"Er Laizi, I ran into your relative when I came to the company, so I brought him over." Sister-in-law Ge turned around and smiled at Qin Xiaoyu, saying, "This is the place, we're here."
"Who are you?" Shi Zhuzi had never met Qin Xiaoyu before, but he had met Tang Wenwen. Upon seeing her, he felt a little guilty and his eyes darted around.
"Give me back my son!" Qin Xiaoyu's eyes turned cold as she saw her enemy.
"Who is it that wants my son? I have five sons, I can't even afford to raise my own, let alone yours?" After Shi Zhuzi finished speaking, several little hairy eggs rolled out of the house, of varying sizes, there really were five of them.
"You're the one who took my son away! Give him back!" Qin Xiaoyu was so anxious she wanted to rush into the house immediately.
"Hey, hey, stop talking nonsense. I didn't see your son. Get out of here," Shi Zhuzi said irritably.
"Didn't you have a city kid at your house? Is he her son?" a neighbor asked through the fence.
"Hey fatso, let me tell you, if you keep talking nonsense, your pigsty is definitely going to catch fire tonight, and I'll make sure you don't lose a single pig hair during the New Year!" Shi Zhuzi's threat worked; the fatso shrank back and ran away.
Qin Xiaoyu finally believed what Sister-in-law Ge had said; he was a scoundrel, and everyone was afraid of him.
"Let me go inside and look around. If no one's there, I'll leave." Qin Xiaoyu was already at the door; she couldn't just back out like that.
"That's my house. You think you can just walk in like that?" Shi Zhuzi sneered, waved his hand, and the child behind him darted to the dog shed and started unchaining the dog.
Sister-in-law Ge was quick-witted; she grabbed one person with each hand, and the three of them had just stepped out of the courtyard when the big yellow dog pounced on the gate, barking wildly and drooling.
Qin Xiaoyu's legs went weak with fear, but she was still determined to go over.
"That won't do," Sister-in-law Ge said softly.
“Sister, I think you should go back. What Er Laizi said makes sense. He can’t even support five children, why would he steal from you?” Sister-in-law Ge turned around and spoke up for Shi Zhuzi.
"Sister-in-law, I'm scared, let's go." Tang Wenwen also chickened out.
Qin Xiaoyu was dragged by them, one on each side, into Aunt Liu's house.
“My son is at their house, I have proof,” Qin Xiaoyu said sadly, her face pale.
"What evidence?" Sister-in-law Ge asked hurriedly.
“I saw a piece of leather hanging on the fence in front of me; it was torn off my son’s leather jacket.”
"I know where the child is!" Aunt Liu exclaimed, slapping her thigh. She pulled Qin Xiaoyu to the back window and pointed it out to her.
It turns out that the houses here are of the same style as those in the city, but the difference is that they are spaced further apart, with a small courtyard in front of each house. A road is left in front of the courtyard so that a car can pass through, and further ahead are the storage rooms and another large vegetable garden. The large vegetable garden extends all the way to the back window of the house in front.
Shi Zhuzi's house was the first house in the complex. There were no other residents in front of it, so they built a huge pile of firewood in front of the vegetable garden, storing up a small mountain of burnt branches for use in the winter.
“That’s the vegetable cellar down there,” Aunt Liu said, and everyone in the room nodded in agreement.
Their arrival must have alerted Shi Zhuzi, since there were unfamiliar faces around, so he hid the child first.
“Even if we knew the child was there, we couldn’t get him out. His dog is like a madman; it’s bitten more than one person. If we let it out, even several men couldn’t control it.” Ge Lao Sao shook his head.
"Then I'll stay here and wait." Qin Xiaoyu was determined.
"Girl, that won't do. There's no oxygen in the cellar; it can suffocate you. If you wait a few days and he doesn't open the cellar door, are you going to abandon the baby?"
"What should I do? Should I call the police?" Qin Xiaoyu was truly desperate.
