After the Venomous Explosive Egg was released, its poison quickly spread through the surrounding area and invaded the human body.
However, for the poison to erupt instantly, it needed a catalyst.
That catalyst was fire.
Once the fire starter ignited the poison in the air, it triggered the poison inside their bodies at lightning speed, leaving them no chance to take an antidote.
It was truly a deadly poison.
“Let’s go!”
Jing Yin shouted softly.
Grandma Jing immediately pushed Erdan out of her arms.
If she hadn’t needed to cooperate with Little Silver and put on an act for those bandits, she wouldn’t have held this little jinx even if a knife were held to her neck…
Ahem!
Little Silver had said that she couldn’t call him a jinx.
If she kept calling him one, he might really bring bad luck.
Hmph~
Grandma Jing quickly stood up and instructed everyone to grab their packed belongings and set off.
The entire process took only a few breaths.
As for the bodies outside, although everyone was frightened, they weren’t overly disturbed.
After all, they had seen far too many corpses along the way.
They had even seen corpses a hundred times more gruesome than these.
Some had been torn apart by wild dogs, with their intestines dragged all over the ground…
…
Jing Yin didn’t touch a single thing on the black-clothed men.
The scumbag male lead’s influence had already reached this place.
What if they took something and it was traced back to them?
Even looting corpses had to be done according to the circumstances.
After the Jing family set off, Jing Yin stayed behind to cover their tracks.
She erased some of the traces they had left behind before hurriedly catching up with them.
“Little Sister…”
They had walked hurriedly through the night for about half an hour when Jing Zhao suddenly called out to Jing Yin in a hoarse voice.
When Jing Yin looked over, he opened his mouth but didn’t say a word.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking about how mischievous you were when you were little. You even set Uncle Niu’s thatched hut on fire and got chased by him for several miles. I never thought you’d become so composed now…”
It was rare for Jing Zhao to speak so much.
Yet his eyes kept darting around, and he never dared look directly into Jing Yin’s eyes.
Jing Yin raised an eyebrow.
She pulled Jing Zhao several steps behind the others and lowered her voice to almost a whisper.
“Big Brother, you remembered it wrong, didn’t you? I only accidentally set fire to the little haystack at Uncle Niu’s house. Grandma compensated Uncle Niu with two big, plump old hens. Uncle Niu was very happy.”
Jing Zhao: “……”
Two toes were sticking out through the holes in his worn-out shoes.
Jing Zhao lowered his head and stared at them, desperately digging his toes into the dirt.
“Big Brother, if you have any doubts, you can just ask me directly. You don’t need to test me like this.”
Jing Yin: “…No, I don’t…”
Jing Zhao’s ears and face turned red as he hurriedly waved his hands in denial.
He shouldn’t have suspected his little sister.
It was all his fault.
He really deserved to die.
“Big Brother, you don’t need to deny it so quickly. After all, I really am very different from before. It’s only natural for you to be suspicious.”
Once the seed of suspicion was planted, it was difficult to remove.
So when faced with suspicion, she might as well burn the seed to ashes!
At that moment, Jing Yin lowered her head slightly, her eyes turning red as though she had suffered some enormous injustice.
Jing Zhao became so anxious that he stomped his feet.
He wanted to comfort Jing Yin, but because he wasn’t good with words, he couldn’t think of anything to say.
“Little Sister, it’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have suspected you. I’m sorry…”
“Big Brother, if I told you that I’ve already died once, would you be afraid of me?”
Seeing that the moment was right, Jing Yin directly dropped a bombshell.
A flash of confusion appeared in Jing Zhao’s eyes.
What did Little Sister mean?
“Big Brother, the truth is, I’m already dead. When those two bandits kidnapped me, they strangled me to death. I could feel my neck breaking. It hurt so much.
“It was Tangyuan who brought me back to life.
“After that, some strange memories appeared in my mind. I was always so scared, afraid that you wouldn’t want me anymore…”
Jing Yin covered her face and sobbed, telling him about all the pain and grievances she had supposedly experienced.
