When Xing Zhaozhao returned home, Fu Lan had not only prepared two pots of bath water, but had also bathed all three little ones.
"Did those three little ones cause any trouble?" Xing Zhaozhao asked worriedly. Little Hongling was out of the question; she was too young to understand anything, and getting her to stay still in the water for a bath was harder than climbing Mount Everest. As for the other two, they might be a little more peaceful if they were bathing one next to the other, but if they were allowed to sit in the same tub, they were in big trouble.
"Hehe." Fu Lan gave a bitter laugh. How could there not be any trouble? Moreover, she was really stupid, really stupid. She actually believed Xiao Yu Mao's words that she could save water and time by washing with her brother. In the end, not only did she not save any water, but she also spent just as much time.
The little guy probably knew he had made a mistake. After his bath, without being urged, he obediently pulled his older brother to bed.
Xing Zhaozhao could roughly guess what had happened from the expression on Fu Lan's face. She patted her shoulder reassuringly and said, "Thank you for your hard work. Go wash up first, and I'll take care of the rest later."
Fu Lan wanted to decline, but Xing Zhaozhao decisively pushed her to go wash first.
By the time Xing Zhaozhao finished washing up, it was already quite late.
After a relaxing hot shower, all the fatigue from the day disappeared, and Xing Zhaozhao felt completely refreshed. She quickly tidied up and went back to sleep.
Since something had just happened in the room where she was sleeping, she didn't want to sleep there for the time being. She and the three little ones squeezed onto Fu Lan's kang (a heated brick bed). Fortunately, the kang was big enough that it was still spacious enough for two adults and three children to sleep in.
Fu Lan lay on her side with her eyes closed, motionless, seemingly fast asleep.
The three little ones were lined up in a row, sleeping in the middle. The two younger ones, in particular, were carefree, lying there sprawled out, sleeping very peacefully. Only Hongfei was curled up in his sleep, his little brows furrowed, perhaps having a nightmare, and muttering something under his breath.
Xing Zhaozhao felt sorry for him and leaned over, gently stroking his head while softly comforting him, "Dafei, don't be afraid, Mommy's here..."
With Xing Zhaozhao's constant comforting words, the little guy's tightly furrowed brows gradually relaxed.
Seeing this, Xing Zhaozhao breathed a sigh of relief and gently kissed him on the forehead: "Our Dafei is so good..."
The little guy, perhaps hearing it in his dream, smiled and a beautiful smile appeared on his lips.
Xing Zhaozhao then turned off the light and went to sleep.
The moment Xing Zhaozhao closed her eyes, an image suddenly flashed into her mind: Chen Dachuan's wide-open eyes as he died, staring straight at her, staring at her...
Xing Zhaozhao was so frightened that she quickly opened her eyes.
"It's alright, he's dead, he won't come back to harm people anymore, it's alright..." she kept reassuring herself in a voice only she could hear, then closed her eyes again...
Chen Dachuan's eyes popped out again...
Xing Zhaozhao quickly opened her eyes again, comforted herself once more, and then closed them again. Chen Dachuan's eyes popped out again...
After this happened several times, Xing Zhaozhao couldn't take it anymore. She suddenly sat up on the kang (a heated brick bed), scratched her hair helplessly, looked at the sleeping child and Fu Lan beside her, remained silent for a moment, then quietly got off the kang and groped her way out of the room in the dark.
Just as Xing Zhaozhao left, Fu Lan, who was clearly asleep, suddenly opened her eyes.
She couldn't sleep either, and afraid that Xing Zhaozhao would worry, she pretended that she was already asleep. When she heard Xing Zhaozhao open the door and leave, she guessed that she must also be having insomnia. After thinking for a moment, she also got off the kang (a heated brick bed) and prepared to go out to keep Xing Zhaozhao company.
Just as she reached the door and opened it, Fu Lan suddenly saw a beam of light shining from the next room. Before she could react, she saw Xing Zhaozhao come out of the next room with a flashlight, walk straight to the door of the main room, reach for the cellar door key hanging on a nail on the wall next to her, open the door and go out.
What was Sister Xing doing in the cellar in the middle of the night?
Fu Lan frowned, puzzled, and subconsciously followed her. She watched as Xing Zhaozhao went to the backyard, opened the cellar door, and went downstairs...
Fu Lan waited outside for a long time, but Xing Zhaozhao never came out of the cellar, and she began to panic.
Is something wrong with Sister Xing?
Ignoring her worries about how to explain to Xing Zhaozhao if she ran into her, Fu Lan immediately rushed to the cellar entrance.
The cellar was completely dark, like a black hole that could swallow everything, which made Fu Lan feel uneasy.
"Sister Xing?" Fu Lan called out tentatively from the cellar entrance.
No one inside answered.
"Sister Xing?" Fu Lan raised her voice and called out again, afraid that Xing Zhaozhao hadn't heard her.
Still, no one agreed.
Fu Lan panicked completely.
Could something have really happened to Sister Xing?
She quickly went back to get a flashlight, turned it on, and carefully went down into the cellar. While looking around for people, she called out, "Sister Xing? Are you alright? If you heard me, answer me!"
No one inside answered.
After Fu Lan searched the entire cellar, she still couldn't find Xing Zhaozhao. She stood alone in the cellar, feeling lost and helpless. Suddenly, her hands and feet turned icy cold, and a layer of white sweat broke out on her back.
She clearly saw Sister Xing go down into the cellar with her own eyes, so how could a perfectly healthy person suddenly disappear...?
Xing Zhaozhao was unaware that Fu Lan had been following her all along. She had staged a dramatic transformation right under Fu Lan's nose. Unable to sleep, she went to the next room, retrieved her phone from the cabinet, and called Gao Mingcheng.
It was already past midnight. Gao Mingcheng had just fallen asleep when he was suddenly woken up by a series of cell phone rings. He wondered who would call in the middle of the night. When he picked up the phone and saw the caller ID on the screen, he was jolted awake and immediately sat up in bed.
Zhao Zhao has never called him at this time before. Could something have happened to her?
Gao Mingcheng frowned, suddenly having a bad feeling.
He answered the phone quickly: "Hello? Zhao Zhao?"
“Mingcheng…” Xing Zhaozhao’s voice was slightly choked up on the other end of the phone.
Gao Mingcheng's heart tightened: "What's wrong?"
"I killed someone, Mingcheng..."
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