To facilitate irrigation of the farmland, the village had large wells in almost every direction.
These so-called wells were nothing more than deep trenches dug into certain open spaces, about a dozen meters deep, used to store rainwater.
These wells lacked shallow edges; one careless step and it could lead to falling into an abyss.
The most critical issue was that these wells had no protective measures around them. When unaware children approached, these wells would turn into vast pits ready to devour someone.
Wu Chun slowly lowered himself, clutching his head.
“Wu Chun? Are you okay?”
As he spoke, Xu Shi Yao crouched down beside Wu Chun, allowing him to lean against his body.
“I think the first thing I should have done wasn’t build a road. I should have addressed these well issues first,” Wu Chun said with a quivering voice.
Wu Chun’s eyes had begun to glisten.
Life is just like that—fragile to the point where sometimes you don’t even have time to react, and it’s already quietly gone.
However, some departures could have been avoided.
This certainly wasn’t the first time such a thing had happened in Shili Village. Perhaps every year, these wells would witness incidents where people were taken, and it’s only when a child goes missing that everyone instinctively turns in the same direction.
In addition to the four larger wells positioned in the village’s four directions, there were many wells of varying sizes within the village.
Unlike those four wells, the internal wells of the village were all made of bricks and tiles. A few of them still served as a source of water for the villagers, while others seemed to have been abandoned. By the time summer arrived, the wellheads of these wells would be surrounded by overgrown weeds. From the outside, you couldn’t tell at all; underneath the tangle of plants, there would be a water well.
And these wells, they don’t have covers, and they’re distributed within the village itself, posing even greater safety hazards compared to those four wells.
Over the years, the number of people consumed by these wells, from the elderly to the young children, might be too numerous to count.
“These man-eating wells need to be rectified,” Wu Chun muttered.
“Shall we go up and discuss it?” asked Xu Shi Yao.
It wasn’t a good idea for the two of them to just keep squatting there. There were still people gathered not far away, and if someone passed by and saw Wu Chun squatting there alone in the middle of the night, it could lead to misunderstandings.
Wu Chun nodded. Before he could even get up, he suddenly felt himself being lifted off the ground from around his waist.
Wu Chun was briefly taken aback, then his hands instinctively wrapped around Xu Shi Yao, and he leaned his forehead against Xu Shi Yao’s chest, slowly closing his eyes.
Matters related to life often easily exhaust people, a kind of exhaustion born from a sense of powerlessness.
The journey from the foot of the mountain to the top only took a few minutes, and during that time, Wu Chun thought about a few things.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Ycmf rfjafv lc atf agff, Qe Jtec mbcalcefv ab ifjc jujlcra We Vtl Tjb’r fwygjmf.
We Vtl Tjb’r tjcvr ilutais wjrrjufv yfakffc tlr afwqifr.
“Lbk vb sbe lcafcv ab tjcvif atlr?” We Vtl Tjb jrxfv lc j rboa nblmf.
“Mliilcu eq atfrf kfiir lrc’a qbrrlyif; atf nliijuf gfilfr bc atfw obg lgglujalbc,” Qe Jtec rlutfv ribkis, “Ktf lcafgcji kfiir jgf wjcjufjyif. Mbg atbrf jyjcvbcfv bcfr atja jgfc’a erfv obg vglcxlcu kjafg, kf mjc fjrlis mbnfg atfw klat j mbeqif bo rabcf rijyr. Dea ktfc la mbwfr ab atf obeg beafg bcfr, atf yfra rbiealbc kbeiv yf ab mbcragema qgbafmalnf ofcmfr.”
“Does it require funding?” Xu Shi Yao asked softly.
“You know about this now too?” Wu Chun asked with a light chuckle.
He rarely brought up the concept of “wealth” among humans when talking to Xu Shi Yao. Perhaps Xu Shi Yao had encountered it in the past few years, but money was important to people; however, it seemed somewhat useless to Xu Shi Yao.
Xu Shi Yao had no need for it, and he generally didn’t pay attention to things that had no value to him.
“You frequently use that term when talking to the village chief, so I remembered it. Every time you mention wanting to do something, money is the first thing you bring up.”
“Things are difficult without money,” Xu Shi Yao replied.
Wu Chun let out another heavy sigh.
“The internal wells in the village are manageable; I can afford the stone slabs. But those outside the village, constructing protective fences around them is not a small project. I can’t handle it on my own.”
Both manpower and resources were beyond what Wu Chun could currently afford.
“Don’t worry, Wu Chun.”
Xu Shi Yao softly comforts, his lips close to Wu Chun’s ear as he gently speaks, his tone a bit tender, “Let’s go find the village head tomorrow and brainstorm with more people. Different perspectives always bring different ideas. Some things aren’t meant to be faced alone.”
“What about you?” Wu Chun asks with a smile, “Haven’t you silently endured it for five years?”
Thinking about this, Wu Chun feels a bit uneasy.
“It’s different,” Xu Shi Yao says with a soft chuckle.
“How is it different?”
“I didn’t have a choice back then. After you appeared and certain things happened, I rarely handled things on my own anymore. It was always with you.”
“Now you understand the benefits of having someone’s help,” Wu Chun says with a smile. “At the beginning, you wouldn’t say anything, and I had to figure out on my own by asking around to know what you wanted to do.”
“That’s right, so now it’s the same for you.”
