Chapter 262

Jinmen has not been peaceful lately, and Xu Qing thought he had been targeted by extremist cult rebels, but he didn't expect it to be two little brats who hadn't yet lost their milky scent.

Luring the other party all the way to a narrow alley, Xu Qing silently dismissed the idea of killing them and collecting the bodies.

"Speak! Who sent you? What is your purpose? If you don't tell the truth, watch out, or I'll send you to the school to see the teacher!"

The little girl hiding behind the boy was only two or three years old and didn't know what a school was, but hearing Xu Qing's tone, she subconsciously felt that the school must not be a good place.

"No one sent us, we came ourselves!" The boy didn't seem afraid of Xu Qing at all; despite his young age, he spoke with high spirits, quite like a little adult.

"Came yourselves? You've got some nerve! I ask you, why are you following me? Aren't you afraid I'm a bad person?"

Xu Qing raised his eyebrows and glared, deliberately trying to scare the two bear children.

"Not afraid! I think you're a good person. The first time I saw you, I felt close to you, just like seeing my mother!"

"..."

Xu Qing's face darkened. There are two things he hates most when people say them about him: first, saying he can't do it, and second, saying he is a good person.

"Don't follow me anymore, or you'll get what's coming to you!"

Xu Qing threw down a fierce sentence and turned around to walk back.

However, as soon as he walked out of the narrow alley, the two bear children followed him out; he headed toward Jingxia Street, and the two children also headed toward Jingxia Street.

Xu Qing turned his head abruptly, and the boy immediately turned to look at the top of the wall; the little girl, a beat behind, also followed suit and looked at the wall.

"..."

Xu Qing's eyes narrowed slightly, and he suddenly changed direction, heading back the way he came; when the two children saw him walking out of the street, they also changed direction and tailed him.

This time, Xu Qing understood: not to mention the girl, that bear child with the topknot was definitely coming for him!

"Come, come!" Xu Qing beckoned with a smile, but when the bear child trotted up to him, Xu Qing's face suddenly dropped, and he pointed into the distance and shouted: "Go home and find your own father and mother! Don't follow me anymore, you hear me?"

Although Xu Qing holds the divine office of the Protecting Life Goddess, it doesn't mean he likes taking care of children.

For a jinxed zombie like him, it's better for children to stay as far away as possible.

However, after Xu Qing issued his harsh warning, the two children stood there stunned, and then the little girl following behind the bear child pursed her little mouth; Xu Qing immediately felt that something was wrong.

Sure enough, the next moment the little girl began to wail; the bear child, who had been acting like a little adult, didn't feel there was anything wrong at first, and even turned his head to comfort the girl, telling her not to be afraid and not to cry.

But the girl cried so hard that he couldn't soothe her at all; after all, they were only five or six-year-old children, and in his helplessness, the boy also pursed his little mouth and began to howl.

"..."

Xu Qing's head felt as big as a bucket, and he thought to himself: I'd better run away quickly!

Otherwise, if the neighbors saw, they would think he was bullying children.

However, just as Xu Qing was facing a great enemy and preparing to use the Divine Wandering Book to escape, the little girl behind him suddenly sobbed and said a sentence haltingly:

"I, I don't have a father or mother anymore, my father doesn't want me! Wah—"

"..."

For some reason, Xu Qing suddenly wanted to slap himself.

In the mortuary shop, the two children were huddled around a small, narrow coffin, eating mung bean porridge.

This small, narrow coffin was one a customer had ordered from Xu Qing half a month ago, saying that because the weather was hot and their child had met with misfortune while playing in the water by the river, they needed a small coffin to collect the remains.

Xu Qing asked how big the child was, and the person said: "Not very big, thin, about three feet tall..."

It was already late at the time, so Xu Qing told the person to come pick it up the next day; the two had agreed, but half a month passed, and he never saw that person come.

Xu Qing simply used that small coffin as a small dining table; when there were leftovers, he would lift the coffin lid and put them inside—it couldn't be more convenient.

In the scorching summer, Xuanyu sat on the counter, constantly sticking out its tongue, drinking the mung bean porridge in the bowl in front of it.

When it had drunk enough, it would lift a front paw, licking it while looking toward Xu Qing.

"What are your names, and where do you live?"

Xu Qing didn't feel hot, but he still held a banana-leaf fan, sitting on the grand armchair and fanning back and forth, focusing on doing as the locals do.

"My name is Chen Liuer, I have three homes, which one are you asking about?"

Xu Qing raised an eyebrow and asked curiously: "You might as well tell me about all of them; perhaps I even know your elders."

The bear child with the topknot spoke right up: "My first home is in Qushui Township outside the city, my father is the shopkeeper of a cloth store named Chen Feng, and my mother's surname is Yin; my second home is at the government office in the city, my godfather is named Chen Guangrui, and he is the County Magistrate of the city."

Xu Qing felt it sounded familiar when he heard about the Qushui Township cloth store, and when he heard the other party say his godfather was named Chen Guangrui, Xu Qing already understood the child's background.

About four years ago, when Sister Jin of the Protecting Life Temple was washing clothes in the river, she had saved an infant, and that child had been sent to Sister Jin's side by Xu Qing using the Child-Sending Ruyi.

Later, the eldest mistress of the Chen family cloth store was killed by Yuan Hu, but the head of the Chen family, Chen Feng, believed it was Sister Jin's doing and that she had stolen his child.

The County Magistrate tried the case in court and finally found the true culprit who killed the eldest mistress, Yuan Hu, as well as the fact that the eldest mistress, jealous of the concubine's son, had thrown the Yin woman's child into the river.

After the Chen family case ended, the County Magistrate Chen Guangrui specifically called Chen Feng into the hall, saying he felt a connection with the child, and thus, in front of all the government office runners, he formed a god-parent relationship with the Chen Feng family and adopted a foster son.

And that foster son was the Chen Liuer before him.

Chen Feng cared about face; the eldest mistress had lost his face, so he let Xu Qing deal with her as he pleased; when the County Magistrate exonerated Sister Jin, Chen Feng, for the sake of his own face, insisted on calling white black, wanting to make the case of Sister Jin killing and stealing the child a settled matter.

Chen Guangrui was clear-sighted and understood human nature; he saw what kind of person Chen Feng was, which was why he had the intention of adopting a foster son.

Although the Yin woman and Chen Liuer survived, Chen Feng had lost all his face because of them; if they went back, he would likely harbor resentment toward the Yin woman and the child.

Both families had the surname Chen, and Sister Jin said the infant was saved by the manifestation of the Protecting Life Goddess; Chen Guangrui felt it was a coincidence on one hand, and couldn't bear it on the other, so he simply formed a god-parent relationship with Chen Feng to satisfy the other party's face, and only in this way could Chen Liuer grow up carefree.

Xu Qing looked at Chen Liuer, who was already almost as tall as his leg, feeling inexplicably moved.

He often performed funeral rites and sent people to the afterlife with a smile, but seeing someone he had saved, meeting them years later, and seeing them alive and kicking, was a completely different feeling.

Between life and death, there truly are many mysteries.

Xu Qing smiled slightly and continued to ask: "You said you have three homes, that's only two, where is the third one?"

Chen Liuer finished the last of the mung bean porridge, his little topknot bobbing, and said in a childish voice: "In the Protecting Life Temple on Mount Ziyun! My god-aunt is the temple keeper of the Protecting Life Temple."