The Hand of Confession – Chapter 255

Volume 8: The Days of the Ghost Marriage

Xiao Yu

She doesn’t like Xiao Yu-jiejie…

Shen Maomao: “…” The little fatty is really straightforward.

Time always passed especially quickly when playing, and before she knew it, the sky had grown dark.

“Zhixu¹——!”

From a distance came a call from someone unknown. The little fatty’s hand, which was flying the kite, paused. Only then did he notice the sky had already turned dark, and he instantly became a little panicked: “Oh no! The sky is dark, my mother has come to find me!”

Shen Maomao said: “Then shall we escort you over?”

The little fatty shoved the kite into her hand and said anxiously: “You hold this for me, I’m leaving!” After speaking, he hurriedly ran in the direction the voice came from.

Shen Maomao passed the kite handle to Lou Jingmo: “I’ll follow and take a look. Lou-jie, you put away the kite.”

Lou Jingmo nodded: “Okay.”

Shen Maomao lifted her skirt hem and followed closely behind the little fatty: “Run a little slower! Don’t fall!”

The little fatty did not slow down in the slightest: “It’s fine! Don’t get in the way!”

After a short while, they encountered Madam Shao running towards them.

Madam Shao’s hair was disheveled, her expression panicked, and she had even lost a shoe while running. She looked exceptionally wretched, and was like two different people² compared to her previous graceful and luxurious image.

The little fatty shouted: “Mother!”

Madam Shao immediately turned her head to look, two beams of light named hope emerging from her eyes: “Zhixu!”

Mother and son met in a sprint. Madam Shao squatted down and hugged him tightly, her eyes brimming with hot tears: “Zhixu…”

The little fatty didn’t know why his mother was crying, and only called out, at a loss: “Mother…”

PA——

The next second, a slap landed fiercely on his face. The little fatty was hit so hard his head turned to the side, and he didn’t react for a long time.

Madam Shao stared at him viciously, her tear-streaked eyes neurotically red: “Why didn’t you listen?! Why didn’t you come home?! Didn’t you say you would only play for a little while?! Are you going to abandon Mother too?!”

The little fatty was scared stupid, and with an “ao” sound, he burst out crying: “Wuu——wahhh wuu wuu…”

Madam Shao raised her hand again. The stunned Shen Maomao quickly stopped her: “Madam! Madam!! What are you hitting the Young Master for! Stop hitting him!”

As if facing a great enemy, Madam Shao immediately hugged the wailing little fatty and took a step back, looking at her with a vigilant gaze: “I am disciplining my son, what business is it of yours? A lowly servant like you, you dare to meddle in your master’s affairs?!”

With such a big accusation pinned on her, Shen Maomao quickly denied it: “I’m not, Madam! The blow lands on the Young Master, but the pain is in your heart, Madam! Look at how the Young Master is crying, his face is all red!”

Madam Shao picked the child up: “Zhixu… Mother didn’t do it on purpose… Mother was just too worried about you…”

The little fatty was still crying, crying so hard he couldn’t speak: “Wuu wuu wuu wuu…”

Madam Shao also shed tears: “Don’t cry, don’t cry… Mother will take you home… Mother will take you home…” Saying this, she dazedly walked towards the east wing-room³.

After the two had walked far away, Lou Jingmo caught up from behind at an unhurried pace and asked slowly: “What’s the situation?”

“I suspect Madam Shao has a problem here…” Shen Maomao pointed to her own head, “I’m not insulting her, but just now she was crying and laughing at the little fatty, she looked crazed… and she gave the child a slap, with such force, it hurt just watching.”

Lou Jingmo: “Then what are you doing here? Don’t you know to follow them and see?”

Shen Maomao: “?? Wasn’t I waiting for you??”

Lou Jingmo: “Do I need you to wait?”

Shen Maomao felt that the only reason she didn’t get into a fight with her must be because she was too kind. She glared at Lou Jingmo, turned her head, and chased after them, passing a group of servants lighting lanterns.

The sun had not yet completely set. The purple evening clouds on the horizon and the red lanterns in the Shao Manor complemented each other, making one involuntarily feel a kind of visual fatigue towards the color red.

Madam Shao wasn’t wearing shoes, and her feet seemed to be slightly injured. She walked very urgently while holding the child, but her speed was very slow. In just a few steps, she was overtaken by Shen Maomao and Lou Jingmo.

Shen Maomao said while following along: “Madam, your foot is injured, let me hold the Young Master?”

Madam Shao held the softly crying little fatty with one arm and pushed her with the other: “Get lost! No one can even think of snatching Zhixu from my side!” After pushing, she hugged the little fatty tightly again, squeezing the child until he wailed and cried.

Shen Maomao’s face was full of confusion: “?? What’s the situation? Was the little fatty abducted as a child? Otherwise, why would Madam Shao be so afraid of others snatching her child?“

Looking at the little fatty’s small, red-cried face, she didn’t dare to approach again and could only follow from a distance behind her.

Madam Shao’s expression was dazed, and she actually didn’t look back again.

She staggered all the way to the entrance of the east wing-room, but she stopped her steps there. Instead, she raised her head and stared blankly at the two red lanterns on the door, it was unknown what she was thinking.

The next second, she suddenly turned around and said: “Take the Young Master away.”

Shen Maomao: “Huh??”

The woman shoved the still crying and fussing child into her arms: “Hurry and take him away!”

Shen Maomao was at a loss: “Ah? Take him where?”

The little fatty hugged her neck, crying so hard he couldn’t speak.

