Chapter 31:
All-around talent Little Lu

Xu Siya, who was protected by Jin Guijuan, kept her eyes trained on the door and the swaying image of the oil pans outside.

Perhaps because of desire, the little girl’s originally dull eyes became slightly more vivid after hearing the clear ‘sizzling’ sound of something frying in the oil pan.

Thinking of what she just said, ‘It smells so good,’ and smelling the increasingly clear burnt scent emanating from the crackling oil pan, Jing Qizhen exchanged glances with the others and suddenly felt a chill running down their spines. Cold sweat broke out on their backs.

However, no matter if it was the village chief who was frowning while thinking about what to do, the gloomy-looking Xu Siya’s mother with downturned eyebrows, or the other villagers watching the drama unfold, none of them had any reaction at all, and seemed to be indifferent to everything that had just appeared. They were not even aware of it.

Realizing this, Jing Qizhen’s scalp felt numb.

The row of oil pans outside the Xu family’s house looked like projections, but they could smell the burnt scent and hear the frying sound.

The village chief, the villagers, and Xu Siya’s mother in the Xu family’s courtyard all looked real, but they seemed to be outside the boundary of reality.

In the erosion area, it seemed that Xu Siya, Jing Qizhen and his comrades were the only ones who had the same senses.

However, when he thought of the dull little girl’s words’ ‘It smells so good’ when she faced the ‘oil pan hell’ in broad daylight, Jing Qizhen felt from the bottom of his heart that this scene was so absurd and a bit overwhelming…

In comparison, the little girl who looked weird from beginning to end last night did not make him feel as uneasy.

Because of the sudden appearance of the ‘oil pan hell’ image, Jing Qizhen and his group all fell silent.

When the village chief saw this, he thought they respected his position as the village chief, and he felt more and more satisfied.

On the contrary, Xu Siya’s mother had an unhappy face, making him feel unhappy.

It was nothing new for the Xu family to vent their anger on their children every day. Before Xu Siya, they had three other daughters, but now they were no longer around.

After all, the Xu family and most people in the village were not from the same clan with the same surname, so the village chief’s words became slightly harsher as he reprimanded, “Although this is your own family’s family matter, a child as young as Siya have been tortured all day long while the villagers are watching. Everyone is heartbroken.

“You are the mother in the Xu family. Even if you have any dissatisfaction, you can’t take it out on your child.” The village chief accused her in front of so many people, making the expression on Xu Siya’s mother’s face become even more unbearable.

Jin Guijuan forced herself to pull her attention away from the oil pans that had not disappeared. When she saw Xu Siya looking at the phantoms of the oil pans full of burnt smell with anticipation, she felt horrified and helpless at the same time.

Also born in a similar mountain village, Jin Guijuan was very familiar with the situation in such an enclosed village. The village chief’s persuasion and education would actually have a minimal effect. As soon as the people dispersed, Xu Siya’s mother would be angry at the child again, and even think that she had lost face in front of outsiders. She would vent all her dissatisfaction on Xu Siya. When she hit her daughter, she would only hit harder than before.

Jin Guijuan kept frowning and Jing Qizhen naturally guessed what she was thinking.

They looked at each other, and Jin Guijuan gently put a hand on Xu Siya’s thin shoulder without any intention of letting go. Jing Qizhen understood her aim.

In addition to sympathizing with Xu Siya’s situation, she was also deeply involved in the erosion area. Whether it was out of sympathy for the innocent little girl, or out of the desire not to step on that weird little girl’s trap, they could not sit idly by and ignore what had happened today.

No matter what, Xu Siya must not stay at her home!

After thinking of this, Jing Qizhen waited until the village chief finished speaking and asked him directly if there were any vacant or abandoned houses in the village that they could rent temporarily.

They were currently crashing into the home of the couple surnamed He. If there was no problem regarding Xu Siya, it would be fine for a group of outsiders to live there. However, if Xu Siya was included, things would not be the same. No matter how harshly Xu Siya’s mother treated her, as long as that woman still bore the identity of Xu Siya’s mother, it was impossible for the villagers to reach out to take care of Xu Siya.

