Fate Trading System – Chapter 138

Plan A

Red Moon in the Barrier 2

Matchmaking Discussion

If you ask whether Su Xin is afraid of ghosts, it’s not too bad. She thinks people are scarier, but ghosts are also dead people.

To be honest, without support, Su Xin is a bit scared of those creepy, dirty things, after all, the power is unequal. But with Fourteen, Su Xin isn’t afraid anymore. She firmly believes in the scientific development view, and Fourteen won’t let anything happen to her.

Nothing strange or scary appeared on this long road. It was very normal, just like an ordinary foggy road in winter.

Su Xin walked back to the village entrance, which was weird.

She had been walking straight without turning, so how did she end up back here?

【This isn’t the real way out, host. You’ve been going in circles.】

You mean I’ve been spinning in circles in the same spot?

【Yes.】

Su Xin felt a chill crawl up her back, and it didn’t feel good.

Su Xin always trusts her judgment, which relies not only on intuition but also experience. Her years of training and work experience allow her to quickly judge where danger might come from, but this time she failed.

She thought she was walking on a straight path, but Fourteen, the observer, said she was going in circles.

Fourteen, you know how to get out, right?

【Yes.】

Does it cost life points?

【No, this time it’s free.】

That’s so nice?

【Because this time, there’s a bigger trouble waiting for the host.】

Oh?

【This is actually a maze barrier. The whole village is covered by it. It’s like a mysterious formation that keeps changing while confusing people’s minds, making it impossible to judge one’s own actions. The only way to get out, which is to break the spell, is to kill the ‘formation eye’.】

No matter what kind of formation it is, there’s always a formation eye. As long as the formation eye is destroyed, the formation will naturally become ineffective.

【The key point is someone in the village, but I don’t know who it is, and this time, I have no way of getting information about those people.】

In other words, there’s no way to check.

Master Fourteen, I have a bold idea…

【I don’t think that’s possible.】

Alright then.

Su Xin thought, if they’re all dead, wouldn’t that solve everything?

【Host, keep going, I’m always here.】

Okay.

In this village, besides Widow Wang and the elective family, there are twelve households. Which person is the key point?

There are both living people and ghosts in this village. Who’s real and who’s fake?

Who wants to harm the original owner and her brother, and what’s their purpose?

The original owner and her brother aren’t the key points, right?

【They’re not. If they were, the mission wouldn’t be valid.】

The wish accepted in the mission can’t be something impossible to achieve or self-contradictory.

So let’s just take it one step at a time.

Master Fourteen, please keep an eye on Tong Qing’s situation. I’m worried something might happen to him.

【Monitoring for you.】

The wish is just to take her brother out of the village. Whether they live or die after leaving doesn’t matter to her, but they absolutely can’t die in here.

Su Xin’s gaze fell on that locust tree. She walked closer and closer, her shoes stepping on the fallen leaves on the ground, making a soft sound.

This locust tree was growing very well. Although it’s winter now and the leaves are almost all gone, Su Xin searched in her memories for what this locust tree looked like when it bloomed. The pale yellow flowers hanging down were very beautiful.

Ancient people had a belief in locust trees, thinking that planting a locust tree in front of the door could not only protect family members’ safety and ensure prosperous descendants, but also attract wealth. So, ancient people often planted locust trees at their doorsteps, believing they could bring good fortune.

However, from a feng shui perspective, locust trees are not suitable for planting in front of doors because they love sunlight and will block the sunlight behind the house, causing chaos in the energy field inside the house. This can lead to a chilly atmosphere in the house, and after someone dies in the house, it can easily become a haunted house.

Su Xin reached out and touched the trunk of this tree, her fingers tracing the dry patterns due to winter. The locust tree is a deciduous tree, and at this moment, the leaves were almost all gone, leaving it standing there bare.

Su Xin inexplicably felt a chill. She thought it was probably the wind picking up, light and not causing any waves. The dampness crept up her neck and into her spine, making her feel very uncomfortable.

She just stood there and glanced at that tree. She knew there must be something strange about this tree, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

She wasn’t a feng shui master, so she could only continue to look on blindly.

Su Xin walked back along the path she came from. Although her hands were in her pockets, it was still freezing cold, as if she was about to be frozen stiff.