"Don't worry, let's think of a way," Sister-in-law Ge comforted her.
Half an hour later, Shi Zhuzi watched Qin Xiaoyu and Tang Wenwen from the yard, then got on a sled and left.
Actually, it wasn't Qin Xiaoyu; it was Aunt Liu's daughter wearing her clothes.
At first, they discussed having Sister-in-law Ge stay, but then they changed their minds and rejected the idea. Sister-in-law Ge had never met Hanhan, and with a group of children around her age, she didn't know which one to save.
Qin Xiaoyu had never looked forward to nightfall like this before. She hoped to steal Hanhan away before Shi Zhuzi moved him.
Winter in the Lesser Khingan Mountains taught Qin Xiaoyu what cold truly meant. Outside, the temperature could drop to minus forty degrees Celsius. With each breath she took, she inhaled not gas, but shards of ice, sharp and piercing her lungs with a painful sensation.
By midnight, even the barking of dogs had subsided, and all the lights in every household had been turned off, leaving only a pale moon shining faintly outside.
Sister-in-law Ge and Qin Xiaoyu walked out of the courtyard gate, and Brother Liu followed them out, picking up a shovel at random.
"What's this for?" Qin Xiaoyu asked quietly.
"Just in case there are wolves, we can handle them." Brother Liu weighed the shovel in his hand, and Qin Xiaoyu shuddered.
They didn't dare to go directly from the front, and after going around for a long time, they finally got close to Shi Zhuzi's vegetable cellar.
Qin Xiaoyu was anxious and was about to step forward when she suddenly heard a strange sound ahead, a deep, rough bark from an animal.
"They've brought the dog on a leash." Brother Liu, with his sharp eyes, shielded them behind him.
"What should we do?" Sister-in-law Ge was also at a loss. The leash of the big yellow dog was just enough to reach the entrance of the vegetable cellar; whoever went over it would be bitten.
Brother Liu didn't say anything, but took out an oil paper package from his pocket and threw it towards Big Yellow. A meaty aroma wafted over.
Big Yellow started eating, taking big and small bites. After a short while, two soft whimpers were heard, and Big Yellow collapsed to the ground, motionless.
"The medicine killed him?" Qin Xiaoyu's eyes widened.
"I've wanted to get rid of it for a long time. Last time it ran away, it chased my second aunt so hard she fell and is now paralyzed on the kang (a heated brick bed)," Brother Liu said bitterly.
The three of them cautiously approached the cellar. Qin Xiaoyu then realized that the cellar entrance was simply a wooden door with an iron pull ring.
“The entrance to the vegetable cellar is never completely closed; a crack is left for ventilation. This is how people are hidden,” said Sister-in-law Ge bitterly.
Brother Liu reached out and pulled open the cellar door, revealing it filled with enormous frosty petals. Qin Xiaoyu reached out and broke off a large piece.
"Hanhan," she called in a low voice, but there was no sound inside.
"Stop yelling." Brother Liu pushed her aside, braced himself against the opening, and leaned half his body down the steps to the bottom.
Within two minutes, they heard a commotion down below, and Brother Liu quickly climbed up carrying Hanhan.
"The child seems to have stopped breathing," he said, putting Hanhan down on the ground.
Qin Xiaoyu had no time to cry; she immediately began CPR by pressing on her chest.
The soft sound of horses' hooves came from afar; it was Ge Laosao coming to meet them.
"Hurry up, people will be here soon," Brother Liu urged.
Qin Xiaoyu pressed the buttons a few more times and felt Hanhan breathe a soft sigh of relief. She picked up Hanhan and ran towards the sled.
As soon as they sat down, they heard a commotion coming from the direction of Shi Zhuzi's house. Someone was running towards the vegetable cellar, followed by a string of profanities.
Ge Laosao cracked his whip, urging his horse to gallop wildly, leaving the Second Company far behind.
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