PCJ – Chapter 38 Fire

The affairs of the Zhang family have plunged the entire Meizi’ao village into a solemn atmosphere. The sun had not yet set, and households had already finished work early. In the past, people often waited until the sun had set and the light had dimmed before returning home.

The villagers’ faces seemed different from usual, with a hint of seriousness. Along the rural paths, pedestrians hurried.

A dark crow kept cawing at the village entrance, adding a somewhat eerie feeling to the already tense atmosphere of Meizi’ao village.

Liu Qiaoye directly drove the ducks from her own field out of the water fields, rather than letting them return home after dark by themselves.

“Mom, don’t our ducks know how to come home by themselves? Why bother coming here to drive them?” Zhang Jiaohua felt it was purely his mother making a fuss over nothing.

“You talk too much. This morning, Benrui went to the mountains to burn the yellow-skinned creatures, but instead of killing a few, he ended up injuring himself. Many of them even escaped. These yellow-skinned creatures hold grudges. But last night, they had already caused trouble for all the chickens and ducks at Benrui’s house. Our house is the closest to theirs, and I’m worried the yellow-skinned creatures will come to harm our chickens and ducks.” Liu Qiaoye frowned, her face full of worry.

“Mom, let dad go to the market tomorrow to buy some yellow paper and cinnabar. I’ll draw a protective talisman.” Zhang Jiaohua, who had learned from his master, said indifferently.

“Who knows if your talisman will work.” Liu Qiaoye smiled.

“It will definitely work. Remember to ask dad to go to the market tomorrow.” Zhang Jiaohua had already taken everything he dreamed of as reality.

“Son, from now on, you can only tell mom and dad about these things, don’t tell anyone else, understand?” Liu Qiaoye found it amusing, but quickly added a reminder.

“I understand, mom.” Zhang Jiaohua replied.

Zhang Jiaohua went to bed early and didn’t have any more dreams that night.

In the middle of the night, he heard someone crying out loudly: “Fire! Help, fire!”

Zhang Jiaohua was young and slept deeply, he heard it vaguely in his ears but couldn’t open his eyes no matter how hard he tried.

“Jiaohua, wake up, wake up.” Liu Qiaoye gently patted her son’s face with her hand.

But when Zhang Jiaohua opened his eyes and looked around, he shouted, “Mom.” Then closed his eyes and fell asleep again.

“This child is sleeping so soundly. Maybe we shouldn’t wake him up.” Liu Qiaoye felt sorry for waking her son up.

“What nonsense are you talking about? Our house is so close, if the wind blows the flames over and sets our house on fire, what should we do? We must wake him up and send him to our father’s side. He can continue sleeping there. He can’t stay at home. Hurry up. I have to go. Otherwise, people will think we’re indifferent.” Zhang Youping grabbed a bucket and headed out.

Although Liu Qiaoye was reluctant to wake her son, she also knew that her husband was right. If there were fewer survivors, despite their own house being made of bricks and tiles, there were many piles of firewood around the house. Once it caught fire, the whole house would catch on fire. Leaving their son at home was indeed very dangerous. The old house was far away, and if the fire didn’t develop too severely, it shouldn’t spread there. And there were grandparents there to take care of him. Although the grandparents didn’t particularly like their grandson, they were still their own flesh and blood.

Liu Qiaoye directly picked up her son and walked towards the old house. When she walked out of the courtyard, Zhang Jiaohua heard someone shouting loudly.

“This way, this way, quickly use water to put out the fire. Hurry up and fetch water from the pond. We need to control the fire quickly, otherwise, with so many wooden houses in the village, if the fire spreads, the whole Meizi’ao village will be finished.”

The fire was really big! Zhang Jiaohua could feel the hot air rushing over even in their own yard. Zhang Jiaohua suddenly woke up and struggled to get out of his mother’s arms.

“Awake?” Liu Qiaoye smiled and put her son down.

The fire was really big! Zhang Jiaohua saw Zhang Benrui’s house completely engulfed in flames. It was like a huge bonfire.

“Burn, burn! Burn you all to death!” Ma Jinxiu was shouting with her hair disheveled, sounding somewhat like a lunatic. Several women desperately tried to hold her down, but Ma Jinxiu’s strength was too great, and four or five women almost couldn’t hold her down.

“Tie her up with a rope! Who knows what kind of sin she’s committed! She actually set her own house on fire!”

“Jinxiu! Don’t go crazy! Your house is on fire now. How will you live in the future?”

“It’s over, it’s all over!” Zhang Benrui’s head was wrapped like a rice dumpling, and he sat directly on the ground, ignoring the muddy ground.

“Benrui, don’t sit on the ground. Your wound hasn’t healed yet. Don’t get infected. Since things have come to this, don’t think too much. As long as you’re okay, that’s already fortunate.” Village Party Secretary Zhang Dechun pulled Zhang Benrui up from the ground.

Zhang Youping also quickly said, “Come to our house and sit for a while. There are also villagers here.”

The fire had not been extinguished all along. It had been sunny for a long time, and Zhang Benrui’s house was entirely wooden. Plus, the fire broke out in the middle of the night and was only discovered after it had become significant. It was impossible to control it anymore.

There was a question that puzzled everyone: why did Ma Jinxiu suddenly go mad and set her own house on fire?

“They were fine yesterday. There was no quarrel, why did Ma Jinxiu suddenly go mad and set her own house on fire?”

“Yeah. When Benrui was injured yesterday, she was busy taking care of him.”

“I haven’t heard of anything wrong with Ma Jinxiu before?”

The old people who couldn’t help analyzed the cause of the fire. Suddenly, someone loudly said, “Could it be that those yellow-skinned creatures came back for revenge?”

Immediately, someone agreed with this viewpoint, saying, “Yes, yellow-skinned creatures are extremely vengeful. The day before yesterday, Benrui caught some yellow-skinned creatures with rat traps, then skinned them. Last night, the yellow-skinned creatures ruined all the poultry at Benrui’s house. Yesterday, Benrui went to the mountains to burn the yellow-skinned creatures’ nest, and last night, the house caught fire. It must be the yellow-skinned creatures coming back for revenge!”

“Could it be that Benrui’s wife was possessed by the yellow-skinned creatures? I’ve heard of people being possessed by yellow-skinned creatures in the past. Quickly, go get a needle. Poke Benrui’s wife’s philtrum and see her reaction to know if she’s possessed.” The village elders were knowledgeable, and they naturally knew more about yellow-skinned creatures than the younger generation.

The villagers brought Zhang Benrui and his wife to Zhang Jiaohua’s house.

Initially, Liu Qiaoye was going to take Zhang Jiaohua to his grandfather’s house, but now that Zhang Jiaohua had awakened and refused to go to his grandfather’s house, no matter what.

Seeing the villagers bringing Zhang Benrui and his wife to their own house, Zhang Jiaohua naturally had the opportunity to observe the couple up close.