Chapter 94: Little Sister Leader
This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation.
“Father!”
“Father! Your son has failed you. I couldn’t even keep your skull safe!” Song Yu sprinted desperately. Upon seeing his family’s desecrated grave, he nearly collapsed on the spot.
His father’s fifty-year calamity—it was real!
That blind fortune teller had been right all along!
Not even in death could his father rest peacefully. His grave had been dug up, his body left exposed to the wilderness, and his skull… kicked around like a ball!
Song Yu felt a lump of grief and anger lodge in his chest. He thought back to the moment he’d joyfully kicked his father’s skull. Now, the memory made him nauseous.
The dignified chief of the Fufeng Mountain bandits was so furious that he could hardly breathe.
Behind him, Lu Chao Chao followed with a pitiful expression. “Was… was that your daddy?”
Scratching her head, she mumbled, “Sorry, sorry…” Then, she silently placed the skull back into the coffin.
“It’s… it’s fair.”
“The skull… I kicked it too.”
“The mushroom on your daddy, I… ate it too…” Lu Chao Chao struggled to find words of comfort, but her childish attempts only poured oil on the fire.
A one-year-old’s version of consolation was more infuriating than soothing.
“Your father said that when the great calamity came, the Song family would lose everything. Are you really not going to send her down the mountain?” Song Mu’s voice came faintly.
Song Yu’s vision spun. Even the Second Boss added somberly, “Should we send her down the mountain?”
Song Yu hesitated, gritting his teeth. “No!”
His previous declaration to never send her away now carried a hint of doubt.
“She’s just a one-year-old child. What chaos could she possibly bring? Could she overthrow Fufeng Mountain?” Song Yu refused to believe it.
“Rebury my father properly,” he ordered, kneeling and kowtowing before the disturbed grave mound.
“Father, please forgive her. She’s young and doesn’t understand the weight of her actions. She meant no harm.”
“At least we didn’t feed your skull to the dogs,” he muttered, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.
Nearby, Yuan Man let out a sigh of relief and whispered, “I thought you’d get beaten up. You’re quite daring, digging up the Chief’s ancestral grave.”
Lu Chao Chao glanced at him.
Yuan Man froze.
The little girl’s gaze seemed laden with meaning. Yet when he looked again, she was already drinking from her milk bottle, oblivious.
“Little Sister Leader,” Yuan Man addressed her solemnly.
Lu Chao Chao raised her head in confusion as he called out again, “Little Sister Leader.”
She blinked, then mumbled an “Oh.”
When Song Yu carried Lu Chao Chao back to the camp, he saw a group escorting three women down the mountain. The women’s clothes were disheveled, and their faces were filled with fear.
They were the same women who had been abducted along with Lu Chao Chao.
“I want them,” Lu Chao Chao said, pointing to the women.
The three immediately dropped to their knees, trembling and clutching their skirts with pale knuckles.
Song Yu paused, frowning slightly. “Since Chao Chao likes you, you may stay.”
The women, dressed in maid-like attire, exhaled shakily in relief. Song Yu’s stern gaze swept over them, making them shudder.
Reluctantly, the bandits escorting them down the mountain stepped aside.
“You will serve Chao Chao. If she feels even the slightest discomfort, you’ll bear the consequences,” Song Yu ordered, stationing guards outside before leaving the women to care for Chao Chao.
Yuan Man stayed in another courtyard separated by only a wall. After the bandits left, the women collapsed onto the ground, overwhelmed. They hugged their knees, biting their lips to stifle their sobs, tears falling like rain.
The maid in the most formal dress, Xuan Yin, looked pale and full of regret for ever sneaking away from home.
Chao Chao observed them silently.
“Chao Chao looks like the Chief’s late daughter,” Xuan Yin murmured.
“The Chief doesn’t want her to see his darker side,” another whispered. “He’s putting on a show for her by sending us away.”
“But this mountain is full of bandits. How can we possibly escape?” a girl named Qiu Er said softly. She glanced nervously at the mountain village below, a den where generations had thrived on human trafficking.
Just earlier, the bandits hadn’t even made it out of the village before ripping their clothes. If not for Chao Chao’s sudden intervention, they wouldn’t have made it out alive.
“My name is Xuan Yin. What about you?” Xuan Yin asked, her voice trembling.
“Yan Zi,” another replied. “I’m the eldest in my family. My parents are farmers.”
“I’m Qiu Er. My father is a scholar,” added the soft-spoken one.
Qiu Er swallowed hard. “This Fufeng Mountain is a wolf’s den. None of them are good people.” She glanced at Chao Chao. “If we stick close to her, we might survive.”
“My family will come to rescue me,” Xuan Yin said firmly.
“If Chao Chao were a little older, maybe the Chief would listen to her and help us,” she sighed. “But she’s only one.”
Despair settled over the group. They could only stay silent, fearing prying ears, and carefully bathed and put Chao Chao to bed.
Xuan Yin’s face darkened. Though the Chief opposed trafficking, he still tolerated it. For now, staying close to Chao Chao was their safest option.
When midnight fell, the mountain was silent. The women huddled on the soft bed, their brows furrowed even in uneasy sleep.
Meanwhile, Chao Chao silently opened her eyes.
Barefoot, she climbed down from the bed, using her hands and feet to crawl onto a chair and then onto the table. Standing by the window, she gazed out.
This courtyard was perched on the highest point of Fufeng Mountain. From there, scattered lights dotted the mountainside, each representing a household.
But these lights were cold, embodying despair and suffocation.
Faintly, she seemed to hear the crack of whips against flesh. “Run, will you? I’ll break your legs!”
“If you’ve come to Fufeng Mountain, then obediently bear children for me!”
“You’ll wear an iron collar and guard my house like a dog. Keep running, I dare you!”
“Please, let me go home. I’m begging you. Please…”
The air was thick with curses and cries. Chao Chao listened quietly, her face calm.
A small bird landed on her shoulder, chirping softly. Plucking a leaf from the window, she held it as if bestowing a blessing. The green leaf seemed to glow faintly in her hand.
“Little Leaf Paper… blow, blow… no more pain, pain,” she murmured, blowing gently on it.
“Go.”
“It’s my birthday.”
“Invite all the beasts to celebrate,” she whispered. The leaf fluttered into the wind.
The trees, the birds, the invisible wind, and the cold moon all seemed to respond to her call.
Climbing down clumsily, she approached the sleeping women.
They twitched in their dreams, fear etched into their faces.
With a wave of her tiny hand, a golden light entered their dreams. Instantly, their furrowed brows relaxed, and smiles replaced their terror.
Let the dreams come more fiercely.
She might be a child, but she wasn’t a fool.
Her eyes glimmered with a peculiar light.
She wanted to make this even more fun.
It is about to go down