If Jing Qizhen and the others wanted to handle the problem, it would naturally be difficult for them to continue living in the same house as before.

As soon as Jing Qizhen said these words, Jin Guijuan understood his plan
instantly.

Moreover, Jin Guijuan was well versed in the ways of fighting in rural areas—whoever shouts louder is justice, and whoever has the bigger fists has the final say!

While she was cursing and scolding on the street, Jin Guijuan thought to herself that she was completely on par with the scumbag mother Xu Siya had.

There was no conflict of interest between the villagers and them, so their decision would not cause chaos. Moreover, the Xu family had always been disliked and they did not share the same surname as the villagers either. Naturally, the other villagers were happy to watch the show and would not bother to reprimand them.

When the man of the Xu family was not at home, even if she really wanted to take action, Jin Guijuan was not afraid to face Xu Siya’s mother at all!

After thinking about it clearly, Jin Guijuan opened her mouth and launched another merciless attack and accusation against Xu Siya’s mother.

Naturally, the woman was not to be outdone, and blurted out all kinds of vicious curses that doom the little girl to death, such as short-lived ghost and corpse wrapped in bark. At first glance, people would have thought that she was cursing her mortal enemy who had a bloody feud with her. She might actually be. No one would think that Xu Siya was her biological daughter.

After the woman scolded her, Jin Guijuan gently pushed Xu Siya in the direction of Lu Lingxi behind her. The next second, she rushed forward without showing any signs of weakness and started tearing the woman’s mouth apart.

The woman probably didn’t expect that an outsider like Jin Guijuan would approach to hit her in front of so many people. She couldn’t dodge, so Jin Guijuan grabbed her hair and smashed her face to the ground, causing blood to fill her mouth.

Jin Guijuan stopped as soon as she could. Before the village chief and villagers tried to stop the fight, she quickly stood up, spat at the woman, and said angrily, “I have never seen this in my life. Never have I ever seen such a vicious woman like you!”

After saying that, Jin Guijuan took hold of Xu Siya’s little hand which was still covered in frostbite, and walked out of the Xu family’s courtyard.

The woman was disoriented because of Jin Guijuan. When she came to her senses, she noticed the blood on her face and couldn’t stop crying.

Originally, the village chief was still worried about how to deal with Xu Siya’s matter. Then he watched as Jin Guijuan took the child away while Xu Siya’s mother was sitting on the ground, howling and crying with her bloodied face. For a moment, he felt his head getting heavy.

After Jing Qizhen watched Jin Guijuan take Xu Siya away, he stepped forward and handed two small gold links he had taken from Yan Hong to the village chief, and asked the village chief to help them temporarily rent a vacant old house in the village.

That kind of empty house in the village had been abandoned for a long time, and it was basically impossible to tell whose family it belonged to. The village took the initiative to rent out the house, and the money would be collected by the village committee and used for the benefit of the whole village. The others were naturally happy to see the results.

The village chief took the ‘rent’ given by Jing Qizhen and looked at Xu Siya’s mother who was still crying and wiping her tears after being hammered by Jin Guijuan. He thought that no one could show them the direction clearly, not to mention Jin Guijuan had already left. The village chief and the man who had delivered the news looked at each other, and then the man turned around and slunk away. With no other choice, the village chief exchanged greetings with Jing Qizhen and his group and took them directly to the empty house before he could leave.

The ‘oil pan hell’ in front of Xu’s house was still present.

When Jin Guijuan took Xu Siya out, she seemed to be in a hurry, but she also avoided the range of the oil pan.

Xu Siya probably didn’t expect that someone would stand up for her to such an extent, especially when she saw Jin Guijuan knocking her mother to the ground, making her face bloodied. The little girl was now full of confusion.

There was no doubt that for the young child, the image of her irritable mother who had been verbally and physically abusive towards her was very powerful, dangerous and scary.

In the long run, even if Xu Siya grew up, the psychological shadow left behind from her childhood and the conditioned reflex her body was forced to form would become an imprint from her native family and stay with her throughout her life. When faced with her mother, an authoritative figure who brought her humiliation, pain, and fear, she would subconsciously eliminate any thoughts of resistance.

