I used rebirth to bury his captivating gaze.

Chapter 28 The Old Lady's Yellow Hen Flies Out of the Cellar

"Make them open the box." Yang Hong walked up to the yellow box and yanked Yang Zhannan aside.

The two lackeys stared intently at Director Wang, unsure whether they should open the yellow box or not.

"Why are you two looking at me like that? Didn't Uncle Yang tell you to open it? Are you blind? Do you expect Uncle Yang to open it for you?" Director Wang said, winking at them with his rat-like eyes. It was like a feint.

"Yes, sir, we'll open them right away." The two henchmen had just turned around and reached out to open the two yellow boxes at the same time, but before they could even touch them, Yang Hong instantly opened the wooden lids of both yellow boxes simultaneously.

"Thank you, sir." The two henchmen said, then immediately looked down into the yellow box, only to be stunned into silence!

Then they all shouted at the same time, "This is too creepy!"

Director Wang, startled, took a few quick steps, and when he reached the two boxes and took a closer look, he was dumbfounded. Then, dejected, he turned around and ordered, "Withdraw. Go to another place and continue searching. I don't believe that Big Belly can fly."

Then, seeing Yang Hong still standing beside him, he immediately put on a fake smile, "Uncle, please forgive me, it was a false alarm! Go to another room to look!" Director Wang said to his two henchmen with an air of arrogance.

"Cough cough!"

When Director Wang heard Yang Hong cough twice, he suddenly remembered that he needed to consult Yang Hong before going to find someone in another room.

First, we need to make a show of it and ask for his opinion. In any case, we need to give him face, since the Yang family is the head of the largest household in the village.

When her son got married, she had furniture made, and Yang Hongke Ling herself gave it to her for free. The finished furniture was very exquisite and fashionable at the time.

Now, who knows, maybe one day when my grandson gets married, I'll find a new successor, Yang Zhannan, to make furniture for my grandson. And when my grandson has a son, he'll be my grandson too.

His own grandson was getting married again, and he needed to make furniture. He also needed to find a successor for the Yang family's carpentry skills, since the Yang family's ancestral carpentry skills were so good that no other carpenter in the village could match the skills of the Yang family men.

She thought for a moment and almost laughed at herself, "Oh my god, this is leaving myself too many escape routes... By then I'll be a fox spirit grandma."

She calmed herself down for a moment, then smiled at Yang Hong, whose face was cold, and said, "Uncle, may I look in another room in your yard?"

Hearing that she was saving face for him in front of so many family members, Yang Hong took the opportunity to back down, then nodded slightly with an unpleasant expression.

Director Wang was immediately delighted at the prospect, and raised an arm, "Let's go!" He took a step, then suddenly stopped, turned around, and asked playfully, "Uncle Yang, what about your east wing...the old lady?"

"Go ahead and do as you please, but you must follow the old lady's instructions," Yang Hong replied indifferently.

"Great!" She said triumphantly, leading the two of them quickly out of the south wing room.

Yang Hong then sent Yang Chong and Yang Zhi to follow behind Director Wang.

Yang Zhannan walked a few steps ahead to the yellow boxes, and after looking inside, he was completely dumbfounded. He had clearly put his younger brother and sister-in-law's two youngest children inside, so why were the two big yellow boxes empty?

Other family members who were unaware of the situation also came closer and were dazzled by what they saw.

Director Wang, accompanied by two assistants, then inspected the west wing, the north wing, and after consulting with Old Master Yang, even inspected the east wing.

The three men inspected every chest and cabinet in the east wing. The items in every nook and cranny had to be rummaged through by the brothers Yang Chong and Yang Zhi, whom Yang Hong had sent beforehand. The old lady wouldn't let strangers touch them, fearing that they would dirty the things she had accumulated over her lifetime.

The old lady's actions were a huge favor to Director Wang, thanks to the old man and woman from the Yang family. It was because Director Wang owed the Yang family a favor back then.

At the same time, the reason why Mr. and Mrs. Yang received special respect from Director Wang was not because they were old. When their eldest son got married, Yang Hong made wedding furniture for him. The wedding was done in debt, so they didn't pay Yang the carpenter for the furniture making. Yang Hong has never asked for that money to this day.

Director Wang still had some conscience and didn't forget about this incident. Later, the girl who was originally from the same village grew up and married into another village, becoming the wife of a poor family. For some reason, she became the women's director of her husband's village. Now, she has been transferred from the women's director position to the family planning office in this commune.

This is her profession, and she must do what a professional should do. Yang Hong must allow her to do what she is supposed to do. But she cannot take shortcuts or gain any personal benefit from it; Yang Hong does not approve of that.

Anyway, Yang Hong nodded, so they could come and go freely in the compound.

Finally, Yang Hong declared that this was the limit and there would be no next time.

The three men searched all the rooms but found no trace of anything amiss. Then they stood together in the center of the courtyard, wondering if there was anywhere else in the courtyard where someone could hide.

