Chapter 13
Aftermath
All the people in the village who could come had come. Other than some paralyzed old people who were unwilling to be moved, even the little babies had been carried out.
This was arranged by Village Chief Hu. He was afraid that everyone would come out and there would be no one to take care of the old and weak at home.
The second son of the w.a.n.g Family was also paralyzed on the bed. He did not want to trouble everyone, so he naturally did not follow.
Everyone had started digging late at night. The task had taken more than four hours. Now, it was already past midnight.
The winter night was long, and there were still four hours before dawn.
The sky was still dark, and the torches of every household had long been extinguished. However, the fire was still burning non-stop.
There was a boiler on it. At this moment, there was enough snake soup, and the children were also holding boiled sweet potatoes.
Fortunately, everyone had moved some food over and piled it up at the side. Otherwise, these hundreds of people would not be able to withstand it if they had nothing to eat.
When they learned that the village was buried, everyone panicked.
Someone belatedly said, “If we hadn’t come out to look for the child, I’m afraid we would have—”
“This kid from the w.a.n.g Family is a very lucky child!”
“Fortunately, everyone is here. This is the safest place since the snow has just collapsed.”
Someone’s expression changed drastically. “Oh no, my father is still at home!!”
With that, he pulled out a torch from the fire and rushed home.
Since everyone was present, they quickly stayed with their families.
The timid ones had long started crying.
“Don’t cry!” Old Master Hu said sternly. “Are you afraid that you won’t die quickly enough?!”
The weather was cold, and once they cried, their body warmth would dissipate. It was not a good feeling to have the tears hanging on one’s face turn into ice!
These people did not dare to cry anymore.
Old man w.a.n.g said, “Eldest Brother, Third Brother, hurry back and take a look at the situation. If something really happened, Second Sister-in-law can’t deal with it alone!”
Old Madam w.a.n.g also said to everyone, “Fellow villagers, you must be tired from working all night. Take a rest. We’ll do the rest ourselves. We don’t know what will happen after the avalanche.”
Everyone was shocked and afraid, but when they thought about how they had been spared because they came out to look for the child of blessing, how could they rest?
“We’re almost there. Let’s dig together.”
“It’s more important to save the child first.”
“Madam Liu, stop digging. Take care of your hands.” A wife went to persuade Liu Shi.
Liu Shi’s face was frozen stiff and she could no longer squeeze out a smile. She only said, “It’s fine. I can still hold on.”
Meatball sensed the sound of someone pulling at the snow and knew that they were about to see someone. It said to Little Ah Yu in the spatial pocket, “Someone’s here. I’m going to remove the thermal shield!”
There was too little energy left, and it did not know when it would be replenished.
Looking at the Myriad Spirit Water in the s.p.a.ce, there was really not a single drop left.
Its own reserve energy had also been deducted.
Sigh.
Crash—
Liu Shi, who was at the front, dug with her bare hands and plunged her hand into the gap.
A gust of cold wind blew in. Little Ah Yu shivered from the cold and gooseb.u.mps instantly appeared.
“Ah—Mother—” Even her voice trembled.
Liu Shi felt a lump in her throat and hurriedly covered her tears. She couldn’t see clearly and could only wave her hand stiffly. “Ah Yu, be good. Come out quickly. Come to Mother.”
His hands had already stiffened from digging for too long.
Little Ah Yu hugged the lamb tightly and moved out step by step. After taking two steps, she was stuck.
She could only step back and put the lamb down to let it leave first.
The lamb jumped out of the gap. Little Ah Yu also lay on the ground and crawled through the gap.
Before she could look up, Little Ah Yu was scooped over.
Liu Shi bent her arm with all her might and suddenly rubbed her palms on her face a few times. She pulled Little Ah Yu into her arms and wrapped her already cold feet in the inside of her clothes.
In an instant, she raised her hands high into the air, preparing to hit Ah Yu.
“Oh Dear! Don’t!” w.a.n.g Chuanman saw it and quickly came over to s.n.a.t.c.h the child away.
Liu Shi’s hand gently landed and slapped Little Ah Yu’s b.u.t.t twice.
Then, she covered her up again.
There was a heart-piercing pain in her hands, but it was as if she could not feel it.
“You’re killing your mother!!!” Liu Shi hugged Little Ah Yu and fell to the ground, breaking down and crying.
It was as if she had returned to the day of the miscarriage. The scenes of the pools of blood that were poured into the snow and covered by the heavy snow kept appearing in her eyes.
Her heart was about to die.
Finally, finally—
“Why did you run! Why!” Liu Shi cried uncontrollably. Her tensioned heart that had been highly strung for more than four hours was suddenly broken at this moment.
“Mother…” Little Ah Yu was really frightened. She finally understood that she had caused trouble.
She did not know why her mother was crying so sadly. She vaguely remembered being called out by her sisters in the middle of the night.
She was wearing less clothes than now, and was very cold, but her Mother did not ask her anything or cry.
