The group of teenagers around the girl who looked like Qing You laughed heartily just as she said that but Qing You who was washing clothes at the front yard remained unfazed.
The girl was Qing You’s biological elder sister, Liu Qi. Before Qing You was abducted, her name was Liu Xin. Qing You was only her pseudonym.
When Yun Jian saw Qing You, the latter was still scrubbing a big basin of clothes in front of the house. The large basin was filled with clothes with a washboard laid beside it. Qing You was currently scrubbing a garment against it.
Yun Jian and her company could hear Liu Qi’s voice from where they were. Frowning, she led Si Yi, Yun Yi, and Yun Zhu over to them briskly.
“Make her leave! Get out of our house! Scram! She killed mom! It’s all her fault! If she hadn’t been playful back then, she wouldn’t get abducted! Mom wouldn’t have died!”
When Yun Jian and the boys came to the door, an enraged bark of harangue was heard from the inside of the house. Then, a young man of 18 or 19 years old stomped out of it. An old man in his fifties followed behind him, tugging the angry young man in grief and limping out as he kept his grip on the young man’s clothes.
There was a gleam in Yun Jian’s eyes. She did not know much about Qing You’s family and Qing You finding them again was something that happened in the recent two years. When she found her family, she returned home during Lunar New Year but would go back to Gu Sha Mercenaries swiftly.
As Yun Jian did not know much about Qing You’s affairs, she was surprised when she was greeted by this scene visiting Qing You’s house for the first time.
“Dad! Your leg hasn’t healed. You can’t come down and walk!” Qing You stood up immediately to go to the old man when she saw him coming up pulling the young man’s sleeves.
The old man was Qing You’s biological father, Liu Tie, a local farmer.
Luo Village did not have other job opportunities. Most people here depended on nature and farming. They sowed and farmed, reaped their hard work and sold them for money.
“Piss off! We don’t need a hypocrite like you!” The young man shoved Qing You away, barking at her.
Qing You was able to halt her stable steps from the hard shove and was not pushed to the ground but she was anguished like needles were pricking her heart.
“Oh, my Xiao Xin…” Liu Tie wiped his tears and came for Qing You.
“Ge, I’ll ask our uncles here to be the judge of this! How dare she freeload in our house! Humph!” Liu Qi scoffed at Qing You as she told the young man before gathering her friends and went out in search of said uncles.
The angry young man was Qing You’s elder brother, Liu Ziyun.
There were three children in Qing You’s family. Liu Ziyun was the elder brother, Liu Qi was the elder sister and then it was Liu Xin, who was also known as Qing You.
Liu Tie was Qing You’s birth father while Qing You’s birth mother had passed away.
When she was younger, Qing You was a defiant child insisting to go out and play. She was about seven to nine years old then and got abducted when she asked to play hide-and-seek with her mother.
Qing You’s mother watched her get taken away in a van. When she gave chase with all her might, the car had driven off. Since then, her mother grew weaker, consumed by the trauma and guilt.
As parents, Qing You’s mother and Liu Tie had never given up the search for their lost daughter. It was five years ago when a fellow villager saw a child who looked like Liu Xin kneeling and begging somewhere in Xin City and told Qing You’s mother.