Su Xin stopped at the place where Da Ya and Er Ya had their incident, stepping on the bluestone slabs and looking at the now-frozen water surface.

The ice was now quite solid. Su Xin bent down to look, roughly estimating the depth. She didn’t care how Da Ya and Er Ya died, but she felt something was odd. Anyway, she just needed to remember to tell her little brother to stay away from here when she got back.

Su Xin stood up but suddenly felt a push from behind. She dodged nimbly, but due to her bulky clothes, she still fell on the ice. Luckily, the ice was thick enough. However, if Su Xin hadn’t dodged just now, she would have fallen face-first onto the ice. With such thick ice, she might have cracked her head open and possibly died on the spot.

There really are ghosts.

Su Xin immediately stood up and returned to the shore, looking around. It was empty, with only a bit of cold wind blowing.

【Host, there were indeed no living people just now, but a blurry energy body was detected. Image projection as follows.】

What kind of ghost is this? Did you apply a mosaic filter?

【This is the best we can get from the energy field fluctuations detected.】

That was a mosaic-like figure that vaguely looked human-shaped. You couldn’t make out its appearance, age, or even if it was male or female.

【If it appears again next time, the same energy waves will let me know. It can serve as a warning for the host.】

That’s good.

It’s better to have a warning than not. Who knows when these weird things might show up and try to harm her.

How strange, she hasn’t bothered anyone, so why would a ghost want to kill her?

Su Xin looked back at the ice surface and stiffened for a moment.

She clearly saw handprints appearing one after another inside the ice, densely packed and looking scary.

Su Xin took a deep breath. The cold air made her head a bit clearer. She bent down again to examine the ice surface, but this time she saw nothing inside. Those handprints seemed like just her imagination.

Master Fourteen, did you see anything in the ice just now, or any kind of marks?

【No, it was just a normal ice surface.】

But I saw something else.

Su Xin wouldn’t think she was hallucinating because there was no reason for it. She wasn’t afraid of the ghost from before, wasn’t scared or panicked, so why would she hallucinate?

It’s very possible that those handprints really appeared on the ice surface just now, but when she looked again, they had disappeared.

It was just a quick glance, so Su Xin couldn’t tell what those handprints looked like.

Su Xin stood up and left the small frozen river, walking towards her home.

She’s not just carefree, she’s not even scared when someone wants to kill her and stays very calm. It’s just that she’s used to it. Her life during training was basically living in danger. Now it’s just non-humans trying to kill her, with unclear motives and purposes. Besides, she still has Fourteen, so Su Xin wasn’t scared at all. She just patted her clothes and left.

“Creeeak”

The long sound of the wooden door opening was unusually noticeable in the quiet morning.

Su Xin looked over there and smiled at the man walking out.

“Uncle, why are you up so early?”

Uncle Tong used to be a pretty energetic person, but since his wife ran away, he’s been raising two daughters alone, doing all the housework and farming by himself. Plus, with all the gossip from others, this man looks much older now. Suddenly losing all his children was a blow that made his already not-so-straight back become hunched, with gray hair at his temples. Even though he’s only in his thirties or forties, he looks like he’s in his fifties or sixties.

“Just coming out for a walk. I can’t sleep now. I keep thinking about my older and younger daughters. They were in my dream last night, crying and calling ‘Dad, save me’.”

Uncle Tong sighed, the dark circles under his eyes proving his poor sleep quality. His beard was messy, looking like it hasn’t been properly groomed in a long time.

“What about you? Why are you wandering around my doorstep so early in the morning, little Ning?”

“I can’t sleep either, so I came out for a walk. I want to go to the village entrance and see if I can get out. I just tried again, but still no luck.”

Su Xin sighed and told the truth about her actions.

“We can’t get out, none of us can get out. Maybe it’s for the best.”

Uncle Tong’s face showed a strange expression of both crying and laughing, not at all like a normal person’s reaction.

The reactions of the people in this village don’t seem very normal. Even though they can’t get out, which is a very strange thing – you could say it’s like seeing a ghost – the villagers were panicked for a while, but after a day or two of panic, they strangely calmed down. Their attitude is too weird. There’s no hysterical breakdown, no cursing. It’s like they calmly accepted this situation, but who knows what happens behind closed doors.

