Farm Tough Girl

Chapter 159 - 159 160 Unease in the Town_1

?Chapter 159: Chapter 160 Unease in the Town_1 Chapter 159: Chapter 160 Unease in the Town_1 Madam Liu finally felt a bit more at ease, but she was still somewhat anxious, as she cared too much for these children.

Then, suddenly, she heard a crisp “Mother! Mother!” from the courtyard.

Madam Liu nearly fell to the ground, staggering as she ran out, only to see Tianniu and Hongsheng being led back by Jin Feng, one in each hand.

Madam Liu burst into tears instantly, “My children, you’ve worried your mother to death. You’re finally back. Did you get hurt? Let me take a look quickly!”

Hongsheng bawled, “The bad guys hit people. Sister protected me and got hit with a few sticks. They wouldn’t give us food either, saying we couldn’t eat if we didn’t behave.”

At this moment, Tianniu couldn’t hold back any longer, her eyes red, “Mother, we were so scared, we thought we’d never see you again.”

Madam Liu crouched on the ground, holding the two children and weeping bitterly. It had only been one night, but it felt as long as a year. Madam Liu felt like she was going gray.

Muniang, seeing the children were all right, also breathed a sigh of relief and said to Jin Feng, “Thank you so much. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been able to decide what to do. But how did you manage to rescue the children?”

Hongsheng immediately interjected, “Big brother Dafeng is so amazing. He didn’t only save us, but also all the children who were with us; they were all let go. The bad guys were so afraid of him.”

Muniang’s astonishment showed as she looked up, “Really?”

Jin Feng’s complexion wasn’t very good. He was worried about Erliang, “It was nothing, just issued a few threats.”

He glanced over at Erliang, then continued, “Muniang, if there’s nothing else, we should head back to Tupo Village. It’s better to come to this town as little as possible in the future.”

Muniang noticed that something was off with Jin Feng. Seeing the way he looked at Erliang, she vaguely sensed it had something to do with Erliang and chose not to ask further, “Right, we’ll go back today. This trip to town has caused so much trouble; it doesn’t seem to be a peaceful place.”

Erliang nodded in agreement, “Tupo Village is better, there are no bad people there!”

After she had cried enough with the children in her arms, Madam Liu finally remembered to thank Jin Feng, overwhelmingly grateful, “If these children had truly been lost, I would’ve lost the will to live. Thank you so much.”

Jin Feng quickly said, “It was just a helping hand, nothing more.”

Speaking seriously, he had them to thank. If not for this kidnapping incident, how would he have known about the hidden dangers? He breaks into a cold sweat just thinking about it; had it been Hei Bao who found Erliang first, he dares not imagine the consequences.

Sensing Jin Feng’s tension, Muniang didn’t let everyone linger and had Dazhu prepare the carriage to return to the village together.

On the other hand, Hei Bao was incredibly pained over the loss of this batch of goods.

“Brother Bao, who is this guy anyway? He said he was the Empress’s man, could he have been bluffing us? Why would someone from the Empress come to this small Chatu Town?” a follower asked.

Hei Bao slapped him on the forehead, “Are you stupid? Why did we come here? Can’t you think a little?”

The follower said in shock, “So the Empress is looking for General Yu too.”

Hei Bao scoffed, “He is the Empress’s last lifeline. Of course, she wants to find him. Humph, one who is dead yet doesn’t know where he died still harbors vain hopes.”

“But since the Empress is sending people to Chatu Town to look for someone, doesn’t that mean she’s certain that General Yu is still alive? After all, no corpse has been found to this day.”

Hei Bao shot him a glare, “Who knows which hillside he’s dead on? Where would one start looking for the body!”

Despite saying this, Hei Bao still kept a cautious eye in his heart.

Once everyone returned to the village, Muniang immediately took Madam Liu back to her home, telling them to rest up first.

She and Er Liang had also stayed up all night, their eyes nearly shutting now, but after a comfortable bath, they settled down for a sound sleep.

Mrs. Lin was still unaware of what had happened last night. She simply thought they were tired from playing, so she asked Mrs. Fang to prepare some food and wait for them to wake up and eat.

Qiao family.

Qiao Yuanzhen had not returned all night. Although she knew that last night was the Lantern Festival and Yuanzhen had gone to watch the lanterns and guess riddles with his schoolfellows, Yuanzhen hadn’t mentioned not coming back at night, so Li Qinghe stubbornly stayed up waiting for him.

Yuanzhen disliked discussing anything with Qinghe, finding fault with her for being illiterate and ignorant. To put it bluntly, he looked down on her from the bottom of his heart. Even during their intimate moments at night, Qinghe could never feel his tenderness; he would never care about her feelings.

“Yuanzhen, mother has simmered a pot of chicken soup for you, come out and eat quickly,” Madam Zhao called from outside the door.

Li Qinghe opened the door and managed to say, “Mother.”

As Madam Zhao entered, she looked around and saw not a soul in sight, which caused her eyebrows to furrow, “Where’s Yuanzhen?”

“Yuanzhen went out to see the lantern show last night and didn’t come back,” Qinghe said softly.

Madam Zhao’s face turned dark at once, “Didn’t come back? Why are you only telling me this now? How could you not say something so important sooner!”

Li Qinghe felt wronged. How was she to know if he would come back? Was she expected to wait until midnight, and if he didn’t return, wake Madam Zhao to tell her Qiao Yuanzhen didn’t come back?

Knowing Madam Zhao’s temper, Qinghe held back her words and merely said, “Mother, Yuanzhen is already grown-up. Even if he didn’t return for one night, he must be staying at a schoolfellow’s home. There surely won’t be any problems. Please, don’t worry.”

Madam Zhao slammed the pot of chicken soup on the table and burst out scolding, “Just because you say it’s fine, it is fine? Do you know how chaotic the outside world is now? How can you be so heartless? Are you hoping something bad happens to your husband? I tell you, if anything happens to Yuanzhen, I’ll skin you alive!”

Li Qinghe quietly bowed her head, not daring to speak any further.

Just then, the sound of the courtyard door rang out. Madam Zhao immediately went to the courtyard to see, and just as she arrived, she saw Qiao Yuanzhen entering. She rushed up to him, “Yuanzhen, you’re finally back. Why didn’t you come home all night? Mother has been so worried. Even if you went out with your schoolfellows, you should have let mother know, how could you—”
“I’m fine,” Qiao Yuanzhen interrupted her irritably, heading straight for his room.

Seeing that Yuanzhen had come back, Li Qinghe did not fuss around him like Madam Zhao. She knew Yuanzhen didn’t like that. She just quietly went to fetch a basin of hot water, preparing it for Yuanzhen to wash his face.

Seeing her son’s disregard, Madam Zhao didn’t dare to say more. She took the chicken soup from the table and offered it, “Yuanzhen, mother cooked this soup especially for you, to nourish your body. Drink it while it’s hot.”

Qiao Yuanzhen snatched it irritably, “I know, now get out!”

His tone was somewhat harsh.