266 Fire
The sounds of smashing and screaming could not be ignored and came from the west end of the village.
It was like a loud thunder, waking up the small village sleeping in the dark.
The lights in each house came on, and people in their pajamas walked out to look around.
I saw a burst of fire rising into the sky, illuminating the dark night as bright as day.
"There's a fire! Help!"
There was no way to sleep now. Some of the villagers were holding buckets, some were holding basins, some were dragging water pipes, and some were waving mops. They tried every possible way to put out the fire, fearing that the fire would spread and cause a bigger disaster.
Qi Lianxin, wearing his clothes, hurriedly knocked on the master bedroom door.
"Xiao Hai, Xiao He! Wake up! There's a fire in the village!"
Before she could finish her words, Jiang Baohai opened the door and walked out, saying, "Mom, take good care of Xiaohe. I'll go out and take a look."
Qi Lianxin nodded hurriedly, and then worriedly warned, "Be careful."
It has been several years since anyone in the village had a fire in the middle of the night.
The temperature this summer was not particularly high, and coupled with the sounds of smashing and looting he had heard earlier, Jiang Baohai hurried to the scene with some suspicion in his heart.
Gao Qinghe was woken up from her sleep by Jiang Baohai and was still a little dazed.
When I saw my mother-in-law rushing in anxiously, I came to my senses and reached out to take the clothes on the bedside to change.
Fires are difficult to control in rural areas. The houses in this area are connected to each other and are only separated by an alley.
If we can't put it out and it spreads, we're doomed.
Gao Qinghe saw her mother-in-law wanted to help her get clothes, so she hurriedly told her:
"Mom, go pack up the important documents and valuables at home, just in case."
As they were talking, the gate of the courtyard slammed shut and Xiao Hei barked threateningly in the yard, startling the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.
Gao Qinghe rushed out of bed, put on a dress and walked out quickly.
It turned out that a villager who was busy putting out the fire was carrying something and passed by her house and accidentally bumped into her gate.
At the same time, Gao Qinghe also saw flames rising into the sky from the west end of the village.
The wooden house had been completely engulfed in flames and was burning fiercely. From time to time, the rumbling sound of the beams collapsing under the weight could be heard.
Even from two or three hundred meters away, one could feel the scorching heat.
"Oh my God! How can we save him? He can't be saved at all!" Qi Lianxin exclaimed.
Gao Qinghe frowned and murmured, "It's too late to save them. I hope nothing happens to them."
Just in case, Gao Qinghe took her mother-in-law to pack up the important things in the house and put them in a backpack, so that they could set off with the backpack at any time if there was any problem.
At the same time, close all the doors in the house, including the front door.
On such a chaotic night, it's easy for someone to take advantage of the situation and do something bad.
Gao Qinghe still remembers that when he was a child, someone's house caught fire in the village. The whole village ran to put out the fire, but when they came back, they found that all the valuables in the house had been stolen.
Seeing that the fire was too big to be extinguished, the people in Zhaozhuang could only retreat, guarding against the spread of the fire while allowing the fire to devour the house mercilessly.
The cries and scolding spread throughout the village. Qi Lianxin felt uneasy and thought the voices sounded familiar.
After taking a closer look at the direction of the fire, she exclaimed in surprise:
"Could it be that Qin Jianshe's house was burned down?"
"I was so careless. I don't know how the fire started..."
Qi Lianxin looked around and muttered to himself, sincerely hoping that no one was in trouble.
But contrary to expectations, after a while, the town's police cars and the county's ambulance arrived.
This was the first time an ambulance drove into Zhaojiazhuang.
At first glance, Qi Lianxin couldn't figure out what kind of car it was and thought it was a police car.
As they watched medical staff carrying Qin Jianshe, whose head was bleeding, pass by his house, and the police arrested two equally ferocious and bloody stranger villagers and put them in a police car, they finally realized that the fire tonight was caused by human factors.
The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law waited nervously at home for more than twenty minutes before Jiang Baohai finally came back.
The first thing I did when I entered the room was to lock the door. Seeing Xiao Hei squatting outside the hall, I felt a little relieved.
"What happened?" Seeing his son return, Qi Lianxin hurriedly stood up and asked.
Gao Qinghe first checked Jiang Baohai from head to toe. Apart from the black ash on his clothes, there was nothing wrong with him.
"I'm fine."
Jiang Baohai shook his head soothingly at his wife and whispered:
"You don't know me yet, I'm just standing by and watching from a distance."
If anything happens, he will definitely be the first to run.
Gao Qinghe rolled her eyes at him. Of course she knew, otherwise she wouldn't have let him go out.
Neither of the couple is a moral role model. On the contrary, it is rare for them to be kind enough not to take the initiative to scheme against others.
In short, the world is big but not as important as your own life.
Seeing that no one was hurt and the fire was under control, Gao Qinghe took out the documents and money from his backpack and put them back in their original places while asking:
"What's going on? Why are even the police dispatched?"
Qi Lianxin poured a bowl of water for his son and took a handkerchief to let him wipe the dust off his body.
Jiang Baohai cleaned up and sat down in front of the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, saying with a serious expression:
"They came to Qin Jianshe's house to collect a debt. When they couldn't get the money, they smashed Qin Jianshe's house and set it on fire."
Qi Lianxin was surprised: "How could this happen?"
Gao Qinghe also found it strange. He had never heard of Qin Jianshe gambling or borrowing money, so how could he have offended such a group of people?
The point is, the two people who were just taken away by the police did not look like loan sharks, but rather like villagers from a nearby village.
Jiang Baohai shook his head. "This matter is a bit complicated. It has something to do with buying the big and small villages."
As he said this, he waited for the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law to ask him what big and small villages were.
In the end, neither of them asked, and their expressions looked a little strange.
Gao Qinghe was the quickest to react and asked, "What do you mean by big or small village?"
Jiang Baohai glanced at his mother suspiciously. Why did she look so stunned?
But remembering the little conflict between my mother and Qin Jianshe's family, I didn't think too much about it and continued:
"This is a scam that promises high interest returns. It's particularly prevalent in Qing County this year, especially in villages. In some villages, the entire village is buying it."
"Qin Jianshe also bought some himself. Not only did he buy some, he also became a big banker. If he couldn't raise 10,000 yuan, he would ask his relatives and friends to chip in. He would distribute the interest every month. Those people just came to him to ask for money."
Qin Jianshe said that the people above him had run away and all the money was gone.
His relatives didn't believe it and thought he had hidden the money and embezzled all the money, so they smashed his house and turned it upside down.
Qin Jianshe and his family tried to stop them, but were surrounded and beaten by the angry relatives, and someone was almost killed.
Those relatives were all honest farmers who were tempted by the high interest rates and invested all their family savings.
Two or three hundred at least, five or six hundred at most, may not seem like a lot of money, but to them, it is the life-saving money for the whole family.
When they thought about losing their money, they felt like the sky was falling. They became radical and forced Qin Jianshe to pay compensation. They lost their minds and set fire to his house.
As a result, the house burned down and the people were sent to the hospital.
Jiang Baohai said, "This will definitely lead to unimaginable chain reactions. You should stay out of your homes for the time being."
Yawning, seeing that it was still dark, Jiang Baohai pulled his wife back to the room to take another nap.
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