Volume 2: The Days of Playing with Monkeys in the Village
Miracle?
No wonder she is going to give birth after only six months of pregnancy.
Xiaolou turned and squeezed into the crowd, looking towards the deity statue in the courtyard.
Just as she expected: the stone statue had changed. The last time they saw it, it had no face, but now it did.
Although there was still some difference from a real person, anyone could see: this newly grown face was exactly the same as that of the big brother who was carried away.
She looked at the man facing the same direction as her. The man was staring intently at the statue, as if reminiscing about something. Finally, he smiled at Xiaolou with an unclear meaning, pressed his palms together, and bowed slightly to the statue from across the crowd; Liu Zhuangshi in the courtyard followed suit, kowtowing with his head hitting the ground with a “dong dong” sound. The scene from yesterday played out again, except the roles were reversed this time.
Others also heard the sound of Liu Zhuangshi’s kowtowing, each thud like a drumbeat striking at their hearts, causing everyone to recall some scenes they were unwilling to remember.
Shen Maomao quietly asked, “How is it, Sister Lou?”
Lou Jingmo replied, “A face has grown on the statue.”
Shen Maomao exclaimed, “Whose face?!”
Lou Jingmo pointed at the man, “His.”
Shao Mei quietly shuffled her steps, trying to move as far away from the man’s position as possible.
Shen Maomao also thought there was something wrong with the man, but she suppressed her fear and didn’t move, continuing to talk with Lou Jingmo, “Then the one kowtowing is…”
“It’s Liu Zhuangshi.”
Truly, the wheel of fortune turns…
As she was thinking this, suddenly Aunt Zhang’s voice came from inside the house, “The baby is born…”
The villagers watching collectively applauded, welcoming the arrival of new life with their claps. Liu Zhuangshi, with his face covered in blood, got up from the ground and was about to rush into the house.
It was Zhang Jianshe who stopped him, telling him to wipe off the blood before going in, so as not to scare his wife and child.
Not even the blood could hide the joy on Liu Zhuangshi’s face. He didn’t care about the wound on his head and hastily wiped his face with a towel, then tossed it aside and headed straight upstairs.
Immediately after, a cry of surprise came from upstairs, “How is this possible?!”
“What are you doing?!” Accompanied by Aunt Zhang’s angry scolding, a red, glistening thing was thrown down from the second floor, landing with a “splat” on the ground, spraying blood in all directions. Then came the second, third, and fourth…
“Liu Zhuangshi! Have you gone mad?!!”
“That’s not my child!”
Everything happened in an instant, with the woman’s screams and the man’s roars mingling together, creating chaos on the scene.
Hearing only the sounds, Shen Maomao couldn’t hold back her curiosity and turned to see what was happening, but Lou Jingmo quickly covered her eyes.
“Don’t look.”
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Shen Maomao’s body stiffened, and she slowly closed her eyes, her long eyelashes brushing against Lou Jingmo’s palm.
Below, the villagers were in disarray, looking at each other in confusion, and no one dared to go into the courtyard to see what had been thrown down.
In the end, it was Zhang Jianshe who went over, picked up the things that had been thrown to the ground one by one, placed them in his hand, and sighed deeply, “It’s… monkeys…”
“How is that possible?”
“What on earth is happening?”
This single sentence stirred up a huge commotion, and the villagers were in an uproar, discussing fervently.
Lou Jingmo understood and said, “No wonder she gave birth after only six months of pregnancy; monkeys’ gestation period is usually six months.”
Shen Maomao’s legs felt weak, “Liu Zhuangshi’s wife gave birth to several… monkeys?” She hadn’t dared to count the “thud” sounds.
Lou Jingmo softly replied, “Eight.”
Praying to the gods for a child, only to end up with eight monkeys—such an occurrence would be devastating for anyone…
Shao Mei covered her mouth, dry-heaving a couple of times, and then rushed into Wang Sheng’s arms.
Yun Shengjin saw that Lou Jingmo was fine after looking at the statue and turned to rush directly into the courtyard to observe the situation at the front of the crowd. The two newcomers he brought didn’t dare to go in and were left trembling where they stood.
The conversation upstairs continued, with Aunt Zhang, who had been delivering the baby, angrily scolding, “This is the miracle of the Monkey God! And you actually threw down the Monkey God’s children! You will face retribution!”
Liu Zhuangshi laughed maniacally, “It’s all fake! Fake…”
Lou Jingmo took a deep breath, “Let’s go; there’s no need to watch any further.” With that, she was about to lead Shen Maomao away from the Liu family.
Just as she turned around, a loud crash sounded behind her, accompanied by several screams.
Lou Jingmo quickly turned around and saw Liu Zhuangshi lying in a red cloth, with shattered stone pieces beneath him.
The statue had been smashed…
Blood mixed with the red cloth, making it impossible to tell if it came from a human or the statue.
“Hurry and take him to Doctor Zhao! See if he can be saved!” A crowd rushed into the courtyard, hastily lifting Liu Zhuangshi. Someone shouted to the onlookers at the entrance, “Clear the way!” The people blocking the door quickly stepped aside, and several men hurriedly carried Liu Zhuangshi away, leaving a trail of dripping blood.
What was supposed to be a joyous occasion ended in such a tragic way, truly a cause for lament.
Zhang Jianshe placed the tiny monkeys he had picked up in front of the shattered statue, pressed his palms together, and bowed. The others followed suit, making the players standing upright seem particularly out of place.
There really was no need to watch any further.
Shen Maomao felt a heavy, indescribable sensation in her heart, like a large stone weighing her down, making it hard to breathe.
