Chapter 78: The Gale

Lu Qingjiu felt as if he had learned another side of Bai Yuehu that he didn't know because of the pride worm. So when he got home, he made a big meal for his vixen and watched Bai Yuehu finish it with loving eyes.

Yin Xun still didn't know what was going on and looked at Lu Qingjiu with a bewildered expression of fatherly love, asking, "What's going on? Why did you come back from a trip to the city with this expression?"

Lu Qingjiu said, "You don't understand."

Yin Xun says: "How can I understand if I don't tell you?"

Lu Qingjiu looked at Yin Xun, found a place to talk to Yin Xun about what he and Bai Yuehu had encountered, and of course he also told him that Bai Yuehu might have gone through the rubbish bin, Yin Xun slapped his leg after hearing this: "Why didn't I think of that?"

Lu Qingjiu thought he didn't expect Bai Yuehu to go through the rubbish bin, but then he said, "There's still a rubbish bin to go through, what did I miss?"

Lu Qingjiu: ""Are you serious?

To this day, Lu Qingjiu has never understood why the mountain gods and dragons in other books are so powerful, not to mention that they can even turn their hands into clouds and rain, but their two little wretches have problems eating, and one of them will have to live with a bin if they don't get it right.

Lu Qingjiu wiped away a tear from the corner of his eye at this thought.

For some time afterwards, Lu Qingjiu was concerned about Le Le and he told Hu Shu that it was over and the bees would not attack the garden nursery again.

Hu Shu listened and naturally asked why, obviously still wanting to find the killer.

"Don't ask why, it's out of your hands." Lu Qingjiu decided to lie, "They're very powerful there, but they've come to seek revenge, and now they've been avenged, so they won't come back."

Hu Shu smiled bitterly and said, "Brother Lu, even though you say so, we have to close the case."

Lu Qingjiu said, "Oh, that's not so bad, it's normal to get stung by bees, and when you get stung in hospital, it must be because you stirred up a beehive."

Hu Shu is speechless.

"You say so, don't you?" Lu Qingjiu was still feeling a bit embarrassed after Hu Shu's perfunctory speech, so he asked him to come home for dinner when he was free, saying that they would have an open-air barbecue one day when the weather was good.

Hu Shu thought about it and decided that Lu Qingjiu had a point, so he agreed without further ado.

Zhuang Le's mother, on the other hand, dealt with the whole thing in a very neat and tidy manner. In true strong woman fashion, she made her decision without delay, first calling the police to report Zhuang Le's wounds and then firing the family's nanny. This was only the beginning, of course, and her mother's anger did not stop there, as she apparently made a number of other private arrangements that she did not tell Lu Qingjiu about, although Lu Qingjiu heard from Hu Shu that Zhu Xiaorong was prosecuted by Du Qinghong after she was released from hospital and spent a year or two in prison with two other accomplices.

Many years later, Lu Qingjiu met Zhuang Wenshi once by chance; he had divorced Du Qinghong and married Zhu Xiaorong, but when he divorced Du Qinghong did not let him take any of his property with him, so his life after the marriage did not seem to be satisfactory, and could even be described as wretched.

When Lu Qingjiu saw him, he was arguing with Zhu Xiaorong on the side of the road, their faces so fierce that they almost got into a fight over a trivial matter, and Lu Qingjiu watched from a distance that he would not have recognised him as Zhuang Wenshi, whom he had seen in the garage, had Bai Yuehu not reminded him.

But Lu Qingjiu doesn't know that much yet.

Within a few days of returning to Shuifu Village, Lu Qingjiu received a phone call from Du Qinghong, who expressed his gratitude to Lu Qingjiu and said he wanted to bring his children to thank him in person.

Lu Qingjiu agreed and he wanted to see the state of Zhuang Le anyway.

A few days later, Du Qinghong came to Shuifu Village with Zhuang Le, carrying a gift box in her hand. When she got out of the car, Lu Qingjiu saw Jiao Bu also sitting in the back seat, holding hands with Le Le and looking in a good mood.

Du Qinghong was a little surprised when he entered the courtyard and exclaimed, "What a beautiful courtyard."

Lu Qingjiu laughs: "He's taking care of it all." He was referring to Bai Yuehu.

Bai Yuehu sits in his rocking chair, indifferent to the visitors, not even raising his eyes. But although he may look languid now, he is still very sharp in his work, such as the yard in front of him, which Bai Yuehu has taken care of.

Green vines snake around the grapevines, fruit trees grow thickly near the walls, and the yard, despite the chicken and rabbit nests, is not at all dirty, not even excrement. Thanks to Bai Yuehu's good training, the rabbits and chickens all go to the grass to go to the toilet, purely as fertiliser for the vines.