Madam Shao’s eyes were filled with sinister emotion. She glared viciously at the child, raised a hand, and said fiercely: “No more crying!”

Shen Maomao quickly took a step back while holding the child, afraid that her slap would really fall.

Madam Shao withdrew her hand, turned her head, and continued to stare viciously at the main gate, as if looking at a class enemy: “Take him to the place you live. If tomorrow morning… forget it, you watch over the Young Master for now.”

Shen Maomao glanced at the child in her arms, and instantly her one head became four times as big⁴.

At this moment, Lou Jingmo, who was beside her, suddenly said: “We don’t have a lamp.”

Madam Shao whipped her head around.

Lou Jingmo looked at her eyes, which were full of red blood vessels, and continued speaking: “Our lamp is lost. It’s very dangerous without a lamp now, the Young Master will be in danger.”

Madam Shao’s scarce rationality made her start to consider this problem. Afterwards, she said: “Wait here…”

Then she walked into the courtyard by herself.

Shen Maomao held the little fatty and rocked him: “Oh oh, Young Master, don’t cry, don’t cry, ao.”

The little fatty sobbed twice, wiped his tears, and said softly: “Why doesn’t Mother like me?”

Shen Maomao was a little silent: “This… your mother doesn’t dislike you, she’s just too worried about you.”

The little fatty shook his head: “Mother doesn’t like me, and she doesn’t like me making friends, wuu wuu wuu…”

When Lou Jingmo heard this, she immediately asked: “Which friend of yours does she not like?”

The little fatty said while crying: “She doesn’t like Xiao Yu-jiejie…”

Shen Maomao: “…” A friend with such bad intentions, no parent would like them…

Taking advantage of the fact that Madam Shao hadn’t returned yet, she asked: “How did you get to know Xiao Yu-jiejie?”

“Before, I was playing by the well and almost fell in. It was Xiao Yu-jiejie who saved me…”

Shen Maomao’s face showed a suspicious expression.

This Xiao Yu, since she had plans to eat the child, why would she go to the extra trouble of saving his life?

Lou Jingmo stated a possibility: “Perhaps at the beginning, she didn’t plan to eat him.”

But as time went on, and with the addition of certain reasons, her thoughts perhaps underwent some kind of unknown change…

After a while, the courtyard’s main gate was opened. Madam Shao, who had already tidied her clothes and looked much more normal, walked out. Following behind her was Haitang, who had sewn the kite for them. Haitang was also holding two life-saving oil lamps in her hands.

Madam Shao said: “In a moment, take the Young Master to the kitchen to eat, then carry him to your room to sleep.”

Shen Maomao: “Yes, Madam…”

Madam Shao gave Haitang a look, and Haitang consciously took a step forward with the oil lamps and said: “Let’s go. The Young Master hasn’t eaten yet. I’ll take you to the kitchen and order someone to cook.”

The little fatty silently lay on Shen Maomao’s shoulder, being arranged without a sound.

Haitang said: “The Young Master is quite heavy, let me hold him for a while.”

Shen Maomao glanced at Madam Shao, saw that she had no objection, and handed the little fatty to her, getting two lanterns in return. She instantly felt much lighter.

The four of them walked silently towards the kitchen.

The sun had completely disappeared, the moon quietly climbed up the branches, and the sky had at some point become shrouded in a layer of dark clouds, not a single star could be seen.

A night wind suddenly rose. The icy wind was mixed with willow leaves, tree shadows swayed on the ground, and the surface of the pool reflected a shimmering red light, seeming to be some kind of ominous sign.

Tomorrow is the wedding, but apart from these red lanterns, the Shao Manor showed no signs of a wedding at all.

It was unknown if Steward Shao had checked the red paper, but thinking about it, with the wedding approaching, he probably didn’t have extra time to question them.

The four arrived at the kitchen, only to find upon entering that the players were actually all there.

This “all there” simply referred to the people who were still alive.

Cheng Rui, Jiang You, Potato Chip, Su Han, Yun Shengjin, Tang Lusen, and another male player with a not-so-high presence, who called himself Zhou Tian.

Upon seeing them enter with an NPC, holding a child and carrying two oil lamps, everyone in the room was stunned for a moment.

Su Han looked at them, clearly wanting to say something, but guessing that an NPC was present, she could only swallow the words she wanted to say back into her stomach.

This time was already past the dinner hour; the head chef had long since gone back to his room to sleep. Haitang looked around and asked: “Does any of you know how to stir-fry?”

All the players shook their heads.

“Forget it.” Haitang frowned, placing the little fatty, who was drowsy from crying, on the ground. “You hold the Young Master, I’ll go make something.” After speaking, she called on Lou Jingmo to be her assistant.

Shen Maomao placed the oil lamp on the table and sat down beside Su Han. She shook the little fatty awake, had him sit on the long bench by himself, and said: “Young Master, you sit here by yourself for now, Auntie Haitang has gone to make you something to eat.”

The little fatty nodded, propping his chin on his hands to watch them eat.

Over there, the sound of the fire burning and the sound of Haitang setting a pot and heating oil rang out together. Su Han took the opportunity to whisper: “How did you bring this little ancestor over?”

Shen Maomao answered truthfully: “You think I wanted to?”

Su Han: “You have no idea how I was tortured by him before…”

The little fatty also recognized Su Han and instantly forgot everything else, pointing at Su Han and saying: “I remember you! You, come over here and let me ride the big horse!”

Su Han: “…What the f…”

Shen Maomao: “Don’t swear in front of a child!”

Su Han: “…” Life is too difficult.

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