After traveling for several hours and settling everyone in at the cave, the village chief was exhausted and somewhat collapsed.
Just as he sat down, feeling drowsy and about to close his eyes to rest, he heard another woman's wailing. Hearing that familiar voice, the village chief's brows furrowed so deeply they could have trapped a fly, and his eyes were filled with disgust.
The woman who let out the wailing was none other than Guilan, who was being held down and beaten by Aunt Wang and the others.
Seeing that the person being beaten on the ground was covered in blood, the village chief finally refrained from intervening.
"Alright, Taisho-san, if you keep hitting him, someone will die..."
The "Dazheng" mentioned by the village chief was Wang's wicked husband. Upon hearing this, he slowly and reluctantly stepped forward and grabbed his wife.
"Village chief, this shameless little slut dared to steal our family's food! You must stand up for us..."
When the village chief heard what Aunt Wang said, and looked at Gui Lan, whose head was covered in blood, his lips twitched. He thought to himself, "You've beaten her up like this, how can I stand up for you?" But then he thought that this person had not only pushed Han Yiyi off the cliff, but was now stealing other people's grain, so he felt that this person had only himself to blame.
The cave they found wasn't small, but it was still a bit cramped to fit the entire village, so everyone sat close together.
When Huang Dachuan and his group came out, they didn't bring much food with them. In addition, after what happened at Han Yi's family, Huang Dachuan decided not to have this wife anymore. Therefore, they didn't give any of the remaining food to Guilan.
Besides, they didn't have much food left. In his opinion, one less person to eat would allow them to last a few more days. As for a wife, he could always marry another one later. Therefore, when he saw Aunt Wang and her daughter-in-law pinning Guilan to the ground and beating her, he didn't even glance at them.
“Village chief, I didn’t, they’re framing me…”
"I'm accusing you, you little slut! Look at your mouth, there are still bits of my family's dried food on it..."
Upon hearing Aunt Wang's words, Guilan quickly raised her sleeve and wiped her mouth.
Seeing Guilan like this, Aunt Wang and her daughter-in-law wanted to go up the mountain to beat her up again. Of course, the other members of the Wang family also wanted to step forward, but since they were men, they couldn't fight with a woman.
In fact, the reason why Aunt Wang and her daughter-in-law treated Guilan so severely was not only because Guilan stole their food, but also because they were angry that Guilan pushed Han Yiyi off the cliff.
In the whole village, besides Aunt Zhang's family, Aunt Wang's family probably had the most dry food. She had fought with Aunt Zhang before, so she chose to target the Wang family this time.
The village chief glanced at the furious Wang family members, then at Gui Lan, whose head was covered in blood but whose eyes still held a calculating glint. He narrowed his eyes slightly and spoke.
“You are now members of the Huang family. Leave the cave now, and you will no longer be people of my Zhushan Village…”
The village chief was unaware of what Guilan had done to Han Yi's family. Therefore, in his view, the Huang family father and son had benefited from Guilan's theft of other people's food. Now, driving the whole family out of Zhushan Village was like getting rid of this rotten apple in Zhushan Village.
Actually, the reason why the village chief didn't drive Han Yiyi out of the village when Guilan pushed him off the cliff was that he planned to hand him over to the authorities after everyone left the mountain. But now he has changed his mind.
With so much rain falling for so long, things must be turbulent outside. The authorities probably don't have time to deal with this kind of thing, so it's better to just kick him out. Let fate decide his fate, and that will be a small way of getting justice for Han Yiyi.
Guilan's face immediately changed upon hearing the village chief's words, her eyes filled with fear. She knew that in these mountains, away from everyone, not only would she not starve to death, but the wild animals would also devour her, leaving not even bones behind. So she hurriedly begged for help.
"Please, don't kick me out. I... I'll never do it again. I promise I'll never do it again..."
Upon hearing the village chief's words, Huang and his son immediately stepped forward and spoke up.
“Village chief, this slut cheated on me and I divorced her long ago. She’s no longer a member of the Huang family. What she did has nothing to do with the Huang family. You can’t kick us out of the village too…”
Seeing that the village chief was ignoring her, Guilan tried to crawl forward to grab his trouser leg. The village chief's wife pulled her husband behind her and looked at the disheveled man lying on the ground with disgust. She didn't feel sorry for him; on the contrary, she thought he deserved what he got.
Seeing this, Guilan struggled again to tug at Huang Dachuan's clothes.
"Da Chuan, I'll never do it again. You can't abandon me, you can't abandon me..."
But Huang Dachuan's eyes only showed disgust. When he saw the hand that was being extended, he kicked it away. He turned his head and saw the village chief's tightly furrowed brows. A trace of something flashed in his eyes, and he spoke.
“Village chief, although this person has nothing to do with me now, she was once a member of my Huang family. However, she has done so many bad things that have nothing to do with our Huang family, and we did not instigate her. But don’t worry, to prove our innocence, I will personally drive her out…”
Before the village chief could react, he ignored Guilan's heart-wrenching cries and dragged her out of the cave.
Seeing this, the village chief could only sigh deeply, but did not say anything.
However, this reminded the village chief that everyone had been out for many days and had probably run out of food. Although the cave could provide shelter from the rain, there was nothing to eat. Therefore, they needed to find a way to get some food.
There are plenty of things to eat on the mountain. Not to mention anything else, the mushrooms after the rain are a good food. So the village chief decided to lead everyone to pick mushrooms.
But this is deep in the mountains, full of mushrooms, and naturally, full of dangers. So the village chief thought for a moment before speaking.
“I know that everyone is running low on food, and the rain is still falling. Nobody knows when it will stop. That’s why I’m thinking of sending everyone out to look for some edible mushrooms around here…”
“Village chief, how can this be? Not to mention it’s raining right now, this is deep in the mountains. If we encounter wild animals, we’ll lose our lives…”
Before the village chief could finish speaking, Huang Dachuan, who had just returned from throwing away Guilan, interrupted him.
Upon hearing Huang Dachuan's words, the village chief's eyes were filled with disgust. Did he not know the danger and not go out to find food? Was he just waiting here to starve to death?
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