Chapter 98 - 98 87 An Unexpected Twist of Events

Words : 1521 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

98: Chapter 87: An Unexpected Twist of Events 98: Chapter 87: An Unexpected Twist of Events Manbao and three others surrounded Bai Erlang, staring at him with their eyes. Under the gaze of eight eyes, Bai Erlang finally couldn’t take it anymore. His face turned beet red as he retorted, “Why are you looking at me? I’ve always ridden in a cart to go there. I’ve never walked it, how should I know the way?” Zhou Wulang couldn’t help grinding his teeth, feeling that the kid was really holding them up. Yet, Manbao actually thought his excuse was reasonable, but she was still very angry that he had kept them in the dark, “If you had told us earlier, we wouldn’t have taken such a long and unnecessary detour.” “Exactly,” Bai Shanbao was also very angry, and even pushed him, “Troublemaker!” Bai Erlang flushed with rage, pushed him back, and shouted angrily, “You had someone to carry you, so you’re not tired at all. I’ve been walking the whole time. I’m so young, and you’re all picking on me! Hmph, I didn’t cause trouble for you, I’ve only hurt myself.” Manbao was taken aback and looked at him with sympathy, “How can you be so silly as to even hurt yourself?” Bai Shanbao said, “No wonder Uncle Tang says your brain doesn’t work properly and told me to take care of you in the future. It turns out your brain really doesn’t work well.” Bai Erlang was stunned for a moment, then burst into tears and sat down on the ground, refusing to walk anymore. Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang, who had still been angry, now could not help but feel sorry for him. They thought that Manbao and Young Master Bai had been too harsh on him. Considering that he was even younger than their own nephew, the two reluctantly tried to console him, “Alright, stop crying. Even though you led us the wrong way, we haven’t said we’d beat you, so let’s figure out a way to get back.” Bai Erlang sobbed and cried, “I... I can’t... I’m too tired to walk anymore... I won’t go...” Zhou Wulang looked around and dragged him to the shade of a nearby tree, signaling everyone to sit down, “Let’s sit and rest for a bit; we’re really too tired.” Bai Erlang gradually stopped crying, rubbing his little legs and said, “I want to go home, I want to ride in a cart.” Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang exchanged glances, both feeling a bit of a headache, and again persuaded Manbao, “We can’t find the way today, so we won’t catch up with Third Brother now. Let’s go back home, and we’ll come again tomorrow.” Manbao drooped her head and agreed with a sigh. However, nobody moved just yet, all planning to sit and rest for a while. Manbao and Bai Shanbao, who had been carried the latter part of the way, were particularly spirited, so they couldn’t sit still. They started to look around, and upon seeing a butterfly perched on a nearby wildflower, their eyes lit up. They sneakily moved to try and catch the butterfly. Zhou Wulang didn’t try to stop them; after all, they were right under his watchful eye. Manbao pounced but missed. The butterfly flapped its wings and flew to the side. Ready to pounce, Bai Shanbao quickly stretched out his hand and nabbed it in an instant. The two children cheered and started to pinch the butterfly’s wings to look at it, marveling at how pretty it was. Feeling excited, Manbao wanted to catch more and began to wander off with Bai Shanbao. As they walked, they saw a man carrying a hoe walking towards them. Their eyes shining, the two kids ran up to him without any fear. Manbao was the first to greet him, “Hello, big brother.” Bai Shanbao followed a step behind, “Hello, uncle.” Their different greetings came one after another, then without waiting for the man to speak, the two children gave each other a glare. Manbao said, “You’re making him sound old.” Bai Shanbao countered, “You have no manners; he’s clearly an uncle.” The farmer, startled by the sudden appearance of the two children, exclaimed, “Whose kids are you? What are you doing here? Aren’t you afraid of being snatched by wolves?” Zhou Wulang and Zhou Liulang, hearing the commotion, quickly got up from under the shade of the tree and ran over. Seeing two more youths, the farmer finally breathed a sigh of relief and scolded them, “Why did you bring your younger siblings out here to play? You didn’t take good care of them. There are wolves in these mountains, and even tigers—be careful not to get carried off by a wolf.” Zhou Wulang was also a little scared and tugged on Manbao’s collar, saying, “You’ve run off again.” Manbao wriggled her body and said, “I was asking for directions, big brother, do you know the way to White Horse Pass town?” “Call me uncle,” the farmer said, his expression indescribable as a child about Manbao’s age called him big brother. He continued, “You want to go to White Horse Pass town? Keep going forward, turn right at the front, that’s the official road. Walk straight on, walk for over forty-five minutes, and you’ll arrive.” Manbao let out a “ya” and said, “So, we didn’t take the wrong road.” She apologized to Bai Erlang, “We wrongly blamed you.” Bai Erlang, his eyes red from crying, became proud, “I told you I wasn’t wrong, it takes a long time to get to the town from our village by car, and of course, even longer on foot.” Zhou Wulang was skeptical. Although he hadn’t visited White Horse Pass town often, he had heard his brothers mention multiple times that it was quicker to go there from their village than to go to the county city. If they hadn’t taken the wrong road, how could they still not have arrived? So he asked the farmer, “Big brother, is this the same road from Qili Village to White Horse Pass town?” The farmer was about to leave when he stopped upon hearing this and looked at them as if they were fools, “You came from Qili Village? Then how did you get here? At the first fork in the road, you should have turned right to go to White Horse Pass town. Going this way, you’ve circled around to the opposite side of the town’s entrance, pointlessly adding half the distance.” Everyone turned their heads to look at Bai Erlang again. Bai Erlang hung his little head and said nothing. The farmer guessed the children were lost and messing around because they didn’t know the way, so he asked with a chuckle, “What are you kids up to?” Manbao immediately shared that they were looking for their Third Brother, who was doing service. The farmer exclaimed, “Oh,” and said, “Service, eh? I remember that on the official road just ahead, there are laborers serving. Those people seem to be from Qili Village and Dali Village.” Their eyes lit up, and they hadn’t expected such good luck—it was like finding a bright prospect after a dark period. So, the five of them bid farewell to the farmer and shouted gleefully as they ran forward. Manbao, not needing to be carried, hustled forward with her short legs scampering eagerly; it turns out she was full of energy and quite fast, with Zhou Wulang almost unable to keep up. Bai Erlang also cheered up and didn’t feel tired anymore, running along ahead. After running through this stretch, to the right were farmlands and to the left, a woodland. At the end, they saw a wide dirt road. Manbao charged onto the wide dirt road, looking left and right, then headed straight towards the left side. The big brother just now had said they were on the official road to the left. Zhou Wulang caught up to her, grabbed her, and hoisted her onto his back, “Settle down, will you? If you fall, when we get back, our parents will lash me.” Zhou Wulang, carrying Manbao on his back, led everyone forward along the official road. There was no one on the official road, no vehicles either, and the ground was pockmarked and uneven, not much better than the smaller dirt road they had used earlier. As they walked, they heard laughter and voices ahead. They ran towards it and saw many people along both sides of the official road swinging hoes to till the ground. Everyone was dusty and dirty, all dressed in similar gray clothes, nearly indistinguishable at a glance and hardly recognizable. But Manbao didn’t care; she closed her eyes and yelled out, “Third Brother...” Among the crowd, Zhou Sanlang, who was engrossed in shoveling mud, thought he was hearing things. It seemed as though he could hear Manbao’s voice.

Chapter 98 - 98 87 An Unexpected Twist of Events

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