True Madness and False Madness

Xiaoguo narrowed her eyes and looked at the person with her flowery butt sticking out. She could vaguely tell that it was a woman. Judging from her appearance, there was no one else who looked like that in the village. Xiaoguo gritted her teeth and guessed the person’s identity.

She had yet to settle the score with this woman. To think that she had turned up herself!

Xiaoguo quickened her pace and came to a stop not far behind the woman. She was still unaware that there was someone behind her. Xiaoguo could feel anger rising within herself.

She lowered her head to look for a lump of soil. Yang Jia could tell what she was doing, so he also helped to look. In the end, he found a piece that was just the right size for Xiaoguo and he immediately pointed it out to her.

Xiaoguo nodded and bent down to pick it up. Then she aimed and fired.

“Ouch!”

A powerful female voice broke the silence.

Xiaoguo and Yang Jia covered their ears and looked at the woman who was squatting on the ground and cursing in pain.

“Who was it? Who hit me?!”

Xiaoguo had used all her strength. That was how she used to fight zombies in the past. It had to be painful for Li Zhaodi.

To her surprise, her reaction was quite normal. Xiaoguo thought that she only knew how to scream after being hit.

“Hey.”

Xiaoguo looked at Li Zhaodi, who was squatting on the ground and covering her head as she screamed. Xiaoguo couldn’t help but remind her that with her screams, those who didn’t know better would think that someone was killing pigs.

As soon as Xiaoguo spoke, Li Zhaodi froze. A bad feeling welled up in her heart and she slowly turned around.

“Woah!”

Xiaoguo couldn’t help but take a step back. Yang Jia quickly held her from behind. He had guessed that Xiaoguo would be shocked. All villagers all had this reaction when they first saw Li Zhaodi. Even the timid children were almost frightened to tears by her appearance.

After Xiaoguo regained her balance, she looked at the creature that she could barely recognize. It was really too scary. Even a monkey’s butt was not as scary as her face. Xiaoguo struggled to find her eyes among the colorful mess on her face.

“Li Zhaodi?”

Li Zhaodi trembled subconsciously when she heard Xiaoguo’s voice. A look of embarrassment flashed across her eyes.

Xiaoguo, who was constantly paying attention to her, had noticed that strange fleeting look. How could a lunatic have such an expression?

“Li Zhaodi?”

Xiaoguo looked at her suspiciously. To confirm what she was thinking, she walked towards the woman who was huddled in the corner.

“Don’t…”

Yang Jia grabbed Xiaoguo from behind and looked at her worriedly.

Xiaoguo had just returned to the village. She didn’t know that apart from hugging and kissing men, women were also not spared by Li Zhaodi. This was especially true for young and beautiful women. Once she saw them, she would rush forward like a mad cow and assault them by scratching, pulling and biting. Three grown men were no match for her—if Li Zhaodi were to throw a fit after being provoked by Xiaoguo, the consequences would be dire.

“It’s okay.”

Although Xiaoguo was wary of lunatics, Li Zhaodi seemed to be putting up an act. Based on her behavior earlier, she looked like she wanted to escape the moment she saw Xiaoguo. Xiaoguo was pretty sure that Li Zhaodi was pretending to be crazy. And she looked like she didn’t wish to see Xiaoguo.

In order to prove that her guess was right, Xiaoguo decided to approach her and test her reaction.

“Don’t go.”

Yang Jia looked at Xiaoguo’s suicidal behavior and felt extremely anxious.

“It’s fine. We have to go over anyway. Otherwise, we won’t be able to enter the house.”

Xiaoguo gave Yang Jia a reassuring look before shaking off his hand. She then walked forward alone.

Seeing that he could not persuade her, Yang Jia emboldened himself and followed closely behind her. If something really happened, although he could not help her, he could at least try to stall for time so that XIaoguo could call for help or run for her life.

Xiaoguo smiled when she saw Yang Jia following her. This kid was both timid and brave.

Although Li Zhaodi was squatting in a corner with her head lowered, she was still able to see her surroundings quite clearly. With her disheveled hair and dramatic makeup covering most of her face, even if she were looking at someone, no one could tell.

