Chapter 176 Scapegoat
Pipa felt a deep-seated fear of those statues, yet she couldn't tear her gaze away from them.
Just as his instincts prevented him from being passively exposed to danger, he also couldn't bear to leave his back to those gazes.
—Yes, those are the ones.
Although the enshrined statue appears to have only two eyes, Pipa felt that there were actually far more than two gazes falling on her.
The scariest thing is that it seems no one else noticed this.
Everyone else in the village, regardless of age or gender, seemed to be immersed in the joyous atmosphere of worshiping the gods.
They chatted and laughed, they made a ruckus, and each of them wore a strikingly similar expression of excitement.
This shows that everyone is completely immersed in and enjoying the joyful and festive atmosphere.
—Only the loquat did not experience this emotional infection.
Therefore, he was the only one who seemed completely out of place.
The little child struggled through the bustling crowd, facing the intense gaze of the statue above while enduring the endless, seemingly insane laughter and playfulness around him, feeling as if his ears were about to explode from the pain.
The loquats didn't want to come, but the Lantern Festival was over.
We've searched everywhere we can think of, but we still haven't found anything.
Just as Pipa was at her wit's end, she heard the lively sounds of a festival being held in the distance.
Then it suddenly occurred to him that perhaps Yuanxiao was attracted by the smell of the food at the festival and went to look for food?
In previous years, Pipa had never participated in the village's worship ceremony.
Because her mother didn't like it, and Pipa herself wasn't particularly fond of joining in the fun.
Originally, every household in the village was supposed to participate in the ceremony, but because Pipa's father pleaded on their behalf, the village chief made an exception and allowed them to send only one person from their family to help.
Pipa still remembers the scene when the village chief came to her house to talk about this.
As the old man skillfully stuffed the red paper packets he received into his clothes, he patted Pipa's father on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Uncle understands your hardships. Your parents passed away early, and now you only have a wife and a son at home. You love your wife, so consider this a tribute to the one above you."
He paused, then lowered his voice and said earnestly, "It's not that I mean to criticize you, but you should have more children while you're still young. You only have one son, and what if he gets chosen later..."
“Uncle, you are the village chief, the most respected person in this village. I understand that you are doing this for my own good. But I'm afraid her body can't take it. She had a lot of bleeding when she gave birth to this one. If she has to go through another one, she might not make it. I promised her that I would only have this one.”
The man's tone was sincere, but the meaning behind his words was crystal clear.
Seeing the man's stubbornness, the old man decided not to make a fool of himself. He put away his smile and resumed his demeanor as the village head.
"Alright, I knew you were a stubborn fool. But let me tell you this: if that day ever comes, don't blame me for being ruthless as your uncle. The rules of the village aren't something I can just change on my own."
The old man said meaningfully, "Think about it yourself," and then pushed open the door and left the main room.
Pipa, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation inside by the door, immediately sat back down on her little stool upon hearing the noise, lowering her head and pretending to be intently twisting hemp rope.
I thought the village chief would leave the house and go on his own.
Unexpectedly, the old man turned a corner and came right next to the loquat tree.
As the pungent body odor mixed with the smell of smoke and alcohol gradually approached, Pipa panicked and held her breath, wondering if she had been discovered.
The old man stood beside the loquat for a while, but didn't mention eavesdropping. Instead, he kept sizing her up and down with his squinty eyes.
Pipa felt extremely uncomfortable being stared at, as if ants were crawling on her face and neck.
Pipa prayed frantically in her heart that the old man would leave quickly, but she dared not make any rash moves.
Because the village chief is the most prestigious and powerful person in the village, someone even his father couldn't easily offend, let alone a little child like Pipa.
"Loquat, your name is Loquat, right?"
The old man's slow, deliberate voice sounded behind my head, with an unpleasant stickiness and deliberate tone: "People say your mother was stubborn, and that stubborn girl gave birth to a mute idiot. Is that idiot you?"
A surge of heat rushed from my heart to my forehead.
The loquat felt intensely offended in an instant.
He could tolerate being called a fool, but he utterly loathed anyone speaking ill of his mother, especially in such a frivolous and feignedly affectionate tone.
Pipa wanted nothing more than to slam the rope in her hand across the other person's face. She wanted to see how the other person could still laugh and make fun of her and her child...
Imagination is wonderful, but reality is what it is.
Pipa has a clear understanding of the gap in strength between the two sides.
Regardless of the fact that he was a small, thin child, he was at a disadvantage against the village chief, an adult of considerable size.
Even if he succeeds, it will only bring him temporary satisfaction, but he will pay the price of offending the village chief. Their family is already small and at a disadvantage; if this happens, their lives in the village will likely become even more difficult.
never mind……
Pipa told herself to pretend she didn't hear it and just bear with it.
