When they finished work, Secretary Qi told everyone about Director Chen's praise. The villagers were very happy, feeling that their labor had been recognized. With Director Chen's praise, the villagers' enthusiasm was once again mobilized, and they worked together, chanting slogans.
The villagers also discovered that there were many fish in the section of the river they were responsible for, but not in other places. They caught enough fish by noon to make lunch, so everyone caught fish to take home and treat their families to a meal.
The project in Qijia Village has completed 1,700 meters, with only 300 meters left to finish.
This is the eleventh day in Qijia Village. If it's completed tomorrow, and we use two more days for inspection, it's estimated that it can be completed in fourteen days, six days ahead of schedule.
Finishing early not only brings a reward, but also a chance to hibernate for the entire winter. Arriving early in the morning, everyone was in high spirits, eager to be the first.
Just as everyone was working feverishly, they heard someone from the neighboring village of Hujia shout in panic, "Someone's dead! Someone's dead..."
Rafting across the river is tiring, but everyone who comes is young and strong, so no one dies from exhaustion or the cold water.
The people of Hujia Village quickly carried the burly man covered in black soot onto the shore, and the others, forgetting their work, rushed over to check on him.
"Go quickly and fetch a doctor," the village secretary of Hujia Village immediately said to a young man beside him. "There are bicycles over there, ride quickly."
"Yes, village secretary." The young man took off running to fetch a doctor, as if he were worried that if he was too slow, his distant cousin would die.
Just as everyone was surrounding the burly man who had fainted, someone shouted again, "Someone has fainted! Someone has fainted..."
After being lifted up by a lot of effort, he was placed next to the big man from before. Both of them were covered in black soot, but had no other wounds. They were just unconscious.
One was in his twenties, and the other was in his forties. They were both in good health before, and they suddenly fainted. It was definitely not something a barefoot doctor could treat.
Secretary Hu immediately ordered the two men to be taken to the commune hospital. He also ordered the area where the two men had fainted to be sealed off, with black water seeping in, preventing anyone from approaching. Everything was to be reported to the organization and receive instructions from the leadership.
If it were just a simple injury, Secretary Hu could make the decision, but now that two people are in critical condition, he dares not make decisions on his own.
After being lifted onto the oxcart, they were hurriedly taken to the commune's hospital.
The other villagers dared not go into the water and stood on the shore waiting for someone from the commune to handle the matter.
Secretary Qi also went to take a look. After returning, he told everyone to be careful and to come up immediately if they saw black water or anything strange in the water. He told them not to continue working in the water.
He Tiantian was puzzled. She hadn't heard of anything like this happening in Hujia Village during the river works in her previous life. What on earth was going on?
While washing vegetables, He Tiantian silently chanted in her mind, "Gurgle gurgle meow, I need help from the Snake King!"
The Snake King, engrossed in his cultivation, opened his tiny, beady eyes within the barrier and lazily asked, "Why are you calling me at this hour? Haven't I already gotten you this much fish and shrimp from the river? Isn't that enough?"
He Tiantian was stunned and asked, "This... so you did all of this, Snake King?"
He Tiantian couldn't believe it. Before, she had heard Director Chen and Secretary Qi say that there were no fish and shrimp in other sections of the river, only in their area, but she hadn't believed it. Now that the Snake King had spoken, He Tiantian believed it.
"What do you think?" It didn't say anything, but that didn't mean it didn't do anything. He Tiantian was very thin, and it hoped that He Tiantian could gain some weight so that it would feel less guilty after replenishing its holy blood.
"Thank you so much, Snake King, hehe." He Tiantian said gratefully. The Snake King was so kind to her, and she didn't know how to repay him.
"Thanks for all this, just tell me what's wrong?" The Snake King was secretly delighted to receive He Tiantian's thanks, but he put on a very impatient and irritating expression.
However, He Tiantian was in a good mood and didn't care about the Snake King's arrogant attitude. In fact, the Snake King was quite cute.
"We're fine here, but in the next village, two people suddenly fainted while we were working. Their bodies were completely black, and we don't know what happened. There's a spot in the river where black water is gushing out. Luckily, they're downstream; if it were upstream, our village would be in trouble too. Snake King, you're all-knowing, do you know what's going on?" He Tiantian explained, subtly flattering the Snake King at the same time.
Upon hearing this, the Snake King closed its small, cold, beady eyes, released its divine sense, and carefully sensed the direction He Tiantian had indicated. After a while, the Snake King finally opened its eyes.
"How is it?" He Tiantian asked anxiously. She felt that the place where the accident happened was strange and was feeling uneasy.
"Those two people made changes to the place that wasn't altered, and now they're being punished by the guardian beast statue. This is fate, and I can't help them," the Snake King said slowly. It turns out that in the ancient times of this space, there were also divine beasts. However, due to the ancient wars and countless battles, many died, and their numbers drastically decreased. In addition, several geographical changes have made the spiritual energy here thin, and many spiritual beasts have left, leaving only creatures that haven't developed intelligence.
Humans, from that time onward, gradually developed intelligence due to environmental changes, learned to use and create tools, became adept at thinking, and slowly became the rulers of this world.
Even though those mythical beasts and powerful beings have left this world, the things they did still left traces in this place, such as this river that has never dried up for tens of thousands of years.
"There can be mythical beasts here?" He Tiantian asked in surprise. The existence of the Snake King opened a door to the mysterious and unknown for her. It turned out that there were many things beyond her original knowledge that she could only see in mythological novels or mythological TV series before.
"There are no more divine beasts here, only a stone statue of a river-suppressing divine beast left behind by a powerful being from ancient times. It has incantations on it to protect the river from drying up and flooding," the Snake King replied. "From now on, this place and the surrounding dozens of miles will probably be quite unsettled."
This river flows through the entire Taoyuan County. After being repaired and maintained throughout the ages, it has existed for thousands of years, nourishing the fields on both sides of the river and sustaining hundreds of thousands of local people.
Humans have inadvertently broken the spell and are now to be punished, a punishment even the Snake King cannot overcome. What should be done now?
However, He Tiantian also had some questions and asked, "Snake King, the river channel was repaired here before, and this situation never occurred. What caused this?"
He Tiantian felt things might not be as simple as she thought. She hadn't had access to these inside stories before, but now that she had the Snake King, she hoped to learn more. (To be continued.)
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