ATBWSTBP Chapter 21
by Volare“What’s your name?”
While asking, Jin Mo gestured to Xu Jiahao, who was approaching from behind the little girl, to stop.
“My name is Xiaoyun!”
“Do you live in Zhaojiaping?”
“Yes, yes, yes! My house is the fifth one at the entrance of the village!” Xiaoyun said, slightly parting the weeds, “Look, it’s the one with the white chimney!”
Jin Mo looked in the direction she pointed.
“Besides you, who else is in your family?”
“My mom, my younger brother, and my grandma!” Xiaoyun sat down, holding the strap of the bamboo basket, and said.
“What about your dad?” Jin Mo noticed a hint of sadness in Xiaoyun’s expression, and he shouldn’t have asked.
“My dad passed away. One year, he went to the river to catch fish, fell in, and drowned! Look, it’s that river over there!”
Xiaoyun pointed to the Lou River, “I miss my dad a lot. Every time I cut grass, I sit in the grass by the river for a while and talk to my dad!”
Jin Mo reached out and rubbed Xiaoyun’s somewhat dry hair.
“How old are you this year?”
“Twelve years old!”
“What grade are you in?”
Xiaoyun was silent.
“You don’t go to school?” Jin Mo was a little surprised.
“My mom isn’t healthy, and my brother has intellectual disabilities. We rely on my grandma alone, and she can’t support everyone, so…”
Jin Mo looked at Xiaoyun’s thin, dark face, and his heart felt a little heavy.
He was also an abandoned child, a child who was abandoned at birth. If it weren’t for his brother, he didn’t know what he would be like now!
Maybe, not even as good as Xiaoyun in front of him!
Maybe, he would have died young from some illness!
Or maybe, he would have entered society early and become a street thug!
Everything he had was given to him by Jin Baiyan! Without Jin Baiyan, where would the current Jin Mo be!
Jin Mo lowered his head and blinked hard, holding back his tears.
“Xiaoyun, tell me what you saw that day! Okay?”
Xiaoyun nodded, “Okay!”
“Good!”
“That day was Friday, around four or five in the afternoon. As usual, I took advantage of the daylight to prepare to cut some grass to feed the pigs!”
“Walking to the river, I remembered my mom lying in bed and crying in pain, and I felt sad!”
“So I sat in the grass by the river, wanting to talk to my dad!”
“Then I heard someone shouting loudly on the road not far away!”
“I parted the weeds and looked, and I recognized that person as a bad guy from our village, called Liu Cai, who always bullies people and even comes to our house to freeload!”
“He stopped a big brother!”
“That big brother was very tall and good-looking, but he looked a little sad, with no expression on his face!”
Hearing Xiaoyun say this, Jin Mo took out Jin Baiyan’s photo from his chest pocket, “Xiaoyun, take a look, is this the big brother!”
Xiaoyun took the photo and looked at it carefully.
“Yes, yes, yes, it’s this big brother!”
“And then?”
“That bad guy stopped the big brother and told him to give him the bag in his hand, and also told the big brother to give him the money in his pocket!”
“The big brother didn’t want to pay attention to him and wanted to walk past the bad guy!”
“The bad guy grabbed the big brother’s clothes and wouldn’t let him go!”
“The big brother shook off the bad guy’s hand and continued to walk forward!”
“The bad guy got anxious, grabbed the big brother, and wanted to punch him!”
“The big brother blocked it with his hand, and the chain on his hand was broken!”
Jin Mo’s heart jumped. His brother had a chain on his hand, which he bought for him. It was an obsidian bracelet, not expensive, but his brother treasured it very much.
“When the big brother saw the bracelet was broken, he was stunned, and he was punched by the bad guy, and his forehead was bleeding!”
Jin Mo’s hand clenched tightly, and a sharp pain shot through his heart.
“Then, the big brother became a different person, and he beat the bad guy badly. The bad guy was beaten into the grass, and his face was covered in blood!”
“The big brother kept squatting on the ground looking for something, looking for a long time, until it was dark, and he still hadn’t found everything!”
“He kept muttering, there are still three beads missing, still three beads missing, how can I not find them?”
“Until his phone rang, and someone urged him to leave, he left reluctantly and got on a boat!”
Jin Mo trembled, his tone becoming agitated.
“Xiaoyun, did you see what the boat looked like? What was written on it?”
Xiaoyun frowned and thought hard.
“Well, it was dark, and I didn’t see clearly. I only remember that there was a ‘5’ on the canvas hanging on the boat. Oh, right, when the boat passed in front of me, I also saw the word ‘bean’ on the side of the cargo!”
After Xiaoyun finished speaking, she thought hard, then shook her head.
“I really didn’t see anything else!”
Jin Mo rubbed her hair, “Okay, I understand! Thank you, Xiaoyun!”
“Big brother, you will find your brother!”
Jin Mo smiled, “Yes, I will find my brother!”
Xiaoyun smiled shyly.
“Xiaoyun, do you know where that bad guy lives?”
Xiaoyun parted the weeds and pointed to the middle of the village.
“That bad guy lives in that broken house in the middle of the village!”
“Is he the only one in his family?”
“No, he also has a grandma, who is paralyzed in bed. He’s not really that bad. He’s very good to his grandma. Every time he grabs something to eat, he will give it to his grandma first!”
“Okay, I understand. You go back first. Later, I will find someone to secretly send the reward money to your house without letting others know!”
Xiaoyun was a little embarrassed, blushing, and said softly, “I’m not doing it for the reward money!”
Jin Mo smiled, “I know, big brother just wants to help Xiaoyun!”
When Xiaoyun heard this, she raised her head and looked at Jin Mo with tears in her eyes.
“Big brother, can you find someone to see a doctor for my mom! My mom is in so much pain every day that she moans in bed!”
Jin Mo picked up Xiaoyun’s bamboo basket and put it on her back for her.
“Okay!”
“Really?”
“Really! Tomorrow, I will arrange for someone to take your mom to the hospital for a check-up!”
“Thank you, big brother!”
“Go home! After you go back, tell your mom and grandma first!”
“Okay!”
Xiaoyun carried the bamboo basket and ran towards her home, jumping and skipping.
Jin Mo looked at the sky and then waved to Xu Jiahao.
“How is it?” Xu Jiahao ran over and asked.
“I’ll tell you later. Go and find Brother Feiwu and the others. I want to go to that piece of land to find something!” Jin Mo said, turning and running towards the place where he had previously discovered that the grass had been pressed down.
“Which piece of land?” Xu Jiahao shouted at Jin Mo’s back, but received no answer.
The sky was beginning to darken, and Jin Mo lay on the grass, searching bit by bit.
“Little Mo, what are you looking for?” Xiao Feiwu ran over with Xiao Ping.
“The obsidian bracelet on my brother’s hand broke, and three beads fell off near here. I must find them!”
“How do you know?” Xiao Feiwu was extremely surprised, his eyes widened!
“I’ll tell you when we get back to the inn tonight. Now, while there’s still some light, let’s see if we can find them all!”
“Right, it’s obsidian, be careful not to step on it into the soil!”
“Okay!”
The four young men squatted in the grass, carefully parting it, searching for the three obsidian beads that Jin Baiyan had dropped.
An hour later, two beads were found, but one was still missing.
“I can’t see clearly anymore, let’s continue tomorrow!” Xiao Feiwu stood up, rubbing his sore waist, and said.
Jin Mo also stood up, “Okay, let’s continue tomorrow!”
He carefully wrapped the two beads he had found and put them in his pocket. He believed that one day, the dropped beads would reunite with the main force!