Dragon, Truly Shameless (Yuri Futa, Farming) - Chapter 3

The second aunt of the Shen family wailed shrilly, her cries like those of a cold crow or raven, causing a knot of bitterness to tighten in one’s heart. Her own son usually didn’t play inside the house; he typically enjoyed playing in the mud in the vegetable garden. Now, the vegetable garden was overturned and in disarray, and her son was nowhere to be seen. She didn’t dare to think further.

The woman was stunned, but even more so was her husband, who should have been the pillar of support. Upon hearing that Shen Jinbao was missing, the second uncle of the Shen family actually collapsed to the ground. This robust man in his thirties seemed to have had his soul snatched away, his entire being withering. A faint pallor could be seen on his dark face. After a long while, this simple and honest farmer actually held his head and howled, utterly devastated.

The old Shen family was in chaos. The few girls and women were all terrified, huddling together and trembling. As for the remaining three adult men, the second uncle was beyond words, his face pale and his spirit drooping, unable to escape the grip of the terrible news. The old man of the Shen family also sighed repeatedly, only the third uncle could barely maintain his composure, but that was all.

The news of the tiger attack on the old Shen family and the snatching of Shen Jinbao quickly spread throughout the village. Villagers told each other, their discussions filled with lament. They all sighed at the misfortunes that had befallen the old Shen family. Their fate was so difficult. The eldest son had run off with the family’s money, and his wife had remarried, leaving behind an orphaned daughter who caused the whole family to be drowned in gossip. Their family line was already weak, and after many years, they finally had a grandson, but before they could even catch their breath, a tiger had destroyed their ancestral shrine.

Shen Jinbao was undoubtedly the lifeline of the entire family. The loss of their lifeline dealt a profound blow. The men of the Shen family seemed collectively castrated, their expressions withered, listless, and almost broken. The women’s situation was perhaps even worse. Without a grandson to rely on, they had no foundation, no future, and were waiting to be left with nothing.

“Old man, what kind of luck is this you have?” The old woman of the Shen family pulled at the old man, constantly scolding him. Was the old Shen family truly cursed? She hadn’t had a single stroke of good luck since marrying him, only misfortune.

The old man of the Shen family let his wife hit and scold him, his cloudy eyes numb and vacant. Looking at his bewildered second daughter-in-law, his pregnant and frightened third daughter-in-law, the few girls who dared not speak, and his two sons who looked like frostbitten eggplants, he was perhaps the only one in the family who could still maintain a semblance of reason.

Thinking of his grandson, whose fate was uncertain, he tried his best not to break down. Soon, the village chief organized the villagers to come. He forced himself to suppress his collapsing emotions, his rough, dark hand gripping the village chief’s trembling hand as he said, “Quick, Old Shen, into the mountains.”

The village chief naturally understood his meaning. The child had just been taken away by the tiger, and might still be alive. He immediately called out to all the men in the village to bring sticks and machetes and go into the mountains to search. But they also knew that this was perhaps just a placebo. A five-year-old child snatched by a tiger likely had little chance of survival. Even so, the entire village went.

Humans always showed a remarkable unity when facing wild beasts, setting aside all grudges and standing together against the common enemy. Even Madam Li, who had always been at odds with the second aunt of the Shen family, proactively brewed some calming and sweet soup to bring over. Both the second and third aunts of the Shen family were frightened, not to mention the several terrified teenage girls.

The men gathered together and marched into the mountains with an imposing air, arriving like a gust of wind and leaving the same way. Everyone’s attention was focused on Shen Jinbao, and no one noticed that another person from the old Shen family was missing.

At this moment, Shen Qingming was in the mountains. Holding a kitchen knife, she followed the footprints and the faint sounds that occasionally drifted from the forest, walking through one unfamiliar woodland after another. She was chasing the tiger. She had been chopping pig feed at home when the tiger came down the mountain. Originally, the tiger had rushed towards the kitchen, but she had instinctively picked up a firewood chopper and waved it defensively, actually startling the tiger. However, after the tiger let her go, it turned around and directly snatched the terrified and wet-trousered Shen Jinbao.

Everything happened too suddenly. Watching Shen Jinbao being carried into the mountains by the tiger, she chased after it with the kitchen knife without even thinking. As for why, she herself didn’t understand. It was only after reaching the mountains that she realized her recklessness.

Black Dragon Mountain was an undeveloped primeval forest that even hunters wouldn’t set foot in. Here, tall and majestic trees rose from the ground, their spreading branches blocking out the sky and the sun. Walking deeper, one could occasionally hear the calls of beasts from the forest. Wild animals were plentiful, and according to the village elders, the deep mountains were full of jackals, wolves, tigers, and leopards. She walked for an unknown amount of time. The forest became denser and denser, and the sunlight could hardly penetrate the lush trees, making the depths of the forest dim and gloomy.

She had to slow down, walking along a small path. Her chest pounded, and she didn’t know whether to go back or continue. Even if she wanted to go back, she realized that she seemed to have gotten lost in the deep mountains.