“Uncle, what’s wrong with you?”

Su Xin appropriately showed some fear, Uncle Tong’s current appearance looked abnormal no matter how you looked at it.

Uncle Tong shook his head and chuckled.

“Karma, it’s all karma. Old Man Hu got angry, so he took away my Da Ya and Er Ya.”

Uncle Tong gave Su Xin a pitying look, then pulled his sleeves and walked back into his house, closing the door.

What strange things, and why did Uncle Tong’s look towards her contain sympathy just now? Also, what’s this karma, and why would Old Man Hu be angry?

In this village, Old Man Hu is the local earth god who protects children. There’s a small temple dedicated to worshipping him, where people pray for their children to grow up safely, and then also pray for their future children to become rich and prosperous. But isn’t this just a belief? If Old Man Hu were really an earth god, how could he do such harmful things?

Because there are few people in the village, there are even fewer newborns. The children have slowly grown up, and this year the only two children in the village are Da Ya and Er Ya. The next youngest is just Tong Qing.

When Su Xin was still a bit away from her home, she heard a rooster crow. That was the only rooster in the village. It’s not that chickens are hard to raise, it’s just that no one has the energy to do so. Only one household in the entire village raises chickens, ducks, and pigs. They should be the best-off family in the whole village. What’s strange is that even though they have the means to leave the village and live in town or somewhere else, they still remain in this village.

It’s not that they can’t stay, it’s just that they have a child who should be in school, but they haven’t sent him to school.

That’s the Tong He family. By generational order, Su Xin should call their male head, Tong He, “uncle”. They have five people in their family, the most in the entire village. They are Tong He and his wife Yang Cui, Tong He’s younger brother Tong Xi, their mother Grandma Tong, and Tong He and Yang Cui’s son Tong Manwen.

Their family has the largest plot of land, and their house is built very beautifully. It’s just a bit strange that the younger brother still lives in the same house with his older brother and sister-in-law, without splitting up.

Their family is also quite odd. Usually, everyone wants their kids to study and gain knowledge, then go out to attend university, which is considered successful. But this family doesn’t let their children go to school. When others ask, they say there’s no use in kids studying, and it’s better to stay at home to farm and raise pigs, which is more practical. They’re not short on money, it’s just that their ideas are a bit strange.

“Sister Ning.”

Su Xin heard someone call out. She looked up and saw Tong Manwen leaning on their wall, looking at her.

“What’s up?”

“Why are you out for a stroll so early in the morning?”

“Aren’t you up early too?”

“I couldn’t sleep well all night. My mom beat me up again yesterday, and my butt hurts so bad. This morning I wasn’t careful and hurt myself even more. I couldn’t sleep, so I just came out to the yard. There’s not much to see outside anyway.”

Tong Manwen is now 14 years old, 4 years younger than Su Xin. He’s a bit muddle-headed and has a silly personality. He tends to believe almost everything others tell him. He likes to cause mischief, and his mom often disciplines him. He’s the typical kid who’ll “climb the roof and strip the tiles if not beaten for three days” (an idiom meaning a child will misbehave if not disciplined regularly).

“Were you naughty again?”

“No way, I didn’t do anything yesterday, okay? I just took one of my uncle’s books. You know, I’ve never been to school, and I really want to go, but my parents won’t let me study. So I just wanted to take a book to read, but I accidentally used too much force and tore it.”

Tong Manwen said, grumbling.

“No wonder your mom punished you. Was it a book your uncle treasured?”

“Yeah, I didn’t think I’d randomly grab that particular book. Anyway, let’s not talk about it. Sister Ning, you should go back. My mom’s probably about to wake up. If she sees me out here talking early in the morning, she might scold me again.”

After saying this, Tong Manwen jumped down from the wall. With the sound of light footsteps, he probably went back to his room.

Su Xin stomped her feet, as she had been standing there for a while and felt a slight numbness. She walked while pondering who the key person could be. Among all these people in the village, whose death would break this illusion?

The original owner’s memories of Tong Manwen’s uncle, Tong Xi, weren’t many. She only knew he was the most educated person in the village because Tong Xi was a college student who studied elsewhere. However, due to some health issues, he returned to the village to recuperate.

