When Bright Moon Encounter the Dark Clouds

Soon, the Zhu family was in an uproar.

“No!”

“Don’t listen to that madman!”

“Dad, we must save Xiaohan!”

“No one will be stabbed!”

“Then what should we do?”

“Who are you? Why are you doing this to our family?”

……

With a knife in hand, the man looked at them with a grin that seemed bitter and sad. Then out of nowhere, perhaps because of the noise, the man let out a violent roar, “Shut it!”

A deathly silence fell upon the Zhu family in the pit.

“Y-you won’t pick out t-three, right? F-fine. There is another way. P-pick one of you to...die! Then I will let...e-everyone else go! T-this will be the last chance… y-you have!” The man warned before pointing the knife at the child.

I felt my heart drop to my stomach.

This time, the Zhu family remained silent for a long time before Zhu Zhihan’s mother broke the silence with a sobbing voice. “Zhihan’s father, please think of something! What should we do? Please don’t kill our child, m-my child!”

“Please, we’ll give you all the money we have. Please, could you let the child go?”

Naturally, the man did not care.

“Do all of you not see the knife in his hand? He’ll kill the child first, then move on to us!” The old man Zhu Fengxian reminded the family.

“Must one of us die then?” Zhu Jirui said while sobbing.

“Everyone else will be saved if one person is willing to die! Or else, everyone will have to die!” exclaimed Zhu Fengxian.

The pit fell into a lull once more.

I could not see what was going on, yet I felt every hair on my skin prop up in fear. This was the most terrifying night I had ever experienced despite the lack of bloodshed.

Right then, Zhu Jirui’s fiance, who had remained silent, said, “What… what are you all looking at me for?”

As this happened, the man at the top of the pit stared at the Zhu family intently.

Yan Yuan burst out, “How can you all be so selfish? You all want me to die to save the child? If anyone should die, it should be one of you! He’s not even my child!”

Yan Yuan’s voice broke the silence of the night, even scaring several of the birds. I pictured Zhu Jirui standing in front of her fiance, protecting him as she protested. “You can’t do this to Ah Yuan! Second brother and sister-in-law, this is your child. If someone has to die, it should be one of you. Father, how is this logical? Tell them how ridiculous this is!”

Zhu Fengxian stayed mute briefly before he said, “My daughter. You and he are not married. He is an outsider!”

Zhu Jirui said, “No…”

“If anyone needs to die, it’s you, old man! We’re still young, while you’re almost 70. Besides, you’re the one that lost the child. So, why don’t you pay for your mistakes?” Yan Yuan interjected.

Silence fell upon the pit again before Zhu Fengxian said in a quivering voice, “My daughter, you heard what he said. That’s how your fiance thinks of me! He thinks I’ve lived long enough and wants me to die! It’s him! He will die so that my grandson can live!”

Sounds of chaos and the cries from Zhu Jirui echoed from the pit as a scuffle broke out.

Zhu Zhongling exclaimed, “Jirui, come over here!”

His wife screamed, “You will go die!”

Evidently, everyone except Zhu Jirui was trying to subdue Yan Yuan.

I never thought the situation would develop as such, but perhaps this was under the man’s expectations?

What does he want?

“S-shut it...all of you!” the man roared before letting out a very wide grin as if he had witnessed the funniest thing in the world.

“I-is this… how it will be?” He said as if he were monologuing. Then he fixed his gaze upon the people in the pit and said, “What is this child… to your family? Isn’t the child your blood and bone? No one from the Zhu family is willing to step up. Instead, you people...are letting an outsider die? It was like this twenty-five years ago. Is it still the same… twenty-five years later?

“Or… did I… not make it clear? The life of a Zhu family member for the life of this… child. But you all… picked an outsider? You have… failed the test. Failed the test! All of you must die!

“L-let’s start with you… Zhu Fengxian. Tell me, was the child you lost twenty-five years ago… even more worthless? Zhu Shuyun… was abducted, and you all gave up after only searching briefly. Was it because he was dumb, dumber than the other children?... Did you purposefully abandon him? Do you know… how much he wants to go back home? Unfortunately, no one searched for him.

“S-so, instead… I’ve come back looking for you all. My… father, hehe, and my brother and sister.”