The stone table and chairs are set in the very middle of the courtyard, just shaded by the shadows of the vines, the sunlight spilling through the gaps in the leaves, breaking up into dappled light and shadows, just the right temperature.

With the beautiful Bai Yuehu reclining on a chair, the entire courtyard looks like a painting by a famous artist, making even Du Qinghong, who is used to seeing the world, take a few more glances.

Du Qinghong said seriously, " Mr. Lu, I have come to thank you, if it wasn't for you, I'm afraid I wouldn't have found out about Le Le's abnormalities yet. I hope you will accept my gift, it's not anything particularly valuable, just a small token of my appreciation."

She seemed to be offering some wine and tonic, which Lu Qingjiu wanted to refuse, but when Du Qinghong looked as if she would not leave until Lu Qingjiu took it, she finally accepted it.

"Since we're all here, let's stay and have a meal." Lu Qingjiu beckons.

"Then I'll be grateful to Mr. Lu." Du Qinghong wasn't too polite.

"Just call me by my name, no need to be so polite." Lu Qingjiu said, "You can sit in the courtyard for a while while I go and get some snacks for Le Le."

Du Qinghong smiles as he sits down in the courtyard.

Having been accustomed to city life, I was envious of the leisurely pace of life in the village, but I liked it, but I was not used to having Du Qinghong live here all the time. Zhuang Le, however, clearly loves it here, dragging Jiao Bu all over the yard, either petting the rabbits or teasing the chicks that have just been born. Lu Qingjiu brought out washed strawberries and apricots and placed them in front of the stone table.

"Du Qinghong was a little uncomfortable at first, but when she saw that Lu Qingjiu's face hadn't changed, she quickly got used to it and said, "There's something I want to ask you."

Lu Qingjiu said, "Go ahead."

Du Qinghong said, "It's just that I think Le Le, there's something wrong."

Lu Qingjiu understood as soon as he heard it, but asked carefully, "What about, for example?"

Du Qinghong looked around to make sure Le Le wasn't next to him before whispering, "He's always talking to himself and I'm worried it's because what happened earlier has affected him too much."

Lu Qingjiu thought about it and he said, "Sister Du, do you believe there are elves and monsters in the world"

Du Qinghong was stunned.

"Lu Qingjiu deliberated his words and watched Du Qinghong's face. If Du Qinghong's expression showed any negative emotions such as disgust, he would end the conversation immediately. But luckily Du Qinghong didn't seem to be resistant to the topic and just whispered, "You may not believe me, but I saw those things when I was a child, but when I got older, I couldn't see them anymore, sounds a bit silly, doesn't it?"

Lu Qingjiu laughed at this: "So you do believe in these things in the world."

Du Qinghong: "I believe it, why" she is also a smart person, immediately thought of something, her expression dumbfounded, "did those people who were stung by bees because"

"Yes." Lu Qingjiu said, "To be honest, I probably wouldn't have found out about it if the group hadn't been stung by bees and made a big deal out of it." There was no telling how long Le Le would have to suffer like this.

When Du Qinghong heard this, he fell into silence.

Lu Qingjiu thought she was worried about something and was about to explain when Du Qinghong breathed a sigh of relief, "So Le Le wasn't talking to herself, that's good."

Lu Qingjiu: "Hey"

Du Qinghong said, "What does the mountain god look like? Is he also a child? How did he and Le Le meet?" The mother was clearly very receptive and immediately became curious after learning the truth, "Can I see?"

Lu Qingjiu glanced at Bai Yuehu, who was sitting next to him, with a little headache.

Bai Yuehu felt Lu Qingjiu's gaze, raised his eyes, stood up from his chair, and then walked over to Du Qinghong.

Before Du Qinghong could understand what Bai Yuehu was trying to do, she saw Bai Yuehu raise her hand and then flick her finger on her brow. She felt a slight pain, and then the world before her seemed to change in a subtle way that is hard to describe. If I had to say, it was as if all the images in front of her were refreshed.

" Le Le ." Lu Qingjiu called Le Le by name.

Du Qinghong then saw her son running happily out of the backyard, holding a cute little boy in his hand.

Lu Qingjiu said, "This is the little friend who helped your son to take revenge."

Du Qinghong's eyes widened in surprise. In her imagination, the God of the Mountain must be a bearded old grandfather, but he was actually such a cute little friend.

"Mum." Zhuang Le, still a little uncomfortable with her own mother, stood next to her and called out timidly.

Du Qinghong said, "You are the mountain god who helped to avenge my son."

He was about to say that he hadn't been following Le Le all along when Du Qinghong gently took his hand, "Thank you, if it wasn't for your help, Le Le would still be being bullied."

"No, there's no need to be so polite." The pride bug blushed again and her eyes began to dart from side to side, clearly uncomfortable with the scene before her.

