Chapter 185: Be on Guard

"What are you two doing?!"

Yun Linhai let out an angry shout when he returned from beachcombing to find two people lurking suspiciously around their house.

The two men, already feeling guilty, heard the voice and took off running like mice that had seen a cat.

They vanished in the blink of an eye.

Yun Linhai and the others rushed home to check, breathing a sigh of relief when they found nothing was missing.

"Those two looked like Yun Tian and Yun Feng."

Yun Linhe recognized them, his eyes filled with disgust.

He knew what kind of characters they were. Both were married and even had children, but they did nothing but drink and gamble instead of working. They would even get drunk and beat their wives and kids when they got home.

That’s why many people in the village looked down on them.

Yun Jiao tilted her head. "I saw them yesterday."

She thought back carefully, comparing the two men she saw yesterday with the ones from today, then nodded with certainty.

"What? They came by yesterday, too? Then what were they doing sneaking around today? Just one look at them and you know they’re up to no good."

"Jiaojiao, tell us exactly what happened yesterday."

Yun Linhe’s intuition was screaming that something was wrong. He felt like those two had their eyes on his family’s house.

Their family hadn’t been flaunting any wealth.

Yun Jiao thought for a moment, then carefully recounted how Yun Tian had tried to buy Turtle Xiao Er the day before.

Yun Linhe slapped his thigh. "Damn it! Those bastards must be after Turtle Xiao Er. Yun Tian definitely realized it’s a hawksbill turtle."

A hawksbill’s shell is very valuable. It was now obvious that those two, Yun Tian and Yun Feng, were planning to steal Turtle Xiao Er and sell it.

Yun Linhe grumbled, "They never do an honest day’s work. I don’t know where they learned what a hawksbill looks like, but those two will definitely be back."

Mr. Yun took a drag from his pipe and frowned. "We need to be on guard."

The more impulsive ones, like Yun Xiaowu, clamored to go beat the two up so they wouldn’t dare try any funny business.

"They haven’t done anything yet. If you go beat them up now, you’re just giving them a chance to turn the tables on you."

Yun Jiao hugged Turtle Xiao Er, staring into its beady little eyes.

Then, she pitifully patted its smooth little head.

’Poor thing,’ she thought. ’It’s so small, why does everyone want to take its little life?’

’Such a tragic fate.’

Turtle Xiao Er: Unlucky.jpg

After some discussion, they decided to go get Big Black to watch the house for a while.

They had to guard against thieves, but they couldn’t let it consume their whole day. There were still chores to be done.

First, cleaning the sand crabs and making lunch.

Everyone had their role, and even Yun Jiao wasn’t idle.

With two little dogs and a turtle circling her feet, she sat on a small stool with her seventh, eighth, and ninth brothers, cleaning the guts from the washed sand crabs.

From time to time, Yun Jiao would toss a small sand crab to the two little dogs at her feet.

"Cat Boss, want a crab?"

Cat Boss was busy licking its fur with a hind leg stuck in the air. Hearing Yun Jiao call, its ears twitched as it glanced over, then it went right back to grooming, clearly uninterested.

Evidently, it had no interest in these shelled, meagerly-fleshed crabs.

Besides, it had already eaten its fill of fish and shrimp it had caught by the shore.

"Jiaojiao, what’s this in here?"

While cleaning his tools, Yun Linhai discovered the stone in the bag Yun Jiao had brought back.

Yun Jiao looked up, her reaction a little slow as she let out a small "ah."

"It’s a strange stone."

Yun Jiao clapped her hands clean and trotted over.

The two little dogs followed, trailing her like tails.

Only the unlucky turtle was left behind. It crawled slowly, and since it had been resting on Yun Jiao’s foot, her sudden movement had flipped it onto its back. It was now waving its four legs in the air, struggling to right itself.

The sight sent Yun Xiaojiu and the others into fits of cackling laughter.

Only after they’d had their fill of watching did they manually lend a hand, flipping the aggrieved Turtle Xiao Er back over.

"Dad, do you know what kind of stone this is?"

Taking out the strange stone, Yun Jiao poked it and asked.

Yun Linhai scratched his head. His daughter’s question had truly hit a blind spot in his knowledge.

"I don’t know. It’s just a weird rock, I guess."

He’d never seen a stone with its own natural scent before.

Yun Jiao just said, "Oh," not at all disappointed.

Her eyes sparkled as she thought, ’My box of strange and wonderful things I’ve collected is almost full. I should ask Fourth Brother to build me a pretty wooden shelf for my room. Then I can display everything, and it will look so nice.’

Yun Jiao hugged the stone and went to her room to put it away safely.

By the time the sand crabs were mostly prepped, lunch was ready.

Sand crabs were on the menu today, perfectly crunchy with every bite.

Some were stir-fried with vegetables, and the addition of the crabs infused the dish with a unique seafood aroma.

After eating and drinking her fill, Yun Jiao patted her slightly stuffed tummy and let out a burp.

’Can’t just lie around,’ she thought. ’I need to go for a walk to digest.’

With that in mind, Yun Jiao got up and headed to the Mu’s house with her fourth brother, taking her little dogs, cat, rabbits, and turtle with her.

They were also going to ask Big Black to come watch their house for a few days.

Yun Chenbei carried a large, full bowl of food, occasionally glancing back at the string of fluffy animals trailing behind his sister as he walked.

It wasn’t the first time he’d seen it, but he still found the sight beautiful and cute every time.

Especially when they were walking with his sister—a little girl as beautiful as a porcelain doll, plus a few fluffy animals—the sight was just so easy on the eyes.

It was a particular comfort for someone like him, who had trouble distinguishing faces.

Just looking at her for a few extra moments put Yun Chenbei in a much better mood.

"Master."

Yun Chenbei pushed open the door and handed the bowl of food to the little old man who was smoking a long-stemmed pipe.

Yun Jiao peeked inside.

"Grandpa Mu."

Seeing Yun Jiao and the procession of animals behind her, Old Man Mu’s mood brightened instantly.

"Find a stool and have a seat."

Yun Jiao didn’t stand on ceremony. After finding a stool and sitting down, she began feeding the leaves she’d picked along the way to a pair of rabbits, one black and one white.

The two pristine rabbits sat up slightly, as if on their haunches. Their front paws dangled obediently, their ears drooped back, and their little mouths twitched as they quietly nibbled on the leaves.

"So well-behaved."

Yun Jiao loved feeding cute, fluffy little creatures like these.

She stroked their soft fur. It felt so nice.

Pure bliss!

To her, the rabbits, dogs, and cat were cute and cuddly pets. But she didn’t realize that as she sat on the little stool feeding the animals, she herself looked like a soft, adorable little bundle.

At least, in that courtyard, the gazes of both Mr. Mu and Yun Chenbei often landed on her.

Yun Chenbei’s fingers curled slightly.

’I wish I could take a picture to remember this.’

’No camera.’

’What a pity...’

After she finished feeding the rabbits, Yun Jiao shuffled over to her fourth brother’s side and squatted down, staring up at him without blinking her big, beautiful eyes.

Yun Chenbei: ???

"What is it, Jiaojiao?"

He patted her head.

’So good.’

’A sister this good belongs to our family. No one else has one.’

’Happy.’

Yun Jiao said, "Fourth Brother, can you make a wooden shelf for Jiaojiao? A pretty one, to put Jiaojiao’s collection on."

Yes, even though her things were all just items she’d picked up, they were still her collection.