That time, Shi pushed open the door, went into the east room, and excitedly shouted, "Centurion, we've found the villagers!"
Upon hearing Hui Shi's voice, the centurion turned his head towards the door, opened his eyes on the kang (a heated brick bed), and asked, "Where were they found? Were there many people?"
He returned to the house, sat down on the kang (heated brick bed), and excitedly told the centurion, "It's about ten li (5 kilometers) from this village. Once you enter the village, you'll see the mountain ahead. That mountain is called Seven Star Mountain. They've all hidden on the mountain."
My brothers and I followed the wheel tracks; we used oxcarts. At the foot of Seven Star Mountain, there were still scattered footprints and ashes from burning firewood. We didn't go up; we went straight back to the centurion's place.
After replying to the centurion, he kept his head. Feeling his clothes were frozen stiff, he didn't take off his shoes, but turned around and lay down on the warmest part of the kang (heated brick bed) to iron his clothes.
Since Hui Shi left, the centurion had taken another nap and was full of energy. He said to Hui Shi, who was covered in blood, "Go and burn down that dead man's house. It's giving me the creeps."
Hui Shi hesitated for a moment and said, "I want to warm up first, I'm freezing."
The centurion glared at Eleven sideways, his voice rough and hoarse, and roared, "Go!"
"Okay." Startled, Hui Shi jumped off the kang (a heated brick bed), grabbed a tinderbox, stuffed it into his pocket, and went to Old Madam Ge's house.
When they arrived at Grandma Ge's house, they couldn't find any firewood in front of or behind the house, so they went to the Gao family's house instead. They carried two large bundles of firewood on a rope to the west wing where the dead person had died, carried the firewood inside, and then threw the tinderbox inside.
After waiting for a while, and seeing no fire, he peeked inside and found that the tinder had gone out.
Hui Shi went back into the house, picked up a tinderbox, lit a piece of firewood, and put it in a pile of firewood. You'd think it would catch fire now, but the fire went out as it burned.
Hui Shi had a stubborn streak; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to chop the corner of the red-lacquered box at night. Once his stubbornness kicked in, he would insist on lighting it even if he couldn't. He would first go outside and light a pile of firewood, and then throw the pieces in one by one through the open window. However, the firewood that was still burning outside would gradually go out once it was thrown in.
The fire inside hadn't caught fire, but the flames shot up along Hui Shi's trouser leg. Hui Shi threw down the firewood and rolled around in the snow several times before he could extinguish the fire on himself.
As soon as he got up, he suddenly felt a chill running down his spine. He ran to Xiaoyue's east room in one go.
He came inside, panting, and said, "This is really weird, I can't light it." Wiping the cold sweat from his brow, he said to the centurion with lingering fear.
At this moment, the scholar pushed open the door and entered the room. Looking at the disheveled Hui Shi, he casually asked, "What do you mean, 'can't light it'?"
"Fire...fire...the fire won't light." A tremor appeared in his voice.
The centurion, his face pale, got off the kang (heated brick bed). The scholar quickly stepped forward and helped him up. The centurion pointed to Hui Shi and said, "This isn't the only strange thing; every single one of them is bizarre."
"Let's pack up now and head to Qixing Mountain. We can't stay in this village anymore."
Just then, Hei Zi came in from outside. He looked up and saw that everyone was about to leave, so he cursed and said, "I chased them all the way to Little Tiger Head Mountain, and there was only a string of fox footprints left on the mountain. Isn't that weird?"
Upon hearing this, the centurion nearly lost his balance and fell backward. Fortunately, the scholar caught him. The centurion, rubbing his forehead and feeling weak in the knees, sat down on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and asked, "How many men do we have now?"
"Including all of them, there are sixty-nine people," the scholar said, helping the centurion along as he did so.
"What?" Hei Zi said, "Nine people were lost last night."
"Another one goes crazy," the scholar said indifferently.
"Hui Shi, bring that madman here and let him be my servant. That will be enough to atone for your sins." The centurion looked at Hui Shi's bewildered expression and glanced at the scholar.
The scholar remained relatively calm and turned to Hui Shi, saying, "Last night you killed eight people, and you also wounded the centurion and Hei Zi."
"What? Do you want to die? How could I dare to wound a centurion?" Hui Shi said tremblingly.
The scholar patted Hui Shi and said, "I don't think you have the guts either, but the centurion was indeed injured at your hands."
Upon hearing the scholar's words, Hui Shi's face turned pale and then flushed.
The centurion then spoke up: "Alright, prepare the horses. We're going to Seven Star Mountain. The brothers need food, so finding food is the priority." With that, he left Xiaoyue's house with the help of the scholar.
On Qixing Mountain, Xu Fanyuan arranged for all the villagers to stay in the cave, which was only 800 meters away from the bottom of the mountain. Village Chief Xu arranged for the elderly and children to stay inside the cave, while the young men stayed not far away from the cave.
Ox carts and donkey carts can also be driven into the cave. Li Lei drove the donkey cart inside, where there were blankets, mattresses, grain, pots and pans.
After Li Lei, Li Qianqian, and Chunyue found the address of the cave, they took the rope and went out to chop firewood.
Inside, Li Qianqian and Lu Xiaomei were left to pack their luggage.
Hu San brought over Old Lady Ge. As soon as they entered the cave, they inquired about her and came to Lu Xiaomei's side. Hu San cried and begged Lu Xiaomei to take care of him and Ge Daming.
Little Douding couldn't bear to see his grandma and brother left unattended, so he stared at Lu Xiaomei with wide eyes.
Grandma Ge cried and knelt before Lu Xiaomei, pulling Ge Daming down to kneel before her as well, kowtowing repeatedly.
The commotion drew over Village Chief Xu, who stood in front of Old Lady Ge and said, "If I had known, I wouldn't have done anything wrong. Now look what's happened, you're getting your comeuppance."
Seeing that Village Chief Xu was no longer concerned about her, Old Lady Ge tore off her belt and tried to hang herself at Lu Xiaomei's door. After searching around several times without finding a beam to hang herself from, she sat down and started wailing and crying.
Niu Erzhuang's house wasn't far from the place Li Lei had chosen. The child, eager for some excitement, ran over, grabbed Ge Daming's hand, and whispered to him, "Can your grandma die? What will you do if she dies?"
Since Xiao Sunshi's death, Ge Daming hadn't eaten three meals a day on time and had become extremely thin. With his triangular eyes, inherited from his grandmother, he forlornly pulled his hand away from Niu Erzhuang's and ran to his grandmother's side.
Tears streamed down her face.
When the little boy saw this, he ran to his brother, wiped Ge Daming's tears with a handkerchief, and whispered to Ge Daming while standing on tiptoe, "I'll share half of my food rations with you, so don't cry."
Ge Daming stared at the little boy with wide, surprised eyes, and nodded vigorously.
At this moment, Li Lei had already carried a large bundle of firewood into the cave. After putting the firewood down, he went outside to chop more wood, and Chun Yue followed him out.
Li Qianqian discovered that the soil in the cave was soft. Among the firewood that Li Lei brought back, she picked out the long and thick ones and stuck them into the ground one by one, trying to separate her home from other people's homes.
At this moment, Uncle Liang also came over and humbly asked Lu Xiaomei, "Have you seen Liang Qi?"
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