It took the entire day for the men of Hanjiacun to work together and move the three large trees they had cut down to Hukou in the mountain stream.
The three trees were seven or eight meters tall. All the branches were cut off, leaving only the trunks.
With the help of ropes, they steadily placed the first tree on the opposite bank. Looking at the logs placed at both ends, the distance between them seemed to be within five meters. However, they had dug a groove on one side to fit the log in, but there was no way to do so on the other side, so they had to place it on flat ground. Fortunately, the spout on that side was relatively wide, so the tree wouldn't slip down after it was placed there.
The first tree took some time and involved experimenting with various methods before it was successfully placed on top. The next two were much easier.
The three trees formed a bridge over the Hukou Stream in the mountain, about two meters wide. Everyone was overjoyed and thought they could cross it the next day.
No one noticed that amidst the cheering crowd, Gu Yuli's eyes were sparkling as he gazed at the bridge.
Everyone discussed it and decided that tomorrow a few people would go over with ropes to tie the three trees tightly together as they crossed to the other side, ensuring that the three trees on the other side were also stable and wouldn't slide. Then, the people on this side would organize themselves and cross over slowly and in an orderly manner.
After a long day, everyone drifted off to sleep.
Xue Bao and Zhang Songshu took over the night watch and went to sleep after relieving the mother and daughter. Li Lanzhen fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.
She felt like she had just taken a nap when she was startled awake by a scream.
"Fire! Help put out the fire!"
Li Lanzhen really wanted to curse. Damn it, there were so many things to do on this famine escape route. No food, no water, still having to escape famine, still having to guard against government troops, and still having to cause so much trouble. When I find this person, I will kill him with one blow.
He turned over and looked at the shack where they lived, and it was perfectly fine.
Then they heard Xue Bao shout, "Get up quickly! There's a fire in the cave! The fire at the cave entrance isn't big, but it's billowing thick smoke. I bet the people inside are choking on the smoke."
Everyone grabbed their things and prepared to leave.
Li Lanzhen shouted, "Let's not all go out. The arsonist might be using a diversionary tactic. Once the fire starts over there, they might come back and set fire to our thatched hut. There are four people standing in front of, behind, to the left and right of our hut, watching over our home."
Xue Laohu nodded and said, "My in-laws are very thoughtful. Here's what we'll do: I'll stay here with Zhang Songshu and Han Minghai. The women shouldn't go out; they should stay in the thatched hut. Let's see who dares to set fire to our thatched hut."
Li Lanzhen instructed her children, eldest daughter-in-law, and daughter not to go out and to stay at home.
She went out to check the situation herself, and when she came out, she felt that the rain had gotten heavier, even heavier than when she was sleeping at night. It should be a moderate rain now. She quickly ran to the cave with the tarpaulin over her head to take a look.
That scoundrel piled all the branches and pine twigs at the entrance of the cave and set them on fire. As the fire raged, thick smoke poured into the cave. Before you even got close, you could hear adults shouting, coughing, and children crying.
After Han Shunde and the others ran up to the cave, they used sticks and shovels to clear away all the burning, smoky branches at the cave entrance. Only then did the people inside quickly emerge, their bodies blackened and bald from the smoke.
After everyone came out, some people were so choked that they collapsed on the ground, coughing incessantly.
Seeing that this was not a solution, Lin Lanzhen said, "You all come out quickly, let me see if the smoke in the cave can dissipate."
Han Dazhong said, "We can disperse. This cave seems to have an exit over there, or a crack in the cave ceiling. The thick smoke will dissipate after it goes in, otherwise we would have all choked to death in our sleep. Damn it, who the hell caught him? If we catch him, I'll chop off his hand."
The smoke dissipated quite quickly, because it was discovered early, so not much smoke entered before it dispersed.
"Village chief, can we now investigate who started the fire?"
No sooner had Li Lanzhen finished speaking than someone shouted in alarm, "Something terrible has happened! The bridge we built is on fire!!"