Seeing that they were about to leave, Ye Tingnan hurriedly stretched out his arm to stop them, “Wait! Senior Lou, and Senior Rabbit.”
Lou Jingmo looked at him, while her sidekick, Shen Maomao, quickly asked, “What do you want?”
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In the group of five, only three were present, and all three looked at them. Ye Tingnan said, “Wu Menghan is missing… Can everyone help us look for her?”
Shen Maomao wasn’t too surprised upon hearing this, as Wei Yu had mentioned it to her last night.
Lou Jingmo asked, “How long has she been missing?”
Shao Mei wiped her tears and said, “Yesterday, Ye Tingnan and the other two boys went to the back mountain with Senior Yun. In the afternoon, it was just her and me together. We were staying in the house just fine, but she suddenly said she felt very scared. I didn’t take it seriously and just said a couple of words to her, telling her not to be so paranoid, and then she just left on her own…”
A series of strange events had been shaking Shao Mei’s worldview, and the disappearance of her teammate became the last straw that broke the camel’s back, completely shattering the already fragile walls of her belief. Her attitude towards ghosts and spirits shifted from ignorance and fearlessness to fear and dread. She wasn’t sure if this change was good or bad…
Lou Jingmo said, “Besides us, you’ve probably asked everyone else, right?”
Ye Tingnan nodded heavily.
After Wu Menghan went missing, they searched for half a day but found nothing. Later, they went around asking other veteran players for help in finding her, but without exception, all of them refused their request.
Lou Jingmo said, “I share their attitude; there’s no point in searching for someone who’s gone missing. There’s an eighty percent chance that she’s dead.”
Shao Mei exclaimed in disbelief, “But that’s a human life! How can you be like this?!”
Shen Maomao didn’t know what to say. She had thought that this young lady had matured after going through so many haunting incidents, but it turned out she still had that attitude where everyone should revolve around her.
Wang Xiaoming seemed to particularly dislike Shao Mei and said to her bluntly, “Young lady, please wake up. We’re here to save our own lives, not to do charity. A person willing to lend you a hand in times of danger is a good person, but there are no good people in this game. You end up here because of all the bad things you’ve done, including you all, understand? And didn’t you just not like that friend of yours? Why are you looking for her now that she’s missing?”
Shao Mei’s face turned pale, and she struggled to lower her noble head. “I didn’t…”
Before she could finish, no one knew whether she meant to say “I didn’t dislike her” or “I didn’t do anything bad.”
Shen Maomao and Lou Jingmo returned with Zhang Jianshe and his wife. Along the way, the elderly couple kept sighing. Zhang Jianshe even lit a cigarette, taking a couple of puffs with a worried expression, “Oh… how did it come to this?”
Aunt Zhang glared at Zhang Jianshe reproachfully, “Don’t say such things. That Liu family boy just doesn’t understand! This is a divine miracle. He killed the Monkey God’s children, and the Monkey God will surely punish him! If such a thing happened to our family, I would definitely take good care of the little monkeys. Maybe we could even meet the Monkey God.”
Zhang Jianshe sighed again, silently smoked, and said nothing more.
Since the situation didn’t happen to Aunt Zhang, she could comment on it with an indifferent attitude. If she knew that her beloved little grandson was also a monkey… who knows if she would still have the same expression.
By the time they returned, it was already noon. Zhang Aiguo’s wife had prepared lunch, waiting for the elderly couple who had been busy all morning to come back.
The elderly couple had just sat down to eat when they heard the voice of the village chief coming through the village loudspeaker.
“Hello, hello, can you hear me? I have something to announce. Please have one representative from each household participating in the sacrifice come to my house for a meeting. There are some changes to this year’s sacrifice that need to be discussed. I’ll say it again…”
This was repeated three times.
Zhang Jianshe, the head of the household, stood up, intending to attend the meeting, but Aunt Zhang, concerned for him, stopped him, “You haven’t had a bite to eat since early morning. Why are you going to the meeting? Let our eldest go. If there’s anything uncertain, don’t agree to it right away. Note it down and discuss it at home before making a decision.”
Zhang Aiguo set out to attend the meeting as instructed, while the elderly couple continued their meal.
Shen Maomao seized the opportunity to ask, “Aunt Zhang, what kind of tree is the big one in the yard?”
Aunt Zhang glanced up at the tree, “That’s a jujube tree! You didn’t come at the right time. If you were to come in the fall, you could enjoy the jujubes!”
“That’s really a shame,” Shen Maomao thought to herself, even if she came in the fall, she wouldn’t dare eat the fruit from this tree, not knowing what might be inside it.
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After finishing her meal, Aunt Zhang tidied up the dishes and went to the kitchen, with her daughter-in-law helping her clean up.
Shen Maomao and Lou Jingmo sat on small stools around the tree, while the mischievous child watched them eerily from a distance.
“What are you looking at?” Shen Maomao raised her fist at him. “Go play by yourself.”
The mischievous child mimicked her gesture, “What are you looking at? Go play by yourself!”
This immediately reminded her of the night they first entered the village, with the group of children behind them mimicking their actions…
md, could it be that all those children were monkeys as well?
The author has something to say:
Because Chapter 35 was under review, the update was delayed until now. I’m so, so, so sorry! My apologies! bows
I just discussed the VIP entry with the editor and then carefully checked for typos [after all, the coal mine at home can’t be modified at will]. Also, the review process is very slow now, so thank you for waiting!
There are two more chapters coming soon. I’m checking for typos one chapter at a time. If there are still any, it’s because I’m too inexperienced QWQ. You’re welcome to point them out in the group and comment section, and I’ll make corrections!!