Chapter 53: Chapter 53: Burned Cleaner Than the Woods

Mrs. Qi was annoyed by Qi Ercai’s loud fuss, but seeing the father and son talk like this, she felt relieved inside, yet on the surface, she slapped Qi Ercai on the back.

As she slapped, she also cursed, “You useless thing, just good at scaring your own mother!”

Qi Ercai was slapped so hard he grimaced, not daring to retaliate or even dodge.

In the end, it was Qi Zheng who put a stop to this domestic violence.

Qi Manman watched her uncle getting hit by grandma, giggling non-stop, making Qi Ercai curse in his heart this little girl for being ungrateful.

Honestly, if it weren’t for protecting this little girl, he wouldn’t have been slapped in front of so many people by his own mother!

Everyone in the village knew the wolves had run off, and they all jumped for joy.

As for how the wolf pack ran off, some said it was scared away by the little girl from the Qi Family, but such claims were scorned by everyone.

Could a little girl really scare away a wolf pack? If so, they could all shout loudly and dominate the forest!

In the end, it was unanimously agreed that the wolves were scared off by the bear droppings.

With that stench, it wasn’t just wolves that couldn’t stand it, even these villagers used to carrying manure couldn’t bear it.

Qi Quanjin and a few others, regarded as heroes for clearing the manure, were specially arranged by everyone to have a lot of hot water to thoroughly wash themselves in the cave, even their clothes were carefully cleaned with soap offered by villagers, ending this ordeal.

However, with all this fuss, dawn had broken.

“Old Qi, we need to organize people to go down the mountain to take a look.”

Just after breakfast, the village chief came to find Qi Zheng.

After yesterday’s events, the village chief realized that among the young generation in the village, only the children from the Qi Family could rise to the occasion, so now whenever there was something, he’d come to discuss it with Qi Zheng.

Qi Zheng intended to take a couple puffs from his pipe, and hearing this, he nodded: “Indeed, we should go down and have a look. No matter what, we have to see the situation with our own eyes to be at ease.”

As he said this, everyone knew in their hearts that their home was probably destroyed beyond recognition and didn’t even know if it was still habitable.

Immediately, ten or so smart young men were arranged to go down the mountain to have a look.

Qi Quanjin, having busied himself through the night and refreshed by a hot bath, was already asleep.

Qi Ercai, however, hadn’t slept. Upon hearing that they were going down to take a look, he immediately followed along.

The people on the mountain were searching around the cave for burnt animals, firewood, and such, keeping themselves as busy as possible.

By the time the people who went down the mountain returned, the sun was already setting in the west.

Each of them returned with dusty faces, their clothes smeared with black ash.

But more striking were the two streaks of tears on their faces.

The village chief, estimating that the people were about to return, sat by the cave waiting to greet them.

Seeing them return, he quickly got up to meet them: “How’s it? Is everything okay down there?”

Upon the village chief’s inquiry, tears once again welled up in the red eyes of several young men.

This sight sent a chill through everyone’s hearts.

Seeing all these young men cry, it’s feared that…

Qi Ercai wiped away tears and was the first to speak: “The village has been burned to the ground, cleaner than these woods on the mountain.”

His voice choked, on the verge of tears several times.

“Ah!”

“Mother!”

“Dear God!”

The villagers wailed in lament.

With the village burned to the ground, what were they supposed to do?

The village chief staggered, nearly falling, but was held up by his family.

Qi Zheng felt equally distressed but still shouted: “Everyone calm down, we originally decided to flee as refugees. With our village’s houses, if we leave them empty for a few years, even without those beasts setting fire, we probably wouldn’t be able to live in them when we return.”

After speaking to everyone, Qi Zheng turned to the village chief: “Village chief, while it’s still not completely cold, we should hurry to find a place where we can settle down! As for our village, we’ll come back and rebuild after the world has stabilized, and life will go on.”

This had been discussed with Qi the Fourth after he woke up.

It’s currently their only path.

Yet, some refused to accept this.

Er Laizi, upon hearing that his house was burned, felt stifled, but he resisted the idea of fleeing as refugees.

Fleeing as refugees was akin to escaping famine, and that was too harsh!

So he immediately shouted, “Why do we have to flee? We now have caves, close to the foothills, we can go down to build houses when it’s quiet, and hide in the cave when it’s not. Isn’t that good?”

His suggestion indeed sparked interest in some, who expressed agreement and looked hopefully to the village chief.

As long as the village chief agreed, that’s what they’d do.

The village chief, supported by his family, sat down, and others followed suit.

Looking at the villagers present, the village chief’s emotions were very complex.

Yongping Village hadn’t flourished under his management, and now, they hadn’t even kept their last houses.

The more he thought about it, the sadder he felt, unable to contain his tears.

This only made it worse for others, who also started to cry.

Qi Quanjin, watching this scene, stood up in anger, loudly declaring: “Anyone not wanting to leave can stay! Anyway, the Qi Family will not stay here!”

Qi Quanjin wasn’t the eldest of the Qi Family, and in his generation, he was younger, so his words didn’t get everyone’s approval, and many glared at him instead.

Er Laizi was not pleased, remembering how he hadn’t gotten meat yesterday and almost got beaten up, and shouted: “Qi the Fourth, can you speak for your Qi Family? Besides, if you’re leaving, just leave, why keep blabbering here?”

Qi Quanjin most despised the likes of Er Laizi, immediately clenching his fist, ready to fight.

Er Laizi, scared, quickly shrank and hid behind others.

“Fourth, sit down.”

Qi Zheng spoke up.

Despite wanting to beat up Er Laizi, Qi Quanjin adhered to his father’s words more.

After Qi Quanjin sat back down, Qi Zheng finally said: “My fourth son’s words reflect the result of our family’s deliberation. Tonight’s getting late, we plan to set off tomorrow morning. Anyone wanting to find another place to settle can join us, and for those not wanting to leave, we can only hope to see each other again someday.”

Qi Zheng, being a respected elder in the village, saying this essentially cemented the Qi Family’s decision to leave.

Some families close to the Qi Family exchanged glances with their family members.

Not everyone was willing to leave their homeland, and neither were they.

The village chief, having wiped away his tears, upon seeing everyone’s hesitation, let out a long sigh and spoke once more.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep