Chapter 28: Pursuit and Kill (5)

  Dongfang Yong's father, who is also Dongfang Yu's grandfather, was the first person from the Dongfang family to come over to our side. I heard from Dongfang Yu that when her grandfather came over, he had nothing and was taken in by a Li family on our side, and later married a woman from the Li family and had children, leaving behind descendants on our side.

  The Li family originally lived in the same place as my hometown, because it was generally poor here, and increasing population would only make life more difficult. So the elderly of the Li family decided to split off some of their clan members and move to where Dongfang Yu lives now.

  My father and Dongfang Yu's father, Dongfang Yong, were playmates when they were young, and the two had a good relationship from childhood to adulthood. After they got married, they still kept in touch frequently. So, during one of their casual conversations, they arranged for me and Dongfang Yu to be betrothed before I was even born.

  At that time, more than 20 years ago, the thinking of our rural people was still relatively backward. Although the advocacy for free marriage had begun, there were also many people who still recognized feudal remnants such as arranged marriages and parental matchmaking.

  It's precisely because of this that when Dongfang Yu and I were in elementary school, we would often be teased by our classmates, who would say that we were "a married couple attending school together, with the woman tall and the man short, without a wedding ceremony. Sitting together in class during the day, but calling out to different mothers at night." Some people even made fun of how I was shorter than Dongfang Yu back then, saying things like "the husband is small like a son, the wife is big like his mother".

  Such jokes gradually decreased after I and she entered high school together. At that time, we were all grown up and began to realize many things. I deliberately avoided Dongfang Yu, and Dongfang Yu also kept a distance from me. We seemed like strangers, rarely speaking when we met.

  When she graduated from high school, her college entrance examination scores were more than ten points higher than mine and she was admitted to a key university in our area. I, on the other hand, could only attend my current school due to my score.

  Maybe it's because she scored better than me, which made me feel a bit inferior, so after knowing the results, I didn't contact her again.

  It wasn't until a year later that we ran into each other again, and I found out that she had dropped out of school early to stay at home because her family was too poor to afford her education.

  I really feel sorry for her, and can't help but sigh. Dongfang Yu cried so sadly that time, it was hard for me to watch, I even wished I could earn money to let her go to school at the time.

  Unfortunately, I'm just a poor student, having the heart but not the strength. My parents are already exhausted from supporting me alone in school, and they don't have the ability to support another university student.

  Dongfang Yu could only stay at home and farm, losing the opportunity to attend university. I also had to continue my studies, so I parted ways with her.

  After I returned to school, I received a letter from her. In the letter, she mentioned the marriage issue between us and said that she had not forgotten about it, but would also respect my choice. She felt somewhat inferior, thinking that as a university student, I was out of her league.

  I didn't reply to her at the time, but instead told my parents about my thoughts: I think that in today's society, marriage should be free, and we can't continue with the old ways of our elders. My parents had also been exposed to many new ideas from this era, so they supported my decision. They specially went to Dongfang Rong's home to explain the situation and even took Dongfang Yu as their adopted daughter. This way, Dongfang Yu became my younger sister, born one month after me.

  When my parents adopted Dongfang Yu as their goddaughter, Dongfang Yu did not object, but I heard from my mother that at the time, Dongfang Yu cried and was very sad.

  I don't know why she cried, and I didn't want to think about it anymore. After all, I also felt that we were slowly drifting apart. Whether it was in high school when she deliberately kept her distance from me, or now that we are separated by two places - I'm at school, she's at home - everything has silently increased the distance between us.

  If I hadn't been at the end of my rope this time, I wouldn't have thought of coming to Dongfang Yu's house to hide, let alone bringing Sun Heng with me to disturb their whole family.

  Sun Heng was unaware of the situation, and he still thought that Uncle Chen's words were true. He thought that I and Dongfang Yu were in a relationship where we were forced by our parents to be boyfriend and girlfriend. So when he saw me stop the car, he whispered: "Is this your fiancée's home?"

