novelraw Chapter 181 The Person Has Not Returned
Chapter 181 The Person Has Not Returned
Chapter 181 The Person Has Not Returned
After putting the bayonet into his system inventory, Gu Tang was fairly satisfied with the random gift pack he had drawn; at least his personal safety was now guaranteed.
The only drawback is that it would be better if the bayonet were replaced with a crossbow, which has a much higher killing power.
But that's not a big problem. She can sign in a few more times and maybe she'll get lucky. You never know when it comes to things that rely on luck.
Picking up the machete, axe, and other items from the ground, Gu Tang put them back in the backyard and kitchen, intending to use them again tomorrow.
Back inside, I examined the backflow incense again. The incense was still smooth and oily, without a single crack or fading. It was almost completely dry. It would be ready in another day or two.
When her father comes back tomorrow, they can go sell incense the day after tomorrow.
Gu Tang's plan was quite good, but she didn't expect that her father, Gu Lianshan, would not return the next day.
The next morning, the first thing Gu Tang did after waking up was to check on the backflow incense. By then, the incense was almost completely dry. She was in a great mood and waited quietly in the room for her father to return.
She waited from morning till night, but her father didn't even show up!
Gu Tang, who wasn't too worried at first, started to get restless as darkness fell.
I went to the main room and found my third uncle, wanting to ask him for advice on whether we should ask someone to look for him.
Third Uncle had been on tenterhooks all day. When Gu Tang suggested finding someone to search for them, he had no objection. However, he wondered where to look.
"When your father left, he didn't say where he was going, only that he would come back today. We've sent people to look for him, but where should we even begin?"
Gu Tang was stunned, clearly having forgotten about this as well, and immediately looked annoyed: "I saw that he looked unwell yesterday, but I didn't ask him anything. Now I don't know where to look for him!"
"Sister, don't worry." Gu Ping'an put down the pen in his hand and comforted her, "You've forgotten, in the past, Father would often disappear for several days at a time in order to earn money. Sometimes it would be two or three days, and sometimes it would be four or five days, but he always returned safely."
Gu Tang knew this. In the past, her father would help some merchants smuggle goods into the city to earn money. Although the risks were high, the profits were also high.
In addition, the people behind those merchants spent money to bribe some guards, so nothing bad has happened over the years.
After earning some money, her father stopped doing it.
“This is different from those things,” Gu Tang muttered.
To comfort her, her third uncle told her his earlier guess: "Your father probably went to ask someone to find a teacher for your eldest brother. After yesterday's commotion, he must have angered him, which is why he was in such a hurry to send your eldest brother away. Let's wait and see. If he doesn't come back by tomorrow, we'll ask people to look for him again."
Gu Tang paused for a moment, then realized that was the only way.
At five quarters past dusk, it was completely dark. Gu Lianshan didn't wait for her, but he did meet Zou, the youngest daughter-in-law of the clan chief.
Carrying a lantern, with mud on her feet, Zou knocked on the Gu family's door but didn't go in. She just stood at the door and exchanged a few words with Gu Tang, who opened it.
“Yesterday your father took your uncle and cousin to Bei’an City. Just now your cousin sent someone back with a message saying that the matter he needed to handle had not been completed yet and that it would take another two days. He asked me to come and tell you this so that you wouldn’t worry.”
Upon hearing this, Gu Tang felt a sudden sense of relief and, recalling what her grandfather had just said, began to believe him somewhat.
They've even dragged the clan chief into this; it's probably all to get rid of Gu Lai'an.
After saying this, Madam Zou didn't linger and, ignoring Gu Tang's attempts to persuade her to stay, quickly turned and went home.
After seeing Zou Shi off, Gu Tang closed the courtyard gate and bolted it. She then returned to the main room with light steps and told her third uncle what had happened.
Food was laid out on the table in the main room. The three of them, grandmother and granddaughter, had just been eating. Because she had been worried about her father, Gu Lianshan, all day, dinner was a little later than usual.
Hearing Gu Tang's words, Third Uncle and Gu Ping'an were very happy. As long as everyone was safe, that was all that mattered. As for when they could return, that didn't matter.
"Don't mention this again after we leave this room," Gu Tang specifically instructed, pointing towards the east wing. "Don't let him know, or he'll cause trouble again."
"He can still cause trouble?" Gu Pingan scoffed. "In the morning, when he learned that his father was not home, he said that his nose was stuffy and he couldn't breathe. After his father fed him a bowl of hot water, he said that his whole body ached and he had no strength. He said that he had a fever and felt terrible."
