Big Dog’s wife said something wrong and felt embarrassed to stay any longer, so she made up an excuse and went home.
Let's not talk about Liang Yuan going into the house to review his lessons with Zhu Youliang. Instead, let's talk about Zhu Xingtong and Tongtong following a large group of children, heading to the nearby Xiaocang Mountain. Xiaocang Mountain isn't a big mountain, but because it's surrounded by several smaller hills, it looks quite imposing. There are many pine trees on the mountain, and when the wind blows, they make a humming sound. Normally, children wouldn't be allowed up the mountain, but today the older children were free, so with them leading the group, they weren't afraid. Xiaocang Mountain wasn't particularly dangerous; the wild animals on the mountain had been driven to Dacang Mountain years ago. The children didn't go up the mountain for any reason; they were just having fun, digging wild vegetables and picking fruit as a side trip.
Zhu Xingtong was walking at the back, chatting casually with Zhu Chunhua. Suddenly, she saw a man hiding in the woods on the opposite mountain. He was looking down the mountain curiously, not knowing what he was looking at.
She didn't pay much attention to it, just checking from time to time to see if the man was still there. After a while, two young women with baskets appeared at the foot of the mountain. She also knew one of them, the first person she saw when she came here, Zhou Yan. She didn't think much about it until a while later, the girl who went up the mountain with Zhou Yan came down the mountain alone, and the man who had been squatting in the woods disappeared, then she felt something was wrong. She should have called for help at this time, but she thought about what Liang Yuan had said before about Jiang Lianhua, and knew that a woman's reputation was very important in this era, so she thought about going back to call her parents. Thinking back and forth, she was afraid it would be too late. So she told Zhu Chunhua to look after Tongtong while she went back to the village to use the toilet. Zhu Chunhua asked her to find a bush to solve it, but she didn't agree and ran straight down the mountain.
The two mountains were adjacent to each other, and within a quarter of an hour, Zhu Xingtong had reached the man's previous location. Just as she was about to release her spiritual power to see where they were, she heard him cursing. She quickly released her spiritual power and discovered that the two men were not far from her, but on the other side of the hill. Zhou Yan was running desperately ahead, while the man chased after her, shouting, "Run! I'll see how far you can get."
Zhou Yan felt her legs growing heavier, but she kept moving forward. Just then, Li Tao suddenly announced she needed to urinate, then headed off into the denser woods nearby. She paid no attention and continued digging for wild vegetables. Unexpectedly, the three leprosy creatures suddenly appeared from the side, spewing obscenities. Fearing that Li Tao might be in trouble, she deliberately ran in the opposite direction, hoping she'd notice something was wrong and call for help.
The third traitor was getting impatient chasing after him, so he stopped by a tree and said, "You can't escape. Are you expecting Li Tao to save you? Dream on. She's in cahoots with me. I originally had a crush on her, but she refused to do it, so I pushed you out. Otherwise, I wouldn't have let her go. Once you become mine, no one will dare to say anything."
Zhou Yan didn't believe it and continued to run forward. However, she had no strength left and was tripped by a branch when she wasn't paying attention.
Sanlaizi was overjoyed. If he hadn't been too impatient and hadn't pounced on the person just now, it wouldn't have taken him so long.
"Don't come over. When we came, there were a lot of children on the opposite mountain. I just need to shout and they will come over." Zhou Yan said anxiously.
The third beggar was unconcerned: "The mountain is filled with the howling of ghosts and wolves. Even if you shout at the top of your lungs, they won't be able to hear you."
Zhou Yan's heart suddenly turned to despair. "Is what you just said true?"
The three beggars were puzzled: "What?"
"Li Tao..." Zhou Yan couldn't help but say.
"Of course it's true. She is much more difficult to deal with than you." Sanlaizi said as he was about to take action.
Suddenly, his head tilted and he fell to the ground.
Zhou Yan closed her eyes tightly and waited for a long time, but nothing happened. After opening her eyes, she found that Sanlaizi had fainted.
She looked around but saw no one. She thought Sanlaizi had fainted from joy. Just as she was about to run away, she turned back, picking up a stick. She raised it and struck Sanlaizi on the head. Feeling uneasy, she struck him again. Seeing blood, she dropped the stick, straightened her clothes, and ran towards the village.
On the way, she picked up her lost basket and continued to walk down the mountain. Zhu Xingtong followed her all the time. When she saw that she had safely gone down the mountain and entered the village, she turned around and walked up the mountain next to her.
Zhu Chunhua was making a wreath, while Tongtong and Xiaozhu were playing not far away. The two little ones lay down on the hillside and then quickly rolled downhill like rollers. They laughed constantly, and it seemed they were having a lot of fun.
Seeing her come back, Zhu Chunhua muttered, "Atong, you really don't mind being tired. You have to go back home to use the toilet."
Zhu Xingtong sat beside her and said, "This is called keeping the wealth within the family."
Zhu Chunhua thought it made sense, but when she thought about running so far, she immediately shook her head.
"Look how tired you are, your head is full of sweat." Zhu Chunhua raised her sleeves to help her wipe it.
Zhu Xingtong stepped back and hid, looking at the blue sky, saying, "It's so comfortable to feel the wind like this."
Zhu Chunhua nodded, "That's right."
Zhou Yan, however, had just returned to the village when she saw Li Tao pacing back and forth. Without waiting for Li Tao to speak, she said, "Li Tao, where have you been? I've been looking for you for so long, thinking something had happened to you!"
Li Tao looked at Zhou Yan in surprise. There was none of the crying and panic that she had imagined. Instead, she saw her face that was always smiling.
"Why aren't you talking? You said you were going to the toilet, but why did you run back to the village?" Zhou Yan continued to ask. She really couldn't figure out how she had offended Li Tao. She ate at Li Tao's house, and the family was quite kind. Especially Li Tao, although she was three years younger than her, she called her sister all day long, and they were so affectionate. Otherwise, she would not easily go up the mountain, and she would not accompany her up the mountain just because she begged for a long time. It's not like there have been no educated youth who got into trouble before. Since then, no one dared to act alone, especially in a place like the mountain where there were few people. Although Xiaocang Mountain is close to the village, it is still some distance away.
"Sister Zhou Yan, why are you staring at me like that? I couldn't find you when I came out of the toilet. I called out to you a few times but no one responded, so I went down the mountain early." Li Tao said innocently.
"Really? I saw you haven't come back for a long time, so I went to look for you. When I couldn't find you, I thought something happened to you." Zhou Yan said again.
An aunt happened to pass by and asked when she heard what happened, "Who's in trouble? Xiaotao?" After saying that, she glanced at Xiaotao.
Li Tao said hurriedly, "It's okay. What could have happened to me? I just went out to play with Sister Zhou and we got separated."
The aunt pursed her lips and left.
Zhou Yan had no evidence, and it was impossible for her to confront Sanlaizi. Even if she was fine, if she dared to shout about it, others would think she was in trouble. Then she would be tied to Sanlaizi, and she would not be able to clear herself even if she jumped into the Yellow River. So, she continued, "Forget it, maybe we got lost. Let's go home."
Li Tao finally felt relieved, but when it was evening, Sanlaizi's mother suddenly called Sanlaizi all over the village, and her heart began to lift again.
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