Chapter 68: The Sow Is Just For Birthing Sons

Liu Fugui feigned confusion, "Who? You aren't talking about 'mountain closure and forest cultivation,' are you? What time do you think it is, brother? The food we brought really isn't much left; don't you all want to eat meat?"

"Who wouldn't want to? It's just that we really don't dare to eat it!"

Except for Yang Da, the others also wore strange expressions, as if hiding some massive secret.

It was also at this moment that someone suddenly asked, "What about Yang Pingxi and those few? Why aren't they here?"

As a relative, Yang Da snorted coldly upon hearing this, saying with disgust, "Probably went to kneel before his dead mother and sister again. The damn brat, he even cursed his own father to death; why doesn't he just die himself!"

The curse had barely left his lips when another man in a shirt beside him shoved him, "What are you spouting nonsense for? Their family died in the disaster; it's only right that he's upset."

Though he said that, the man's eyes were clearly hinting at something else.

Liu Fugui saw it all, but he wasn't in a hurry, shouting inside, "Who all is missing?"

Someone over there immediately replied, "The ones who usually hang out with him: Yang Pingxi, Yang Shun, Mangzai, Laoqi, and that Cai Zhenlong who has so many ideas. The last three were the ones who ran out last night and were saved by A Zheng. Shameless brats, their wounds aren't even fully healed!"

Hearing these names, the crowd followed suit and cursed, saying they were never peaceful in town.

Yang Pingxi is a college student and doesn't need to go down into the mine, but the ones after him are just town hoodlums who don't work, don't mine, and just sponge off their families.

The people in town have dividends from the Mine, and indeed, just as He Qizheng envied, they can afford to support one or two children who just idle their days away.

He Qizheng, however, gradually heard the clues from these dissatisfied remarks and immediately asked with great dissatisfaction: "Don't their fathers have time to manage them, and don't their mothers care either? Men are busy with their careers earning money, and women manage the household; how do they not know how to teach their children?"

Mentioning women, the discussion gradually died down.

Li Gang saw the atmosphere was getting that way, and followed up: "You can't really say it like that. Half-grown kids are in their rebellious phase; they don't necessarily listen to their own mothers. By the way, aren't the sisters-in-law and aunts not living with everyone else? I heard from A Zheng that you all have houses in the city; you must be very worried about them now, right?"

It was the man whose white shirt was almost dyed black who spoke first, "Worried, yes, but there's no way to be worried, we can't get out now. You say there's disaster everywhere; who knows how they're doing?"

As he spoke, his eyes turned red, and he added that his mother and wife were both in the downtown area of Long City, and he didn't know if they were dead or alive.

"Everyone shouldn't be so pessimistic; maybe they're all still perfectly fine," Liu Fugui seemed to want to ease the atmosphere, joking, "Wife not by your side, don't you miss them usually?"

They were all grown men, and after he said this, Liu Gang took up the conversation again, "Brother, look at what you're saying, how could I not? When my girlfriend before hadn't broken up with me, every holiday I'd take the train to see her; I missed her terribly!"

The expressions of Yang Da and a few others didn't look like simple worry; instead, they glared at the others, as if forbidding them from speaking.

"What's there to miss about women? They enjoy life in the city while we work ourselves to death every day. If it weren't for having sons, who would want to raise a dead sow."

Someone cursed indignantly, "Pah! A sow is just for birthing sons, useless otherwise!"

Just as some were worried and some were cursing, it looked like they were about to start a fight.

At this moment, someone in the room where the detox was happening shouted, "Think about a hammer! People were dragged off to sacrifice to the Mountain Ghost! The pretty girl from out of town I just married, she hadn't even birthed a kid yet..."

The man seemed to have completely broken down, sobbing and howling as he spoke, "I've failed you, Susu. I'm useless, I'm a coward, I'm afraid of death, Susu!"

Seeing a few people beside him about to rush in, Li Gang was quick-witted and fired a shot directly toward the door!

Instantly, everyone dared not move, and the wailing man turned into whimpering, sounding extremely remorseful.

Liu Fugui was half a beat slower than him, but he also raised his gun, "Don't move, we have plenty to talk about regarding this matter today!"

The muzzle was aimed at the man in the white shirt who had rushed the fastest, while he shouted outside, "Niu Boyi, work's here! If they dare to run, you brat, one bite for each, don't waste fresh meat!"

Niu Boyi gave face with an 'Awoo' sound, shaking the remaining glass on the windows into shards.

Liu Fugui and Li Gang looked at the crowd like villains.

The man in the shirt wouldn't give up, furious and desperate, "Dare to talk nonsense? Don't want to live? Lock them in the Ancestral Hall..."

Bang!

Before he could finish, his lower leg was shot through. Although Li Gang couldn't use strength in his right hand, at such close range, he could still be precise firing with his left.

"I've long seen that you guys were acting suspicious. Now, explain clearly, and you might still be able to do labor reform after reaching the Barrier. If you can't explain it clearly, just wait for the Boss to throw you all into the mountains, saving us our supplies!"

Liu Fugui disagreed, "What a waste to just throw them away. Boiling the corpses down to oil can make soap; isn't it better to take them to the Barrier to trade for supplies? To tell you the truth, although our Boss is hired by the Barrier, he isn't governed by their laws. Killing you is just killing you for nothing!"

The matter of using human oil to make soap had already been done in the murderous concentration camps of World War II; anyone older who had watched some World War II videos knew this.

Once these words were out, everyone felt they had encountered heinous bandits.

And indeed, would ordinary people dare to walk hundreds of kilometers from Haicheng to their mine in the deep mountains at a time like this?

"I, I'll talk..." Who knew, it was actually Yang Da who spoke first, kneeling down with his hands over his head, "It's our own fault, we committed atrocities, using women to sacrifice to the Mountain Ghost, it's all retribution..."

Several mountain peaks away, a row of dark figures trudged forward with difficulty under tattered rain tarps.

Leading them was a youth who wasn't very tall, his lips so white they had almost no color, turning his head from time to time to ask if anyone had fallen behind.

"Qizai?"

"Here!"

"Brother Long!"

"Here, haven't lost anyone!"

"Mangzai!"

"Here, here, here!"

"Shunzi!"

"Here, damn it, this ghost rain, it's soaking four people. Xi Zai, keep an eye out in front, hide if there are Mountain Rats."

"Okay, haven't encountered any yet, they should only come out at night." Yang Pingxi inhaled a mouthful of air that burned his respiratory tract; his glasses were already covered in water droplets.

These droplets would hang for a while before settling into black dregs, just like when there was a lot of coal dust, it was always pitch black before the rain fell from the sky.

Although those outsiders said this Black Rain was poisonous, they, children who grew up at the mine, were used to it and weren't afraid at all.

As long as you've had Mine Sickness once, you won't get it again, and since they knew the cause, they weren't afraid of getting rained on.

The group pulled and supported each other into the mountains without a single word of complaint, because they were all worried about the same thing.

Although the mountain path was slippery and they had to be careful to avoid strange plants growing from the ground, this journey was still easier to walk than before.

The Southeast Hills had dense vegetation in all four seasons; they used to have to be careful not to leave traces, lest the people in town see clues and bring disaster to the people they were helping.

They, must not be discovered by the people in town!