Chapter 39:

Xu family’s history

 

At that moment, the door of the yard creaked open, and Yan Hong’s voice boomed outside. “Grandma Fang, Xiao-ge, you’re back!”

 

Immediately, Grandma Fang’s gentle and clear voice rang after. “I was chatting with people in the village at first but then I accidentally talked about agricultural planting…”

 

Old Xiao was emotional as he said to Yan Hong, “Hey, it’s a pity that you are not there! Grandma Fang is now quite prestigious in the village. I will tell you later.”

 

Yan Hong looked at Old Xiao’s hand.

 

Old Xiao deliberately raised his hand a little too high, revealing the eggs and vegetables given by the villagers in his hand, and said with a smile, “Thanks to Grandma Fang, the village chief took the lead in giving some things, the other followed. Their kindness is hard to refuse.”

 

In the room, Jing Qizhen also stood up and smiled, “Everyone is back, let’s cook hot pot together.”

 

Jin Guijuan pointed to the backroom and whispered, “I’m going to check on Xu Siya. I’m not sure if the little girl has woken up yet.”

 

Lu Lingxi quickly picked up the patched cotton-padded coat on the table and said, “Give this to the child!”

 

Jing Qizhen stopped them. “Wait a minute. Take a look at this first!”

 

Jin Guijuan was a little confused, but Jing Qizhen had already brought the music box out.

 

Jin Guijuan and Lu Lingxi suddenly widened their eyes.

 

Lu Lingxi only got the clue about the music box from the weird little girl in the afternoon and Jin Guijuan was listening nearby, but no one expected that Jing Qizhen and the others would find the music box so quickly!

 

Lu Lingxi pointed in the direction of the mountain and inquired in a whisper, “You found it on the mountain?”

 

Manman directly sent the picture of the half tombstone to Lu Lingxi and Jin Guijuan, and whispered back, “We will discuss the detailed situation when Grandma Fang and the others join us.”

 

Jin Guijuan nodded and then passed the music box to Lu Lingxi.

 

Lu Lingxi couldn’t help but whisper, “It’s truly amazing…”

 

Jing Qizhen also followed Jin Guijuan’s words to check Xu Siya and deliberately added, “Go, it’s just in time for Xu Siya to wake up. Invite the girl to have dinner together with us.”

 

After withdrawing his attention from the music box, Lu Lingxi frowned slightly as he stared at the halved tombstone in the photo and murmured, “The situation seems to be getting more and more complicated.”

 

In the meantime, Yan Hong, Grandma Fang and Old Xiao finally walked in.

 

Just like the book ‘Journey to Hell’ was passed around before, everyone also passed around the ‘Christmas Reindeer Music Box’, and then carefully put it away.

 

Jing Qizhen simply stated, “We haven’t opened the music box before.”

 

Grandma Fang made a ‘silence’ gesture and said in a whisper, “The Xu family.”

 

Then she continued, “I and Old Xiao were in the village today and heard a lot about the customs and traditions of the village. Let’s talk about it later.”

 

In the backroom, Jin Guijuan had just walked inside when she saw Xu Siya who was already awake.

 

The little girl had changed from lying on her back to lying on her side, with her head lowered and her fingers beside the pillow, gently tracing and reviewing the words Jin Guijuan had taught her before.

 

Jin Guijuan paused, then walked forward and sat down next to Xu Siya. She put the cotton-padded coat next to her and asked with a smile, “When did Siya wake up?”

 

Xu Siya first called out ‘Guijuan-jie’ but her eyes were trained at the cotton-padded coat that had been turned into a patchwork of colors.

 

Jin Guijuan smiled and said, “Here, little-big brother Lu helped you fix it.”

 

“Then I’ll thank little-big brother Lu later.” Xu Siya reluctantly looked away, and then murmured softly, “Just now, I heard that big brother outside said that children should not date too early and there is a suitable age and so on…”

 

Although she was only seven or eight years old, children who grew up in rural areas were fast-developed. Although she never heard of the theory Jing Qizhen mentioned before, she could still partially understand what Jing Qizhen meant.

 

As a result, Xu Siya herself felt a little shy and embarrassed listening to him.

 

Jin Guijuan paused for a moment before she softly responded, “What he said is right. Even if you don’t understand it now, you can remember it first. It’s not a bad thing.”

 

Although Xu Siya was still a little confused, she nodded seriously. She softly promised, “Okay, I remember, Guijuan-jie.”