  I didn't dare to explain anything at this time, I could only nod: "Remember what I just told you, don't say anything different..."

  Sun Heng nodded and followed me towards the three earth-sheltered houses in front of us.

  I saw the door was open and there must be someone in the house, so I called out: "Uncle Dongfang, are you home?"

  I've been calling Dongfang Yong "Uncle Dongfang" since I was a kid. Dongfang Yong's wife, originally named Guo Sihxiang, had to have the character "" (four) in her name due to generational naming conventions, not because she was the fourth child. But I've always called her "Fourth Aunt", as it wouldn't be right to call her "Fragrant Aunt".

  I heard someone respond from inside the house, and immediately someone came out. The person who came out was Guo Sihuang, Guo Siqiang's wife. When she saw me, she smiled and said: "It's Jin Cang, how did you come? Is school on holiday?"

  I hastily asked: "Fourth Aunt, are you okay?"

  Guo Si Shu smiled happily: "Good good, I'm fine. How did you come back? Who is this..."

  I looked at Sun Heng and said: "Fourth Aunt, this is our school teacher, Teacher Sun Heng."

  "Teacher Sun? You're Jin Cang's university teacher, aren't you? How did you end up here? Ah, come in quickly and sit down, hurry..."

  "Please don't be polite, we may need to trouble you for a while this time and ask you to bear with us. You're being too polite, it makes me feel embarrassed."

  I quickly continued: "It's like this, Fourth Aunt. When I mentioned Yuer's situation to Teacher Sun, she felt it was a pity that Yuer couldn't attend university, so she decided to come with me to take a look. If Yuer is willing, Teacher Sun wants to provide some financial assistance for her to attend university..."

  I don't know if it was because my words were beyond Aunt Liu's expectations, but she directly opened her mouth wide and asked in disbelief: "What did you say?"

  I had to say again: "I said that Teacher Sun wants to help Yu'er go back to college. Do you understand?"

  "Ah!" Fourth Aunt exclaimed, her face full of disbelief: "You're not joking, are you? Teacher Sun wants to help our family's Jade get into college? This... this..."

  I nodded: "That's right. This time, Teacher Sun came over just to have a good talk with Yu'er, if Yu'er is willing..."

  Before I could finish speaking, Fourth Aunt loudly said: "Of course she's willing, how could she not be? She dreams of going to university..."

  Sun Heng's face showed a hint of impatience, and I was worried that he would reveal his weakness, so I quickly said: "Then why don't you let Teacher Sun in? We can discuss this inside."

  Fourth Aunt hastily stepped aside and said with great respect: "Teacher Sun, please come in!"

  Sun Heng glared at me, while exchanging polite words with Fourth Aunt, and walked into Fourth Aunt's house.

  Fourth Aunt's home was really not wealthy, except for some old furniture, there were no modern electrical appliances.

  In recent years, they spent all their savings to let Dongfang Yu attend high school and also borrowed a lot of money from relatives, so there was no money to buy electrical appliances.

  Sun Heng sat down on a wooden chair that Fourth Aunt had brought over, looked around, and couldn't help but glare at me again.

  I hastily smiled and said: "Teacher Sun, the conditions in the countryside are not good, you have to forgive me."

  Sun Heng glared at me, meaning that I shouldn't have cheated such a poor and rural person. But I couldn't say it clearly, so I pretended to be confused and babbled: "Teacher Sun is not only our teacher, but also has his own small company with high income. So he can take out some money to help Jade's sister, as long as Jade's sister is willing, she can go to university with us in a few days."

  Fourth Aunt nodded repeatedly: "Willing, willing, definitely willing."

  Sun Heng looked at me and said: "If Dongfang Yu is willing, I can provide her with tuition fees and living expenses until she graduates from university."

