Volume 1, Chapter 65: Those Who Did Not Return Home Deep into the Night

Zhang Yunling cried for a long time.

Seeing that Luo Bin’s legs were aching from standing too long, she sat down.

Zhang Yunling sat squarely on his lap, burying her head against his chest, tightly embracing him and refusing to let go.

This posture was profoundly intimate.

Change the emotional context, and it would be exceedingly romantic.

However, Luo Bin harbored no inappropriate thoughts; he merely held Zhang Yunling quietly and gently.

For a long time, a very long time.

Zhang Yunling muttered softly, sounding more like she was talking in her sleep.

"Do you know?"

"Back then, when so many people fell ill, they all believed my parents had prescribed the wrong medicine and caused the villagers' deaths."

"Those people were incurable, you see. My parents only kept increasing the dosage to help more villagers survive; the trials were meant to preserve the lives of the rest."

"In the end, the plague was cured, but they were ostracized."

"They were good people. Even after being isolated, they still helped when outsiders appeared, and they still treated the villagers when they fell ill. But that evening, as night was about to fall—just about to fall—the villagers refused to let them stay the night and insisted they walk back themselves."

"That night, I stayed in the courtyard all alone, waiting and waiting. When it grew dark, I heard them running, shouting at each other to hurry home!"

"I rushed to open the door, and then I heard my mother scream in agony, followed by my father’s roar telling me never, ever to open the door!"

"Through the crack in the door, I watched as they were torn to pieces bit by bit, dying bit by bit..."

"I have no parents left..."

"I swore then that I would definitely leave this cold, heartless place, this terrifying earthly purgatory."

"In the entire village, only Aunt Gu was good to me, and Uncle Luofeng was kind to me. You are the absolute best people."

Zhang Yunling raised her head. She was still sobbing, crying with a profound bitterness, her expression stricken with deep sorrow.

"The village swallows people up, time and time again, and it wants to swallow the people I care about most. But I will get out of here, Xiaoshan! You, Uncle Luofeng, and Aunt Gu will all get out with me!"

"Do you believe me?"

Zhang Yunling’s cries subsided slightly.

Her voice trembled heavily, yet the conviction in her words seemed heavier still.

As it turned out, she wasn't reminded of her parents being murdered by the Chen sisters.

It was simply that her parents' deaths had been suffocatingly cruel.

Zhang Yunling continued to look straight into Luo Bin’s eyes, unblinking.

"I believe you. I truly do."

Luo Bin’s tone was exceptionally soft, a trace of heartache gleaming in his eyes.

Zhang Yunling was as gentle as water and cared for him deeply.

It was only natural that his heart ached for her sorrow.

Sometimes people do utter idealistic things, much like Zhang Yunling at this moment.

It was precisely because the village’s situation had deteriorated once more, stoking her desire to escape, that she spoke of a possibility that seemed fundamentally impossible—at least for her.

Yet, was it truly impossible?

For him, the possibility not only existed, but it should be quite substantial, right?

"Mmm-hmm."

Zhang Yunling managed a tearful smile and stood up from Luo Bin’s lap.

A faint blush tinged her cheeks once more, making her look like a ripe apple.

"It’s been so long, Xiaoshan, you should go home," Zhang Yunling said, wiping the tears from the corners of her eyes.

"How about you come to my house, Sister Xiaoling? You can squeeze in with my mom for the night while I sleep with my dad. I'll go tell him; it should be fine," Luo Bin offered.

"There's no need for that much trouble. I'm fine now, I'm very strong," Zhang Yunling replied as she busied herself with the medicines on the table, dividing them into several paper packets.

"Take these. You can change your bandages yourself every day. I can tell that Uncle Luofeng isn't too keen on you running over to my place. I know. If you can't leave the village, women and children are just burdens. Aunt Gu and you are good to me, and Uncle Luofeng isn't bad either. A person always has to look out for themselves, I understand."

Zhang Yunling pushed the paper medicine packets toward Luo Bin.

It was Luo Bin who was left stunned in place.

"Do you know, Xiaoshan? You've really grown up. You're no longer that little punk who used to peek at people bathing. Look at you—you seem even smarter than Uncle Luo, and much more like a man."

Zhang Yunling’s beautiful eyes fluttered, paired with her tear-stained face and slight smile, making it all the more easy for someone to become utterly captivated.

"I'm heading home, Sister Xiaoling."

Suppressing a faint panic, Luo Bin gathered the paper packets of medicine and hurried away.

The sunlight was no longer so dazzling; dusk was approaching, and he had indeed stayed at Zhang Yunling’s place for a very long time.

Zhang Yunling was truly understanding.

Did she hold even a tiny shred of affection for him as well?

Clenching his left hand into a fist, Luo Bin’s heart surged with tumultuous emotions!

Yet, amidst the surging emotions, his heartbeat suddenly skipped a beat. He let out a muffled grunt, his vision darkened momentarily, and he almost tumbled straight to the ground.

Clutching his chest, he waited a long while until he finally caught his breath.

Suppressing all other emotions and calming himself down, Luo Bin walked quickly toward home.

Heart palpitations were a mystical thing; he had experienced them in his past life.

Whenever he felt that something was about to happen, something invariably did.

Of course, it was hard to guess the specifics during the palpitation, and when the event actually unfolded—whether good or bad—it was mostly bad.

Still, could any good thing possibly happen in Guishan Village?

As for himself, as long as his family remained safe and sound, nothing else could be considered too terrible.

