Gu Qingcheng's family had plenty of meat and fish, and after eating their fill, Gu Chaobei decided it was time for bed.
Gu Qingcheng said she was going to brush her teeth and wash her face before coming back. Gu Chaobei didn't think much of it; he washed up himself and went to bed with his wife.
He didn't know that Gu Qingcheng, using the cover of night, had quietly crept towards Old Man Gu's family's campsite.
Old Man Gu's family's campsite was more than 500 meters away. Because they had quite a few sons, they had managed to secure a relatively flat piece of land.
When Gu Qingcheng approached, they hadn't all fallen asleep yet, especially Old Man Gu and his wife, who were looking haggard as they tended to Gu Dou.
Liu Cui was wiping her son's forehead to cool him down. Touching him, she exclaimed in surprise:
"Oh dear, why does our son seem to have a fever?"
"Tomorrow, I'll go by the river and find some fish mint to make soup for him. It should help bring down the fever," Old Man Gu said.
Villagers always had their own folk remedies.
But this statement sounded suspicious. He had a fever now, yet they wouldn't go collect medicinal herbs until tomorrow.
Gu Qingcheng let out a cold laugh inwardly.
If she were to laugh, her parents wouldn't be able to sit still; they would have gone to collect herbs immediately.
Even though Gu Dou was a son, he was wandering around so late at night. Old Man Gu was too lazy to move, thinking his son wouldn't be too bad if he lasted the night, so he didn't want to go collect herbs.
Liu Cui herself didn't want to go either. Hearing her husband's words, she chimed in:
"That's true, Dou'er has always been healthy. Maybe he'll be better after tonight."
Gu Dou was in pain all over his body, and combined with the fever, he was groggy. Hearing that his parents were too lazy to even pick herbs, he couldn't help but feel resentment. When they were old, he would see how he treated them.
"Hey, why did our son go looking for food from Liu Dazhuang for no reason? He was never like this before!" Old Man Gu asked his wife, bewildered.
Gu Dou, lying beside them, became extremely agitated upon hearing this. His father was finally being smart for once.
He quickly whimpered, "It's Qingquan (Qingcheng)..."
He was in so much pain that his words slurred.
Unfortunately, Old Man Gu, who had a rare moment of clarity, had no idea what his whimpers meant. He happily told Liu Cui that Gu Dou seemed to be getting better and even had the strength to cry out.
Only Gu Qingcheng understood. Gu Dou was repeatedly calling out "Qingcheng, Qingcheng..."
Damn it, Qingcheng my ass...
Gu Qingcheng was furious. If this guy got better and could speak, he would undoubtedly spout nonsense and drag her into trouble, and the Gu family would inevitably find fault with her again.
The thought of Old Man Gu's entire family coming out in full force, and the immense trouble it would cause, made Gu Qingcheng detest Gu Dou even more.
Liu Cui and Old Man Gu were too busy chatting to notice that their son's eyes suddenly widened, his mouth gaped open, appearing choked and unable to speak.
Gu Dou was like this because he was scared.
He saw Gu Qingcheng stand up in the dark, flicker before him, and disappear.
But by the light of the bonfire, Gu Dou could feel that Gu Qingcheng had cast him an unfriendly gaze.
Furthermore, before disappearing, Gu Qingcheng had brandished the knife in her hand as a threat. This was a fruit knife Gu Qingcheng had bought casually from the supermarket for twenty-one yuan.
Gu Dou was even more frightened. He felt a warmth flow down his body. It seemed he had urinated himself.
He didn't bother with disgust. He whimpered, and Gu Qingcheng chuckled, turning away and vanishing into the night.
Gu Dou was terrified. He felt that Gu Qingcheng's actions were a warning to him, meaning she intended to make him suffer.
So he urgently tried to tell his parents that Gu Qingcheng was going to harm him. But after calling out for a while, no one paid attention to him. They all thought he was in pain from his wound and found him bothersome.
Gu Mi, tired of listening, took advantage of his uncle's family's inattention and struck Gu Dou on the neck with the flat of his hand, knocking him unconscious.
Now it was good. Gu Dou was unconscious and no longer crying. The Gu family felt a sense of peace, and none of them thought to investigate why Gu Dou had stopped crying.
In the latter half of the night, everyone was sound asleep.
In the middle of the night, Gu Dou suddenly woke up. He felt a faint movement beside him.
He forced his eyes open and saw a face wrapped in black cloth. He couldn't tell who it was at first.
But the eyes exposed outside the black cloth were bright and sparkling, like stars in the sky, emitting an alluring glow. They winked at him, mischievous and smug.
Ahhh, it's Gu Qingcheng!
When Gu Dou recognized Gu Qingcheng, he was instantly stunned.
Gu Qingcheng, why are you here?
He wanted to shout but couldn't. He felt a sharp prick on his neck, caused by Gu Qingcheng.
"Nothing much, just some glucose-lowering medication," she said.
Of course, people with high blood sugar would be fine after being injected, but people with normal blood pressure who were given an overdose of glucose-lowering medication would die.
Gu Qingcheng pulled out the needle and headed back.
Passing by the river, she pulled out the metal needle and threw it into the river. The plastic syringe was then discarded into a villager's bonfire as she passed by.
A pungent smoke rose from the bonfire, and the plastic syringe quickly lost its shape.
As dawn broke, a few wails of grief echoed from Old Man Gu's camp. Liu Cui had woken up to find her son unresponsive. When she touched him, she discovered he had gone cold.
Liu Cui, a middle-aged woman who had lost her son, immediately burst into inconsolable sobs.
Since leaving their village to flee famine, the villagers had heard such crying every few days along the road. They were used to it, merely shaking their heads and offering their condolences.
Everyone assumed Gu Dou's death was due to the fever from his injuries after fighting with Liu Dazhuang, and no one suspected that Gu Qingcheng had secretly intervened.
After all, the needle marks were so fine that even the most skilled doctor today couldn't identify them as needle marks. They would at most assume he had been bitten by a mosquito or some other insect.
Liu Cui cried and beat her chest, cursing Liu Dazhuang and his family, crying and clamoring to go settle the score with Liu Dazhuang.
With a life lost, the situation became quite chaotic. Village Chief Gu had to step in to mediate.
Liu Dazhuang admitted to hitting Gu Dou, but the fact was that Gu Dou had provoked him first and had initiated the physical altercation. If Liu Dazhuang hadn't been able to defend himself, he would have been beaten senseless by Gu Dou.
"Indeed, if not for Dazhuang's sturdy build and good fighting skills, he wouldn't have been able to subdue Gu Dou. Gu Dou was like a madman that day, rushing to snatch Dazhuang's food."
The eyewitnesses from that day were also found by Liu the butcher.
Liu Dazhuang argued that he had hit Gu Dou in self-defense, and at most, he had been a bit heavy-handed. However, if he hadn't been heavy-handed, he wouldn't have been able to stop Gu Dou's frenzied assault.
"Gu Dou asking me for food was like he was possessed by a ghost, he was crazy," Liu Dazhuang said, still feeling a sense of dread remembering the fight.
There were quite a few villagers watching the fight that day, so some villagers supported Liu Dazhuang's account.
However, the Gu family insisted that no matter what, he shouldn't have beaten the person to death. Both sides stuck to their guns, unwilling to yield, each with their own reasons.
Finally, Village Chief Gu said that they could either sit down and negotiate, or they could report it to the authorities and pursue the matter once they reached Jinsha City.