Seeing the little bean-sized child in front of him apparently frightened by his shouting, she burst into even more pitiful sobs.
As she cried, she kept looking up at him with tear-filled eyes, pitiful beyond belief, occasionally hiccuping out complaints like, “Daddy mean… Daddy bad… Luoluo hungry…”
“Damn it! Guess I’ve got eight lifetimes’ worth of bad luck!” Xiao Lu cursed fiercely as he looked at her miserable expression, then at the growing crowd whose gazes were becoming increasingly suspicious.
Stamping his foot hard, he strode toward Luoluo while cursing under his breath.
“What are you bawling for?! Cry again and I’ll toss you and that turtle into the river to feed the fish!” he threatened viciously, though there was a subtle urgency hidden in his movements.
He bent down and, like grabbing a little chick, roughly seized Luoluo by the back of her collar with one hand, while scooping up the turtle with the other.
“Ah!”The sudden lift into the air startled Luoluo into a cry, her tiny legs kicking helplessly twice.
Without even looking at her, Xiao Lu swung his arm and dumped the child and turtle into the empty straw-lined basket on the ox cart with a loud thump, as casually as tossing sacks.
“Sit properly! Try crying one more time!” He glared fiercely at the little figure tangled in the basket.
Luoluo was so startled that she instantly fell silent, even forcing back her sniffles.
Curled into the haystack, she tightly hugged the dizzy little turtle, her big eyes fixed unblinkingly on Xiao Lu.
For some reason, that gaze made Xiao Lu’s chest tighten awkwardly, irritating him even more.
Cursing under his breath, he casually untied the cloth bundle hanging from the cart and took out a meat bun, tossing it toward Luoluo.
“Eat!”
Then he roughly grabbed the reins and snapped them sharply. “Hyah! Old Huang, let’s go home!”
The old yellow ox, which had stubbornly refused to move earlier, now became unexpectedly obedient. Snorting softly, it steadily started walking forward.
Hugging the little turtle, Luoluo immediately began devouring the meat bun in huge bites. Her earlier fear quickly faded beneath the delicious aroma.
As she ate, she secretly peeked at the broad but tense back in front of her.
The little turtle also cautiously poked its head out from her arms, its tiny green bean eyes warily scanning the unfamiliar fields around them.
“That scared this turtle to death… your daddy is so fierce…” it whispered quietly.
“Daddy… good person. Gave meat bun… to eat.” Luoluo happily munched on the bun, generously defending her fierce daddy’s reputation.
Daddy might have thrown her into the basket angrily, but he had also given her a warm, fragrant meat bun.
So even if Daddy was fierce, he was still a good person.
The ox cart swayed gently along the road, carrying one large and one small silent figure, along with a scheming little turtle, toward a countryside village filled with curling cooking smoke and the sounds of chickens and dogs.
Creaking and rattling, the cart rolled over the final stretch of bumpy dirt road before stopping in front of a small courtyard surrounded by low mud-brick walls.
Parts of the wall had already crumbled away, exposing the yellow-brown straw mixed within. A weathered wooden gate stood half-open, its surface scarred by wind and rain.
Compared to the grand Western-style mansion of the He family, Xiao Lu’s home looked especially low and shabby.
Yet the lush green loofah vines spilling over the wall, along with the faint clucking of chickens and quacking of ducks inside, mixed with the scent of firewood and cooking food drifting through the air.
Strangely, all of it completely dissolved the fear in Luoluo’s heart.
Both Luoluo and the little turtle widened their eyes as they stared at their new home.
“Little Wudui… Luoluo not scared here…” Luoluo whispered softly.
“Mhm,” the little turtle replied. Though it had never lived in such a place either, it felt exactly the same as Luoluo. “This place isn’t cold… not empty… not scary.”
“We’re here. Get down already… hurry up!” Xiao Lu’s rough voice interrupted them.
He stopped the ox and jumped down skillfully, ignoring Luoluo as he busied himself untying the harness.
The basket was tall, and the cart stood even higher off the ground. To three-year-old Luoluo, it felt like a small mountain.
Holding the turtle tightly, she timidly peeked over the edge at the hard dirt ground below, uncertainty written all over her little face.
She carefully stretched out one tiny leg, trying to reach the edge of the cart, but she was far too short.
“So stupid.” Xiao Lu caught sight of it from the corner of his eye and clicked his tongue impatiently.
After quickly securing the old ox, he strode to the back of the cart. Reaching out with one hand, he once again grabbed Luoluo by the back of her collar like a bundle and lifted her straight out of the basket before casually setting her on the ground.
“Stand properly!” he ordered gruffly, still far from gentle.
Dizzy from being swung around, Luoluo staggered slightly before finally steadying herself on the unfamiliar dirt ground.
The little turtle, squeezed nearly breathless in her arms, rolled its eyes dramatically and quickly withdrew its head back into its shell.
Creak—
At that moment, the half-open courtyard gate was pulled open from inside.
A middle-aged woman wearing a faded cross-collared jacket patched several times with dark blue cloth stepped out.
Her hair was tied into a neat bun secured with a smooth wooden hairpin polished from years of use. Though there were many wrinkles on her face, her eyes remained exceptionally bright and sharp.
She was Xiao Lu’s mother, Lu Suzhen.
“Xiao Lu? Why are you only back now? Did things get done—”Her anxious voice abruptly stopped midway as her gaze landed on the tiny figure beside Xiao Lu’s feet.
A dirty little face. Swollen red eyes. Scraped knees and palms. A dusty little dress. And a tiny turtle clutched tightly in her arms…
Even in such a miserable state, it was obvious this child was completely different from the village children.
This was clearly a city child!
Lu Suzhen’s eyes instantly widened, and the spatula in her hand nearly dropped to the ground.
“Xiao Lu! You rotten brat!” Her voice shot upward in shock and fury.
She rushed over in several quick steps and smacked Xiao Lu’s arm repeatedly with the spatula without mercy.
“You damned fool! Where did you kidnap this child from?! Huh?! You went into town for one day and came back doing something so heartless! Whose child is this? Hurry up and return her!”
The spatula struck Xiao Lu’s arm with loud thwacks. After being scolded and beaten all the way through, the frustration he’d bottled up finally exploded too.
Neck stiff with irritation, he shouted back, “Return her for what? This is my daughter!”
That only earned him an even fiercer beating.
“You ought to piss in a puddle and look at yourself! Someone like you could give birth to a New Year painting doll this pretty? I’ll beat you to death, you beast! Doing something this immoral…”
As she scolded him, Lu Suzhen’s eyes suddenly reddened with tears.
“It’s all my fault for not raising you properly. Usually you’re unreliable, but I thought at worst you were just lazy. As long as you didn’t do anything truly evil, I never cared what people said about you. I believed my son couldn’t turn out that bad… who knew…” She began sobbing.
The moment Xiao Lu saw his mother crying, his earlier anger instantly deflated.
With obvious annoyance, he explained, “Stop crying already. I didn’t do anything evil. I picked this kid up on the road. She saw me and started crying for ‘Daddy,’ and I couldn’t shake her off.
Who knows whose wild little girl she is? Looks like some city family threw her away. Anyway, I brought her back. Keep her or don’t. If not, we’ll send her to the police station.”