RYEY -Chapter 408 Not Making Trouble Is Helping

“Qiao, quickly hide in your magical tool, I’ll go wake Secretary Hao.”

Li Huan grabbed the old-fashioned gun on the kang (heated brick bed) and ran toward the opposite house. “Secretary Hao, get up! Wild boars are coming!”

Next door, Ye Xiaolin had just taken off his clothes to go to bed. His sharp ears picked up the unusual sounds, and he quickly got dressed and pulled out the pistol he always carried.

Hearing Li Huan’s loud shout, he immediately opened the door. Secretary Hao had drunk a little tonight and was slightly tipsy, but when he heard Li Huan shout that wild boars were coming, he was instantly alert, almost sober.

The more anxious he became, however, the more mistakes he made—he put his pants on as if they were a shirt. By the time he realized something was wrong, Li Huan had already kicked the door open.

“Li Huan, go beat the gong at the village committee. I’ll protect Cheng Qiao and Secretary Hao.”

Ye Xiaolin calmly gave the order. Li Huan nodded repeatedly and, seeing Cheng Qiao fully prepared and ready to go, quickly ran toward the village committee.

Cheng Qiao picked up a household enamel plate and a rolling pin, following him out. As she ran, she beat the plate—though not as loud as a gong, the sound carried far on the cold night.

After a long day’s work, the villagers were already fast asleep, but there were always light sleepers. Hearing the clanging, they realized something was happening in the village.

Not knowing exactly what, they hurriedly got dressed, grabbed enamel basins if they had them, and joined Cheng Qiao in making noise.

In an instant, several households lit their kerosene lamps. Xiao Dan hadn’t gone to sleep and, upon hearing the alarm, stood at the entrance of the Chen family courtyard—unfortunately, without a gun in hand.

“What’s going on so late? Could anything actually happen?”

Cuihua got up nervously. Their house was far from the foot of the mountain, so they couldn’t hear the boars coming down. At this moment, Li Huan had also gotten hold of a loud gong and began pounding it vigorously.

Wang Xiangyang thumped his own kang in frustration. He felt extremely unlucky—ever since he became the village chief of Xiangyang Village, bad things seemed to outnumber the good.

Today should have been a huge celebration: Chen Xiaoniu could finally get married, a great joy. Yet now, something was going wrong at night. What exactly was happening that had Brother Huan banging the gong at midnight?

Wang Duocai and Auntie Wang, along with their second and third sons, were already standing in the courtyard, listening tensely. Wang Duocai sighed—so late a gong could only mean either a fire, or wolves or wild boars coming down the mountain.

“Old woman, you stay inside and keep Xiaohua safe. I’ll take the sons outside.”

“Is it dangerous? Maybe we shouldn’t go.”

Wang Duocai looked at Auntie Wang and sighed. “If there’s danger in the village, I won’t stay home, and neither will you. If every household suffers, it’s better to rush out and fight, so at least we have no regrets.”

Auntie Wang had never known her husband could be so manly. Usually he acted like he had bronchitis, but at critical moments, he never failed.

“Go, but protect yourselves. And stay close to Huan, got it?”

“Mm, keep the doors closed. Don’t come out.”

Wang Xiangyang picked up the old gun but didn’t allow Wang Xiangjun to go. With only three sons at home, at least one had to stay in case things went wrong—otherwise, their mother would be heartbroken.

Wang Xiangjun was anxious. He was an adult now, not a child. If danger was in the village and he stayed home, he’d never have face again.

“Go, you brothers look out for each other. Don’t try to be a hero.”

Wang Duocai opened the main door. At that moment, he heard the “huffing and puffing” sounds—it really was a herd of wild boars.

“Bang!”

A gunshot rang out; the battle had begun. Li Huan fired the first shot, and the lead boar dropped instantly. The other boars fell silent for a moment.

They had been fine in the mountain, sleeping, eating, wandering. Somehow, they suddenly sensed danger and ran.

Thinking a change of location would make them safe, they were surprised that the sense of danger followed them all the way down, forcing them into the fields.

Smelling the wheat, the wild boars were delighted. With their tusks, they overturned the newly repaired frost-resistant greenhouses and began devouring the wheat in the fields.

Seeing this, Li Huan couldn’t bother with the gong anymore. He grabbed his gun and fired at the largest boar.

The big boar didn’t expect anyone to shoot it. The bullet struck its brain directly, but wild boars have strong vitality. Even shot in the head, it ran straight toward Li Huan.

Li Huan was reloading—a downside of this old-fashioned gun: after firing one bullet, you had to chamber another, or it wouldn’t work.

“Bang!”

Another gunshot. The sound was lighter than Li Huan’s, but the charging boar fell stiffly five or six meters away.

Under the moonlight, Li Huan saw it was Ye Xiaolin. Seeing the boar rush Li Huan, he lifted his hand and fired, ending the boar’s life.

“How did wild boars come down the mountain in the middle of the night?”

Wang Xiangyang hurried over. Seeing the herd devouring the wheat seedlings, he felt heartbroken but helpless.

“Xiangyang, let the security team ignore the boars. They’ll probably leave after eating the wheat. But stay alert. I’ll be back soon.”

“Brother Huan, where are you going? I’ll come with you.”

“No, protect Secretary Hao and let him go to your house.”

“I won’t go. I’m a proper leader; I can’t run at the sight of danger. Give me a shovel—even killing one boar is fine. And since these beasts ate our grain, we’ll just treat them as food for us.”

Li Huan twitched. If it were one or two boars, that might be feasible, but this was a herd—at least a dozen. And he dared to talk about killing them for food? A bit too ambitious.

“Li Huan, I’m going to check on Cheng Qiao.”

Originally, Ye Xiaolin and Cheng Qiao were protecting Secretary Hao, but in an instant, Cheng Qiao was gone. Worried, he ran toward the back mountain.

Li Huan was anxious too. This was his wife, the love of his life. He couldn’t let her get hurt and turned to follow. Secretary Hao tried to chase, but Wang Xiangyang stopped him:

“Xiangdang, Xiangjun, take Secretary Hao home.”

Xiangdang and Xiangjun quickly came over and each took one of Secretary Hao’s arms, pulling him back. Secretary Hao wanted to be angry, but realized he had no reason to.

He tried to struggle, but the two young men were surprisingly strong. He suddenly realized—he was old now. It was best to hide; not causing trouble for these men was the biggest help he could give.

Xiangjun knocked on the main door. Auntie Wang quickly opened it. Seeing Secretary Hao, she understood and ushered him inside, slamming the door shut with a “bang.”