  Fourth Aunt was overjoyed and couldn't close her mouth: "That's really great. Teacher Sun, you're such a good person, the savior of our whole family... I'm so grateful to you. You don't know how much suffering our Yuer has endured in order to attend university, she wanted to earn money for tuition by herself, working hard every day, it pains my heart as her mother..."

  "Has she gone out to work? Isn't she at home?"

  Fourth Aunt responded with a murmur, "The sky hasn't even lit up yet and she's already gone up the mountain with her dad to chop down trees. She plans to build a chicken farm on the mountain, raise some of our local native chickens, sell them, save up the money, and then go to Jin Cang's school as an auditing student."

  Sun Heng gave me a look, his eyes full of anger.

  I knew he was angry, so I hastily said: "Where did Jade sister go to cut trees? Let's go call her back?"

  Fourth Aunt hastily stopped me: "No need, it's almost time for lunch, they should be back..."

  Fourth Aunt hadn't finished speaking when a voice came from outside the house, "I'm back." Fourth Aunt hastily responded with an "oh" and rushed out.

  I took the opportunity to say to Sun Heng, "Don't forget our current situation. I know you can't bear to deceive Fourth Aunt and them, but there's no other way now, we can only do it this way. At worst, we'll explain later, anyway, we've already decided to help Yu'er..."

  I hadn't finished speaking when Fourth Aunt came in with a middle-aged man. The middle-aged man who came in was Dongfang Yong, and I called out "Uncle Dongfang". He smiled and said: "It's Jin Cang, you've finally come to visit us, it's been a long time since we last saw each other..."

  I nodded, worried that I would have nothing to say when I met Dongfang Yu soon, but then Fourth Aunt said: "Teacher Sun, Jin Cang, sorry about this, our family's Yu'er didn't know you came and stayed on the mountain alone... I'll go call her back right away..."

  I quickly stood up: "I'll go, Fourth Aunt. You and Fourth Uncle keep Sun teacher company for a while, I'll just call Jade sister."

  Fourth Aunt hesitated for a moment before nodding and saying: "Alright, let's go to the mountain behind our house. You've been there before, remember?"

  I nodded: "I know." As I spoke, I ran out in big strides towards the mountain behind Uncle Dongfang's house, running wildly.

  This mountain is very large, but it's not all owned by Dongfang Shu's family. Basically, every household living here will be allocated a piece of land. So on average, each household doesn't have that much area after all.

  The mountain of the Dongfang Yu family was less than a mile away from her home, and I arrived there quickly.

  Dongfang Yu was still sawing away at a tree as thick as a washbasin, sweating profusely, and didn't even notice me walking up to her side.

  I saw her appearance had changed greatly, with sweat all over her face and dirty things all over her body. She didn't look like a girl at all. I felt an inexplicable pain in my heart and couldn't help but say softly: "Yuer sister, take a rest!"

  Dongfang Yu's movements suddenly came to a halt, the handsaw in her hand buzzing out of control due to her sudden stop. She slowly turned her head back, staring blankly at me as if she didn't recognize me at all, not saying a word.

  "I had no choice but to say again: 'Yuer sister, take a rest...' "

  Dongfang Yu suddenly raised her hand and rubbed her eyes vigorously, saying in a puzzled tone: "Who are you? Are you... Jin Cang?"

  I felt a pang in my heart and quickly took a few steps forward, loudly asking her: "Are you okay?"

  Dongfang Yu heard this sentence and let out a long sigh. She suddenly turned around, her voice becoming very unfamiliar: "What are you doing here?"

  I was taken aback and after a long while slowly said: "You can't have forgotten who I am?"

  Dongfang Yu suddenly turned back and said coldly: "You don't recognize me, do you? College student, a guy who looks down on others..."

  I was taken aback once again and couldn't help but say: "How can you scold someone like that?"

  Dongfang Yu tilted her head and said lightly, "I wouldn't dare scold you, you're my brother. As a sister, how could I dare to scold my brother? But what's strange is that as a university student, how do you have time to come see me? Don't you not even have the time to reply to a letter? Is today really the day when the sun rises in the west?"