Seeing that Xiaoguo was approaching her, Li Zhaodi gritted her teeth. She didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of her…

At such a close distance, Li Zhaodi had nowhere to retreat. In those few seconds, she was thinking to herself repeatedly, “Should I throw a fit or not?”

Maybe she should just do it. Anyway Xiaoguo didn’t know if she was really crazy or not. However, if she were to behave like that in front of XIaoguo, wouldn’t Xiaoguo despise her even more? She would become a laughing stock in her eyes.

Previously, she had no choice but to act crazy. And during that time, Qin Xiaoguo wasn’t in the village. Now that Xiaoguo was back, there was no way she was going to humiliate herself in front of her.

But then again, if she were to act sane, the hard work she put in and humiliation she suffered would all go down the drain. Li Zhaodi was so conflicted that her black eyebrows were knitted together.

In Li Zhaodi’s mind, there were two people fighting. One was telling her to act crazy, and the other was telling her the opposite!

Her head was about to explode. At this moment, she really wished that she was crazy. That way, she wouldn’t have to worry about her dignity.

Just as Xiaoguo was getting closer and closer to her, there was a sudden buzz in her head and her mind went blank. She instinctively stood up.

Yang Jia was constantly paying attention to Li Zhaodi’s movements. When he saw her stand up suddenly, he was shocked and subconsciously took a few steps while pulling Xiaoguo with him.

Li Zhaodi saw his actions and gritted her teeth. Then, she gave Xiaoguo an obscure look and ran off.

Yang Jia stared blankly from the side. He was just getting ready for battle and the enemy ran away just like that?

Xiaoguo swept away the dust in the air and smiled secretly as she watched Li Zhaodi run into the distance. So she was really putting on an act.

As she was still thinking about Qin Xiaoguo, Li Zhaodi did not notice any of the men she passed by along the way. She didn’t even look at them. The men who saw her were dumbfounded. What was going on? Has Li Zhaodi recovered?

Within a day, the news of Li Zhaodi’s recovery spread throughout the village. All the women, elderly, and children heaved a sigh of relief. They could finally set their heart at rest.

After Li Zhaodi left, Xiaoguo and Yang Jia went back home.

“Go find Zhuang Zhuang.”

Xiaoguo asked Yang Jia to look for Zhuang Zhuang in his room while she went to look for Qin Anming. As soon as she entered, she heard him coughing.

Yang Jia was gone in a flash after acknowledging her words. Xiaoguo picked up a pot of warm water from the table in the hall. She had boiled some water before leaving the house earlier. The water was still warm, and just right for Qin Anming.

“Brother, have some water.”

Qin Anming was woken up by his cough. He had just sat up when Xiaoguo came in with the water. It was really timely.

“Slow down.”

Qin Anming took the water and gulped it down. Afraid that he would choke, Xiaoguo kept telling him to drink slowly.

Putting down his cup, he caught his breath and seemed to feel much better. “I’ve had enough.”

Seeing that Xiaoguo was about to pour more water, he quickly stopped her. He would vomit if he drank more.

“Fine, I’ll drink it.”

Xiaoguo rolled her eyes at him.

Qin Anming chuckled and stopped talking. He waited for Xiaoguo to finish her drink.

“I just bumped into Li Zhaodi.”

As soon as Xiaoguo said that, Qin Anming’s face froze.

“But she has run away.”

When Qin Anming heard the rest of her words, his heart rate returned to normal. It was good that she had run away.

“She didn’t hurt you, did she?”

Qin Anming’s heart started racing again. He hurriedly held on to Xiaoguo to check if she was hurt.

Xiaoguo quickly assured him that she was okay. But Qin Anming didn’t believe her. He was convinced that Xiaoguo was saying this so that he wouldn’t worry. It was a known fact that whoever bumped into Li Zhaodi would end up either dead or injured.

Xiaoguo looked at his solemn face that was on the verge of tears. She quickly stood up and spun around to show him. “Look, I’m fine.”

After seeing it for himself, Qin Anming was relieved. However, he was still puzzled. “What happened to Li Zhaodi? Why did she suddenly recover?”

Xiaoguo shrugged. “She wasn’t crazy in the first place.”

“What?!” Qin Anming was shocked and raised his voice uncontrollably. “You mean… she was pretending to be crazy?!”