novelSusiti Chapter 4 Pulling the Hook
Chapter 4 Pulling the Hook
Wang Zhi walked over and squatted down next to her. There was indeed an ant in the grass, circling in place.
"It might be looking for food."
"It's searching for food all by itself, so pitiful." Si Zi put the bamboo dragonfly aside, rested her hands on her knees, and looked down at the ant. "Do ants have mothers too?"
"have."
"Won't its mother worry about it?"
"It might just come out to work, and then go home after it's done."
The rhinoceros stared at the ant for a while, then spoke to it very seriously: "You should go home soon. It's getting dark. If you don't go home, your mother will worry. When your mother is worried, she coughs—"
She paused suddenly, her mouth still open but no sound coming out, as if something was blocking it.
She stood up and dusted her hands off. She didn't mention the ants again.
The sun had already dipped below the edge of the courtyard wall. Wang Zhi estimated it was almost late afternoon.
The shadow of the jujube tree stretched long, all the way under the stone table.
The faint sound of horses' hooves could be heard from the other side of the mountain.
Si Zi was squatting on the ground picking up bamboo dragonflies when he heard the sound of horses' hooves and suddenly stopped.
She tilted her head and listened for a while, then her expression changed—not out of fear, but like someone who had been caught doing something wrong.
The sound of horses' hooves grew closer. Three horses.
Sizi stood up, clutching the bamboo dragonfly, and ran behind Wang Zhihuan to hide. One hand gripped the hem of his clothes tightly.
"Pretty guy," she said in a low voice, "someone's coming."
"Yes, brother heard you."
"It's Uncle Chen." As she said this, she peeked half her face out towards the courtyard gate before quickly retreating. "He's definitely here to see Sizi... Sizi has been out for too long..."
She lowered her head, her hands twisting together, and began talking to herself again: "Sizi shouldn't have run away on her own... Uncle Chen must be so worried..."
"My parents must be so worried... Sizi knows she was wrong, but she didn't mean it... It's just that the lucky butterfly was too beautiful..."
As she spoke her last sentence, her voice trailed off, and she knew that the reason "the butterfly is too beautiful" was untenable.
Three horses stopped at the gate of the courtyard. Three men jumped off the horses, the leader being a middle-aged man in his forties.
He had a square face, thick eyebrows, and stood very straight. He walked with large, quick steps and entered the courtyard in just a few steps.
He glanced around, his gaze first landing on Wang Zhihuan, then immediately shifting to behind Wang Zhihuan.
The moment he saw Sizi, his shoulders visibly relaxed.
It was a process of going from tense to relaxed, so relaxed that I felt half an inch shorter.
"Young lady!" He knelt down in front of Sizi. "Where have you been?! I've been looking for you all day!"
His tone was one of suppressed anger—not real anger, but the kind of simmering rage that was desperate but dared not let out.
It sounded like a father scolding his daughter, but there was a clear hint of fear in his words.
Sizi walked out from behind Wang Zhihuan, head down, hiding the bamboo dragonfly behind her back.
She knew she was wrong, but she wasn't good at admitting it, so she just stood there, rubbing her toes together a couple of times.
"I'm sorry, Uncle Chen..." she said softly, "Sizi went chasing butterflies and then got lost."
Then I walked and walked for a very, very long time. Then I met a handsome guy.
Guoguo cooked a really nice meal for Sizi. Pretty Guoguo even showed Sizi a bamboo dragonfly—it can fly!
When she mentioned the bamboo dragonfly, her eyes lit up again, and her voice became louder, completely forgetting that she was admitting her mistake.
Then she suddenly remembered that she should admit her mistake, so she quickly lowered her head again, but secretly glanced at Commander Chen's reaction out of the corner of her eye.
Commander Chen's brows relaxed considerably the moment he saw that Si Zi was unharmed. He stood up and turned his gaze to Wang Zhihuan.
That gaze was scrutinizing.
A quick glance from head to toe—cloth clothes, muddy cloth shoes, calloused hands, relaxed but not sloppy posture.
There was nothing suspicious about it. But he still frowned slightly.
"Thank you for taking my young lady in, sir." He clasped his hands in a respectful but distant tone. "May I ask your honorable name, sir?"