However, all these impressions were immediately broken when Jin Guijuan threw Xu Siya’s mother to the ground until her face was covered in blood, and she could only cry and howl from her injuries.

Xu Siya was completely muddled-headed now. She subconsciously grabbed Jin Guijuan’s hand in return and let her lead her forward.

Although she didn’t have enough power, Jin Guijuan’s actions left a very strong mark in her mind—it turned out that the mother with a strong aggression force was far from as powerful as she had imagined.

The mother, who would insult her, beat her and once frightened her, could easily be beaten into such an embarrassing state.

After recovering from her daze, when Xu Siya looked up at Jin Guijuan, her dull and blank eyes became much livelier.

Even though the future was bleak, at that moment, Jin Guijuan had completely replaced her mother’s authoritative image, becoming extremely powerful and majestic.

Jing Qizhen and the others, along with the village chief, went out along the back, with some villagers trailing behind them, while Xu Siya’s mother still wailed in grief and anger.

When walking past those shadowy oil pans, Jing Qizhen couldn’t help but hold his breath and concentrate.

After getting closer, he could even feel the astonishing heat from the oil pan.

As for the village chief and the villagers, they still seemed completely unaware, but Jing Qizhen noticed that they also inadvertently avoided all the oil pans while walking.

Jing Qizhen frowned slightly, and suddenly he had a near-crazy guess in his heart—the current oil pan hell was just a projection but would these scenes become a reality at some point?

After the group of people all carefully passed through the oil pans, they walked for a short distance. Jing Qizhen looked back and saw that countless vague figures were still struggling in the oil pans filled with boiling oil, showing no signs of disappearing.

It was only when the village chief took him to the gate of a damaged house with an empty courtyard that Jing Qizhen breathed a sigh of relief.

After roughly checking that the house was still solid, and relying on the village chief’s reputation to ask for some firewood from the neighbors, Jing Qizhen and his group began to clean up their temporary residence.

Xu Siya watched for a while, then couldn’t resist wanting to help with their work.

Jin Guijuan quickly stopped her. “While the adults are busy with work, it’s good if the children do not cause trouble! Even if you want to help, you have to wait until the frostbite on your hands is healed. Now, stay in the house obediently and don’t freeze yourself anymore!”

Manman took out an expensive-looking tube of hand cream from the small bag she carried with her. After signaling, she threw it directly to Jin Guijuan. “Here, use this!”

Lu Lingxi was shocked. “You actually bring this thing over?”

Jing Qizhen: …I’m not surprised at all seeing what Manman did.

Manman smiled while blinking. “Look. Isn’t it useful?”

Jin Guijuan: …I’m speechless.

Grandma Fang called Xu Siya over. She stirred the boiled water until it became lukewarm and carefully and gently washed Xu Siya’s hands. She then applied a layer of Manman’s hand cream on her. Finally, she gently touched the little girl’s head and said, “Be good. Sit in the room for a while and you will feel warm.”

Manman’s eyes fell on the little girl’s tattered cotton-padded coat and asked, “By the way, do any of you know how to mend clothes?”

Jin Guijuan was troubled. “I know how to do it. After all, I have mended clothes before! But I have never mended a cotton-padded coat. Why don’t I give it a try?”

After a moment of silence, Lu Lingxi raised his hand hesitantly.

Everyone looked over in surprise.

Jing Qizhen: “Little Lu, do you know how to do this?”

Lu Lingxi: “Yeah! I just learned it in the previous volunteer selection training class!” 0.0

Jing Qizhen: =口=!!!

To be honest, he was now a little curious about the things Tang Song mentioned before. What was the selection process like when filtering all-around talents from the entire military?

He completely acknowledged the talents selected by Tang Song.

Dahliya’s note:
Guess who burnt herself trying to do full daily updates? (That’s right. Me!💩)
So I’m gonna spare myself the pain and the insanity and be flexible with the update. When I have stack of chapters, I’ll do 4 updates. If not, I’ll do 2.
That’s it. Bye.