Chapter 9: Luo Xiuying

  As the hawk flew away, Wang Long cautiously ran back to the middle of the road, squatted beside the thin monkey, and checked his breathing by putting his hand under his nose. He also felt for a pulse, and was about to examine the wound on his back when a series of dog barks and chaotic footsteps came from the direction of Hanshui Village. Wang Long's heart suddenly relaxed, and he shouted loudly: "Come quickly! We're over here!"

  A big yellow dog came running quickly, circled around the wolf's body several times, barking loudly, and immediately afterwards, a woman in her thirties wearing a purple shirt rushed over with big strides.

  That woman was seven feet tall, with a pair of slanted eyebrows that flew into her temples, a pair of single phoenix eyes that were full of heroic spirit and intimidated people. Her whole head of black hair was tied back by a gold hoop, and then coiled into a black bun. On her shoulders, she carried a longbow painted with gold lacquer, and at her waist hung a quiver of long arrows. The whole person looked majestic and elegant, if not for the slightly dark skin tone, she would certainly be a stunning beauty.

  The woman stopped in her tracks, took a look at the scene before her, furrowed her brow and asked Wang Long: "What about these two children? Where are the other kids? How many wolves were there?"

  Wang Long recognized the woman as Lu Xiuying, the mother of Da Niu and Shui Sheng. He hastily stood up and pointed towards the direction of Hanquan Village's dam, saying: "Aunt Xiuying, there are four ferocious wolves over there, and Da Niu and Shui Sheng are also on that side!" Lowering his head, he glanced at Shou Hou and Er Zhu, then said: "Those two just fainted. Otherwise, I can take you there!"

  The woman smiled slightly and patted Wang Long's shoulder, saying: "Good boy, just watch over the two of them, stay here and don't move. When someone comes later, they will naturally help you wake them up."

  She listened carefully to the sound of the stream, then said to the big yellow dog: "Big Yellow, lead the way!" The big yellow dog wagged its tail and shot forward like an arrow, with the woman following closely behind.

  By the riverbank under an old willow tree, two little wolves that were originally lively and jumping around had one lying on the ground with four legs broken, unable to get up again. The leading female wolf was lying in a pool of blood, breathing heavily but making no sound, and naturally would not be able to call out to her pack.

  Only one of the four limbs was left intact, and the evil wolf surrounded an old willow tree, howling and turning around. On the willow tree, Shui Sheng leaned against the trunk, sitting on a thick branch, with a lazy smile on his face, not only without any fear, but also dangling his bare feet down, shaking them constantly, tempting the evil wolf to pounce up again and again.

  Pointing at the wolf that was jumping around, she laughed and said: "If it weren't for the mulberry stick breaking, I would have broken all four of your legs! Get out of here! Hmm, not listening, huh? Do you want to leave or not? You're really something, daring to howl like that! Hmph, just wait till my mom comes, see how she'll deal with you!"

  Before the words had fallen, the sound of a bowstring being pulled came from the direction of the small road. With the sound, a four-foot-long sharp arrow flew over, and in the blink of an eye, it arrived at the back of the evil wolf. Blood splattered everywhere! Along with a mournful howl, the sharp arrow pierced through the wolf's neck from behind, and protruded from its cheek. The remaining force propelled the wolf's body to pounce forward more than ten feet before heavily falling to the ground.

  The ferocious wolf lay on the ground, its limbs convulsing, and a stream of scarlet blood flowed from its mouth, seemingly on the verge of death.

  With a splash, she grabbed a willow branch as thick as an egg and jumped down from the tree, running three steps to the wolf's side, picking up a stone and smashing it heavily on the wolf's head, saying: "What are you looking at? You're dead and still not convinced? I told you earlier not to mess with my mother, but you didn't listen!"

  The big yellow dog wagged its tail and ran to the water's edge, staring with its dog eyes and tilting its head, as if to verify whether the evil wolf was dead or not. The evil wolf moved one of its front legs, and the big yellow dog pounced on it fiercely, biting several times. Seeing that the evil wolf had stopped moving, it stopped pouncing and looked up at the purple-robed woman who appeared behind the water's edge, barking twice.

  The woman in purple gazed at the wolf corpses by the brook and finally cast her eyes on a dozen or so children riding on willows.

  Shui Sheng smiled and said, "Mother, don't look anymore. Those three evil wolves are already dead. Mother's archery skills are really good, one arrow can kill this wolf. If Father were here, he might need to shoot two arrows!"

  The woman in purple heard that several other big bad wolves were dead, and she let out a sigh of relief. She saw the wound on Shuǐshēng's back and felt a pang of heartache. She reached out and rapped him on the head, saying: "You little scamp! Your father's not home, so you dare to be so reckless? Who told you to take Dà Niú and Xiǎo Juān to play by the stream? What if you'd been hurt by the big bad wolves?"

  Shuǐ Shēng rubbed his forehead and said dejectedly, "Mother, I listened to you the most. I didn't dare run to the creek, but later heard there were wolves here, so I ran over fearing Brother would get hurt."

  "Oh! So I should praise you?" The purple-robed woman's face seemed to smile yet not smile.

