allonlinenovel Chapter 7 Everyone Wants to Raise One
Chapter 7 Everyone Wants to Raise One
Wu Xie, too lazy to comfort his proud third uncle, turned to Yan Huai and asked curiously, "Hey! Brother Yan, why did that zongzi kneel down to you just now? And when you went over, it was like its soul suddenly disappeared!"
Yan Huai took a moment to process Wu Xie's address before looking down at Zhang Qiling: "That's a puppet, not a zongzi. The reason he knelt down is probably because of his special blood. As for his soul being scattered, I didn't notice."
"Puppet? What's a puppet?" Wu Xie rowed the boat with a blank expression.
"The puppet is the soul of that female rice dumpling from earlier. It's probably some kind of ancient sacrificial ritual where, after a person dies, their soul is sealed inside the corpse in a special way. Apart from this corpse cave, it probably can't go anywhere else, but it can come out by borrowing the yang energy of the living. Brother Yan, am I right?"
After Wu Sansheng finished speaking, the other three pairs of eyes on the ship also looked over.
Yan Huai froze for a moment, then nodded. The system told him that, according to the world's setting, this interpretation was correct.
When the group finally got away from the cave of corpses, the sky was already ablaze with the orange-red glow of the setting sun.
The bright light shone on Zhang Qiling's face, casting shadows on the back of his features. Although his forehead was covered by his bangs, his nose was straight, his eyelashes were thick and just the right amount, and his lips were beautifully shaped...
Yan Huai thought to himself that if this person's body recovered and his blood was replenished, his lips would be a light pink color.
"Brother Yan, how is he?"
Wu Xie's voice broke Yan Huai's concentration. He shifted his upper body to block the glaring light shining on Zhang Qiling, glanced at the ship that was about to touch the shore, and replied, "He's fine now, he just needs a good sleep."
"That's good……"
Hearing Yan Huai's reply, Wu Xie felt a little relieved. He thought that once they settled down and had the means, he would get Zhang Qiling some blood-nourishing foods and help him recover properly.
"Third Master! Look! Isn't there a village over there?!" Da Kui wanted to stand up and stretch his sore arms, but when he glanced over, he seemed to see the outline of a row of houses, so he quickly called everyone to look.
Upon hearing this, Wu Xie's expression brightened instantly. He stood up and followed Da Kui's gaze into the distance.
Sure enough, on those sparsely covered blue walls, rows of uneven tiled houses and telephone poles stretched down – what else could it be but a village!
Wu Xie couldn't help but marvel at his own good fortune; he actually got whatever he wished for!
Wu Sansheng tapped his palm a few times with the handle of his entrenching tool, then chuckled and said, "It really is a village!"
Having a village means having a place to stay, and having power lines means having electricity, so the conditions inside probably wouldn't be too bad. However, even if they weren't great, they could still find a cowshed and a horse pen to sleep in.
With that thought in mind, no one had anything to worry about or be sentimental about anymore, and the boat was quickly rowed to the shore.
Yan Huai stood up first, holding a knife in one hand and helping Zhang Qiling onto his back with the other. His easy and nimble movements made Wu Xie somewhat envious, but also made him feel that he could do it again...
The others exchanged glances, their eyes filled with a mixture of emotion and amusement. They slung their luggage over their backs and carried it in their hands, making sure nothing was left behind, before following Yan Huai up the slope to the path through the farmland.
The road was lined with cornfields on both sides, and the sound of the leaves rustling against each other was dense, but not noisy.
In the shade not far away, the group saw a five or six-year-old boy sitting on a small hill with a basket next to him. The adults were nowhere to be seen.
Yan Huai carried Zhang Qiling past, only glancing at the boy before continuing on his way, while Wu Xie behind him stopped.
"Little kid, why are you sitting here all by yourself? Where are your parents?"
The boy ignored him, his gaze fixed on Yan Huai, who had already walked quite a distance. He felt a strange sensation, though he didn't know how to describe it at the time.
"Hey! Kid?"
Wu glanced at Yan Huai's back, which was hidden by the crops, and then at the boy. He was about to step forward and pat the boy on the shoulder when the boy turned around and looked at him, his pupils dark and bright.
"Are you from that village up ahead? Why are you sitting here all alone?" Wu Xie asked with a light laugh, trying to soften his tone as much as possible.
The boy still didn't answer, and looked at Wu Sansheng and the others behind Wu Xie: "Is there something you need?"
"Little friend, we mean no harm. We just want to ask for lodging in that village over there for the night. Can you take us there?"
