Chapter 29

Shen Cui thought for a moment and said, “I still don’t think it’s any ghostly mischief. Let’s go to the village entrance under the locust tree and see what’s going on.”

By now, the sky had completely darkened, and in less than a quarter of an hour, it would be completely black.

Lao Buyu subconsciously shook his head, but when he turned around and saw Mu Er Pang looking at him, he gritted his teeth and said, “Let’s go and see!”

Seeing his fear, Shen Cui had to take out the candlestick she had brought from home in the afternoon and light the specially made candle.

The warm candlelight flickered, dispelling the fearful darkness and adding a hint of warmth to their hearts.

Lao Buyu was the most afraid of the three, so Shen Cui handed the candlestick to him to hold.

Lao Buyu reached out to take it, but as soon as he touched the candlestick, he withdrew his hand, saying with righteousness, “Madam Mu, as a lady, you should naturally hold the candle.”

Quite gentlemanly, isn’t it?

Shen Cui raised her eyebrows in surprise but didn’t say much as they were in a hurry to check the situation at the village entrance.

As the three of them left the old house, Shen Cui noticed something wrong— the person holding the candle should walk at the forefront, responsible for leading the way and illuminating the path for those behind! But for Lao Buyu it seems different , he was walking behind while holding the candle.

She shook her head with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. Mu Er Pang soon noticed this too and said to Shen Cui, “Mother, let me hold it, and you walk behind me.”

Being the youngest and less experienced, naturally he was also afraid.

But when Shen Cui mentioned checking the situation outside, Mu Er Pang didn’t hesitate at all, displaying a brave demeanor of a young man.

“It’s okay,” she ruffled his head with her hand, “Let’s just walk over there like this.”

In less than half an hour, the three arrived at the village entrance.

There was a big temperature difference between early spring nights, and a strong wind blew at night. They could only see the shadows of the trees swaying and hear the rustling of the leaves. As Lao Buyu said, there was no sign of anyone under the tree at this time.

The candle flame flickered, casting mottled shadows. Coupled with Lao Buyu’s bizarre story just now, it was quite eerie.

Just as Shen Cui was about to walk towards the locust tree, Lao Buyu waved his hand to signal her to stop.

Shen Cui looked at him puzzled, wondering if they would just turn back halfway here?

Lao Buyu swallowed nervously and shivered his lips, “Did you… hear crying?”

“Master must have misheard, it’s probably just the sound of the wind whistling,” Mu Er Pang also whispered, “I-I think I heard it too.”

Shen Cui listened more carefully and indeed heard faint, mournful sobbing mingled with the sound of the wind.

“See, there really is… something!”

Top of Form

If it weren’t for the impropriety of a man and a woman being too close, Lao Buyu would have wanted to grab one of them by the hand and quickly run away.

Shen Cui said seriously, “Don’t joke around, there really is crying. It’s the sound of a person, not a ghost. Come on, let’s go and see!”

After saying that, Shen Cui immediately followed the sound to investigate.

Soon, she found a pit next to the locust tree.

The pit wasn’t big, only about half a meter in diameter. It hadn’t appeared today; it had been there for quite a few years.

The age of the village’s locust tree was unknown, but there was an old saying that old trees have spirits. At some point, the villagers started making wishes to the locust tree, hoping for its blessing.

Given the limited living conditions of the people nowadays, they couldn’t throw copper coins like in modern times, so they dug a deep pit under the tree. During festivals or special occasions, if there were leftovers at home, they would pour them into the pit as offerings.

Of course, this primitive form of offering was prone to emitting a foul smell due to the decay of the food, so the pit was dug deeper, about two meters deep.

However, there were many children in the village, and they were afraid that children might fall in while playing, so not only was a wooden board covering the pit daily, but also a low fence was erected around it. It was unclear how someone fell in.

As soon as someone approached, the person in the pit stopped crying and hoarsely shouted, “Help!”

Although the person’s voice had become hoarse and distorted from crying for who knows how long, at least it was recognizable as human.

Lao Buyu finally returned to his senses and awkwardly touched his face, saying, “How come there’s still a pit here?”

Having just moved to Shuiyun Village, he hadn’t carefully inspected this area during the day, and at that time, it was already getting dim, so he naturally didn’t notice it in his panic.

He didn’t let Shen Cui intervene in the rescue work. He quickly ran back to the house and found a hemp rope.

Soon, the person in the pit grabbed one end of the rope, while Lao Buyu and Mu Er Pang grabbed the other end, pulling the person up.

The person looked somewhat weak, covered in leftover food scraps, emitting a smell of decay. The clothes on their body had lost their original color, and they sat on the ground panting heavily after being pulled up.

“It’s you, kid, following me around and scaring me half to death. Tell me, are you a rascal or…”

Before Lao Buyu could finish his question, the person collapsed backward and fainted.

Lao Buyu also felt a bit guilty. Although the person had been following him first, if something had happened to him under his nose, he would still bear some responsibility indirectly.

“Don’t worry, let me take a look. I’ve glanced through a few medical books. I’ll see if he’s faking it or if something’s wrong.” Lao Buyu still asked Shen Cui and Mu Er Pang to step back as he approached, checking the person’s pulse and breathing, then finally heaved a sigh of relief, saying, “No big deal, he’s just scared.”

