Chapter 20 Flood
But the rain didn't stop the next day, but got even worse. However, in the pouring rain, Li Wuxiang saw a group of town soldiers wearing raincoats and bamboo hats, passing by the door of Xue's house like drowned rats and heading towards Bishan Mountain. Previously, the Wang family said that Zhao Qi wanted fresh tiger bones. He thought it was for brewing wine to nourish him or something, so the town leader diligently urged him. Now it seems that it is really urgently needed. He doesn’t know if he wants to make an elixir or treat someone. sick.
By noon on the third day, the rain stopped for a while and turned from heavy rain to drizzle. At this time, Xue Baoping went out. The water of Jinshui River has grown very big, and the turbid water rolled down dead branches, dead leaves and debris, only four or five feet high from the shore. The road by the river was full of puddles and mud, making it almost impossible to step down.
Xue Baoping walked carefully along the higher ground at the base of the wall, but he was still covered in mud and almost got his shoes stuck in it. She slowly crossed the bridge, and finally saw other people in the town going out. Most of them looked in a hurry. It was time to go to the grocery store opened by the town owner to buy some things, in case there would be a flood in the next few days and she would be trapped. At home now.
Li Wuxiang asked her to find a way to get noticed, but she didn't have to think about this method-it was originally a well-off family with only one daughter, but her parents both fell ill and died many years ago, and their belongings were evacuated by Wang Orion's family. , this kind of thing is naturally an excellent conversation topic in the town, and it can be talked about after dinner for many years. Not to mention that two families live alone in the east end of the town, and one of them is a well-known evil person with two young and strong sons who are avoided by everyone. It is inevitable that there will be many more unpleasant speculations.
So she just lowered her head and turned around, receiving many looks and vague words. Then she looked shy and panicked, then turned around and slowly returned home. On the third and fourth days, Xue Baoping went out three more times in the rain. The furthest he went was Chen's shop in the west of the town, where he exchanged a pair of celadon bowls for a bag of worm-infested millet.
On the fifth day, the opportunity Li Wuxiang wanted came, and it was far more tragic and impactful than he expected, but it was also more reasonable——
As soon as the rain subsided in the morning, there were floating corpses floating down the river along with the debris of the building. The townspeople of Jinshui were not alarmed by this, but many people went out in the rain, all carrying long bamboo poles with hooks at the ends. At first, Li Wuxiang thought they had prepared rescue tools because of successive floods, but later he realized that he had guessed wrong.
Quite a few people ran to the east end of the town, because it was closer to the upper reaches of the river, and then began to use bamboo poles to hook the floating corpses in the river. After hooking them to the shore, they went to search for any property they might have, even if there was no gold or silver. The better clothes will be stripped off, and then the body will be pushed into the river and allowed to flow down the river.
No one seemed burdened during the whole process, and there were even quarrels over one or two floating corpses that looked good, as if they were fishing.
Li Wuxiang was already lying in the muddy water by the river before these floating corpses floated down. He only tied a tattered cloth around his waist and smeared his hair and face with mud, pretending to be stranded in the river. lying on the edge of the bridge.
There were many people coming and going, and some people spotted him, but most of them took a quick look and then looked for another target, because his almost naked body really didn't have much to show for it.
At this time, Xue Baoping also went out. People saw her, but they were not surprised - it had been raining for several days, and the little girl who always lived in seclusion was so hungry that she wandered around the town and took out broken bowls. Everyone took it for granted that someone who changed his stutter would come out to make money and kill people at this time.
Xue Baoping walked slowly along the river. In the eyes of others, he just wanted to try his luck but had neither the tools nor the courage, which inevitably aroused some ridicule. Then she walked to the bridge and saw Li Wuxiang who was stranded. She squatted down on the shore and stared at Li Wuxiang carefully for a while. She immediately stood up and waved to people not far away. After waving for a while, someone noticed her. She only glanced at the bottom of the bridge and understood. He shouted from a distance: "I saw it, I saw it, and I'm still breathing. Do you want to save him? You don't have enough to eat yourself. What can you do to save him? Walk down, maybe you can pick up some." What a rotten fish and shrimp!”
This statement caused a burst of laughter, and no one ignored her anymore. So Xue Baoping slowly slid down the river bank. After trying several times, he found a slightly more solid place and grabbed Li Wuxiang's hand. She pretended to be dragging her to the shore hard, but in fact Li Wuxiang was so light at this time that it didn't take much effort. After working hard in the muddy water for a while, someone nearby saw me, but they didn't help.
After about a quarter of an hour, when he had done enough, Li Wuxiang pretended that he still had a breath left and that he could exert a little force, and cooperated with Xue Baoping to be dragged ashore. Xue Baoping grabbed one of his hands and slowly dragged him home, causing people on the roadside to look sideways. Some called her bad luck, and some said she was out of her mind. When she dragged her to the door of her house and opened it to go in, Li Wuxiang loosened his grip slightly and two small pieces of silver slipped out from between his fingers. Xue Baoping pretended not to notice and took him in. A sharp-eyed man outside immediately saw a bright color in the mud and rushed to catch him. Xue Baoping quickly closed the door and locked it. Almost at the same time, there was a knock on the door, which made the door bolt rattle, and someone was heard shouting: "How are you? Is it okay? Open the door." They are from the village, please come in and help!”
Xue Baoping immediately pushed the door shut with his back, biting his lips without saying a word. After his thin body was shaken by the door panel for a while, he heard a few low-pitched curses from people outside, and then another burst of cheers broke out from further away: "Pig ! There are quite a few pigs and sheep there!”
The person outside the door immediately walked away.
Xue Baoping slid to the ground against the door, gasping for air. Li Wuxiang also sat up from beside her and wiped the muddy water from his face: "So in the eyes of these people, the three Wang family members can still be regarded as evil people that no one dares to offend?"
Xue Baoping snorted.
Li Wuxiang smiled: "It's quite interesting."
There were nearly a hundred corpses floating from morning to afternoon, as well as some pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens, etc. There were also some driftwood, dilapidated doors and windows, as well as the feeble screams of some people. Li Wuxiang didn't need to think about that. Who is he? This made the townspeople outside stop thinking about Li Wuxiang who was dragged into the house by Xue Baoping. They thought that maybe they were holding some broken silver in their hands, but it didn't mean much after thinking about it.
The two of them washed their bodies with well water, and Li Wuxiang got black ash from the stove and dyed his hair. It is true that the effect of this thing is not as good as the hair dye over there, it only makes his hair turn gray, but who can say that there is nothing unreasonable for a boy who suffered a flood, lost his home, and narrowly escaped death to turn gray overnight?
On the sixth day, the rain stopped. There are still thin clouds in the sky, and the sun is obscured, only occasionally shining light that can barely reflect the shadow.
Most of the people who came out when it rained yesterday were hard-working people. Today the weather has improved, so the lazy people and the old and the weak in the town have also gone out. They walked along the river and picked out some usable items from the piles of garbage that had been washed away by the river, such as old clothes, scraps of wood, and broken wooden dishes. If they were lucky, they could also pick up a nail or two. . Xue's house is at the end of the river bank, and further upstream is a vast silt beach. The water has also risen at this time, and people can't get down. These people got tired of picking up and rested under the big willow tree by the river.
When he saw the first person walking this way from a distance, Li Wuxiang asked Xue Baoping to remove the two door panels in front of the wing. Xue Baoping was boiling water on the stove, while Li Wuxiang moved a bench to sit against the door frame. He stood there, making a sickly look, and looked at the group of people under the tree.
He is looking for a goal.
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(End of chapter)