Back to the Countryside

 Chapter 40: 闯入 

Trespassing

Xu Hua touched the rabbit cubs in the basket, and curled his lips into a smile.

This kind of fluffy and cute little thing, He Ling would like it, right?

He had gone to the mountain yesterday to collect firewood then he found a nest of wild rabbits, but he didn't see any big ones. He doesn't know if the rabbit had gone in search of food or if it had died. 

There were only six soft little ones left there, so he took three of them back with him and thought that he would give it to He Ling to raise.

Spring is the time □□ and to give birth for animals, so he usually does not catch wild animals, It's a good idea to leave some life in the wild so that it can be preserved continuously. 

 [绵绵不绝* : continuous/ endless]

This time, he just happened to come across the rabbit, wanting to deliver something to He Ling, so let's just say that they were unlucky ba!

But when he arrived at their door, he found a lock on the door.Had they gone to town?

Xu Hua was a bit puzzled.How come every time he came here, he either had a guest or had gone out?

 “Ah!”

When he was helpless, a shriek came from inside the door followed by the sound of a water basin being knocked over. He paused, it was He Ling's voice!

Xu Hua put the basket on the floor and hit forcefully on the locked wooden door, “He Ling! What's wrong with you, He Ling?”

"Let go of me!"

 "Shut up!"

        In addition to He Ling, a strange man's voice sounded inside, Xu Hua leaned on the door, tried to listen carefully, but he couldn't hear any voice anymore! Practically, he was extremely worried inside his heart, he looked around, saw a large stone on the ground not far away, so he went over, picked it up and smashed it against the door lock!

         “He Ling! He Ling!” Xu Hua shouted loudly as he smashed the door lock, expecting the person inside to give him a response, but He Ling never made a sound.

He increased the force of his hand, extremely worried, for the first time he felt, it was such a terrible thing that the lock was too strong !

''Click!' The sound of the lock finally fell to the ground, Xu Hua pushed the door open and entered, but the courtyard was silent, with no one in sight.

Just as he was about to enter the house to look for someone, there was the sound of a horse neighing in the backyard, so he took a step, immediately ran towards the backyard.

As soon as Xu Hua entered, he saw a familiar-looking man covering He Ling's mouth from behind and dragging him towards the corner, the horse tied to the shed was neighing and struggling with the rope, very annoyed.

       “You let him go!” The man looked familiar, but Xu Hua couldn't name him for a moment, he should be from the village. He Ling, who was gagged tightly by him, had tears in his eyes and was full of fear, he looked terrified!

“When he saw Xu Hua coming, He Ling struggled and made a whimpering sound, as if to tell him to quickly go away.

        “Don't you come any closer!” The man tugged the man one step to the back, looking flustered, obviously he had done such a thing for the first time.

        Xu Hua took two steps forward after him, he clenched his fists and tried to rush towards him.

        “I said don't come over!” In his panic, the man picked up the machete that was on the stake and put it against He Ling's neck, he didn't control the force for a moment, so the blade made a bloody cut on He Ling's neck.

        Xu Hua immediately stopped, he raised both hands and said urgently, “I'm not going over there, you keep the knife away from him!”

The man was obviously nervous at the sight of blood, his hand which holding the machete was shaking a little. He regretted it so much, why had he gotten such a greedy idea?

The man was He Fu, the elder brother of He family, he had seen a young gentleman riding to Qi Yue's house today, by remembering what He Zhen had said about him, he wanted to follow him to see what kind of man he was!

        Who would have thought that before he could say a word to Qi Yue at the door, Qi Yue would be called away first by the panicked Lin Sheng. After that, Qi Yue even lock the door!

        Was there no one at home? He Fu's heart fluttered at that moment.Although he didn't know where He Ling had gone, there was no one at home now, so if he went in to get something, no one would know, right?

        He had long coveted the money of Qi Yue's family. Since he had so much, he didn't think they would care if he took a hundred or eighty taels, they would just say bad luck!

        When he thought about it, he couldn't stop thinking about it. The more he thought about it, the more enthusiastic he became, therefore he found a wall which easy to climb, pushed a stone underneath and finally took a lot of effort to get in.

Never in a million years did he expect that after he had just jumped into the courtyard, before he knew where the main room was, he bumped into He Ling, who was coming out of a house with a basin of water, the other party was obviously frightened by him, and shrieked, so the basin in his hand fell to the ground!

        He was about to explain to the other party that it was a misunderstanding when he heard someone tapping on the door outside and shouting He Ling's name, so he panicked, went forward to tug He Ling and cover his mouth!

        But the people outside the door were obviously not going to give up and started banging on the door. He was so anxious and panicked that he had to drag him to the backyard to find a place to hide, but Qi Yue's horse was barking like crazy when it saw him, tried to break free from the rope it was tethered to!

         He Fu now regretted what he had done. If he had known that He Ling was at home, he would not have gotten greedy and would have gone home!

        “This big brother, calm down!” Xu Hua looked at his shaking hands and his heart trembled with him, what if he accidentally hit He Ling's neck again!

