Chapter 53: Gunshot

Mother's return made the house much livelier, no longer as quiet as before. Even Tu Ba Ge, who had recently become obsessed with planting grass, became cheerful, running to Mother to show off his magic tricks whenever he had nothing to do.

Only in the matter of Tu Ba Ge's bath did a small incident occur; Mother Yi Sha Bei Er, while bathing Tu Ba Ge, curiously wanted to see whether Tu Ba Ge was a male or female rabbit. The originally gray-furred lop-eared rabbit visibly changed color, fleeing like lightning from Yi Sha Bei Er's magic hand.

Covered in foam and water stains, it flung itself onto Lei Ke Dun's shoulder, burying its head deep into his coat.

"Is your reaction really that big?" Lei Ke Dun also stared blankly at the scene.

Being jumped on by the wet Tu Ba Ge around his neck was somewhat uncomfortable; Lei Ke Dun reached out to pull Tu Ba Ge off himself, but Tu Ba Ge clung tightly to his coat and refused to come down.

In the end, Lei Ke Dun could only have Mother leave first, then he himself bathed Tu Ba Ge.

"You've even gotten used to baths, so why are you suddenly shy?" Lei Ke Dun asked curiously.

Only after seeing Mother leave did Tu Ba Ge agree to get off Lei Ke Dun.

"I'm a boy!! How could she... how could she just spread my legs and look?" Tu Ba Ge said, voice tinged with shame and indignation.

"But you're just a rabbit!" Lei Ke Dun couldn't help but retort.

"What's wrong with being a rabbit? Even as a rabbit it's not allowed!" Tu Ba Ge shouted back.

"Keep it down, do you want everyone to know you can talk?" Lei Ke Dun hastily covered Tu Ba Ge's mouth.

In the end, Lei Ke Dun still bathed that shy rabbit; after the bath, Tu Ba Ge would detour whenever he saw Yi Sha Bei Er, the more affectionate they had been before, the more resistant he became.

For this, Mother specially brought Tu Ba Ge's favorite fruit to coax him, but Tu Ba Ge firmly refused the fruit Mother offered.

Then Mother produced a small cape she had modified; Tu Ba Ge instantly succumbed, immediately draping the cape over himself and striking a pose in front of Mother, jumping and spinning to show off. From resistance to surrender took less than a minute.

Lei Ke Dun stood aside, wanting to cover his face at this hopeless rabbit.

After everyone had fallen asleep at night, Lei Ke Dun sat alone on the windowsill, watching the street illuminated by the Crimson Moon. Outside the window it was very tranquil; at this hour hardly anyone was still out walking.

"Waa~ Boss, why aren't you sleeping yet?" Tu Ba Ge, wearing the new cape, crept up to Lei Ke Dun.

Tu Ba Ge wanted to climb onto the windowsill to sit, but couldn't reach it, just hopping up and down. Lei Ke Dun chuckled, then pulled the hopping rabbit onto the windowsill.

"Since I came back this afternoon, I've felt uneasy all along." Lei Ke Dun said, looking at the street outside.

"This might be a warning from spiritual intuition, but I have no clue whatsoever." Lei Ke Dun also didn't care whether Tu Ba Ge could understand, and just kept talking to himself.

"Is it because you saw that weird guy in a cowboy hat when you came back?" Tu Ba Ge asked, puzzled.

"Hmm?" Lei Ke Dun pondered for a moment before slowly nodding: "It's possible."

The more Lei Ke Dun thought, the more he felt it might be because of that figure he saw in the afternoon; perhaps Tu Ba Ge's gaze had been too unrestrained, causing the other party to form some associations, leading them to do something that could trigger Lei Ke Dun's spiritual intuition to give a warning.

"Bang!" A loud gunshot rang out from a distant street.

"Huh?" Lei Ke Dun looked in the direction the sound came from, but a row of houses blocked his view and he saw nothing.

"Boss, someone's fighting!" Tu Ba Ge said, somewhat excited.

"Why are you excited about people fighting? Do you even want to go over and join in?" Lei Ke Dun patted the rabbit's head.

"Shouldn't we go take a look?" Tu Ba Ge asked, covering his own head.

"With such a loud gunshot, everyone nearby was startled; the Public Security Bureau will be there soon. What's the point of us going to look? And Mother will probably come over worried about me any moment now." Just as Lei Ke Dun finished speaking, the bedroom door was knocked.

"Go open the door." Lei Ke Dun told Tu Ba Ge to let Mother in.

Tu Ba Ge jumped down from the windowsill, pushing a chair all the way to the door while hopping, then jumped onto the chair and turned the doorknob.

Mother Yi Sha Bei Er entered the room and saw Lei Ke Dun leaning on the windowsill, and Tu Ba Ge pushing the chair back to its original position.

"Little Lei Ke Dun still isn't asleep! Don't be so lazy, making the little rabbit do everything!" Yi Sha Bei Er also walked over to the window.

"Waa~" Tu Ba Ge started acting cute and obedient in front of Mother again.

Standing beneath the windowsill, he looked pitifully at the sill, then pretended to hop twice.

Lei Ke Dun twitched the corner of his mouth, grabbed the dramatic rabbit, and placed it on the windowsill.

"Did you hear that gunshot just now? Ma Dan has been somewhat unsettled lately; when you go out, don't wander into remote areas, understand? Also be wary of strangers." Yi Sha Bei Er repeatedly gave Lei Ke Dun various precautions for going out.

Lei Ke Dun's hand, which had been rubbing the rabbit's head, paused momentarily; then, acting as if nothing were wrong, he nodded perfunctorily to Mother while inwardly complaining.

"When it comes to a mother's nagging toward her child, is this consistent across the whole world, even other worlds?"

"Also, don't stay out too late these days. By the way, the New Year is less than half a month away; how long will your vacation be?" After asking this, Yi Sha Bei Er finally stopped her nagging to Lei Ke Dun.

"I'm not sure; I'll ask tomorrow. Probably one or two weeks, I guess." Lei Ke Dun said, also uncertain.

"Hmm, if we have enough time, our family could go vacation along the coast; the climate there is somewhat warmer than Ma Dan." Yi Sha Bei Er was making plans for the New Year period.

"Hmm! But I think Father might not want to just return and then immediately set off again for the coast." Lei Ke Dun reminded his mother; his father had been drifting at sea for a long time and perhaps preferred staying home.

"That's true; then we'll wait a few days for Father to return before we discuss it again." Yi Sha Bei Er nodded gently.

"Mother, you should go rest first. The earlier gunshot startled everyone in this neighborhood; the Public Security Bureau should already be on its way here, so it's unlikely anything else will happen." Seeing Mother still wanting to chat, Lei Ke Dun spoke up to remind her.

At this moment Mother suddenly came to his room to chat about these things; her main purpose was actually to worry that he would be frightened by the earlier gunshot.

Yi Sha Bei Er, hearing this, gave Lei Ke Dun a deep look; Lei Ke Dun was pretending to be calm while pondering whether his earlier performance had been flawed somewhere.

"My little Lei Ke Dun has grown up; he's no longer the child who needed Mother's protection." Yi Sha Bei Er's face showed a smile full of emotion.

"People always grow up; I'm no longer the child I used to be!" Lei Ke Dun said proudly.

"But in Mother's eyes you will always be a child." Yi Sha Bei Er smiled as she spoke.

"Alright, but now the child needs to sleep, and his mother needs to sleep too." Lei Ke Dun said with a wry smile.

night owl ing

(End of chapter)