Thousand Dusts Ferry Me - Chapter 32

In the deep of night, on the desolate outskirts, crying sounds seemed exceptionally jarring.

Cheng Suiyan lowered his voice and said, “You heard it too, right?”

Yun Qing hugged her sword and sighed softly, “Tonight certainly isn’t peaceful.”

“Senior sister, then should we…?”

“Since we’ve encountered it, it must be fate. Come, let’s go see.”

The four of them followed the sound through the darkness and soon arrived at the riverbank.

A shadowy figure stood vaguely by the river’s edge. Judging by the silhouette, it was a woman. She was holding something in her arms, wailing loudly at the pitch-black river water. Her cries were piercing, filled with unbearable grief.

Fu Xue said, “It’s a person.”

Cheng Suiyan responded, “Yes, quite pitiful.”

Just as they were about to speak, they suddenly saw the person continue crying while stepping into the river, then walking toward the center. After just a few steps, the water had already reached her waist.

Fu Xue was shocked. “Hey, calm down!”

As she spoke, Yun Qing had already formed a hand seal, creating an energy barrier in front of the woman to prevent her from moving forward. Indeed, she stopped advancing—but the current quickly swept her off her feet.

Yun Qing rushed over, her toes skimming the water’s surface, light as a swallow playing on water. In the blink of an eye, she reached the woman.

With a graceful backward sweep, she bent down and scooped up the person, throwing her forcefully behind her. Fu Xue and Cheng Suiyan caught the woman steadily on the shore.

Fu Xue exclaimed upon catching her, “Ah, there’s a child too!”

It turned out that the woman had been holding a child of five or six years in her arms. The child now opened his large eyes and curiously gazed at Fu Xue.

The woman, caught off guard by being thrown back to shore, was stunned for quite a while. When she finally came to her senses, she broke into loud sobs again, crying and shouting:

“Let me die, let me die! I can’t go on living. Can’t I even die?! Wuwuwu…”

Yun Qing returned to the shore, formed a hand seal to dry everyone off, and listened to the endless crying, feeling somewhat irritated. Playing mahjong all night had been tiring enough, and now with one thing after another, she felt even more exhausted.

She lightly tapped the woman’s Baihui acupoint, and the world instantly became peaceful.

Seeing the woman fall unconscious, Cheng Suiyan asked curiously, “Yun Qing, did you press her sleep acupoint? Could you teach me?”

“No, I just knocked her out.”

“…”

“Let’s go back first.”

Cheng Suiyan carried the woman on his back, Jiang Baiyu held the child, and the group returned to the inn.

Fortunately, they didn’t encounter any more disturbances along the way.

By the time they reached the inn, the child had fallen asleep in Jiang Baiyu’s arms. The child wore coarse cloth clothing and appeared to be a boy. His skin was fair, indicating he had been well cared for.

Raising a child wasn’t easy. They wondered what insurmountable obstacle the woman had faced that made her want to jump into the river with her child.

Yun Qing settled the woman in the room she shared with Fu Xue, while Jiang Baiyu took the child to his own room. Cheng Suiyan lurked around outside for a while before finally knocking on Jiang Baiyu’s door.

His own room had been wrecked, and even if it hadn’t been, he wouldn’t have dared to sleep there—who knew if there might be more wealth-eating ghosts.

When Jiang Baiyu opened the door and saw Cheng Suiyan, he asked, “What is it?”

“I want to check on the child.”

Since he put it that way, Jiang Baiyu couldn’t refuse, so he let him enter.

Cheng Suiyan sat at the bedside and pretended to examine the child.

The little boy was sleeping soundly, such a tiny thing with rosy cheeks. He looked quite adorable, and Cheng Suiyan couldn’t resist poking his cheek.

After watching the child for a while, Cheng Suiyan boldly proposed, “Could I sleep here tonight? This bed seems spacious enough.”

Jiang Baiyu silently stared at him without speaking.

Feeling awkward under his gaze, Cheng Suiyan asked, “Is that not okay?”