 

Jin Guijuan reached out and gave Xu Siya a pat on her hand, and smiled. “Come on, get up and let’s go have dinner!”

 

Xu Siya climbed out of bed quickly She stood up and said, “Yeah.”

 

When the little girl put on her pair of ill-fitting shoes, Jin Guijuan hesitated slightly. She was unsure if Lu Lingxi could make shoes…

 

Jin Guijuan took Xu Siya out of the backroom.

 

Outside, the group had already prepared their pots and pans and started to cook the hot pot vigorously.

 

There was no induction cooker there, let alone an electric hot pot, so Lu Lingxi directly boiled all kinds of meat and vegetables in the big pot on the stove and then fished them out one by one once they were cooked.

 

Manman invited casually, “You can make the sauce yourself. There are very few choices here.” After all, the ingredients and seasonings were very limited.

 

Lu Lingxi had just showed off the skills he had developed in wilderness survival training—using bricks to build a temporary stove in the yard.

 

As soon as Old Xiao took a small pot of chili oil out, he became so dizzy that he choked and burst into tears, sneezing from the smell!

 

The wind direction at that moment was blowing the fragrant yet pungent smell of fried chili peppers all over the yard.

 

Jing Qizhen was choking so badly that the corners of his eyes turned red. He wished he could close the door and destroy Old Xiao along with his pot of chili oil.

 

Old Xiao also let out an ‘achoo’ as he screamed desperately, “There is no—aah-achoo! Hot pot without chili oil—aah-achoo! No—achoo—soul!”

 

With more people around, the atmosphere became bustling. When the merriment got louder, Yan Hong turned peacefully taciturn again and stayed by the huge pot to help Lu Lingxi cook.

 

Manman casually placed the dishes on the peeling plastic round table and then sat down, ready to have dinner at any moment.

 

Xu Siya had never eaten hot pot before and she had never seen a group of people, men and women, old and young, joking with each other and laughing boisterously from time to time. She was brought to the table by Jin Guijuan who then picked the child up and placed her on a chair. At that moment, the little girl observed all of them with unblinking eyes. Her shy smile contained not only curiosity but also full of yearning and admiration.

 

While he was eating, Earth suddenly appeared again in Jing Qizhen’s mind.

 

The Earth: “Hello!”

 

Jing Qizhen was about to ask what was going on outside, but before he could speak, the planet suddenly screamed in disbelief.

 

The Earth: “You are eating hot pot!? You are eating hot pot in the erosion area again! Chef Si Jiayang is not here, why are you cooking hot pot again?”

 

Jing Qizhen sighed and could only follow the direction of the conversation Earth was invested in. He answered straightforwardly, “If Si Jiayang is not here, isn’t there still Lu Lingxi?”

 

They must also thank Tang Song for the amazing support from the volunteer team.

 

The Earth: “Every time Si Jiayang outside took a bite of food, he had to complain to Tang Song that his wife was inside, so he was extremely worried and couldn’t eat properly.”

 

Jing Qizhen: “…Did Tang Song give him a beating?”

 

The Earth: “Huh? In front of Si Jiayang’s tenacity, Tang Song finally put on 3M anti-noise earplugs and completely gave up the struggle.” 0.0

 

Jing Qizhen: …

 

Okay, Si ‘forced to separate from his girlfriend’ Jiayang was about to drive Tang Song crazy.

 

After a pause, Jing Qizhen said, “About the hot pot—”

 

Earth suddenly sobered up and remembered the conversation with Jing Qizhen in the previous erosion area. It immediately shouted, “Don’t say you’ll pour the hot pot on the ground for me! I don’t want it, I don’t want it, I don’t want it!”

 

Jing Qizhen: “…then, let’s talk about the two different bands of energy detected by the experts outside?”

 

The Earth suddenly regained its rationality, and with a more serious tone, it confirmed, “Yeah, I have carefully observed their investigation report.”

 

Jing Qizhen: “Wait a minute!”

 

He took out his mobile phone and directly opened the memo.

 

The Earth: “Actually, when I read the report, they had detected energy fluctuations on three separate occasions.” =0=

 

Jing Qizhen: “Okay.”

 

The Earth: “The first energy fluctuation appeared last night at 11 p.m. and it burst out at the entrance of the village. In the reality, water from the abandoned well nearby had overflowed and directly flooded several vegetable fields in the family’s yard.

