The sight of her granddaughter, hair still damp, smiling at him with eyes curved like crescent moons.
Looking at his granddaughter's sweet smile, Meng Qingping's anxious heart finally settled.
"Ci'er, have you finished washing?" Meng Qingping knew to cover for his granddaughter and didn't ask where she had washed.
"Yes, Grandfather, I'm done washing. Let's go inside." Fu Xinci finished speaking and then stopped.
"Ci'er?"
"Grandfather." She didn't say the words that followed, but instead placed a box of milk she had taken from her space into her grandfather's hands.
"..."
"Grandfather, your body needs nourishment. This is very good for replenishing your strength."
"Mmm, our Ci'er is so filial." Meng Qingping knew his own physical condition. He didn't refuse, took the milk, drank it quickly, and then quietly returned the empty box to his granddaughter.
"Grandfather, let's go inside." Fu Xinci didn't say it aloud, but the understanding between grandfather and granddaughter was growing deeper.
"Alright." Meng Qingping held his granddaughter's small hand and entered the temple gate.
The scene inside the dilapidated temple startled the grandfather and granddaughter. They never would have imagined that everyone was busy preparing wolf meat with great enthusiasm.
"What is this?"
"Second Brother Meng, I think this meat is good, so I thought we could stew it all and share it among everyone. It would be a waste to throw it away or bury it. It's just that we don't seem to have enough firewood." The words of Jiang Tou were the most welcome to the Meng clan. Forget wolf meat, they could even chew wolf bones. However, they weren't sure if they would get any wolf meat.
"Mmm, that's a good idea. Four wolves mean a lot of meat."
"Yes, yes." With Meng Qingping's approval, Jiang Tou felt very wise.
However, as he lowered his head, he saw Fu Xinci, who was following Meng Qingping.
"Not to mention, your little girl here looks quite pretty after she's cleaned up." The remark sounded a bit frivolous coming from him, but he was a rough man who didn't know how to compliment others, so everyone had to make do.
Meng Qingping understood and didn't blame him, but he was still a little displeased and sent his granddaughter to his daughter-in-law.
Madam Fang's heart had been on edge the whole time. Seeing her daughter return clean and unharmed, she couldn't help but pull her daughter over and examine her from head to toe.
Only after seeing that her daughter was truly unharmed did she hold her and sob softly.
"Mother, don't cry, I'm alright."
"I know you're alright, Mother is just scared of what might have happened." Thinking of her husband running out like a madman, shouting and unable to stop him. Then her daughter had also run out. Her heart at that moment felt as if it had been ripped apart.
"Mother, I'm really alright, truly." Fu Xinci comforted Madam Fang, mimicking what she remembered from her memories, and also took the opportunity to sow discord with her nominal father. "Mother, if my father hadn't run out for no reason, I wouldn't have chased after him."
Fu Xinci: I must make my nominal father learn his lesson.
"That's right. When your father gets here, I'll have a good talk with him."
The bloodstains on Fu Yu's body had not yet been washed off. He was being pulled by Wu Laoda and others to help Jiang Tou and his men. It was fine just a moment ago, but why did he suddenly feel a chill down his spine?
"Brother Fu, come help me."
"Eh, I'm coming right away."
"Ah, so much meat. If only we had some salt, we could marinate it and have it for the next meal."
Everyone agreed with the words of the dark-faced big man, but they had no way to get salt at the moment. Wu Laoda had some, but that small amount was enough for two pots of stew, not nearly enough for marinating meat.
"What should we do? If we don't marinate some, it'll spoil in a few hours."
"It won't be that bad, will it? If we cook it in a big pot, there won't be much left for everyone to eat."
"Tch, that's four wolves. One wolf should be a hundred catties or so, right? That's a lot of meat all together. How could we finish it all in one meal?"
Jiang Tou was being generous today. He nudged his chin, indicating everyone should look at the huddled Meng clan members. "And there's their group, how could they not eat it all."
"Leader, do you really want to give them the meat to eat?" Da Zhuang didn't want to share the wolf meat with the Meng clan. Wolf meat was still meat, and they hadn't eaten much meat on this journey.
"Give each of them a piece, otherwise, this journey will be difficult." Although sometimes he was so angry he wished he could whip them a few times, there were some things Jiang Tou didn't want to say. Those things were none other than that he didn't want their hands to be stained with human lives.
"But..."
"..." Jiang Tou didn't speak further, only used his eyes to stop Da Zhuang from talking.
"Leader, Da Zhuang is young and doesn't understand some things, so don't mind him." The dark-faced big man understood what was going on and had Nian Zi pull Da Zhuang aside, saying he would talk to Da Zhuang later.
"Hurry up and cut the meat. Cut the pieces smaller, so it will save some firewood."
"Eh, let Third Brother do the cutting." Wu Laoda also knew it was better not to let Madam Fang's hands get dirty at this time. Wolves and pigs were very different after all. So, before Jiang Tou could give the order, he volunteered his own brother.
"Alright, Third Brother, you do it."
"Okay, Jiang Tou, just watch." Wu Laosan was indeed used to cooking, and he swung the cleaver with quite some skill. With a 'click' and 'clack', in no time, the meat and bones of one wolf were chopped up.
As for whether the pieces were evenly sized, that was not within his consideration.
Indeed, they were a group of rough men, why pretend to be delicate ladies? Being able to eat was good enough.
Madam Fang saw that she couldn't help with the work here, so she wanted to wash the dirty clothes her daughter had brought back.
However, it was pitch black outside, and a wolf had been killed not long ago, so she was a little scared and afraid to go out.
Fu Xinci saw Madam Fang holding her discarded dirty clothes and looking at the outside with a troubled expression, and guessed what Madam Fang wanted to do.
Meng Qingping also guessed Madam Fang's intentions and discussed with his granddaughter, "Ci'er, go get the dirty clothes, and Grandfather will wash them for you outside."
"Grandfather, you sit there and rest. We still have to travel tomorrow. I can wash the dirty clothes myself."
"Let Grandfather wash them for you. Your small hands aren't as strong as Grandfather's big hands."
Seeing her grandfather insist, Fu Xinci had no choice but to agree. She quietly took the dirty clothes from Madam Fang and, along with her grandfather, went out of the temple gate again.
The sky had finally cleared, and the stars were peeking out from the gaps in the clouds. The smell of blood still lingered in the air.
"Sigh, if only we had a shovel, we could bury this blood and the smell might lessen." Meng Qingping looked at the shadowy outlines of the mountains and forests around, worried that the smell of blood might attract some large wild animals, and said with some concern.