Chapter 11 Ding Jin

Chen Xiaomeng and Zhou Rong did not stop Jiang Cheng's actions. On the contrary, if Jiang Cheng did not act, they had their own ways to make the girl speak.

Although the house the girl mentioned was old and dilapidated, the dried chili peppers hanging under the eaves and the vegetables planted in front of the door indicated that there were adults at home.

The girl didn't expect Jiang Cheng to change his face so quickly and to be so fierce. Her eyes instantly turned red, and just as she was about to cry, she heard Jiang Cheng's slow voice: "If you dare to cry, this aunt will destroy all the vegetables planted at your house."

Hearing this, the girl was so frightened that she didn't dare to cry.

For her, this threat was more terrifying than being beaten, after all, her family still relied on those vegetables to live.

Since she could remember, hunger had always been a part of her life.

"Don't," the girl said with tears in her eyes, but she didn't dare let the tears fall. Her little face was twisted together, looking very pitiful, "Those were planted by mother, you... you don't destroy them."

Jiang Cheng put the girl back on the ground. She wanted to turn around and run home, but she could run away, but the vegetables planted in front of the door couldn't run away. Thinking of this, she didn't dare to run.

"Let's change the conditions," Jiang Cheng bent down, looked into the girl's eyes, and said calmly, "How about I give you half a steamed bun for every question you answer?"

"Okay." The girl stared at him and answered timidly.

"There's only you and your mother at home, right?"

"And grandma," the girl pursed her lips, "But grandma is very sick and needs mother to go up the mountain to collect herbs to treat her."

"What about your father?"

The girl looked up at Jiang Cheng, and it seemed like something was flowing in her eyes.

Jiang Cheng took out the previous half of the steamed bun from his pocket and stuffed it back into the girl's pocket. The girl immediately said, "Honghong hasn't seen her father, but mother said that father went to the big city outside, and when Honghong grows up, father will come back and buy Honghong many, many white steamed buns."

There was light in the girl's eyes, but the others' eyes dimmed.

It seemed that white steamed buns were the limit of this girl named Honghong's imagination.

And everyone knew even more that she probably wouldn't be able to wait for her father to come back.

Her father... should have died at Zhao Xiangmei's hands.

"Your mother, and grandma," Jiang Cheng asked, "Are they at home?"

The girl nodded.

At this moment, Zhou Rong suddenly realized that, unknowingly, half of the sun had already set, and now only a little bit was exposed outside the mountain.

Night was coming.

Jiang Cheng took out another steamed bun from his pocket and put it in the girl's hand, "We're going back," he said, "I'll wait for you here tomorrow evening, same rules, half a steamed bun for a question."

"But..." The girl stared at the whole steamed bun in her hand, looked up at Jiang Cheng, and asked suspiciously, "You gave me half an extra one."

"This half is a deposit (ding jin)," Jiang Cheng said without looking back, and turned to run towards the residence.

Just before the sun completely set behind the mountain, the three finally broke into the house. A black pot and several pairs of bowls and chopsticks were placed on the old wooden table.

"Mr. Yin," Li Lu, who was inconvenienced by her leg injury, greeted warmly, "Come and eat, the soup is still hot, the village chief just sent someone to deliver it."

Zhou Rong's gaze swept across the empty house, and only Li Lu was sitting by the edge of the kang.

"Where are Pei Qian and Jiang Zhongyi?"

"Mr. Pei and Jiang Zhongyi said they wanted to walk around the courtyard," Li Lu said, as if suddenly realizing something, her pupils widened slightly, "What, didn't you see them when you came in?"

Of course not...

"When did they leave?" Jiang Cheng asked.

"About... 15 minutes ago," Li Lu also realized the seriousness of the problem, the color on her face faded a lot, looking very pale, "They went out before eating."

Chen Xiaomeng turned around and opened the door. Li Lu looked out through the door and found that it was completely dark.

The danger of the night here was self-evident. They hadn't returned for so long, something must have happened.

But according to Li Lu, they went out 15 minutes ago, which meant that they could naturally see that it was getting dark when they went out, so they would never go far.

They must have been held back by something that happened suddenly, or... attracted.

So they didn't make it back to the room before dark.

And what could attract their attention in this vicinity... A building flashed in front of the three, and almost at the same time, a building appeared in their minds.

In the courtyard.

The abandoned, locked, largest building.

"Miss Xiaolongnu," Zhou Rong quickly said to Chen Xiaomeng, "I'll have to trouble you to stay with Miss Li, Mr. Yin and I will go take a look."

This time, Chen Xiaomeng didn't want to go with them, but agreed to stay very simply.

Li Lu nodded apologetically to everyone, understanding that she was holding the team back.

Zhou Rong opened the door, and while walking out, he said, "Mr. Yin, we have to hurry..."

But unexpectedly, Jiang Cheng didn't move at all. He was just staring at Chen Xiaomeng and Li Lu, and then suddenly said, "Why don't I stay, I'm better at taking care of people," he paused, and said very formally, "I'm a doctor."

"Heh," Chen Xiaomeng sneered and retorted without any politeness, "Please respect the medical profession, they won't accept the existence of something like you."

Just as Jiang Cheng was shamelessly pestering Chen Xiaomeng to switch with her, the others suddenly heard a loud noise.

"Bang!"

The sound was very muffled, like something of considerable mass falling, and... not far away.

The three immediately turned around and ran out. Although Li Lu was curious, she also knew that it would not only be useless to follow, but would also hold everyone back.

A few seconds later, there was another scream.

The person screaming had a deep and hoarse voice, and sounded like they were old. The three immediately recognized that the person screaming was Pei Qian.

Everyone was curious about what had happened to make him scream so miserably.

Jiang Cheng returned to the room, picked up the kerosene lamp on the table, and then walked towards the location where the scream came from. Zhou Rong followed closely behind him, and Chen Xiaomeng pondered for a moment, and finally decided to follow.

Their judgment was correct, the two had indeed gone to the abandoned building in the courtyard, and the scream came from there.

The light was faint, barely able to dispel a little bit of darkness. The surrounding night was as thick as ink. They slowly wriggled forward, and the air was filled with an unsettling smell.

Jiang Cheng stopped.

He slowly took a breath, and his eyes changed.

It was indeed an unsettling smell, he actually smelled a trace of blood.

But compared to this, what made him even more uneasy was Pei Qian. His scream only lasted for a short moment, and then, it disappeared suddenly.

The surroundings were as quiet as death.