Chapter 35: Old Things
Upon hearing this, Xia Daohua had no choice but to sincerely apologize to Jiang again and again, and received three loud slaps on the head from her good brother Xia Wulang.
Wu Lang deliberately didn't hold back his strength and hit her forehead until it turned red.
When Jiang saw this, she burst into tears and felt distressed. She even scolded Wu Lang a few times, and the matter was over.
However, when the whole family sat down and happily picked up their bowls to eat wontons, Jiang couldn't help but started muttering to Xia Daohua.
While eating delicious wontons, Xia Daohua was forced to listen to all kinds of life tragedies such as "children being kidnapped, leading to the breakdown of families", and she suddenly felt a little indigestion.
In particular, each of these stories has a name and is true story.
It is very close to Xia Daohua’s life at this moment.
Jiang first told the story of Mr. Cui, a wealthy man in the town.
There used to be a very large silk and satin shop in Beiguan Town. The owner's surname was Cui, and everyone called him Master Cui.
Mr. Cui has some difficulties in having offspring.
He had a wife and two concubines, and after years of hard work, he only had a precious daughter.
The little girl was as delicate and cute as a piece of jade, and she was also very smart. Mr. Cui and his family treated her like the apple of their eye.
When he was about six years old, he was kidnapped by a kidnapper.
Mrs. Cui was so sad that she fell ill all of a sudden.
This illness never recovered.
Mr. Cui first lost his beloved daughter and then his beloved wife. He took some money and sent away his two concubines. He spent his days drinking to drown his sorrows. He no longer cared about running the shop or collecting the rent.
After a few years, his health deteriorated greatly and his family property was almost completely squandered.
The Cui family said they would arrange for their nephews and grandchildren to take care of Mr. Cui, but it turned out that the people who came had bad intentions. They nominally said they wanted to look after him, but in fact, they came to seize his property.
Mr. Cui became more and more disheartened. Once, when he was irritated by his nephew, he thought about it and felt that life was boring. He smashed all the wine jars in his house and sold off the little property he had left at a low price.
Mr. Cui packed a small bag, took a few thin banknotes, and left quietly.
Over the years, no one has seen Mr. Cui again.
After hearing this, Xia Daohua couldn't help but feel a chill all over.
Since no one knows where Mr. Cui went and no one has ever seen him again, did he really leave on his own?
Perhaps it was the old story told by Jiang that aroused everyone's interest in talking, and everyone started talking about the tragedies caused by kidnappers that they had witnessed or heard about.
Even the old lady Zhou told one:
"Tailor Xu, who originally ran a tailor shop on Erdao Street behind the county government office, had a pair of twin sons at home.
This is something that everyone envies.
As a result, one day, the two children were playing on the street, and they were kidnapped by a kidnapper without anyone noticing.
Tailor Xu closed his shop and went to look for his son, carrying a load on his shoulder.
More than a decade had passed, and he had traveled almost all over Da Chu, but still hadn't found his son. He had gone a little crazy. But even so, he would come back every New Year and open his tailor shop for three days.
His child was kidnapped during the Chinese New Year.
During these three days, he did not take any work, just hoping that the child might be able to find his way back on his own.”
…
As everyone listened, they fell silent.
After all, Xia Daohua is not a real child. The most important thing is that she has a trump card, so she is naturally not worried about encountering human traffickers.
Even if there really is some blind human trafficker who is unlucky enough to mess with her, she has plenty of ways to make him suffer in silence.
But the other children of the Xia family were all stunned after hearing what they heard.
After hearing these cases, the customers nearby also started to talk about them. Eventually, even the lady boss of the wonton stand couldn't help but join in.
The lady boss was wrapping wontons very quickly while saying:
"I've heard of all these things. I also know one that you may not have heard of.
Lao Luo, who used to set up a stall with me on this street, sold red bean cakes.
His wife is very good-looking, with a pair of big, bright, curved smiling eyes, and a dimple on her face. She looks so beautiful when she smiles!
The couple had three children.
The year when the accident happened seemed to be the year before last! At that time, Lao Luo's eldest son had already married, and the second son was about to become an adult. His youngest daughter was only seven years old.
During the Lantern Festival, his little girl was kidnapped by a kidnapper.
He took the child away directly from the stall while everyone was busy and had no time to keep an eye on him.
A regular customer saw it, shouted and ran after him.
It’s a pity that the customer even lost his shoes and there was no way he could catch up with him!
That kidnapper must have been eyeing their family for a long time, and had made preparations in advance. Otherwise, he wouldn't have disappeared so quickly!"
The lady boss was silent for a moment when she said this, then continued:
"Lao Luo's beautiful wife cried so much that she went blind. Lao Luo also became a different person and never set up a stall again. Since then, their family has never made red bean cakes again.
At the beginning of winter this year, Lao Luo took his wife and returned to his hometown in the countryside.
His eldest son is still in Beiguan Town, living behind Fuyuan Street.
Aren't there a lot of old houses that are crumbling over there? His eldest son rented a yard over there and lived with his wife, children and mother-in-law."
The proprietress moved the plate of wontons behind her, changed the lid and covered it, and kept moving her hands and feet, and her mouth:
"Lao Luo's eldest son also has two children, a four-year-old girl and a two-year-old boy.
His wife stayed in the house every day, daring not to go anywhere or even out of the yard. She stared at the two children all day long, and she almost tied them to herself with a hemp rope!
This is also because they are scared, afraid that if they miss a thing, the child will be gone."
The entire wonton stall fell completely quiet, and every customer had a grim look on their face.
After hearing this bloody story, the wontons in the bowl didn’t seem to taste good anymore.
The proprietress looked at everyone's expressions and suddenly realized that she seemed to have chosen the wrong topic. She couldn't help feeling a little embarrassed.
She smiled awkwardly and closed her mouth.
The customers at the stall all had serious faces. They ate their wontons in two or three bites, then paid the bill quickly and left in a hurry.
Originally, everyone took advantage of the festival to come out and see the lanterns and join in the fun.
But I never expected that first I would encounter a fire, a thief, and a frightened horse, and later I heard about many cases of rampant human traffickers. It's really hard to describe my feeling.
Seeing that everyone had left, Xia Daohua saw that the Xia family's children all had pale faces and looked terrified. She thought she should liven up the atmosphere, so she casually brought up a topic:
"By the way, where did my uncle and his family go?"
It's a pity that I don't have any drafts saved! I was stuck in writing all day yesterday, and it wasn't until 12:30 in the middle of the night that I finished writing and posted it. I missed yesterday perfectly o(╥﹏╥)o This chapter is today's. Love you guys, (づ￣ 3￣)づ
(End of this chapter)
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