I don't know if his own words came true, but he really did develop a fever in the afternoon. He had to be given two bowls of medicine before the fever subsided, and he still can't get out of bed. Forget about making a fuss; if he could even get up, I'd give him a piece of my mind!
Speaking of this, Gu Tang asked worriedly, "Has his fever returned now?" Gu Lai'an can be burned to death, but he can't be burned to death in their hands!
"He hasn't developed a fever again. I went to his room to check on him a few times and even touched his hand with the back of my hand. He didn't have a fever."
Gu Tang's gaze shifted to her third uncle, who nodded at her: "He hasn't had a fever again, but I'm afraid he might suddenly have a fever in the middle of the night."
"Do you still have the medicine?"
The medicine Gu Lai'an was taking was the leftover medicine from his third uncle, which was mainly used to reduce fever and clear heat.
Not wanting to waste anything, Gu Tang poured two bowls of soup into Gu Lai'an's mouth, which actually brought his fever down.
"There are two more packets." There were only four packets of medicine left in total, and Uncle San took them all out.
"Then I'll give him another bowl later, hopefully as a preventative measure." As for whether taking too much of this fever-reducing medicine is good or bad, that's not something Gu Tang is concerned about.
After dinner, Gu Pingan washed the pots and pans, while Gu Tang sat at the kitchen door to brew medicine for Gu Lai'an.
This medicine doesn't need to be boiled for long. After the liquid boils, cover it and simmer over high heat for 45 minutes.
After boiling the medicine, pour it into a bowl and let it cool. Once it has cooled to a suitable temperature, you can take it over and call Gu Lai'an to get up and take the medicine.
Originally, the Third Uncle wanted to take the medicine bowl to feed Gu Lai'an himself, but Gu Tang didn't allow it. Instead, he stepped forward, picked up the bowl, and personally delivered it to Gu Lai'an.
Gu Lai'an was also someone who knew how to adapt his behavior to the situation. If his third uncle had come in to stop taking the medicine, he could have taken the opportunity to make some other requests. But now that Gu Tang had brought the medicine in, he didn't dare to utter a word and simply took the medicine as instructed.
He was terrified by the high fever he had in the afternoon, thinking that Gu Tang would take this opportunity to harm him. Although Gu Tang did not do so in the end, he could not forget the look in Gu Tang's eyes when she came in to see him after hearing that he had a fever.
He couldn’t quite put his finger on what that look was, but he definitely saw a murderous intent in it!
He drank the medicine in one gulp, and even though his stomach rumbled from time to time, Gu Lai'an didn't say a word. He put down the medicine bowl and crawled back into bed, covering his head with the covers.
Gu Tang ignored him and left the house with the empty bowl.
After everyone left, Gu Lai'an finally peeked out, his eyes constantly glancing towards the door.
Not long after, the door, which was slightly ajar, was pushed open again.
Gu Lai'an immediately shuddered, but after seeing who it was, his tense emotions eased somewhat.
The person who came in was Third Uncle, carrying a bowl of porridge and two salted vegetable and meat pies.
Smelling the aroma, Gu Lai'an perked up, immediately sat up, grabbed his clothes haphazardly and draped them over himself, stretching out his arms to urge his third uncle to quickly hand him the food.
"Hurry, hurry, hurry! I'm starving!"
The good-natured third uncle quickly stepped forward and gave him all the porridge and flatbread. Gu Lai'an took the porridge and flatbread without saying a word and started eating.
Uncle San didn't care about his attitude, but gave him a meaningful advice: "This is at home, so you can still throw a tantrum. But if you were in someone else's house, you would have to change your temper! Do more and talk less. It's better to be called clumsy and dull than to be called talkative."
Gu Lai'an didn't understand the meaning of these words at all, and felt very dissatisfied after hearing them.
He swallowed the biscuit in his mouth, pouted, and said, "Master, if we're talking about throwing a tantrum, you should give those two brats in the west wing a good talking-to! It's one thing to not respect me as the eldest brother, but they even dared to hit me! What younger sibling would dare to do that?"
At this point, Gu Lai'an seemed to get angrier and angrier. He took a bite of his pancake and said angrily, "Doing more and talking less is stupid! Others will only think you are easy to bully. As long as you speak nicely and know how to talk, even if you are talkative, you will not be disliked."
The third uncle was speechless, choked up.
In some respects, Gu Lai'an's argument was not wrong, but he forgot one thing: he was not the kind of person who could speak well and eloquently.
For skilled craftsmen, they still hope their apprentices will do more and talk less, and learn to keep quiet about everything.
Gu Lai'an, unaware that he was about to be kicked out, naturally held completely different views from his third uncle.
Having realized this, the Third Uncle said no more and got up to walk outside.
