Chapter 20 Flood

Chapter 20 Flood

Chapter 20 Flood
But the rain didn't stop the next day, it got even heavier. However, in the pouring rain, Li Wuxiang saw a group of soldiers wearing straw raincoats and bamboo hats, passing by the Xue family gate like drowned rats and heading up Bishan. Before, the Wang family said that Zhao Qi wanted fresh tiger bones, and he thought it was for making wine and nourishing, so the town master was so diligent and anxious to urge him. Now, it seems that there is really an urgent need. He doesn't know whether it is to make elixirs or treat someone's illness.

At noon on the third day, the rain stopped for a while, from heavy rain to drizzle, and Xue Baoping went out. The water level of Jinshui River had increased greatly, and the muddy water rolled down with dead branches, fallen leaves and broken wood, only four or five feet away from the shore. The road along the river was full of puddles and mud, making it almost impossible to walk.

Xue Baoping walked carefully along the slightly higher ground at the foot of the wall, but she was still splashed with mud and her shoes almost sank in. She slowly crossed the bridge and finally saw other people in the town going out. Most of them looked hurried, probably going to the grocery store run by the town owner to buy some things in case of a real flood in the next few days and they would be trapped at home.

Li Wuxiang asked her to find a way to be noticed, but she didn't need to think about it - they were originally a well-off family with only one daughter, but her parents died of illness many years ago, and their belongings were taken away by Wang the Hunter. This kind of thing is naturally a great topic of conversation in the town, and it can be talked about for many years after dinner. Not to mention that the two families lived alone in the east end of the town, and one of them was a well-known villain with two young and strong sons who were avoided by everyone, it was inevitable that many more unbearable speculations would arise.

So she just lowered her head and turned around, receiving many looks and vague words, then she acted shy and flustered, turned around and slowly returned home. On the third and fourth days, Xue Baoping went out three more times in the rain, the farthest he went was to Chen's shop in the west of the town, where he exchanged a pair of celadon bowls for a bag of wormy millet.

On the fifth day, the opportunity Li Wuxiang wanted came, and it was far more tragic and impactful than he had expected, but also more reasonable.

As soon as the rain in the morning subsided, corpses floated down the river along with building debris. The residents of Jinshui were not panicked, and many families went out in the rain, all carrying long bamboo poles with hooks on the end. At first, Li Wuxiang thought they were preparing rescue tools because of the years of floods, but later he found out that he was wrong.

Quite a lot of people ran to the east end of the town because it was closer to the upper reaches of the river, and began to use bamboo poles to hook the floating corpses in the river. After they brought them to the shore, they would search the bodies for possible valuables. Even if there was no gold or silver, they would strip off the better clothes, and then push the corpses into the river and let them float downstream.

No one seemed to be burdened during the whole process, and some even quarreled over one or two floating corpses that looked good, as if they were fishing.

Li Wuxiang had been lying in the muddy water by the river before those corpses drifted down, with only a piece of tattered cloth tied around his waist. He had smeared mud all over his hair and face, pretending to be stranded in the river, and was lying on the bottom of the bridge.

Many people came and went, and some of them noticed him, but most of them just took a quick glance and then looked for another target, because his almost naked body was really not worth much.

At this time Xue Baoping also went out. People saw her, but they were not surprised - it had rained for several days in a row, and the little girl, who had always stayed at home and was not seen, was so hungry that she wandered around the town, exchanging broken bowls for food. Everyone thought it was natural for her to come out and make money from the dead.

Xue Baoping walked slowly along the river. To others, she looked like someone who wanted to try her luck but had neither the tools nor the courage, which inevitably caused some ridicule. Then she walked to the bridge and saw the stranded Li Wuxiang. She squatted down on the shore, stared at Li Wuxiang carefully for a while, and immediately stood up and waved to the people not far away. After waving for a while, someone noticed her. After just one look at the bottom of the bridge, they understood and shouted from a distance: "I see him, I see him, he's still breathing. Do you want to save him? You can't even eat enough, what can you do to save him? Walk down, maybe you can pick up some rotten fish and shrimp!"

This caused a burst of laughter, and no one paid any attention to her. So Xue Baoping slowly slid down the river bank, and after trying several times, she found a slightly firmer place and grabbed Li Wuxiang's hand. She pretended to drag him to the shore with great effort, but in fact, Li Wuxiang was so light at this time that it didn't take much effort. After struggling in the muddy water for a while, someone nearby saw it, but they didn't help.

After about a quarter of an hour, Li Wuxiang pretended to be still alive and could exert some strength, and then he helped Xue Baoping to be dragged ashore. Xue Baoping grabbed one of his hands and slowly dragged him home, which attracted the attention of people on the roadside. Some cursed her for bad luck, and some said she was crazy. When she dragged him to the door of her house and pushed it open to go in, Li Wuxiang slightly loosened her clenched hand, and two small pieces of silver slipped out from between her fingers. Xue Baoping pretended not to notice and led him in. A man outside had sharp eyes and immediately saw a bright color in the mud and rushed over to grab it. Xue Baoping quickly closed the door and bolted it. Almost at the same time, there was a knock on the door outside, which made the bolt rattle. Then people were heard shouting in unison: "How is the person? Is he okay? Open the door, we are all from the same village, let everyone go in to help!"

Xue Baoping immediately pressed the door shut with his back, biting his lip and saying nothing. After his thin body was shaken by the door for a while, he heard the people outside yelling and cursing in low voices, and then a cheer broke out from farther away: "Pigs! There are several pigs and sheep over there!"

The person outside the door immediately walked away.

Xue Baoping slid down to the ground against the door, breathing heavily. Li Wuxiang also sat up from beside her and wiped the mud off his face: "So in the eyes of these people, the three people from the Wang family can still be regarded as evil people that no one dares to offend?"

Xue Baoping hummed.

Li Wuxiang smiled and said, "It's quite interesting."

There were nearly a hundred corpses floating from morning to afternoon, as well as some pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens, etc., as well as some driftwood, old door panels and window frames, and some weak screams from people. Li Wuxiang didn't need to think about who they were. This made the townspeople outside forget about Li Wuxiang who was dragged into the house by Xue Baoping. They thought that maybe he had some small change in his hand, which was not much.

The two washed themselves with well water, and Li Wuxiang took some black ash from the stove and dyed his hair. The effect of this dye was not as good as the hair dye he had over there, and it only made his hair turn gray, but who could say that it was unreasonable for a young man who had suffered a flood, lost his home, and survived a near-death experience to turn his hair gray overnight?
On the sixth day, the rain stopped, but there were still thin clouds in the sky, and the sun was obscured, only occasionally shedding enough light to cast a shadow.

When it rained yesterday, most of the people who went out were diligent people. Today, the weather has improved, so the lazy people and the old and weak in the town also went out. They walked along the river, picking out some usable things from the garbage that was washed to the riverside, such as old clothes, broken wood strips, broken wooden bowls and plates, and if they were lucky, they could even pick up one or two nails. Xuejia is the end of the river bank. Further upstream is a large mud flat. The water level has risen now, so people can't go down. These people are tired of picking up things, so they rest under the big willow tree by the river.

When he saw the first person walking towards this side from afar, Li Wuxiang asked Xue Baoping to remove the two door panels in front of the wing room. Xue Baoping boiled water on the stove, while Li Wuxiang moved a bench and sat against the door frame, pretending to be sick, looking at the group of people under the tree.

He is looking for a target.

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(End of this chapter)