Du Qinghong said, "I could see this when I was a child, but when I got older I couldn't see it anymore, and after a while I wondered if it was a figment of my imagination.

Bai Yuehu said, "Half an hour."

Du Qinghong sighed at this and looked a little forlorn. She had neglected many things since she started working, and had even naively thought that it was enough to give Zhuang Le a rich enough living environment. But fortunately, it was not too late, at least there was still a chance of salvation.

Lu Qingjiu then went to the kitchen, leaving the courtyard to Du Qinghong and his son. In fact, Zhuang Le could still feel the love that Du Qinghong had for her, otherwise she would not have blamed her mother from the beginning to the end. It was only that Zhuang Le was so understanding that he kept his feelings to himself and forgot to tell his mother how he felt.

Lu Qingjiu wants Du Qinghong to accept the existence of the worms because he doesn't want to see them living alone in the park, going through rubbish cans every day to get enough food.

Lu Qingjiu cooked a nice lunch for the guests and made a special dessert for Jiao Bu and little Le Le. He wanted to make a honey cake, but when he heard that Jiao Bu didn't like honey, he changed it to a chocolate lava cake.

Du Qinghong praised Lu Qingjiu's work, especially the sweet and sour pork ribs that she had in front of her, the flavour of which was astonishing even to her. The pork chops were made with a layer of white sesame seeds, and the meat was tender and flavourful, with a sweet and savoury sauce coating the meat, which was just the right amount of salty and sweet. The spicy diced chicken was also very tasty, the chicken was fried dry and chewy, because it was specially fried, even the bones were crispy, not very spicy, but fragrant enough.

"It's so good." Du Qinghong says, "My family's special chef doesn't even have this kind of skill."

Lu Qingjiu smiled, "The pigs and chickens are raised by the family, so naturally they taste much better than outside."

Du Qinghong said, "You are too modest, what we eat is also special, but it doesn't taste like this." She ate another piece of chicken and squinted happily at the freshness of the chicken, "It's so good"

Lu Qingjiu was delighted to be complimented on his cooking, especially when he saw the two little dolls eating with such a satisfied look on their faces. Although Jiao Bu didn't show his arrogance, his little belly puffed up to show Lu Qingjiu that he was happy with the meal.

"Are you short of bees," the pride wiped his mouth after eating his fill, "what strange things are in the beehives in your backyard."

Bai Yuehu shot an unhappy glance at the proud insect, "It's the bees."

If anyone else had said that, Jiao Bu would have retorted, but Bai Yuehu was the one who said it, so after holding his tongue for a while, he came out with, "Okay, bees are bees, so put two more hives in the backyard."

Lu Qingjiu said, "You're sending me honey."

The proud insect waved his hand, clearly unimpressed with the honey, "Give it away, give it away, give it away as much as you want."

Lu Qingjiu: "Thank you, then."

After the three of them had eaten and were leaving, Le Le took the hand of Jiao Bu again and got into the back seat with him. Du Qinghong could no longer see Jiao Bu, but she felt much better knowing that her son was not talking to himself because of his psychological problems, and said she did not mind Jiao Bu accompanying Le Le.

Lu Qingjiu Station

The three of them were watched from the doorway as they left.

"It's good to have the pride bug with us, isn't it?" Lu Qingjiu said. Lu Qingjiu said, "At least we don't have to worry about Le Le being bullied by the others."

Yin Xun stood by but was not very interested, he had heard the whole story from Lu Qingjiu and although he smiled brightly when he saw Le Le and the proud insects today, he sighed softly now.

"You're not happy," Lu Qingjiu said, noticing the change in his friend's mood.

"You tell me." Yin Xun said, "What if one day Le Le can't see the pride bug anymore?"

Lu Qingjiu :""

Yin Xun says: "If that time comes, the pride bug will have to go back to the park again and rummage through his rubbish bin."

Before he could finish, Lu Qingjiu reached out and patted him on the shoulder: "If Le Le can't see him, there's still us."

Yin Xun said, "But you are a human being too."

Lu Qingjiu said, "Who said I was a human being?"

Yin Xun is unaware of the love/hate relationship between Lu Qingjiu's elders and is bewildered by Lu Qingjiu's words: "You are not human, aren't you the only precious human in our family?

Lu Qingjiu shook his head sadly: "I am not."

Yin Xun: "So what are you?"

Lu Qingjiu: "I'll tell you a secret, I'm actually one quarter dragon blood."

Yin Xun :""

Lu Qingjiu: "My grandfather is a dragon, aha, I didn't expect that"

Yin Xun was frozen in place for two seconds, then his expression twisted: "Damn, when did you fucking know about this, why didn't you tell me earlier, it was so important"

Lu Qingjiu said, "What is important?"

Yin Xun said, "Of course it's important, for example," but he broke off in the middle of his sentence because, on reflection, it really didn't seem very important, because after all Lu Qingjiu was behaving like a normal human being, not like a dragon in any way.