Wu Chun was momentarily stunned, listening as Xu Shi Yao continued speaking near his ear, “Perhaps there are many people who want to help you. It’s just that if you don’t speak up, how would others know? Actually, you can expand the circle of communication beyond just the village head. After all, your original intention was to improve the lives of the people here. You need to understand what they need in the long term and the short term. Including this matter, I think you should discuss it with the villagers. They will definitely support you. No one wouldn’t be moved by the loss of a life.”
Wu Chun looked at Xu Shi Yao in shock. Not too long ago, Xu Shi Yao had little understanding of worldly matters, yet in such a short span of time, he was able to articulate his insights and opinions on certain matters, even expressing them eloquently.
Wu Chun recalled the village head’s words: Xu Shi Yao was the first person he valued.
In the past, Wu Chun could understand the village head’s statement. After all, the ability to stubbornly leave one’s soul here to silently guard even after death indicated that Xu Shi Yao was not an ordinary person. He needed strong mental fortitude to endure amidst numerous difficulties and obstacles.
But now, Wu Chun understood even more clearly that determination alone isn’t enough to accomplish something.
Xu Shi Yao was able to achieve certain things not only because of his extraordinary perseverance, but also due to the depth of his approach to matters and his thoughtful consideration.
Wu Chun believed that his four years of learning had matured him considerably. He was no longer as impulsive as he was four years ago, and he had learned to be patient in certain matters. However, compared to Xu Shi Yao, he felt there was still something lacking in his considerations.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Xu Shi Yao asked with a smile, noticing Wu Chun’s unblinking gaze fixed on him.
“It’s nothing, just…” Wu Chun paused, smiling, and suddenly stood up. He leaned over and quickly placed a kiss on the side of Xu Shi Yao’s face. “How much longer do I need to journey before I’m qualified to stand by your side?”
“You shouldn’t put it that way, but Wu Chun, you need to understand that the path you take shouldn’t exceed the practical situation of this village, okay?”
“I understand,” Wu Chun said with a smile. “I’ll do as you say starting tomorrow.”
After speaking, Wu Chun once again nestled into Xu Shi Yao’s embrace.
“Some long-term dreams may seem elusive, but you can start by achieving something that seems more realistic at the moment. After all, big dreams are made up of a series of small dreams. Some things can’t be accomplished overnight, but for every problem, there’s a corresponding solution. So, Wu Chun, don’t be impatient. We’ll take it step by step.”
“Mhmm, I understand,” Wu Chun replied softly.
In this moment, his mood had lightened considerably. “I’ll rest for a while, and then I’ll head back later.”
As Wu Chun said this, perhaps it was the comfort of Xu Shi Yao’s embrace, he ended up falling asleep.
He slept straight through until dawn.
When Wu Chun woke up and found himself lying in his grandfather’s bed, for a moment he thought he was still dreaming.
“How did I get back last night? I can’t remember.”
Wu Chun sat on the bed, lost in thought, until a knock on the door from his grandfather gradually brought his awareness back.
“Chun Chun, have you been feeling very tired these past few days?”
“Not too much, Grandfather. It’s manageable,” Wu Chun said with a smile.
“In the future, if you find yourself too tired, just come back home. The tasks can wait, and it’s not a big deal if you finish them the next day. But you mustn’t fall asleep outside again, it’s very dangerous.”
“Last night, Grandfather, you…”
Wu Chun was momentarily at a loss for words. Judging from his grandfather’s expression, did he mean that his grandfather carried him back from Shili Mountain last night?
If that was truly the case, then he must have been sleeping like the dead.
Wu Chun inwardly mocked himself. His grandfather’s health wasn’t what it used to be four years ago. Even moving some things around required a lot of effort now. In such a situation, the fact that he hadn’t woken up was quite remarkable.
Just as Wu Chun was blaming himself inwardly, his grandfather said another sentence, “No, it wasn’t me. It was that child who brought you back.”
“What!”
Without exaggeration, Wu Chun was on the verge of shouting.
Why did his grandfather catch Xu Shi Yao bringing him back?
And why was his grandfather so composed about it?
“Don’t be so agitated, Chun Chun. Your grandfather noticed you hadn’t returned and got a little worried, so he went outside to take a look. The moon was bright last night, and your grandfather didn’t have a flashlight. When he stepped out, he saw you being held in someone’s arms, but he couldn’t see that person. He thought that maybe that child brought you back.”
“Did you talk to him, Grandfather?” Wu Chun asked urgently.
“Your grandfather couldn’t communicate with him. I could only turn off all the lights in the house quickly and then open the door to let him in. He put you on the bed, and I don’t know if he left or not. I didn’t dare turn on the lights, fearing it might startle him.”
His grandfather let out a slow sigh as he spoke, “I also don’t know at what time that child left last night.”
“Did you keep the lights off all night, Grandfather?” Wu Chun asked.
“I didn’t turn them on. The door wasn’t closed either. I wasn’t sure if that child was still there, so I didn’t dare turn on the lights. I even burned some paper money for the door god, asking him not to harm that child.”
TLN: The door god is believed to be a guardian spirit that watches over the entrance of homes and protects the household from harm.
Hearing this, Wu Chun chuckled softly.
“What’s wrong, Chun Chun?”
“Nothing,” Wu Chun said with a smile, standing up and walking towards the door. As he walked, he continued, “You can rest assured, Grandfather. With him around, no matter how late I stay outside, it won’t be dangerous.”
A soybean:
I’ve been a bit busy with the start of the school year, so I haven’t had a chance to reply to everyone’s comments yet! But I have been reading them!! Love you all.
Thank you for the chapter❤
Oh my lovelies 😭💖💖 Gosh I love these two so much!!