The original owner hadn’t seen him much, only occasionally hearing coughs or smelling medicine when passing by his house. Tong Xi was a “medicine pot” (藥罐子 – Chinese expression for someone who takes a lot of medicine). The original owner didn’t know what illness he had, only that it was severe. From others’ discussions, she learned that Tong Xi probably wouldn’t make it through winter.

The old are old, the dead are dead, the sick are sick, and the crazy are crazy.

Su Xin and Fourteen didn’t know the correct answer and could only rely on their guesses, then kill that person to break the illusion.

Su Xin could use any means necessary to achieve her goal. If completing the task required killing someone, she wouldn’t mind. Even if it meant killing all 12 living households, she wouldn’t care. It’s not that she’s a psychopathic killer, but it’s the most effective and quickest method to solve this task. However, Fourteen wouldn’t allow it.

Because Fourteen said such behavior would violate the rules.

Su Xin found it strange at the time. Aren’t the world’s rules supposed to be above everything? Why would they care about such a small village?

Fourteen said the rules aren’t fixed. This village had formed its own unique atmosphere, a peculiar space where humans and ghosts coexist. In other words, among the remaining 12 households besides the original owner’s family, some were human, some were ghosts. Some appeared in human form, some in ghost form. Some ghosts appeared as ghosts, while others pretended to be human. There might even be other bizarre things mixed in.

Every “person” in this village could potentially touch upon the rules, so Fourteen couldn’t access their information. If they could check everyone, it would be clear who was human and who was a ghost, and then the commission wouldn’t exist.

The more difficult the task, the more energy the soul contains.

Tsk, what a hassle.

When Su Xin returned home, Tong Qing wasn’t sleeping. He had lit the stove and was sitting in his room studying his textbooks. Hearing a noise, he quickly came out of his room.

“Sister, I left some steaming hot buns for you in the pot.”

“Mm, good boy.”

Su Xin went to the kitchen. This was her first time seeing such a simple kitchen environment. There was a cupboard for bowls and a large pot typical of rural areas, where they had to burn firewood to cook.

Su Xin learned the method from the original owner’s memories, thinking it shouldn’t be too difficult, but then began to worry if the food she made would really be edible.

The original owner was a decent cook. Although not delicious, her cooking was average – not good, not bad, just edible. Occasionally, she could make a couple of really tasty dishes. But Su Xin wasn’t like that. Although she hadn’t reached the point of burning down the kitchen, her cooking skills were really, really terrible.

She lifted the pot lid and took out a bun, then got some dried radish and homemade chili sauce from the cupboard. She ate some dried radish, took a bite of the bun, and ate two buns this way before feeling full.

Su Xin grumbled in her heart, thinking this was definitely the world where she missed Qiu Qingqing the most. Compared to this world, what was the previous interstellar era? At least in the mecha era, she didn’t have to eat buns, and the nutritional liquid she drank could even be watermelon flavored.

Rural life was actually very boring, with no entertainment options. There was no TV at home, and the only few books were Tong Qing’s elementary school textbooks. The wind howled outside. Su Xin didn’t disturb Tong Qing’s reading, but sat in her own room with a small stove, staring out the window and daydreaming, then asking Fourteen to play movies for her.

Su Xin specifically asked Fourteen to play some horror movies, but Fourteen only played Chinese ones, which were very bizarre and not scary at all. The main point was that none of them matched her current situation. Su Xin asked Fourteen to switch to comedies, and then started laughing.

As noon approached, Su Xin had to go cook.

Tong Qing was very thoughtful and capable. Knowing that it wasn’t easy for his sister to raise him, he usually helped with any chores he could. Burning firewood wasn’t a difficult task for him.

Su Xin was cutting vegetables. Usually, they only ate one dish per meal. Today, they were having stir-fried eggplant with peppers. After cutting the peppers and eggplant, Tong Qing also lit the stove fire.

Su Xin followed her own steps to pour oil, add vegetables, add seasonings, stir-fry, add water, and finally serve it up.

It looked okay, should be alright.

The rice was already steaming, so they washed their hands and started eating.

