CH 78.1

Translated by Yuki

Edited by XiaoWu 

Due to the Jiaochong matter, Lu Qingjiu felt that he had gained understanding of another side of Bai Yuehu that was unknown before. Rushing back home, Lu Qingjiu immediately cooked up a storm, looking on with pitiful eyes as Bai Yuehu wolfed down the feast.

Yin Xun was still in the dark, blanking watching Lu Qingjiu’s ‘fatherly love towards Bai Yuehu’, and asked, “What happened yesterday? Why did a trip to town cause you to sport such an expression?”

Lu Qingjiu replied, “ You don’t know anything…”

Yin Xun retorted, “How would I know anything if you don’t explain it to me?” 

Lu Qingjiu quietly brought Yin Xun somewhere more private and told him of Bai Yuehu’s living conditions before meeting Lu Qingjiu, including how Bai Yuehu possibly had to rummage through trash cans for food. After listening to this, Yin Xun slapped his thigh exclaiming: “Why did I not think of this!”

Lu Qingjiu thought Yin Xun meant he had never thought that Bai Yuehu would be a person to rummage in the bins. Unexpectedly, the words blurted out were: “So one could also find food in the bins, what have I been missing out on!”

Lu Qingjiu: “…Are you serious?”

Till now, Lu Qingjiu had never attempted to understand why the Mountain gods and Dragon deities recorded in books were always described as fucking awesome. Forget about small matters like feeding themselves, those Mountain gods and Dragon deities could even easily bring about miracles. Thinking about how Bai Yuehu and Yin Xun were so pitiful that they even had problems finding food to eat, with one even having to eat out rubbish bins, it really was tragic beyond comparison.

At this thought, Lu Qingjiu used his sleeve to wipe away a lone tear.

After this, Lu Qingjiu spent some time dealing with the matter regarding Le Le. He informed Hu Shu that they should consider this matter closed, and that the bees wouldn’t ever attack the kindergarten again.

Hearing this, Hu Shu naturally had many questions, clearly wanting to still locate the perpetrator.

“Don’t ask anymore, this matter is not one that you can control.” Lu Qingjiu decided to tell a white lie, “The other party is too overpowered, but they were only here for revenge. Since they were able to get their revenge, they won’t come back anymore.” 

Hu Shu could only let out a bitter laugh, saying, “Brother Lu, although you told me this, we need conclusive reasoning to close this case… This…this…”

Lu Qingjiu replied: “Aiya, this is easy. Isn’t being stung by bees such a common occurrence. To have been stung to the point of hospitalisation, it’s definitely because they poked a beehive!”

Hu Shu was stunned speechless.

“Don’t you think so too?” After explaining to Hu Shu, he still felt a little embarrassed. So, he extended an invite to Hu Shu, asking him to come over when he was free on a sunny day for an outdoor barbeque. 

Pondering the matter, Hu Shu realised that Lu Qingjiu’s explanations kind of made sense and thus didn’t continue pursuing it, putting the case behind them.

Zhuang Le’s mother also cleanly settled all the loose ends on her side. As a strong career woman, once she put her mind to it, she didn’t leave anything to chance. First, she filed a police report, evidencing the injuries on Zhuang Le’s body. Then she fired the nanny. Of course, this was just the beginning, as a mother’s anger wasn’t so easy to quell. She also arranged matters secretly under the radar to deal with Zhu Xiaorong, although she didn’t tell Lu Qingjiu this directly. According to Hu Shu, as soon as Zhu XIaorong was discharged from the hospital, Du Qinghong immediately sued her, resulting in her and her accomplices being jailed for up to 2 years.

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When Lu Qingjiu saw him, he was quarrelling with Zhu Xiaorong by the roadside. The two were really going at it, almost coming to blows due to some trivial matter. Lu Qingjiu observed them from afar, if not for Bai Yuehu reminding him, he wouldn’t even have recognised that the man was Zhuang Wenshi whom they had met in the garage. 

