I reassured Xu Wei that this matter would not involve us in any way.
After all, we now have guns, houses where we can take refuge, and those foreigners dare not come to our territory to cause trouble.
As for the indigenous people who had been hiding behind me, they have long since disappeared. Even if they reappeared, I don't believe they would dare to come up with knives and cut my neck.
In a society where political power grows out of the barrel of a gun, as long as you hold a gun, you've already got more than half the power.
Xu Wei chuckled after hearing my words: "So, don't be sad or worried. Sister Xiao Qiang has already made soup. Let's go out to eat. Today's soup is mushroom soup."
I went out with Xu Wei, and Wang Ping was also there when we ate. Since he was alone, he ate with us every day.
He was very diligent. After his leg injury healed, he went down the mountain every day to look for fish, shrimp, shellfish, firewood, and all sorts of wild vegetables.
He could remember everything Xiao Qiang told him, and he could retrieve a lot of things accurately every time.
It really did lighten my burden a lot.
Liu Jiaojiao often comes to visit us. A few women sit together, weaving baskets and chatting, which helps pass the time.
Chen Jian went out to take a shower. After we had almost finished eating, he came up to me, frowned, and said, "There seems to be something strange about the animal at the foot of the mountain."
I was taken aback. Could it be that some wild animal had gotten inside?
Chen Jian shook his head: "I threw stones in there, but nothing came out. However, quite a few of the fences we had erected collapsed, probably because of the wind."
Wang Ping nodded in agreement: "The weather here is unpredictable. Maybe the last time it rained heavily, it blew up the fences. We didn't notice, but it's okay. We can go and repair them again tomorrow if we have time. Anyway, we have plenty of time now."
As we were talking, DouDing, the mother monkey who had been sleeping with her baby monkey inside, suddenly rushed out of the house and pounced into my arms. DouDing looked terrified, clutching his mother's fur and clinging to her, squeaking incoherently.
Chen Jian looked at me and couldn't help but chuckle: "Brother Sihai, do Dou Ding and his mom think of you as their father? Otherwise, why would he be so dependent on you? I couldn't even fool them with peaches yesterday. Liu Jiaojiao even said she wanted me to watch over Dou Ding for a day, but they completely ignored us. You've become a father unexpectedly, and with a pair of hairy kids at that."
As I listened to Chen Jian joking with me, I reached out and threw a mushroom at him.
Chen Jian wasn't angry at all, and chuckled as he took another sip of soup.
Seeing how frightened Dou Ding was, Xu Wei whispered, "Could it be that Dou Ding's mother has discovered something strange again? Otherwise, why would he be so terrified?"
I shook my head, not knowing what was going on, but seeing how terrified the mother and son were, I wondered if the bed they had set up in the house had collapsed.
Holding DouDing and DouDing's mother, I went upstairs.
The house was spotless, but the moment I stepped into the wooden house, I felt my feet sway, and DouDing's mother, whom I was holding, gasped and wrapped her arms around my neck as if I were her support.
I was stunned at first. When I came to my senses, I was horrified to find that the whole mountain seemed to be shaking. Could it be that something really got into the cave?
But then I thought again, the cave entrance is very large and although the cave is empty, it has stood here for so many years. The wonders of nature are beyond our imagination. How could it have started to shake after living here for so long?
If not, then something has happened here if the cave is about to collapse!
I quickly grabbed Dou Ding and Dou Ding's mother and rushed downstairs. Only then did I realize that Bai Wei and the others had also run out of the treehouse, while Wang Ping was with Xu Wei. The others stood at a distance, looking at me with terrified expressions.
When Xiao Qiang saw me come out, she immediately ran to my side and looked me up and down: "Sihai, come quick, it looks like an earthquake!"
When I heard Xiao Qiang say that, I realized that the earth-shaking sensation I felt just now was exactly like an earthquake.
But how could there be an earthquake on this island?
Chen Jian, however, had already dragged Liu Jiaojiao and Xu Wei down the mountain. They were still waving at us from the bottom of the cave.
"Brother Sihai, come down quickly. It's not safe up here. If something really happens, we'll all be stranded here."
Wang Ping, who was standing to the side, yelled at Chen Jian, "Shut your damn mouth!"
After saying that, he turned to me seriously and said, "Sihai, I don't think this place is safe. After all, it's a mountaintop. Let's go down first, otherwise it will be troublesome if an earthquake causes it to collapse!"
I nodded. There was no time to get anything else right now. I hurriedly went down the mountain and walked quite a distance before stopping in an open space.
But the shaking sensation didn't return until evening. We built a campfire, and everyone sat down around it.
Chen Jian, however, was still shaken: "Do you think we might have misjudged the situation? Maybe it was just a sudden movement of the earth's crust. If it were really an earthquake, it would have already started shaking. But it's been so quiet right now. I think we should go back to the top of the mountain and get some sleep. Maybe everything will be fine when we wake up tomorrow morning."
Bai Wei listened to Chen Jian's words and gritted his teeth as he looked at Chen Jian.
"You're talking nonsense. If you want to go back to your place, then go back by yourself. If there's a real earthquake, the buildings will collapse and you'll be buried underneath. All you have right now is that broken shovel. Do you really want to dig us out? I'm not going back. If you want to go back, then go back by yourselves. What's wrong with me staying here for one night? It's safest for me to stay on the ground. If there really is an earthquake, we'd better run to the beach. There won't be anything to fall on, and we'll be safer."
I thought it was just a small earthquake, and that it would be over by the next morning.
But to everyone's surprise, less than two hours later, that shaking sensation returned, and it was even more intense than before.
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