As dawn broke, Zhou Laoda and Zhao Guihua helped Chen Caocao search for Zhou Laoer among the pile of corpses, but after searching for a while, they couldn't find him. Chen Caocao sat on the ground and cried in despair.
Old Zhou sighed and continued searching. Finally, he pulled Old Zhou Er out from a pile of corpses next to a latrine at the village entrance. Old Zhou Er's eyes were closed and he was covered in blood. At first glance, he looked like he was dead.
"Second brother." Zhou Laoda couldn't help but shed tears. To say that he no longer had brotherly feelings for Zhou Laosan and Zhou Laosi, he still had feelings for Zhou Laoer.
Chen Caocao crawled and cried her way to Zhou Lao Er's side, where she clung to him and sobbed heartbrokenly.
At this moment, Zhao Guihua walked over. She looked at him with a serious expression for a while, and then, as if possessed, reached out to check Zhou Lao Er's breath.
"You're still breathing, you're not dead, what are you two howling about?"
Boss Zhou: "?"
Chen Caocao suddenly raised her head. "What did you say? My man is still alive? Then why hasn't he woken up yet?"
"How would I know? Anyway, he's still breathing." Zhao Guihua said, speechless.
Zhou Lao Da pinched Zhou Lao Er's philtrum, and soon Zhou Lao Er's body trembled and he opened his eyes. He looked blankly at his wife with tears and snot all over her face, and was even more confused when he saw his elder brother and sister-in-law looking relieved.
What's wrong with me?
"It's good that you're awake, Second Brother. I was about to ask you what happened," said the eldest brother, Zhou, as he helped him sit up.
After resting for a while, Zhou Lao Er looked at the dead bodies all over the ground and suddenly remembered what had happened. Last night, refugees had paddled rafts into their village, and they had fought with the refugees.
Later, he was hit on the back of the head with a stick and passed out. He doesn't know what happened after that.
Zhou Lao Da touched the back of his head, and sure enough, there was a big bump there. As soon as he touched it, Zhou Lao Er grimaced and cried out in pain, but fortunately, he was not in any danger.
"Go home. It's good that you're alive. The third brother and his wife are badly injured. I don't know if they can make it through." The eldest brother sighed heavily. He usually loathed his third brother and his wife, but seeing them on the verge of death, he was surprisingly not happy at all.
After taking Zhou Lao Er home and observing him for a while to make sure he was alright, Zhou Lao Da and Zhao Guihua didn't stay any longer.
When they got home, the children had already prepared dinner and were waiting for them to eat together.
After finishing their meal, the family decided not to worry about what was happening outside and lay down on the kang (a heated brick bed) to catch up on sleep. They didn't wake up until mid-afternoon, and when they did, they heard a commotion outside.
Zhou Laoda hurriedly went out to find out what was going on. As soon as Zhao Guihua got up, she went to the kitchen to cook. Actually, the two of them could have eaten in the evening, since the villagers only ate two meals a day. But she was afraid that the children would go hungry. The children were at the age when they were growing. What if they didn't eat enough and didn't grow tall? What if they became malnourished?
"Everyone's dealing with the bodies right now, I have to go help too," Zhou Laoda told her when he came back, and then quickly went out again.
At this time, the water levels of the three streams in the village had dropped, and the water was no longer as murky as before. Several bodies had sunk to the bottom of the streams, and the bodies of the refugees who had sunk to the bottom of the streams had to be retrieved as soon as possible.
The deepest part of the stream only reached an adult's chest, so when they were retrieving the body, the villagers simply went into the water and dragged it out. Originally, the village chief wanted everyone to dig a large pit and bury all the refugees in it.
But most of the villagers were injured, and digging the pit was no easy task. Besides, after digging the pit, they would have to fill it with soil. The thought of a large mass grave in the village was truly chilling.
You can't just bury them randomly on the mountain. It's best to carry them all to the mass burial ground. The mass burial ground is not close to the village. Carrying so many dead people up there would be exhausting.
After a final discussion, the village chief waved his hand and suggested finding a spacious place where villagers rarely went, piling the dead bodies together, and burning them to a crisp.
After such a busy day, it was already dark. When Zhou Laoda arrived at his doorstep, Zhao Guihua gave him a brazier to step over to ward off bad luck.
"Dad, are you done with your work?" Xingxing asked obediently as she walked up to him.
"I'm done with work. Dad's dirty, go wash up first," Zhou Laoda wiped his sweat with his sleeve. He originally wanted to go straight to the shower, but then he squatted down and looked at his daughter, saying, "Daughter, do you think anything else will happen tonight?"
During the flood, the refugees braved the dangers of rafting up the river. Now that the water has receded, the remaining refugees will likely come ashore from downstream.
Xingxing paused for a moment, no images flashed through her mind at that moment, so she couldn't say for sure. She could only honestly shake her head. "Xingxing doesn't know, but Xingxing doesn't feel as bad as she did last night."
Yes, last night the little girl's face was all scrunched up. She kept clinging to her mother for a hug all night and wouldn't go to sleep until she told her mother what she knew was going to happen. Only then did she calm down a bit.
So nothing should happen tonight, otherwise the stars would know in advance. Thinking this, Zhou Laoda went to take a shower, but he still didn't dare to sleep at night.
He and the uninjured men from the village stood guard at the thorny wall at the village entrance and at the three streams, respectively.
For ten days straight, the people of Yegou Village dared not relax. After more than ten days, nothing happened again. The refugees who had attacked earlier seemed to have disappeared, and everything seemed to have settled down. However, the people of Yegou Village were terrified and no one dared to leave the village to find out what was going on. They remained on guard.
Until that day, a troop of soldiers suddenly arrived in the village and informed them that all the rioters had been killed by the army sent by the imperial court, and that Nanyang Prefecture was now at peace.
"Sir, is what you're saying true? The refugees have all been killed?" The village chief was filled with mixed emotions and still couldn't believe it, so he kept asking.
The leading official looked impatient and even took out his token, which represented his identity, and showed it to the village chief. "How could it be fake? We will naturally find a way to settle the real refugees, but not a single rioter can be left alive."
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