ch 46 – The Path Was Narrow (3)

　　“Your tongue will rot! You ungrateful, miserable girl! Your whole body will rot from head to toe, turn into a puddle of bloody mess that even the wolves won’t eat….” If the damned girl didn’t escape, she would not have been beaten. Thinking about the two taels that she had and lost, Mrs. Gu felt that someone had scooped out a piece of her heart. That made her want to jump up and bite a few pieces of flesh off of Gu Ye.

　　“Ge, let her keep going! Do you remember that last time how she lost her voice for a month after she shouted at us? Obviously she hadn’t learned anything from that!” Gu Ye tugged at her brother, walked around Mrs. Gu from afar, and walked toward the canopy.

　　“You damned child! You stand right there! Have you no manners? Your elders are talking to you! Where do you think you are going?” Mrs. Gu was jumping up and down in anger and she reached out to grab Gu Ye.

　　Gu Ye took a sidestep and avoided her grab. She looked at her coldly and said, “Are you talking to me? I couldn’t tell you are saying anything sensible. You are right, I have no manners. Because I did not have a mother to raise me since the day I was born!”

　　“Oh, you ungrateful magnet of bad luck. What do you mean you have no mother? Stepmother is mother too!” Mrs. Gu suddenly noticed a corner of a shaobing poking out from the side of her chest. She reached out and grabbed while shouting, “You damned child, hiding food from us. Your dad and I hadn’t eaten in a whole day and you didn’t even offer up your food to us. What kind of ungrateful kids are you two?”

　　“Give that back to me! That my brother and my food for tomorrow! You give that back now!” The two siblings had bought two more shaobing before they left the town. Gu Ye was in charge of carrying them in her chest when in reality she had hidden them inside the dimension. Just a moment ago, she had telepathically picked out some powder from her laboratory and added to one of the shaobing being letting Mrs. Gu noticed it intentionally. Sure enough, the shaobing with the added substances ended up in Mrs. Gu’s hands.

　　Mrs. Gu shoved her aside and broke the shaobing into two and handed the bigger piece to her man, “Quick, eat! Don’t let that two brats take it back! Scram, what do you mean yours? Everything of yours came from me. Another word from you and I will beat you to a pulp!”

　　As she spoke, she opened her big mouth and started eating the shaobing. On top of the two taels, even the money that they had brought with them were taken by the female trafficker and her two hatchet men. The couple had already shamelessly asked to spend a night at a village just outside of the town. With no food in them and walked for an entire day, they were already starving.

　　“Mei mei, don’t bother fighting with them. I still have two meat buns stashed away in my back basket! Let’s get some rest. We still have a long way in front of us tomorrow!” Gu Ming stopped his sister and whispered into her ears.

　　“Come, little girl. We can squeeze in two more here!” Inside the canopy it was already chalked full of travelers who arrived before them. In the very far back, a slightly chubby woman shoved her man a bit and made room just enough for one person and waved at this pair of siblings. Her eyes filled with compassion for them.

　　“Thank you, Aunty!” Gu Ye didn’t like sleeping next to someone, but there really were no more room inside the canopy. It was already deep autumn; if they were to sleep outside, it would get quite cold at night. Choosing the lesser of the two devils, she had no choice but to walk toward the slightly chubby woman.

　　Gu Ming knew that his sister didn’t like to sleep with strangers so he gave her the inside corner and slept between her and the others. Gu Qiao and Mrs. Gu each had half a shaobing and, see that there were really no more room inside the canopy, they looked for a spot inside the courtyard that provided shelter from the wind and laid down on top of a thin layer of straw. They snuggled each other for warmth. When Mrs. Gu was having her shaobing, she ate it with garlic; now even her breath stank like garlic, which made Gu Qiao felt very disgusting.

　　Everybody was tired. It wasn’t long before snoring was heard from inside the canopy. Gu Ye, laying on a thick layer of straw, looked over at the directly of Mrs. Gu and a bone-chilling smile crossed her face.