Returning home, he shoved the courtyard gate open.

The courtyard was completely empty.

"Dad! Mom!" Luo Bin called out.

The bedroom door was open, the kitchen door was open, even his own bedroom door and the woodshed door were wide open.

"Dad! Mom!" Luo Bin’s voice grew louder, echoing around the courtyard and producing overlapping ripples of sound.

Still, no one answered.

The sensation of palpitations suddenly intensified.

It was more than just a notch higher; it surged like a churning river, like a violent storm about to break.

He hurried over to the door of Gu娅 and Luo Feng’s bedroom.

The room was empty!

Something was terribly wrong here.

If the two of them weren't home, they could have gone out. But before leaving, why would they leave every single door wide open?

Luo Bin rushed to the courtyard entrance. The path outside was deserted. With dusk approaching, all the villagers had long since returned to their respective homes; no one was wandering outside.

For a moment, Luo Bin had no idea what to do.

Where had they gone?

Could it be that Gu娅 hadn't returned yet, and Luo Feng had gone out to look for her?

And then, failing to find her, Luo Feng came back home, thinking Gu娅 might have returned. Finding all the doors open and Gu娅 still not there, he went out to search again?

Tempered by the experiences of this period, Luo Bin’s mind was much sharper.

He felt this was ninety percent likely.

It was unlikely Gu娅 and Luo Feng would go out together this late, and even more impossible that they would fling every door open before leaving...

Then why hadn't Gu娅 returned?

If Luo Feng went looking for her, he would undoubtedly have searched outside the Chen sisters' house.

He must not have found her there, which was why he returned home only to leave again.

Where should he go to look?

The more Luo Bin pondered, the deeper and more crimson the sunset glow grew in the sky.

The round, slanting sun was about to sink behind a mountain ridge.

Impatience only made Luo Bin’s palpitations grow stronger.

So this was where that lingering sense of unease and emptiness in his chest had come from?!

Luo Bin thought of his past life.

Before he received the news of his mother’s death, he had experienced days of that empty feeling, days of those heart palpitations...

Curse it all! With a stomp of his foot, he bolted out of the courtyard, running toward the village entrance.

Even though he knew he wouldn't find anyone near the Chen sisters' house, Luo Bin didn't know anywhere else to go! Waiting anxiously at home would drive him crazy.

Running like the wind, his speed pulled at the muscles in his right arm, and the wound began to throb with pain.

Sure enough, when he reached the mouth of the alley, the Chen sisters' house had several wooden boards nailed across the door. There was definitely nobody inside.

The sunset had dipped halfway below the horizon, leaving only the other half.

Luo Bin ran on, rushing to Old Kong’s doorstep, hammering fiercely on the door!

The person who opened it was a woman. Seeing it was Luo Bin, her brow furrowed instantly.

"Where is Uncle Old Kong?!" Luo Bin demanded in an exceptionally loud voice!

He had seen this woman on the night of the village patrol; he had thought she was just a regular villager, but she turned out to be Old Kong’s wife.

Hasty footsteps approached, and the round-faced, freckled Old Kong walked up to the door.

"Uncle Old Kong, have you seen my dad and mom? Did the village chief give some new orders because of the Chen sisters' affair? Did my dad go over, and did my mom go too?" Luo Bin spoke at breakneck speed, spraying a bit of saliva in his haste.

Old Kong’s expression tightened slightly, his freckles reddening.

"Not that I know of? Two or three hours ago, the village chief dismissed everyone, telling us all to stay home and be careful lately. Tomorrow they're organizing people to search the nearby foothills and drag that Chen Xianxian back. Aside from that, he didn't order anything else. Oh, right, your dad was walking hurriedly through the village just a moment ago. He even asked me if I'd seen your mom. Strange... the two of them still haven't gone home? Your dad hasn't found her yet?"

Old Kong’s speech was equally rapid, laden with unease and a trace of agitation.

"It's getting dark, close the door, Old Kong," the woman beside him urged, her hand reaching to pull the door shut.

The sky was indeed growing dark.

Only a tiny sliver of the sunset remained.

"Go on home first, Luo Shan. Old Luo and Gu娅 might have gone back already. Don't run around; if you cross paths, they might go out looking for you again, and running back and forth will only cause trouble," Old Kong cautioned in a deep voice.

"Bang!" The woman grabbed the inner handle and slammed the door shut heavily.

"Why are you telling him so much? Since when did Luo Shan care this much about his parents?"

"Besides, what could possibly happen at Old Luo’s place? Luo Feng is vigilant enough." The woman’s voice was somewhat sharp.

Luo Bin turned on his heel and sprinted back toward home.

Just as night was falling, he pushed open the courtyard gate.

Reaching behind him, he slammed the gate shut with a loud *clang*.

In the main room, an oil lamp burned dimly.

The lamp was lit—someone had come home!

"Dad! Mom!"

Luo Bin shouted in pleasant surprise.

A figure walked out from the bedroom—it was Luo Feng.

Luo Feng was entirely alone, his eyes bloodshot, his closely cropped hair appearing utterly disheveled.

Luo Bin’s heart instantly plunged to the bottom of a freezing abyss.

Luo Feng didn't utter a word. He strode swiftly to the courtyard gate, cracked it open just a sliver, and stared intently out at the village path.

Luo Bin knew he was waiting for Gu娅 to come home.

The last trace of daylight was completely swallowed up by the curtain of night.

Night had fallen.