However, at this point in time, Lu Qingjiu had no way of knowing this.

A few days later, Lu Qingjiu received a call from Du Qinghong. She expressed her gratitude towards Lu Qingjiu and even wanted to show her sincerity by visiting in person with Le Le.

Lu Qingjiu agreed. At any rate, he wanted to take a look at Zhuang Le’s condition.

As such, a few more days later, Du Qinghong and Zhuang Le, bringing gratitude gifts, visited Shuifu village. When she got out of her car, Lu Qingjiu saw the Jiaochong holding hands with Le Le, sitting happily in the backseat. 

Entering the front yard, Du Qinghong exclaimed admiringly, “What a beautiful yard you have!”

Lu Qingjiu smiled, pointing at Bai Yuehu, “It’s all due to his care.”

Bai Yuehu sat in the rocking chair, looking as if he had no intentions of getting up to greet the visiting guests. However, Lu Qingjiu knew that although he looked like he would just laze about the whole day, but normally, Bai Yuehu was an effective worker, efficiently managing his areas of responsibilities, like tending to the courtyard he was currently standing in.

Green grape vines grew all over the trellis, while dense fruit trees wrapped around the yard. Although there were chicken coops and rabbit hutches in the yard, the yard was not dirty at all, there wasn’t even a sign of animal droppings on the ground. This was all thanks to Bai Yuehu’s training the rabbits and chickens to go to the toilet in the bushes, fertilising the growing grape vines. 

A stone table and some stone stools were set in the middle of the yard under the shade of the grape vines. Making its way through the leaves, the dappled sunlight lit up the seating area, making it the perfect temperature for relaxing.

Add to that the good-looking Bai Yuehu laying on his rocking chair, the overall scene of the yard looked as elegant as if painted by a famous artist. Even the worldly Du Qinghong couldn’t resist taking a few more looks at this scene.

Du Qinghong: “Mr Lu, I am here to express my gratitude. If not for you, I would have never found out what was happening to Le Le. I hope you will do me the honour of receiving these presents. They are not that expensive, just a little something to say thank you.”

She had brought some alcohol and health supplements. Lu Qingjiu had originally wanted to refuse, but looking at her determined face, as if she would keep insisting until he accepted the gifts, finally he gave in and accepted them. 

“Since you have come all the way, why not stay for a meal?”

“Sorry to trouble you, Mr Lu.” Seeing as Lu Qingjiu had invited her, Du Qinghong immediately accepted his invitation to lunch.

“Just call me by my name, there is no need to be so formal.” Lu Qingjiu continued, “Make yourself at home in the yard, I’ll go get some snacks for Le Le.”

Acquiescing, Du Qinghong smiled as she sat down to wait in the yard. 

Since she was accustomed to the city life, experiencing the relaxing village lifestyle made Du Qinghong slightly envious. However, this was merely her taking a liking to it. If you actually made Du Qinghong live here forever, she would not be able to get used to it.

On the other hand, Zhuang Le obviously really liked it here, pulling the Jiaochong to run wildly around the whole yard. One moment he was touching the rabbits, the next he would be teasing the newly born chicks. Lu Qingjiu brought out some just washed strawberries and apricots, placing them on the stone table.

“Qingjiu…” Initially calling him this way made Du Qinghong feel a little self conscious, but seeing no change in Lu Qingjiu’s facial expressions, she quickly got used to it, “I have something I wanted to ask you.”

“Just say it.” 

“That is… I feel that Le Le, actually has some issues.”

Lu Qingjiu immediately understood, but just in case probed a little further, “Why do you think so?”

Du Qinghong looked around, confirming that Le Le was not nearby, then quietly revealed, “He is always talking to himself. I’m a little worried that what happened to him before has affected him badly.”

Thinking about how to phrase his thoughts, he said, “Do you believe in the supernatural?” 

Du Qinghong was momentarily shocked.

