As expected, Hua Xiangyun spent the night in the outhouse with her cousins.
The cousins all had their own rooms, and Xu Xingshun asked them to leave one room for Hua Xiangyun, but Hua Xiangyun refused.
Besides, it's only a matter of one night, and Hua Xiangyun felt that she could just bear it and it would pass.
Calling it a storage room is no exaggeration.
The room was piled with clutter, and even the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) was covered with hoes, shovels, and the like. There was only one kang space, which was two meters wide, and with her, the four girls squeezed together to sleep.
At least she had a place to stay, but what she couldn't accept the most was that the room smelled musty and the kang (a heated brick bed) couldn't be heated. Her other cousins huddled under the covers, shivering.
Hua Xiangyun, who has a strong resistance to cold, stands out. Erni asked curiously, "Xiangyun, aren't you cold?"
Hua Xiangyun pulled the quilt up to cover her stomach. "It's alright, but couldn't this kang be heated a little more?"
"We added a lot of firewood, but there seems to be something wrong with this kang (heated brick bed). It just won't heat up. If there are many of us, it's okay if we squeeze in to sleep." Da Ni wrapped the quilt tighter around herself. "Xiangyun, why don't you sleep in the middle? It's a bit drafty here."
She had just wanted to give Xiangyun her spot on the kang (heated brick bed), but Xiangyun refused.
Hua Xiangyun shook her head, "I need to get up at night now, and I'm afraid of disturbing you. It's getting late, you should rest first."
"Quick, everyone, let's all go to sleep," Sanni squeezed into the middle, "and let's quickly put out the oil lamp too..."
Only then did she remember that her grandmother was lying on the kang (a heated brick bed) and couldn't get up to scold people. Otherwise, if they hadn't turned off the light after all this time, they would have been accused of not knowing how to manage the household.
Hua Xiangyun had experienced this before: as soon as she entered the room, she had to turn off the oil lamp within a few moments, otherwise she would be met with a barrage of scolding.
"Then I'll turn it off," Da Ni said, getting up to extinguish the oil lamp before rustling back into bed.
"Xiangyun, do you know what happened at home?" Erni asked curiously in the darkness.
They work in the fields all day and only come back at mealtimes.
I really don't know what happened yesterday. They said Grandma accidentally fell, but today even the in-laws came over, and the son-in-law rushed back early in the morning. It's definitely not as simple as the adults say.
Hua Xiangyun closed her eyes. It wasn't her place to discuss matters concerning her elders. "I'm not really sure either. Why don't you ask your uncle tomorrow?"
Sanni, "...It might be related to my dad. He's been absent-minded since last night. I'm wondering if it's because his bad luck has affected my grandma?"
But it's not like it's off-limits. Everyone knows my dad's had bad luck, so everyone just tries to avoid talking about it.
“It shouldn’t be my second uncle’s fault,” Erni said hesitantly. “Grandma didn’t scold him when she came back today.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than Gu Yu's cursing came from the main room. The one being cursed was Xun Liangcai, whom they were currently discussing. "You unlucky bastard, it's one thing to be unlucky yourself, but at least you should have kept your distance from me. Now you've broken my bones, and you're happy now?"
"Get out of my room right now and stay far away from me..."
A barrage of accusations left Xun Liangcai standing frozen at the doorway, unable to move forward or backward. "Mother, I really didn't mean to."
"Luckily you didn't do it on purpose, otherwise I might not be alive today."
You're all debt collectors! I don't know what terrible things I did to deserve running into your family.
"Shut up, or I'll throw you out," Xun Xingshun was chatting with Hua Guangzong in the main room when he made such a commotion that he disturbed them.
Gu Yu fell silent instantly. Just as Xun Xingshun returned to the main room, Gu Yu began to wail, “You heartless people, your whole family has no conscience.”
"You painstakingly saved up some money, and you gave it all to your good brother. Now this whole family will never be able to live, and your grandson will never be able to get married..."
Hua Guangzong lowered his head and said, "Brother Xingshun, look at the mess this has made. It's going to strain the relationship between our two families."
Xun Xingshun said, "Ignore her. She has no right to be in charge of this family."
"It's better to make this clear," Hua Guangzong said, not wanting to take the blame. He figured the Xun family members were all listening intently. "Since we've already agreed, we'll go and withdraw the money first thing tomorrow morning. I'll take half back with me, and you can handle the rest yourselves."
He didn't want to accept it, but knowing Xun Xingshun's temper, he compromised to avoid any future arguments that his family had taken advantage.
“Okay,” Xun Xingshun said with deep remorse, “I’ve let you down this time.”
"Let's not talk about these things..."
Hua Xiangyun waited until the night was deep and quiet before quietly going to the woods in the backyard.
Nighttime was indeed more suitable for ghosts; he was no longer a dark shadow, but revealed his appearance from his previous life.
"How is the little baby? Isn't he quite well-off?" Xu Fugui smugly twirled in front of her. "These were my favorite clothes when I was alive. Those two brats thought they were unlucky, so they burned them all for me."
"How about it? Want to go out for a walk with me? I promise you won't leave empty-handed."
Hua Xiangyun said, "Can you please stop wandering around here? Don't forget that the yin energy on you will affect other people's fortunes."
Xu Fugui said, "Little kid, don't be so serious. I only come to the village occasionally. I don't like to come here on weekdays. There's too much yang energy here, which is harmful to me."
Hua Xiangyun endured it for a day. "I don't call you Little Baby. You can call me Xiangyun. Since that's the case, you should go back now and stop following me, or I won't be polite."
"Sigh, in my eyes you're still just a little kid. At my age, I'm almost your great-great-grandfather. Why don't you call me Great-Grandpa, and I'll prepare a gift for you..."
Before he could finish speaking, Hua Xiangyun raised a Fiery Talisman and struck him directly in the face.
Xu Fugui let out a scream, startling the night birds in the forest into the sky.
The originally gray-black shadow was instantly enveloped by a blue fluorescent light, and if you looked closely, you could even see the shape of flames on it.
"You should be glad that I can only draw the Fiery Talisman for now," Hua Xiangyun said. She had some concerns on the way today and didn't want to frighten the old man. She was afraid that Hua Guangzong's heart couldn't take it, so she was very patient.
Now that it's late at night and all is quiet, and we're in the back mountains, I never expected this old ghost to still try to take advantage of me. I'll settle all the old scores and new ones together. "You want to be my great-grandfather? How do you think of my greeting gift now?"
"You are my great-aunt," Xu Fugui cried out in pain, still begging for mercy. He had really been careless this time. He had only teased the little boy because he thought he was easy to talk to. "Please take this away quickly. I will agree to whatever you say."
For decades, he had painstakingly groped his way through these deep mountains to finally regain his human form. But this single talisman restored him to his appearance from ten years ago. He had a premonition that if he didn't quickly remove this thing, he would be utterly destroyed.
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