Chapter 400
The next day, Su Qingci pushed his bicycle slowly towards Yunhai Village until noon.
I came to their house yesterday, so I have to give them some buffer time.
As soon as she arrived at the entrance of the village and walked under the shade of a tree, Su Qingci heard a few women squatting under the tree, holding bowls and gossiping while eating.
Su Qingci subconsciously pricked up her ears, and sure enough, the other party was talking about the news she wanted to know.
"If you ask me, Liao Sigui and Xu Dasheng are also lucky. With so many people on the ship, they were the only ones who managed to survive."
"Aren't there three?"
"I mean the sailors, the sailors recruited by the Ghana."
"The higher-ups issued an order yesterday saying that it's forbidden to talk about this matter carelessly. So Sigui and Xu Dasheng are fine."
"Daniu from the next village, you know him, right? He's the one who floated home. They received a notice last evening, asking their family to bring him back."
"Oh, that's terrible~"
"What's going on? Tell us quickly." The women looked at the leading woman, their eyes full of gossip.
The woman leading the group saw everyone looking at her and said with a smug look on her face, "You don't know."
"Yesterday, my husband and I went to their place to do some work, and we saw that big cow's wife and the blind old woman dragging him home on a cart."
"The villagers say it's unlucky and they all stay away from it."
"Two children were sitting on the cart, crying loudly. The scene was so heartbreaking."
"Oh, pitiful."
"One of the two children is only six years old, and the other is less than four. His mother is blind, and he has no brothers to help him. I heard that he only has one sister, who married far away, and the family conditions are even worse."
"What will happen to this family in the future?"
"Yes, there are old people, young people, women and children in the whole family, and no one can help."
"The Ghana incident really hurt a lot of people."
“Generally speaking, those from better-off families would go out to sea on ocean-going vessels and work for themselves.”
"Back then, the Ghana offered such a high price, everyone had some idea that following them would be risky."
"So those who followed were basically from poorer families, without their own fishing boats, and in need of money. They had originally thought they could get the 2,000 yuan to help their families out of a pressing need, but what happened? They lost their only source of labor."
"There are many cases like Daniu's. I heard that a family in Panxi Cave had a similar situation. Their daughter-in-law jumped into the sea with her newborn baby in her arms last night. Fortunately, they were rescued by some women from their village who were fishing at the beach."
A woman put down her chopsticks and asked, "You mean Haiyong's house?"
"Yes, yes, your mother's family is from Panxidong. You should be familiar with his family's situation."
"Of course I don't know. Her house is right next to my second uncle's. Haiyong's father suffers from severe decompression sickness. He can't even stand up with a cane. His wife is also a little disabled. He is the only one who supports the whole family. When I visited my second uncle's house before, I happened to see him going out."
"His pregnant wife was standing at the door, wiping away tears. He tried to persuade her, saying it was okay, that when she got back, she would have the money to give birth and could even buy painkillers for his father."
"But before he even came back, his wife fell while taking care of him and went into premature labor. The child was already weak at birth, and now we have a sick father-in-law at home. And now the man is gone. How are they going to live from now on?"
"It's better to just die."
"Oh, poor thing, what a sin~"
"Is that so? That's why I said Liao Fengmei's family and Xu Dasheng's family are lucky."
"Do you think their ancestral tombs are well buried? It seems that the ancestral tombs of the Xu and Liao families are both at the foot of the Daling Mountain in the back."
"It's possible..."
Su Qingci pushed the bicycle and walked forward with a stern face.
Sigui and Xu Dasheng came back yesterday afternoon, so everything should be fine.
According to her analysis, maybe the three of them didn't mention her at all.
Logically, Su Qingci should be happy, but at this moment she felt a little heavy.
I originally wanted to send the bodies of that group of people back so that they could return to their roots and their families could build a grave for them so that they would have a place to worship them in the future.
Now it seems that this is not the case.
Su Qingci couldn't help but think in her heart that if she hadn't brought them back, perhaps their relatives would still be waiting at home with a glimmer of hope.
Although that glimmer of hope will gradually fade away, at least there is still this hope to support them. They will not jump into the sea directly like Hai Yong's wife, right?
As if she had thought of something, Su Qingci rode her bicycle towards the next village.
It was still breakfast time. When we entered the village, many people gathered together with their bowls in hand, gossiping. Sure enough, they were still talking about the affairs of Da Niu's family.
Su Qingci grabbed a child and asked for directions, then pushed her bicycle towards Da Niu's house.
A low house with a stick of incense on each side of the gate.
Looking through the gate into the house, I saw a corpse lying on a worn mat in the living room, its face covered with paper money.
A dark and thin child was sitting on the ground playing. When he saw a stranger coming, he timidly retreated to his father's side. His clear and innocent eyes looked at Su Qingci cautiously. His two little hands subconsciously hugged his father's arm that was hanging on the ground and stiff. His small body slowly snuggled towards his father, wanting to seek his father's protection as before.
Su Qingci is not a very kind person, but this scene really dealt a heavy blow to her heart.
An older child in the house heard the noise outside and ran out.
He walked to his brother with a defensive look on his face and looked at Su Qingci cautiously.
Su Qingci looked around the room, took a deep breath, and asked the child.
"Where are the adults in your family?"
The little brother hid behind his brother, stretched out his little head and looked at Su Qingci curiously. The six-year-old brother looked at the stranger in front of him, straightened his chest, and mustered up the courage to whisper to Su Qingci.
"Mom went back to my grandmother's house to borrow money to buy a coffin for Dad."
"Grandma is not feeling well and is sleeping in bed."
"Sister, who are you?"
Su Qingci said softly, "Sister is your father's friend."
The boy said naively, "My father died, and people said I will never have a father again."
Afraid that Su Qingci didn't understand, the little boy explained.
"Dad is going to a very far place and won't be with us anymore."
Su Qingci suppressed the heaviness in her heart and chatted with the child for a few words. Then she took out a handful of White Rabbit milk candies from her pocket and stuffed them into the child's hand.
After saying goodbye to the child, she pushed her bicycle towards Yunhai Village.
Thinking of the bent coins in the safe salvaged from the shipwreck, Su Qingci made a decision in his heart.
But there are some things that are not appropriate for her to do.
This amount of money is just a drop in the bucket for her, but for others, it may be the hope for their family to survive.
Since we have taken what is left of them, let’s use what is left of them.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
