Transmigration: A Farm Girl’s Brocade
Chapter 169 - 139: Going Home_1

Chapter 169: Chapter 139: Going Home_1

Qian Yixiu, leading a monkey and a wolf, had barely left the large burial mound when she ran into Qian Manchuan, who was leading a group of people out of Xijing Mountain, preparing to search the vicinity of the large burial mound.

The group stared in astonishment at the one person, one monkey, and one wolf approaching from the direction of the large burial mound. The person was riding on the back of the wolf, whose eyes gleamed green and threatening. Under the brilliant starry night, the blood on their bodies was distinctly visible. People began to grasp their knives and sticks, ready to attack the wolf, when the White Wolf let out a long howl and prepared for battle.

Qian Yixiu immediately shouted, "Don’t hit the White Wolf, it’s the one who saved Xiu’er." Then she dismounted from the wolf and walked towards Qian Manchuan.

Qian Manchuan, bursting with emotion, shouted, "My goodness, it really is Xiu’er! Xiu’er, where did you run off to? You nearly drove everyone at home to their wit’s end. Are you hurt? Where are you injured?" He then dropped the axe in his hand and ran over to pick up Qian Yixiu.

When Qian Yixiu saw so many people on the mountain peak, she had already thought of an excuse.

Choking back tears, she answered, "I wanted to follow Monkey Brother further into the mountain to look for valuable flowers, but I didn’t find any flowers and got lost. Then the White Wolf found us, and it even helped us drive away wild boars and snakes, and led us back. I’m not injured; this blood is from the wild boar and the snakes." After speaking, she began to cry loudly, evidently terrified.

Hearing Qian Yixiu’s words, Qian Manchuan became enraged and roared, "You naughty child, how could you just run off into the deep mountains like that? Do you have any idea how worried your family was?" He really wanted to spank her soundly, yet he remembered she wasn’t his own daughter Qian Yiduo, so he held back.

Someone said, "Wasn’t there a rumor that Wan Dazhong, angered by the child’s scolding and bearing grudges, strangled her to death and threw her body into the back mountain?"

Another added, "So, it turned out she ran into the mountains by herself, she wasn’t killed by Wan Dazhong. Then who started that rumor?"

"Oh, if this child had died in the mountains and had an accident, Brother Da Zhong would’ve been wronged."

"Poor Wan Dazhong, beaten black and blue by Lady Wu and her daughter, he dared not fight back."

"Exactly, I heard that Wan Dazhong has already fled into the back mountains looking for people, and some say he’s fleeing from his crimes."

...

It seemed that the words she and Old Uncle Zhang concocted had taken effect. Qian Yixiu felt guilty.

Someone asked Qian Yixiu, "You and the monkey are carrying two bags, did you find some good flowers again?"

Qian Yixiu shook her head and said, "No, I didn’t see a single pretty flower. The bags are filled with tea seeds. I saw some tea trees in the mountains and many tea seeds beneath them, so I picked some up. I was thinking of planting tea trees on the little mound to the west of my home."

Xishan County was famous for producing tea leaves, and while Xiding Mountain was the most suitable place for growing tea, Xijing Mountain, lying close by, also had many wild tea plants. Poor rural families usually drank wild tea they picked themselves, and only those with some surplus would buy tea leaves from tea shops.

Therefore, she could only tell outsiders that what she had picked were tea seeds, not lotus seeds.

Qian Manchuan scolded, "You really come up with one idea after another, child. There’s wild tea everywhere in the mountains, why would you need to plant your own?"

After hearing Qian Yixiu’s words, the crowd shook their heads, pondering that the child was said to be clever, but where was the cleverness? Silly as can be, just like her mother. And yet as bold as Qian Sangui.

Qian Manchuan said to a young man, "Brother Wang, could you please hurry up the mountain and tell Manhe and Huang Tie they don’t need to search anymore, Xiu’er is back." Then to a man in his thirties, he said, "Thank you, Brother Ma, for your trouble. Please go back and tell the people from Darong Village that the kid has been found, no need to search anymore. And if you bump into Brother Wan, please apologize for us. Another day, my third uncle will treat everyone to a meal as thanks for the help."

Qian Yixiu saw the White Wolf standing still, obviously not happy with so many people, and said to it, "White Wolf, go back to the mountains for now. Come and play again after things have settled down at home in a couple of days."

At her words, the White Wolf howled long and vanished into the vast night.

The onlookers sighed again at this sight.

As the group walked back, they discussed incessantly, saying that such a troublesome child really deserved a beating, a thorough one at that—to break the legs, to smash the buttocks, and see if the child would run off again; it was infuriating. Others said she was very lucky, blessed with a spiritual creature like the White Wolf to seek her out and protect her all the way home. Some also speculated about who started the rumors regarding Wan Dazhong...

At the fork in the road, Qian Manchuan bellowed to those searching at the foot of the mountain for the "corpse," "The child has been found; no need to search anymore!"