Chapter 20 In the inner room, only an oil lamp was lit…

In the inner room, only an oil lamp was lit. By the dim light, Ah Lang sat on a small table by the bed and started reading a book. Ah Yu turned her head away in grievance and glared at Ah Fu. Ah Fu stuck out his tongue at her triumphantly, stretched out his little arms and legs, and lay down. Ah Yu had no way to deal with him and could only continue to swallow her anger as usual, lifting the covers and squeezing in with Ah Hu to sleep.

This was the first time Wei Yin had seen such an unruly child, but considering that his parents were Liu Shi and Hu Dali, she found it strange that the child wasn't unruly.

She turned her head and saw that Ah Lang was reading "Zuo Zhuan". He was currently flipping to the section about Zheng Bo Ke Duan Yu Yan. The pages were yellowed from frequent reading, indicating that he read it often.

Looking at the child reading under the dim candlelight, Wei Yin suddenly thought of Lu Hun. She remembered that Lu Hun came to the Wei family to study when he was a little younger than A Lang. Especially in winter, while other children wore light fur coats and warm clothes, the Lu family was poor. His grandmother could not afford good fur coats, so she wrapped him up in a thick cotton robe and brought him to school. However, he was good-looking when he was young, with delicate features, a rosy complexion and white teeth, so he was not bad-looking. She remembered that her cousin Li Chang thought he was cute and would tease him to talk. Later, as he grew older, he became more and more gloomy and strange, and no one talked to him anymore.

Even though he's not easy to approach now that he's grown up.

But once, Wei Yin remembered kicking the shuttlecock to a very high eave. Because the house was so old and hadn't been repaired much, it wasn't very sturdy, and the young men who were studying at her family's school didn't dare to climb up to retrieve it.

Who knew that just as the shuttlecock fell onto the eaves, a rainstorm was about to begin.

That shuttlecock was left to Wei Yin by her mother before she passed away. She had always liked it very much. Today was the anniversary of her mother's death, so she took it out to play with it.

Wei Yin was very anxious, fearing that the rain would ruin her mother's shuttlecock, so she hurriedly asked her maid to call someone to pick it up.

The Wei family school was located in a rather remote area. To allow students to concentrate on their studies, the servants were usually sent to the front yard, leaving only a few young maids to serve outside.

We can't get anyone to come right away.

But just then, Lu Hun, who was usually quiet, appeared. He brought a very large wooden ladder from somewhere. At that time, he was still young, about the same age as Ah Lang, and it was extremely difficult for him to move the wooden ladder.

He said nothing, but silently moved the wooden ladder to the eaves.

His thin hands braced against the wooden ladder as he clumsily climbed up, little by little.

Occasionally the wooden ladder would tremble, making those below tremble with fear, but he didn't seem to care at all, as if he wasn't afraid of falling.

Wei Yin was afraid the child would fall, so he asked everyone to hold the wooden ladder for him.

When Lu Hun climbed onto the roof, it went smoothly. However, when he got the shuttlecock, Wei Yin seemed to hear him gasp from above. But the next second, he suppressed the sound. Wei Yin just assumed that he had climbed too high and was frightened when he got up there.

He took the shuttlecock down.

He handed it to Wei Yin.

Wei Yin examined the shuttlecock carefully, but when she looked up, she found that Lu Hun was no longer there. After taking the shuttlecock down for her, he quietly left.

Not a single word was spoken.

Wei Yin was used to Lu Hun's strange behavior in the school, so she didn't say anything.

It wasn't until she returned to school that she noticed bloodstains on the shuttlecock that had gotten onto her palm.

She then realized that Lu Hun had made a sound when he was picking up the shuttlecock and had cut his hand on a piece of broken tile.

After Lu Hun returned to the school, Wei Yin had a maid bring back some wound medicine and used it, along with one of her own handkerchiefs, to wrap Lu Hun's hand.

At that moment, Lu Hun glanced up at her and at the handkerchief she offered, then silently hid his cut hand behind his back. He didn't take the handkerchief, but only accepted the porcelain wound medicine, and then lowered his head again.

Wei Yin didn't really remember these things from her childhood, but seeing Ah Lang just now suddenly brought some back to her mind.

She stood up and went to the window to look outside.

Tonight, the moon was mostly hidden behind the clouds, making everything outside appear gray and gloomy. It was difficult to see far into the distance, let alone Lu Hun's figure.

She had no choice but to close the window and return to her wicker chair.

She was no longer sleepy, so she watched Ah Lang read listlessly. Occasionally, the boy would frown when she looked at him, but he would not say a word.

Wei Yin couldn't sleep, so she asked him, "A Lang, how many years have you been in school?"

Ah Lang looked up and stared at her coldly, as if he had no intention of answering her.

Ayu was still awake. When she heard Wei Yin ask, she poked her head out from under the covers and answered for her brother: "Second brother has never been to school."

Wei Yin was taken aback. "Then why haven't you started school yet?"

Ayu's voice was somewhat mournful: "Second brother should have started school long ago, but Second Aunt and the others wanted Afu to go, so Father let Afu go first..."

"How does Ah Lang understand these books?"

“My second brother often went to the school to help the old teacher when he was young. The old teacher saw that my second brother was eager to learn, so he would occasionally teach my second brother a little something when he was in a good mood.”

