?38: Chapter 38 Major Events 38: Chapter 38 Major Events Cheng Rurong had drunk pesticide, and Liu Hun instinctively felt it must be related to the contracted mountain of her family.

    Apart from the contracted mountain, Cheng Rurong really had nothing else worth causing a fuss over, so he immediately dashed to Widow Cheng Rurong’s home with Gazi.

    Upon hearing the commotion, Du Yueling quickly followed the two men, but her pace wasn’t as fast because after each massage from Liu Hun, she would feel as if something was darting around inside her body, and when it flickered to certain sensitive areas it was particularly embarrassing.

    Although it was evening, the gates of Cheng Rurong’s home were wide open.

    As Liu Hun rushed in, he saw Qin Yue, frantic as a grasshopper, about to jump out of her skin.

    Then he noticed Cheng Rurong lying flat on the bed with only a thin, short shirt on, revealing nothing underneath, while the broken glass bottle on the floor beside the bed must have contained the pesticide.

    “What do we do?

    What do we do?” Qin Yue spun anxiously around the room, her mind utterly blank, unable to think of any tactics.

    When she saw Liu Hun, she immediately grabbed him and said, “Hunzi, Cheng Rurong has taken poison!

    Think of something quick!”

    “Don’t panic, Sister Qin Yue!” After pulling Qin Yue aside, Liu Hun went over to Cheng Rurong, checked for her breath, and felt somewhat relieved.

    “What do we do now?” Qin Yue craned her neck, on the verge of tearing her shirt corner with her hands.

    “Stomach wash, make her vomit out the pesticide,” Du Yueling said as she walked in, even though she arrived late, she could tell what had happened by looking at the shattered pesticide bottles on the ground.

    Liu Hun initially wanted to make up some excuse to use Qi Force directly, but now that Du Yueling had spoken, he had to follow through, so he told Qin Yue, “Go find a teapot filled with water and bring me a tube.”

    “Teapot...

    Oh!

    Right, right!” Qin Yue took a moment to realize what he was talking about, then she hurried into the kitchen.

    Liu Hun helped Cheng Rurong to sit up and then held her in his arms, slipping one hand through her armpit.

    Soon, Qin Yue came running over, lugging a teapot full of water, and gasped, “What do we do next?”

    “I’ll open her mouth, you insert the tube, and then flush her with water!” said Liu Hun as his hands pried open Cheng Rurong’s jaws.

    Seeing the situation, Du Yueling came over to help.

    Following Liu Hun’s instructions, they inserted the tube and began vigorously pouring water from the large teapot into Cheng Rurong’s mouth.

    After pouring almost half a pot, there was still no reaction from Cheng Rurong, and Du Yueling and Qin Yue grew frantic.

    “What do we do?

    If she doesn’t vomit after more flushing, she’ll become a water balloon!” Qin Yue wiped the sweat off with the back of her hand, even more worried that Cheng Rurong’s belly might burst.

    “Lift her up, let her spit it out!” Liu Hun said, while simultaneously stimulating Qi Force towards Cheng Rurong’s stomach.

    “Cough, cough, cough...

    cough, cough, cough...

    vomit...” After coughing, Cheng Rurong opened her mouth and spewed out water and pesticide like a flood, Du Yueling sat behind her, gently patting her back, and it took a while for Cheng Rurong to finally ease up.

    Qin Yue anxiously asked Cheng Rurong, “Why do such a foolish thing?

    What can’t you get through?”

    After sniffling and sobbing for a while, Cheng Rurong said, “That old and muddled mother-in-law of mine, I don’t know who incited her, insisted on forcing me to transfer the contracted mountain.

    I disagreed, and she cursed me, saying I would bring her death.”

    In Wanbao Village, the villagers either contract fields or mountains, really having nothing else to offer.

    “Transfer the contracted mountain?

    To whom?” Qin Yue blurted out, finding the matter truly odd.

    Cheng Rurong, exhausted, shook her head and said, “How would I know?

    She wouldn’t tell me.

    I just said no, and she cursed me.”

    As everyone was discussing inside, suddenly the yard came alive.

    The once quiet space, as silent as a cellar, had turned into a bustling marketplace in the blink of an eye.

    “You all look after Auntie Cheng; I’ll go take a look.” Liu Hun told Qin Yue and Du Yueling, then left the room and walked into the yard.

    “Aiyo!

    It really is a stone person!

    When someone said there was a stone person in Widow Cheng’s yard, I didn’t believe it.

    Look, isn’t that one dug out?”

    “It’s just you old men and women who lack experience.

    What’s so strange about a stone person?

    It might be an antique from some dynasty!”

    “You just think you’re knowledgeable?

    Don’t dream!

    Look at that thing, it’s as ghostly as it can be; could that still be an antique?”

    “...”

    As soon as Liu Hun entered the yard, he heard the chatter of the crowd.

    However, what struck him as odd was that all the old women were at the forefront to see the commotion, with Qin Yue’s mother-in-law and Bai Lian’s aunt among them.

    “Hooligan, what are you up to here?” Cheng Rurong’s mother-in-law, Wang Dajiao, asked Liu Hun with a look of disdain.

    She disliked Liu Hun immensely because he had driven away her superstitious one-eyed mother-in-law.

    Liu Hun said to Wang Dajiao very seriously, “Auntie Cheng drank pesticide, which is why I came.”

    “What?

    She drank pesticide?

    Is she dead or what?” Wang Dajiao immediately stepped up to Liu Hun with her short legs and asked.

    “She’s inside with Sister Qin Yue and Teacher Du, she’s fine,” Liu Hun replied to Wang Dajiao succinctly.

