Chapter 43: The Robber and Guanyin Cake

Chapter 43: Chapter 43: The Robber and Guanyin Cake

The village chief’s wife was extremely fond of Deng Yuyuan. The more they interacted, the more she discovered Deng Yuyuan’s uniqueness. She didn’t like manual labor because her talents lay elsewhere. She was educated and could carve wooden hairpins better than anything sold at the town’s supply cooperative. She was also incredibly efficient, getting the most done in the shortest amount of time, like a seemingly lazy but secretly energetic kitten.

Although she had been foolish in the past, she was clear-headed now. Naturally, she wouldn’t let herself be trapped in this small village for the rest of her life. The village chief’s wife wanted to form a good relationship with this younger generation girl.

In the rustic kitchen, Deng Yuyuan’s fair skin seemed to glow, truly bringing light to the humble room. Even when she was just stoking the fire, it was a pleasing sight. However, the village chief’s wife’s mouth twitched as she watched Deng Yuyuan add salt, sugar, and oil without a single tremor in her hand. The Knowledge Youth Institute’s seasonings must be depleting rapidly these days! Still, meals cooked with plenty of oil were undeniably fragrant; even a simple bowl of vegetable soup smelled delicious. Thanks to Deng Yuyuan, the village chief’s family savings had also grown significantly. Yet, being accustomed to frugality, they only allowed themselves to eat meat a few more times a month.

Not long after lunch was ready, the youths from the Knowledge Youth Institute returned to eat. Upon seeing the children in the courtyard, the corners of their mouths dropped a fraction of a millimeter. With so many outsiders present, today’s lunch couldn’t be too lavish. Even a vegetable soup boiled with lard couldn’t soothe the pain in their hearts. With heavy hearts, the youths quickly devoured their meal. Who could have known that the seemingly ordinary steamed cornbread had a layer of sugar brushed on the outside! Ohohoho! Deng Yuyuan was truly brilliant.

The children were also in the courtyard, eating the dry rations their parents had brought for them, except for Fubao and Shi Tou, who were being fed by adults inside the house. While working outside today, the youths had heard an earful of gossip about the kidnappers.

These abductors were outsiders. Though called kidnappers, they were actually an organized ring of ransom kidnappers who had snatched a wealthy young master. Since they were after a ransom, they couldn’t kill him. Staying in their original location would make them easy targets for the police, so they fled all the way here, leaving only an accomplice in the city to collect the money. Initially, a ransom was paid, but they didn’t release the hostage. Because one of his parents was a dancer in an art troupe and inherently drew public attention, the police pursuit was captured by the media. Eager to capitalize on the trending news, the media quickly published the story. Amid the chaos, the incident couldn’t be suppressed and was completely exposed to the public.

Deng Yuyuan recalled this incident. It was also described in the original novel. That young master was only three years old and would later become the female lead’s fiancé.

In the original story’s depiction of the event, after the kidnappers brought the young master to this remote backwater, they genuinely endured a period of hardship. All their money was with their accomplice in the city, and they feared that spending money would expose their location. Eventually, unable to hold out any longer, they returned to their old tricks, planning to abduct a child or woman to make some quick cash.

Unexpectedly, while they successfully abducted a little boy from the neighboring village, the young master took advantage of their reduced numbers to secretly escape and call for help, leaving behind his Jade Lock. The young master was eventually recaptured, but during his cry for help at the bustling village entrance, he was snatched into a four-wheeled vehicle in broad daylight. Since he had already handed over his token, the crowd was in an uproar, and the news could no longer be hidden.

In an era where information relied on newspapers, letters, and landlines, this remote area wouldn’t necessarily hear about the explosive news in Beijing. However, it was a different story when it happened right in front of their eyes. Everyone was discussing it animatedly, determined to get to the bottom of the matter. They didn’t even have this much thirst for knowledge when studying.