Before her was a forest path that stretched as far as the eye could see. The paths in the deep mountains were naturally not made by people. She guessed they were made by some large ungulates. The winding path reminded her of a poem her father used to recite when she was a child: “A winding path leads to a secluded spot, where a Zen room is surrounded by deep flowers and trees.” Could it be that if she reached the depths of the forest, she could also find a Zen room that belonged to her?

She didn’t know if it was hunger making her dizzy or if there was miasma in the mountains, but she seemed to be under some kind of enchantment, single-mindedly drilling deeper into the forest. The wind blowing from the depths of the forest was low and gentle, but unusually cold, as if containing tiny ice crystals. When they melted on her face, they didn’t make her sober but instead made her increasingly drowsy.

The chirping of summer insects was slightly noisy, and the occasional melodious calls of deer were rather charming. However, she suddenly felt the surroundings become extremely quiet in an instant, as if all the birds and beasts that had originally inhabited the area had fled. Shen Qingming stopped, tightly gripping her only weapon, and cautiously looked around.

The not-so-bright sunlight passed through the canopy and became faint and mottled, reflecting on the ground, not enough for her to clearly see her surroundings. She tried her best to prick up her ears. There seemed to be a faint rustling sound in the wind, the sound of fallen leaves being stepped on.

Sweat slowly slid down her cheeks, not from heat, but from fear. Shen Qingming instinctively moved closer to a nearby mountain stream, trying to use the brighter light there to see everything clearly. Her attention was completely focused on the forest, and she didn’t realize that behind her, in the low bushes opposite the mountain stream, a head was faintly emerging.

Orange-red fur with black and white stripes covered it. As the head slowly protruded, it revealed a pair of bright eyes. White fur covered its forehead, and it was calmly staring at her. Wasn’t it the very tiger with its hanging eyes and white forehead? The tiger she had been following had somehow circled behind her. Perhaps it was a sense of crisis that made Shen Qingming feel a chill down her spine. She slowly turned around and suddenly met a pair of tiger eyes.

The air instantly became very quiet. The human and the tiger stared at each other, neither speaking nor moving. The tiger’s eyes weren’t brownish-yellow; they were actually a bright orange-red. It stared at her as if scrutinizing her, seemingly not understanding why she had followed it into the deep mountains.

Shen Qingming tried to steady herself and raised the knife in her hand. Realizing the knife had too little deterrent power, she hurriedly went to pick up stones from the ground.

From the moment humans freed their hands, they gained another ability that gave them a great advantage over wild beasts: throwing. Humans could use their hands to sharpen tools and also throw things. Any wild beast would find it difficult to resist a barrage of stones, and this ability was also key to humans being able to stand out among thousands of fierce animals.

Shen Qingming had precisely counted on this. There was no escaping. If she could grab a long stick or stones, perhaps there was still a glimmer of hope. However, she forgot that this tiger was too intelligent. When it saw her picking up stones, the tiger was instantly enraged.

A deafening roar of the tiger split the silent mountain forest. Birds flew away in all directions. Shen Qingming saw a huge black shadow pounce over. Not bothering to pick up stones, she instinctively raised her only kitchen knife and slashed wildly.

The tiger had already been watching her weapon. It turned sideways and swung its long tail. The strong tiger tail swung like a club, and she, who had no strength to truss a chicken, was easily swept off her feet. The next moment, all she saw was the tiger’s paw cleaving down through the air.

Was she going to die?

Shen Qingming was in despair, but amidst the despair, she also felt a strange sense of relief. The tiger’s claws were bigger than her head, easily pressing her to the ground. The sharp claws pierced her body like a dagger.

Fresh bl00d immediately gushed out, her skin ripped open, and Shen Qingming let out a painful cry. The feeling was like being stabbed with a knife. The sharp pain made her vision go black in waves. With the loss of bl00d, her already weak body quickly lost the ability to resist. She let out a painful wail but had no strength to struggle. In fact, she didn’t even want to struggle anymore.

The tiger also seemed to realize that this prey was unbelievably weak. It looked at her again with its strange orange-red eyes. Her disheveled appearance in the bl00d-stained straw raincoat was reflected in its clear pupils. Her hair was messy, her face pale, and her eye sockets were deeply sunken, leaving two dark shadows under her eyes. Shen Qingming forcibly swallowed the metallic sweetness that kept rising in her throat, staring blankly at herself in the tiger’s eyes.

So, this was what she looked like. No wonder Shen Jinbao always called her an ugly freak. Looking at it now, she was indeed quite ugly.

Clinging to her last breath, she laboriously placed her hand on the tiger’s head. “I can give you food. Can you let my younger brother go?”

Although she knew that an animal could not possibly understand human words, at this point, she could only pray that this beast could understand. The tiger continued to look at her, as if pondering her words. Occasionally, the sound of gongs and drums seemed to come from outside the forest. Before she could confirm, the tiger pressing down on her let out another deafening roar.

A sharp pain came from her body. Before her consciousness dissipated, she saw her body leave the ground, followed by many blurry dead branches and leaves scraping across her face.