Jiang Baiyu suddenly said, “I’m not that kind of person.”

Cheng Suiyan was puzzled. “What kind?”

“The kind who sleeps with men.”

“…” Cheng Suiyan was stunned as if struck by lightning for quite a while, then roared in a voice that nearly lifted the roof, “NEITHER AM I!!!!”

Next door, Fu Xue knocked on the wall and said irritably, “Keep it down!”

Cheng Suiyan stood up abruptly and said, “I’ll go find Yun Qing. She’ll surely take me in.”

As the saying goes, no one is perfect. In Cheng Suiyan’s view, Yun Qing was good in every way, with her only flaw being her lustfulness.

He believed she would give him a chance to sleep on the floor for the sake of his face. After all, he considered himself not bad-looking.

But Jiang Baiyu suddenly stopped him, “The bed is yours.”

This unexpected turn didn’t make Cheng Suiyan happy; instead, it made him somewhat wary.

He asked Jiang Baiyu, “Then what about you?”

“I never sleep.”

Cheng Suiyan immediately felt admiration—this guy was really pushing himself.

That night, Jiang Baiyu sat cross-legged on the floor in meditation. At daybreak, he opened his eyes, stood up, and glanced at the bed.

Cheng Suiyan was still asleep with a rather proper sleeping posture. The child was already awake, staring at him with clear, bright eyes.

When Jiang Baiyu met his gaze, the boy gave him a “hehe” smile.

Jiang Baiyu had an ominous feeling.

He pulled back the blanket and, sure enough, the bed was wet.

Jiang Baiyu frowned in disgust but eventually formed a hand seal to clean both the bed and the child. He then picked up the boy and went to find Yun Qing.

Yun Qing’s room wasn’t peaceful either.

The woman had awakened. She was thin with sallow skin, delicate features, and a few brown spots near her cheekbones. At the moment, she was crying and asking for her child.

Yun Qing told her, “Weren’t you trying to drown yourself? This is the netherworld. There are no children here.”

When Jiang Baiyu arrived, he saw the woman sprawled on the bed, crying loudly.

Yun Qing and Fu Xue were eating pears. The pears were large and yellow, their fragrance enticing. The snow-white flesh was juicy, and some pear juice stained Yun Qing’s rouge-like lips, making them look moist.

Jiang Baiyu pursed his lips and averted his gaze.

Yun Qing continued eating her pear while saying to the woman, “Tell us, why did you try to take your own life? If you explain well, I’ll ask the King of Hell to let you and your son be mother and child again in your next life.”

Fu Xue chimed in from the side, “Yes, tell us properly.”

Jiang Baiyu shook his head and handed the child to the woman.

When the woman saw her child, light seemed to return to her eyes. She pulled him into her embrace, alternating between crying and laughing.

The child, however, didn’t shed a single tear, occasionally giving a “hehe” laugh.

Jiang Baiyu sat beside Yun Qing and picked up a pear. Yun Qing looked at him curiously, “Are you breaking your fast?”

He remained silent, drew out his steel sword, and with a few swift cuts, peeled the pear. The peeled pear was crystal-clear white, like fine white jade, looking quite adorable.

His fingers were long, fair, and lustrous like the finest jade carving, complementing the pear perfectly.

He handed the pear to her, saying, “Why are you suddenly pretending to be an underworld official?”

Yun Qing replied helplessly, “She wouldn’t talk when I asked, so I had to resort to this.” As she spoke, she took the pear and bit into it. The peeled pear’s flesh was even more delicate and sweet.

Before long, Cheng Suiyan also woke up. Rubbing his eyes, he dragged a stool into their room. The small inn room became quite crowded with so many people.

Cheng Suiyan was tall and broad. To make room for him, Jiang Baiyu moved closer to Yun Qing, so the two sat very close, their thighs almost touching. Yun Qing could feel the vibrant warmth emanating from his body.

The woman finally calmed down somewhat. Holding her child, she haltingly began to tell her story.

