"Why didn't they report it to the police? When they arrived, the girl changed her story and said she was willing to marry me. They took her away and I don't know what they did to her. She became dazed afterwards.
Every time something happens, the whole village speaks with one voice, and the police can't do anything about them. Over time, even the surrounding brigades don't dare to offend them, nor do they dare to have too much contact with them."
Song Jin frowned. "Does their village only have one village chief? What kind of person is he?"
"There are also team leaders and accountants, who are all people chosen by the village. The commune also wanted to send a cadre to be stationed there, but every time they went there, they would resign within two days.
Over time, the commune stopped caring about it. Naturally, they became more and more unruly.”
"Then do you know how to get to Guaizi Village?"
The master thought it was not appropriate for a little girl like her to go there, but since she was determined to find out, he told her the direction anyway.
After Song Jin understood what he wanted to know, he looked up and saw a guesthouse not far ahead.
She asked the driver to stop at the entrance of the guesthouse and asked how much it would cost. The driver thought for a moment and said, "It's a little far, so give me thirty cents."
Song Jin didn't say much after hearing this. She didn't know how much was appropriate. Although she was shocked by the cheapness of labor, that was the way it was in this era.
She certainly wasn't stupid enough to ask why it was so cheap, so she found three cents and gave it to the master.
The master took the money with a smile and returned the same way. But before leaving, he solemnly warned her: "Girl, you must not go to Guaizi Village alone to look for your relatives. Even if you want to go, find someone to accompany you. Don't take it lightly."
Seeing that Song Jin listened and nodded in thanks, the master pedaled his tricycle away.
Song Jin entered the guesthouse and checked in. She was very tired from the train ride, so after entering the room, she went to the private room to wash up. After taking a hot bath to relieve her fatigue, she went to the mall to eat.
After eating and drinking, Song Jin lay on the bed and slept soundly until dawn.
The next day, I went downstairs and checked out of the guesthouse, then found a secluded place to pick up my bicycle.
She rode her bike eastward and after leaving the city, she saw the three-way intersection that the tricycle driver mentioned. She chose the direction where the crooked tree was.
The journey continued, and after riding for about three hours, we finally saw the village on the side of the road in the distance.
Song Jin put away his bicycle and entered the space, then quietly entered the village through the space.
After looking at every house, I saw the largest and newest brick house in the middle of the village. This should be the village chief's house.
Sure enough, as soon as I entered the yard, I saw a family having lunch in the main room.
There were twelve people of all ages sitting at the table. Judging from their ages, it was obvious who was Li Xiaohua.
The family was identified from their conversation.
After dinner, Li Xiaohua went into the house to take a nap.
A minute later, everyone in the main room heard a scream from inside the house, and then there was silence.
Several people rushed into Li Xiaohua's house quickly. As soon as they entered, they saw her lying on the ground with her eyes wide open, her lips blue and purple, the corners of her mouth and chest soaked in blood, and she was no longer breathing.
Everyone was so frightened that they stood there in a daze, only the village chief's wife rushed over and hugged Li Xiaohua and cried.
Everyone was awakened by the crying and screaming, and only then did they see a colorful snake crawling down from Li Xiaohua's body. It spit out its tongue at them and then ran away quickly.
Two small round holes were clearly visible on Li Xiaohua's neck, and everyone was shocked.
How did a poisonous snake get into the house? I don’t know if there are any other ones, and the one that just escaped must be found and killed quickly.
But we searched every room and every corner of the yard but couldn't find it.
Everyone in the village knew that the village chief's daughter had been bitten to death by a poisonous snake, so they all started using mugwort to fumigate their homes to repel snakes and insects, fearing that their families would suffer the same fate one day.
But strangely, there was not a single snake in the village.
Instead, the howling of wolves and the faint roar of tigers could be heard from time to time at night.
For three consecutive nights, someone lost chickens, ducks and other poultry every night.
The situation is worst in the village chief's family. Not a single chicken is left out of the seven or eight they raised for the population.
Later, someone went hunting in the mountains and came back saying that he encountered a pack of wolves on the mountain. He also lost an arm and barely escaped.
In the evening, all the men in the village came to the brigade headquarters for a meeting.
"Uncle Village Chief, Dazhuang's arm is in tatters and cannot be saved. What do you think of what he said?"
The village chief smacked the pipe in his hand and turned his gaze to the person who was speaking.
"Is the news confirmed?"
The man nodded hurriedly: "I'm sure. Dazhuang saw it with his own eyes. There was a whole box of gold bars in the cave. He was surrounded by wolves just to get the gold bars."
The others started clamoring.
"If it really is gold bars, we have to hurry up and get them back. There are other groups of people on our mountain who will also go hunting. What will we do if they take them away?"
“But there are wolves…”
"Why don't we report it to the police, or find the militia from the armed forces and ask them to help us kill the wolves."
"Are you stupid? If we find those people with gold bars, will we still get a share?"
"In my opinion, if all the men in our village go up the mountain, they won't necessarily be defeated by the wolves. That box of gold bars would be enough for us to share. What do you think, Village Chief?"
Everyone expressed their opinions one after another.
In the end, the village chief decided not to report to the police or to contact the armed forces militia.
He didn't believe that they could do it themselves. There were more than a hundred households in their village, and nearly a hundred and twenty strong laborers, but they couldn't handle a group of beasts.
“I’ll give you three days to settle down at home and prepare your belongings, food, and tools.
Three days later in the morning, we will gather here again, and all the men in the village will go up the mountain together.
Tell others that they are going to the mountains to hunt together, and tell the women at home to control their mouths.
If any news gets out and ruins our plans, you will have to think about it yourself."
Everyone was convinced by the village chief's words and nodded in agreement.
During these three days, few villagers went out and were busy at home.
Three days later, the men in the village gathered at the wheat field of the brigade headquarters with their tools and headed towards the mountain where the villagers had depended for generations.
Da Zhuang, whose arm was bitten off by a wolf, also followed along. Although his arm was in pain, he couldn't miss it if he had to share the money.
Everyone also needs him to lead the way, so naturally they would not refuse.
Dazhuang endured the severe pain and kept up with everyone, constantly reminding everyone to be careful and observe their surroundings along the way.
But until we got near the cave where the gold bars were kept, we didn't encounter any animals.
Everyone looked at Dazhuang with suspicion, some doubting the authenticity of the news.
Da Zhuang took a few quick steps to the entrance of the cave, and it was exactly the same as what he saw last time.
"Village chief, come and take a look."
Everyone ran over together and saw at a glance that there was indeed a big box in the cave. At this time, the box was wide open, and inside was a box full of gold bars.
From this angle, it shines with golden light.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