The two kidnappers had no choice but to take the two children and hide in the mountains. Humiliated and furious, they could only use the little boy from the neighboring village as a punching bag. One abused him without caring if he died, while the other held back slightly. Faced with the corpse of his companion who was tortured to death, the young master—no matter how clever he was—was still just a three-year-old child. The trauma gave him a severe psychological disorder.

The poorly hidden remains were later discovered by a man from the Jin Family who had gone into the mountains. Following the tracks, he stealthily rescued the young master, shook off the two kidnappers in the mountains that the locals knew best, and brought the young master back to call the police.

When the young master’s grandfather saw that the Jin Family had a baby girl, he took it upon himself to arrange a childhood marriage between the two—in a half-joking manner, of course. If the two children hit it off when they grew up, they would get married; if they didn’t, when the Jin Family brought the marriage certificate to Beijing, they would still properly reward their saviors.

When the young master grew up and learned that the country bumpkin he was engaged to had come to Beijing, he resisted and sabotaged her in every way possible before they even met. He fooled around with his childhood sweetheart and unknowingly fell in love at first sight with the female lead. After that, he kicked off his supporting male lead plotline—engaging in a desperate pursuit of regret but ultimately failing to win her back.

Overall, this had nothing to do with Deng Yuyuan.

Those two kidnappers actually had good stealth skills. If they hadn’t gone out to hunt a wild hare while burning the body, allowing a wild dog to snatch a piece of the remains, they wouldn’t have been discovered by the man from the Jin Family. From the discovery to getting out unscathed, the man from the Jin Family couldn’t have succeeded at any step without Fubao’s halo of good luck.

At this moment, Deng Yuyuan still hadn’t realized that she was the person in the entire village who ran into the mountains most frequently, and she loved hiding in the deepest parts of the mountains to tinker with her things. This latter hobby was practically perfectly aligned with the kidnappers’ need for concealment.

After finishing their meal, the youths from the Knowledge Youth Institute returned to work covered in mud splatters. Zhao Erdong and Tian Tian had it slightly better; they were only going to pitch in and earn the lowest amount of work points.

The children didn’t eat as fast. Plus, with a large group of them gathered together, it was hard for them to focus on finishing their food. Plenty of them chatted as they ate. Because of Tuantuan’s connection, Deng Yuyuan subconsciously paid more attention to Gou Ya.

Gou Ya’s family hadn’t prepared lunch for her. Holding the steamed cornbread the village chief’s wife had given her, she sat alone in a corner with her back to the other children, secretly stuffing soft mud into it. Before Deng Yuyuan could even get angry at her for wasting food, Gou Ya stuffed it into her mouth the next second.

Deng Yuyuan was completely speechless. Was this right?! A mud-filled cornbread??? It was no longer an era of famine, yet there were still children eating Guanyin Cake!

She quickly stepped forward and snatched the piece of cornbread from the girl’s mouth. She scooped out the mud inside, walked a few steps to throw the outer layer into the chicken pen, and then bent down to feel Gou Ya’s stomach. It was round and bulging. Clearly, this wasn’t the first time she had eaten like this.

Gou Ya hugged her calf, dropping to her knees in a sliding motion so smooth that it was obvious she had done it many times. She pleaded in a hoarse voice, "I’m sorry, Miss. I feel a bit fuller eating it this way. I didn’t mean to eat bad things on purpose."

Deng Yuyuan gently nudged her with her foot. Gou Ya tactfully let go, lowering her eyes submissively with a numb expression, waiting for Deng Yuyuan’s judgment. Looking down at the two black handprints on her trouser leg, Deng Yuyuan mused that the girl had some tact, but not much. No wonder the minor vicious female supporting character she raised turned out to be both bad and stupid, only making people hate her more even when she tried to play the victim.

The commotion over here attracted Zhang Ci Hao’s attention. He stuffed his flatbread into his mouth in two or three bites and then successfully choked himself.