Bai Lu dug around in the vegetable garden for a while.
In a half-meter-deep pit, a rectangular old wooden box silently appears in the sunlight.
Open the wooden box.
Inside lay a dark brown long-handled hunting rifle, three machetes over half a meter long, and a square wooden box used for holding iron shot and gunpowder, all intact and lying quietly.
In their past lives, it was because of this box that Xiao Cheng and Luo Shiliu suffered torture at the hands of others.
If it weren't for the fact that the two gangs officially went to war six months later, allowing the local bully in Nanshi to reap the benefits and the truth to come to light... and if they hadn't been re-examined... who knows when they would have been able to get out.
But by then it was too late.
Xiao Wei is no longer here.
The old man whom Xiao Cheng respected is no longer here.
Everything has changed...
"You can just lie here from now on."
Bai Lu closed the lid, looked around the fence to make sure no one was around, then picked up her small shovel and began shoveling soil into the pit.
Unbeknownst to her, behind the tightly closed dark green window, the man stood with his hands behind his back facing the backyard, his gaze upon her carrying a hint of barely perceptible indulgence.
—
Luo Shiliu and his group waited outside the door for a long time, finally waiting for the ruthless gate to open, and their eldest brother carrying...
Carrying a small shopping basket, she strolled out leisurely!
That usually aloof and handsome face, now bathed in a soft, almost luminous glow, created a jarring scene that left Luo Shiliu and his companions completely dumbfounded.
"Brother Cheng, you, you, you're going to buy groceries?" Xiao Dazhuang asked habitually whenever he had a question.
Although he was unaware of how stupid his question was.
"So is today a holiday?" Luo Shiliu followed his older brother around excitedly: "I've already told Aunt Wu and a few brothers next door."
"Li Chengbin is too cunning and treacherous. Luckily, he has his sister-in-law, otherwise we'd be in the police station right now." Wang Hao was once again envious of Xiao Cheng's virtuous wife.
"I don't know who crippled Li Chengbin. I remember we only fought that night..."
Before he could speak, Wang Hao was kicked in the calf. Turning his head, he saw Luo Shiliu glancing around. People were coming and going on the road, and they kept glancing in their direction.
Wang Hao immediately shut up.
Xiao Cheng said calmly, "We'll start work as usual this afternoon."
Li Chengbin's debt will be put on hold for now.
Today's events were most likely orchestrated by the big boss's side; those thugs had more than just hunting rifles.
When the police searched the house, Xiao Cheng had a vague suspicion. It wasn't until Bai Lu exposed Liu Tiezhu's mistake that he was certain that the whole thing was a setup, a scheme orchestrated by the big boss.
Being used as a pawn to incite conflict was something he had expected; he knew this outcome when he joined the gang.
He just hadn't expected it to happen in such a complex and interconnected way, earlier than he had anticipated.
If the big boss comes to him, this matter will be resolved openly today; if not, he'll save himself the trouble of getting involved in this mess.
Li Chengbin's debt is his business; let whoever wants to settle it can settle it. He won't interfere anymore.
At home, there is Bai Lu, their unborn child, and Xiao Wei; he is no longer alone.
Luo Shiliu wasn't stupid. By connecting today's events with Xiao Cheng's words, he could roughly guess the situation.
Dealing with the incessantly chattering Wang Hao and the single-minded Xiao Dazhuang was more than enough.
Xiao Cheng finished buying groceries and went home under the "strangely friendly" gaze of the market vendors.
Upon noticing that Luo Shiliu was still following behind, he casually remarked, "Doesn't your grandfather need to eat?"
Luo Shiliu's parents divorced and each formed new families, neither of whom wanted him, so he lived with his grandfather.
Later, she met Xiao Cheng and they grew up together.
After years of bickering and teasing, they always get straight to the point: "I want a roasted chestnut."
"Are you starving?" Xiao Cheng said coldly.
Luo Shiliu was already used to it and had a strong immune system to cold: "I haven't eaten anything all morning, so I'm starving. If you don't give me some food, I'll starve to death."
"No."
Xiao Cheng hadn't taken any of the roasted chestnuts out with him, and he didn't think Luo Shiliu would be willing to starve himself.
Luo Shiliu certainly wouldn't starve himself, but he would eagerly follow Xiao Cheng home, holding up one finger and saying in an extremely sincere tone—
"I only want one roasted chestnut."
Xiao Cheng glanced at him coldly and sneered, "You think you can get it with just two?"
Once home, Luo Shiliu eagerly opened the door for his older brother, saying, "It's not like you can't get two but you can get three. Of course, I still prefer one. Brother, you don't have to be so generous, thank you so much!"
The eldest brother returned to the main house, put down the vegetable basket, picked up a roasted chestnut and threw it over the wall.
The younger brother, who had anticipated this, jumped up and caught it.
A snap of the fingers replaced a thank you, and I quickly left.
Bai Lu came out of the backyard carrying a bunch of greens. Seeing this, she couldn't help but chuckle: "Why did you only give me one? There are plenty more on the table."
Xiao Cheng said expressionlessly, "He doesn't want it."
Luo Shiliu: "..."
Thank you so much!
You're such an amazing older brother!!!
After lunch
Xiao Cheng went to work next door, while Bai Lu and Xiao Wei went to the backyard to lay eggs for the old hen.
"Will this really hatch into chicks?"
In the chicken coop covered with straw, a layer of beautiful, healthy eggs was neatly laid out on top, but Bailu always felt that something was strange about it.
Xiao Wei picked up the hen and put it in the nest, saying with a serious expression, "It will definitely hatch chicks."
Aunt Zhang said that's how her nest was hatched.
Bai Lu thought about it carefully. Her grandmother, who liked to tend the vegetable garden and raise chickens and ducks in the family compound, didn't seem to hatch chicks like that. When she was little, she often went to her grandmother's house to play and even followed her grandmother around with her grandfather.
"We only have hens, no roosters, so it seems like we can't hatch any chicks."
After thinking for a long time, Bailu finally figured out the key point.
Xiao Wei, not understanding, asked, "Eggs are laid by hens, so why don't they hatch?"
After learning that the little guy was going to raise chicks, Bailu stopped cooking the eggs laid by the old hen and bought them from outside whenever she wanted to eat them, but this question was too profound.
She couldn't explain it to a seven-year-old boy, so she could only say it differently: "Eggs also come in male and female varieties. Male eggs don't have chicks inside, only female eggs do."
This explanation is definitely correct.
It was Xiao Wei's first time hatching chicks, and he didn't know anything about it, but it seemed to make some sense.
"How can you tell if an egg is male or female?"
Bai Lu scratched her head and remembered a solution: "Go to the storeroom and find an oil lamp, and I'll teach you how to use it."
After Xiao Wei brought the oil lamp, Bai Lu twisted the small ring on the side of the lamp, screwing the wick up a little to make the light inside the glass cover brighter.
Then I picked up an egg, placed it by the oil lamp, and taught him how to see the tiny black specks inside.
"Look, the eggs with small black spots inside are female eggs, and the ones without small black spots are male eggs."
Bai Lu remembers that her grandmother said that eggs with small black dots inside could hatch into chicks.
Eggs without small black spots won't hatch into chicks, and if they stay in the nest too long, they'll rot.
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