Fortunate Life of the Rural Beauty

Chapter 78: Chapter 77: Disappearance Chapter 78: Chapter 77: Disappearance Mrs. Hu choked a bit before saying, “I did bring your message. Laowu let me come out of goodwill seeing that we are kin. You’re losing the chance to make big money, don’t regret it later.”

Then, she huffily left.

As soon as she left, the family’s mood plummeted. Mrs. Wang anxiously said, “Hu Laowu is a thug. If the deal he’s thinking about doesn’t work, he won’t come to trouble us, will he?”

Chen Ming sighed and said, “After Dabao comes back, don’t let him go out alone these days. My older brother and Agui have gone to the county town to sell grain today and won’t be back until late afternoon. I’ll talk to them tonight.” He then turned to Chen Afu and said, “You should also go out less.”

Mrs. Wang said, “After I finish my upcoming embroidery work, I won’t take on any more tasks. I’ll do all the tasks such as gathering firewood, carrying water, watering the field, and washing clothes.”

Chen Afu said, “Don’t panic, mom and dad. This afternoon, I’ll go to Tang Garden and talk to Manager Luo. After all, his young master also likes Qi Qi and Hui Hui, and our relationship with them is very good at the moment. Let’s ask them for help and crack down on Hu Laowu.”

Chen Ming and Mrs. Wang felt relieved when they heard this. No matter how aggressive Hu Laowu was, he wouldn’t dare to provoke Manager Luo.

Chen Afu then stood up and said, “I’m going to bring Dabao back now.”

Mrs. Wang grabbed her and said, “You don’t need to go out, I’ll go to find him.”

As soon as Mrs. Wang stepped out of the door, she saw Chen Dabao leading Zhui Feng back with a large bundle of firewood on his back. The bundle of firewood seemed even bigger than Dabao, as if it was going to bend his waist.

Mrs. Wang quickly went over to take the firewood from him and said with heartsickness, “Dabao, why did you pick so much?”

Dabao replied, “I wanted to save more firewood for my grandpa.”

Chen Afu picked him up, wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, “Don’t carry such heavy things in the future. It won’t look good if you don’t grow taller.”

Chen Ming and Chen Afu then earnestly told Dabao not to go out to fetch firewood casually for the next few days, and if he sees anyone from Hu’s family or Chen Aju, to keep his distance.

In the afternoon, when Chen Afu saw Dabao still sleeping soundly, she picked up the small clothes she made for Luo Mei, brought Zhui Feng, and went to the old courtyard where Mrs. Wang was waiting for her. They went to Tang Garden together.

Although Zhui Feng was still young and his combat power wasn’t very strong, his bark was loud, and he could frighten people.

They crossed a large field of canola. After walking through a forest, they arrived at the noble and mysterious Tang Garden. Through the white courtyard wall and over the majestic vermillion gate studded with large copper nails and inlaid with lion’s heads, they could see the eaves of the garden concealed among lush trees. Even from the outside, they could faintly smell the sweet and sour scent of begonias.

They walked along the courtyard wall towards the back. According to Dabao, Manager Luo’s residence was in the back of Tang Garden, where a row of courtyards for the servants of the Tang Garden were located, and his was the first one.

When they turned to the back of Tang Garden, there was a row of small courtyards connected, the first one being the biggest, several times larger than the others.

The door was opened by Xiao Qing.

Xiao Qing greeted them with a smile and asked them to enter the courtyard. Then she raised her voice and called out, “Madam, Afu and Mrs. Chen are here.”

This was a spacious quadrangle. There were a peculiarly shaped ornamental stone in the middle of the courtyard and two pomegranates planted on either side of it, both bearing many bright, big pomegranates. A house as grand as this one was rarely seen in Xiangluo Village, only Gao Li’s family could match it.

Madam Luo came out from the main hall with a smile, “Oh, Chen’s sisters and Afu, what wind has brought you here? Please come in.”

After they entered the house and exchanged pleasantries, Afu brought out the small clothes and laughed, “It’s a small token of my appreciation. I hope you don’t mind, Mrs. Luo.”

The set of clothes was a red coat, a white stand-collar top, and pants. The collar and cuffs of the coat weren’t bordered with narrow cloth strips like contemporary styles, but with flower-shaped edges cut from blue satin. A small dingle dangle twisted from red silk was sewn at the center of the flowers. A big-eared dog face was sewn onto the coat’s front, its mouth gaping open revealing a red tongue. Its expression was one of joy and it gave off a unique festive feeling.

The design of the small pants was even more unique. They didn’t have a large crotch as usual, which was quite neat and good looking, with a little flower and a dragonfly embroidered on the hem of the pants.

Madam Luo held the clothes and looked at them for a long time, unable to hide her delight, praising them all the while.

After that, Chen Afu brought up the topic of asking Manager Luo for some help. She wondered if he could mediate the issue with Hu Laowu. Since Hu Laowu had his eyes on her parrots, and as she hadn’t given them to him, she was afraid he might retaliate and make trouble. Her greatest fear was that he could attack Dabao.

Madam Luo did not want anything to happen to Qi Qi, Hui Hui or Dabao. After all, her small master liked the child and the two parrots. The little master had also instructed her family to take care of the Chen’s in the past. Moreover, her grandchildren were getting along well with Dabao and had also been enjoying the Chen’s food. This set of small clothes was just to her liking.

She said, “Oh, what bad luck. The head of my house is still in the capital city now. He will come back after the little master’s birthday next month, bringing her with him. However, my eldest son is home, and it’s the same if he mediates. My eldest son went to the county town this morning and won’t be back until tonight. In that case, let him go and meet with Hu Laowu tomorrow. Such a riffraff, really too arrogant. Don’t be afraid, just don’t let Dabao leave the house today.”

They had no choice but to do what she said. Of course, Chen Afu and Mrs. Wang were full of gratitude.

By the time they returned home, they found that the gate of the New Courtyard was wide open. To their surprise, Chen Dabao was not at home. Both Chen Ming and Alu in the old courtyard had no idea when he had left.

The whole family was in panic. Apart from Alu who was sitting on the bed and couldn’t move much, the other three went out to search. Zhui Feng was acting very abnormally, nudging Chen Afu and barking hard towards the village outskirts.

Chen Afu said, “Maybe Dabao went outside the village. Let’s follow Zhui Feng to find him.”

They ran out of the village and came to the small woods to the west, but they didn’t see Dabao. Zhui Feng continued to nudge Chen Afu to the west.

At this time, Chen Ming was already out of strength, his face pale.

Chen Afu quickly helped him and said, “Dad, go home. If you get sick from exhaustion, the house will be in even more chaos. Mom and I will go find him.” But then she hesitated because Chen Ming was in no condition to walk home by himself.

Just as Chen Afu and the others were talking, they saw the Wu brothers, Wu Changgen and Wu Changsheng, driving their cattle cart from a distance. They had just delivered some furniture to a neighboring village and were on their way back.

Upon hearing the situation, Wu Changsheng volunteered to join the search.

They asked Wu Changgen to take Chen Ming back home a few houses down, while Wu Changsheng, Chen Afu, and Mrs. Wang, accompanied by Zhui Feng, went to search for Dabao. Chen Afu also told Chen Ming that if they didn’t come back within two hours, he should ask their kinfolk to help find him.

As they followed Zhui Feng to the west, they passed through Guqiao Village and headed north. After crossing a large field, a small river, and a barren land, they arrived at the Black Pine Forest, which was four or five miles away from Xiangluo Village.

Zhui Feng then led them into the forest.