NOVEL NEXT Chapter 659 - 659: Are You Afraid Of Death?
Chapter 659: Are You Afraid Of Death?
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
“Why… why is there something hidden here?”
Mrs. Zhou was very surprised.
Su Ying opened the bundle and found two sets of black clothes and a headscarf inside.
“This… this is two sets of clothes? Why would anyone bury two sets of clothes here?”
It would be fine if these two sets of clothes were ordinary coarse linen clothes, but they were two sets of black clothes. Ordinary people would not wear black clothes and a headscarf for no reason.
Su Ying put the bundle back and walked around the forest. After finding nothing else, she walked out with Mrs. Zhou.
“Don’t snatch my sweet potatoes. Those are mine.”
As soon as they walked out, they heard a dispute not far away.
The two women exchanged glances and walked towards the source of the sound.
The sound of quarreling came from a small path near the three-way intersection. This path happened to be sandwiched between two houses.
Li Cuihua was shoving Naughty Dog. The two of them were fighting over a bag of sweet potatoes.
“You little bastard! Let go at once. You should have died earlier, but you still have the guts to come here and waste food. Give me the sweet potatoes quickly, or I’ll beat you to death!”
“This is mine. You let go. Otherwise, Hl tell everyone what your son did, and all of you will be in trouble!”
“Bah! Who would believe the words of a little bastard like you? Go ahead and tell. Go ahead and shout. Let’s see if anyone will believe you!”
“Your son wanted to take advantage of Er Ni and then blame it on those black-robed men. If the black-robed men knew, you guys wouldn’t be able to have it easy!”
Both Mrs. Zhou and Su Ying’s eyes widened. Mrs. Zhou wanted to step forward, but Su Ying stopped her.
“Don’t be anxious. That kid might not lose.”
Sure enough, when Li Cuihua was momentarily inattentive, Naughty Dog kicked her ankle. Li Cuihua cried out in pain and released her grip. Naughty Dog immediately grabbed the bag of sweet potatoes and ran into the house behind him.
“You bastard! How dare you hit me! I must skin you alive!”
Li Cuihua was not prepared to swallow this. She went up and banged loudly on the gate, but the gate was solid. Not only could she not open it by banging but her hands also turned red. Li Cuihua was furious, but since she could not enter, she could only curse and leave.
After she left, Su Ying and Mrs. Zhou emerged from the shadows.
“City Lord, there is indeed something fishy about that matter.”
“Aunt, bring some food to me. I’ll go meet that child.”
Mrs. Zhou nodded and went back to get some coarse-grain steamed buns and a few boiled eggs. She put everything in a basket.
Su Ying carried the basket to the gate of Naughty Dog’s house and knocked on it.
However, after knocking for a while, there was still no movement in the courtyard.
“I’m here to deliver something. Open the door.”
Soon, the sound of light footsteps could be heard from the courtyard. A while later, the courtyard gate was opened warily, and a pair of watchful eyes appeared behind the crack.
“Who are you? What are you delivering? It’s not the time for the distribution of sweet potatoes now.”
Su Ying swung the bamboo basket in her hand. “The village chief asked me to bring this to you. He said he was worried about a child like you living alone, so he asked me to bring you some food to nourish your body.”
Naughty Dog was a little puzzled, but he could not resist the temptation of the food in the basket. Thus, he obediently opened the courtyard gate.
Su Ying carried the basket into the house.
Though the child was still young, the courtyard was quite well-kept.
“Don’t you have to go and develop the wasteland today?”
Su Ying placed the basket on the table and casually replied, “I’ve already taken care of the land that is mine. There’s no need to go every day.”
Su Ying took out a boiled egg from the basket and cracked it on the table. The instant the eggshell cracked, the fragrance of the egg wafted out.
Naughty Dog’s eyes were wide open. He couldn’t remember how long it had been since he tasted an egg.
The peeled egg was smooth and tender, and it looked very tempting.
“Eat it. You’re still growing. You should eat something good.”
Naughty Dog looked at Su Ying in bewilderment, but in the end, he could not resist the temptation of the egg. He grabbed the egg and ate it in two bites.
“There are a few more here. You can eat them slowly.”
“Village… Village Chief is… is really kind to me.”
“Since Uncle Village Chief is so good to you, shouldn’t you share his worries and solve his problems?”
Naughty Dog blinked in bafflement. “I can perform tasks for Uncle Village Chief. I can chop firewood and plant crops for him.”
Su Ying slowly shook her head. “These are all small matters. You can do it for him anytime. Recently, he encountered a problem that gave him a headache. You know about that incident about Sister Er Ni, right? She was almost humiliated by the black-robed men. Now the people in the village are furious, including your Uncle Village Chief. They are thinking of fighting with those black-robed men.”
“Fighting the black-robed men?”
“That’s right. If we fight, we’ll be at a disadvantage.”
“We have many people too,” the child replied. Su Ying smiled. True to her expectations, a child who could survive a disaster would not be a simple character.
“Do you think all of you can defeat the black-robed men?”
Naughty Dog was silent. It was as if he was seriously thinking about this problem.
“I don’t know. They seem a little powerful.”
“They have killed many people before, you know. If you guys really fight, all of you can forget about living.”
Naughty Dog’s expression changed at once. Perhaps he had never thought of such a possibility.
“Then… then what should we do?”
“Village Chief said that the black-robed men would not attack for no reason, but we can’t let them off so easily for taking advantage of Er Ni. Otherwise, they will really think that we are pushovers for them to manipulate at will in the future!”
“But they weren’t the ones who took advantage of Sister Er Ni.”
As soon as Naughty Dog uttered these words, he realized that he had said something wrong. He quickly covered his mouth and stared at Su Ying.
Su Ying calmly peeled another egg. “How could it not be them? So many people saw it at that time. Don’t tell me all of them were mistaken?”
“They didn’t see it! I saw it!” Naughty Dog looked intently at the egg as he replied anxiously.
“What did you see? Didn’t you simply see the black-robed man bullying Er Ni?”
“No, those were not the black-robed men. It’s Li Hai and the rest. They were the ones who wanted to bully Sister Er Ni!”
Upon hearing this, Su Ying placed the egg in front of him. “No one will believe what you’re saying. Do you have any evidence?”
“I do! That night, I saw them run sneakily into the woods after fleeing. They buried something in the woods.”
Su Ying raised an eyebrow silently. “Then why didn’t you tell Village Chief when you saw it?”
Naughty Dog quickly stuffed the egg into his mouth and mumbled, “I don’t dare to tell. They will beat me to death.”
Su Ying gave a soft chuckle. “But if you don’t say anything, you will still be killed if the two sides really start fighting. Are you afraid of death, Naughty Dog?”
Naughty Dog was stunned momentarily. “I’m afraid of death. I don’t want to die.”
“Then go and tell Village Chief that it wasn’t the black-robed men who hurt Er Ni. It was Li Hai and the others.”
Naughty Dog hesitated a little.
“If you tell the truth, the Village Chief will trust you more and you will get more delicious food.. Don’t you want the food?”