Chapter 58 Exposing the Lie

"What? Where is Mumu?" Old Madam Gu hurried forward, stepping up to them. "You lost Mumu?"

"I... I didn't. It was younger sister herself... I'll go look for her, I'll definitely bring younger sister back. Third Aunt, please don't worry, younger sister will be fine," Li Fenghua said, crying.

"Mother, don't worry. Perhaps Mumu is with her older brothers," Gu Mingyu said.

Gu Yuru also grabbed Li Fenghua, who was making a show of heading up the mountain. "You are not going."

Li Yuan also stood up. "Yuru, I'll go with you to find our daughter."

Gu Yuru did not want to spare a single extra word; she only wanted to find her daughter as quickly as possible.

She was only three years old. Out there alone in the pitch-black night, how helpless she must have felt!

"I'm sorry, Third Aunt. It's all my fault," Li Fenghua said, crying with self-reproach.

The Gu family had already started up the mountain, but they had not walked more than a few steps before they heard a commotion in the forest. Listening closely, it was the sound of the young boys laughing and chatting away.

"Yunchao, did you see younger sister? Younger sister is missing!" Gu Yuru asked, her voice tinged with tears.

Li Yunchao paused slightly, glanced at the younger sister he was holding by the hand, and remembering how she had looked all by herself when he found her, felt a surge of anger. "Mother, don't worry, younger sister is with me."

Gu Yuru let out a long sigh of relief. She had been scared to death.

"It's fine, it's fine. Heaven has eyes," Song Qiang said, patting her chest. "Mumu, you must not wander off on your own again. Do you know you scared the life out of all of us?"

Li Mumu was not upset; she knew everyone cared about her.

However, the brothers, who were fiercely protective of their younger sister, were not pleased.

Especially Gu Yu. The Li family brothers felt too embarrassed to talk back to their maternal aunt, but Gu Yu was a direct son, so he didn't hold back.

"Mother, what are you saying? How can you blame our cousin?"

Song Qiang paused and explained, "I'm not blaming her, I was just worried. What would have happened if she had run into something out there alone?"

As they spoke, the young boys had already returned. Their hands were full of things, a truly fruitful harvest, but the Gu family had no mind to look at their loot now.

Gu Yuru picked up Li Mumu, kissed her cold little face, and grasped her small, chilly hands, feeling an overwhelming ache in her heart.

"When we found our cousin, she was all by herself. Li Fenghua told us to walk ahead and said she would take care of cousin, but heaven knows how she took care of her, leaving cousin all alone."

Song Qiang chimed in quickly, "Didn't Mumu cry and say she wanted to find her mother?"

"When was that?" Gu Yu retorted. "Why would cousin be crying for no reason? Did Li Fenghua bully you? Don't be afraid, just tell me, and I'll go settle the score for you!"

Li Mumu was warmed by her young cousin's words. "No. Elder sister told me to walk this way while she went that way, and said I couldn't follow her."

Gu Yuru frowned.

Zhang Yi took a deep breath. "How could this happen?"

Li Yunchao sensed something was amiss. "First Aunt, is that not what Fenghua told you?"

Previously at the Li household, although he disliked this cousin, as an older brother he still looked after them. However, he had often seen Li Fenghua playing tricks on his younger sister.

He had originally thought her behavior over the past few days meant she had finally grown sensible, but looking at it now, things were entirely different.

"She certainly did not." Zhang Yi sighed and repeated Li Fenghua's exact words to the young boys.

"She is lying," Li Yunhe said. "My younger sister has always gone up the mountain with us to gather things and has never cried or made a fuss. If she really had been crying to find her mother, it must mean Li Fenghua did something to her."

"That's right. When we found younger sister, she was all smiles and even helped us gather a lot of wood ear mushrooms," Li Yunjue added.

There was no reason for anyone to believe an outsider, especially since everyone knew what Li Mumu was really like.

"This is... raising a wolf in our midst. And here I was wondering how the Li family could ever produce a good person," Song Qiang cursed angrily.

Beside them, Li Yuan's face turned red, then black, then red again, though in the dark of night, no one could see.

"Despicable! If Mumu hadn't run into the boys and had truly been lost, I would have taken her life," Gu Mingjing said, his anger surging.

"Calm down. If that had really happened, taking her life wouldn't bring Mumu back," Gu Ming煜 said, acting as the level-headed eldest brother.

"Enough, let's head back quickly. Father and Mother are still waiting."

Gu Yuru was terrified that Li Mumu might slip away again; even when Li Yuan offered to hold their daughter, she refused to let go.

When the group returned to the camp, Li Fenghua came running over. Seeing Li Mumu in Gu Yuru's arms, she panicked entirely.

"Y-Younger sister... why did you... take so long to come back?"

"Hmph, little girl, I really couldn't tell. Were we not good to you?" Song Qiang asked in a cold voice. If not for the fact that Li Fenghua was just a child, she really would have struck her.

"Second Aunt... w-what are you saying?"

"I'm saying you're an ingrate, an ungrateful wretch, and utterly devoid of conscience."

She couldn't hit the girl, but couldn't she even curse her?

Song Qiang breathed heavily with rage, and the others glared at her with fury. "You insisted on watching Mumu, but ended up losing her, and then you lied! What were you up to?"

"I... I didn't..."

"Little liar," Gu Yu scoffed.

"Third Aunt, you have to believe me, I didn't! Mumu is my younger sister, how could I leave her behind?" Li Fenghua said, weeping.

Having narrowly avoided losing her daughter, Gu Yuru had no desire to waste any more words on her. "Go back to your side first."

"Third Aunt..."

"She is not your Third Aunt, stop calling her that and making people misunderstand," Song Qiang snapped unhappily. "I must have been blind to give away those pancakes of mine."

When Li Fenghua returned to the Li family's side, she was met with a round of sneers. Madam Sun, unaware of the cause and effect, scolded her, saying she deserved it for fawning over people who gave her the cold shoulder.

Li Fenghua wiped away her tears and looked at Li Mumu, who was surrounded like the moon among stars. Her eyes were filled with hatred. Why had she come back? Why couldn't she have just gotten lost for good?

This time she had been lucky, but next time, she would make sure she never returned.

There were plenty of wood ear mushrooms, and knowing that the journey ahead was still long, they decided to sun-dry them so they could be eaten at any time.

Gu Yuru felt deeply guilty about the fact that Li Fenghua had almost lost Li Mumu. When bedtime came, she held her daughter tightly in her arms, as if terrified someone would snatch her away.

"Mumu, I'm sorry. It's all Mother's fault."

Li Mumu shook her head. How could her mother be at fault?

Kindness was never wrong; the only ones in the wrong were those who exploited other people's kindness to do evil.

The next day, Li Fenghua found a free moment to come over and apologize, claiming she had only lied because she was too frightened at the time.

However, faced with her tearful remorse and self-reproach, Gu Yuru remained completely unmoved.

Her sincerity had been trampled upon once already, and at the cost of almost losing her daughter. She would never give a second chance.

"Third Aunt, I really was wrong, please don't ignore me," Li Fenghua pleaded, looking at Gu Yuru with large, eager eyes. "You're the only one who treats me well, please don't give up on me."

Gu Yuru's expression remained indifferent. "Fenghua, I will say this one last time: do not call me that. I cannot manage you. You have your own mother to manage you, and the person I need to take care of is Mumu."