But her lamb had run away this time. She had to chase after it. She had to.
In the past, she had a little duck and a little bird. Later, she had a kitten. They were all her playmates.
The little duck disappeared one night and the next day, her Elder Sister brought her duck meat.
After she ate it, her sister told her that it was her good friend, the little duck.
She was so frightened that she fell sick.
Later, the little bird disappeared in the middle of the night. Elder Sister skewered it and roasted it alive in front of her.
“Ah Yu, the little bird was naughty and ran away. I’ll help you teach it a lesson. Remember, I’m doing this for your own good.”
Later, it was the cat. The soft and warm kitten was white—just like the little lamb.
The kitten always liked to give her food. Sometimes it was a steamed bun, sometimes half a biscuit, and sometimes it was a small live fish.
On a snowy night, the kitten nuzzled her head and went out.
It did not return.
It ran to her Elder Sister’s courtyard and bit her.
Who said—
“…An animal that can’t be raised properly… that escaped… doesn’t need to be raised anymore!”
“Someone… beat this thing to death, skin it… chop up its flesh… and throw it… to the dogs!”
And who said—
“Father, Ah Yu likes it very much. It’s better not to feed it to the dogs… After venting your anger… just send it back.”
Later, she saw a ball of mangled flesh thrown into a bucket and left for her to find.
She fell sick again. Her Elder Sister squatted in front of her bed and said to her.
“Ah Yu, Elder sister will teach you a principle—”
“You have to take good care of your own things.”
Many memories flashed through her mind in confusion. Little Ah Yu could not remember them very clearly, as if there was a handkerchief wiping away those memories bit by bit.
However, she still remembered that she had to take good care of her things. She also remembered that her playmates could not go out alone or they would die. Therefore, she had to go after the little lamb and bring it home.
But she didn’t remember her mother crying.
Since Mother was crying now. It was her fault.
“Mother…” Little Ah Yu held back her tears for a long time and let them ultimately flow out. “Ah Yu was wrong. Ah Yu was wrong…”
“Ah Yu— my child!”
The mother and daughter hugged each other and cried bitterly. The little lamb also clung tightly to Little Ah Yu’s back and bleated.
“Alright, Fourth Sister-in-law, now is not the time to cry.” Seeing that Old Madam w.a.n.g did not care, Old man w.a.n.g could only step in.
It was rare for her father-in-law to speak, so Liu Shi naturally did not dare to cry anymore. She wiped the frozen tears off her face and went to pick at Little Ah Yu.
Little Ah Yu stopped crying. She looked at her mother with red eyes and then at her father.
She remembered.
She stretched out her little hand and pointed at the gap she had come out of. “There’s an Uncle, and a big hole.”
w.a.n.g Chuanman led his men and continued to dig in. He stuck his head in with the torch and saw a person.
“There’s still a person in here. Quick, dig away the frozen soil and save him!” w.a.n.g Chuanman shouted. A few more people carried hoes over to help.
On the other side, Village Chief Hu was cooperating with the people in the village to take stock of the situation of the various families. They did not know what the state of the disaster was for the time being, so they could only comfort everyone not to act rashly.
“My father is still at home. His legs are injured, and the village has been buried in snow. Where can he hide?!” Someone cried anxiously. “I have to go back and save him!”
“My family is all here, but if my house collapses, where will my family live? G.o.d, you might as well bury us and freeze us to death. Why torture us!” Some people did not dare to cry and could only shout angrily.
“That’s enough! Wait for dawn!” Old Master Hu frowned when he saw the group of people shouting. “I know you’re anxious, but this isn’t something that can be resolved in a hurry. What’s the difference between running out now and courting death? Didn’t you hear the sound of the avalanche?”
“If not for the fact that you happened to come out to save the w.a.n.g Family’s child, would you have a chance to stand here and cry now? I’m afraid you’ll be halfway across the Bridge of Helplessness by now!” an elder said sternly. “At this time, behave yourselves!”
The surviving people were still feeling lingering fear. They subconsciously looked at the w.a.n.g family and the child wrapped up tightly by Liu Shi.
If not for her, how many people would be left in the village?
How many of them could survive an avalanche?
Was the fact that she was alive attributed to the villagers who rescued her quickly enough, or to her immense innate luck and fortune?
For a moment, everyone was thinking.
On the other end, w.a.n.g Chuanfu had just carried w.a.n.g Chuangui over when w.a.n.g Chuanyuan placed the blanket he had brought on the ground and placed w.a.n.g Chuangui on it.
“There’s a chicken coop at home that was buried. Everything else is fine, but we can’t let Second Brother continue living there. It’ll be terrible if something happens,” w.a.n.g Chuanyuan said.
As soon as he finished speaking, someone carried a person out from behind a huge rock.
Then, he heard someone say, “Oh my G.o.d, there’s a huge hole here. The hole is quite warm too! Quick, bring me another torch. Someone, come with me to take a look!”