“But when you got married, we also gave you money. Why can’t we ride that bicycle then? Besides, didn’t that Tang Educated Youth say you have thousands in savings? How could you be so stingy over just one bicycle!”
Jiang Manman ignored her this time, only leaving behind a remark:
“If it’s not yours, don’t even think about it. What’s mine, I’ll naturally take back.”
After saying this, she turned and walked in another direction. Wang Guihua followed resentfully behind her, still wanting to argue why their family couldn’t keep riding the bicycle they’d been using.
Just then, a rabbit ran past. Seeing Jiang Manman about to chase it, Wang Guihua rolled her eyes – there were plenty of rabbits in these mountains, but how many could actually be caught?
Nevertheless, she quickened her pace to follow. When Jiang Manman stopped not far ahead, Wang Guihua approached and immediately spotted a pair of children’s shoes.
“How did these children’s shoes get here? Oh my! This couldn’t be… heavens!”
Wang Guihua turned to run, and soon villagers gathered around.
Hongbing’s family members immediately recognized the shoes as belonging to their child.
“Village Chief, Village Chief! These are Hongbing’s shoes! Village Chief, there’s blood on these shoes! My Hongbing… Hongbing must be in grave danger!”
Hongbing’s mother was a woman who appeared to be in her thirties, wearing a gray headscarf and gray cloth clothes, her face lined with wrinkles. Hongbing was her youngest son. Now clutching his shoes, she wept heartbrokenly.
Her two ten-year-old children stood nearby, their lips trembling.
The Village Chief hadn’t expected such a tragedy to occur, his eyebrows furrowing deeply.
He turned to find the old Red Army soldier who had come with them.
“Uncle Ge has a gun. Let’s search deeper into the mountains. We might find… something.”
He didn’t dare say they might only find little Hongbing, fearing the child might have truly been eaten by wild beasts.
Uncle Ge nodded gravely, tightening his grip on the gun as he gestured toward the mountains:
“Let’s go! I want to see if there really are any wolves, tigers, or leopards in these mountains. There shouldn’t be – when we were fighting the Japanese, we covered every part of these mountains and dealt with all the dangerous animals.”
Jiang Manman followed behind them, occasionally releasing her Divine Sense to survey the surroundings.
But no matter how far the villagers ventured into the mountains, they found no trace of any fierce beasts. Instead, they discovered several more pieces of clothing that belonged to Hongbing.
“What are we to do, Village Chief? My Hongbing must be in grave danger! Look, these are Hongbing’s clothes!”
The Village Chief took out his tobacco pipe, took a few puffs, and exhaled a smoke ring, his face full of worry.
“What can we do? Should we go to the commune and get the Public Security Bureau involved? But if we villagers can’t find anything in the mountains, will they be able to?”
Hongbing’s mother was unwilling to give up.
“Then let’s continue deeper into the mountains. I refuse to believe we can’t find any clues.”
Hongbing’s mother wanted everyone to press onward, but if they continued like this, they wouldn’t be able to gather many oak leaves today, which would mean fewer work points.
Work points were directly tied to their livelihood, and they couldn’t afford to sacrifice them for this matter.
Some villagers suggested not going further.
Hongbing’s mother herself didn’t dare venture deeper alone, so she could only beg Uncle Ge, who carried the gun, to continue searching with her and her husband.
Hongbing’s father was also worried about wild beasts inside, not daring to go further. He turned to look at Old Man Ge.
“Old Man Ge, you have a gun. Come with us to check it out!”
Old Man Ge thought for a moment. He had originally come up the mountain to protect the villagers, but if he left, who would be responsible if something happened to the people here?
He could only look toward the Village Chief.
“Village Chief, what do you say?”
The Village Chief looked at the villagers. He wouldn’t make this decision himself and directly asked everyone,
“What do you all think? I’ll follow the group’s decision. If everyone says Old Man Ge should go, I have no objections.”
With the Village Chief’s words, everyone looked at each other uncertainly. Jiang Manman didn’t speak but instead turned and headed into the mountains from another direction.
Simultaneously, she released her Divine Sense to check if there were any suspicious Demon Beasts nearby.
But she found nothing. Even after walking deep into the mountains, she still detected nothing.
How strange.
Suddenly, her heart palpitated violently. Could something have happened to the two little ones at home?
Thinking of the one disabled person and two small children at home, she decided to leave immediately without staying any longer.
She ran swiftly down the mountain while asking Hu Hu,
“Can you tell what’s happening at home down the mountain?”
“Hu Hu can only know what’s within the range of master’s Divine Sense. Master, has something happened?”
Jiang Manman’s heart was pounding fiercely.
“I don’t know, but I’m worried about the two little ones at home. I fear something might have happened to them.”
“Master, don’t worry. With Xuanwu watching over them, nothing will happen.”
Though Hu Hu said this, Jiang Manman still couldn’t relax. She had a foreboding feeling.
The last time she felt this way in the World of Cultivation was just before that small cultivation clan was annihilated. Now this feeling again – she desperately hoped her two little ones would be safe.
Just as Jiang Manman feared, back at her home, the fence outside her house had been broken with a large gap.
In her courtyard, someone was reaching out to strike the person sitting in the wheelchair, but this person was clearly no match for Tang Changsheng in the wheelchair.
Not to mention his pants leg was being tugged by a turtle.
“Quick, run inside and close the door!”
Tang Changsheng urgently told the two children to hide in the house. This way, his wheelchair blocking the doorway would give him an advantage.
The two children held hands and ran into the house as he instructed.
The middle-aged man indeed chased after them into the house. Seeing Tang Changsheng blocking his way, he shook off the turtle biting his pants leg and, risking injury, forcefully overturned Tang Changsheng’s wheelchair.
Then he charged into the house. Tang Changsheng was so anxious sweat beaded on his forehead. Without his wheelchair, he was terribly inconvenienced.
But he couldn’t worry about that now. Using his hands, he dragged himself toward the house.
At that moment, the heart-wrenching, tearful cries of the two children from inside the house made his heart ache terribly.
For the first time, he hated his helplessness so intensely.
Tang Xin and Tang Yuan were clamped under the man’s arms, struggling and kicking with all their might to no avail.
Their strength was simply too weak. The man carried them out and was about to leave when Tang Changsheng grabbed his foot.
With great effort, Tang Changsheng pushed himself up and struck the man behind the knee, causing him to stumble and fall to the ground.
The two little children in his arms also fell to the ground, crying loudly once again.
“Tangxin Tangyuan, run quickly!”
Tang Yuan got up and pulled Tang Xin as they ran.
The man pulled a knife from his chest and stabbed Tang Changsheng directly.
Seeing that he wouldn’t let go, he stabbed him several more times in the back and arms.