"Ayu," Ah Lang said with a mature frown, "You should go to sleep."

Ayu sensed that her brother was reluctant to discuss family matters with outsiders, so she dared not speak again.

Upon hearing what Ayu said, Wei Yin quickly understood. She didn't say anything more, but just glanced at Alang with regret.

With Ayu asleep, the whole room became completely quiet. Wei Yin leaned back in her rattan chair and closed her eyes briefly. Not long after, she heard rustling footsteps. She opened her eyes and saw that Liu Shi had quietly walked in from the outer room and was heading towards the sleeping Afu, presumably to tuck Afu in.

She sat down next to Afu, and perhaps afraid of waking her son, she deliberately kept her voice down and quietly watched Afu for a while.

Wei Yin didn't take it seriously when she saw that she was there to see her son. However, Ah Lang, who was next to her, suddenly raised his face and glanced at Liu Shi several times. He seemed to notice something, and his gaze paused for a moment, but he quickly turned his face away without changing his expression. Seeing that Wei Yin was not paying attention, he continued to bury himself in his book.

After staring at Afu's face for a while, Liu suddenly raised her hand and pulled off the quilt covering Afu. Afu opened his eyes groggily and called out "Mother." Liu ignored him and continued to lift him out of the quilt.

Upon seeing this, Wei Yin realized something was wrong and exclaimed, "What are you doing taking Afu with you?"

“I don’t think this place is safe either. I’m taking Afu back to sleep,” Liu replied quietly.

"It's too late tonight, I'll go back tomorrow morning."

Afu, who was in Liu's arms, hugged his mother's neck and said unhappily, "Mother, I'm sleepy, I want to sleep, I don't want to go back."

"Ah Fu, be good, let's go back now."

Liu insisted.

When Afu saw that his mother wouldn't listen to him, he immediately started kicking and thrashing in Liu's arms, saying stubbornly, "I won't go back, I won't go back!"

"You disobedient child!" Liu said angrily, "If you move around again, your mother will beat you!"

Afu was stunned. He stared at Liu Shi with unfamiliar eyes for a while, then burst into tears.

"My mother is going to hit me! My mother is going to hit me!"

Wei Yin frowned. Why did he suddenly insist on going back?

Suddenly, she remembered Chen Xuanhua, who had been blinded and tried to steal her amulet.

Her heart tightened, and she immediately shouted towards the outside, "Uncle Hu, stop her! Don't let her take Afu out!"

Hu Datian and Hu Dali were dozing off outside when they heard the crying and shouting inside. They jumped up instantly and saw Liu holding Afu, who was crying and shouting. They were all stunned and didn't know what was going on. Hu Datian was the first to react. Hearing Wei Yin's words, he didn't have time to think and quickly took Afu from Liu's hands.

Hu Dali was still completely bewildered: "Afu's mother, what are you doing?"

Liu stared blankly with her sharp eyes and said, "I'm taking Afu back with me."

"What are you doing taking Afu back alone? Aren't you afraid of being confronted by Azhu?" Hu Dali became anxious, thinking that she had been frightened and was having a fit tonight. Without saying a word, he pulled Liu Shi to sit down beside him.

"That's right, sister-in-law." Hu Datian carried Afu back to bed and coaxed him to continue sleeping. Seeing that Alang was still reading, he told him to stop reading and go to sleep. After seeing that both children were asleep, he frowned and asked Liu, "What's wrong with you?"

"I……"

Liu was forcibly pulled back. She looked at everyone, her eyes seeming to gradually come back to normal. She glanced around in confusion, but when her gaze fell on a certain place in the inner room, her face instantly turned terrified, and her finger pointed tremblingly.

"Yes... Ah-Zhu!"

Wei Yin felt a chill run down her spine and was about to turn around to look.

Unexpectedly, the door to the inner room slammed shut.

Hu Datian, Hu Dali, and Liu Shi were immediately locked in the outer room.

Wei Yin turned her head slightly and looked back. Beside the children's bed, Azhu, dressed in an ill-fitting, festive wedding gown, suddenly stood there, her face pale and eerie.

She was bending over, sniffing the faces of the four sleeping children, Afu, Alang, Ayu, and Ahu, one by one.

Hu Datian and his wife Hu Dali didn't know what was happening. They kept pushing the door to the inner room from the outside, but they couldn't open it no matter what they did. They could only keep banging on the door and shouting. Liu was even more anxious, calling out her son's name.

It was exactly the same situation as what Hu Datian had described that night.

When Wei Yin saw A Zhu appear, her legs went weak for a moment before she remembered Lu Hun. She quickly called out to him through the window, but before she could finish speaking, A Lang and A Yu, who had been sleeping, suddenly threw off their blankets and sat up. They both shouted at A Zhu in a hurry.

"Sister, Father has sent people to take you away, hurry!"

Wei Yin looked at them in shock.

When did these two children wake up?!

Azhu turned her head in surprise, seemingly not expecting Wei Yin to appear here.

"Sister, let's go." Seeing that Ah Zhu was in a daze, Ah Lang reminded her again in a stern voice. This time Ah Zhu came to her senses. Her eyes cleared up a bit, and she was about to head towards the window.

But when she looked up...

Lu Hun, holding a bamboo umbrella, was already standing by the window.

Ah Zhu retreated step by step.

A note from the author:

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