Chapter 4 The Land Has Been Given Away
"Brother Suzhou..."
Seeing the person coming, Zhou Beibei's eyes turned red and she sobbed softly, "Chen'er is missing, it must be Su Cheng's doing!"
"Xie Chen is missing?" Xie Suzhou's face changed instantly. He subconsciously glanced at the woman beside him, his eyes filled with disgust that threatened to overflow. "Su, you really ignored my words. Do you really think I can do nothing to you?"
"Don't rush to treat Xie Jinyu yet. Take the money and go get your brain checked." Su Cheng stared at him closely, sparks rising from his eyes. "Every word you waste puts Xie Chen in more danger. I don't have time to play conspiracy theories with you guys."
After saying that, Su Cheng pulled out his arm, turned around and ran towards the ditch.
Xie Suzhou stared at her slender figure, lost in thought for a moment. He glanced sideways at Aunt Liu, who also looked surprised, and said in a low voice, "Aunt, what happened to Xie Chen?"
Aunt Liu glanced at Zhou Beibei, who looked indignant, and with some hesitation on her face, she told him everything that had happened. "Xie Xiucai, could it be that we really have misunderstood Brother Song's wife?"
Xie Suzhou's face darkened and he took a deep breath. "I'm going to look for Xie Chen first. Excuse me."
"Hey, wait for me, I'll go with you!" Aunt Liu waved at him and trotted to keep up with his pace. "With one more person, we can find Brother Chen faster."
Xie Suzhou's expression brightened a little, "Thank you, auntie."
"Brother Suzhou, my face..." Zhou Beibei stared at the man, touched her red, swollen and painful left cheek, stomped her feet, and quickly chased after him.
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The sky gradually became overcast and there was a hint of rain.
There was fog in the deep mountains, making it increasingly difficult to find people.
"Thank you—"
"Thank you! Thank you!"
"Brother Chen, if you hear me, just answer your aunt!"
Hearing the noise coming from afar, the boy hanging upside down on the tree suddenly opened his eyes, twisted his body, and shouted with all his strength, "I'm here—I'm here!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the grass not far away shook slightly, and a figure emerged from it.
"Thank you!"
Xie Chen turned his head when he heard the voice and saw the man's appearance. His eyes reddened, "Second Uncle..."
Xie Suzhou opened his thin lips slightly, breathing lightly, and strode to the tree. He supported Xie Chen's body and cut the rope with the axe he brought from home. Looking at his nephew's red face from hanging upside down, his face suddenly turned cold. "Didn't I tell you to stay home? Why are you here?"
"I..." Xie Chen was young after all, and was about to burst into tears when his elders yelled at him, "I'm here to look for my dad."
Xie Suzhou paused, and his tightly furrowed brows relaxed a little.
"Uncle, they all say my father is dead and my mother ran away, but I don't believe it... I don't believe they don't want Cuicui and me anymore..." Xie Chen lowered his head, tears dripping onto the ground, his shoulders shaking from sobbing. "My stepmother sold us out, and I really miss my father..."
Xie Suzhou closed his eyes, took a long breath, squatted down, and gently wiped the tears from the boy's face. "Cry, it will make you feel better."
Xie Chen finally couldn't hold it in anymore and threw himself into his second uncle's arms and burst into tears.
Xie Suzhou patted his back gently until he had cried enough, then he comforted him in a deep voice, "Don't be afraid, Second Uncle will never let that Su family bully you and your sister again."
Xie Chen wiped the tears from his face, his expression becoming more stubborn. "If she bullies Cuicui again, I will die with her even if it costs me my life."
"Nonsense." Xie Suzhou patted his head lightly, his tone much gentler. "Your third and fourth uncles and I are still alive. Why would you need to fight her to the death?"
"Forget it, stop crying." Xie Suzhou tapped his nose. "In the future, don't go up to the river or the mountains alone. You've caused people to worry and caused Aunt Liu to have no food to eat. If you do it again, I will punish you."
Xie Chen caught a glimpse of green out of the corner of his eye. He was stunned for a moment, then grasped the corner of Xie Suzhou's clothes and asked vaguely, "Second Uncle... stepmother is here to look for me too?"
"Well, I don't know what happened to her today." Xie Suzhou held his little hand and walked towards the mountain road. "When she heard that something happened to you, she was the first to react and ran up the mountain."
Xie Chen pursed his lips, feeling a little sad. He turned his head slightly and looked at the green patch exposed behind the tree.
[Xian Chen Favorability +1]
Su Cheng, who was hiding behind the tree, was stunned, confusion flashed across his little face.
How could my favorability score increase if I didn’t do anything?
[Congratulations to the host for completing the first mission. You will be rewarded with a bag of potato seeds.]
Vegetable seeds?
Su Cheng frowned slightly and began to calculate in his mind how much land the Xie family owned.
When Xie's father and mother were alive, the Xie family still had five acres of land. The soil was poor and the harvest was poor, but they could barely support a scholar. After his parents died, Xie Song took over his parents' last words to take good care of his three younger brothers and worked hard on the land. However, the land was not doing well. Xie Jinyu's medicine money was rising every month, and the income was not enough to make ends meet. Xie Song had no choice but to sell the land.
The money from selling the land was snatched away by his ex-wife who abandoned her husband and children, and then ran away with the rich master. His fourth brother Xie Ming broke his leg while escorting a bodyguard, and in order to get medical treatment, he lost another piece of land, which was already limited.
The original person was also a brainless person. He didn't want to work hard on the farm, so he gave the land to his relatives from his mother's side for free without asking for a penny.
If it falls on me, there will be no land left.
What's the use of this seed?
"No, I must come back." Su Cheng's eyes flashed with shrewdness. While thinking about how to fight wits and courage with his original body's family, he walked down the mountain.
Su Cheng accidentally saw the greenery around him and stopped, took a closer look, pinched off the roots and smelled them, his eyes instantly lit up, "Wild onion!"
-
"elder brother!"
Hearing the noise coming from the courtyard gate, Xie Cuicui hurriedly got up to greet him. Seeing that her brother was safe and sound, she immediately breathed a sigh of relief and stood quietly by, wiping her tears.
"I'm sorry Cuicui. I made her worry." Xie Chen scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed.
Xie Cuicui shook her head slightly, then stood on tiptoe to look behind them. Seeing no one behind them, she spoke as if possessed by a ghost, "Second Uncle, Brother, didn't stepmother come back with you?"
Hearing this, Xie Suzhou frowned, "Su hasn't come back yet?"
"No, I was guarding the yard the whole time, but I didn't see my stepmother." Xie Cuicui pointed to the dark room, "There was no one in that room at all."
After she finished speaking, Xie Cuicui's expression suddenly changed, "Second Uncle, my stepmother wouldn't...run away secretly, right?"
Xie Suzhou's brows furrowed tighter and tighter, and he pushed the boy beside him inside. "Stay at home, I'm going up the mountain."
Xie Cuicui obediently handed over the straw raincoat hanging on the wall and said, "Uncle, take this. It looks like it's going to rain."
Xie Suzhou took the things, turned around and was about to leave. Just as he took a step, he saw a green figure rushing into the yard, holding several kinds of wild grass that he had never seen before.
Su Cheng waved at him, "Come and help me, these are all treasures I found in the mountains!"
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