Chapter 30: Strange
Yiyi was not worried at first, after all, there were just a few trees and a pile of grass ahead, but when she rolled over there, she felt something was wrong. That pile of grass was just lightly covering a steep slope underneath. One wrong move, and she might fall to her death.
Yiyi felt a bit panicked, but she quickly calmed herself.
As she continued to slide down, she spotted a vine and reached out to grab it. But even though she caught the vine, she still slid down some distance before she gradually came to a stop.
Her palms burned with pain, but Yiyi’s eyes were full of determination. She had finally gotten a second chance at life; she couldn’t afford any mistakes. Besides, she wanted to see who exactly was trying to harm her.
Taking a deep breath, Yiyi tightened her grip on the vine and began to climb up step by step. The vine was stained with bright red blood, flowing from the cuts on her palms, but Yiyi didn’t hesitate, her expression firm as she climbed. When she reached the root of the vine, she found a protruding rock on the slope and continued her difficult climb.
Fortunately, the slope wasn’t a real cliff; Yiyi managed to climb back up. But as she neared the top, she heard arguing voices.
"What’s wrong with you? Didn’t we agree to just scare that Mo Yiyi? Why did you push her? Now she’s rolled down, and who knows if it’s going to be a big problem," said the anxious speaker, pacing around nervously, fearing serious trouble.
Another voice responded leisurely.
"Don’t worry, it won’t lead to death. I remember this is just a slope; it won’t kill anyone, so you can relax."
"How can I relax? What if there’s an accident and someone dies? You go explain to the village head then."
The other person snorted coldly and said, "You took most of the money from the village head, so why should I do it? You do it yourself. I just wanted to teach that Mo Yiyi a lesson, so I gave her a light push. Who knew she’d have such bad luck and roll down?"
Upon hearing this, Yiyi’s expression turned icy.
It seemed she hadn’t misheard. There was indeed someone in the grass behind her, likely the first speaker, while the other person was hiding and waiting for a chance to push her down the slope.
"You... you were the one who did it, why should I say it? Anyway, I’m not going."
"Hmph... go if you want, I’m heading back," said the voice.
Upon hearing this, Yiyi quickened her movements, carefully climbing up without making a sound. She quietly peeked over and recognized the two people—it was Uncle Mo Ping and Mo Bajin from the village.
Mo Ping was an old bachelor who lived a lazy life in the village, while Mo Bajin was a young man in his twenties, named so because he weighed eight pounds at birth. He usually gave off an honest and dull vibe, yet he turned out to be capable of such harm.
At this moment, Mo Bajin had already walked away. Mo Ping called out a few times without response, spat angrily, "Usually silent like a dog that doesn’t bark, yet a heart more ruthless than anyone’s. The village head just said to scare her, but he harmed someone."
With a hint of fear and unease, Mo Ping slowly approached the grass and reached out to part it.
But as soon as he parted the grass, he saw Yiyi’s cold expression, and he stumbled backward in shock, falling to the ground. "Ah... are you a ghost?"
Yiyi glanced at Mo Ping and then climbed up. She looked coldly at Mo Ping, who was on the ground, and said, "So it was you who harmed me."
"No... it wasn’t me. Don’t come after me, don’t come after me." Mo Ping waved his hands vigorously, but when he saw the light on the back of his hand, he snapped back to reality.
"Wait, it’s still broad daylight. How could there be ghosts?"
Thinking this, Mo Ping stood up with lingering fear and glared at Yiyi. "Why pretend to be a ghost when everything’s fine?"
Hearing this, Yiyi was a bit speechless.
"I never said I was a ghost."
At this moment, Mo Ping took a deep breath, "It’s a relief you’re okay, thank goodness no one died."
Yiyi looked at Mo Ping up and down, and finally said, "If you don’t have the courage to hurt others, why do something like this?"
"No... it really wasn’t me, I swear it wasn’t me who pushed you just now." Mo Ping swore to the heavens, finally selling out Mo Bajin, "It was that brat Mo Bajin who pushed you. That kid’s heart is too malicious. You’re just a young girl, how could he do something so over the top?"
𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
"You’re not exactly in a position to talk about others, are you?"
Yiyi retorted coldly, finally snorting with a cold smile, "Was it Mo Yougen who sent you to harm me?"
Yiyi spoke with certainty, because from Mo Ping and Mo Bajin’s conversation, she could tell that their "good village head" Mo Yougen from Luwei Village orchestrated this.
What’s more, Yiyi didn’t need to think much to realize it was related to Li Xue’er. It seemed that the incident where she threatened Li Xue’er made her fearful and led her to resort to Mo Yougen.
Moreover, this suggested Li Xue’er’s son might not be Jiang Huirong’s, or else Li Xue’er wouldn’t be so nervous.
However, Mo Ping was shocked at Yiyi’s words, "How do you know?"
"I heard your conversation while I was down there."
This left Mo Ping speechless and he could only lie back with a "no worries" attitude, saying, "Yes, Mo Yougen sent us here. He wanted us to have a good ’talk’ with you, so you don’t speak too much."
As for why Yiyi shouldn’t speak too much, Mo Yougen didn’t say, and Mo Ping had no idea either.
"The village head really didn’t want you to harm me? After all, only dead people are completely safe."
"Gosh... how can a young girl think like that? Killing is illegal."
Hearing this, Yiyi couldn’t help but look at Mo Ping and said, "So you’re saying the village head only wanted you to scare me?"
"Of course, what else could it be? We’re just ordinary folks; how could we commit murder or arson?"
Seeing Mo Ping like that, Yiyi believed his words, but her eyes soon filled with contemplation.
If that’s the case, then Mo Bajin’s actions were quite strange. There was no reason for Mo Yougen to only instruct them to scare her, while Mo Bajin went ahead and did something harmful. After all, she held no grudge against Mo Bajin.