“Do you mean like mountain deities?” Lu Qingjiu weighed his words while observing Du Qinghong’s facial expressions. If she displayed any negative expressions akin to hatred, he would immediately change the topic of conversation.

Luckily Du Qinghong didn’t seem at odds with this topic, muttering under her breath, “Perhaps you won’t believe me, but when I was little, I used to see those kinds of things. But unfortunately, when I grew up, I was unable to see them anymore… Ah, even just talking about it makes me sound a little silly right?”

Upon hearing this, Lu Qingjiu chuckled gently, “So you do believe that these things exist?” 

“Yeah, I’m a believer, why do you ask?” She was also an intelligent person, and so instantly put two and two together, “Could it be that those people being stung by bees was due to…”

“Yes, “ Lu Qingjiu responded, “To tell the truth, if it were not for the people being stung making a big deal of the matter, I might not even have realised what was going on.”

If that was the case, who knew how much more torture Le Le would have received.

Listening to this, Du Qinghong fell silent. 

Lu Qingjiu thought that she was still worried and was about to explain further, but instead Du Qinghong let out a sigh of relief, “So he wasn’t just talking to himself, that’s a good thing.”

“Ah?”

Du Qinghong continued, “What does that mountain deity look like, are they also a child? How did they get to know Le Le?” This mother had a high level of adaptability, once she became aware of the truth, she was immediately full of questions, “Can I see them?”

Lu Qingjiu felt the stirrings of a headache, but looked sideways to Bai Yuehu. 

Bai Yuehu felt Lu Qingjiu’s gaze on him and opened his eyes. He stood up from where he had been laying on the rocking chair and walked in front of Du Qinghong.

Du Qinghong still hadn’t quite understood what was going on when she saw Bai Yuehu raise his hand and gently flick her on the glabella. She felt a slight ache, followed by the world slightly changing in front of her eyes. The change was hard to describe, but if she had to say something, it would be as if her view of the world had been refreshed.

“Le Le, ” Lu Qingjiu called out.

Shortly after, Du Qinghong saw her son run out cheerfully from the backyard, holding hands with a cute boy. She still wasn’t able to understand, blankly asking, “Is this your little boy?” 

Lu Qingjiu retorted, “This is the boy who helped avenge your son.”

Du Qinghong eyes widened with shock. In her imagination, she would have never considered a mountain deity to look like a cute child, as she had always imagined them to be old men with long white beards.

“Mother,” Zhuang Le timidly called out, as he was still a little not used to interacting with his mother.

“Are… are you the one who helped avenge my son?” 

Jiaochong was a little taken aback, unaware that Du Qinghong could actually see him. Feeling worried, he was just about to say that he had not always been following Le Le, when his hands were gently held by Du Qinghong, “Thank you so much! If not for your help, Le Le would still be bullied to this day.”

“You… you’re welcome.” Jiaochong blushed, his eyes also started darting to the left and right, clearly not very used to this situation.

Du Qinghong lamented, “I used to be able to see these by myself when I was younger, but lost that ability when I grew up. As time passed, I even suspected that it was all my imagination when I was younger… How long can I stay in this state?”

Bai Yuehu responded, “Half an hour.” 

Du Qinghong sighed, looking somewhat lonely. Ever since she started working, she had neglected many things, thinking naively that as long as she could provide Zhuang Le good living conditions, everything would be fine.

Now that she carefully thought about it, she had been wrong about so many things. Fortunately, it was not too late and there was still the chance to fix her mistakes.

Lu Qingjiu went to the kitchen, leaving the mother-son pair in the yard. In reality, Zhuang Le was aware of Du Qinghong’s love towards him. Otherwise he wouldn’t have not blamed her at all for what had happened.

Perhaps Zhuang Le was too considerate and had been keeping everything to himself, forgetting to express his feelings to his own mother. 

As to the reason Lu Qingjiu wanted to make Du Qinghong aware of the Jiaochong’s existence, he just couldn’t bear to see the Jiaochong continue living alone in the park, going through the bins daily for sustenance.