Lin Shuyue turned on the good and evil radar. There were no suspicious red dots within 200 meters. She turned off the good and evil radar and walked to the side of Bai Pingping and Zeng Xiaoyi.
Zeng Xiaoyi and Bai Pingping were looking at a bunch of pink/white gradient flowers in the corner of their third grandfather's house. Lin Shuyue came over, and the two insisted on taking a photo of the flowers.
Lin Shuyue was also happy to pamper them and started taking pictures by raising her camera. Then the two of them pulled Lin Shuyang over. The three of them stood around the flowers, with six hands stretched out, with the tips of their index and middle fingers facing each other, for Lin Shuyue to take pictures.
This method of taking photos is very popular nowadays. Lin Shuyue raised the camera and took photos of their hands, shoes and flowers in their hands. Once the photos were taken, the three of them couldn't wait to see it. The three of them were very satisfied with the photos. While watching them, they also praised Lin Shuyue.
Afterwards, the two took several photos of themselves with the pear orchard as the background.
After a while, Luo Zhengjun and Lin Shuxing came out, and the third grandfather followed them out to see them off, but his grandson did not move.
After coming down from Third Grandpa Luo's house, Luo Zhengjun talked to Lin Shuxing and the others about Third Grandpa.
"My third grandfather married a wife when he was young, but she had heavy bleeding during childbirth and died after only seeing the baby for a few seconds. He raised his son by himself, but he died when he went up the mountain just after his son was born. My third grandfather lost his wife in his early years, his son in his middle age, and raised his grandson Luo Anping by himself. He is only fourteen years old now and it is very hard. We all have the same surname in our village, and we help anyone who has problems."
Lin Shuxing nodded. Lin Shuyue interrupted: "Then he doesn't study anymore?"
Today is October 4th. If you don't ask for leave, schools in various places will basically be closed. Brother Luo's son and daughter are in school today.
"It seems that he didn't want to go to school after the third grade." Lihua Village is a relatively remote rural area. There are many children who have not completed the nine-year compulsory education. Luo Anping is not the only one who doesn't want to study before finishing primary school.
The current situation is similar across the country, and Lin Shuxing and the others are aware of it. The group walked and talked, and soon they reached their home. During this time, Luo Zhengjun would say a few words to the villagers every few steps. Lin Shuxing, as Luo Zhengjun's wife, smiled so hard that her face was stiff. Lin Shuyue and the other three stood a little further away from them, occasionally talking to each other, and seemed to be oblivious to the frequent glances on them.
When they arrived at the Luo's house, Lou Fengqin and the others were still talking under the eaves. There were guests at the Luo's house again, and this time the guests were much older.
When Lin Shuyue and the others came back, one of the old ladies looked at them over and over again. Then, when they found a stool and sat down under the eaves, the old lady said to mother Luo in her native dialect, "Second daughter-in-law, your sister-in-law is very beautiful. Ask her if she has a boyfriend. If not, get in touch with her. Her family is rich. They will buy a house for us in Pengcheng, and then our whole family will go there."
The speaker was mother Luo's mother-in-law, Luo Zhengjun's real grandmother. She used to look down on Luo Zhengjun's poor family. When Luo's parents sent their son out to learn a craft, she gossiped about them all over the village. After Luo Zhengjun's younger brother married into the master's family, she laughed even more happily. As a result, when the news came back that Luo Zhengjun had found a girlfriend in Pengcheng and bought a house in Pengcheng, Luo's old lady's thoughts changed immediately.
She and Luo Zhengjun's aunt had been jealous at home. Before Luo Zhengjun and his wife came back, they thought that the wife Luo Zhengjun found in Pengcheng must be ugly and fierce, otherwise why would he find someone from another place? But after seeing two fancy cars driving into the village, their fantasy was shattered, especially after seeing Lin Shuxing's appearance, the two mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were just jealous.
Later, she found out that one of the drivers was Lin Shuxing's younger sister. Old Mrs. Luo was very excited. Her eldest son had two sons. The youngest grandson was exactly 21 years old and was working in the county town. In Old Mrs. Luo's opinion, he looked much better than Luo Zhengjun. The more Old Mrs. Luo thought about it, the more she felt that he and Lin Shuyue were a good match. She even thought about how big the house should be and whether it would be big enough for them to live in.
mother Luo glanced at the sister-in-law who was following Old Lady Luo and looking at Lin Shuyue in silence and critically, and smiled coldly, saying, "Don't you see who you are? You have the guts to covet a swan."
