door.

"Alright, now it's time to get down to business." Zhao Dongmei looked at Xu Zhihong with a serious expression. "We're going up the mountain to help find people."

Seeing Xu Zhihong's surprised expression, she smiled somewhat embarrassedly: "My life and my innocence were saved by Comrade Liu and Comrade Shen. I was petty-minded before. Hurry up, today is the auspicious day for our two benefactors, we can't miss the lucky time!"

The two locked the woodshed and immediately followed the main group up the mountain.

Liu Zhixia and Lu Kai spent the whole night wandering in the mountains.

As dawn broke, Lu Kai, wearing only a vest, was sweating profusely with anxiety.

"Xia, it's already dawn. You should go home now, or your family will be worried sick!"

“No need.” Liu Zhixia shook her head, her eyes resolute. “They must have already discovered I’m not home. Now that we know he’s still in the mountains, we need to hurry and search! Every minute we delay increases the danger!”

Seeing her determined look, Lu Kai paused for a moment, then nodded emphatically: "Okay! I'll help you look! Don't worry too much, Lao Shen and the others have all received wilderness training, they'll be fine."

"Um!"

The two searched for a long time and finally arrived at a cliff.

A large tree, as thick as a man's waist, was broken in the middle; the break was still very fresh.

Lu Kai's expression changed, and he immediately rushed over: "This tree... looks like it was just broken recently!"

He glanced down the cliff instinctively and felt a sudden jolt in his heart.

Liu Zhixia also rushed to the edge of the cliff and looked down.

The next second, her tightly furrowed brows instantly relaxed, and a huge surprise bloomed on her face!

"Chen Yi!" she shouted loudly towards the bottom of the cliff.

Hearing the sound, the people below the cliff suddenly looked up.

"Zhi Xia!"

The moment he saw her, Shen Yi's eyes lit up!

Seeing the two exchanging such adoring glances, Xu Zhigang couldn't help but wail, "Sister-in-law! Stop exchanging those eyes! Hurry back to the village and get help to get us out of there!"

"How did you all fall down here?!" Lu Kai exclaimed in astonishment.

"Brother Kai!" Xu Zhigang exclaimed as if seeing a savior. "Quick! Go find a rope!"

"Okay! You guys wait, I'll be right back!" Lu Kai nodded repeatedly.

He then looked at Liu Zhixia with delight and solemnly instructed, "Xia, you wait here and don't do anything rash! I'll call someone over right away!"

"good!"

Lu Kai rushed down the mountain to deliver the message.

Liu Zhixia lay on the edge of the cliff and asked worriedly, "You've been trapped all night, haven't you eaten anything?"

"That's right!" Xu Zhigang immediately complained, "I only had a full meal at your house yesterday at noon, and now I'm starving!"

Shen Yi glanced at this good-for-nothing and said irritably, "You seem to have a lot of guts when you talk."

Liu Zhixia smiled, then quietly took out a few hard-boiled eggs from her spatial storage, wrapped them in Lu Kai's coat, and tossed them down: "I brought some eggs with me, you can have some to tide you over."

Even the usually composed Shen Yi's eyes lit up when he saw food.

The two of them quickly peeled and ate the eggs.

Wang Laizi, standing nearby, groaned weakly, "Give...give me a bite too..."

The two seemed not to hear him. Xu Zhigang even deliberately turned his head and asked him, "What did you just say? The wind was too strong, I didn't hear you clearly."

Wang Laizi was so angry that he rolled his eyes, but he didn't even have the strength to curse.

Not long after, Lu Kai returned with a large group of educated youth!

"We met them on the way; they were also coming up the mountain looking for you!"

"Quick! Pull the person up! Don't miss the auspicious time!"

The group quickly tied the rope together and first pulled the half-dead Wang Laizi up. Then, Shen Yi and Xu Zhigang also climbed up nimbly.

Liu Zhixia immediately handed over the water bottle. After the two of them caught their breath, she grabbed Shen Yi's hand and checked him over from head to toe: "Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

Seeing the worry in her eyes, Shen Yi took her hand tightly and said softly, "I'm fine. I'm sorry to have worried you."

Lu Kai looked at the two of them, feeling a pang of bitterness in his heart, but still smiled and said, "Xia Xia searched for you in the mountains all night."

Upon hearing this, Shen Yi was shocked. Looking at Liu Zhixia's exhaustion, he felt a pang of heartache and gratitude.

He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly, saying, "Thank you."

“They…they’re all watching…” Liu Zhixia’s cheeks were burning hot.

Shen Yi laughed. He raised his head and announced loudly to the educated youths around him who were secretly laughing: "Today, Zhi Xia and I are having our wedding banquet. Everyone, please do us the honor and come have a drink!"

"Great!" the crowd immediately cheered.

Xu Zhigang slapped his thigh: "Oh no! We came out to buy meat! Now we haven't bought any, what are we going to do for the banquet?"

Shen Yi glanced at Wang Laizi, who was groaning on the ground, and smiled: "It's alright. Perfect, let's take this guy to the police station and buy the meat while we're at it."

Liu Zhixia returned to the village to report the news first, while Shen Yi led the educated youth and escorted Wang Laizi into the city in a grand procession.

When the news of "Wang Laizi's capture" reached the brigade, the villagers were overjoyed!

Only Lu Jianping, who was not far away, heard these words and his face immediately darkened.

He grabbed Li Xuemei, lowered his voice, and asked through gritted teeth, "Where's that jinx?"

"They went out into the wild early this morning, who knew!" Li Xuemei said irritably.

"Have you forgotten that this little bitch attacked the educated youth with Wang Laizi before?" Lu Jianping said anxiously. "Hurry up and find her and hide her! She is now a member of the Lu family. If she is taken away from our house, what will become of our family's reputation!"

Li Xuemei's face also darkened: "Fine! I'll go get my son to find someone right now!"

However, before Li Xuemei could even leave the house, she saw Gu Mansheng being escorted out by Zhao Dongmei and Xu Zhihong, one on each side!

Upon seeing the Lu couple, Gu Mansheng felt like she had seen a savior and frantically shouted, "Father! Mother! Save me! They're going to send me to the police station! You have to pull some strings! I don't want to go to jail!"

Those cries of "Father and Mother" were like resounding slaps to the faces of Lu Jianping and his wife.

The two of them felt a sudden darkness before their eyes and almost fainted from anger on the spot.

Lu Jianping pointed at her, trembling with rage, which finally erupted into a desperate curse:

"What sins did my Lu family commit to deserve marrying such a jinx like you! We might as well have them shot you! My son can always marry another one!"

However, Zhao Dongmei had no intention of letting him off the hook.

She stopped, her eyes coldly fixed on Lu Jianping, each word clear and distinct:

"Captain Lu, don't worry. I will report everything to the commune about Gu Mansheng and Lu Huaiyuan conspiring to frame Comrade Liu. So, have your son stay home and prepare."

"What?!"

This last straw completely broke Lu Jianping's back!

His eyes widened as he stared at Zhao Dongmei in disbelief. He felt a sweet taste in his throat and then, with a "pfft," spat out a mouthful of blood!

Immediately, everything went black, and he fell straight down.