Chapter 47: Dead, All Dead
Carrying the tree root on her back, Xiang Yu hurried home and recalled the way the villagers looked at her just now.
She knew that feeling. Once when she was extremely hungry, she wanted to rush up and take a bite when she saw people.
The processed wolf skins were hung to dry by the stove. Xiang Yu took them down and sewed a new quilt for himself.
She had done everything by herself for the past ten years, so sewing quilts and clothes was a piece of cake for her.
The fur on the wolf skin was washed very clean and there was no peculiar smell. Xiang Yu covered himself with the newly made quilt and felt a lot warmer.
The snow is melting little by little, but the sub-zero temperature remains unchanged.
The tree stumps left over from previous tree felling on the mountain have recently been dug up by the villagers and taken home. After boiling them several times in water, they are mashed into a paste and eaten.
Xiang Yu would go up the mountain to join the team digging tree roots every once in a while, and soon the house of the grandmother next door became the target of the villagers.
While digging the tree roots, Xiang Yu heard four people beside him discussing the door of his great-grandmother's house which had been kept closed.
"No one from their family has been seen coming out. Maybe they have a lot of food," an aunt swallowed.
Several people around her echoed, "I've been observing their home for a long time. Not only do they not come out, but sometimes I can even smell the fragrance of food."
"Is this true? You really can smell the fragrance of rice..." Several people seemed a little unconvinced.
"It's true, I really smelled it," and then everyone tacitly stopped discussing it, but from that moment on, they all had their own ulterior motives.
At night, Xiang Yu was thinking in bed, and finally knocked on the door of the next room. Xiang Yi and Uncle Xiang were standing behind the door.
The door was only opened a crack, and the two men seemed to be holding weapons in their hands. Xiang Yu glanced into the house and found that the grandmother was sitting on the sofa with an uneasy look on her face.
Seeing that it was Xiang Yu, the expressions on Uncle Xiang and Xiang Yi's faces changed again and again. They were thinking about what chances they would have of winning if Xiang Yu took action.
"Uncle Xiang, if you have time tomorrow, you should go to the mountain to dig some tree roots instead of staying at home all the time..."
Xiang Yu finished his words and then turned and left.
She made very little noise, so little that when she left her grandmother didn't know who had come.
"Xiaoyi, who is it so late at night?" the great-grandmother asked with a worried look on her face. Three quiet little grandchildren were sitting beside her.
"Granny, you're just passing by. You should go and have some rest..." Neither of them told her the truth and waited until the old man and the child fell asleep.
Xiang Ling, Xiang Yi and the other two sat by the stove and discussed in low voices.
"What? Xiang Yu asked us to go to the mountain to dig tree roots. We have food to eat. Why are we digging that stuff..."
Xiang Ling looked puzzled, but it was her words that gave the three people inspiration. Yes, it was because they still had food that they did not dig up tree roots or grass roots to fill their stomachs.
But now the whole village is digging this thing, and they look very suspicious in the eyes of the villagers.
"You stay at home tomorrow. Your sister, your mother and I will go to the mountain to dig tree roots. I feel relieved if you stay. Otherwise, if your sister stays at home, I will worry about the elderly, the weak, the women and the children."
Xiang Yi and his friends certainly had no objection. The next day, Xiang Yu saw their family on the mountain. "Uncle Xiang, the land over there has been dug up. Here we have..."
Xiang Yu showed the three people a way, but the other party obviously didn't want to be too involved with her.
Xiang Yu didn't care. The main reason was that there were many people over there, and if the villagers could see them, they would avoid causing trouble for Grandma.
Sure enough, after a few people passed by, the villagers who were discussing them before stopped talking.
At twelve o'clock midnight, when everyone was asleep, a shrill scream was heard in the silent Xiangjia Village, and the voice was still calling for help.
A group of villagers were awakened and went out with kerosene lamps. After searching the village, they finally found the family from which the screams came.
But the scene was so bloody that people were afraid to go in and check it out.
The old wooden door was wide open. An old man in black ethnic clothing was lying on the threshold, head down, with his hat fallen to the side. There was a pile of messy footprints on the ground.
The back of the old man's head was a bloody mess, with some white brain matter mixed with bright red blood. No other scars were found on his messy clothes.
Xiang Yu looked at the footprints on the ground. The murderer's footprints had been destroyed by the villagers who rushed over, and were difficult to find.
"Grandma Wang, who is so inhumane that he could harm even an old lady like her?"
"Why is Grandma Wang here alone? Don't her son and daughter-in-law live with her?"
The villagers discussed it, but no one dared to go forward to check what was going on inside until the old village chief arrived.
"Go in and take a look..." the old village chief sighed and said to his son. His son was also frightened when he saw the corpse on the ground.
But he still moved step by step to Grandma Wang's side. With the help of the light of the oil lamp in his hand, he walked into the house. Then he let out a scream and rushed out of the house holding the oil lamp.
He sat down on the ground with a pale face.
"What's going on inside..." the old village chief asked calmly. Now that he had no welding torch, he could only raise his hand to wipe his chin.
"Inside... there are dead bodies inside, all dead, all dead," the village chief's son was very frightened. Several brave villagers also came over at this time.
After seeing the situation inside the house clearly, they all gasped.
"What a sin, what a sin..."
"Their entire family was killed. That beast didn't even spare the half-grown children."
The village chief called a few brave people from the crowd, and they went into the house and carried out all the bodies. There were five bodies in total.
There were two old people, as well as Grandma Wang’s son and daughter-in-law, and a little grandson who was less than seven years old.
The skulls of several people were shattered and their faces were unrecognizable. Xiang Yu looked at the wounds of several people and guessed that the weapon used to commit the crime should be a hammer that was easy to carry.
Looking at these corpses, they remembered the scene where Xiang Yu killed someone before, and they all wondered in their hearts whether Xiang Yu had killed them.
Some timid villagers started vomiting.
"Dad, Grandma Wang's house must have been robbed," the village chief's son found some rice dropped on the ground after checking around.
And judging from the traces left on the ground, Grandma Wang should have had several bags of rice at home, but they were all taken away. Not only her things were gone, but her life was also gone.
They must have made a noise before they died, and the thief only had time to take away the rice. There were also two bags of potatoes in the corner of the kitchen.
"Dig a hole and bury him," the village chief sighed again, "Give these potatoes to the one who helps bury him."
After hearing what the village chief said, all those who had not moved before started to move.
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