Mother Luo's words could be said to be quite unpleasant, but she was not afraid at all. From the day she married his husband, her mother-in-law looked down on her, and her sister-in-law gave her the cold shoulder. If she did dare to say anything, she would have been bullied to death by these two people.
Luo Zhengjun didn't even call his grandmother or aunt. Sister Luo called Lin Shuxing from the kitchen. Lin Shuxing walked into the kitchen with his brother and sisters. As soon as they entered, Sister Luo said to Lin Shuxing, "The one in blue and the one in red flowery clothes are Xiaojun's grandmother and aunt. They look down on our family. Every year, mom has a fight with them. If they come to you to talk nonsense, just pretend you can't hear or understand and ignore them."
Mrs. Luo gave Lin Shuxing a heads-up in advance. Lin Shuxing had already heard Luo Zhengjun talk about the family relationship at home, and she had also told Lou Fengqin and the others about it before coming. Now Mrs. Luo specifically reminded her, and Lin Shuxing appreciated it.
"I see. Thank you, sister-in-law."
Facing Lin Shuxing's thanks, Mrs. Luo blushed a little shyly. In their place, few people say thank you, and Mrs. Luo has only heard it once in her life. Mrs. Luo good impression of Lin Shuxing is immediately full.
But Old Mrs. Luo and her daughter-in-law didn't get anything good from mother Luo, so they immediately turned unhappy and said bad things about mother Luo's family to Lou Fengqin. Mother Luo was not at all panicked about this, because the farthest place this old woman had ever been in her life was the town, she had never even been to the county town, she couldn't read and couldn't speak Mandarin, so Lou Fengqin couldn't understand what she was saying at all.
Aunt Luo could speak a few words, but her Mandarin was mixed with the local dialect, so Lou Fengqin had a hard time understanding her. She simply didn't even smile, but nodded lightly, acting out the arrogance of a city dweller tenfold.
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law left with gloomy faces. Father Luo did not ask them to stay for a meal until they left the house. As soon as they left the house, they started to talk bad about Luo Zhengjun's family to the villagers. The villagers were happy to hear gossip, so they believed whatever she said.
After dinner in the evening, a group of people rested at Luo's house. There was an attic on the second floor of Luo's house, where rice and flour were usually stored. There were also two beds here. When there were guests, the family would give up the room and let the family members sleep upstairs.
But after Zeng Xiaoyi and the others learned that there were two beds in the attic, they refused to live in the room vacated by Mrs. Luo and the others and insisted on sleeping upstairs. So the three sisters and Lin Shuyang all lived in the attic.
There was a partition between the two beds in the attic. Lin Shuyang slept on the smaller bed, while Lin Shuyue, Bai Pingping and Zeng Xiaoyi slept on one bed.
There were many mosquitoes near the pond. Mrs. Luo led the way with a flashlight in her hand. When she reached the attic, she bent down and lit two mosquito coils a little further away from the bed. Then she said to the four people, "You can't bend down here. Why don't you go sleep downstairs?"
"No, no, it's fine for us to sleep here." Lin Shuyue and the others were tall, and it was a little uncomfortable for them to walk in the attic, but they wouldn't be living there for long, so there was really no need to ask Mrs. Luo and the others to vacate their room.
Mrs. Luo was rejected again, but she was still worried: "If you feel uncomfortable at night, just call me."
"OK."
Mrs. Luo, who had received the promise, went downstairs, looking back every few steps. There was a round window in the attic, and Zeng Xiaoyi and the others went to the window to look outside. The moonlight was dim tonight, but the sky was full of stars.
"Second sister, this is the first time I see a sky with so many stars." Zeng Xiaoyi murmured to Bai Pingping.
"Pengcheng is low in altitude, so it's normal that you can't see the stars. When you travel to places with higher altitudes in the future, the stars there will be brighter and more beautiful." Lin Shuyue explained to them.
"Then I must go and see it sometime in the future." Lin Shuyang likes to look at the sky very much, both at night and during the day.