Lu Qingjiu sighed: "See, I told you it wasn't very important."

Yin Xun: "Then you are not a human being either, so there will be no one in our house"

Lu Qingjiu nods his head.

Yin Xun raised a long sigh, stating that their family had finally lost the last piece of clean ground, and that Lu Qingjiu was too indomitable to hold his own as the only human representative.

Lu Qingjiu: "Sorry"

Yin Xun shook his head and went home with a look on his face that Lu Qingjiu was too indisputable.

Lu Qingjiu was in tears, and after closing the door, he and Bai Yuehu planned to add two beehives to the backyard tomorrow, so that with the promise of pride insects, there would be real bees in the house. Qin Yuan, who has five days off, was so pleased that he wanted to ask if he could have an extra year off, but when Bai Yuehu gave him a cold look, he had to shrink back and pretend he was a bee. But to be honest, their heads were too big for the real bees, and they didn't fit in at all.

The next day Lu Qingjiu went to town and bought two new hives and placed them next to Qin Yuan's hives. After about two or three days, both hives were filled with baby bees, which began to build nests and produce honey. The bees were not aggressive towards people, even if they were close to them, and they did not even need to wear professional equipment when collecting honey. Unlike Qin Yuan's honey, however, their honey has a stronger flavour, more similar to normal honey, and does not have the same magical beauty effects as Qin Yuan's honey. Although you can't use it for your face, it is still good to eat.

Lu Qingjiu also learnt from Du Qinghong that she had taken Jiao Bu back home and hired two new aunts to look after Zhuang Le. As a result of the previous incident, Du Qinghong took some of her work off and spent more time with her son, and the matter was resolved perfectly.

The only one who was more distressed was Hu Shu, a police officer, who was confused from start to finish as to what had happened and who hadn't been found.

Hu Shu even came to Lu Qingjiu's house with a few pounds of marinated pork to hear the truth from him.

But Lu Qingjiu's mouth was tighter than a mussel, and they came and went as they pleased, with nothing to show for it but the loss of a few pounds of marinated pork.

However, the investors of the Garden Nursery later said that they did not want to pursue the matter any further and the matter was closed once and for all.

With the arrival of summer, the weather starts to get hotter.

All the trees in the yard have sprouted lush branches and the rabbits we bought earlier have become fat and fluffy after months of rearing, and just look so cute.

Yin Xun stroked the rabbits' soft butts and complimented them with happiness, they must be very tasty when they are so fat!

Lu Qingjiu :""

The rabbit meat was indeed delicious, but it looked a bit cruel when it was killed, as Bai Yuehu took the knife and peeled off the entire skin before handing it to Lu Qingjiu.

Lu Qingjiu blanched the rabbit meat to ensure that it was in its most elastic state and tasted good. While Lu Qingjiu was cooking the rabbit meat, Yin Xun stood by and watched, asking Lu Qingjiu what flavour he wanted to make.

Lu Qingjiu said, "Let's have cold rabbit, you go peel some peanuts."

Yin Xun nodded and went happily on his way.

Lu Qingjiu stir-fries the rabbit in a pan of hot water while he prepares the ingredients for the cold dish. He was standing by the window with his head down, cooking, when he suddenly felt a gust of wind coming from outside the open window, a wind so strange that it even blew out the fire on the stove.

The wind seemed to be laden with something that blew right on Lu Qingjiu's face, bringing with it a cold sensation. Lu Qingjiu raised his hand and casually wiped his face, he actually found that the gust of wind was mixed with dark red blood, which just happened to bring a drop on his cheek, the blood seemed to be not fresh and carried a strong fishy smell, which made people feel very uncomfortable.

If Bai Yuehu had been there, he would have known what was going on, but he happened to be out in the field at the moment, and Lu Qingjiu had no way of asking, so he had to wash the blood off his hands and face and close the window. But the wind was still blowing, making the windows rattle. Lu Qingjiu looked out, a hint of unease in his eyes.

When Yin Xun returned from peeling peanuts, the gale had stopped and Lu Qingjiu casually said, "The wind was so strong just now."

"What wind?" Yin Xun said, bewildered.

"Didn't the wind blow just now?" Lu Qingjiu asked.

"Yin Xun didn't understand Lu Qingjiu's words, "No, I've been sitting in the living room peeling peanuts, I haven't seen any wind."

Lu Qingjiu frowned slightly at his words, "Really?"

Yin Xun said, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Lu Qingjiu shook his head and changed the subject, "I'll ask Bai Yuehu when he comes back."

The author has something to say: Lu Qingjiu: I have lost the most precious thing.

Bai Yuehu: What

Lu Qingjiu: My identity as an ordinary person.

Bai Yuehu.