Chapter 14: 12

Chapter 12 – Mountain God

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Late at night, the main room was dim with the lit candle.

Zhang Xing and Li Yunzhen were discussing how to deal with Lin Xiaoyin’s matter when the sound of a woman’s cursing and a child’s weeping came from the courtyard.

The mother and son pushed open the door, and saw a woman with a 13-year-old boy outside the door.

Li Yunzhen asked, “Bao’s mother, what are you doing? Did you beat Little Bao again?”

“It’s good that I didn’t beat him to death!” Li Su smacked the back of her son’s head and spoke angrily, “Village Chief, what the hell did those teachers teach the kids? No wonder the female teacher surnamed Lin was missing, most likely offended the mountain god and was taken to heaven to be the lord mountain god’s wife.”

Li Yunzhen asked her amiably, “What happened ah?”

Li Su huffed, “Aren’t I about to take Niuniu to Lijia Village to exchange a wife for him? This stinky brat, actually hid Niuniu! He even said … the teacher said there must be freedom of marriage. Girls should also go to school and it is wrong to use the family’s girls to exchange marriage for the boys … is this what the teacher should teach?”

Hearing this, Li Yunzhen looked towards Li Chuan’s room and hurriedly beckoned the mother and son into the main room.

Zhang Xing pulled Bao-er to sit in front of him and urged in a low voice, “Bao’er, then you are in the wrong. Your mother took Niuniu to Lijia Village to exchange a wife for you, why did you still hide Niuniu? Where did you hide Niuniu?”

The boy named Bao’er clasped his arms and snorted with a twisted face, “Mother, Niuniu is my younger sister who was also birthed by you! Niuniu is only 10 years old, how can you be so cruel!”

The woman twisted his ears, “Stinky brat, your sister is precisely the money-losing commodity[1] who was born to exchange a marriage for you, and otherwise what’s the use of her? If you weren’t a boy, you would have long been thrown into the latrine pit and drowned by me!”

The little boy knocked his mother’s hand away then bit the flesh between the thumb and forefinger of his mother’s hand before sliding off the bench and quickly ran out.

The woman was so angry that she stomped her foot, hammered her fist on the square table and knitted her eyebrows with anger, “Village Chief, according to me, those teachers were precisely here to destroy the harmony of our village on purpose which is just too exasperating! Now that Teacher Zhang has left, Teacher Lin and Er’wa are missing, the whole village is in a state of anxiety, and all these happened after those teachers’ arrival. The arrival of outsiders into the village might have offended the mountain gods ah!”

The mother and son were silent.

The woman added, “Village Chief, tomorrow you go and talk to that teacher named Li, let him leave. My son will not attend his class anymore.”

Thinking of Lin Xiaoyin’s disappearance without a trace and if Lin Xiaoyin comes back to confront him, Teacher Lin will definitely know what he had done. So no matter which standpoint he is on, Teacher Li must leave.

“Okay.” Unfurling the furrow of his eyebrows, Zhang Xing heaved a sigh, “Bao’s mother, you go back first. I will discuss with Teacher Li tomorrow and ask him to leave the day after tomorrow, and go back to teach in Tongluo Township.”

Another night passed.

Before dawn, Yun Fei brought some dry food and water to the mountain temple. Yun Fei was inevitably the earliest family member to go up the mountain to deliver food for his ‘wife’ everyday, fearing that his ‘wife’ would starve.

Su Qin asked him, “How is it? Is there any news from Teacher Li?”

Yun Fei shook his head with a solemn expression, “When I left the village, I heard the villagers say Teacher Li will leave tomorrow.”

“What?” Meng Sisi looked shocked and said anxiously, “Teacher Li is leaving at this time? But Teacher Zhang hasn’t come back yet ah? If Teacher Li leaves, then won’t we have to go back to that home again and be … “

The little girl couldn’t speak out the word ‘abuse’. The accumulated tears within the rims of her eyes were held back from trickling down.

Glancing at the disabled girl who looked like a corpse lying on the ground, Su Qin then looked at Wen Mei whose head hung low without uttering a word.

It seemed the hope of many days were futile that they seemingly have to confront death again.

Although they didn’t have enough to eat or covered with warmth on the mountain temple these days, they were somehow safe without having to go back to be tortured and abused by their ‘husbands’. These few days have been the happiest days for the several girls in the village.

Su Qin held the hands of both the girls and got silent too.

After a long while, she looked up and told Yun Fei, “Feifei, please go to the Village Chief’s house again. I want to make sure whether Teacher Li has handed over the marked map to Teacher Zhang.”

Although Su Qin had not personally met Zhang Chang in this lifetime, if those things had really handed over to him, then she could feel much relieved and ultimately risk everything to escape with the girls.

Though Zhang Cheng is a bad-tempered policeman, he is dedicated to his duty. As long as the evidence is in his hands, he will never let go unless he is dead.

**********

They would only eat a little of the dry food that the mountain’s ‘families’ delivered these days which was barely enough to fill their stomachs. And the rest, they would wrap it up in cloth.

The food they saved could last for about three to four days.

She can no longer take the girls back. They must leave here first and hide in the cave for a few days until Zhang Cheng brings the police back.

Since Zhang Cheng had brought along the important evidence, even without Meng Sisi’s family pressure, the police will soon set out to rescue them.