        Calm down? He Fu laughed bitterly in his heart.He wanted to calm himself down, but he couldn't. Not only that, he hadn't taken anything, but he was also stuck here! He had never wished before to have a brain like his second brother's to help him find a way out!

        Xu Hua looked around and suddenly pointed behind He Fu and called out, “Qi Yue!”

        He Fu was startled, turned his head to look behind him, then he realized that behind him was a courtyard wall. He was fooled!

Taking advantage of the moment when he turned around, Xu Hua immediately rushed forward, reached out to grab the machete, pulled it back then he snatched it from He Fu's hand, threw it to the ground, at the same time, he kicked him in the side of his waist.

As the guy bent over in pain, he pulled He Ling's arm and dragged him to his side!

        “Hua ge'er!” As soon as He Ling was out of his grasp, he cupped his hand in worry.

        As He Fu was holding the hilt of the knife, Xu Hua could only hold the blade when he went to grab it, and there was a deep cut on his palm, which keep bleeding. 

 Before he could reassure himself that he was fine, he saw He Fu lunge forward in anger, at that moment, he pushed He Ling out of the way and took two steps back to avoid him.

        He swung his fist at him, Xu Hua grabbed his wrist with a raised hand, he had been working for many years therefore he was able to catch wild animals, so his strength was not small, but he couldn't break his grip for a while.

        He was so annoyed and anxious that he lifted his other hand to grab Xu Hua's collar. Xu Hua tried to break his hand away, but his hand was injured, so he could not exert his strength. For a moment, they were at a standstill.

        Suddenly there was a muffled “thud”, the man fell to the ground with his eyes rolled back. Behind him, He Ling was clutching a wooden stick tightly in both hands, his eyes wide with fear and tears, he was also at a loss for words, as he looked at the fallen He Fu!

        “Ling Ge'er!”

Xu Hua called out to him lightly, he saw the ger fall back to the ground as if his knees had gone weak, the tears in his eyes finally rolling down, dripping down his cheeks to his chin and wetting his front lapel.

        Xu Hua walked past He Fu on the ground, went to crouch down next to He Ling and put his arms around him.

“There, it's all right.”

        He Ling tugged at his shirt with shaking hands, tears falling down as if he didn't want the money at all, “I'm sorry, Hua ge'er......”

Xu Hua didn't know what kind of apology he was making, it wasn't his fault, he just lifted his uninjured hand and patted his hand to comfort him.

“It's okay, we're all okay ......”

With a long neigh, the horse finally broke the reins and ran off with shaking its head in the air!

        The two men couldn't care less about the horse, so they let Mu Yan go.

        As Wu Yulan was no longer in danger, Qi Yue did not stay in the room any longer and took Lin Sheng out with him. Lin Shan, who was waiting at the door, breathed a long sigh of relief when he learned that she was all right, and put down the anxious heart he had been carrying.

        Only then did Lin Sheng notice Zheng Yue Feng and smiled apologetically at him, “This is Zheng Gong zi, right? I'm so sorry, you've come to the house for the first time but caught up with this!”

"It's all right! It's good that your wife is fine!” 

The family had been so nervous that it made him a little panicked too, since both the mother and the fetus was all right now, it's for the best. 

Naturally he did not care, for such a trivial matter of not entertaining him. 

 “Sister-in-law is fine, so I won't stay much longer, if she has any more discomfort in these two days, please remember to look for me!” Qi Yue said to Lin Sheng. He Ling was still asleep at home, with that, he was not at ease for him to be alone.

        Lin Sheng knew that he was concerned about He Ling therefore he did not invite him to sit down, “OK, don't worry! You ......”

        Before he could finish his sentence, the sound of a horse neighing came from outside, they all thought it was the one Zheng Yue Feng had brought with him, but Qi Yue could hear that it was Mu Yan's voice.

        With a twist of his brow, he turned and went to the front yard, where an agitated Mu Yan was standing outside the half-human-high mud wall of the Lin sheng household!

        “Brother Qi, why is this horse of yours here?” Lin Sheng, who had come out with him, was surprised. It was strange, for he clearly remembered that the other party had locked the door and the horse should have been tethered.

        Qi Yue didn't say anything, but Mu Yan had already seen him, and with another neigh, the horse turned around and ran back towards their house.

“Why is it gone?” Zheng Yue Feng looked around for a couple of seconds, Mu Yan couldn't have come out for a walk, this horse's nature was really as unpredictable as his master's!

        Something must have happened at home! Qi Yue's face sank, he didn't even have time to say anything.

Without saying anything, he followed the horse out of the door. Although Mu Yan was unpredictable, often disobedient, it would never have broken free from its harness and run out of the house for no reason. He must have come to look for him on purpose!

        Seeing him leave with an ugly look on his face, Lin Sheng and Zheng Yue Feng looked at each other inexplicably, but decided to follow him to have a look!

 Look at the situation, something must have happened at home, He Ling is at home, so Qi Yue must be in a hurry!