Chapter 123 Should I Say It?

Chapter 123 Should I Say It?

Having said everything he needed to say, Atai took Xiaomei to see his cousin, Lü Guang, and asked his family to help look after their newly acquired house.

Lu Guang's family lived diagonally opposite Atai's house. Atai came to their door carrying half a bag of bean flour. Lu Guang thought that his black-hearted uncle had caused some trouble again, but to his surprise, Atai came to ask him to help look after the house.

"Uncle, Xiaomei and I will be going to Mingfu Village with Brother Yuan tomorrow. Could you please keep an eye on the house and land left by my parents?"

Lu Guang and his family looked completely astonished. Lu Guang asked him, "You mean, you and your sister are going to live in Mingfu Village permanently from now on?"

Atai nodded. "Xiaomei and I are not young anymore. Now that we are finally free, we need to make some long-term plans for the future."

Hearing this, Lü Guang's first reaction was worry and skepticism. "It's good that you think this way, but you don't need to move out of the village right away, do you? You've already severed ties with your uncle's family. Even if they wanted to do something to you and Xiaomei, I and the rest of the clan..."

“Uncle, it’s not that I’m afraid of that family. I just want to learn some skills from Brother Yuan.” Atai explained patiently, “My parents went into the mountains to hunt and didn’t come back. Xiaomei and I were bullied and bullied by that family. In the end, it’s all because we’re not capable enough.”

He raised his head and looked intently into the eyes of Lü Guang, who was a head taller than him. "I don't want to die in the mountains one day, leaving Xiaomei all alone. I also don't want to be bullied by others in the future because I'm not capable enough."

Lu Guang hesitated, wanting to say something but stopping himself. He wanted to say, "What hunter doesn't die? Not to mention your parents died deep in the mountains. That's all too common in families like ours."

But looking at the child's thin, dark face, etched with determination and resolve, Lü Guang ultimately couldn't bring himself to say those words. He paced back and forth in his main room, his brow furrowed, his expression deeply conflicted.

Unlike Lü Guang, his son, a robust young man in his early twenties, patted Atai on the shoulder and said, "Go if you want. It's always good to have more skills while you're young."

Lu Guang glared at him, "You brat!"

His son shrank back and said, "Dad, I know what you're worried about, but hasn't Atai already severed ties with his uncle's family?"

Lu Guang paused, then sighed and glared at his son, "You think severing ties will solve everything?"

If Atai and Xiaomei lived in that courtyard, their parents might have prevented that family from causing trouble. But if Atai and Xiaomei went to Mingfu Village, his uncle's family would definitely continue to cause trouble after they left.

Atai was clearly aware of this as well. He said, "I will explain it to the clan chief and come back from time to time to visit and do some farm work. If they still don't settle down, I will go to my parents' graves to complain."

Of course, the so-called "complaint" was just for show; the ones who could actually take action against his uncle's family were the living people themselves.

He didn't know what happened to others, but he and Xiaomei prayed countless times and still couldn't summon their parents' ghosts back to protect them.

“Alright then.” Lu Guang patted his shoulder. “While it’s still light, your uncle will accompany you to the clan chief’s house.”

Atai was overjoyed. "Wait for me a moment, I'll go home and get something."

Without saying a word, he ran off. Lu Guang called out, "Hey—," trying to get him to take back what he had brought, but Atai pretended not to hear Lu Guang calling him and walked away without turning back.

After he left, Lu Guang's wife, who had been silent until now, suddenly said, "Honey, you wanted to tell Atai about his parents, didn't you?"

The rest of the Lü family exchanged bewildered glances, completely confused. Only Lü Guang sighed and said to his wife, "Whenever he mentions his parents, I just..."

"Are you sure you can do this?" Lu Guang's wife glared at him. "I don't object to you agreeing to watch the house for them, but you'd better think carefully about what you should and shouldn't say."

Lu Guangda's son looked on with curiosity, "Dad, are you and Mom hiding something from us? Or is it about Atai's parents?"

“Actually, it’s not a big deal.” Lu Guang rubbed his face. “It’s just that… the time Atai’s parents went into the deep mountains, it was actually Atai’s uncle who suggested it.”

"He went to the back mountain with his two sons and Atai's parents, but in the end Atai's parents died, while the three of them returned to the village alive and well."

Although they were injured, none of their injuries were serious enough to leave them with permanent disabilities.

Of course, they didn't come away without a loss. Two of their three dogs, along with Atai's parents and Atai's two dogs, perished on that trip to the deep mountains.

The two dogs that Atai has now were carefully selected by Atai's father and raised by Atai himself, with the intention of taking them to the mountains for hunting in the future.

After Atai's parents passed away, his family's belongings were taken over by his uncle's family, including the two dogs.

However, dogs raised by others are not always easy to use, so Uncle Atai's family only used them as a temporary solution. This year, they caught new puppies and plan to raise two new hunting dogs.

Upon hearing Lü Guang's words, Lü Guang's youngest son blurted out, "Huh? Then they weren't killed by that father and his two sons, were they?"

"You brat!" Lu Guang was furious. "What nonsense are you spouting? If that were true, the clan chief would have dealt with them long ago."

He paused, then sighed and explained, "They said that Atai's parents were chasing a deer and, without realizing it, ran right under the tiger's nose. By the time they got there, Atai's parents were already beyond saving. They couldn't beat the tiger, so they rushed back in a panic."

Some villagers believed it, some didn't. Originally, the majority believed it, but after a series of events, including the family swallowing up Atai's family's property, abusing Atai and Xiaomei, and now even the ghosts of Atai's parents coming out to settle scores, those villagers who originally believed it, including Lü Guang himself, couldn't help but have big questions in their minds.

They reasonably suspected that the family deliberately invited the couple up the mountain because they were envious of the wealth that Atai's parents had accumulated, so that they could easily pin the blame on wild animals after the murder.

Of course, Lü Guang and the others knew very well that they had no evidence, and they would not use their own speculations to convict that family. At most, they would discuss it privately or quietly tell Atai and Xiaomei about their "reasonable speculations".