"Director, we've thoroughly inspected all the houses, the yard, and even the toilets and kitchen. We also checked the yard outside their compound before we came. There are over a dozen white geese there!" As Wu Da spoke, he felt a trickle of icy water run down one corner of his mouth.

"Wu Da, you get hungry just talking about geese, your mouth is practically dripping with ice. If you love goose meat, go home and raise it for a few days, don't covet other people's."

"What nonsense are you talking about? What if his goose goes missing? Won't he suspect me of stealing it?"

"How can someone speak when their mouth is frozen by ice water?"

"In this cold weather, it's no wonder your saliva freezes!"

"Shut up, you two are arguing again. If we run out of places to look, we'll leave."

"That's all, let's go home, Director. It's too cold, I'm about to catch a cold." Wu Da sniffled.

"Okay, let's go." The Yang family members ran out of the house and stood in the yard watching the three walk towards the gate. Yang Zhanxi went over to close the gate.

Suddenly the three of them stopped.

"Director, we haven't searched the backyard of the south wing yet."

"Stop looking. If you keep looking, I'll end up leaving myself here."

"Wu Da, go inside and warm up. Director Wang and I will go find him."

“Xiqing, that won’t do. The female director should go inside and warm up. We’ll go find her.”

"Stop nagging, Wu Da, go inside and warm up. Let's go to the backyard and search, Xi Qing. I really don't believe in ghosts. That pregnant woman clearly had a tall man and several children with her when they entered this yard. How did they just disappear? I'm sure they're a family. Could this family have the ability to go anywhere?"

"Director, this family wouldn't have let that fox chicken get away with it, would they?" After saying that, Wu Da made a fox face, widened his eyes, and leaned close to Xi Qing, gesturing for him to see.

"Get lost! You think I'm afraid of you?"

As they spoke, the three of them turned on the light from their respective tin flashlights and ran straight towards the backyard of the south wing!

Standing in front of the house were the Yang family members: Yang Zhannan, Yang Zhanxi, Yang Zhanbei, Yang Chong, Yang Zhi, Yang Yuhan, Yang Yuqiu, and Liu Shulan. Everyone's heart was in their throat. Yang Yuhan almost laughed out loud when she saw the worried looks on their faces.

After learning the reason for the incident, Yang Hong went back to his room early after the children advised him that it was too cold outside and he should not catch a cold.

Diao Yan and Yang Yumei were still fast asleep when they were woken up by the three people searching them. After roughly understanding what was going on, they decided not to join in the fun because it was too cold and they were afraid of getting sick.

Similarly, Yang Chong, his wife, and their two children were awakened by the search. The two children cried for a while before quieting down. After the search, his wife and children went back to sleep, while Yang Chong went to join in the commotion.

Several members of the Yang family standing in the front yard hurriedly followed the three men to the back yard. They saw two henchmen bending down to remove some corn stalks covering the entrance to the vegetable cellar. It was obvious that the corn stalks were being used as a cover, and there must be something going on underneath. The two men then quickened their pace.

After quickly removing the corn stalks that were covering the entrance, the two henchmen simultaneously and swiftly opened the wooden lid on the cellar entrance. The lid was square in size and nailed together with three small pieces of elm wood and large iron nails, without any lock.

At this moment, Yang Zhanbei was about to step forward to stop him when the second brother grabbed his arm. In the moonlight, Yang Zhannan shook his head at his long-awaited, handsome, dark face.

They settled in Beiding. Then, the Yang family members, their hearts pounding, looked towards the entrance of the vegetable cellar.

The moment the two henchmen opened the wooden planks at the entrance of the cellar, they smelled a damp, musty odor emanating from it!

The two then bent down and looked into the cellar. It was too dark inside. Apart from the smell of cabbage leaves, red radishes, green radishes, yellow carrots and green onions, they couldn't see anything!

The two could not see what the cellar looked like, but Wu Da imagined that every rural family's courtyard had such a cellar, and his own family was no exception. Inside, vegetables from the autumn harvest of each family's vegetable plots, allocated by the production team, were stored to feed the family throughout the winter.

After the land was distributed to individual households, each family's vegetable plots would be reclaimed by the production brigade as part of the allocated land. Of course, that's a story for later, and it's something that will be realized in just a few years.

Director Wang stood at the entrance of the vegetable cellar, stamping her feet anxiously. Whether it was from the freezing temperature of minus thirty degrees Celsius or her eagerness to see the results inside the cellar, she grimaced and asked, "What did you two see? Hurry up and tell me. You're such a damn slowpoke."

"Director, I can't see anything, it just smells like rotten vegetable leaves."

"You two step aside, let me see," Director Wang said, bending down so that her face was almost touching the entrance of the cellar. As soon as she stuck her head out, a red fox-like chicken rushed out from under the cellar, almost hitting Director Wang's wife's face!

