Chapter 93: It’s My Fault!
The bamboo grove was utterly silent—so still that even the wind couldn’t rustle a single leaf.
Huai Yu stood there for a long time before she finally took a deep breath and cautiously called out in a soft voice, “Kuang Biao?”
For some reason, as soon as her voice fell, two fresh green bamboo leaves drifted down in front of her, like someone’s silent tears.
Huai Yu’s heart tightened.
She cleared her throat and called again, a bit awkwardly, “Umm…”
Wait, how was she supposed to call geese again? She had completely forgotten to name them yesterday.
What did people usually say to call them?
“Zhua zhua zhua…”
Huai Yu used the universal animal-calling technique.
Fortunately, it seemed to work as always. The thick layer of bamboo leaves in the grove rustled as something moved quickly and heavily toward her.
As it got closer, sunlight streamed through the grove, and Huai Yu saw that the two little gray geese had already grown a thick layer of fuzz overnight.
Now they looked even more like two oversized, round balls.
No, to be accurate—their fuzz was kind of terrifying. They looked like two giant, running sea urchins.
—Wait, what did sea urchins taste like again?
Huai Yu’s thoughts drifted for a moment, and when she came back to her senses, the two “little” geese—well, giant goose-balls—had already waddled up to her.
“Ah ah ah—”
They opened their beaks and squawked at her.
“Hungry?” Huai Yu looked at their already puffed-up bodies and wasn’t so sure about her guess.
Just as the geese tried to get closer, a sudden whoosh—a row of bamboo leaves shot over like arrows!
Then, with a thunk thunk thunk, they embedded themselves into the ground in front of the geese like an unbreakable mini-wall.
The two geese seemed to understand the warning. They wobbled their round bodies and turned back into the bamboo grove.
A few steps in, one of them looked annoyed—or maybe just curious—and jabbed its flat black beak into a tall, thick bamboo stalk nearby—
Crack! Snap!
The adult bamboo was split clean through, the top two joints snapping apart.
“Ah… this…”
Huai Yu stared dumbfounded as the tall bamboo tree slowly toppled over, with barely a sound—so quiet, even the break was eerily silent.
“…”
She didn’t dare make a sound.
Kuang Biao… oh Kuang Biao… this is all my fault!
…
Huai Yu walked heavily toward the center of the bamboo grove.
Sunlight streamed in through the gaps, as if reflecting the countless holes in Kuang Biao’s shattered, speechless heart.
The little basket she had used yesterday was probably no longer enough to hold even one of those sea-urchin-sized geese. That pile of hay, compared to their now thick and stiff fuzz, probably wouldn’t do much either.
But words couldn’t express her deepest feeling—Thank goodness she didn’t keep them inside the house last night! Otherwise, her newly built home might’ve collapsed from a broken beam!
When she arrived at the spot where she’d placed the geese yesterday, she finally understood why Kuang Biao hadn’t said a single word.
The once-lush bamboo center was now so ravaged that even the roots were dug up. Scattered all around were chewed-up bamboo leaves, broken branches, and shredded poles.
Piles of bamboo leaves had clearly been poked, tasted, and then rejected by the geese.
The slender branches were stabbed into splinters. The thick, sturdy bamboo poles were covered in holes, even the strongest bamboo joints were wrecked beyond repair.
And the once-vibrant bamboo shoots—tender and crunchy—were crushed into bits. Just looking at the scene, Huai Yu could picture the two geese poking away, leaving behind a trail of half-chewed bamboo.
She wanted to say something, but when she turned her head—The two geese were innocently following her, waddling along. One even seemed annoyed at a bamboo pole blocking its noble goose leg…
So it jabbed again.
This time, the flat beak landed right on a bamboo joint. With a crisp snap, the bamboo pole split perfectly in half.
Even a chef couldn’t cut bamboo that cleanly for bamboo rice!
The basket she had set down was now knocked aside. In the dented patch of earth lay a thick bed of bamboo leaves. Right in front of her, the two geese flopped down onto the pile, looking very pleased with themselves.
Huai Yu: …
She truly had nothing left to say.
The central bamboo grove they destroyed? That was way over 20 square meters.
With a heart full of guilt and defeat, Huai Yu picked up her hoe again and dug up another full basket of bamboo shoots from another part of the grove.
I mean… Kuang Biao wasn’t saying anything anymore. He wasn’t resisting either. And he was already so badly hurt…
Digging up a few more shoots probably wouldn’t make things worse, right?
Would this be the last straw that broke the camel’s back?
No way!
At most, it was half a straw. It wouldn’t break anything.
She slung the bamboo basket onto her back. Seeing that the two “sea urchin” geese didn’t seem interested in eating, she hopped on her bicycle and headed for Camp 69.
Her thin frame perched on that old heavy bike—even after adjusting the seat again and again, it was still tough to pedal.
But once she got into the rhythm, it was fine. Before long, she reached Camp 69.
From a distance, the guard at the gate recognized her familiar thin but determined figure and grinned wide:
“Little Yu’s here?”
Huai Yu nodded and grinned back. “Is Brother Zhou Qian around?”
The guard handed her a logbook. “Sign in—I’ll call him for you.”
But this time, after she signed in, she had to wait a while.
The guard peeked into her basket again and again, hesitating before asking, “Are those… bamboo shoots?”
“Yup!” Huai Yu replied, all innocence and sunshine. “A whole bamboo grove suddenly sprouted behind my house! These shoots are super tasty, so I dug up a basket to share—totally free.”
The guard, who had heard all kinds of wild tales about the Rose Corridor vs. Mutant Bamboo disaster: …
He stared at her again. She really did look a little taller than the last time. Her cheeks had color now. She looked healthier too.
But to just casually dig bamboo shoots like this—and this many??
Was this what people meant by “ignorance is bliss”? Or “fortune favors the foolish”?
He tried to keep a straight face. “You really don’t have to keep bringing us stuff. We have rules—we’re not allowed to accept random gifts…”
“I’m not giving gifts,” Huai Yu smiled with perfect sincerity. “I’m inviting everyone to try them! Can’t I share a little food? I really just dug them up by chance—didn’t spend a single coin.”
Just as she was defending herself, a voice called out—
“Little Yu.”
She turned and smiled. “Captain Zhou!”
Then paused. “Wait, why are you…?”
—Dressed like that?
He was fully geared up for combat.
Zhou Qian didn’t answer. He just frowned at her and asked, “Why did you come here?”
Huai Yu held out the basket. “I promised to let you try some bamboo shoots—did you like that bamboo tea last time?”
Zhou Qian froze for a second, then let out a helpless chuckle.
