Chapter 1565: Who is the Monster

Sheng Hanyu offered no explanation, nor did he make a sound; he climbed onto the bank and went into the small woods to change his clothes.

……

The rumors about a "water monster" appearing in the fish pond by the village became increasingly bizarre, and in just half a day, several versions had appeared in the village!

Quite a few people were already saying they had seen the monster in the fish pond with their own eyes.

Some said the monster had three heads, six arms, and eight legs, baring its fangs and claws while revealing a blood-red maw.

Others said the monster came out to breathe every midnight, and they had seen it several times...

Still others said the monster had run over from somewhere else because the ecological environment elsewhere was poor, while their village had beautiful mountains and clear waters...

There was all sorts of talk.

Sheng Hanyu was very depressed.

The fish he had worked so hard to hook were simply not as exciting to his wife as the rumors of the "monster."

Leaving the big fish to Fang Jie, Shi Youxuan went into the village to listen to the gossip.

When she returned, she would recount it vividly to the family, and Sheng Hanyu would dismiss it: "Nonsense, you believe anything."

"It's quite interesting, though. You should go listen too; it's just like hearing a story!" Shi Youxuan didn't necessarily believe it; she just found it interesting.

The villagers told stories, swearing oaths and speaking with absolute certainty, narrating extremely absurd things with a straight face, which was very engaging to listen to.

Gradually, it became less engaging.

The rumors spread further and further, not just through the village, but throughout the surrounding ten miles and neighboring towns.

More and more people came to the village to watch the spectacle and look for the monster; the fish pond became as lively as a grand market.

Since the Sheng Family house was very close to the fish pond, people kept coming over to inquire.

It was called inquiring, but in reality, it was harassment!

No matter the time, there were people knocking on the windows or walking straight into the courtyard to ask about the "monster."

This had seriously affected the family's life.

When they originally chose to build the house by the village, besides the reasons of feng shui, another very important reason was that it was a bit further away from where the villagers lived in concentration, making it relatively quiet.

But now it was not quiet at all; the family was severely disturbed and hadn't rested well for several days.

With a dark face, Sheng Hanyu wanted to call over bodyguards to stand guard outside the courtyard to prevent interference.

Shi Youxuan asked: "The monster popped up suddenly; this rumor won't last long. Once the excitement dies down, people will leave sooner or later. Will you withdraw the bodyguards then?"

Sheng Hanyu: ……

So he silently put down his phone.

He had been sleeping poorly and lacking energy due to the harassment during this period, and he hadn't even thought of such an obvious point.

His wife was right; he couldn't call the bodyguards over. Although they could protect them from disturbance for a while, it would be more troublesome later.

He didn't even need to think to know that after the "monster" rumors faded, the fact that their family were "important people" who could hire bodyguards would be the next piece of news!

It would cause a stir for another period of time.

……

The next day.

A man wearing a diving suit, carrying an oxygen tank on his back, and wearing over-a-foot-long Spring Shoes walked swaggeringly toward the edge of the fish pond.

People surrounded him.

"Are you going into the water to find the monster?"

"What are you wearing? It's so strange."

The man was confused and asked in return: "Monster? Isn't this a fish pond? Where would a monster come from? It wasn't here when I came last time..."

The man suddenly slapped his forehead, appearing to have a sudden realization: "When I came here to dive last time, someone shouted 'monster' at me. Did you all misunderstand? I'm not a monster; I'm just a diving enthusiast..."

The diving enthusiast went into the water and climbed back out not long after.

When he first came out of the water, his equipment did look quite strange; the strangeness lay in the fact that almost no one had ever seen someone go into the water dressed so thoroughly.

Every summer, people in the village reservoir would swim, but they all swam naked—men on one side, women on the other. No one even wore swimsuits, let alone diving suits.

A child suddenly shouted: "The monster is him; he is the monster!"

Everyone actually thought so in their hearts, but no one wanted to be the first to admit it.

Now that someone had taken the lead in shouting it out, everyone followed suit: "That's right, we were mistaken."

"A false alarm. It made me run all this way; I'm going home to work."

"Let's go, let's go."

"Let's disperse..."

The onlookers gradually dispersed, and the rumors about the "monster" finally passed.

……

Shi Youxuan stopped fishing; she became obsessed with planting flowers in the courtyard.

The courtyard at home used to be too small, but the current one was very large, and she could plant anything. She wanted to plant some daffodils, imagining how beautiful they would look when they bloomed.

No sooner said than done, Shi Youxuan rolled up her sleeves and began to turn over the courtyard with great fanfare.

Her mother-in-law kindly reminded her: "Xuanxuan, our courtyard is high and doesn't hold water well; it's not suitable for daffodils. Let's plant something else."

"Right, then what would be suitable?"

Sheng Hanyu came out of the room: "Just plant daffodils; they can be planted." As he said this, he tossed her some garlic bulbs, telling her this was a new variety that would grow very well.

"Really?"

"Really."

His expression couldn't have been more sincere, but Shi Youxuan felt it didn't seem quite right.

She went to verify it with her mother-in-law again.

The mother-in-law held back her laughter: "Really, go ahead and plant them, this kind can be planted."

Her son liked to eat stir-fried pork belly with garlic sprouts, and she was seriously preparing to trick someone; her daughter-in-law was also quite funny, clearly such a smart person, yet she couldn't tell the five grains apart, and couldn't even distinguish between garlic bulbs and daffodils.

She also joined in to "fool" her daughter-in-law.

She might not listen to her husband, but she believed her mother-in-law's words.

And so, she planted the garlic bulbs in the soil as if they were daffodils, and waited for them to bloom into beautiful flowers!

Ten days later.

The garlic sprouts had grown out; they were thriving, lush and green, truly looking quite good.

Sheng Hanyu cut some, preparing to stir-fry them with pork belly; when Shi Youxuan returned home and saw the "daffodils" in the courtyard had been plucked, she was greatly shocked.

"Who cut the daffodils?" She was afraid someone who didn't know had cut them, and if they accidentally ate them and got poisoned, it would be a disaster.

She hurried to run outside, but her husband called out to stop her: "Where are you going? It's almost time to eat."

Shi Youxuan said: "You're actually home? Did you see who cut the daffodils in the courtyard?"

She was incredibly anxious, but her husband continued to tease her: "I don't know, I didn't see; who cares who cut them, they'll grow back anyway."

"Are you stupid? Daffodils are poisonous; if someone eats them by mistake, it will cause big problems!"

Her husband said: "Oh, it's fine, I cut them; I've already stir-fried them with pork belly, and I just tasted a piece, it was so fragrant."

"You ate them?"

"That's right."

Shi Youxuan realized something was wrong.

Her husband couldn't possibly make such a low-level mistake, so... she had been tricked!

The next five minutes.

In the courtyard, there was a chase; the couple put on a scene of horseplay extremely unbefitting of middle-aged people.

Of course, it was impossible to catch him by just running hard; Sheng Hanyu exercised by running long-term, and Shi Youxuan was panting with exhaustion without having caught up.

"Stop, you stop right there!" She stood in the courtyard, one hand on her hip, pointing at her husband with the other to threaten him.

"I won't!"

"You'll face the consequences?"

"Madam, I was wrong..."