"Take me with you."
"I want to go too." Bai Pingping and Zeng Xiaoyi said impatiently.
Three children aged seventeen or eighteen, under a sky full of stars, made a wish to go stargazing together after graduation from university.
Lin Shuyue lay on the bed, watching them play, replying to messages from time to time. Since yesterday, she has received messages from Hang Jiabai from time to time. When someone sends a message, Lin Shuyue can't help but reply, so from yesterday to now, the two have been in contact.
The stars are beautiful tonight, Lin Shuyue mentioned it, and Hang Jiabai immediately replied that he wanted to see them. Lin Shuyue thought about it, took out her digital camera and took some pictures from another window, took out her notebook from the suitcase, opened it, imported the photos into the computer, and then sent them to Hang Jiabai.
Hang Jiabai is only in his twenties this year. Like most young people, he likes to watch movies and play games in his spare time. When he saw the photos sent by Lin Shuyue, he typed lines of praise on the keyboard, first praising the scenery and then praising Lin Shuyue's photography skills.
Lin Shuyue smiled and uploaded the starlight photo to her space. Soon, it received a large number of comments. Lin Shuyue replied to them one by one, then turned off the computer and lay down on the bed to sleep.
The attic was very cool at night. The three of them squeezed into one bed and did not feel cold. They lit mosquito coils and there were no mosquitoes to disturb their dreams. She slept until dawn. Bai Pingping and the other two were still sleeping. Lin Shuyue put on her coat, carried her luggage, went downstairs, and went to the car to get toiletries.
When closing the trunk and locking the car door, the malice from yesterday afternoon appeared again. Lin Shuyue turned her head to look in that direction and just saw a corner of black clothes that quickly dodged.
Lin Shuyue's face turned cold. She walked into the yard with a cup and began to wash. As soon as she poured the water into the cup, a sharp sound rang through the quiet village.
"Xiaofang, Xiaofang!"
Lin Shuyue was still in a daze when she saw father Luo and mother Luo running out, and Luo's wife and her husband also ran out, followed by Lou Fengqin and Bai Wenhua. Lin Shuyue poured out the water in the mouthwash cup and grabbed Luo's wife.
Lin Shuyue asked Sister Luo: "Sister-in-law, what happened?"
Mrs. Luo looked outside and said, "It might be Xiaofang from my second uncle's family who fell into the water. Our village is surrounded by a pond in front of us, and every year there are several children and adults who fall into the pond. Usually we have repeatedly ordered the children not to go over there, but there are always a few who don't listen."
"This pond has claimed many lives over the years. The village wanted to build a fence around it, but we are too poor to use wood. We also went to the township several times to apply for funding but failed."
As they were talking, they went outside. There were already quite a few people standing by the water. A woman in her thirties was sitting by the pond, hugging a pair of shoes and crying loudly. Several people held her back, fearing that she would accidentally run into the pond.
"Our pond is very deep. Even during years of famine, the pond in our village has never dried up. People say that the pond in our village leads to an underground river. Usually, once someone falls into it, even their bones are hardly found." Mrs. Luo said while sighing.
Lin Shuyue looked at the pond in front of her. The water was very clear, and there were abundant aquatic plants that could be seen at the shore. The pond was also very large. If a child fell from the shore, it would be impossible for him to fall into the center of the water immediately.
Lin Shuyue thought of the malicious eyes that had been looking at them for the past two days, and the corner of clothes that had quickly dodged when she went to get the toiletries just now. Her eyes fell on the crying woman and the pair of shoes she was holding tightly in her arms.
The pair of shoes left on the shore was so deliberate, as if telling others that your child had fallen into the water.
Lin Shuyue calmly told Mrs. Luo: "Sister-in-law, call the police, and ask Brother Luo and his men to organize the villagers to look for the child. The child may not have fallen into the water."
As she finished speaking, the mechanical task voice of the Good and Evil Discrimination System sounded: [ Ding ~~~ The key word 'may not have fallen into the water' has been touched. Please clear away the fog, find the child who has been lost for no reason, and save a happy family. Task time: three days. ]
[ Ding ~~~ This task prize is issued together with the previous tasks prizes completed by the host. Please act as soon as possible. ]