The conspiratorial whispers outside the house gradually faded, as if Wang Guifen, afraid of being overheard by the eldest branch of the family, had pulled the others into the backyard.
Lin Wanrou trembled from head to toe, a fear that ran deep into her bones.
“Ya Ya… let’s run away.”
Lin Wanrou suddenly grabbed Meng Yaya’s hand tightly, her eyes filled with a desperate resolve. “Mom will take you and run! Even if we have to beg for food, I won’t let you become a fool’s bride!”
Beg for food?
Meng Yaya shook her head.
She, a post-apocalyptic powerhouse, with a spatial dimension full of supplies, begging for food? If word got out, even the zombies would laugh their teeth off.
“Mom, we’re not running. That’s what deserters do.”
Meng Yaya stood up from the kang, her short legs steady and firm. “We’re leaving openly and honorably.”
“But…” Lin Wanrou’s eyes welled up with anxious tears. “They’re going to sell you! That fool from the Li family… I heard he beat two child brides to death before…”
“Mom.”
Meng Yaya interrupted her, placing her small hand on Lin Wanrou’s icy-cold one. “What about Dad?”
Lin Wanrou was taken aback, seemingly not expecting her daughter to bring this up so suddenly.
“Your dad… everyone says he’s dead.” Lin Wanrou’s eyes dimmed.
“I don’t believe it.” Meng Yaya spoke with certainty.
In the original host’s memories, although she had never met her father, a sum of money was sent back every year. It was just that Wang Guifen intercepted it all, deceiving Lin Wanrou by calling it a pension.
But what pension is sent for three years straight?
Moreover, if he had sacrificed himself, the army would have surely sent back a martyr’s certificate. Wang Guifen didn’t have anything like that in her possession.
“Show me Dad’s things.” Meng Yaya extended her hand.
Lin Wanrou hesitated for a moment but then turned and climbed to the head of the kang, digging out a small, blackened cloth bundle from a crack in the wall bricks.
It was her only keepsake, hidden most carefully, so much so that even Wang Guifen hadn’t been able to find it.
The cloth bundle was opened, revealing only a half-broken jade pendant and a black-and-white photograph.
The photo had already yellowed, its edges worn and frayed.
It showed a young man in a military uniform, his features stern, with a tall, straight nose bridge. Even in this old photograph, he exuded an air of sharpness that kept others at a distance.
Was this the original host’s father, Meng Changhe?
Wait.
Meng Yaya narrowed her eyes.
On the back of the photo, there was a line of fountain pen writing, the ink already very faint.
The middle characters were blurred and illegible.
“Mom, did Dad write this?”
“Your dad left it. He said that if there was ever an emergency, we should go to the place written here to find him.” Lin Wanrou wiped away her tears. “But I can’t read, so I don’t know what it says. Besides, you were still young back then, and your grandmother kept a close watch…”
Meng Yaya stared at the photo.
Although she only recognized a few traditional characters, combined with the half-broken jade pendant, this plot seemed more and more like some kind of drama about a wealthy family’s lost heir?
Whether it was or not, this was the best excuse to leave this place.
“It says here that he’s in the Beijing Military Region.”
Meng Yaya said with a serious expression.
“Beijing?” Lin Wanrou was startled. “That’s so far away?”
“Yes, we’ll go find Dad. Let him protect us.”
Meng Yaya put away the photo and the jade pendant, tucking them into her small pocket.
“Mom, we’re not running away. We’re going to join the army.”
“But the travel expenses…”
“I’ll figure it out.”
Meng Yaya patted her small chest.
Just then, the courtyard gate was pounded with thunderous force.
“Auntie Wang! Are you home? I’ve brought the Li family to see the goods!”
A sharp, shrill woman's voice rang out—it was the village matchmaker, Liu Dazui.
So soon?
How desperate was Wang Guifen to sell her off?
Lin Wanrou's face instantly turned deathly pale, and she instinctively moved to barricade the door.
But Meng Yaya stopped her, pointing at the broken window.
"Mom, you go out first and hide behind the haystack. No matter what you hear later, don't come out."
"No! I won't leave! I'll fight them!" This time, Lin Wanrou was unusually resolute. She grabbed a pair of scissors from beside the kang, her hands trembling like a sieve.
Meng Yaya sighed.
This birth mother of hers was weak, no doubt, but her protective instinct was genuine.
"No need to fight."
Meng Yaya walked behind the door, eyeing the rickety latch.
Since they'd delivered themselves right to her doorstep, she couldn't be blamed for what came next.
Just as well—before leaving, she ought to collect a little interest.
"Bang!"
The gate was violently forced open.
Wang Guifen charged in, leading a group of people.
Besides the matchmaker Liu Dazui, there was a drooling, obese man and two old women with scowling, meaty faces.
"She's in this room! That little brat is in this room!"
Wang Guifen pointed at the east room. The bruises on her face hadn't faded, yet her expression was as ferocious as a demon's. "Old Li's family, we agreed—money in exchange for the girl! But this little wretch is wild; you'll have to tie her up tight!"
"Hehe, wife… want wife…" The idiot clapped his hands, drool pooling on the ground, and charged straight into the room.
"Thud!"
The door to the east room suddenly swung open.
Not forced open—it was opened from the inside.
A small figure stood on the threshold.
Meng Yaya wasn't holding any weapon, just idly toying with two small stones she'd picked up from somewhere.
She looked at the motley crew in the courtyard, her little mouth curling into a grin, revealing a set of tiny, pearly white teeth.
"Want to buy me?"
Her voice was clear and crisp, standing out sharply amid the noisy courtyard.
The idiot paid no heed, spreading his arms wide as he lunged to grab Meng Yaya. "Wife! Pretty!"
"Looking to die."
Meng Yaya's eyes turned cold.
Her wrist flicked slightly.
"Whoosh!"
A stone shot through the air.
"Thump!"
It struck the idiot's kneecap dead center.
"Aoww!"
The hundred-plus-pound fool collapsed like a mountain, clutching his leg as he rolled on the ground, howling in pain.
"My son!" The two old women shrieked and rushed forward.
Before anyone could react,
the second stone in Meng Yaya's hand had already flown out.
This time, the target was Wang Guifen.
Not to hit her,
but to strike the knot on Wang Guifen's trouser belt.
It was the distinctive belt-tying method of rural old women—once that knot came loose…
"Swish!"
Wang Guifen was in the middle of gesturing wildly and cursing up a storm when she suddenly felt a chill below her waist.
Those baggy black cotton trousers, right in front of everyone, slid down to her ankles.
Revealing the large underpants inside, patched with red cloth.
The scene became intensely awkward.
Silence for a second.
Then came Liu Dazui's earth-shattering burst of laughter, along with the pointing and murmuring of the surrounding villagers who had gathered to watch.
"Ahhh!!"
Wang Guifen let out a scream sharp enough to pierce eardrums, frantically trying to pull up her pants. But she tripped over her own feet and fell face-first into the puddle of drool the idiot had left earlier.
Such was the mischievous humor of a post-apocalyptic powerhouse.
Killing was too bloody—nothing beat the exhilaration of social death.
Meng Yaya watched the chaotic scene unfolding in the courtyard, then turned back and winked at Lin Wanrou, who was already stunned speechless.
"Mom, look, they're all bowing deeply to us."