When his father comes back, he will explain things to him clearly. Hopefully, he will be able to listen then.
After leaving the east wing, Gu Tang went straight back to her room, where she was currently using her multi-functional bayonet to whittle a bamboo stalk.
Cut the bamboo into the desired length, take out a ball of hemp rope, tie one end of the rope to one end of the bamboo, then wrap the rope around to the other end of the bamboo, tighten it, bend the bamboo, and finally tie a knot.
Soon, an extremely simple bow was made.
Of course, a bow made in this way only has the appearance of a bow, but no function of a bow.
For Gu Tang, it's enough to just have a physical appearance; whether it actually works or not doesn't matter.
After making the bow, she continued to use her bayonet to whittle bamboo to make an arrow, so that she could at least complete a set.
After carving out the arrows, Gu Tang hugged the "bow and arrow" set to his chest, summoned the system panel, and clicked to sign in.
At the same time, he kept chanting: Crossbow, crossbow, crossbow...
She's made the directional object so realistic; hopefully, it will grant her wish!
[Ding! Congratulations, host, for completing today's check-in! You have received a set of traditional bows!]
Hmm... I guess this counts as getting what I wanted?
She made a bow similar to a traditional bow, so the system rewarded her with a traditional bow?
Gu Tang frowned, looking at the reward she had received, feeling as if a fishbone was stuck in her throat!
Is it only after she restores the crossbow that you can sign in to get the crossbow?
He took out the traditional bow he had obtained. Although it wasn't the crossbow that Gu Tang had been longing for, he was still amazed by the bow at first glance.
With its black and gold carved bow body, silver-white bowstring, and matching arrows, it looks quite convincing at first glance!
Its functions include greater durability, faster speed, and higher accuracy compared to ordinary bows and arrows.
In Gu Tang's opinion, none of these things were of any use to her. Instead, she could find an opportunity to sell it. Putting aside everything else, just based on its function, it could definitely fetch a high price!
If you do the math, you still make a profit.
After putting away the bow and arrows and tossing aside the bow and arrows he had made by hand, Gu Tang took off his clothes and lay down on the bed, thinking about how to make a crossbow by hand.
She had only seen this thing online in her previous life. It was indeed extremely lethal, but she had never seen or touched it in real life.
How is she supposed to rub it by hand?
Gu Tang felt increasingly helpless as she thought about it, tossing and turning in bed until late in the evening before finally falling asleep.
When I woke up the next day, the first thing that came to mind was the crossbow.
This is truly obsessive!
After breakfast, before Gu Tang could even find the tools to try making the crossbow by hand, Gu Ping'an, who was delivering food to the east wing, suddenly ran out and called her.
"Sis! Big brother has a fever again!"
Gu Tang paused, then pointed to the kitchen: "There's one last packet of medicine under the cutting board. Take it, cook it, and feed it to him!"
"Ugh!"
Hearing the commotion, Third Uncle came out of the main room and looked towards the east wing with some concern. "He was fine all night, how come he has a fever again? Did your father beat him too hard and frighten him?"
“He’s very resilient. Back when he lived at the Gu family’s place at the end of the village, my dad beat him much harder than this for stealing their chickens, but the other family was fine and was up and about the next morning!”
"That's even more strange! People who were beaten much harder than this were perfectly fine and still alive and kicking, so why are they getting fevers this time? Could it be that their internal organs were damaged?"
The more Uncle San thought about it, the more worried he became. He walked towards the east wing, wanting to ask Gu Lai'an if he felt any discomfort in his stomach.
Gu Tang didn't think his internal organs were damaged. Just looking at how he wolfed down his food these past two days, she could tell he was as strong as a donkey! Nothing wrong with him!
Upon reflection, she realized that Gu Lai'an was the one who was behind it all.
To verify that her guess was correct, Gu Tang decided to go and see for herself.
Upon arriving at the east wing, the first impression of the room was its coldness, as cold as an ice cellar.
When Gu Tang arrived at the stove, she found it stuffed with a lot of firewood. Strangely, the firewood only burned halfway before going out.
I reached out a finger to test the charred firewood; it was cool to the touch.
The stove had been out for at least two hours, otherwise the room wouldn't have been completely devoid of warmth.
The firewood piled in the corner of the room was mostly empty, indicating that Gu Lai'an had gotten up quite a few times last night to add firewood to the stove.
If the firewood had been burning all night, how could the stove have suddenly gone out just before dawn?
And there's a faint smell wafting from this stove...
It smells pungent and foul!
Gu Tang bent down and brought her nose close to the stove, and the stench became clearer and clearer. She instantly realized what it was, and her face immediately turned ashen!