With a whoosh, people scrambled and tumbled from this side of the cave toward the wooden bridge.
I could see the wooden bridge on fire from a distance.
People casually lit branches and vines from the woods, intending to put out the fire once they arrived.
But when they stood on this side of the wooden bridge, they were stunned by what they saw.
To their surprise, Gu Yuli was standing in the middle of the wooden bridge, holding a torch in her hand and carrying a small bundle on her back.
As people caught up with her, she burst into laughter, then pointed at them with her torch and said, "Hmph, you'll all be waiting to die here! Once I get there, I'll push all three logs into the flood."
Then he burst into unrestrained laughter.
When Han Yanyan saw her daughter, she realized she didn't even want her anymore. She knelt on the ground and cried out, "Daughter, you don't even want your mother anymore!"
Gu Yuli laughed again, "Mother, you still know you're my mother? When others bully me, have you ever protected me? When there's no food to eat, you'd rather eat an extra bite yourself than give me any. When Father beats me and my sister at home, you don't protect us either. You even say things like, 'Beat those wretched girls to death, so they can have a son.' And you still call yourself my mother? Hahahaha, you can just fend for yourself here."
Aunt Huaihua also shouted at Gu Yuli, "Child, come back quickly! How can you escape the famine alone? You'll be sold or kidnapped before you even walk 100 meters."
Gu Yuli said to Aunt Huaihua, "Grandmother, thank you for being so good to us, to my sister and me. Since we came here, we have had the best life in the past ten years. Thank you for being so good to me, but you can't forgive your granddaughter, can you?"
Suddenly, the rain intensified, becoming a torrential downpour.
The heavy rain extinguished the torch in Gu Yuli's hand.
It also extinguished the burning wooden bridge.
She started to panic; it was pitch black ahead, and it wasn't even dawn yet.
She had originally thought that she could slowly walk across by holding a torch, but now she was a little scared. Standing in the middle of the bridge, with the rushing floodwaters below and the people of Hanjiacun on the other side, as well as her mother crying and calling her name.
The people of Hanjiacun were furious. Several women stood up and cursed her, "You're such an ingrate! Your grandparents feed you, give you water, and take care of you three. And you still set fire to the cave, trying to suffocate us all. Don't you ever think about the fact that your grandparents are still inside the cave?"
Gu Yuli said, "You didn't die, did you? I knew you would put out the fire."
The people of Hanjiacun also held torches covered in pine resin. The flickering flames illuminated Gu Yuli's thin figure as she stood in the middle of the bridge, and Li Lanzhen sighed inwardly.
It's like having a path to heaven but choosing not to go to hell, yet you insist on going.
The tree was just put up yesterday, and there are no ropes tied to it. I don't know how sturdy it is. And with the rain so heavy, if she steps on any tree that sways or slips, she will fall into the flood and be doomed.
Just as I was thinking this, I heard Gu Yuli's shrill scream, "Ah!"
Then there was silence, only the rushing sound of the floodwaters flowing into the distance.
People stood there stunned for a moment, then Han Yanyan suddenly burst into tears, crying out, "My daughter, my daughter!"
Suddenly, she turned around and lunged at Li Lanzhen, screaming hysterically, "Give me back my daughter! It's all because of this wicked idea of yours! Why did you have to build this bridge here? We could have just stayed in that shed down the mountain, but you had to come here! Go and save my daughter! Aren't you so capable? Didn't you have a lot of things given to you by Young Master Jin Fulai? Go and find a way to save my daughter!"
Li Lanzhen wasn't going to put up with her. She kicked her over and said, "Why is our shed gone? Your daughter burned down my shed, and I haven't even settled the score with her yet. I think you two are both rotten people."
You didn't raise your own daughter well, and now she's harming people everywhere, not only the people of Hanjiacun, but also your parents.
That's your daughter, your dearest daughter! Go and save her! There's no way I can save her!
Then she called out, "Big brother, second brother, let's go home."
After saying that, she turned around and went back to her thatched hut, not caring about these things anymore.
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