Chapter 60 Emptying the Enemy's House and Marrying the Bully 16

With more and more people in the family, it's really chaotic. It's better to separate and live separately.

Ning Yan glanced at her third sister-in-law's belly. These days, even when women are pregnant, they still do what they're supposed to do. Some women are giving birth tomorrow and are still working in the fields today.

Very few women can even complete a full month of postpartum confinement. Some give birth today, rest tomorrow, and go back to work the day after. It's not that they are really made of iron, but they have no choice but to work because they won't have food to eat.

Therefore, no one thought it was unreasonable for the third sister's wife to carry more than 100 pounds of things when she was three months pregnant.

She herself had tried to persuade her to carry less, but the other person wouldn't listen, so she simply stopped trying.

The family was chatting happily when someone from the team came over and shouted, "Dahu is at home! Hurry up and you brothers, help out! Little Xu, the educated youth, went up the mountain this afternoon and hasn't come back yet. The brigade leader has organized us to go up the mountain to look for him."

Fan Dahu knew that this Xu was the child who reported his father-in-law, so he immediately retorted: "Didn't we already say that the team members are not allowed to go deep into the mountains?"

She chose to go, so if something happens, it's nobody else's fault. I'm not going to go up the mountain and suffer like that late at night!

The man shook his head helplessly. "Fine, fine, go if you want, don't go if you don't. San Gou, you and your brothers can come along to make up the numbers, just to help you digest."

Fan Sangou cursed and said, "Digest my ass! I only had a bowl of thin porridge. If I really went to look for him, I'd probably never be able to come down the mountain."

Anyway, all four men in the family shook their heads; none of them wanted to go.

Ning Yan said, "Why don't I go? We're from the same place, after all. I can't just ignore her if something happens to her."

At this point, you have to act like the two of you have a good relationship to avoid arousing suspicion. It's all an act, and to avoid trouble, you should do it.

Fan Dahu immediately changed the subject, "Then I'll go with you."

The three brothers chimed in, "Yes, yes, many hands make light work, let's go together."

The team member who came to call for backup: ...Do you want to hear what you're saying?

If he had known this would happen, he would have gone straight to talk to Ning Zhiqing as soon as he walked in, which would have saved him so much trouble!

Fan Dahu didn't care about the other person's inner thoughts. He would take care of his own wife, and he would have to keep up with her if she wanted to go up the mountain.

He found a flashlight in the house, took Ning Yan's hand, and joined the team. About ten minutes later, a large group of over a hundred people went up the mountain together.

Xu Hongjun walked at the front of the group, holding a torch in his hand. He was extremely anxious. That was his own sister. The two of them had gone to the countryside together. If something happened to his sister, how could he explain it to his family?

The group wandered around the mountain for more than an hour before finally finding the person by the jujube tree. The timid ones dared not go up to look. The flesh on her body was gone, leaving only bones. Only the tattered clothes next to her could reveal that it was Xu Xuejuan.

Zhou Xiaomian and her two female educated youths were so frightened that they screamed and finally hugged each other and cried.

An experienced hunter asked in bewilderment, "This is clearly the outer edge of the mountain, so how could there be wolves here?"

Yes, Xu Xuejuan had an accident even though it was just on the outer edge of the mountain.

One can only sigh and say that Xu Xuejuan was unlucky.

Xu Hongjun stood in front of those bones and head for a long time before finally fainting.

Fan Dahu was afraid that his wife would be scared, so he quickly covered her eyes.

Ning Yan leaned against the man and said, "Let's go home, I'm so scared."

Fan Sangou took the flashlight from his brother, and Fan Dahu squatted down, carried her on his back, and walked down the mountain. "Tomorrow you'd better stay home and behave yourself. You're not allowed to go up the mountain again."

The brigade leader ordered someone to choke Xu Hongjun awake. "Xu, you educated youth, what do you think we should do about your sister's matter?"

Xu Hongjun almost couldn't hold back when he thought of his sister's dismembered body. After a while, he said, "Let's bury her on the mountain."

What can he do? What other way can he handle it?

The only word that keeps flashing through his mind right now is: regret!

He should have insisted on staying in the city instead of going to the countryside. If he hadn't gone, his sister wouldn't have gone, and she wouldn't have died!

As he was thinking, he suddenly fainted again.

The brigade leader was too lazy to wake him up again. "Quickly, a few people carry him down the mountain. Those with pickaxes, dig a hole here. Everyone, look for any other things that belong to Xu Zhiqing and bring them all over."

What a tragedy! The death of an educated youth is a big deal. He has to report to the educated youth office tomorrow, and he might get criticized for it.

He had no idea that tomorrow would bring something even worse.

Fan Dahu wasn't stupid. He hadn't thought about it that way before, but his wife's unusual behavior today, coupled with Xu Xuejuan's special status, made him think more about it.

After returning home, he waited patiently for his wife to finish washing up, and the two quickly crawled into bed, where his interrogation officially began.

"Wife, tell me the truth, did today's events have anything to do with you?"

Ning Yan: "I ran into her when I was going down the mountain at noon. I knew she was greedy and would definitely go into the mountains too. I was just waiting for her to go deep into the mountains. If she got lost or fell into a trap, that would be enough trouble for her."

But I didn't expect her to follow me, so I pretended not to see her and ignored her.

Who knew she'd run into wolves while just wandering around the outskirts?

Many things that happen in real life are illogical and unrealistic, and if you tell them, no one will believe you.

A mix of truth and falsehood makes it easier to gain people's trust.

Fan Dahu didn't say whether he believed it or not; he just pulled the person into his arms tightly and said, "From now on, you are absolutely not allowed to go up the mountain again. It's too dangerous up there."

Ning Yan: I won't go even if you invite me. No matter how good the food is on the mountain, she doesn't care for it.

...

The next morning, when Ning Yan woke up, she was alone on the kang (a heated brick bed), with neatly folded clothes beside her pillow, and the courtyard was quiet.

She glanced at her watch and saw it was already eight o'clock. She assumed the man had gone out again, but when she finished getting ready and came out of the house, she found that he was still there.

"Are you awake?"

"Hmm, you're not going out today?"

Fan Dahu put down the clothes he was holding, washed his hands in the basin, and said, "I'm not going. Are you hungry? I'll make you some noodles right now."

"Lay two more eggs, and you can eat them too."

“Okay, I’ll go with you.” He hadn’t eaten anything that morning.

Ning Yan picked a few sprigs of cilantro by the yard, washed them, and sprinkled the chopped cilantro into the noodles when they were ready to be cooked. She added a drop of sesame oil, and the fragrant hand-pulled egg noodles were ready.

The couple each brought a small stool and sat down to eat together when their eldest nephew arrived.

"Aunt, that educated youth Xu from the educated youth settlement has gone insane after being traumatized."

Ning Yan, who had taken a bite out of an egg, dropped it into the bowl with a thud. "What?"

"Wasn't Xu Hongjun carried back last night?"

He felt unwell when he woke up this morning, and the people at the educated youth settlement called a doctor for him.

When Old Zhang arrived, he found the man was talking nonsense. He said he couldn't cure him, and that Third Grandfather was having Uncle Shengli take him to the county for treatment in a tractor.

(End of this chapter)