Chapter 167: Riverside

The next day, Lin Yue got up very early. At around four o'clock, she got up and prepared breakfast.

It was already bright outside, and the sound of people talking and walking could be faintly heard on the street, as well as the crying of Zhou Aixiang's little son next door.

Zhou Aixiang's child just turned one month old the day before yesterday, but because she was injured, Lu Mangang did not let her leave the confinement room immediately, and still did not let her get off the bed. Usually, three meals a day were brought back from the canteen, and he also took care of all the housework. Although he could not take good care of his wife and children all the time, many people in the family compound were jealous.

When Auntie Hua and Sun Xi came over, they talked about this matter. It wasn't that they had any opinion on this matter, but they had heard He Aini, who lived next door, talk about it several times.

He Aini also had no support from her parents-in-law. She gave birth to two sons and three daughters. Because there was no one to take care of her, she basically had no place to sit during the confinement period. What she often said was: "I gave birth to my second daughter." When I was having a baby, I had to take care of Da Shuanzi and Da Nizi. When I was giving birth to Xiao Nizi, I had four and a half-year-old babies to take care of. She had to farm before she was even out of confinement, and she had no one to help her. Isn’t it like this? It’s so delicate!”

Lin Yue and He Aini didn't have much interaction, but he still had a deep impression of her family. Her family's Captain Chen always brought back a lot of meat when distributing it. Lin Yue initially thought it was because he had made contributions, but later he learned from Zhang Yuandong that Captain Chen always asked for wolf meat when distributing meat.

Wolf meat tastes bad. Not only is it fishy, ​​it is also very tough, so few people will eat it. However, Captain Chen has many children and high expenses at home, so if he wants to get more meat, he can only ask for wolf meat, which no one else wants.

Two days ago, Lin Yue's family was given a deer leg, but Captain Chen took home a wild boar's head and internal organs. Because the dish turned out so bad, Lin Yue even heard He Aini complain about it on the street.

Momo was sleeping soundly in Aunt Hua's arms, not at all disturbed by the crying of the child next door.

When the two of them came over with their children, Sun Xilai probably heard something that He Aini said without thinking, and she complained, "Whose child doesn't cry at night? This scolding is too harsh! When her own child is making a fuss, she has to show off to others that the child cries loudly because she is a good child and has strength!"

Aunt Hua said, "Just stay away from her in the future. She is well-known for being spoiled with children in the family compound. If you dare to say that her children are not good and she hears it, she will definitely come to pick a fight with you!"

After that, he turned to Lin Yue who was preparing chicken food for the chicks and said, "Don't take it lightly. You came late and don't know her temper. Her children, whether boys or girls, are very spoiled. It's okay if they play well together, but if there is any conflict, she will definitely come to you for trouble!"

Although Aunt Hua was a bit gossipy, this was the first time she reminded him in such a serious manner. Lin Yue nodded repeatedly in agreement, but he did not expect to actually witness how difficult this family was later on.

The mountain was very humid in the morning, and the dew was heavy. Although Lin Yue and Sun Xilai wore rain boots, their pants and legs were soon soaked. The two of them carried bamboo baskets and went to the river first.

There were many wild vegetables growing by the river, and some people had already arrived. Lin Yue recognized them as Sun Fangqing's lover Zhang Xiaocui. She brought Sun Hongjun with her, and it seemed that they had been here for a while.

When Zhang Xiaocui saw the two of them, she greeted them from a distance. Lin Yue smiled and said, "Little Red Army, you got up really early. You followed your mother out so early!"

Sun Hongjun was still accompanied by his little grey dog. Wherever the little grey dog ​​ran, he would chase after it. Hearing this, he suddenly braked and turned around and said proudly, "Auntie, I get up very early every day. My mother doesn't allow little grey dog ​​to poop or pee at home, so I have to carry it out every morning!"

Lin Yue praised generously: "Well, the Little Red Army is awesome!"

Sun Xilai and Lin Yue walked over to Zhang Xiaocui and looked into the basket she was holding. There were already quite a few Artemisia selengensis sprouts in it. Zhang Xiaocui smiled and said, "My child's father loves to eat this. He has been eating radishes and cabbages all winter. Now that the weather is finally warm, he has been craving for this!"

There were dense wormwoods growing by the river, as well as a lot of celery and shepherd's purse. Lin Yue didn't know these wild vegetables, so Sun Xilai pointed them out to her one by one and told her how to cook them when she got home.

The three adults picked fruits while chatting, and soon they had picked quite a lot.

Sun Hongjun was young after all, and he disappeared after chasing the puppy for a while. Zhang Xiaocui stood up, but couldn't find her son anywhere. She became anxious and ran to look for him, calling his name.

Because they were near the river, Lin Yue and Sun Xilai were also anxious, fearing that the child might slip and fall into the river, so they hurried together to look for him.

The weeds by the river were dense, and Sun Hongjun was young, so he might not be seen no matter where he hid. The three men shouted his name while looking for him everywhere, but they didn't know whether the child was deliberately playing hide-and-seek with the adults or had really run too far away for them to hear. The three men shouted for a long time but didn't hear any response.