People here prefer spicy flavors, so even kids can eat spicy food from a young age.

“Sister, why does the eggplant taste weird today?”

“Is it bad?”

Su Xin didn’t think so. Although it wasn’t delicious, it was edible.

“No, it just tastes different from how you usually make it.”

Cooking is a magical thing. The same ingredients can taste different when prepared by different people. The amount of seasoning, water, cooking time, and so on – some people can make a delicacy, while others can only make poison. Su Xin didn’t expect to master this skill or make her food taste great. In her opinion, she didn’t need to cook exactly like the original person; as long as it was edible and wouldn’t kill anyone, it was fine.

“I want to try a new cooking method lately, so the dishes might taste different. Little brother, tell me if you don’t like it.”

Su Xin said this while eating, but she had no intention of actually doing it.

Usually, the two of them could finish a dish clean. They cooked just enough, because they never had guests, so there were rarely any leftovers.

If they cooked too little, they’d be a bit hungry. If they cooked too much, they’d be a bit stuffed.

Su Xin washed the dishes and had nothing else to do. She decided to go out for a walk and observe.

Every household’s door was closed. If you wanted to visit neighbors, the relationship used to be good – you’d go to their house to chat or play cards for a while, and they’d come to yours. But now it’s different. Not to mention it’s winter and people don’t want to go out, they prefer staying at home. It’s also because of the strange events happening one after another, so who wants to go visiting around?

Su Xin didn’t meet anyone on the way, strolling from her house to the end of the village. Now the sun was slowly rising, without the scorching heat and sharpness of summer, revealing a sunlight-like smell, although it didn’t make people feel warm, still damp and cold.

When Su Xin reached the end of the village, she saw a girl hanging clothes. The girl was about her age, about the same height as her, actually two years younger, named Mu Qi. She wasn’t really from their village, but a girl who had fainted at the village entrance a few years ago and was rescued by the villagers. She said she had no parents and was an orphan, who had been kidnapped by bad people and barely escaped.

Mu Qi became a member of the village a few years ago, living in a small house built for her at the end of the village. She didn’t talk much, opened a vegetable garden in her yard, occasionally exchanging vegetables for rice to eat, and rarely appeared.

Although the two were about the same age and both girls, they actually didn’t talk much. The original owner was very busy, and Mu Qi didn’t go out, looking a bit cold. As a result, even though they had lived together for several years, they weren’t familiar with each other.

“Qiqi, wring out the water more, otherwise it’ll freeze soon, and it’ll be hard for you to collect the clothes later.”

Su Xin reminded her, this should be common sense, hanging clothes with so much water in sub-zero temperatures in the middle of winter.

“No strength.”

Mu Qi answered softly, she looked very weak, not at all like someone who does hard work.

When Su Xin came closer and saw her, she felt a sense of incongruity at first glance, a kind of incongruity that neither the original owner nor anyone in this village could detect, called temperament.

Although Mu Qi had already restrained herself a lot, she still didn’t look like someone who had lost her parents at a young age.

But that sense of incongruity didn’t mean Mu Qi was from a rich family, that feeling was more like a well-bred young lady from ancient times, speaking in a gentle and soft voice.

To put it concisely, it was upbringing.

“Let me help you.”

Su Xin walked over and took the wet clothes from her hands.

The water on the clothes had already become cold, but not freezing to the touch, probably washed with hot water, then taken out to dry.

The original owner’s strength was still quite large, even though she was a girl, but because she had to do heavy farm work, her strength was much greater than that of ordinary girls.

“Thank you.”

Mu Qi expressed her gratitude, her voice soft and delicate like the misty waves of Jiangnan (a region in China known for its gentle landscapes), making people unable to resist being intoxicated.

“Your voice is really nice to hear.”

Su Xin began to help her wring out her clothes one by one, shaking them out, and then hanging them up to dry.

“Your voice is very nice to hear too.”

Su Xin smiled at her but didn’t say anything, thinking she was just being polite.

“Have you eaten lunch?”

Chinese people like to use eating as a topic when greeting. As the saying goes, “Food is the first necessity of the people”, even in social interactions, it’s common to politely ask if someone has eaten as an opener.