Director Wang fell flat on his back, his body forming a large "大" shape.

Two henchmen went to help her up, but Wu Da's feet slipped, and coincidentally, she fell into the vegetable cellar.

Xi Qing tried to grab Wu Da's short leg, but failed and ended up falling into a toad-like position! In the end, he landed face down in the shape of the Chinese character "太".

Director Wang was furious to see Xi Qing lying there with a livid face, so he decided to struggle to his feet himself.

The director noticed that Wu Da, who had fallen into the vegetable cellar, hadn't come out for a while, so he sent Xi Qing down to check on him.

At this moment, the Yang family also ran to the entrance of the cellar, fearing that if someone were to die, since it was their own cellar, they would have no way to defend themselves!

Just as Xi Qing was about to go down, he saw Wu Da climb up the long wooden ladder that the Yang family had placed at the entrance of the vegetable cellar, looking rather dusty.

"Xiqing, why aren't you going down there yet? What are you dawdling about?"

"Director, Wu Daren is coming up."

"He's coming up, you go down too." Director Wang hadn't sorted out his emotions and suddenly felt dizzy from the cold weather.

"The director has come up, why do you want me to go down?"

"Wu Da is coming up. Quickly ask him what he saw? Did he find anyone?"

"Hmm." Xi Qing muttered to himself, "You only care about your work. Who knows how badly Wu Da got hurt?"

"Are you mute or not going to ask?" Director Wang asked towards the vegetable cellar entrance, but there was no reply.

Wu Da slowly continued to climb the top section of the wooden ladder with both feet, and finally Xi Qing bent down and stretched out a long arm to pull him up.

At this moment, the anxiety of the Yang family members was relieved!

"Wu Da, tell me quickly, what did you see?"

Wu Da, his face covered in black dust, sat at the entrance of the vegetable cellar, looking at Director Wang's anxious expression, and then slowly said, "Director, I saw it, I saw it..."

"You saw it, you saw it! Hey, why did I repeat what you said? Stop stammering. Is there really that pregnant woman in the vegetable cellar?"

Under Director Wang's questioning, Wu Da glanced at his own people, then at the Yang family, and finally fixed his cloudy gaze on his own people. He then moved his stiff lips slightly and slowly said...

"Director, Xiqing, you two listen carefully. I saw piles of cabbage stalks and rotten leaves in the vegetable cellar... and I also saw things I shouldn't have seen..."

"Alright, stop keeping me in suspense, just tell me..."

Finally, Wu Da vaguely saw that Xi Qing's face was covered in bruises, and then said intermittently, "I, I saw it, Ximen Qing went to find Pan Jinlian, and his face was all bruised from being beaten by Wu Song. Look at Xi Qing's face, isn't it ashen... Ha..." After Wu Da finished speaking, he was too weak to continue and lay down on his back.

Xi Qing was about to yell at him in anger when he exclaimed in surprise, "Director, Wu Da has fainted."

“That kid was really lucky. No wonder he said he was going to catch a cold and then fell into the cellar. Xiqing, you're tall, carry him home.”

"Ah! I'm tall. We came here on bicycles. How did we manage to carry it all the way back to our home on Tuanding Mountain, which is more than eight miles away?"

"We have to carry him even if we can't. Are we supposed to just leave him with someone else?"

"Alright, put him in my room in the south wing to warm up. I'll go to the old lady in the east wing to get a pill. He'll feel better immediately after taking it, and you can leave right away."

"Second Uncle, we can't let them stay..." Yang Zhi said.

His response was to quickly head straight for the east wing of the courtyard.

Sure enough, after taking the tiny, round, black pill that Yang Zhannan had given him from the old lady—a very rare one made by his own family—Wu Da recovered in no time! He was full of energy and had strength again!

Every spring, my grandmother would plant a dozen or so of these tiny black pill-shaped seeds in the small garden behind the house. After they sprouted and grew strong, they blossomed in several different and beautiful colors.

There are white, pink, red, purple, and black ones. The petals fall off and the fruit grows. Grandma takes Grandpa's shaving blade and gently scrapes the fruit, and white sap immediately flows out. The white sap is put into a small glass bottle and becomes a black substance!

Later, with the passing of my grandparents, this beautiful flower was never seen again!

The three thanked him and left the east room of the south wing, then left the Yang family's gate.

Director Wang was still not giving up, saying, "Come again tomorrow. I won't act until I see results."

The three of them walked a few steps away from the gate when Director Wang was suddenly stopped by Yang Zhanbei. The two of them walked a little further away to talk.

He pulled out a wad of banknotes he had prepared beforehand from his pocket. "Sister-in-law, take this, don't think it's too little."

From this point on, my aunt's case of being a "guerrilla" for having more children than allowed came to an end!

It's snowing. There are still six or seven days until Yuqiu's wedding day, and the snowflakes are falling heavier and heavier...