Her name was Li Siniang, a native of Shanqian Town, twenty-six years old. She had three older brothers and one older sister, all married. She was the youngest child.

Seven years ago, Li Siniang had married into a Liu family in Linglong City. Her husband was quiet and honest, with an older brother and sister-in-law, and both parents-in-law were still alive.

The Liu family had a skill in pressing sesame oil, which had built their fortune, making them a well-off household.

Li Siniang was usually diligent in managing household chores, serving her parents-in-law, and occasionally helping at the oil press. Living together as one family, though they couldn’t avoid some quarrels and disagreements, life was generally good.

Li Siniang and her husband were deeply in love. Two years after their marriage, they had a son. She thought the couple would live happily ever after, but fate had other plans.

When their son was three, her husband went to the countryside to collect sesame seeds. On his way back, he was bitten and partially devoured by wild animals. When they found him, only a mangled leg remained.

Li Siniang and her son observed two years of mourning at her husband’s family home. Now that the mourning period was over, her brother-in-law’s family, with hearts like wolves and lungs like dogs, wanted to seize the family property. They instigated the parents-in-law to drive her and her son back to her maiden home, claiming she brought bad luck.

Upon hearing this, Cheng Suiyan was furious and slammed the table hard. With his innate strength, the table shook violently, causing the teapot and cups to jump up an inch or more, making a crisp clinking sound.

Li Siniang’s shoulders trembled in fright.

“How outrageous!” Cheng Suiyan cursed. “Absolutely heartless! They don’t even care about their own son’s only bloodline?!”

Li Siniang wiped her eyes and continued, “After I returned to my maiden home…”

Her maiden home was no longer the same as before she married. Her parents were still alive, her three older brothers had their own families, and the eldest nephew was old enough to be engaged.

In the large family, everyone had their own agenda. As a younger sister, every extra mouthful of food she ate was met with cold remarks and veiled criticism from her sisters-in-law.

Her mother asked relatives to act as matchmakers for her. Several men showed interest and were willing to offer bride prices, but they all had one condition.

Fu Xue asked, “What condition?”

“They, they wanted me to drown my Sanlang!”

“What?!”

They had never imagined such a marriage condition. They looked at each other in astonishment before turning their gaze to the poor Liu Sanlang.

Liu Sanlang pressed his face against his mother’s. Her face was streaked with tears, but he remained wooden and dull. Seeing everyone looking at him, he again laughed “hehe” a couple of times.

“This child…”

Li Siniang closed her eyes, letting tears fall, and replied with a sorrowful expression, “This child is a fool.”

As expected…

Yun Qing frowned and asked, “Have you seen a doctor?”

Li Siniang shook her head, “It can’t be cured.”

“Was he born this way?”

“No, my Sanlang only became foolish three months ago. He used to be very smart and clever! He—”

Li Siniang was about to describe how smart and clever her Sanlang had been, but suddenly realized it was meaningless, so she stopped and said with a bitter smile, “Never mind.”

She gently stroked the child’s back and said, “My parents-in-law used this as an excuse, saying I brought bad luck, and sent me back to my maiden home. The men proposing marriage didn’t want to raise someone else’s foolish son, and my maiden family couldn’t possibly take him in. Everyone told me to drown him.

But Sanlang is my life. If he dies, I can’t go on living either, so I might as well die with him. I deliberately went to the river when it was quiet in the dead of night. I wanted Sanlang and me to go peacefully and die cleanly, but who would have thought we’d meet you…”

Fu Xue wiped her eyes, and Cheng Suiyan sighed, shaking his head.

Yun Qing rubbed her chin in thought. After a while, she couldn’t help but glance at Jiang Baiyu beside her, only to find that he was also looking at her.

“Baiyu, do you also think there’s a problem?” she asked.

“Mm.”

Fu Xue asked, “Senior sister, what’s the problem?”

Yun Qing answered, “The third one.”

“What do you mean?”

“From last night until now, in less than a day, we’ve already encountered three fools from Linglong City. What does this tell us?”

“That Linglong City’s specialty product is fools?”

“……”