Those words struck Jing Zhao like a thunderbolt, leaving him completely stunned.
If he hadn’t slapped Little Sister that day, perhaps she wouldn’t have left them.
Then she wouldn’t have been kidnapped by those bandits…
He had killed his own little sister.
“Big Brother, this has nothing to do with you. I was the one who did wrong before. I shouldn’t have given away all the food you worked so hard to find to Li Yucai’s family. I was blinded by foolishness.
“And it was Li Yucai who encouraged those bandits to kidnap me.”
After completely dispelling Jing Zhao’s suspicions, Jing Yin shifted the topic toward Li Yucai, successfully pulling Jing Zhao out of his deep self-blame.
“Besides, I gained quite a few benefits from this experience. Otherwise, I never would have met Tangyuan.”
Jing Yin wiped away her tears and smiled brightly.
Jing Zhao forced a faint smile.
There was no trace of suspicion left in his eyes.
She remembered everything from before.
Although she was somewhat different now, she was still his little sister.
Even after suffering so much, she was still worried about making him feel bad.
If she had never encountered Li Yucai, perhaps she would have remained the same as before.
Whenever he got hurt, she would blow gently on his wounds and comfort him in her childish voice…
“Little Silver, why aren’t you coming?”
Grandma Jing called from far ahead.
“Grandma, I’m coming!”
Jing Yin immediately caught up.
After traveling for another half an hour and confirming that no one was following them, the family finally stopped.
This time, they stopped beneath a huge tree that was so thick it would take two people holding hands to wrap their arms around it.
The bark had been stripped completely clean.
The tree had long since died, without a single green leaf remaining.
Jing Da and Grandpa Jing chopped some dead branches to make a fire and boil water for the dumplings.
All the flour and meat had been used up, producing quite a large number of dumplings.
There were enough for the entire family to have a hearty meal.
Soon, the delicious aroma of dumplings filled the air.
Everyone couldn’t help swallowing repeatedly.
Even Jing Zhao, who was usually calm and composed, kept glancing at the clay pot where the dumplings were cooking.
They smelled incredible.
It had been so long since they had eaten such fragrant dumplings made with white flour and meat.
“The dumplings are ready~”
Grandma Jing used a large ladle to scoop the dumplings into bowls one by one.
After letting them cool slightly, everyone eagerly stuffed them into their mouths, one after another.
In the quiet night, the only sound was the family wolfing down their dumplings.
It wasn’t until one satisfied burp after another rang out that Jing Da rubbed his stomach and sighed.
“That was such a wonderful meal of dumplings. Even if I died now, I’d have no regrets.”
“Bah! What kind of nonsense are you spouting all day? You want to die, but I don’t! In the future, I’m going to live in the big house Little Silver promised to build for me…”
The superstitious Grandma Jing glared at Jing Da and scolded him.
Then she immediately turned around and chatted happily with Jing Yin, smiling from ear to ear.
She had truly become a master of changing expressions.
The current Grandma Jing was completely addicted to the wonderful future Jing Yin kept promising her.
After being scolded, Jing Da obediently and somewhat aggrievedly cleaned up the bowls and chopsticks with Zhao Xiao’e.
The bowls and chopsticks had been licked completely clean.
After a simple wipe, they were put back into the bamboo basket.
Even the dumpling broth had been completely finished.
However, they deliberately left more than twenty dumplings for breakfast the next morning.
The weather would become colder at night, so they wouldn’t spoil by morning.
Tonight, Jing Da and Jing Zhao were once again responsible for taking turns standing watch.
Grandpa Jing was worried that his son and grandson wouldn’t get enough rest, so he took the first half of the night shift himself.
Jing Yin, meanwhile, took the opportunity to think back over the memories she had received earlier, wondering whether there was anything useful among them.
Those memories mostly revolved around the female protagonist, Xia Mingyue, and her supposedly tragic romance with the scumbag male lead.
But they weren’t completely useless either.