Confirming that the person was unharmed, the three naturally shifted their gaze to the person’s face—wasn’t he the younger brother with an IQ of 88?

Just earlier, she had thought it would be difficult to find him, and here he was, even delivering goods to their doorstep?

“It’s him!” Shen Cui, Lao Buyu, and Mu Er Pang said simultaneously.

After saying that, the three looked at each other, a bit puzzled as to how everyone knew him.

But it wasn’t the time to talk about it. Shen Cui continued to hold the candlestick to provide light, while also looking around the tree to find a wooden board to cover the pit, preventing others from falling in.

Lao Buyu carried the person on his back, while Mu Er Pang assisted, and they all went back to the old house.

The young man still hadn’t woken up after being placed on the kang. Shen Cui wasn’t very confident in Lao Buyu’s self-taught medical skills, so she asked him to change his clothes while she hurried to find the village’s barefoot doctor.

Of course, the barefoot doctor’s medical skills couldn’t compare to those of the proper doctors in the city, but it was already dark, and soon it would be time to close the city gates. Doctors from the city wouldn’t come out to diagnose and treat patients at this hour. So, they decided to get the barefoot doctor first.

Before long, the barefoot doctor was summoned by Shen Cui.

He had much more experience than Lao Buyu’s half-hearted self-study. When they told him that the person had been rescued from the pit, he knew that the person probably didn’t have any internal injuries—every year, mischievous children fell into the pit, but it was always filled with a thick layer of leftover food, and he hadn’t heard of anyone suffering serious injuries from falling.

However, while there might not be any serious injuries, there could be other external injuries.

He carefully examined the young man’s body and limbs, and finally, as he touched the young man’s ankle, he said, “Nothing serious, just a sprained ankle. No need for a splint. Just massage it with some medicated wine later, and it should be fine.”

Afterward, Shen Cui paid the doctor fifty wen for his diagnosis and sent him off. Mu Er Pang stayed to watch over the young man, while Shen Cui and Lao Buyu, who had changed his clothes, sat down in the main hall to talk.

Lao Buyu had the deepest connection with him, so he began to speak first.

However, Lao Buyu didn’t know his specific name— he must have mentioned it before, but Lao Buyu didn’t particularly remember. All he knew was that he was from the capital and had been sent here by his family to attend Qingzhu Academy.

But then he found out by chance that Lao Buyu was accepting students, so he changed his mind and came to Lao Buyu, saying that he had read his articles in his childhood and admired him greatly, wanting to become his disciple.

At that time, Lao Buyu was preoccupied with business that required no investment on his part. He had forgotten his original intention of holding the competition and simply treated him as a fat sheep to be slaughtered.

As mentioned before, no one would be foolish enough to want to compete with Lao Buyu in poetry, essays, or the six arts.

But this young man was an exception, as he competed with Lao Buyu in those areas.

He would challenge Lao Buyu every now and then, and Lao Buyu would always win. After losing more than ten or twenty taels of silver to Lao Buyu, Lao Buyu nicknamed him “Little Fat Sheep.” He couldn’t remember his specific name, only remembering this nickname. He had even forgotten his real name.

It wasn’t until the New Year that this “Little Fat Sheep” stopped seeking him out. Lao Buyu thought that even he had given up, so he thought about finding another place to stay.

“Oh, that’s right,” Shen Cui took over, “That day on Academy Street, when I went to find Master, I overheard him and his older brother arguing. His brother wanted him to go to Qingzhu Academy, but he fiercely resisted. From their conversation, I learned about Master… I don’t think he gave up, but rather, he was detained by his family.”

“This kid, instead of greeting me directly when he saw me, he secretly followed me. If you hadn’t pulled me back to take another look, with the strong wind outside today, no one would have heard his cries for help, like the buzzing of mosquitoes.”

That was also a point that Shen Cui hadn’t figured out.

Coincidentally, as they were discussing this, Mu Er Pang’s cheerful voice came from inside the house, “Mother, Master, he’s awake!”

Shen Cui and Lao Buyu immediately entered the room.

The young man on the kang had already woken up. As the barefoot doctor had said, he did indeed sprain his foot. Now sitting up, he unconsciously furrowed his brows and took a sharp intake of cold air.

Then he smelled the stench emanating from his body. When he saw Shen Cui and Lao Buyu enter together, his face turned red in embarrassment and anger.

He was so embarrassed and worried about his appearance that Shen Cui very consciously stood at the door without approaching.

Lao Buyu hurriedly said, “I just had the doctor check you. He said you sprained your foot and need to lie down properly. Don’t move for now.”

The young man obediently nodded and put down his foot, which was already starting to swell, before bowing to Lao Buyu to express his gratitude.

Despite Lao Buyu being frightened earlier, at this moment, he stood with one hand behind his back, looking like a calm scholar, and waved his hand, saying, “No need to thank me. You should thank Madam Mu. If she hadn’t reminded me to go back and take a look, you would probably have had to spend half the night in that pit.”

Upon hearing this, the young man turned his head and bowed deeply to Shen Cui at the door, saying earnestly, “Thank you, Madam, for saving me.”

No one dislikes well-mannered and polite people, especially when they are also very handsome. Shen Cui couldn’t help but admire this young man a bit more— there were many arrogant scholars nowadays, especially those with high talent and learning, and it was already good enough if they didn’t look down on others.

“Now, tell us, Little Fat… Young Master, what happened today?”