Chapter 58: Catch Your Chicken, Make You Cry

Chu Yue stepped out of the house in the dark, not even turning on a flashlight. The faint moonlight was enough for her to see the surroundings clearly.

The courtyard was pitch black. In the 1970s, people went to bed early, there was no nightlife, and electricity was saved—no houses had their lights on. All around was only the howling cold wind and the sounds of animals from deep in the forest.

If it were someone else in such an environment, they’d probably shiver with fear, their back growing cold.

But Chu Yue was not afraid at all—instead, she was excited.

She quickly walked to the corner of an alley, from a distance seeing the house of Wang Chunling she had visited earlier that day.

Chu Yue casually pulled a chicken out of her Lingbao space— a rooster with a bright red comb, looking vigorous and proud, a real strutting big rooster.

She patted the rooster’s backside, saying, “Go.”

The rooster immediately strutted onto the ground and headed into the alley, clucking loudly as it walked.

At night, the rooster’s clucking sounded especially loud.

It was hard to wake sleeping people, but it was very easy to wake up some small animals—like the old hens of Ling Jinhua’s family.

“Cluck-cluck—”

“Cluck-cluck—”

Soon, the courtyard echoed with the old hens’ clucking.

Chu Yue had already found out during the day that Ling Jinhua hadn’t built a proper chicken coop, didn’t close the courtyard gate, and didn’t care that the old hens wandered around pooping everywhere.

So after a while, two old hens waddled out of the courtyard one after another.

The two old hens circled around the big rooster. The rooster crowed proudly once, and the two hens immediately followed, clacking their feet as they walked toward Chu Yue.

Chu Yue wasn’t interested in the two old hens and was too lazy to put them into her space.

She had all kinds of black-bone chickens and three-yellow chickens in her space; these two old, scraggly hens were worthless.

She put her finger to her lips and whistled. The rooster hurried ahead, followed closely by the hens. With a flap of the rooster’s wings, the three chickens walked out of the courtyard.

The sudden noise startled the night shift sentry.

“What’s that noise?! Who’s there?! State your password, come out quickly!”

“…Oh, it’s just chickens, you scared me.”

There was no sign of a person—only three chickens flapping their wings. The two old hens followed one proud rooster as it swaggered through the “guard line.”

The sentry couldn’t leave his post and naturally ignored the chickens.

The courtyard was halfway up a mountain, with forest behind it. Led by the rooster, the three chickens quickly disappeared into the woods.

At this time, Chu Yue had already returned home.

She closed the courtyard gate, bolted it, with a small smile on her lips. When Ling Jinhua woke up and found her precious two old hens missing, she’d probably cry again.

Chu Yue went back inside, took off her clothes, and went to bed.

But as soon as she lay down, she felt something was wrong.

She immediately turned on the light. Lu Yuanbao, at some unknown time, had curled himself into a small ball, trembling, with wet tear stains under his eyes.

Had he been crying?

Was he feeling upset again?

“Yuanbao, Yuanbao, wake up quickly, wake up,”

Chu Yue hurriedly patted Lu Yuanbao’s back to wake him.

Lu Yuanbao woke up dazed, seeing Chu Yue’s anxious face, still a little confused and foggy.

“Hm? Is it… morning?”

Chu Yue touched his forehead — his temperature was normal. She felt his chubby, relaxed belly, then gently touched his face.

“You were sleeping soundly, why did you cry? Did you have a nightmare?”

Lu Yuanbao was startled, blinking his bright black eyes blankly for a moment, then seemed to recall something and nodded softly, “Yeah, I had a nightmare.”

Chu Yue asked again, uncertain, “Are you sure it was just a nightmare? You don’t feel unwell anywhere?”

“Yeah.”

Lu Yuanbao nodded seriously, not like he was lying.

Chu Yue breathed a sigh of relief.

It was normal for children to have nightmares; another sleep would make it better.

Chu Yue took a towel, wiped the cold sweat off Lu Yuanbao’s forehead, then wiped the damp sweat on his body. After making him fresh and clean, she turned off the light, got into bed, and held him close.

“It’s just a nightmare, don’t be afraid. Even if there are ghosts, I’ll fight them off for you.”

Lu Yuanbao didn’t say anything, but lowered his head and snuggled deeper into Chu Yue’s embrace.

In the pitch-black night, with Chu Yue’s presence, Lu Yuanbao remained calm and did not panic after waking from the nightmare.

But Chu Yue knew he hadn’t fallen asleep for a long time—he just quietly leaned against her.

The little boy was hiding a very deep secret in his heart.

Chu Yue didn’t force him to speak but quietly stayed with him.

After a long while,

Lu Yuanbao grabbed Chu Yue’s clothes and softly whispered.

“Mom… Mom said… I have a sister… I once… had a sister… she… she disappeared.”

Lu Yuanbao’s biological mother, living in a rural environment with no support, was sometimes lucid and sometimes insane.

She could not have been pregnant only once.

There had once been a girl who was not born. His mother held Lu Yuanbao’s hand on her swollen belly and said that was his sister.

After having a sister, Lu Yuanbao became the older brother, responsible for taking care of her.

Lu Yuanbao remembered all the things his biological mother said. But at some point, the belly disappeared, and so did his sister…

Since then, his biological mother never mentioned the sister again, and forbade Lu Yuanbao from bringing her up.

Today, seeing Wang Chunling’s child — a small baby girl — brought back memories from his childhood.

He couldn’t remember clearly, only that he once had a sister who later disappeared.

This stirred a nightmare from his vague memories.

After finishing, Lu Yuanbao immediately lowered his head deeper into Chu Yue’s chest and tightly closed his eyes.

Hearing this, Chu Yue had already pieced things together in her mind and felt Lu Yuanbao’s resistance and fear.

She stroked his back gently and said softly, “Yuanbao, it’s all in the past. It was just a dream.”

…

The next day.

At dawn, Li Jinhua’s wailing echoed throughout the courtyard.

“My chickens! My chickens! They’re gone! Damn it! Which bastard stole my chickens! That was my old hen saving eggs! Was it you—was it you—was it you who stole them? If I find out who stole my chickens, I’ll pull out all their hair! Make them a featherless chicken!”

Li Jinhua shouted loudly and harshly, cursing nonstop, pointing fingers at the people around, trying to blame the theft on them.