Chapter 16 Don’t Cut Out My Kidney

“Mm!” Regardless of whether Xiang Wentian could see or not, Leng You nodded heavily.

At this moment, the Leng family members, who were gathered around the table eating breakfast, couldn’t help but shiver in unison. The several adult members of the Leng family exchanged glances, all seeing fear in each other’s eyes.

Was a vengeful ghost really coming to claim their lives?

Ma Dahua quickly put down her bowl and chopsticks, rushed to the door, and checked the bolted door again.

Today is the fourth day since the debt collector (Leng You) fell from the Valley of Summoning Souls. Every night there are strange noises outside the house that make people’s hair stand on end, and even there are occasional “dong dong” sounds coming from the roof.

The two large dogs, usually fierce enough to eat people, didn’t react at all.

On the first day this happened, Leng Jinsheng and his son Leng Shugen bravely went out to investigate, but found nothing.

As a result, Leng Shugen developed a high fever in the middle of the night and began to talk nonsense, his words terrifying the Leng family members half to death—

“Don’t come closer, don’t come closer… don’t come closer, don’t take me away!”

“Don’t blame me, blame your own mother, don’t come for me.”

“Ah… don’t pull my head!”

“Ah… don’t dig out my heart!”

“Ah… don’t cut out my kidney!”

…

Especially when Leng Shugen cried out the heartbreaking words, “Don’t cut out my kidney!”, Leng Shugen’s mother, Shi San Yue, immediately fainted and fell to the ground, while Ma Dahua wet her cotton trousers.

Even Li Jinsheng, the village head, who was known for his broad experience, couldn’t help but turn pale, his legs weak, his hair standing on end, and large drops of cold sweat dripping down.

Even if ghosts are powerful, they shouldn’t dare to make trouble during the day.

Ma Dahua comforted herself, but as she turned around, a sudden gust of wind blew through the crack in the door, violently swirling the ashes from the recently burned paper and rushing towards Ma Dahua’s face.

“Oh my god!” Ma Dahua screamed in terror, her bulky body leaping up like a rabbit, bouncing back into the house in a few bounds.

Everyone shuddered violently, their bowls slipping from their hands, spilling soup and vegetables everywhere.

The worst was Leng Shugen, who had only just recovered enough to eat something today. He had just put a mouthful of noodles into his mouth, when this sudden fright caused two noodles to shoot out of his nostrils.

Then, he swayed, his eyes rolled back, and with a “thump,” he fell onto the kang (a heated brick bed).

Incredibly, although his head hit first, the two noodles remained firmly stuck in his nostrils, hanging down to his chest.

Afterwards, the Leng family house was filled with cries and howls.

…

“Pheasants!” As soon as Leng You reached the bottom of the valley, she made a new discovery.

Not one, but a flock of pheasants were drinking water by the stream.

Perhaps because they had never seen humans before, they showed no fear when Leng You and Xiang Wentian approached.

“No hurry.” Today’s main task was to dig ginseng, so Xiang Wentian wasn’t in a hurry to make them a meal.

“They drink the hot spring water too?” Leng You found it strange.

“The hot spring water that flows down has been diluted by rainwater and snowmelt, and no longer has the smell of sulfur.” Xiang Wentian observed meticulously.

“After we dig up these ginseng, let’s explore further and see what other treasures are inside.” Leng You was already impatient.

“Good.” This suited Xiang Wentian’s intentions. He was also becoming more and more curious and expectant about this place.

Today, the two worked together even more smoothly, their speed significantly faster. With the help of their special abilities, they had dug up the remaining nine ginseng roots perfectly intact by early afternoon.

They patched up the tree bark with mud and filled in the large hole. Without delay, the two returned to Wen Jiuyue’s place.

Although yesterday’s discovery had prepared her somewhat, seeing so many ginseng roots at once still stunned Wen Jiuyue for a long time.

After recovering, she immediately began preparing to process and dry them.

The few from yesterday were completely dry. Leng You carefully wrapped them in tissue paper, put them in a willow basket, and asked Xiang Wentian to hang it from the bedroom rafters.

The rest would be processed and sealed together later.

Wen Jiuyue had already prepared dinner—rabbit stew with mushrooms, and sorghum flatbreads.

She wanted to eat early so she could process the ginseng immediately after dinner.

“Brother, eat here! After we finish, we’ll go back to Grandpa Xiang’s place together,” Leng You tugged at Xiang Wentian’s clothes, looking up at him.

“Good!” Xiang Wentian had guessed what Leng You was going to do, so he didn’t refuse.

After dinner, Leng You hesitated, then chose two three-hundred-year-old ginseng roots and two less than one-hundred-year-old ones, putting them in a bag.

Although they had dug up many, a total of sixteen, including three around four hundred years old; four around three hundred years old; four around one or two hundred years old; and five less than one hundred years old, it was still difficult to decide how to distribute them.

Leng You wanted to keep one of the four-hundred-year-old ginseng roots for Wen Jiuyue and one for Xiang Wentian. The remaining one was a difficult decision – should it go to Xiang Huaixin or Bai Changpu?

So she decided to give each person one three-hundred-year-old ginseng root and one less than one hundred years old, for emergencies. She could give them more later if needed.

“One three-hundred-year-old ginseng root for each person is enough,” Xiang Wentian said.

He saw Leng You’s dilemma and knew that if there was another four-hundred-year-old ginseng root, she would have given it away without hesitation.

From Leng You’s words, it was clear that she understood the value of ginseng.

Xiang Wentian was once again shocked.

“Considering Grandpa Xiang’s kindness to me, these are nothing,” Leng You’s eyes shone brightly.

She understood Xiang Wentian’s intention—he wanted her to use these ginseng roots to exchange for more money to ensure her and Wen Jiuyue’s future security.

But Leng You had absolute confidence that even without these ginseng roots, she could still provide a good life for herself and Wen Jiuyue.

“Youyou is a loyal child, let her give them away if she wants to,” Wen Jiuyue spoke up in support.

“Let’s go!” Xiang Wentian said no more.

Even if Leng You wasn’t so precocious, Wen Jiuyue’s character was enough to guide this child well.

He carried Leng You on his back, carried a large basin of food, and walked out.

“Dinner’s here, dinner’s here! Let me see, what delicious food did Wen’s girl make today?” Seeing Xiang Wentian carrying Leng You into the house, Bai Changpu immediately rushed over excitedly and quickly took the basin.

Since Leng You was injured and went to Wen Jiuyue’s house, and Xiang Wentian stayed there from morning till night, his and Xiang Huaixin’s food had undergone a dramatic improvement.

More accurately, since Leng You fell into the valley and discovered its uniqueness, their food had also changed.

Their previous interactions with Wen Jiuyue were entirely because of Leng You. Many times, when Leng You was beaten to a pulp or even near death by her stepmother, Ma Dahua, it was Wen Jiuyue who brought the poor child to Bai Changpu for treatment.