As long as I can live peacefully with my mother, what does it matter if I'm considered a fool by them?
However, Pipa did not expect that the village chief would reach out and put his hand on his shoulder the next moment.
It resembled an elder's affectionate touch towards a child, but secretly involved twisting large knuckles and repeatedly rubbing the soft flesh connecting the neck and shoulder.
Heavy, unpleasant breathing, accompanied by a foul odor, enveloped me from behind, almost making me nauseous.
It's hard to describe the feeling at that moment. If I had to say, my mind suddenly went completely blank.
It wasn't until the sound of a loquat cuckoo rang out that the child was awakened from this daydream-like, stiff state.
Pipa suddenly snapped out of her daze and hurriedly stood up straight from the small stool. Looking in the direction of the sound, she saw that her father had come out of the house at some point.
Standing on the small steps, looking down at them, he asked, "Did your mother ask you to pull the weeds in the vegetable garden behind the yard?"
When Pipa heard his father ask this question, he shook his head blankly, and then saw the other man's face instantly darken.
"Then hurry up and go!"
The sudden shout startled Pipa, and before the other person could say anything more, she nodded frantically and hurriedly ran towards the vegetable garden in the backyard.
He could still vaguely hear his father scolding him from behind, saying he was a good-for-nothing who only ate and did nothing, and that he was just slacking off.
And there was the old village chief's chuckling, as if he had choked on phlegm.
"He's a fine boy, why scold him? He's sensible and hardworking, just a bit thin and doesn't look very strong. But he takes after his mother, he's fair-skinned. It would be even better if he were a girl, we could arrange a marriage between our children next year. You two, if you can't bear to part with him, you'll have to have another son, won't you..."
The loquat has never run that fast since I can remember.
Ignoring everything, I bumped headfirst into a warm body, and when I looked up, I saw my mother's face, which was half surprised and half concerned.
"What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost?"
As the mother spoke, she lifted her sleeve and wiped the child's forehead.
Pipa then realized that she was already covered in sweat. She opened her mouth to speak, but found that her throat was blocked: "I... my dad asked me to come and help weed."
Upon hearing this, the mother's expression became even more confused: "Didn't we just get it done the day before yesterday?"
After his mother said that, Pipa realized that he and his mother had tidied up the vegetable garden together the day before yesterday evening. At that time, they had not only pulled out the weeds, but also turned over the soil again.
His father probably knew about this as well.
"What exactly happened?"
Seeing her son's distracted state, the woman became genuinely worried: "Did your father hit you?"
At that time, Pipa had never been beaten by his father before, and he never imagined that his mother would think in that direction.
I felt relieved when I fell down.
"No, no, it's just that Dad saw me all alone and asked me to come and help Mom. I was in such a hurry that I didn't notice and the conversation got mixed up."
Pipa finally managed to sort out his thoughts, albeit haltingly, and managed a forced smile. He didn't want his mother to worry.
However, when two people spend every day together, especially when it's a child you've watched grow up, how could a mother not tell the truth from a lie?
Seeing that Pipa hesitated and refused to speak, the woman did not press the matter. She simply lifted the vegetable basket she was carrying on her arm, her face showing a determination Pipa had never seen before.
"Fine, you've learned to lie to your mother. Fine, since you're determined not to tell the truth, I'll ask your father. In such a short time, surely he, a grown man, can't even see through a child?"
As he spoke, he lifted his foot to walk forward.
Pipa panicked at the sight, fearing that things would escalate and his house would be vandalized again.
What he feared most was the other party's current accusatory attitude; if the two sides really got into a fight, his father might lose his temper and resort to violence.
With my mother's small stature, she's bound to suffer.
So he quickly stood in front of his mother, saying, "Mother! Mother! I'll talk, I'll talk, okay?"
Next, Pipa told the other party about how the old village chief had come to worship the gods and had said a few words to her before leaving.
Of course, he spoke very simply, omitting the unpleasant words the old man had uttered when he started the conversation. He also made no mention of the discomfort caused by the other man's smell and touch.
It was only said that the old village chief seemed to like children.
"It's probably because Dad came out and saw that I was idle, and then remembered that Mom was still in the vegetable garden, so he asked me to come and help so that you could go home sooner."
Pipa felt that her explanation this time was flawless.
But after I finished speaking, I didn't hear my mother respond.
He looked up and saw the woman's eyes staring straight at him, looking at him with a strange and unsettling intensity.
Feeling a little guilty under the stare, the loquat involuntarily shrank its neck.
To her surprise, this provoked an even stronger reaction from the woman. She took a half-step forward, grabbed the loquat by the collar and pulled it open slightly, then frowned and examined it closely.
Pipa was startled by her mother's sudden action, feeling both confused and frightened, wondering what was wrong with her. Was she possessed like in those ghost stories?
