Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family

Chapter 290 Chapter 289: Chapter 289: Pursuit

The bonfire in the corner gradually extinguished, while the charcoal fire in the brazier burned brightly, enveloping the entire room in warmth.

Soft murmurs echoed continuously, as Liu Sisi’s deep, alluring eyes gazed unblinkingly at him above her. Her gaze was like the rippling autumn water. His passion was like fire, surging and passionate, his deep eyes filled with boundless treasure.

Warm sheets in the passionate night, dreams woven by the colorful butterflies of dawn!

The heavy snow outside the window still fell, mixed with the ferocious wind that constantly raged outside.

But the room was as warm as spring.

Liu Sisi collapsed in bed, feeling as if she had no strength even to lift her hand.

Di Yelei, on the other hand, was radiant and satisfied. His robust and muscular body demonstrated unparalleled explosive power.

He quickly fetched half a basin of hot water and carefully wiped Liu Sisi’s body, a radiant, shallow smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

“How do you feel? If you’re tired, sleep for a while.”

Liu Sisi barely opened her eyes, gave him a forced glance, then fell back into the dreamland.

She had no recollection of when he had fallen asleep beside her.

Di Yelei walked around the room to check the doors and windows. Finding no abnormalities, he finally went to bed.

It felt as though his eyes were only closed briefly when suddenly Ah-Huang and Ah-Hua started barking at the main entrance!

In the temporary place separated only by straw matting, the two people were sleeping deeply. Yet the earth-shattering knocking soon broke through the sound of the barking.

Di Yelei’s eyes opened alertly, not yet devoid of passion. A moment later, he closed his eyes again and buried his head in Liu Sisi’s neck, continuing to sleep.

Liu Sisi showed no sign of waking up, as she was indeed too tired yesterday.

Even when she heard the knocking outside, her eyebrows only slightly wrinkled, and she made no other move.

The knocking outside did not stop. On the contrary, it grew more intense! Di Yelei muttered a curse under his breath.

Resignedly, he got up, dressed, and left the room.

The blizzard outside had clearly lightened, but it was still cold enough to make him shiver violently, finally waking him from his drowsy state.

The thunderous knocking outside the door continued, and Di Yelei couldn’t help but shout a response: “I’m coming! I’m coming! What’s the hurry so early in the morning?” With that, he strode towards the main entrance.

Ah-Huang and Ah-Hua’s barking at the main entrance didn’t stop. Di Yelei called them off twice, finally managing to drive the two hounds away.

Upon opening the door, he saw Min’er curled up in her thick cotton coat, shivering with cold outside the house.

As soon as he came out, she immediately wore a tragic expression on her face.

“Third Uncle Di! Something happened in the cellar last night! …”

“What happened?”

Di Yelei had a sudden sinking feeling in his heart and hurriedly asked further.

“It’s Old Man Li. He’s… he’s missing!” Min’er was so cold; she could barely speak.

“She must be talking about Old Man Li!

Feeling suddenly cold, Liu Sisi couldn’t fall back asleep even though it was still earlier than her usual waking time. She forced her eyes open and struggled to get out of bed.

Looking around, Liu Sisi didn’t see Di Yelei. Suppressing her curiosity, she went to check on her second sister and found that her fever had completely subsided, but she was still unconscious.

Quickly washing the rice and cooking breakfast, Liu Sisi started preparing porridge in one pot and steaming steamed buns in the other.

Meanwhile, Di Yelei had gathered several villagers and they had split up to pursue in different directions.

‘It’s all my fault! After you left last night, I thought it best to avoid dealing with Old Man Li’s cunning, so I closed the door and went to sleep. I didn’t expect him to cut the rope and escape!’

Land Officer was furious, his eyes blazing and his beard trembling, ‘Third Brother, I owe you an apology. I promised you yesterday that I would watch over him, but today this happened. I’m truly ashamed to face you!’ He grew more and more upset as he spoke.

That damned Old Man Li!

Seeing the marks left on the hemp rope and the scattered pieces of broken tiles on the ground, Land Officer couldn’t help but feel as if he had been played by Old Man Li.

‘Uncle Land Officer, you can’t take all the blame. If anything, Old Man Li is a cunning and resourceful man. What’s important now is to catch him as soon as possible. Everything else is secondary.’

After Di Yelei finished speaking, he asked Zhang Peng and Li Wu for help, and the three of them split into three separate directions, chasing with great speed.

The reason they chased in three different directions was related to the geographical location of Upper Village.

Behind Upper Village was a mountain, and in front was a large river. Besides the roads that led out of the village, there was only one narrow path leading into the mountains.

At this moment, Di Yelei was leading his men in pursuit along the path into the mountains!

‘You must catch him! Once we catch this damned man, I’ll give him a severe lesson!’ Land Officer’s angry words still echoed in their ears.

He had a strong intuition that Old Man Li would head into the deep mountains. Although there was no rationale for it, the intuition was real.

At the moment, the sky was still sprinkling with light snow, and as they moved deeper into the mountains, the accumulated snow ahead became thicker and deeper.

Especially in the deep parts where one step would submerge their legs up to their knees, the villagers following Di Yelei hesitated and dared not proceed further.

‘Brother Ye Lei, are we really going to continue the chase? The snow is just too heavy. If we continue, we might not find the man, but we might not even be able to return safely,’ said one of the villagers.

His words were far from groundless but reflected a legitimate concern.

Another villager nodded in agreement, ‘Old Man Li, if he wanted to escape, he should have headed for the city instead of running into the mountains in this weather. Otherwise, he might not die, but he would surely suffer. Maybe we should turn back?’

This made Di Yelei stop in his tracks, shaking the snow off his bamboo hat and looking around in the distance.

Thinking about the weather, he figured Old Man Li shouldn’t have gone into the mountains and began doubting his intuition.

‘Alright! Let’s turn back to the main road and head toward the county in pursuit.’ The other two villagers nodded without objection.

‘Wait! What is that?’

Suddenly, one of the villagers shouted.

Di Yelei quickly followed the direction of the villager’s pointing finger and saw a swaying figure on the hillside across the way. Although it was unclear, it looked a lot like Old Man Li.

Di Yelei was overjoyed, ‘Go! We must continue the chase and catch him!’

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