  I finally understood why she was angry and said: "Are you mad at me? Sorry, little sister, it's my fault, I shouldn't have not replied to your letter."

  Dongfang Yu was taken aback, then sneered: "You'll apologize to me? Remember that time when we were still in junior high school, you accidentally bumped into me again, I asked you to apologize, but you actually scolded me... You don't seem like someone who would apologize to me. Say it, is there something you want from me? Don't be too abnormal, I won't be able to take it."

  I couldn't help but smile wryly: "Am I that bad? If so, then I apologize. You guessed it right, I came to find you today and indeed have something on my mind."

  Eastern Jade's face showed a "so that's how it is" expression: "I knew it, why would you run all the way here to find me? It turns out there really is something going on. Speak up, what's going on?"

  I was originally going to tell her what Sun Heng and I had discussed, but when the words reached my lips, I suddenly wanted to make a joke, so I said: "I heard that you are now preparing to open a chicken farm, you must have a lot of capital, right?"

  Dongfang Yu's face changed: "You're not here to borrow money, are you?"

  I smiled secretly and said: "It's really like that. How about it, can you lend me some money?"

  Dongfang Yu's face changed expressions instantly, looking like my words had put her in a difficult position. I knew the joke had gone too far and was about to explain when she said: "How much do you want? I only have a few thousand yuan, which I was planning to use to buy chicks and feed. If you need it urgently, just take it first."

  I listened to her words and couldn't help but pause for a moment, silently scolding myself as "boring", then quickly said: "I was just joking with you..."

  But unexpectedly, Dongfang Yu really did it. She interrupted my words and said loudly: "At worst, I'll go borrow money to buy chicks and feed, you need a lot of money for school, I can understand, just don't be so stubborn and suffer."

  This time I was really speechless from her words, and couldn't help but lower my head, not daring to look into her eyes.

  Dongfang Yu looked at me and suddenly reached out to hold me, saying softly: "Don't be like this, I'm still here. How much more money is left, tell me, I'll think of a way..."

  I didn't even dare to look at her anymore, and whispered: "No... it's not about the money..."

  Dongfang Yu squatted down and looked at me, saying very sincerely: "There's no need for courtesy between us, nor is there any need to hide anything. Just say it straight out, how much money will do?"

  I didn't dare wait any longer, afraid that she would take my joke completely seriously: "I was really just joking with you..."

  Dongfang Yu glared at me, interrupting my words: "You're really shameless. I heard a few days ago that your school had a terrorist attack and many students were injured. Your girlfriend must be among them, right? You want money to treat her injuries, don't you? Just say it straight out, how much do you need, and I'll think of a way to help you come up with it."

  I was stunned: "How did you know about our school's terrorist attack?"

  Dongfang Yu lifted her sleeve to wipe away sweat and whispered: "Is your girlfriend pretty?"

  I was stunned again and didn't speak for a long time before saying: "What did you say?"

  Dongfang Yu suddenly sighed: "You don't have to hide it from me, I won't...I won't mind."

  "I quickly said: 'I don't have a girlfriend, you'd better...'"

  "The East said with gritted teeth: 'I've already told you not to hide it from me, why are you still hiding it from me?'"

  I felt she was being unreasonable, but I still explained: "I really don't have a girlfriend, you..."

  Dongfang Yu gave me a stern look and said disdainfully, "How come I never realized you're the kind of person who dares to do something but not dare to take responsibility? Your girlfriend's parents have already found their way to your home, and you still won't admit it?"

  I was taken aback and frowned, saying: "What did you say?"

  "The East Jade couldn't help but say loudly: 'You're still deceiving me, treating me like a three-year-old kid. Your girlfriend is named Du Yifei, and her parents recently came to your home, wanting to know where you were. I happened to visit my parents that day and met your girlfriend's parents, who told me in person that there was a terrorist attack at your school, and both you and your girlfriend have been missing...'"