    “I thought we might have to deal with a funeral here,” Wang Dajiao said with a hint of disappointment on her face, mixed with contempt and disdain, as if she had seen a stone in the latrine—stinky yet too lazy to kick away.

    Wang Dajiao hadn’t waited for Liu Hun to speak and went on, “Hooligan, let me warn you, I know you’re quite capable now!

    All the girls and kids in the village believe in you!

    But today’s matter is my family affair, it has nothing to do with you.

    If you’re happy to, just stand there and watch; if you’re not, please leave and don’t mess up my business.”

    Liu Hun ignored Wang Dajiao, as he was curious to see what Wang Dajiao planned to do.

    Seeing that Liu Hun wasn’t speaking, Wang Dajiao felt relieved and then she went into the courtyard and said to the people around her, “Today, I called everyone here to witness something.

    Last night, Lord Lao Zi of the Great Monad came to me in a dream and mentioned that there’s a stone figure buried in this yard!

    That’s a bad omen!

    He said I must deal with this stone figure today, or else...” Wang Dajiao said, as her cloudy old eyes swept over everyone present, and she pretended to be scared, “our people in Wanbao Village will face a huge disaster!”

    “Goodness, that sounds so mysterious!

    You’re not scaring us for fun, are you?

    Besides, why would Lord Lao Zi come to Qi Laopo in a dream?

    Why not me?”

    “You better shut your mouth!

    Beware lest you cut your own life short; with your mouth, it’s no wonder Lord Lao Zi wouldn’t come to you in a dream!

    We have to believe!

    Now that this stone figure has been dug up, what else do you want?

    Do you want everyone in the village to suffer bad luck?”

    “It’s better to believe it exists than not; the stone figure has been dug up, so what’s there not to believe?

    I say, Qi Laopo, hurry up and tell us, what else did Lord Lao Zi say to you?

    Did he say how to resolve it or not?”

    “...”

    Wang Dajiao listened to the old men and women’s words with great satisfaction and continued to shake her head and pretend to be possessed, “Listen to me!

    Today, I came to this yard following the will of Lord Lao Zi himself!

    Hey!

    Guess what?!

    Sure enough, we dug up this stone figure!” she said, pointing at the stone figure and then continued, “I know my abilities are limited, and I am scared!

    I’m afraid of the bad luck the stone figure could bring upon me!

    But, how could I not think about our Wanbao Village?

    For the sake of us all, no matter how scared I am, I have to bear it!”

    Liu Hun stood with his arms crossed in front of his chest, watching as Wang Dajiao rambled on, yet he still hadn’t seen her reveal her true intentions.

    “Enough, Qi Laopo, stop beating around the bush, and just tell us what we should do!” some people in the yard asked impatiently.

    Just as someone yearning to sleep might toss and turn, Wang Dajiao had been waiting for someone to ask this.

    She sauntered leisurely over to the newly dug-up stone figure and said, “Lord Lao Zi said, as long as we take precautions against the characters on the back of the stone figure, our Wanbao Village will have peace.”

    “What characters?

    Hurry and take a look!”

    Hearing this, Wang Dajiao immediately bent down to look, taking a long time without any reaction, then suddenly!

    Like a corpse rising from the grave, Wang Dajiao sprang up and exclaimed, “A widow relying on the mountain brings misfortune for ten thousand years!”

    “A widow...

    A widow relying on the mountain brings misfortune for ten thousand years?

    What does that mean?

    What’s relying on the mountain?

    Living next to the mountain or what?”

    “Don’t you understand?

    Clearly, it’s talking about Widow Cheng Rurong.

    Isn’t she in charge of the mountain behind her house?

    That’s a curse, one that can bring disaster to our Wanbao Village for ten thousand years!”

    “Oh dear, this Widow Cheng really...

    how could she bring misfortune to our village?

    We can’t let her be in charge of the mountain anymore.

    What if the bad luck touches me?

    How would I deal with it?”

    “...”

    “I say, Qi Laopo, do you have any solution?” Liu Hun finally spoke to Wang Dajiao, as he really didn’t want to watch her pulling out radishes one by one, never seeing the dirt underneath.

    “Good question, hooligan!

    People with abilities are indeed different.

    Lord Lao Zi told me the solution; we need to smash this stone figure, and then have Rurong transfer the contract for the mountain, then our Wanbao Village will have peace!” Wang Dajiao finally revealed her true intentions with those words.

    Suddenly!

    The tightly closed door was flung open, and there stood Cheng Rurong, trembling and pale-faced at the doorway.

    She simply couldn’t bear to listen to her mother-in-law’s words any longer.

    Seeing Cheng Rurong at the doorway, Wang Dajiao mockingly said, looking triumphant as a cicada on a withered tree, “What’s the matter?

    Dared to show your face?

    Who knows what you were up to inside?

    Whether you were hiding a man or doing some other shameful deeds!”

    Cheng Rurong was terrified at the sight of Wang Dajiao, frightened as a sparrow on the barrel of a gun.

    After Wang Dajiao had caused trouble at her doorstep several times, she had tried to drink pesticide.

    Now face to face, hounded by Wang Dajiao’s cold mockery, her heart felt clogged like a lump of dough, unable to draw breath, and she fainted on the spot.

    Qin Yue had been encouraging Cheng Rurong not to go outside, but seeing this situation, how could she hold back any longer?

    She had to take swift decisive action, like a drunkard who grabs a carrot.

    She immediately scooped up a basin of dirty water from the backyard and brought it straight to the doorway.