 

“The second energy fluctuation was at 10:19 this morning. It was in the yard at the west end of the village. That family keeps several kittens and puppies. At that moment, all the little animals jumped out of the house and the dog also bit the owner’s pants and wanted to drag the owner out. It shocked the people, thinking that there was going to be an earthquake.

 

“The third energy fluctuation was quite special because the first two energy bands appeared again. The time is 5:42 just this afternoon. The location is in a mountainous area. The coordinates are east longitude—“

 

Jing Qizhen quickly interrupted Earth’s plan to report the exact longitude and latitude coordinates. “Just give the approximate position.”

 

The Earth: “It was east of your entry point into the erosion area, in a ravine about 700 meters away in a straight line.”

 

Jing Qizhen roughly drew a map in his mind and concluded that the location almost corresponded to the ravine where they found the halved tombstone.

 

Jing Qizhen shared his view. “In other words, the first energy fluctuation was caused by the strange little girl, the second time was by Xu Siya, and the third time was related to both of them?”

 

Earth glanced at Xu Siya, who was sitting obediently next to Jin Guijuan while eating, and curiously asked, “Who is the strange little girl you are talking about?”

 

Jing Qizhen: “She is not here right now. Should I call you the next time I meet her?”

 

The Earth: “Okay ah.” 0.0

 

After a lively hot pot meal, Old Xiao was choking on the chili oil and had to drink water like crazy. Lu Lingxi also wanted to clean up the pots and pans. As the chef who cooked today, he was instantly pushed back into his seat by the others.

 

“No, no, no, no. You’ve been working for a full day. You can take a rest while we clean up!”

 

Xu Siya rubbed her round belly full of food, looking a little gobsmacked.

 

Jin Guijuan asked Lu Lingxi in a sheepish voice, “Little Lu, can you make children’s shoes?”

 

Lu Lingxi was startled.

 

His eyes trailed down and his sight fell on Xu Siya’s shoes. He hesitated. “I do know how to weave straw sandals, but it is not suitable for children…”

 

Old Xiao was taken back. “You even know how to make that!?”

 

Lu Lingxi: “I know a little bit. I can learn from the villagers too. It’s not a big deal.”

 

Everyone: …

 

The night was getting darker.

 

After Xu Siya was taken to the backroom by Jin Guijuan and coaxed to sleep, everyone gathered in the room across and compiled all the news they had learned so far.

 

Unexpectedly, in Grandma Fang’s and Old Xiao’s journey around the village, the person who chatted with the villagers and discovered the situation of the Xu family was not the amiable-looking Grandma Fang but the middle-aged man Old Xiao.

 

Old Xiao: “Professor Fang’s lectures are too professional and the villagers don’t dare to gossip with her… ”

 

Jing Qizhen: “…and then?”

 

Old Xiao: “I heard this from a few uncles in the villages who wanted to hear the lectures but ended up dozing off.

 

“They said that the Xu family’s four daughters had a tough time. Xu Daya’s body was weak since childhood, and after they named her, she got sick and passed away shortly after.” Old Xiao drank some cold water to soothe the effect of consuming too much chili oil.

 

“Before Xu Erya was born, everyone expected the baby to be a boy, so the child was nurtured well during pregnancy. When it was time to give birth, the husband from the Xu family happened to be away from home. The wife went through a lot of suffering giving birth to the child but after working so hard, she found out that it was another girl. The wife was so angry that she almost died. Maybe because she was nurtured well in the womb, although Xu Erya was not welcomed by her biological mother, she grew up well.”

 

Jin Guijuan: “But, none of us have seen Xu Erya.”

 

Old Xiao: “I also asked the old men but they just dismissed it and said it was a disgraceful thing not to be spoken of. Later, Xu Sanya was born, and she was also a daughter. They said that the family was too poor to raise her, so they gave her away. Then there is Xu Siya.”

 

Jing Qizhen: “What are the ages of the girls in the Xu family?”

 

Old Xiao himself was very sensitive to numbers. When those old men gossiped inexplicably, he had already calculated their ages.

 

Old Xiao: “If we calculate it using their birth years, in 1992, Daya should be seventeen, Erya fifteen, Sanya eleven, and Siya nine years old respectively.”

 

Everyone was paying attention. When he mentioned Xu Erya’s age, he immediately frowned and whispered, “Fifteen years old! The same age as the one mentioned by the strange girl.”