Chapter 170 It's on Fire
Liu Xiangxiang bit her lip, having made up her mind. She looked at her mother and said, "Mother, I agree to marry the village chief's son. Go and tell him..."
Aunt Liu shook her head sadly: "No, I don't agree. The village chief's son is an idiot. I can't let you jump into a fire pit. Your father can't agree either. Waaah, waaah, why is our family so unlucky? Life is getting harder and harder. I really can't go on living. Waaah, waaah!"
Liu Xiangxiang sighed and said, "Alas, perhaps God has eyes. Mother, I've decided to marry the village chief's son. Don't worry about it. The matchmaker said the village chief's family agreed to give 12 taels as a betrothal gift. I'll take two taels with me, and you can keep the remaining ten taels. Don't give them to my grandparents anymore. Those two old folks are the jinxes of the family. Look at the state of the Liu family, people are dying and getting hurt!"
“My grandma has run out of money, so she’ll probably try to sell me off. I’d rather sell myself than let her sell me.”
Aunt Liu nodded sadly, "That's right. Then... then I'll find a matchmaker to send a message. The village chief's family is well-off. If I marry into their family, I can enjoy the good life too. It's just that I'm a fool..."
Liu Xiangxiang said resolutely, "I think it's good to marry a fool. Mother, I'm afraid of being hungry and poor. Please let me marry him."
Liu Baozhu put the copper coin on the table: "Mother, please let my sister marry into that family. Otherwise, she'll suffer at home too. Now that my uncle and aunt are dead, the job of taking care of grandpa and grandma has fallen on you. Those two old folks are so difficult to please, like a bunch of troublemakers. Mother, you should talk to Dad about separating from grandpa and grandma. That way, all the money that Baotian and I earn can be given to you. We're not young anymore, and you need to save money to find us wives..."
“If we continue to live with our grandparents and they manage our money, my brother and I will be single forever.”
Aunt Liu agreed, saying she was willing to separate from the family rather than serve those two old folks: "I think that's fine. I'll discuss it with your father when he wakes up."
Uncle Liu woke up at some point. He raised his head with a pained expression and said weakly, "No need to discuss it anymore, I agree. Baozhu, you and Baotian sell Liuya and Liuqing. I've inquired about it. If those two girls are sold to a brothel, they can fetch 16 taels of silver. While your grandfather is still unable to move, you two should sell them quickly, otherwise it won't be our turn."
Liu Baozhu nodded without hesitation: "Baotian and I will make our move tonight."
Liu Xiangxiang and her second aunt exchanged a glance, but neither of them spoke up to stop them.
As night fell, people returned home and birds returned to their nests. Around midnight, three groups of men in black arrived at the noodle shop, Liu Ye's house in Erdaogou Village, and Liu Ye's newly purchased house in town. They poured kerosene on the roofs and shops, set them on fire, and ran away.
Winter is inherently dry, and the noodle shop was filled with tables, chairs, and benches, many of which were made of wood. In the blink of an eye, the noodle shop burst into flames, and the shops along the street were also affected, all catching fire as well. The flames shot into the sky, billowing thick black smoke.
When someone in the shop discovered the fire, they quickly got up to put it out and call for help. Sun Erdan's house wasn't far from the shop, and when he heard about the fire outside, he grabbed a bucket and ran out to help. Gou Dan and Tie Dan followed closely behind. When they arrived at the scene, they saw that the fire was on the street where the noodle shop was located, and the noodle shop was almost completely burned down. The three brothers frantically poured bucket after bucket of water on the shop, but it didn't help at all. They could only watch helplessly as the shop burned to the ground.
"Oh no, look, there's a fire over there too, it looks like it's on Lotus Leaf Street."
Sun Ergou was shocked. Liu Dongjia lived on Heye Street. He quickly grabbed a bucket and ran to Heye Street. He saw that the fire was on Liu Dongjia's house. The houses on both sides were also on fire, but Liu Dongjia's house was burning the most fiercely. This meant that the fire started at Liu Dongjia's house first.
Sun Erdan, fearing that Liu Ye might still be inside the house, grabbed a bucket and rushed in. Gou Dan and Tie Dan tried to stop him, but it was too late: "Big Brother!"
At the same time, Bai Zilin's house in Erdaogou Village was also engulfed in flames and burned to the ground. Another reason was that when someone discovered that Liu Ye's house was on fire, no one came to put it out; they all stood at their own doorsteps watching the spectacle.
Liu Ye slept in her space at night and didn't notice the house was on fire. When she came out of her space after breakfast, she was shocked to find herself standing in the ruins of the house. Good heavens, what happened? How did the house disappear?!
She quickly ran out of the ruins, looking at them in shock. Good heavens! There was nothing left. Could it be that the stove caught fire? No, that shouldn't be the case. Before she entered the space, she added two pieces of firewood to the stove. It should have been lit long ago. It couldn't possibly have caught fire. Suddenly, a smell of oil wafted into the air, like the smell of lamp oil.
No, someone set fire to the house. She looked at the gate, but the gate was fine and not on fire. The surrounding walls were also fine and had not collapsed, probably because their house was far from the walls.
Oh right, the ox! Yesterday she put the oxcart under the window. She looked at the ruins where the window had been, and the ox and the cart were burned to ashes. Poor ox! She drove the oxcart back to the village because she was afraid the ox would starve to death. Now look what happened, the ox burned to death!
"You son of a bitch, who did this?!" Liu Ye angrily opened the door and walked out. The villagers who had come to watch the commotion were so frightened when they saw that Liu Ye hadn't been burned to death that they turned around and ran home. Those who were not good with their legs even fell down while running. For example, Zhao Hanzi, Wang Ergou, and more than a dozen other people with limp legs had all been trampled by Liu Ye. Just a moment ago, they were gloating and thought that Liu Ye was dead. They were so happy.
Liu Ye snorted coldly: "You dog!" Now that the house is gone, she'll have to save money by selling it. She won't go back to this village anymore. As for the land the village allocated to her, so be it, it's just wasteland anyway.
Liu Ye strolled into town and immediately smelled a strong odor of smoke. Her heart skipped a beat, and she had a bad feeling. "No way!" she thought. She quickly ran to the noodle shop street and saw that all the shops on the street were ruins, billowing thick smoke. Her noodle shop was among them. "Damn it," she thought, "someone must be after me. Otherwise, why would my house be on fire and my shop burned down at the same time?"
Gou Dan and Tie Dan, who were squatting across the street crying, suddenly looked up and saw Liu Ye. The two of them quickly ran to Liu Ye, already sobbing uncontrollably.
Dog Egg cried, “Master! My older brother, he thought you were home, he went in to save you and he burned to death, waaaaah, waaaah!”
Upon hearing this, Liu Ye grabbed Tie Dan's arm and exclaimed, "What did you say! What happened to your older brother?!"
Dog Egg cried and said, "The noodle shop caught fire last night, so we went out to put it out, but the fire was too fierce and we couldn't put it out at all. Later, your house on Lotus Leaf Street also caught fire, and we ran to put it out again. Waaah, my brother ran into the fire to save you, but he didn't come out. Waaah, waaah!"
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