Chapter 601 - 261: Daughter

Chapter 601: Chapter 261: Daughter

Twenty-five years ago.

Wind Bell Village.

In a delicately beautiful small courtyard, a gentle and graceful young woman was watering flowers.

Her belly was prominently swollen; she gently caressed it while tending to the flowers and plants in the yard.

Villagers passing by greeted her:

"Lady Liu, your courtyard is really beautiful!"

"Lady Liu, you’re about to give birth, shouldn’t you rest more?"

The woman smiled in response to her neighbors, her face full of happiness.

Her name was Zhang Cui’Er, originally from Xinghua Village more than six hundred li away, and she had married into Wind Bell Village last year.

Zhang Cui’Er was deeply in love with her husband Liu Li. They soon had a child after marriage, and it had been nine months already.

Liu Li had planted a field of rice outside the village and sometimes went hunting in the mountains, while Zhang Cui’Er wove cloth and tended flowers at home, making their small courtyard beautiful and refined.

Everyone in the village said Liu Li married a good wife.

Zhang Cui’Er finished cleaning the house and making a meal just as Liu Li returned home, carrying a wild wolf on his shoulder.

"Husband, did you have a good catch today?"

Zhang Cui’Er greeted him warmly, her voice gentle, with a smile as bright as a flower.

"Haha, once I skin this wolf, I’ll make a little fur coat for our child!"

"Husband, you’re amazing, our child is so lucky."

Zhang Cui’Er’s eyes were full of love as Liu Li hugged her waist and gently stroked her swollen belly.

At that moment, Zhang Cui’Er’s expression changed as she held her belly: "Husband, I think I’m in labor."

Two hours later, Liu Li paced back and forth in the courtyard, his face full of anxiety, when the cry of a newborn finally came from inside the house.

Liu Li was overjoyed and walked quickly forward. The door opened, and the midwife came out with a joyful smile:

"Liu Li, your wife is quite capable, she gave birth to a girl!"

Upon hearing the word "girl," Liu Li’s expression froze, and the smile on his face disappeared.

The midwife glanced at him and whispered: "Liu Li, don’t do anything rash, it’s the village rule. If you’re not satisfied, let your wife have another child, a son!"

Liu Li clenched his fists, his face twisted with anger, and said through gritted teeth: "No matter what, I won’t give up my daughter!"

"You..."

The midwife shook her head and left with a sigh.

Liu Li walked into the house, burdened with heavy thoughts, only to see the pale-faced Zhang Cui’Er holding their newborn daughter, her face filled with happiness:

"Husband, look, this is our child."

Liu Li walked forward, looking down at the baby girl, forcing a smile:

"She looks so beautiful, just like you."

Zhang Cui’Er, still immersed in the joy of being a new mother, said to Liu Li:

"Husband, why don’t you name our daughter?"

Liu Li gently caressed the baby’s somewhat wrinkled face, his eyes filled with affection and sorrow, his voice hoarse:

"Let’s call her... Yuan Yuan. I hope in the future she can always be together with her loved ones and never be separated again."

"Alright, Yuan Yuan it is!" Zhang Cui’Er’s voice paused, her gentle, tender eyes looking at Liu Li.

"Husband, what’s wrong? Is something bothering you?"

Liu Li’s expression changed unpredictably, he got up and went out of the house, looking around before returning to close the door and walking back to his wife’s side, speaking in a low voice:

"Wife, let’s leave the village."

Zhang Cui’Er’s beautiful and gentle face was full of confusion: "Husband, why should we leave the village?"

Liu Li remained silent for a long time, suddenly asking: "Wife, have you heard of Celestial Fall Mountain?"

Zhang Cui’Er blinked her lively eyes: "Of course, the Immortal of Celestial Fall Mountain is the guardian deity of our Wind Bell Village, haven’t you told me before?"

Liu Li grasped his hair with his hands, bloodshot eyes full of distress.

At this moment, the baby girl in Zhang Cui’Er’s arms suddenly stopped crying, her chubby little hand on Liu Li’s head.

Liu Li looked up to see his daughter’s adorable little face actually smiling.

In an instant, the tall, rugged man burst into tears.

"I’m sorry, Cui’Er, I lied to you."

After the time it took for an incense stick to burn.

Zhang Cui’Er’s mouth gaped, her gentle eyes filled with shock and fear as she clutched her daughter tightly.

"Our Yuan Yuan will be sacrificed to the Immortals of the Celestial Fall Sect when she grows up?!"

Liu Li hung his head: "Wife, I was hopeful, thinking if we had a son, everything would be fine— I was wrong."

Zhang Cui’Er’s face turned pale as she looked at the baby girl in her arms, who was still smiling at her.

"Husband, I’ll go with you!"

Bam!

The door was kicked open, a group of people rushed in, and Liu Li was shocked, shielding his wife and daughter:

"Liu Dashu, what do you want?!"

A man in his thirties with a gloomy face said coldly:

"The midwife already told me, you can’t escape, hand over your daughter."

Liu Li roared: "No one can touch my daughter!"

Liu Dashu looked at the beautiful and gentle Zhang Cui’Er behind Liu Li and laughed:

"Your wife may no longer be a maiden, but with a face like hers, the Immortal Masters at Celestial Fall Mountain will surely be pleased."

"Liu Dashu, do you dare?!" Liu Li grabbed a sickle, his eyes blood-red.

Someone behind Liu Dashu said: "Liu Li, I sent my daughter to Celestial Fall Mountain last year, why can’t you do the same?"

"Yes, my daughter was taken last month too."

"If you anger the Immortal Master, we all die, Liu Li, don’t be so selfish!"

"Rubbish!" Liu Li roared: "You sacrifice your daughters just to survive, what kind of men are you?!"

"Today, I will take my wife and daughter away, whoever stops me, I’ll fight them!"

Liu Dashu’s eyes turned sharp: "Since you want to endanger everyone, don’t blame us for being ruthless."

Soon after, the house was filled with sounds of fierce struggle.

But it soon went silent.

Then came a heart-wrenching cry:

"Husband, husband?!"

"You killed my husband! I’ll fight you!"

"Husband... Cui’Er is coming to find you..."

...

"This little lady is too fierce, looking for death!"

"After all, they are villagers, bury them in the western hills."

"Yes, village chief."

Soon, Liu Li and Zhang Cui’Er’s bodies were carried out of the house by the villagers, blood spilling along the way, leaving a poignant trail among the flowers in the courtyard.

Liu Dashu carried the baby girl out of the house and rushed home, where his wife was waiting.

Seeing him enter, she immediately stepped forward to ask: "Did you succeed?"

Liu Dashu looked around, letting his wife pull out a piece of black cloth to cover the baby girl. The couple then left the village under the cover of night, heading into a forest.

A man, shrouded in a black robe, was waiting. Liu Dashu handed the baby girl to him, and the man in the black robe took two Spirit Stones, then left with the baby.

Liu Dashu’s wife, still a bit scared, asked: "Husband, what if someone finds out we secretly sold Liu Li’s daughter, what then?"

Liu Dashu sneered: "The young women of the village are all locked in the cellar of our house, who will know a baby girl is missing? Let’s go back quickly."

Under the heavy curtain of night, the two turned and walked back to Wind Bell Village.