“Baring teeth, baring teeth~”
“Baring teeth, baring teeth~”
Noon.
No birds in the woods.
There is the sound of cicadas.
The sound of the cicadas is as dense as a fishing net, trapping people in the middle.
A few teenagers in the woods are playfully baring their teeth at each other.
One of the teenagers has climbed up a tree and is sitting on a branch, looking down from above.
Sitting up high, it seems there is wind.
The breeze brushes away the bangs from the teenager's forehead, revealing an indistinct dark red scar that looks like a flower from afar.
The teenager sits on the tree branch, gazing into the distance.
There is a road, the sunlight has steamed the road, no one is on it.
He thinks, if Mother knew he came here with others to ambush and rob on the road, she would probably come rushing over here with an axe.
But he does not actually want to rob passersby, he is just here waiting for the big brother in Dogzi's mouth.
Dogzi said his big brother is the fourth master of the stockade, very powerful.
After they pull this off, big brother will surely become the third master. By then big brother will lead a life of wine and meat, this is their signed pledge.
They do not know what “signed pledge” means, they just feel it makes them sound distinguished.
“Any decent man who joins us must sign a pledge."
They won't believe you if you don't commit crimes and shed blood.
Once you shed blood, there is no way back.
Father said you can't commit crimes, at least not openly, that's the dumbest thing to do.
If you must do it, make sure you have an escape route.
The road ahead is narrow and winding, the way forward and the way back cannot be seen...it's the best place for an ambush and robbery....
The afternoon sunlight shines softly on the face of the girl in the bridal sedan chair.
Greed flashes through the eyes of the young peddler.
Before he can put on a humble demeanor, he can’t help crying out “Aiyou!”.
The peddler's wife is even more impatient. Because in her basket, one on each side, are two young girls.
She took a quick glance just now and saw there was also an old lady in the bridal sedan chair, holding prayer beads, looking just like a living bodhisattva.
Usually it was her who did the abducting, while he just helped carry the load.
She was quite fierce towards him, but did not talk much in front of others.
Usually they would just pass by people like them without interaction. Such distinguished people would not even look their way.
But he had to yell for some reason! Asking for death!
She suddenly noticed that the lid of one of her baskets was not properly closed, exposing a section of sleeve. Sweat dripped down her forehead.
The peddler also noticed the sleeve, but he grabbed his wife’s shaking hand and pinched hard.
Then he smiled obsequiously at the people in the bridal sedan chair, “I’m just a local peddler, carrying nice goods from the county town to sell in villages. Dear ladies, do you see anything you like? I have everything.”
The peddler said with tears rolling down his cheeks. His wife kowtowed beside him.
At the same time she used her body to block the basket.
Aunt Yao looked at the baskets in disgust, “What nice things could a county town have, you say you have everything?”
The old lady also frowned slightly. It was too hot to stop in the middle of the road.
She still needed to go pay respects to Buddha.
Suddenly there was a "clank" sound.
The lid of the peddler’s basket rolled off.
Everyone’s gaze involuntarily looked over.
Inside the tattered black cloth was surprisingly a fair and lovely baby.
The little baby was waving its arms around, looking very cute.
Sweat dripped from the woman's forehead to the ground. She regretted that she didn’t strangle this little thing just now.
Jiang Mianmian didn’t dare cry.
Because she was worried that crying would get the baby strangled, and also that crying would annoy passersby.
She could only try her best to kick off the lid, then put on her cutest look that she knew her family loved.
At home when she did this, big sister would kiss her, big brother would pat her head, Mother would ask if she was hungry, and Father would carry her.
After kicking off the lid, with her excellent vision, she immediately recognized the people inside the bridal sedan chair.
She was a little excited to see familiar faces.
Familiar people must be better than human traffickers, right? Big sister was still inside the other basket. Little girls getting abducted would surely meet a terrible fate.
She now felt the young girl in the sedan chair looked even prettier than last time she saw her.
Not just pink and jade-carved, simply an immortal beauty descended to earth. A fairy sister.
She waved her arms and babbled “Yiya yaya ya!”
Sure enough, the young girl spoke.
“Is this your child? She's quite cute.”
The peddler endured the pain on his body, grabbed the baby and knelt by the roadside with his wife. “We are poor with no one to look after the child. We can only peddle goods and bring her along. If Madam finds my child to your liking, she has been blessed in her previous eight lives. I hereby give my child to Madam. As long as Madam feeds her, it’s better than letting her suffer with us.”
As the peddler spoke, tears kept rolling down his face. His wife kowtowed beside him.
At the same time she used her body to hide the basket.
Jiang Wan was a little startled by this scene. She turned to look at Grandmother.
The old lady frowned, “How can we let a child of unknown origin into our home? Just give them some money and send them away.”
Jiang Wan took out some loose silver and tossed it out, “I was just complimenting your cute child, not trying to snatch her away. A child should of course stay with her parents where she will be happiest. Take this money and buy her something nice to eat. Consider this our fateful meeting.”
With that, the sedan chair curtain dropped down.
The group swaggered away.
The peddler and his wife knelt to watch the sedan chair leave.
The sedan chair continued on.
The old lady muttered “Amitabha”.
Old servant Aunt Yao kept her eyes ahead and did not speak out of turn. She was worldly-wise and could tell with one glance that something was off about those peddlers, and also noticed the coarse cloth in the basket.
Peddlers who wandered the streets and alleys vending goods to make a living, who knew what crimes they had committed to survive?
Although the peddler and his wife were of very different heights, they hid things quite well. But they could not conceal the fierce brutality in their temperament. Such destitute and vicious people attracted endless troubles.
Aunt Yao did not want to cause any trouble or ruin the old madam’s mood, since the madam seldom ventured out.
She also chose not to expose the situation, letting Miss Wan do her good deed.
Sitting in the sedan chair, Jiang Wan thought back to the previous scene, feeling that something was amiss. The child seemed familiar, as she had an excellent memory that could recall texts after reading them just two to three times.
But she just could not remember where she had seen the child before.
In any case, she had given them money to buy a good meal, so that was a good deed accomplished.
Jiang Wan fingered the Buddhist scripture she had copied, looking forward to visiting Qingyuan Temple.
The scenery in the back courtyard of Qingyuan Temple was most splendid.
As the temple was located high up with a panoramic view, it was ideal as a scene to paint.
...
Watching as the sedan chair disappeared into the distance, the peddler and his wife gleefully picked up the scattered silver coins off the ground.
Despite the dirt on them, the wife put some straight into her mouth to bite, thrilled to see teeth imprints on the silver coin. “Boss, these really are silver coins! Just now I wanted to strangle this little thing, didn't expect she'd bring us such fortune.”
The peddler was also drenched in sweat. He put the baby back into the basket and covered it. “Hurry, check my back to see if something stung me. It hurts to death!”
The wife lifted his shirt to reveal two big swollen lumps that were red and inflamed. But after taking off his shirt and even pulling down his pants for inspection, she could not find any insect that caused it.
“We must hurry and leave town. Otherwise when those villagers come looking, it will be trouble.” His wife transferred some of the goods from his shoulder pole basket into her own basket.
“Let’s go.”
Lightened of some load, the peddler clenched his teeth and struggled to stand up on shaking legs. His face was pale as he stumbled onward.
“Hurry up. Once we sell these girls off, we can buy medicine for Kuang Er waiting at home.”
Under the blazing sun, the shabby couple shouldered their heavy loads to eke out a living and raise money for medicine desperately needed by their sick child.
Inside the baskets were three other people's children.