Wu Sansheng always felt that the boy in front of him was somewhat unusual. Rather than appearances, he trusted his intuition, which he had honed through countless trials and tribulations.
But the boy didn't ask any more questions. He stood up, slung the basket over his shoulder, and said to Wu Xie and the others, "Come with me!"
Upon hearing this, the group followed, their pace quickening as Yan Huai carried Zhang Qiling away until they disappeared from sight. It wasn't that they were worried about the two of them, but rather that their intuition told them something was off about the boy, and moreover, there seemed to be something wrong with the village ahead.
After all, what normal six-year-old child could walk ahead of Wu Xie and the others at an abnormally fast pace without blushing or skipping a beat? It just seemed strange no matter how you looked at it.
After everyone finally made their way out of the crops that looked like Tetris blocks, they looked ahead and saw a person standing at the intersection not far away. Wasn't that Yan Huai, who had disappeared long ago? Was he waiting for them?
Wu Xie breathed a sigh of relief and was about to shout at Yan Huai to slow down, but before he could say it, the boy who had been leading the way suddenly ran out, the basket on his back swinging. Everyone thought that the boy might fall flat on his face at any moment, but in the end, he ran steadily and stopped in front of Yan Huai.
Yan Huai looked at the boy in front of him, who wasn't even as tall as his own legs, feeling both puzzled and curious. He asked the system in his mind, "Who is he?"
"Host, please explore on your own."
"..." Yan Huai was speechless, but he had some guesses in his heart. Since the system left the Corpse Cave, it had not issued any missions. So this boy was either related to the mystery that needed to be solved, or it was related to his identity.
Yan Huai's expression softened slightly. He looked up at Wu Xie and the others who had approached and said, "Let's go!"
The rest of the road was paved with cement. The boy was still leading the way. This time, Yan Huai didn't slide forward. He looked around and felt an instinctive sense of familiarity. Had he been here before...?
Once inside the village, the boy led everyone directly to the village guesthouse, and even called the guesthouse owner "Mom" right away!
"Are you all looking for a place to stay?" The landlady put down the half-finished sweater she was knitting, stood up, smiled, patted the boy's head, and asked the group in front of her.
"Yes, ma'am, do you have any rooms available?"
Just as Da Pan stepped forward to chat, Wu Sansheng was also discreetly observing the proprietress's expression and clothing, guessing that she must be a native of this area.
"Yes, there are, but only two rooms left. There are so many of you..." The landlady seemed a little embarrassed.
"It's alright, two rooms it is! We're all grown men, we can squeeze in!"
"Okay, I'll take you there." The proprietress led the boy past Yan Huai, and where no one else could see, she nodded slightly to Yan Huai.
The room was opposite the restaurant run by the guesthouse owner. It consisted of two rooms facing each other with heated brick beds. Wu Sansheng let Wu Xie share a room with Yan Huai and Xiao Ge, while he shared a room with Da Pan and Da Kui.
"Everyone, get some hot water, tidy up, take a shower, and then we'll go over there for dinner. Get some rest early tonight, and we'll go into the mountains again tomorrow morning." After giving these instructions, Wu Sansheng turned around and lifted the curtain to go into the room.
Upon entering the room, I found that the kang (a heated brick bed) was quite large; it could comfortably accommodate three people.
Seeing this, Yan Huai carried Zhang Qiling to the other side. He first put the person on the kang (a heated brick bed) before worrying about how to change his clothes...
To put it simply, Yan Huai was the dirtiest among the group. There was no way around it; he was covered in blood earlier, then went into the Corpse Cave, and spent so much time in the water. His clothes were made of ordinary cloth and weren't waterproof at all. How could he not smell bad? How could he not be dirty?
Wu Xie casually placed his luggage on the ground beside the kang (a heated brick bed) and was rummaging through his backpack when he suddenly felt that there was no sound behind him. He turned around and saw Yan Huai frowning and staring at the clothes, looking like a child who knew he was about to be beaten because he had dirtied them.
Wu Xie couldn't help but find it amusing, so he turned around, took out a clean set of clothes, and handed them to Yan Huai: "Brother Yan, these clothes are clean. If you don't mind, please make do with them!"
He's kind-hearted, but not as meticulous. Although this outfit is a relatively loose-fitting work uniform, the pants are still a bit short...
As everyone knows, pants will dig into your crotch if they exceed their limit. This is a truth of daily life that Yan Huai, simple and grateful, only discovered when getting dressed after taking a shower.