PDLP Chapter 7 Reward: 1 box of fruit knives
Chapter 7 Reward: 1 box of fruit knives
The candle in the corner suddenly burst into a large flame, and as the flame flickered, it illuminated a figure. Crouching low, the figure moved stealthily closer to Wenwen, stopping a step away and lowering their voice:
"Fifth sister, your fourth brother has an idea."
Wenwen noticed the movement of the shadow and, listening to her fourth brother's words, suppressed a laugh: "Fourth brother, what are you thinking?"
“Look, Third Uncle and Third Brother are adult males and live in the next room. We’re either children or women. I’m the only one who doesn’t fit in either group. Can you put me in the children’s group?”
Wenwen thought about it carefully. There were 21 people in her family. She didn't know when her grandfather and father had met again. There were 16 people in prison now. The only adult males were her third uncle and third brother. Her fourth brother was still a minor. By modern standards, he would only be in the fifth grade. He was still a child.
"Well, let me think about it."
"Fifth sister, don't worry, I'll definitely be more obedient than them. If you tell me to go east, I'll never go west. I'll be absolutely obedient, I promise."
"You still dare to promise? You're asking for it. You're trying to be as obedient as a three-year-old. I think you deserve a beating..." Auntie San couldn't stand it anymore and angrily prepared to hit him.
In Wenwen's memory, whenever she was bullied, her fourth brother would always change into a maid's clothes without saying a word and mingle with his sisters to cheer her on. He would then go home and accept his punishment himself, showing great loyalty.
Seeing that her third aunt was about to make a move, Wenwen hurriedly nodded in agreement: "Okay, you'll be in the kids' group, the leader of the kids."
"Really?"
"Really. But..."
"Whatever it is, Fifth Sister, please give your orders."
"I didn't give any orders, but I just wanted to ask, why was Fourth Brother crouching down just now?"
"Well, this was to make you realize I'm a child, so I deliberately tried to look shorter... and it actually worked."
As soon as the fourth brother finished speaking, there was a muffled laugh from among the women.
Wenwen: Fourth Brother is a real character.
"Fourth Brother, I have a small task for you: bring back the bottles and bags to me."
"Okay, I'll be right back."
Fourth Brother had just assumed a crouching posture and was about to step out with his left foot.
Wenwen stopped him in time: "Fourth Brother, stop!"
Fourth Brother truly lived up to his orders. At this moment, he crouched down, his left foot left the ground and stepped into the air, his right foot on tiptoe, and his hands in a starting position. He lost his balance and fell down with a "bang".
Wenwen said helplessly, "Fourth Brother, there's no one else here. Stand up straight for safety."
Fourth Brother lay on the ground rubbing his bottom: "I fell like that, and now I've gotten used to hunching over... sigh... I need to change that..."
The women in the group were laughing hysterically, though they at least managed to cover their mouths. From a distance, they all looked like a bunch of women with Parkinson's disease, shaking their shoulders.
Grandmother and the others were used to Fourth Brother's pranks, and glaring at him in the dark was no use.
When Fourth Brother brought the bottle back and handed it to Wenwen, Wenwen gave him some instructions.
"Fourth Brother, from now on, you and I will be responsible for these younger ones in the family. When I'm not around, you're in charge of keeping a close eye on them. There can't be any mistakes. Remember that."
Hearing Wenwen's serious tone, Fourth Brother suddenly felt a bit pressured, gritted his teeth, and patted his chest: "I'll remember."
Wenwen couldn't make any definitive statements, so she told him to rest next to her fifth brother and the others.
At this point, Grandmother rearranged the seating. She was still next to Grandmother and Mother, while her sisters were next to their respective mothers.
As soon as she lay down, Wenwen said something pointed: "Grandmother, all our sisters are so beautiful. For safety's sake, we should start dressing up a little less attractively tomorrow, just in advance."
"Playing ugly?" Wenwen recognized her fourth sister's voice; she had always been very vain.
“Wen’er is right, we should give it a try,” Second Aunt was the first to agree.
"That makes sense, safety comes first." The elders all agreed. The younger generation could only obey.
As the topic came to a close, Wenwen moved closer to her grandmother.
"Grandma, where's Grandpa? Where did he go?"
“Your grandfather went to the palace five days ago and hasn’t left since. I don’t know how he is now…” She choked up at the end.
In the darkness, Wenwen held her grandmother's hand: "Grandma, Grandpa will come back, he will." It seemed that by saying this, she comforted herself.
Time in prison passes too slowly.
After a while, Wenwen turned her head left and right and noticed that her grandmother and mother were breathing steadily. She listened carefully and found that everyone had gradually fallen asleep.
She lay there wide awake, her hands behind her head, legs crossed, brainstorming solutions.
On the road to exile, she relied solely on her third uncle and third brother, along with herself, to protect more than a dozen family members, which was extremely difficult.