"Wang Zhihuan. The owner of this farm."
"Young Master Wang, I will repay your kindness another day." He bent down to take Si Zi's hand. "Young lady, it's getting late, we should go back."
Sizi took a step back.
She hid the bamboo dragonfly behind her back, concealing it tightly. She blinked several times, pursed her lips, and bit her lower lip until it turned white.
"But... Sizi doesn't want to leave yet..." Her voice was already trembling with tears, her eyes were red and glistening with moisture, "Sizi hasn't learned how to fly the bamboo dragonfly to the clouds yet... Sizi only practiced for a little while..."
She lowered her head, twirling the bamboo stick of the bamboo dragonfly in her fingers, spinning it round and round.
She didn't cry. She just bit her lower lip tightly, tears welling up in her eyes, stubbornly refusing to fall.
Commander Chen looked troubled: "Young lady, it's really getting late. If we don't go back soon, our families will be worried."
"But he's a handsome guy..."
Wang Zhihuan squatted down.
Sizi raised her eyes and looked at him.
There were tears welling up in those eyes, and something else entirely—
It was as if she hoped he would say something, yet also as if she was afraid he would tell her to leave as soon as he opened his mouth.
"Sizi," Wang Zhihuan said, "the bamboo dragonfly will still be here tomorrow. Guoguo will still be here too. Come tomorrow, and Guoguo will teach you how to roll it up as high as the jujube tree."
"Really? We can fly to the jujube tree tomorrow?"
"Of course, our Sizi is so smart, he will definitely be able to do it after a few more practices."
"Then—" Sizi looked down at the bamboo dragonfly in her hand, "If Sizi hadn't come, would Pretty Boy have played with the bamboo dragonfly by himself?"
"Brother, we're waiting for you to come and play together."
Sizi stared at him for a long while. Then she took the bamboo dragonfly out from behind her and handed it to Wang Zhihuan.
"Here you go," she said.
"Aren't you taking it back?"
"Sizi will come to play again tomorrow. If we take him back, we'll bring him back again tomorrow. Horses run so fast, what if he falls off on the road?"
She spoke with such seriousness, as if she were entrusting something important, "Keep the pretty pot in your possession, we can play together again tomorrow when Sizi comes. Don't give it to that neighbor, Gou Dan, whom you just mentioned—"
"You can take it back. I have more here. I promise you, I won't give any of these to Gou Dan."
"Really? Brother, you still have some. That's great! But even if you do have some, you can't give them to anyone. These are all from Sizi."
"Fine, I won't give it to anyone."
Sizi was satisfied. She held up her little finger.
"Pinky promise."
Wang Zhi also extended his little finger and hooked it around hers.
The little finger was as thin as a bamboo skewer, and when it hooked up, it carried a unique warmth characteristic of a child.
"Pinky promise."
"It's the little dog that doesn't keep its word."
"Fine, whoever goes back on their word is a little puppy."
"Hey handsome, can I bring my sister over to play tomorrow? My sister is so cute, she's really pretty, just as pretty as you."
"Okay, no problem. Whatever makes you happy."
Si Zi loosened her grip and walked to Commander Chen's side. Commander Chen helped her onto his horse.
She was on horseback when she turned around and shouted something to Wang Zhi, but the horse had already started moving and the sound was carried away by the wind, so she couldn't hear it clearly.
The three horses kicked up dust as they headed towards Chang'an.
Wang Zhi stood at the courtyard gate for a while. The sound of horses' hooves grew farther and farther away, eventually being drowned out by the chirping of insects.
The jujube tree in the yard rustled in the wind. When the bamboo dragonfly bumped into it, it knocked off a leaf, which fell onto the stone table. It was a fresh, green leaf.
He turned and went back into the courtyard.
The Merit System popped up a notification: "Host, treat lost children kindly, merit points +80."
Eighty points. That's not a low percentage; how many good deeds would you have to do for the tenants to earn eighty points?
He wouldn't even think of that; there are plenty of families around here who can afford nice clothes and guards.
However, for a servant to be so afraid, this family must have very strict rules.
He collected the bowls from the stone table and took them to the kitchen to wash them. The bamboo dragonfly rested on the windowsill, and when the evening breeze blew, the bamboo leaves spun slightly twice.