Su Qin vaguely remembered the previous lifetime’s Meng Sisi, who was sold to a man 25 years older, was subjected to every possible abuse that this pampered girl of an affluent family suffered a nervous breakdown and went crazy.

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And Wen Mei’s ending was even more tragic. She was sold to a short-tempered ugly man. Since she was obstinate in temperament, she took the scissors and cut off the genitals of the man sleeping next to her after a few nights before she ultimately commit suicide by slitting her wrists.

Su Qin could not let them go back. She had to take the girls up the mountain for the time being.

In her previous lifetime, Su Qin and Yun Fei were discovered by the villagers with torches who chased them all the way when they escaped to the cave. After the two of them got into the cave, they had no choice but to jump off the waterfall.

But in this lifetime, they will leave the mountain temple and inevitably not alert the villagers. Even if the villagers search the mountain, they may not be able to find that cave in a few days.

Since they want to escape, they can’t implicate anyone.

In the afternoon, Yun Fei met up with Li Chuan and was affirmed that the map had been given to Zhang Cheng.

Su Qin told Uncle Wen first, asking him to feign sickness early tomorrow morning and go down the mountain to take leave from Zhang Xing, and tell Zhang Xing’s mother and son that Lin Xiaoyin is actually hiding in the mountain temple.

Uncle Wen was puzzled.

Meng Sisi was baffled too and spoke out in surprise at once, “What is this going to do? Although I don’t like that woman, but …I don’t want her to be harmed too.”

Su Qin explained, “Not to harm her. We have to escape, but we can’t implicate Grandpa Wen. Li Yunzhen and Zhang Xing, have yet to confess about Teacher Lin’s matter to the villagers. Grandpa Wen will go down the mountain to ask for sick leave tomorrow morning. If both the mother and son know that Teacher Lin is here, they will certainly come up to keep watch the mountain temple themselves. When the time comes, the few of us can bring down Li Yunzhen together.”

“Li Yunzhen is Zhang Xing’s mother. If we escape during her watch, can he blame his own mother?”

The few people were understood in a flash.

Wen Mei gave her a thumbs up, “Su-su, it’s still you who thought this through.”

Yun Fei stared at Su Qin intently.

The girl’s head was wrapped up in cloth with only her pair of eyes revealed, so he stared at those eyes of hers in dazed and lost in thought.

“Hey, Fool, why are you staring at our sister Su Qin like this?”

Meng Sisi poked Yun Fei’s temple with her finger.

Regaining his senses, Yun Fei’s gaze met Su Qin’s skimming glance that his heartbeat instantly accelerated and his cheeks reddened at a speed visible to the naked eyes.

Su Qin coughed lightly and then said, “Feifei, we will flee tomorrow night. You will come up the mountain as usual tomorrow and the morning after, you will come up early then go down the mountain in tears, telling them that we are gone. Remember, you must pretend to cry very sadly, okay? When the police arrive, we will leave together.”

Leave together? Where to? To the outside world and find his so-called father?

After all these years, is his father still waiting for him and his mother? Will he still wait?

After dinner, Zhang Xing came to Li Chuan’s room again to talk to him.

“Teacher Li, it’s not that I don’t want to keep you here. Two people in our village had gone missing one after another. We’re afraid we’ve offended the mountain gods that we really don’t dare to keep you here anymore ah. Several villagers have come to make noise during the day, saying that you have misguided their children. I really … have no reason to keep you any longer. According to the rules of you city people, I have sent someone to go down the mountain to report to the police. You can just leave the matter of finding the person to those police, what can you do by staying here?”

Zhang Xing’s words had clearly stated.

Li Chuan looked at the man embarrassedly, “Teacher Lin is nowhere to be found, how can I go down the mountain by myself? Village Chief – “

The man’s throat moved and he grasped Zhang Xing’s hand as he choked with sobs, “I have a crush on Teacher Lin for a long time, I will not leave no matter what if she is not found.”

Zhang Xing “ …….. “

Li Chuan knows exactly what kind of a person Zhang Xing is.

A fugitive murderer and a desperado. If he wants to stay assertively, he might provoke the man’s anger and get himself killed.

Li Chuan simply settled for the second choice, “Village Chief Zhang, you let me stay one more day. Let me wait one more day, okay?”

Zhang Xing looked at Li Chuan. The rims of the man’s eyes actually reddened slightly. This is … going to cry?

He cursed motherf*cker under his breath. The city men, are all so f*cking ‘unreasonably zealous’? Cry the fart ah.

Zhang Xing spoke impatiently, “Fine, fine, fine. Let you stay one more day then, but you don’t take the children to the mountain tomorrow, just stay in my family’s courtyard.”

“Thank you.”

Fuming with anger, Zhang Xing slammed the door. He really couldn’t stand the scholarly and bookish nerd. He still prefers the spontaneous and heroic type like Zhang Cheng. He and Teacher Zhang have indeed met too late!

Li Chuan stared at the departing man’s back and his slightly reddish eyes instantly turned into sharp cold gaze.

 

[1] 赔钱货 (Péiqián huò) – an old derogatory term for girls because girls couldn’t go out to earn money and her family had to prepare dowry when she got married, hence the name.

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