Chapter 29
Forced
The village chief of Shanyang Village had been bitten, but he couldn’t care less at this moment. He immediately raised his voice and said, “Hu Changzhu, you want to report this matter to the officials? You have to think carefully!”
The word “official” stunned the people from the two villages. Even though they had caused such a huge commotion, they had never thought of reporting it to the official.
When the people saw an official, they would lose a layer of skin.
Moreover, this was a big matter of eating children. If the officials came, wouldn’t the entire village be implicated?
The people of Shanyang Village did not dare to meet the officials.
Actually, the people of Hu Family Village also had relatives and friends there. Naturally, they would not think of reporting this matter to the officials. That was not harming people. That was ending their own line of descendants.
However, Little Ah Yu’s words reminded the people of Hu Family Village. They remembered the friendship of the neighboring village, but the other party did not.
Didn’t they just come here to snatch their children away?
Even the vicious bandits did not come down the mountain to snatch the villagers. They usually kidnapped the passing merchants only.
Robbing a village was something only someone who had lost their virtue could do.
“Wretched girl, are you courting death!” An uninjured man from Shanyang Village widened his eyes, looking like he wanted to teach her a lesson.
She actually dared to mention the official.
“I think you’re the ones courting death!” Village Chief Hu was originally still considering it. Now that he saw the other party was still being so arrogant, he immediately made up his mind.
“We’ll report this matter to the officials tomorrow!”
The people from Shanyang Village panicked. “You can’t report this to the officials, you can’t report this to the officials! Are you people from Hu Family Village crazy? Huh? Is it so easy to meet an official? Even if you don’t die, you’ll be skinned alive!”
They knew that their own villagers would keep this matter a secret and would forget about it in two years. But if they reported it to the officials, would there still be a single woman who would marry into their village?
Without the women, there would be no children. What would happen if their family line was cut off?
Old Madam Wang’s face was also ashen. When she thought of the wound on her second daughter-in-law’s back and how Ah Yu had almost been snatched away, she gritted her teeth in hatred.
“Don’t do it tomorrow. We’ll do it today! Third Brother, Fourth Brother, go to the official immediately! Don’t delay! You bunch of beasts, are you still fit to be human? Even the King of Hell has probably never seen someone more vicious than you!” Old Madam Wang’s face was terrifyingly gloomy, and her fingers were trembling non-stop by her side. “Your children are precious, but other people’s children are not. Only your own lives are important! It’s just a few days of hunger, and you can lose your conscience like this. If you’re so hungry that you’re about to die, I’m afraid you’ll even have to eat yourself!”
The people from Shanyang Village were unconvinced. “How noble is your Hu Family Village? Do you think we want to eat the children? Those are our own children! But if we don’t eat them, our village will be finished!”
“That’s right. If there’s a way out, who would choose that path? Your village is lucky to have food. We were more unlucky, there’s nothing we can do.”
Someone even said fiercely, “Those brats originally couldn’t live through the winter either way. Now, they’re just returning the favor of us giving birth to them! If they don’t return it, we won’t be able to live either!”
The person who spoke was lying on the ground. It was obvious that he had been poisoned by a snake. His lower body was paralyzed, but his mouth was still functioning.
Old Madam Wang snatched the shoulder pole from Wang Dalang and struck the person’s shoulder.
Everyone heard a cracking sound as that person’s shoulder was shattered!
“You’re telling me that you can’t live? Not a single one of you here dares to say that you’re so hungry that you can’t live in front of me! Your village is really so hungry that you can’t find a single blade of grass or cut off a piece of tree bark? Are you so hungry that you feel like you’ve eaten a stomach full of stones and mud? Pfft! You still have the energy to come and snatch our children away!” Old Madam Wang spat on the wailing person’s face. “You haven’t even reached the end of the line, but you’re already doing something that even beasts can’t do! Now that your tails have been stepped, you know how to feel pain? We can’t judge you, but there will naturally be someone to judge your crimes!”
Old Madam Wang’s eyes were red, and her eyelids were wide open. She gritted her teeth and looked at the people from Shanyang Village. “All of you here, as long as you’re here today, it doesn’t matter if you’ve participated in the cannibalism or not. Not a single one of you is innocent! Today, we’re going to report to the officials that you came to our village to cause trouble, snatch children, and injure people! As for the rest, the heavens are watching. You should think about whether killing people is against the law or if you have to pay with your lives!”
Perhaps it was because the old lady’s gaze was too sharp, or perhaps it was because everyone thought that Old man Wang’s family had fled here from the wastelands back then. Those who were old still remembered that their family was all skin and bones back then, and all of them were not far from death.
They had escaped here and survived by eating grass along the way. Their family had fainted at the entrance of Hu Family Village.
The old madam was the weakest. She was indeed the most qualified to say this.
When Wang Chuanfu saw his mother like this, he knew that his mother had recalled that matter again. His heart ached slightly, and he immediately went forward to support Old Madam Wang. He turned his head and said to his two younger brothers, “Third Brother, Fourth Brother, listen to Mother.”
Wang Chuanyuan and Wang Chuanman turned around and wanted to leave. The people from Shanyang Village immediately wanted to stop them.
“Cao Hua!” Village Chief Hu shouted the name of the village chief. “Are you really going to continue rotting this? The sky is clear and the snow has melted. What about you? Are you still holding on to the rotten flesh in your hearts?”
The village chief of Shanyang Village sighed. Just because he didn’t eat the childrens’ flesh didn’t mean that he wasn’t guilty.
He was the one who brought the villagers here. How could he escape responsibility?
If they reported this to the officials, the entire village would be destroyed!
Seeing that the village chief did not say anything, the people from Shanyang Village did not retreat.
Both sides were in a deadlock.
A woman from Shanyang Village suddenly rushed out and looked hopefully at Little Ah Yu, who was hiding behind the adults. “Those snakes listen to you, right? Do you know how to treat snake venom?”
Only then did everyone remember that more than half of the men from Shanyang Village had been bitten, and a few had already fainted!
If the snake venom acted up quickly, people would die in less than half an hour.
Little Ah Yu pursed her lips and said nothing.
She vaguely felt that her water seemed to be able to treat illnesses.
However, she did not want to give it to these people. They were baddies.
Liu Shi hugged Ah Yu and said coldly, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. The snakes came on their own. It has nothing to do with my daughter!”
She was too nervous, making the people of Shanyang Village suspect something.
Yes, that snake was ordered around by the little lamb, but the little lamb listened to her.
This child was not simple.
The woman ignored her and said, “I’m willing to have this matter reported to the official, I’m willing! But please save my father. He’s old and can’t stand the snake venom!”
“Don’t make things difficult for the child,” Village Chief Hu said. “If you behave yourselves, we’ll agree to let Doctor Hu take a look at him. As for whether you can take care of him or not, that will depend on your fate! That child is from our village. She is now, and will be in the future. Don’t think that just because our Hu Family Village is small, we can be bullied by you!”
The people from Shanyang Village were speechless.
Who was bullying who now?
But Village Chief Hu’s words did remind them.
Someone with sharp eyes said softly, “Did you notice? Those who were bitten by the venomous snakes have all eaten children…”
Not everyone in the village had eaten children. Most of them had not.
They were also afraid of those who had eaten human flesh, and silently remembered who they were.
“That’s true. Could it be that the heavens have really sent punishment?”
“Then is that child of Hu Family Village…”
Old Madam Wang poked the shoulder pole in her hand onto the ground. “Have you thought it through?”
“We—agree to let you report this to the officials.” The shoulder of the village head of Shanyang Village fell fiercely, and his voice was especially ancient. “However, please try your best to save the injured.”