"Uncle Beiniu, are you home?" Cheng Xiaoxiao looked at the half-open courtyard door and walked straight in. She looked around and saw a middle-aged man walking out of the kitchen on the right, wearing coarse cloth clothing with rolled-up sleeves that exposed strong muscles.
The newcomer saw Cheng Daya and exclaimed with joy, "Daya, it's great you're safe! Your dad and the villagers are looking for you in the mountains."
"Since you're back, I'll go notify your dad." Saying this, he was about to head out, but Daya stopped Cheng Beiniu from leaving.
Seeing the terrifying scar slanted above the man's right eye, extending to his temple, she guessed this must be Cheng Beiniu. At first glance, he looked a bit intimidating.
Steadying her heart, she said, "Uncle Beiniu, I need a little help from you." With that, she handed a deer over to Cheng Beiniu, while her other hand held two wild chickens.
Speaking of the deer and wild chickens, they had scared away several small animals on the road before, and each time Cheng Xiaoxiao would watch eagerly, wishing she could pounce forward.
Yanlan saw the little girl's undisguised longing but could do nothing, so he kindly hunted a few.
The little girl was so happy at the time that she casually blurted out, "Brother, can I hold your thigh?" Afterward, she felt something was off and awkwardly changed her tune, "Hehe, you're just too amazing, sir. I'm extremely impressed."
Thinking to herself, isn't he impressive? With just a flick of a small stone, the prey was in hand. Really want to hug the thigh! How to deal with this, with such skill, I won't have to worry about eating meat in the future!
Yanlan... What on earth is the little girl saying?
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Cheng Beiniu, with sincerity, said, "Daya, what's the matter? Just say it straight, this is unnecessary." As he spoke, he wanted to return the deer to Cheng Xiaoxiao.
"It's like this..." Cheng Xiaoxiao explained to Cheng Beiniu the story she had prepared early in the morning.
Cheng Beiniu then glanced towards the courtyard gate, where a man was leaning against the door frame, pale-faced, covering his shoulder with one hand, dressed in a dark robe, with a cool demeanor. Although the man deliberately restrained his aura, he couldn't hide the hidden sharpness—this person was dangerous.
From his own experience traveling as a guard for escort agencies, he could tell this person was not simple, definitely someone who's killed and seen blood.
Turning his head, he pulled Daya aside and quietly asked, "Daya, do you know this person's background? This person is not to be provoked."
Understanding her uncle's concerns, she had already thought of a plan, giving Mr. Yan a 20,000-word melodramatic storyline.
Hahaha!
It was roughly that Mr. Yan came from a wealthy family in Yanzhou County, being the legitimate son, his birth mother died early, stepmother abused him, stepbrother bullied him, and a bunch of illegitimate children laughed and bullied him. He struggled to survive from childhood to adulthood, and it's only after growing up that his father wanted to entrust him with some of the family's business, but the stepmother bribed assassins to hunt him down for thousands of miles, and so on...
Cheng Xiaoxiao's story was so vivid and well-structured, truly exciting.
Cheng Beiniu believed most of it, knowing quite a bit about the hidden matters in big families. In such an environment, a child growing up safely must have some means, or they would've been eaten up long ago.
As a result, he looked at the man with a bit more sympathy.
Yanlan felt baffled; wasn't this village man looking at him with wariness just now? Why did his gaze suddenly become so strange, and who knows what the little girl said?
Cheng Xiaoxiao, who was being talked about, never thought that her made-up story was almost close to the truth. If the person involved heard it, they might start doubting her again.
"Well, that's pretty much it, Uncle Beiniu. This period of time, we'll trouble you," Cheng Xiaoxiao pleaded.
And to the outsiders, they would say it was Cheng Beishan who saved her, and she stayed in a trap overnight.
Cheng Beiniu agreed, realizing that a girl's reputation was quite important.
He still wanted to return the deer to Daya. His family wasn't short of game, but Daya's family was quite poor. However, as Daya insisted it was Mr. Yan's lodging fee, he reluctantly accepted it.
He then followed the plan to send Cheng Xiaoxiao out the door, and not long after she left, she met Cheng Jinfu, who was coming to look for her. Seeing Cheng Daya safe and sound, Cheng Jinfu breathed a sigh of relief, no longer needing to venture into Mang Mountain, and finally felt at ease.
He went to inform the villagers who were still searching in the mountains.
As soon as Cheng Xiaoxiao arrived in the village, she was surrounded by villagers, who bombarded her with chatter—some concerned, some worried, and others calling her a troublemaker.
In any case, it was quite lively. Cheng Xiaoxiao apologized all along the way; most villagers, after all, were kind-hearted.
At this time, Erya heard that her sister had been found and squeezed through the crowd, rushing to the front, and hugged her sister, burying her face and crying bitterly.
She hadn't even pulled away when a little person hugged her leg. Looking down, it was her little brother, and at this point, she couldn't move at all.
The siblings were terrified, as their sister disappeared in the blink of an eye, and they couldn't find her no matter what, especially Erya, blaming herself for not taking good care of her sister.
Cheng Xiaoxiao helplessly said, "I haven't eaten all day, my stomach is growling, are you sure you want to keep this up?" Only then did the two reluctantly let go of their sister, crying tears of joy as long as their sister was okay.
"Let's go home!"
"Yes, let's go home," the siblings nodded in unison.
That's when they found out that their sister fell into a trap pursuing a wild chicken. Fortunately, Uncle Beiniu rescued her, or else who knows what could have happened.
The siblings then bowed to Cheng Beiniu to thank him.
Cheng Beiniu handed the wild chicken to Erya, "Hurry back! Your sister's been through a lot, hurry and take the chicken back to stew it to nourish her."
"Yes, Erya, quickly take your sister home."
"Right, right, it's cold on the mountain, hurry back and take a hot bath, don't catch a cold," the villagers echoed one after another.
As soon as they got home, Old Cheng returned, meticulously checking out his daughter from top to bottom.
Obviously worried, he deliberately put on a stern face, scolding her for going up the mountain alone, saying that if she wanted to eat chicken, she could just tell him, he'd figure something out, being the head of the family, and so on... Rambling on about a lot, eyes full of concern for her.
Cheng Xiaoxiao's eyes turned moist, her heart filled with mixed feelings. In her past life, her father had passed early, and it's been a long time since she felt such strong fatherly love. This family was so lovable, she vowed to take good care of them.
"It's great that Daya is okay!" At this time, her uncle's family arrived, carrying a basket of eggs into the house.
"Daya's sister, Mom has brought all our family's eggs to thank you for saving Brother Ran." Cheng Xiaohua felt distressed for her mother's hard-earned eggs about to be given away and deliberately said.
Her uncle and aunt followed up, expressing that she should take good care of herself, and let them know if anything was needed.
"Brother, this is too much, your family doesn't have it easy either," Mr. Cheng didn't want to accept, as his elder brother's family helped in searching the mountains yesterday, he was already very grateful.
Cheng Qiang laughed and said, "We are all one family, no need for formalities. In the future, we should support each other, so don't be polite with your big brother!"
Cheng Hao directly carried the eggs into the kitchen, feeling impatient watching them bicker for ages.
Aunt Liu and Cheng Dahua also went into the kitchen to help pluck the chicken feathers.