The further south they went, the hotter the weather became. A month had passed since they began fleeing the famine. On this day, Gou Dan, who was running ahead, returned and said that there was a village ahead with people. Everyone was extremely excited, thinking that they had found a place to settle down.
Although there was still some distance to go, everyone was in high spirits and eager to get to the village as soon as possible, so they quickened their pace.
An Shuyi and Xia Hua were also happy. They had been fleeing the famine for a month. Although they still had water, they could only use it for drinking and cooking, and could not even wash themselves. Everyone was just like the other refugees, disheveled and dirty. Even from a distance, you could smell the sour stench.
There are villages and people here now, which means there is a water source. Even if we can't settle down here, it would be nice to rest here for a few days.
Soon, they arrived at the village. Seeing the smoke rising from the chimneys, everyone felt a sense of hope. The villagers were taken aback when they saw them, but they still warmly approached them to inquire.
Village Chief Lin also stepped forward and asked if they could rest here for a few days. They had their own food, but if their village had water, they could buy some. The village chief also rushed over and said that they didn't need to buy any, and that they could share some of the water with them.
Upon hearing this, the villagers saw hope. They never expected that there would still be water in this village. Seeing that the villagers all had rosy cheeks, they figured that the food was not bad. They finally had a place to stay.
But only An Shuyi and Xia Hua found it strange. Looking at the villagers in front of them, Xia Hua whispered, "Don't you also feel something's not right?"
An Shuyi nodded. Something was definitely wrong. If it were just an ordinary village, they might not have thought so much about it, but the villagers here were warm and hospitable, and everyone was eating very well. Moreover, she noticed that there were no children, livestock, or even a single chicken feather here. Yet, just now, she actually saw a villager gnawing on a bone.
Although she was glared at by the village chief, she quickly returned to her house. In this day and age, it was really abnormal to still have meat to eat. She hoped it wasn't what she was thinking, otherwise she really wouldn't be able to resist killing someone.
With the villagers' consent, Village Chief Lin allowed the clansmen to rest outside the village. The village chief explained that there were no empty houses in the village and that they couldn't accommodate so many people, so they had to stay outside the village. He asked for their understanding, and the clansmen were very happy, saying that having a place to rest was enough.
After the villagers left, everyone began to unload the things from the cart. Some villagers asked where the water was, and they started to fetch water to wash up. Outside the village, it was bustling with activity. An Shuyi hadn't expected that the village actually had water, and it was in a well. Now, she didn't care about whether there was a problem with the village and started to instruct her two daughters-in-law to wash everything that needed to be washed in the house.
She also asked the eldest son to light a fire and heat water so that she could bathe the children and herself and change into clean clothes. Although Xia Hua could go and wash herself from time to time, she couldn't be too conspicuous and had to wear her own dirty clothes, which was practically the same as not having washed at all.
Although she knew there was something wrong with this village, she decided to wash up first. If it didn't work, she would run away with her people. If all else failed, she could kill so many of her clansmen without any problem. Right now, nothing was more important than washing up.
Finally, before dark, they washed and scrubbed everything that needed washing, and they all looked completely different. Just as they were preparing to cook, the village chief actually brought over several wooden buckets with the villagers.
"Village Chief Lin, you've all had a long day. Our village doesn't have much to offer you. A few days ago, one of our cows died, and we only have some bones left. I've asked the villagers to make some soup for you all. Have some and get a good rest tonight."
An Shuyi and Xia Hua exchanged a glance and walked forward. Looking at the wooden buckets, they saw that there was indeed a layer of oil floating on them, and they could even see bones and other things.
Village Chief Lin shook his head, "We can't accept this. We just wanted a place to rest, we didn't mean to trouble you. Please take it back quickly, we have food!" These villagers are all good people!
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about. Everyone, quickly bring your bowls, I’ll refill them for you. That way you won’t choke when you eat your dry rations. Although there’s not much meat, it’s better than water.” The village chief said, instructing the villagers to fetch soup for them.
Xia Hua stopped the villagers who wanted to take the bowls and asked, "Village chief, where have all the children in your village gone? I haven't seen them."
When they arrived in this village, what struck them most as odd was the absence of children. There were both men and women, though the women looked listless and sorrowful.
But the most strange thing is that I didn't see any children.
"The children?" The village chief hesitated for a moment. "The children are all at home. There are many refugees now, and their mother is worried about their safety, so she has them stay at home."
"It's better to stay at home; it's not safe outside," said Village Chief Lin.
The third brother was stopped and hurriedly said, "Aunt Xia, don't stop us. I need to go back and get a bowl to drink the meat soup." He hadn't eaten meat or drunk soup for a long time. How could he let such a good thing pass him by?
“Mom, don’t stop us. I’ve lost weight after a month of fleeing famine. I need to drink an extra bowl of water later,” Xia Hua’s son, Li Nan, added.
"Fool!" Xia Hua didn't say anything more, and she and An Shuyi returned to the carriage.
“Aunt An, Aunt Xia,” Zhu the hunter hurriedly followed, “You knew there was a problem, why didn’t you stop it?”
"You're an idiot too!" An Shuyi and the other woman jumped onto the carriage, one carrying a large knife and the other carrying a stick.
Just as the tribesmen were about to go and get some soup, they saw the two of them doing this and were so frightened that they dropped their bowls. Zhu the hunter then realized why his two sisters-in-law had called him stupid; they were trying to stop him, but they were just going to get weapons. Thinking of this, he hurriedly ran to get his wood-chopping knife.
An Shuyi stepped forward and slapped her son, who was about to drink the soup, to the ground. "You idiot, this is meat soup, do you want to drink it too?"
The other clansmen who were making soup dropped their bowls in fright, hid far away, and glanced in terror at the water bucket in front of them, then at An Shi holding a large knife. They were terrified.
The village chief lowered his head, concealing the surprise in his eyes. "What are you saying, lady? Our perfectly good beef soup is not what you're describing. You can't wrong us."
"Hehe!" An Shuyi sneered and mocked, "Not only is this meat soup, but it also contains sleeping pills, doesn't it? What, you want to change things up after your children have finished eating it?"
“If you accidentally hit us, I don’t care what you eat. We came here just to find a place to rest, but you shouldn’t be so brazen as to try to eat our flesh.”
"Madam, you really...!" The village chief was about to say something more when Xia Hua interrupted him, "Whether we've eaten or not, we'll know for sure by going to see for ourselves. You don't need to explain here."
As he spoke, he kicked the wooden bucket over, exposing the soup and bones inside. "I never thought that human bones would look like animal bones. Apart from the head, I couldn't tell the difference."
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