Zhang Xiaocui was almost crying, her lips were tightly pursed, her eyes were full of panic and anxiety. Sun Hongjun was not only the only child of the old Sun family, but also her only child. She regretted that she should not have brought the child to the river, and should not have failed to take good care of him.

Lin Yue noticed that she was in a bad mood, but he couldn't care less at the moment, so he said, "Why don't we look for it separately? This way we can find it faster."

Zhang Xiaocui didn't have time to think too much at this moment. When she heard Lin Yue say this, she subconsciously followed the route he pointed out.

Seeing that she was confused, Lin Yue was afraid that she would encounter danger by the river, so he pointed her to a safer way. Seeing that she was walking away, Lin Yue and Sun Xilai looked at each other and went to look for her separately.

Because the snow had just melted, it was difficult to walk along the riverside. Lin Yue walked with one foot deep and one foot shallow. While calling out Sun Hongjun's name, she listened carefully to the movements around her. Finally, she heard the faint barking of a dog near a small woods.

Lin Yue ran over to take a look, and saw that Sun Hongjun's shirt was half taken off, his hands were tied tightly, and in order to prevent him from screaming, something was stuffed in his mouth.

His little dog named "Xiao Hui" was hanging upside down on a tree with one foot, and the other three feet were scrabbling in the air, making miserable howling sounds. Because its mouth was also blocked by something, Lin Yue did not hear its cry at first.

Not far away, two little boys ran away in panic. They must have just heard the noise of Lin Yue coming over and got scared away.

Lin Yue was angry, but she didn't care about chasing the two kids. She quickly stepped forward, helped Sun Hongjun untie the knot, and picked out the things in his mouth. It turned out to be a mouthful of motherwort. Lin Yue guessed that the two boys must have dug it nearby. Fortunately, this thing is not poisonous when eaten raw, so Lin Yue was relieved.

As soon as he was freed, Sun Hongjun burst into tears and spat several times on the ground, spitting out the remaining sand and bitter motherwort juice in his mouth. At the same time, he did not forget his puppy, and stumbled to his feet, trying to rescue it.

Lin Yue hurried to help and went over to help him put the puppy down.

Sun Hongjun was not really frightened, but he felt very aggrieved. He held the little gray dog ​​and tried hard to find his mother.

Lin Yue knew that Zhang Xiaocui was anxious, so he didn't bother to ask what was going on. He bent over, picked up the child, and took him to find Zhang Xiaocui and Sun Xilai.

Zhang Xiaocui saw her son from a distance, and her heart suddenly relaxed. She ran over quickly, and her legs went weak and she almost fell to the ground. Lin Yue quickly carried the child over and helped him sit on the rocks by the river.

Zhang Xiaocui had just caught her breath when she slapped Sun Hongjun on the back and said in a trembling voice, "Where have you been? I called you so many times, why didn't you even reply to me?"

Sun Hongjun already felt wronged, and after being beaten by his mother, he started crying again.

Lin Yue quickly patted the child's back and explained, "The child's mouth was covered just now. Even if he heard the voice calling him, he couldn't answer us."

Zhang Xiaocui was shocked and quickly picked up the child. She checked the child from head to toe and found that the child was not injured. She felt relieved and began to ask about what happened just now.

Sun Hongjun was affected by his mother's attitude. He didn't think there was anything wrong at first, but now he couldn't explain clearly. Lin Yue looked anxious and asked, "Just now, Auntie saw two boys running away. Did they kidnap you?"

Sun Hongjun sobbed and said, "No, no, it was Dashuanzi and Danizi..."

Lin Yue didn't quite understand. She didn't see any other children just now, so she asked, "Weren't those two children the ones who tied you up?"

Sun Xilai replied, "The two boys you mentioned must be them. I heard that He Aini's children had lice on their heads this winter, so she shaved all their hair. If you were far away, you would think they were two boys!"

The children in his family don't care about hygiene, which is one of the reasons why Sun Xilai doesn't like to let his own children play with them.

Lin Yue nodded and asked Sun Hongjun again. Sun Hongjun did not stutter this time and said fluently: "It was them! They wanted my little grey to play with them before, but I disagreed. They just took advantage of me not paying attention and tied me up!"

Sun Hongjun is a puppy and the only dog ​​in the family yard. I don’t know how many children are jealous of the dog. However, Sun Hongjun treats the dog very well. Except for Xiao Mushroom and Sisi, other children are not allowed to touch the dog.

Lin Yue thought, no wonder the conflicts among these children escalated to the point of kidnapping in such a short period of time, it turned out that the conflicts had already existed.

Because of this, Zhang Xiaocui didn't want to stay any longer, and she had to go to work during the day, so she said goodbye to the two of them and took Sun Hongjun home.

Lin Yue was relieved to see that the child was not hurt and thought that the matter had come to an end. However, she did not expect that she would soon witness other subsequent developments.

They heard that there were a lot of mushrooms on the mountain. Since it was still early, the two of them simply carried their backpacks and went up the mountain again.