He was very uneasy, disturbed by his own wild thoughts, and was hesitating about how to ask the question.
Suddenly, I felt a few damp sensations on my neck.
Pipa felt strange. He looked at the sky; there was no sign of rain. How could it suddenly...?
Just as I was about to reach out to try and catch the raindrops, my shoulder suddenly tightened, and I was unexpectedly embraced.
—It's my mother.
Although it was a bit sudden, Pipa was still very happy to be hugged so tightly.
Because the other person is his mother, the person he loves most in the world.
But not long after, Pipa realized something was wrong.
Whether it was the damp, warm sensation spreading across her shoulders or her mother's faintly trembling breaths, they all seemed to point to the same truth.
That means the other person cried.
On an ordinary afternoon, my mother, who was always quiet and rarely emotional in my memory, suddenly buried her face in my shoulder and cried silently.
Pipa was very sad and wanted to comfort the other person, but all her words were empty at that moment.
He knew all too well how cowardly and incompetent he was.
He was powerless to stand up openly against his father like a man, nor could he push away the old village chief's unsettling approach.
He didn't even understand what the woman in front of him, the one he had called "Mother" for so many years, was really thinking, or why she was crying silently at this moment.
In the end, he didn't ask anything, but instead reached out and patted the other person's back gently, just like his mother would do when comforting him.
Then, whether it was Pipa's imagination or not, he thought he heard his mother whisper "I'm sorry" in his ear...
It felt like a dream.
The events of that day did not leave a particularly strong impression on Pipa's memory.
—At least, that's how it appears on the surface.
Only occasionally, Pipa would feel a strange, itchy sensation on a certain patch of skin on her shoulder near her neck.
This was unprecedented in previous years, and he racked his brains but couldn't come up with a specific reason.
One day, I saw a spiky caterpillar blown in through the window. It's actually a caterpillar. Apparently, this insect is very poisonous, and a sting can take a long time to heal.
Then it suddenly dawned on him. He must have been stung one day without paying attention, which was why he felt so uncomfortable.
If we put that aside, Pipa is still very happy.
From that day on, her mother spent more time with her. Before, when her mother was busy in the vegetable garden behind the yard, she would often leave Pipa alone in the yard, just sitting there, daydreaming, or twisting hemp rope...
Now I wish I could tie the loquat to my waistband and carry it with me everywhere I go, so that my mother could see it as soon as she lifted her eyelids.
Pipa's father seemed somewhat displeased, but ultimately said nothing.
Pipa always felt that the two of them had made some kind of agreement without her knowledge.
He felt both uneasy and pleased.
The secret agreement is undoubtedly intriguing, but the very existence of this secret seems to imply a easing of tensions between the two.
As her parents' child, Pipa always hoped that they could be well, and that the family could be well too.
Unfortunately... he was still too naive.
Just when Pipa thought everything was moving towards a better future, that cool, misty morning finally arrived.
Pipa heard her mother say that she was going to leave this place and go back to her real home, and... only the two of them.
At that moment, more than surprise or shock, what first appeared in Pipa's heart was a sense of relief that this day had finally arrived.
Faced with her mother's hopeful and expectant gaze, Pipa seemed to have no better choice than to nod in support.
In reality, he had no longing for the home that his mother described.
It's not because the house didn't sound nice enough.
On the contrary, it was precisely because it was so wonderful that Pipa couldn't help but start to doubt: if that home really existed, and if they could really get there, would the other party really accept her, a child of unknown origin?
However, her mother seemed genuinely happy at that time, so Pipa was happy too.
Pipa was actually reluctant to think about what happened afterward.
For the mother, it was a painful escape.
For loquat, however, it was an ordeal akin to hell.
He was tied up and hung from a tree in public and beaten for a long time, repeatedly losing consciousness and waking up. The rustling of the vines was filled with the woman's miserable screams.
According to the old village chief, this incident set a bad precedent.
The woman was spared only because of Pipa's father.
"The death penalty may be waived, but punishment is inescapable."
The village chief slowly said, cracking his cigarette, "You have to give the village an explanation for this."
Pipa's father did not refute, but simply repeated what he had said before: "She is in poor health and cannot withstand the whipping."
Before the village chief could express his dissatisfaction, the man added with a blank expression, "Don't worry, this matter won't be a waste of your time. The matter won't just end like this; those who deserve a beating will be punished."
The village chief looked slightly surprised upon hearing this, sized the man up and down, and then smiled meaningfully: "So you've finally come to your senses? But let me make this clear first, this is a major event concerning the stability of the village. I'm not giving you a chance to put on a sentimental show."
The implication is that one should not take the blame for another.
The man slowly shook his head, his tone calm and resolute: "Uncle, you've forgotten, I have another son."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