It seemed the trade was successful. Before losing consciousness, a faint, almost imperceptible curve appeared at the corner of Shen Qingming’s lips.

The villagers of Taohua Village followed the sound of gongs and drums all the way here. All that was left for them was a scene of disarray and a pool of bl00d on the ground. The reason for making such a loud noise was to scare away any nearby wild animals and also to hopefully frighten the tiger. They had all heard the tiger’s roar just now and rushed over, but they didn’t expect to find only a pool of bl00d on the ground.

The bl00d was still warm. The old man of the Shen family staggered forward, took one look, and collapsed to his knees with a thud. Shen Jinbao had been taken away by the tiger, and they had just followed the tiger here. They didn’t see the tiger or Shen Jinbao, but they saw a pool of bl00d. This directly extinguished the old man’s last hope. Two lines of tears flowed from his cloudy eyes, and he howled to the sky, “Jinbao, my good grandson!”

“Brother Shen, don’t be like this. Let’s go back first, otherwise it will be dangerous for everyone when it gets dark.” The village chief didn’t know how to comfort this man who had lost his eldest son in middle age and now his only grandson in his old age. One bad thing after another had happened to the old Shen family. Perhaps it really was a feng shui problem.

“Go back? What am I going back for? The root is broken. Let me just feed the tiger,” the old man of the Shen family seemed to have lost his mind and actually started walking into the depths of the forest in a fit of anger.

“Brother Shen, Brother Shen, calm down! There are still two sons at home, and besides, the third daughter-in-law is pregnant. You have to hold on. If all else fails, I, your elder brother, will take charge and have the clan adopt a big, healthy boy for you,” the village chief grabbed the old man and advised.

“It’s not the same, it’s not the same! I just want my Jinbao, I want a grandson, I want a grandson!” The old man Shen, at his age, was like a helpless child and couldn’t listen to any advice at all.

Seeing him like this, the villagers were all in a dilemma. Just then, the villagers who had gone out to scout the way brought good news.

“Old Shen’s family, quick! Jinbao is here, still alive!”

“Jinbao, my Jinbao!”

The old man of the Shen family ran over, stumbling and crawling. Sure enough, he saw a man carrying a boy out of the bushes opposite the stream. With a fat head, large ears, and a sturdy build, who else could it be but Shen Jinbao?

Having found his grandson after losing him, the old man of the Shen family held his grandson and cried with joy, a mixture of snot and tears, making people feel particularly emotional.

Thinking of the bloodstains on the ground, the old man quickly checked his grandson’s body. Fortunately, Shen Jinbao had only fainted and was not injured. As for whose bl00d it was, the old man had no time to think about it at all.

The old forest in the deep mountains was full of dangers. The villagers didn’t dare to delay and hurriedly left after finding the person.

The old Shen family was swept clean of despair by Shen Jinbao’s return. The whole family gathered around their only grandson, looking him over from left to right, their hearts aching with love. Only after ensuring that their grandson’s life was not in danger did the heavy weight in everyone’s hearts finally settle down.

The Shen family, immersed in the joy of surviving a disaster, hadn’t noticed anything amiss until they suddenly realized it during dinner that night.

Because of Shen Qingming’s awkward status, she usually kept her head down and stayed in the corner at home, not speaking. She was not only the person with the least presence in the old Shen family but also the person with the least presence in Taohua Village. Her disappearance went completely unnoticed. The reason they finally realized it was during dinner when the Shen family noticed that the steaming rice hadn’t been brought out for a long time. They went to the kitchen to check and found it in a mess, with the rice that hadn’t been cooked at noon still on the stove. Only then did they slap their foreheads, realizing something was wrong.

Xiao Shen was gone.

The old man of the Shen family remembered the bl00d he had seen in the mountains. Perhaps it was Xiao Shen’s.

“Husband, eldest daughter…” The old woman of the Shen family hesitated, not knowing what to say.

Unexpectedly, in stark contrast to his reaction to learning that his grandson had been taken by a tiger, the old man shook his head and stopped his wife from speaking. “We went into the mountains with so many people today and didn’t see her. Perhaps this is fate.”

His words silenced the Shen family. Their grandson’s incident meant the family line was broken. They could even die with their grandson, but their granddaughter’s incident was simply relegated to an insignificant “fate.” Perhaps it wasn’t fate, but no one in the Shen family spoke out in opposition.

“She was a good child, but her life was hard.” A sigh that seemed like a lament dissolved into the air, dissipating. The dim light of the oil lamp reflected the shadows of the Shen family eating together. The black shadows were cast on the mud wall. They were eating rice, and because the shadows were overlapping, it looked like one person was holding another and gnawing on them.

Shen Qingming’s disappearance didn’t cause any great uproar in the old Shen family. In fact, not only the old Shen family but the entire Taohua Village remained mostly unaffected. Only Madam Li occasionally gazed at the old Shen family’s courtyard in a daze, as if in a trance, the small figure bent over by pig feed and firewood still walked past the door.