  Shuǐ Shēng lè zuǐ yī xiào, shuō dào: "Nà dào bù yòng, shǎo fá wǒ yī tiān liàn gōng jiù xíng!" Tōu kàn le yī yǎn mǔ qīn liǎn sè, sì hū bìng bù shēng qì, pāi le pāi xiǎo xiōng tuán, yòu shuō dào: "Niáng zhème lì hài, tiān tiān jiào wǒmen xué gōng fū, nǐ ér zǐ shén me rén ya, jǐ zhī è láng yòu suàn shén me? Gēn běn jiù shāng bù dào wǒmen liǎng gè!"

  The woman in the purple shirt had a stern expression, grabbed Zisheng's left ear and pulled him up, saying: "Is that so? So my son is so capable, can go up the mountain to kill wolves? Next time your father goes out, are you going to bring both of you brothers along?"

  "Mother, mother, I was wrong! I shouldn't have boasted and talked big. Please don't tell father about it, I won't dare to do it again!"

  "Hum, don't dare? I see you dare to do anything. I ask you, what did those two little swallows do to offend you that you caught them?"

  "That old sparrow hawk dares to eat all the little chickens in Liu's family, can't I catch this young sparrow hawk and give it to Liu?"

  "Little rabbit, your wings are hard now, aren't they? Still dare to talk back? I don't believe you caught the little weasel just to give it to your grandma Liu. Do you know how much danger this will bring to the children in the village? What if the old weasel is guarding the village entrance and pecks at people when it sees them, what then?"

  "Mother, mother, I was wrong. Just let me go, or if you accidentally tear off my ear, we'll have to ask a doctor for help, how uneconomical is that? Why not do it this way: mother, first let me go, and then I'll return the two little owlets, isn't that okay?" Shui Sheng bared his teeth and made a painful expression.

  Just as the big cow and several other little boys ran over, the purple-shirted woman finally let go of Shui Sheng's ear, kicked him in the butt, and said: "It was you who said it, hurry up and do it now. If you don't get it done by tonight, if anything happens, I'll break your legs!"

  Shui Sheng rubbed his swollen ear and reluctantly replied, "Yes!" He thought about the little weasel he had caught with great difficulty and was now going to return. Feeling a pang of reluctance, he also thought about the ferocious appearance of the two old weasels and secretly cursed his fate. In his mind, he pondered how to lure away the old weasels before climbing up the big poplar tree again.

  A dozen or so villagers, holding pitchforks, came running over one after another. When they saw that five children from the two villages had been brutally killed by a ferocious wolf, each and every one of them felt a pang in their hearts, discussing it heatedly. Fortunately, among the five dead children, only the fat child was from Hanshui Village, and his parents hadn't come forward, so the villagers didn't feel too much pain.

  Da Niu's mother Luo Qiu Ying furrowed her brow.

  The surviving children, after the disaster, saw their relatives arrive and rushed into their arms. Some were crying loudly, some excitedly chattered non-stop to their families, while many more remained silent, still immersed in fear.

  Wang Zhuang is three or four miles away from here, four people died and three were injured. Luo Qiuying had to let eight villagers take Wang Zhuang's children back to the village first. She then led a few other villagers, carrying the dead fat child on their backs, and lifting the five wolf corpses, returning to Hanshui Village.

  Along the way, everyone was discussing and couldn't understand why these five evil wolves would run to this place so close to the village to commit a crime.

  Located in the depths of the mountains, villagers often encounter ferocious wolves in the dense forests and ravines. At night, these wolves also occasionally sneak into the village, biting and injuring cattle, sheep, chickens, and dogs. However, it's rare to see them appear in broad daylight so close to the village.

  Due to the ravages of these five ferocious wolves, two villages fell into brief grief and chaos.

  On the second day, in a earth cave at the west end of Hanshui Village, a fierce quarrel between a man and a woman was heard.

  A shrill woman's voice cried out: "If only you were honest, if only you were a good person, if only you would think of others! If it weren't for that scoundrel Big Cow leading our Dumbarton to play by the creek, how could such a thing have happened? Dumbarton, my son, your fate is so bitter!"

  "Alright, stop crying. Are you being reasonable? All the kids are about the same age, and our child is even a year older than Big Cow's. How can you say that they took you out to play? Besides, didn't Big Cow jump down from the tree to save someone?"

  "Save people? Are you kidding me? He saved someone else, not our own son. Now the whole village is laughing at us because only our son died. Why are you yelling at me instead of going to find Luo Xiuying and settling the score with her? If she had taken care of her son properly, if Big Cow and Shuisheng hadn't been egging him on, would our son have dared to go play by the creek?"

  "What nonsense are you talking about? So many kids were playing in the creek, it's not just our own Chubby alone. If anyone is to blame, it's because our kid was unlucky, what does it have to do with Big Cow and Shui Sheng? A person should have a conscience, after all, Golden Peng did save my life back then!"

  "That's what he should have done to save you, you followed him on the hunt, who else would save you? You want a clear conscience, right? If the Yeon family wants a clear conscience, they should compensate us with a son!"

  "You stinky old woman, the more you talk, the more you're off track! The one who bit your son to death was a vicious wolf, not Big Cow and Shui Sheng. What are you doing looking for them? Besides, over all these years, which family in the village hasn't received kindness from Old Luo Shu and Xiuying couple? Who would help you speak up?"

  This chapter is over, your support is my greatest motivation!