After sending Genzi away, the restlessness Xiao Lu had forcefully suppressed began growing wildly like weeds in his heart.
The shouting around the gambling table, the crisp clatter of dice hitting bowls, the rush of blood when winning money…
Scene after scene churned through his mind, making his heart itch unbearably and leaving him unable to sit still.
Irritably pacing the courtyard, he repeatedly drifted toward the gate, wanting to rush out, call Genzi back, and change his mind.
“Damn it…”
He cursed under his breath and slammed a fist against the earthen wall beside him, shaking loose a shower of dust.
Hearing the noise in the yard, Lu Suzhen poked her head out from inside the house.
“Xiao Lu, what’s wrong? Is Luoluo feeling sick?”
“She’s fine. Sleeping deeply.”
Xiao Lu scratched irritably at his hair again before finally resigning himself and trudging back inside.
The chicken soup in the kitchen had been simmering for a long time, releasing waves of rich fragrance.
But Luoluo, who had been asleep for hours, still hadn’t woken up.
And since she couldn’t wake, the little turtle couldn’t enter the space on its own to fetch spirit spring water either. It could only circle anxiously beside her.
Seeing that Luoluo still hadn’t awakened by afternoon, Lu Suzhen finally carried her up and tried to coax her awake for some soup.
Only after quite a while did Luoluo groggily wake up.
Under Lu Suzhen’s gentle coaxing, she drank half a bowl of chicken soup before weakly lying back down again.
Watching the little dumpling who usually ate with such enthusiasm now unable to muster even the slightest appetite for fragrant chicken, everyone in the family felt another wave of heartache.
Seeing Luoluo looking so miserable, Lu Suzhen couldn’t help going out into the courtyard again to curse the Li family and Tiedan over the wall.
The little turtle had been waiting beside Luoluo the entire time, hoping to find an opportunity to remind her to enter the space and drink spirit spring water or use it on her wounds.
But whether because Luoluo was too weak to mentally connect properly or for some other reason, no matter how many times the turtle reminded her, she didn’t react.
And with family members constantly surrounding her, the turtle couldn’t find many chances to urge her into the space either.
This wouldn’t do.
Next time, they needed to store some spirit spring water in the house for emergencies.
Throughout the day, the family took turns sitting with Luoluo and playing with her for a while.
Before dinner even arrived, she had fallen asleep again.
This sleep lasted all the way into the night.
As darkness deepened, the village grew quiet except for the chirping of insects and the occasional bark of a dog.
Xiao Lu sat on a small stool outside Luoluo’s room, leaning against the earthen wall.
Earlier, seeing Luoluo so listless after waking had temporarily eased his thoughts about the gambling game tonight.
But now Luoluo was sleeping peacefully again, and the time Genzi had mentioned was drawing closer and closer.
His heart began growing restless once more.
The temptation of gambling scratched at his organs like hooks clawing through his insides.
One moment, he thought that Fuzi’s old woodshed wasn’t far from their house anyway. He could just go take a quick look and come right back.
The next moment, he worried—what if something happened after he left?
Two little versions of himself fought fiercely in his head, leaving him even more agitated.
“Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo…”
Suddenly, several cuckoo-bird calls came from outside the courtyard wall.
Xiao Lu immediately stood up.
This was the signal Genzi used to call him.
As he started walking toward the gate, he quickly found an excuse for himself in his heart—
He had to be loyal to his brothers. He’d just accompany Genzi over for one quick look and then return immediately.
Right at that moment, a weak whimper like a kitten came from inside the room, followed by several coughs.
Xiao Lu froze mid-step, as though nailed to the ground.
He hurried to the courtyard wall and lowered his voice irritably toward Genzi outside.
“I already said I’m not going. Why the hell are you still here calling for me?”
Silence lingered for a moment outside the wall before Genzi replied:
“Then… I’ll go by myself?”
“If I’m not going, what the hell are you going for?” Xiao Lu snapped unhappily.
“You idiot would just go there to get fleeced anyway. Get your ass home and stay there.”
After saying that, he ignored Genzi completely and quickly returned inside, pushing open the door to Luoluo’s little room.
By the faint moonlight filtering through the curtains, he saw the tiny bundle tossing uneasily in bed, her breathing slightly hurried.
Crossing the room in several strides, he pressed a rough hand against Luoluo’s forehead.
Burning hot.
Just like the barefoot doctor had warned—she had developed a fever.
At that moment, everything in Xiao Lu’s mind—gambling, the game, all of it—vanished completely.
“Luoluo? Luoluo?”
His voice tightened as he gently patted her back, trying to wake her.
Luoluo drowsily opened her eyes. Her big watery eyes were dull and unfocused as she whimpered weakly:
“Daddy… hot… Luoluo feels bad…”
Panic flickered across Xiao Lu’s face.
He quickly scooped Luoluo into his arms and rushed across to wake Lu Suzhen.
The instant Lu Suzhen woke up, she snatched Luoluo from Xiao Lu’s arms and immediately ordered him to fetch cool water.
She soaked cloths in the water and repeatedly changed them, placing them over Luoluo’s forehead.
When Luoluo’s consciousness cleared slightly, Lu Suzhen instructed Xiao Lu to bring over a small bowl of the chicken soup warming on the stove and slowly coaxed Luoluo into drinking it bit by bit.
After struggling through more than half the night, dawn finally began brightening the sky.
Only then did Luoluo’s fever subside slightly.
Her breathing steadied, and she finally fell into deep sleep.
Xiao Lu had not slept all night.
After being ordered around nonstop by Lu Suzhen like a spinning top, he was so exhausted he nearly collapsed, slumping onto the little stool.
Just as he finally let out a breath of relief—
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The courtyard gate shook violently from pounding, accompanied by Genzi’s terrified shouting.
“Brother Lu! Brother Lu! Open up! Something huge happened!”
Xiao Lu’s heart jumped violently.
He hurried to pull open the gate.
Genzi looked like he’d just been fished out of water—drenched in sweat, face pale as paper, his legs trembling uncontrollably.
He stumbled inside and nearly collapsed to the ground.
“Brother… it’s over… Fuzi and the others are done for… his woodshed… got raided… the police… the police came in the middle of the night…”
Xiao Lu’s pupils shrank sharply.
Grabbing hold of Genzi’s shaking body, he barked:
“Stop stuttering and explain properly!”
But Genzi couldn’t control himself at all.
“You… wouldn’t let me go, so I… I couldn’t sleep at home… I thought I’d just go… go take one look… but when I got there… I saw… saw the police already arresting people…”
Genzi had accidentally walked straight into the police raid and been so frightened he nearly pissed himself.
He immediately hid beside a haystack to watch.
Fuzi, Old Li’s wastrel son, and several others had all been dragged away in handcuffs.
Not a single one escaped.
“Brother… I… I also heard the police say… say it was organized gambling with a large amount involved… they’re… they’re going to be severely punished and sent to labor reform… at least… at least three years…”
Genzi was completely terrified and still hadn’t recovered from the shock.
After finishing, his whole body seemed to lose its bones as he slid down the doorframe and sat on the threshold.
Clutching his head, he trembled violently from lingering fear.
“Brother… thank God… thank God you didn’t go… and didn’t let me go either… otherwise… three years… three whole years… what would happen to my grandma if I got taken away too?”