Sweet Rebirth: The Little Healer

Li Shan had an escape route there that he’d scouted out beforehand, which nobody else knew about. By the time Li Jianjun and his group arrived, three minutes had already passed.

Zhao Nuanyue didn’t dare get up, still hiding behind the large rock.

Li Jianjun frowned, and with his hunting rifle slung over his shoulder, he said to Wu Dazhu, ”Heavens, this is Wang Dadan! The other man already ran off. Uncle Dazhu, we need to hurry and chase that murderer! I think he looked like Li Shan!”

When Zhao Nuanyue saw that everyone had arrived, she said, still shaken, ”It was Li Shan! It was Li Shan! That was Li Shan! My Little Red Carp, my little sister! I’m begging all of you, please help me get my sister back! She’s still so little!”

Even though she knew the Little Red Carp wasn’t here, since Zhao Nuanyue was putting on an act, she had to commit to it fully.

After hearing this, Wu Dazhu immediately rallied everyone to chase after Li Shan, leaving two men behind to protect Zhao Nuanyue and watch over Wang Dadan’s body.

Li Guihua came up, panting. She jumped when she saw the bloody hole in Wang Dadan’s head, then sighed and said, ”Some people just can’t stop doing bad things. In the past, he could use his connections to escape punishment. If he had just stayed honest and kept his head down, we probably couldn’t have touched him. But he just wouldn’t settle down. He thought that as long as no one knew about the evil he did, he’d never be punished. Little did he know, retribution always comes. If you do enough evil, you won’t die a peaceful death.”

Zhao Nuanyue used her Divine Sense to give Wang Dadan a sliver of vitality, hoping he could identify Li Shan in front of Li Guihua and the two villagers.

’This way, if they find Li Shan, they can convict him on the spot. And if they don’t find him, he’ll still lose everything for being a murderer, forced to live as a fugitive, a wanted man.’

”Director Li, look! Wang Dadan’s eyes are still moving!” Zhao Nuanyue cried out, startled. She stopped crying and hid behind Li Guihua. ”Look! Everyone, look!”

Li Guihua, being older and also quite bold, stepped forward to look at Wang Dadan. Not only were his eyes moving, but his mouth was open, as if he wanted to say something.

”Wang Dadan, you’ve been hit in the head. You’re probably not going to make it. Is there anything you want to say?” Li Guihua asked. She felt no sympathy for Wang Dadan. ’After all the evil he’d done, this kind of retribution just proved that justice was being served!’

The vitality coursing through Wang Dadan was merely a gift from Zhao Nuanyue, so naturally, he uttered the words she willed him to say: ”It was Li Shan... Li Shan killed me!”

After Wang Dadan spoke these words, all the vitality left his body. His eyes were wide open; he could not rest in peace.

It wasn’t just Zhao Nuanyue and Li Guihua who heard this; the two villagers beside them heard it too. Coupled with Li Jianjun’s earlier comment that the man looked like Li Shan, it was now certain that the person who had fled was Li Shan.

One of the villagers, finding Wang Dadan’s wide-eyed stare quite frightening, stepped forward to close his eyes and said, ”That Li Shan is truly vicious. Not only did he try to kill Mr. Zhao, but he also killed Wang Dadan to silence him!”

”Yeah, that kid was always the quiet type, but full of nasty tricks. Now with a couple years of schooling, he’s just gotten worse. He’s a disgrace to the title of an honored youth,” the other villager said. ”But then again, it’s to be expected. With parents like Liu Lanhua and Li Siming, who are both full of dirty tricks, what kind of good son could they possibly raise?”

After half an hour, Li Jianjun and the others still hadn’t returned.

So the two villagers made a makeshift stretcher and carried Wang Dadan’s body down the mountain.

Zhao Nuanyue and Li Guihua searched many places nearby but couldn’t find the Little Red Carp. As dusk approached, there was still no sign of her.

”What should I do?” Zhao Nuanyue cried as she walked. ”Little Red Carp, where are you? If you can hear your sister’s voice, answer me!”

Seeing that the sun was about to set, and it would become dangerous if they didn’t go down the mountain, Li Guihua grabbed Zhao Nuanyue’s hand and said, ”Nuanyue, I know you adore the Little Red Carp, but it’s getting dark. We don’t have any torches, and it’s dangerous on the mountain. Besides, we haven’t eaten all day. Let’s get something to eat, and then we’ll come back to look for her! I’ll have everyone from the village come and help. With more people, there might be a better chance.”

Hearing Li Guihua’s words, Zhao Nuanyue shook her head and said, ”Director Li, you go back. I’ll search a little longer!”

”Nuanyue, why are you being so stubborn! You’re barely a hundred pounds; you wouldn’t even be a mouthful for a pack of wolves. And you don’t have a torch. One wrong step and you could fall into a ravine. Then you can forget about finding the Little Red Carp—you’ll lose your own life too,” Li Guihua scolded. ”Let’s go! Hurry up and come down with me!”

Just like that, Zhao Nuanyue was dragged down the mountain by Li Guihua.

The moment they entered the village, they heard Widow Qian calling out for her son, ”Xiao Hai... Xiao Hai... Has anyone seen my Xiao Hai?”

A child said, ”We were playing with Xiao Hai and the Little Red Carp this morning, but Xiao Hai said we were ugly and wouldn’t play with us. He only played with the Little Red Carp.”

Hearing this, Widow Qian, nearly mad with worry, rushed straight to the Dragon King Temple, just in time to run into Li Guihua escorting Zhao Nuanyue home.

”Mr. Zhao, have... have you seen Xiao Hai?” Widow Qian had wanted to question Zhao Nuanyue directly, but then she remembered that they had no grudges against each other. ’Zhao Nuanyue would have no reason to harm her son!’

Zhao Nuanyue shook her head and said in a hoarse voice, ”Sister-in-law Qian, I haven’t seen Xiao Hai. My Little Red Carp is missing too. I’ve been looking for her all afternoon, but I haven’t found her...”

Hearing this, Widow Qian panicked and said hurriedly, ”My Xiao Hai is missing too! I just heard from the village children that Xiao Hai was playing with the Little Red Carp this morning, so I came to ask. I didn’t expect your Little Red Carp to be missing too. Where do you think those two children could have gone?”

Widow Qian was on the verge of tears, and seeing Zhao Nuanyue’s red, swollen eyes made her even more worried.

”Nuanyue, go wash your face and get something to eat. I’ll gather some people, and we’ll go up the mountain to find the two children.” Hearing that Zhao Xiaohai was also missing made Li Guihua even more anxious.

It had been many years since a child had gone missing in Nianqiao Village.

To think that when it finally happened, two children disappeared at once.

How could Widow Qian possibly eat at a time like this? She just followed closely by Li Guihua’s side.

Miao Cunzheng and Li Jianjun hadn’t returned yet, so it was up to Li Guihua to rally the villagers. They lit torches and split into several groups to search for the Little Red Carp and Zhao Xiaohai on the mountain.

Yang Guanghui, Li Qiong, and He Qiang also came out to join the search. They all hoped to find the Little Red Carp quickly.

Around midnight, Yang Qinghu arrived at Nianqiao Village in an ox-cart with several of his men, only to see the mountainside dotted with countless points of light like stars, which left him utterly surprised.