If it were Su Xin, she definitely wouldn’t ask this kind of question. She would do a good deed and leave, not wanting to get too involved, but the original owner was different.

Tong Ning was a very outgoing and enthusiastic girl, who was also very strong and simple. However, she also had a kind of feudal superstitious mindset. She was very timid, with old-fashioned thoughts, wanting to get married and consider it done. All her reliance was on her brother, not living for herself.

“Not yet, the vegetables are ready, I was just about to stir-fry them. I planned to wash the clothes first and then eat.”

Mu Qi shook her head, seeing that her clothes in the bucket had already been hung up, so she picked up the bucket.

“Have you eaten?”

“I’ve eaten, I just wanted to come out for a walk.”

It’s really not good for walking around at noon in the middle of winter, unlike on a summer evening. Although Su Xin’s reason sounds strange, it actually reflects her true behavior.

“Do you want to come in and sit for a while?”

“Sure.”

Su Xin wasn’t planning to let anyone go; every person could be a key point, and this girl was very strange.

The house was kept very neat and clean, with no extra decorations. As soon as you enter, there’s a dining table and two chairs. There are only two rooms, one for sleeping and one for cooking. It’s simple and clear, everything visible at a glance.

“Sit on the stool first. Do you want some water?”

“No need for water. Can I watch you cook in the kitchen?”

“Okay.”

Mu Qi was making stir-fried green beans with chili peppers. The long green beans were already cut into sections and placed in a basket. The chili peppers were neatly arranged on a plate, with some minced garlic on the side. Mu Qi cooked over the fire, and every movement looked very pleasing to the eye, calm and unhurried.

The dish was quickly cooked and looked delicious in every way.

“Qiqi, are you really good at cooking?”

“It’s okay.”

Su Xin wanted to ask something more, but seeing Mu Qi focused on eating, she fell silent.

Whether it was Su Xin or the original owner of the body, they both liked to chat a bit when eating with family, communicating at the dinner table. But people like Mu Qi clearly don’t speak while eating or sleeping, preferring to talk after the meal.

After finishing the meal and washing the dishes, Mu Qi lifted the curtain to her room and invited Su Xin to come in and sit for a while.

The room was heated with a charcoal fire, making it very warm.

Su Xin noticed that Mu Qi had many books and curiously went over to take a look.

“Are all these your books?”

“Yes, if you want to read one, you can take one.”

“So you can read too. I thought only Brother Tong Xi in the village could read.”

If we go by generational hierarchy, Su Xin should call Tong Xi “uncle,” but even though Tong Xi is 27 or 28 years old, he looks very young. The original owner couldn’t bring herself to call him uncle, so she still calls him “big brother.”

“Huh… What are these characters? I don’t recognize any of them, and they’re not in my little brother’s textbooks either.”

Su Xin immediately recognized these as traditional Chinese characters, but as Tong Ning, she wouldn’t know that.

All the books on this shelf weren’t printed in factories with the current simplified characters, but were handwritten with a brush, character by character, on blank books. They definitely weren’t old hand-copied versions either, because they looked very new.

“These are traditional characters, the writing system people used in the past.”

“Did you write these yourself?”

“Yeah, I really enjoy studying this stuff.”

Master Fourteen, translate what’s written here for me.

Fourteen translated it for Su Xin in her mind; it was about etiquette-related topics.

Hmmmm, Su Xin chose to ignore it.

“That’s amazing.”

Su Xin showed a bit of admiration at the right moment, not seeming fake at all, but very sincere.

They didn’t talk much more, and Su Xin didn’t stay long at Mu Qi’s house, saying goodbye after a short conversation.

Su Xin thought Mu Qi might be a key point, because she was very special and showed subtle signs of not fitting in here.

Su Xin went home and watched some comedy for a while, but soon heard a knock on the door.

“Who is it?”

Su Xin heard Tong Qing’s voice.

“It’s me, open up quickly.”

The voice outside was Tong Manwen’s.

Su Xin told Tong Qing to go back to her room and went to open the door herself.

“What’s the matter, why are you in such a rush?”

Su Xin opened the door a crack, looking at Tong Manwen’s anxious face.

“Oh, Sister Ning, let me in first, quick, otherwise my mom will definitely beat me to death later. Let me hide out at your place for a bit.”

