Chapter 49: Their Injuries Are..
The season had already entered October, and the farm work in the fields was basically finished. After the villagers weren’t so busy, they also had time to gather together and chat idly, talking about the affairs of this family and that one. For example, today’s topic of conversation was the unavoidable matters involving Lin Duo from the Old Lin Family’s third branch, Lin Shu from the village, and Wang Laizi.
As winter approached, every household began pulling firewood home. Willow Forest Village had heavy snow sealing the mountains every winter, so firewood had to be prepared in advance. Therefore, every household’s strong laborers would go up the mountain early after the busy farming season to chop firewood, because firewood after snow was wet and needed to be dried before use, otherwise it would smoke when burned.
Early in the morning, Lin Zhou and his neighbor Zhang Wang pushed a cart up the mountain. Besides chopping firewood, they also wanted to check if there was any prey in the traps they had dug before. If there were small animals, they could take them home to eat. If they were lucky and caught a big one, they could sell it in town for some income.
The two didn’t rush to chop firewood but first checked several traps. Inspired by Lin Xin last time, this time Lin Zhou had also inserted several sharpened branches upside down in them. As a result, they actually saw a half-grown wild boar that had died in one of the traps, its belly pierced by the branches.
The two happily pulled the wild boar out of the trap and discovered a rabbit that had been crushed to death underneath it, which was also an unexpected surprise.
“Brother Zhou, this wild boar is too small. How about selling it in the village?” Zhang Wang said.
Lin Zhou looked at the wild boar’s size; it really wasn’t big. After slaughtering and skinning it, it would only be about a hundred pounds. It wasn’t worth a trip to town. Although selling to villagers would be cheaper, it saved trouble!
So he nodded and said, “Alright, let’s check the last trap. If it’s not big, we’ll sell it in the village.”
“Got it!”
After discussing, the two continued deeper into the forest. The last trap was dug near the deep mountain, where the chance of large prey was higher.
As they approached, Zhang Wang suddenly grabbed Lin Zhou’s arm, then said in a slightly trembling voice, “Brother Zhou, look there. Isn’t that… a person?”
Lin Zhou had been watching his feet and hadn’t noticed ahead. Hearing this, he quickly looked up and indeed saw three people lying on the ground. One was closer to them, right hand stretched forward in a crawling pose, while the other two were curled up on the ground with what looked like blood on their clothes.
“It, it really seems like… people. L-Let’s go over and… take a look.” Seeing this visually shocking scene early in the morning made Lin Zhou’s hair stand on end too.
“How about… how about we… go back and… call people?” Zhang Wang was quite scared and stuttered his suggestion.
“Y-Yeah, alright, then l-let’s… hurry back!” Lin Zhou was just as scared. After saying that, the two didn’t care about the trap anymore and ran frantically back to the village.
“Village Chief, Village Chief, open the door quick, something big happened!” Zhang Wang panted as he reached the Village Chief’s house and pounded on the gate thunderously.
“Coming, coming, stop pounding, or the door will break.” The Village Chief’s daughter-in-law Qian Shen’er hurried over to open the door while shouting loudly.
“What happened?” The Village Chief, following behind his daughter-in-law, saw Zhang Wang bent over with hands on knees, gasping for breath, and asked.
“There are dead people on the mountain!”
“What? Dead people?” The Village Chief forgot to puff on the tobacco pipe he had just put in his mouth and stared wide-eyed. Qian Shen’er was also frightened and grabbed the back of the Village Chief’s clothes.
“Yes, there are three of them!”
“What? Where did you see them? Are they really dead?” The Village Chief’s three sons also gathered around, staring incredulously at Zhang Wang after hearing.
“No more questions. Quickly call a few people, let Wangzi lead them up to check. Also Old Three, go to the Clan Leader’s house and tell him about this, and call the old doctor too, just in case. Hurry!” The Village Chief hurriedly arranged.
“N-No need to go to the Clan Leader’s… Zhou Bro went.”
“That’s fine then. Eldest, call people and go up the mountain with Wangzi. Second Son and Third Son, you two ask in the village which family is missing people. Go quickly!” After saying that, the Village Chief gripped his old tobacco pipe and headed to the old Clan Leader’s house.
“Village Chief is here. My dad is in the room! I’m rushing out, so I won’t host you.” As soon as the Village Chief arrived at the old Clan Leader’s gate, he ran into Lin Jing who was leading several brothers out.
“Are you going into the mountain? Let these boys go with you to see what’s really going on.” The Village Chief instructed Lin Jing and then everyone, “All be extra careful.”
“We know. You go in first, sir!” Lin Jing nodded in agreement, then led the people to join up with the Village Chief’s eldest son. The group headed up the mountain.
All who came were young men with strong curiosity, eager to know exactly what Lin Zhou and the others had seen. After walking a bit, they started asking questions. With more people around, Lin Shu and Zhang Wang weren’t so scared anymore and recounted what they saw to everyone.
Now everyone understood that they had run back to the village scared just from seeing people, without even knowing if they were dead or alive. The tense atmosphere immediately relaxed, and some began teasing them for being timid with chuckles.
As the group was walking, they suddenly heard a woman’s scream ahead.
“A’Zhou, Wangzi, were the people you saw women?” Lin Jing frowned and asked upon hearing. All who came were big men.
“This,” the two exchanged a glance and said embarrassedly, “We were too scared at the time and didn’t go over to look.”
“Brother Jing, what now? Do we still go?” A young man Lin Qi, newly married, scratched his head and hesitated to a stop.
Lin Jing stood in place and thought for a moment. “You go back and call a few aunties over. We’ll go ahead and check first.”
“Got it!” Lin Qi happily agreed and dashed down the mountain. The young men behind burst into laughter, teasing him for fearing his wife.
“Alright, stop fooling around. Hurry over to check. If someone really died, it’ll be bad.” Lin Jing urged everyone not to waste time.
“Over there, I see it.” After walking a bit more, just as Zhang Wang was about to say it was ahead, the Village Chief’s eldest son Lin Yu shouted loudly.
Everyone quickened their steps and walked a few more paces, then saw a young lady curled up hugging her head, squatting under a big tree. In one hand she tightly gripped a bloody stone. In front of her were two men covered in blood, lying unconscious on the ground.
“Eh? Isn’t that Lin Duo from Lin Laosan’s family? How is she here?”
“Oh my, with so much blood, is the person still alive?”
“My god, isn’t that Lin Shu and Wang Laizi! When did these two get together?”
“Their injuries are…”
In broad daylight, the group of big men all involuntarily clamped their legs together, feeling a chill blow from below straight to the top of their heads. They unanimously thought the injuries were really too frightening.
“Hurry over to check if they’re still alive!” Lin Jing pulled Lin Yu to squat beside the two, carefully extending a hand under their noses to test for breath.
“Phew! Good, still breathing!” Lin Yu withdrew his hand and let out a long breath.
“Don’t just stand there. Quickly make two stretchers and get them down the mountain first!” Lin Jing also breathed a sigh of relief, then started directing everyone to figure out how to transport them down.
Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone. May all lovers eventually be together!
