Chapter 67: Bad News

I was still dreaming in the morning when my door was pounded loudly.

I climbed up, opened the door, and saw Zhao Jinming standing by the door, his face gray and dirty. Seeing me, he shouted, "It's terrible, it's terrible, something happened."

I asked inexplicably, "What happened? So urgent."

"Someone died. Get up quickly, Township Head Zhu is waiting."

Before I could continue asking, he rolled down the stairs like the wind.

My heart sank. Where did someone die? For a death to cause such a commotion, could it be that an extraordinary person had died?

I dressed and went downstairs. The township government courtyard was already full of township cadres, all with gloomy faces. Zhu Shizhen was pacing in circles, smoking. Liu Hongyan and Hao Qiang were also there. I saw a look on Liu Hongyan's face that was hard to fathom.

I quietly pulled Hao Qiang's clothes and asked, "Where did someone die?"

Hao Qiang said in a low voice, "Laoyingzui."

"What happened?" My feet felt cold, and cold sweat broke out.

"A dud shell. Zhao Deliang from Laoyingzui went to clear the dud, and who knows how it exploded." Hao Qiang whispered to me, "We didn't know about this. I heard Laoyingzui is going to carry the body to the township government to make trouble."

"Village Head Zhao died?" I asked, my voice trembling.

Before Hao Qiang could answer, Zhu Shizhen began to speak, the gist being that all cadres, except for one or two on duty, were to go to Laoyingzui to handle the aftermath.

I became one of the candidates to go to Laoyingzui to handle the aftermath. The reason was that I had been stationed in the village there and was familiar with the situation.

Zhu Shizhen took the lead, and a group of people followed him quickly.

Zhao Jinming and I walked at the back. His face was pale, and his steps were clearly unsteady.

I said, "Director Zhao, watch your step, don't fall."

Zhao Jinming had an almost miserable look and said mysteriously, "Fortunately, fortunately, otherwise the one who died would have been me."

I looked at him inexplicably. Zhao Jinming smiled despondently and said, "We country folk believe in fate. You say, if I were Yue Bai's husband, wouldn't the one who died be me?"

I suddenly felt like I had swallowed a fly. I said, "What are you talking about? It's simply nonsense."

Zhao Jinming grabbed a leaf, rubbed it, threw it into the bushes, and said very seriously, "You just don't believe in fate!"

Laoyingzui Village was filled with sorrow. The red flag of the Youth Shock Brigade had been blown into only a few shreds, swaying powerlessly in the wind.

Sister-in-law Yue Bai was dressed in mourning clothes, slumped in a pile of rubble, with several women around her comforting her. Zhao Deliang was still lying in the pile of stones. One of his legs had been blown off and was wrapped in white cloth; his face was covered in blood, and a hole had been blown in his chest, the blood already congealed. The scene was too horrible to look at, and could almost be described as flesh and blood flying everywhere.

My eyes grew hot, and tears flowed out.

The men of Laoyingzui stood to one side with dark faces, no one speaking. Seeing us coming, they cleared a path.

Zhu Shizhen walked directly to the corpse, bent down, and bowed.

Before he finished bowing, Zhao Banxian came out and said, "You are Township Head Zhu, right?"

Zhu Shizhen nodded in acknowledgment.

"You were the one who ordered the work to start, right?"

Just as Zhu Shizhen wanted to speak, a stone was thrown over, followed by a burst of cursing. Zhu Shizhen staggered, steadied himself, scanned the surroundings calmly, and said, "Fellow villagers, if you want to curse, then curse. As long as it feels good and can solve the problem, curse however you want."

Once his words were out, everyone stopped.

Zhao Banxian stroked his goat beard, squinted his eyes, stared at him, and said, "You are the township head. Such a big thing happened, someone died, how do you say it should be handled?"

Zhu Shizhen recognized Zhao Banxian. When Zhao Banxian was village head, he was the party office secretary of the township government and knew everything Zhao Banxian had done. When Liu Quan took down Zhao Banxian, Zhu Shizhen played a significant role.

"People die, they must be buried in peace," Zhu Shizhen said. "Leaving the deceased in the wild is disrespectful to the dead. The dead are the most important; let's handle the funeral first, don't you agree?"

Zhao Banxian glared at him and said, "How do you say it should be handled?"

Zhu Shizhen called Xiao Li from the township finance department and told him to take out five thousand yuan for funeral expenses. Zhao Banxian didn't even take it, his voice floating as he asked, "Is a life only worth five thousand yuan?"

Zhu Shizhen said sternly, "Village Head Zhao sacrificed his life on the construction site, giving his precious life for the development of Suxi Township. He lived a great life and died a glorious death. Our township party committee has studied it and decided to apply for him to be a martyr. Do you think that's okay?"

Zhao Banxian pointed at Zhao Deliang's corpse lying on its back and said, "A martyr is certainly a good thing, but what policies are there for the descendants of a martyr? You have to make it clear to us."

Zhu Shizhen hesitated for a long time and said, "If he is approved as a martyr, his descendants can enjoy government pensions. I think, since Village Head Zhao's children are still young, we can first solve the problem of his wife's household registration and job. The township government can arrange for her to work in the government."

Sister-in-law Yue Bai, who had been crying her heart out, had already stopped, but hearing Zhu Shizhen say he could solve the household registration and job, she couldn't help but feel a surge of grief and burst into loud crying again.

Zhao Banxian looked at Yue Bai, sighed, and walked away with his head down.

The township government cadres scrambled to lift Zhao Deliang's corpse, but Zhao Banxian turned back and said, "Don't touch it blindly. Deliang died outside, he cannot enter the main hall; let's set up the mourning hall here."

Sister-in-law Yue Bai refused, saying that if her own husband couldn't enter their own main hall, what was the point of having one? She adamantly demanded that the corpse be brought home.

Zhao Banxian said gloomily, "The dead are already dead and can't be helped; the living still have to continue living. Deliang is gone, but his two children still need to live."

After saying this, regardless of Yue Bai's opposition, he called several villagers to bring a coffin from his own house.

After a flurry of activity, the mourning hall was set up, the musicians blew their horns, and Laoyingzui Village was immediately wrapped in funeral music. A few crows flew over the mourning hall, and a bird dropping fell squarely, hitting the white coffin lid and splashing into a dog-tail flower.

The township government cadres left one after another, and Zhao Jinming and I were left behind. Sitting on a stone in front of the mourning hall, looking at the coffin where Zhao Deliang lay, my heart tightened. Sister-in-law Yue Bai sat slumped on a straw mat in front of the spirit, holding her two children. They had already cried until their voices were hoarse, and at this moment, they were so exhausted their eyelids were fighting.

The sky gradually darkened, but Sister-in-law Yue Bai still sat there motionless, having not eaten or drunk anything all day.

I brought a cup of water over and said, "Sister-in-law Yue Bai, drink some water. Your health is important."

She looked up at me, smiled weakly, and said, "I'm not thirsty."

I said, "You should drink a little. You still have to take care of the children."

Yuebai took the cup, drank a sip, spilled the rest on the ground, and muttered, "Old Bull, drink some water."

My back felt icy, as if I saw Zhao Deliang grinning with his white teeth, and heard him shouting in my ears, "Wife, wife, I'm back."

The white candles were lit, and the men of Laoyingzui entered the mourning hall one after another, striking the first gong to bid farewell to the dead. The sound of the large bronze gong echoed in the valley, dull, distant, and sorrowful.

Once the large gong sounded, the deceased had to be encoffined.

People's hearts began to tighten with each strike of the gong. ===== CHAPTER 68 =====