Gu Feng was startled, as if he had thought of something, which frightened him until his face turned pale.
He took several deep breaths, trying to suppress the thing that was surging towards his head.
"What did they say?" he asked, his voice trembling.
Erya was trembling with fear herself and didn’t notice Gu Feng’s changed expression, only wanting to blurt out what she had seen and heard.
"Grandfather, Second Aunt and Second Uncle sold sister, and it was Liu Dazhuang who took the deal."
As he had feared, Gu Feng felt something rushing toward his head, a sweet taste in his throat, and he could barely sit up straight.
He suddenly gripped Erya’s hand tightly, making her shiver. She finally noticed something was wrong with Gu Feng. "Grandfather, what’s wrong with you? You can’t panic, sister is fine, my dad rescued her, she should be on her way back to town by now."
It was only when Erya spoke that Gu Feng avoided passing out.
Erya continued, "Right now, Second Aunt is outside with that Liu Dazhuang, sister was taken away by my dad. They are frustrated; I heard it and got scared. If Second Aunt dared to sell sister, she would definitely dare to sell me too, so... so..." She raised the hatchet in her hand, saying, "I’ve got this hatchet, if they dare to sell me, I will fight them."
Gu Feng was irate but for Youyou’s sake, he couldn’t afford to be angry, at least not before he saw Youyou—he couldn’t let himself die of anger.
"Damn it all!" he cursed loudly, startling the already frightened Erya.
"Not you," Gu Feng reassured Erya, saying, "Just stay in Grandfather’s room and don’t go out. I refuse to believe those bastards would dare to come into my room to take someone. We’ll talk again tonight, after everyone comes back."
The old servant had just died, he fell ill, and without heads, the family was falling apart; thus those bastards had become restless.
Huang Xiangwen quietly closed the door and, as she passed by Gu Feng’s room, glancing inside and seeing the door shut, quickly went to the back yard.
Abao was still locked in the woodshed. She had drugged the meat to make Abao unconscious before making her move on Gu Youyou. The dose was heavy, and Abao still hadn’t woken up.
She knew she could not leave Abao here; with Abao drugged at home, her story wouldn’t hold up even with eight mouths to defend it.
Taking advantage of the near-empty home, she stealthily dragged Abao out of the door and threw him into a dirt ditch.
When Abao woke up, he would return on his own; then, it wouldn’t be her concern anymore.
Erya closed the window and returned to Gu Feng’s bedside, whispering, "I saw Second Aunt throw Abao outside."
Abao, that was the dog Youyou raised!
Angry, Gu Feng cursed a few more times at the inhuman beasts.
Seven or eight people arrived where Gu Youyou had been, only to find Gu Old Three unconscious on the ground.
The man leading them kicked him fiercely, cursing, "Useless trash, let that woman get away."
Another voiced, "Why use someone so stupid for such important work? Always messing things up."
"Now that she’s gone, what do we do? Shall we kill him? He’s no use to us."
The lead man waved his hand, signaling not to kill.
Another man, not quite understanding, asked, "Why not kill him? He’d kill his own brother and sister-in-law for some silver, and harm his niece. Why keep such a person around?"
Gu Youyou was shocked. To kill her own father and mother, Gu Youyou’s parents didn’t die by accident but were murdered, and the murderer was her Third Uncle.