Tong Manwen pushed the door, widening the crack, and nimbly slipped through it.

“What did you do to make your mom angry again? Didn’t she just beat you yesterday? Why is she going to beat you again?”

Su Xin clicked her tongue and re-latched the door.

“It’s still about yesterday’s incident. My uncle fainted from anger yesterday and only woke up today. When he saw the book I tore, he coughed up blood and fainted again. My mom was about to grab something to beat me with, but luckily I ran fast and came straight to your house. Can I stay at your place for a couple of days until my mom calms down?”

Tong Manwen looked at Su Xin with hopeful eyes, even blinking them. What else could he do? He was desperate too.

“Why don’t you talk to your mom properly? Tell her you didn’t mean it. She’ll forgive you. After all, you came from her belly. She won’t beat you to death.”

Su Xin said this but was already leading Tong Manwen into the house.

“Don’t say that. If this village wasn’t so small, I’d really doubt if I was her biological child.”

Tong Manwen pulled a face, looking very frustrated.

“My mom isn’t good to me at all. She’s been beating and scolding me since I was little, and she won’t let me go to school. Tell me, whose family is like this? Look at your dad. Isn’t your mom trying her best to let your little brother go to school? Unlike my mom, who’s trying her hardest to stop me.”

Tong Manwen looked at Tong Qing’s room, his expression full of envy.

“I’d rather switch places with your little brother. I’d prefer to have no parents than to have her.”

“Manwen, you’re going too far with those words. After all, she gave birth to you and raised you for so many years. You should still have a conscience as a person.”

Su Xin poured him a glass of water. Tong Manwen was quite tall and sturdy, even though he was only fourteen, he was already very tall. But Tong Manwen’s mother, Yang Cui, was so fierce, she didn’t hold back at all when hitting her children.

“Sister Ah Ning, I can’t explain it clearly to you. Anyway, the situation is really bad. I think I’ll go back after a couple of days. Sometimes I really wonder, my mom treasures my uncle like he’s something special. If you didn’t know better, you’d think my uncle was her child.”

Tong Manwen snorted lightly in dissatisfaction.

“Nonsense, Brother Tong Xi is so old, he’s only a few years younger than your mom, how could she have given birth to him?”

“I know, sigh, if it wasn’t for the fact that my mom really doesn’t have anything going on with my uncle, I’d truly suspect…”

“You’re talking rubbish.”

Su Xin patted Tong Manwen’s head, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

“I think you’d better explain things clearly to your mom. Maybe she’s just too worried about your uncle, afraid that he’ll resent you, so she’s putting on an act.”

“How could my uncle possibly resent me? He’s got some nerve, eating at our place, living at our place, not doing anything.”

Tong Manwen shook his head quickly.

“I’m not going back, I’m not going back. We’ll talk about it in a couple of days when my uncle is better.”

“Suit yourself, but if your mom comes looking for you, I’m going to open the door.”

“I know, I know, thanks, Sister Ah Ning.”

Tong Manwen ran into Tong Qing’s room. Tong Qing was reading a book, and Tong Manwen pestered Tong Qing to teach him to read.

Even though Tong Manwen was five years older than Tong Qing, Tong Qing looked much more mature than him. His little face was serious, holding those books, looking just like an old scholar.

“What’s this character? How do you pronounce this?”

Tong Manwen’s energetic voice came from next door. Su Xin let Fourteen keep an eye on them and went back to watching a movie.

Not long after, Tong Manwen’s mom came knocking on the door. She grabbed Tong Manwen by the ear and dragged him away, with Tong Manwen crying out in pain.

“You little brat, you dare to try entering another girl’s house again?”

“Ouch, I see Ah Ning as a sister, what do you mean another girl… Okay, okay, I get it, please stop pulling…”

Tong Manwen wailed, while Yang Cui smiled apologetically at Su Xin.

“Kids don’t know manners, Ning girl, please don’t mind.”

“It’s okay, Aunt Cui.”

“But you know, Ning girl, you’re this old now, haven’t you thought about finding someone to share your burdens?”

Yang Cui let go of Tong Manwen’s hand and changed her tone while speaking to Su Xin.

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