"What's wrong? Lan, what happened?"
"You're home? What about Gu Yan! That damn girl didn't work with you in the field? She didn't do any work at home and didn't do any work in the field; what exactly does she want!"
"Our eldest girl didn't come back and make lunch at noon?" Gu Dagang asked.
At this moment, Gu Moli came out from her room. She went to the neighbouring village to find her girl friends the whole day and just came home.
She snorted, "Not just lunch, she didn't make dinner either. Who knows where she went for some fun. Tsk, tsk, I told you that she might be faking her leg injury, or else how could she disappear for the whole day!"
Gu Dagang had a rare moment of clarity. He muttered, "This morning, our eldest girl went to the mountains in the back of the village to pick some mushrooms and said she would come back at noon to make lunch. It's getting dark, and she's still not back. Perhaps… something happened to her?"
When he finished his sentence, the expressions on Zhang Lan and Gu Moli's faces froze, and they were no longer angry.
Gu Moli didn't say anything. Zhang Lan paused for a second, and her expressions changed rapidly. Eventually, she snorted again and said, "How is it that easy for something to happen to her? There are no wolves in the mountains, and the mountains are not too high. She must be slacking off somewhere!"
She might be saying that, but there was uncertainty in Zhang Lan's tone.
Gu Dagang said, "It's getting dark. What are we going to do if something happened to her? I'll get some help and try to find her; you two stay home and wait."
He watched her grow up since she was a baby. Gu Dagang had a soft heart.
It didn't matter how much Zhang Lan hated Gu Yan, once she heard that something might have happened to her, her heart turned unassuming and didn't stop Gu Dagang from trying to find Gu Yan.
Once Gu Dagang walked away, Gu Moli felt like things weren't looking good either.
She was still young and feared the unknown."Mom, do you think maybe something really did happen to Gu Yan? I heard that there is a cemetary in the back mountains, and it's really creepy. If you go in there, you may never come out."
"Little kids should not be listening to these random things. But it's better if something did happen to that damn girl. Then you can successfully enlist in the military in her place," Zhang Lan said maliciously. That bit of guilty conscience was quickly drowned by her selfishness.
Gu Moli listened and realized that Zhang Lan had a point. She hoped Gu Yan really was entrapped in the cemetery.
Zhang Lan looked at the time; it was getting late. She said, "Moli, you must be hungry. Mom will make some dinner for you."
"Me hungry, me hungry, me hungry!" Gu Qiang appeared out of nowhere and shouted. All he ever did every single day was have fun and play. Zhang Lan couldn't control him, and she didn't have the heart to discipline her only son.
Now that her eldest son was hungry, she immediately went to get the firewood to make dinner.
Gu Qiang looked around and didn't see Gu Yan. He was a little confused, so he tilted his head to the side and jumped to Gu Moli while yelling, "Where's big sister? Where's big sister?"
"Stop saying big sister; so annoying! Go away!" Gu Moli hated her mentally challenged big brother. She had always had an inferiority complex because of her mentally challenged big brother.
Therefore, she pushed Gu Qiang really hard and turned around. She locked herself in her room in order to stop Gu Qiang from bothering her.
Gu Qiang stood there and tilted his head to the side. He was confused as ever as he thought, Where is my big sister?
The days were getting shorter and shorter ever since the first day of summer.
The sun was still above the mountaintop to the west a second ago, but it was just a glimmer of light a moment later.
Gu Yan was in a daze when she woke up.
Her mind was a little blank. She rubbed her eyes and felt some energy come back into her body.
But by the time her senses came back, she suddenly met a pair of glistening black eyes that looked like the eyes of a beast!