When they reunited with their grandfather and father, some were injured and others were disabled, and the crisis they faced was even greater.
Now, their only family consists of children and women. How can they safely reach their place of exile?
Wenwen racked her brains, thinking and analyzing the situation.
Prepare to choose the best among the worst. Use the same methods I used to mentor newcomers in my past life, guide Fourth Brother, push him a little too hard, put some pressure on him, consider it an early adaptation.
As for my third uncle and third brother's kung fu, they must be quite good. My grandfather used to give them pointers whenever he had free time, and if they were too bad, he would have scolded them long ago.
Next up are the women in the family. Although Grandma usually encourages everyone, it's only to the point of physical fitness. Let alone fighting an enemy, they're lucky if they can even run away. Sigh, it's difficult, so very difficult.
Finally, there were a few radish heads.
Sixth Sister is too young and hasn't reached the age for formal education yet.
The fifth brother is only good at wielding a stick, and there's always the worry that he might hit himself.
Sixth brother, it's a long story. Give me a chicken leg to try and move, or I won't even pass the horse stance test.
My seventh brother, my own younger brother, was supposed to start his formal education next month after his fifth birthday, but with this unexpected turn of events, he won't need any formal education at all.
Wenwen: ...This is really a headache.
Xianbao sensed Wenwen's emotions.
"Master, open the gift box, your head doesn't hurt anymore."
"Yeah, right, opening the gift box is a way to motivate myself."
After Wenwen went inside, she walked directly to the southwest corner of the earthen slope.
This corner has now become an open-air warehouse. All the items that were hastily brought in are piled up, and there's no time to organize them right away.
Fortunately, the system knew to separate the items. The Wen family's items took up a lot of space and were on the left. Next to them was a small pile belonging to the Luo family. There was about a meter of space between the two families.
Gift boxes were piled up about half a meter apart in front of each item.
The funny thing is.
In front of the Wen family's belongings were three small red gift boxes. They were so small that they were almost invisible unless you looked hard, given the large pile of items.
In front of the Luo family's belongings were three large green gift boxes, which stood out against the backdrop of the small pile of items.
Wenwen: This is discrimination!!!
Did she lose the watermelon to pick up a sesame seed, or lose the sesame seed to pick up the watermelon?
I suddenly didn't want to talk.
I walked up to the small gift boxes, sat down, and picked up the first box. The outer packaging was the same size as the ring box, small enough to fit in the palm of my hand. Inside was a bright green thumb ring with a pattern on the outer ring, the animal of which I couldn't make out, and the inner ring was perfectly smooth.
The second gift box was half a foot long, one foot wide, and half a foot thick. I guessed it contained a book. Upon opening it, it was indeed a book. It was a very thick book, with dense text on every page and few pictures.
The third one was a bit bigger, and when I opened it... a fruit knife???
They're about a palm's length and two fingers' width, all the same color and style. What's going on? Clearing out inventory? A whole box of them, I'd guess over 100. Did they buy them from PXX wholesale?
Wenwen was extremely frustrated: "Line~~~Baby~~~".
A shadow darted over, glanced down at the knife, and then looked up at Wenwen.
"Hahaha... Don't bite off more than you can chew... Hehe... Cough... There are three big gift boxes next to me, maybe there are some good things inside... Hehe..."
Xianbao burst into laughter without any restraint.
She glanced at the eyeliner-wearing girl and said, "That's enough."
Wenwen opened the first one, and a flash of blue light appeared before her eyes, but she couldn't see clearly yet.
Xianbao pounced, "Wow, this... my favorite! Master, I need to talk to you about something. You don't need this for now, so give it to me. I'll pay you back lots more later, okay?"
The little girl's voice was extremely sweet and charming, trying her best to please and act cute.
"What is this? What is it used for?"
"Spirit stones, cultivation."
"Spirit Stones~ Cultivation~" Wenwen's mouth dropped open. What a surprise!
His eyes darted around, "When will I need it?"
"Improve your skills first; learn whatever you don't know first."
"Really?"
"Oh really, go ahead and study hard."
"Okay, you can have this whole box. Remember to return it."
"Oh yeah, Master, you're so kind!"
Wenwen got excited and hummed a little tune: "I just love opening gift boxes, la la la, hehe ha he..."
Upon opening the second one, a musty, rusty smell wafted out, and swords, spears, halberds, and all sorts of weapons were presented before Wenwen.
"Xianbao, explain this."
"The weapon is alright, we'll use it later."
"It's always later."
Undeterred, I opened the third one, which was a spaceship model, its exterior neither new nor old, like a child's toy.
Wenwen pointed to the model, "Line Treasure."
At this moment, Xianbao was still lying on the spirit stone, not moving.
"Transportation, for later use."
"Is the only thing I need for relationships a fruit knife?"
"Okay, hurry up and get out of here, it's almost dawn."
Wenwen suppressed her temper, glanced at the fruit knife one last time, and then angrily turned and left.