  I didn't hear what she said after that because her previous words had already scared me enough. I quickly asked, "Have you seen my parents?"

  Dongfang Yu was taken aback for a moment, then sneered: "You're really good at pretending, my parents have been taken away by you, how can I see them?"

  My mind is in a mess, I couldn't help but sit on the ground, rubbing my head painfully.

  Dongfang Yu didn't know what had happened to me, and seeing me sitting on the ground rubbing my head, she became anxious: "What's wrong with you? Did you get a head injury? Is it serious? I'll help you down the mountain to find a doctor..."

  I raised my hand to stop her from helping me, and slowly sorted out some things. I said to her, "Listen to me, something has happened recently, I don't quite understand it myself, but I think I need to tell you. Just listen, don't interrupt me."

  Dongfang Yu looked puzzled but still nodded and sat down beside me, saying: "Go ahead and say what you want to say, I'm listening."

  I thought for a moment and said, "You know, there was a terrorist attack at our school, many people were killed or injured, including some of my classmates. In addition to those who were killed or injured, more than a dozen people were taken hostage... I was one of the hostages..."

  Dongfang Yu heard this and suddenly exclaimed: "Then what happened to you afterwards?"

  I'm touched by her concern, but also frustrated with her question. I'm right here beside her, what can I do?

  But there's a saying that goes "concern leads to chaos". Seeing how concerned she is about me, I'm also somewhat moved: "I'm fine. If something were wrong, it wouldn't be possible for me to stand in front of you like this. What I want to know is, have you told your parents or anyone else about the terrorist attack that happened at our school?"

  Eastern Jade shook her head: "At that time, I was scared to death and couldn't find my parents. I thought I would never see you again in this life... I didn't dare tell others, afraid that if they knew, they would say unpleasant things, so I kept it a secret."

  I nodded: "That's good. Now what I'm going to say to you, don't tell anyone else, including Uncle Dongfang and Fourth Aunt."

  Dongfang Yu didn't say anything, but I knew she had agreed. So I slowly told her everything, of course, those life-and-death processes, I only mentioned them in passing, not daring to scare her too much.

  Dongfang Yu was silent for a long time after hearing about my experiences during this period, she was still frightened and also fell into deep thought.

  After a while, she slowly said: "You've suffered. What do you plan to do? You're being hunted down, your parents were taken away by someone and their whereabouts are unknown, what can we do?"

  I gritted my teeth and said, "For now, we have no choice but to stay at your house. We'll think of a plan later and then go look for Mom and Dad." I paused: "We deceived your parents, it was unavoidable, please don't blame us."

  Eastern Jade shook her head: "How could that be? This is an unavoidable thing, can only do so..." She suddenly changed the subject and asked very seriously: "That Du Yifei, really isn't your girlfriend?"

  I shook my head and sighed: "Why don't you believe me? We're just classmates, nothing more."

  Dongfang Yu said: "Then why did her parents say you are their daughter's boyfriend? And even came to your home?"

  I don't know how to explain this problem anymore, after thinking about it, I can only say: "Maybe they couldn't find their daughter and were anxious, so they randomly searched and finally came here, what's strange about that?"

  Dongfang Yu's face was full of disbelief: "Don't lie to me. If Du Yifei wasn't your girlfriend, her parents would be talking nonsense? Besides, if you didn't tell her where your home is, how would her parents know?"

  I don't know how to explain it anymore, looking at Dongfang Yu, I have a strange feeling towards her.

  Dongfang's face suddenly turned red, and she turned her head away, saying: "What are you looking at? Is there something on my face?"

  I really saw something on her face and said: "There is something, your face is all covered with dust left by the wood shavings..."

  Dongfang Yumeng suddenly let out an "ah" and jumped up, running as he said: "You go down the mountain yourself, I'll go wash my face first..."

  I felt very amused, and slowly went down the mountain along the downhill road, and didn't see Dongfang Yu's figure again.