8 – Carrying the Corpse Down the Mountain
What?! Bai Renyi was shocked! Although rocks often rolled down this mountain, this was the first time someone had been killed by one!
Half an hour earlier… If it weren’t for his little daughter crying and stopping him from going out, he and his three sons might have been crushed to death too! The thought made Bai Renyi’s legs tremble with fear!
Without further hesitation, he urged, “Where are they? Take me there quickly!”
Bai Renyi believed saving lives was the priority. If the person wasn’t dead yet, carrying them down the mountain might save them!
“Right ahead!” Liu Family’s Eldest Son pointed.
“Let’s go!”
With an adult backing them, the two boys grew bolder and hurriedly led the way. Bai Renyi followed closely with his three sons.
Sure enough, after walking a short distance, they saw a massive rock beside the road next to a tree. Fresh blood stained the rock, mixed with mud, creating a gruesome sight!
Beside the rock was a large pit where four people had been crushed into pulp. Their brains were splattered, and their bodies were unrecognizable.
Bai Renyi felt nauseous after just one glance!
His three sons covered their mouths, fighting back disgust.
The two Liu boys didn’t dare go any farther and stopped near the rock.
Summoning his courage, Bai Renyi approached the four bodies and checked for breath under their noses—all were dead.
One corpse had a relatively clear facial contour, and Bai Renyi recognized him as the husband of Aunt Li from the same village. The other three appeared to be Aunt Li’s sons.
Bai Renyi thought, even if they’re dead, we must take them back! Otherwise, in this wild mountain, if Magical Creatures eat them, what then? Carrying them back at least ensures they have whole bodies, letting their family see them one last time!
Suppressing his grief and disgust, Bai Renyi separated the four corpses and laid them out side by side. As he dragged out the last body, he suddenly spotted a fleeceflower root with small white flowers in the pit!
Although the vines were crushed and scattered, Bai Renyi’s experience told him this was a fleeceflower root over a hundred years old!
He was astonished. Though he knew it could fetch a good sum of silver, he decided to carry the bodies back first!
He carefully covered the fleeceflower root with leaves to hide it from sight.
After finishing this, he called his three sons over: “You three, come here. Each of you carry one body—it works out perfectly.”
Though all three sons were married and independent, the eldest, Bai Laoda, was just over twenty, and the youngest, Bai Laosan, was only nineteen. None had ever seen such horrifying corpses. Hearing their father wanted them to carry the bodies, they backed away in fear.
“Dad, sh-shouldn’t we go down and call for help?” Bai Laoda stammered, terrified.
“Y-yeah, Dad, I’m too scared…”
“Dad, I don’t dare carry one…”
Bai Renyi flared up angrily: “You worthless brats! They’re Aunt Li’s family! How can you bear to let her miss seeing her husband and sons one last time? By the time we go down to get help, these bodies will be eaten by Magical Creatures! If you’re truly my sons, carry them down now!”
With that, Bai Renyi squatted down and hoisted one body onto his back.
Though still frightened, seeing their father carrying a corpse, the three sons gritted their teeth, stripped off their upper garments, and each lifted a body onto their backs.
Watching the Bai men carrying the corpses down the mountain, the two Liu boys hurried ahead to report the news.The Bai family men moved slowly carrying the bodies. By the time they reached the village entrance, the entire village had received the news and gathered outside. Aunt Li, upon hearing that her husband and son had been crushed to death by rocks, collapsed on the ground wailing hysterically, with several women desperately trying to restrain her.
When the four Bai men returned carrying the bodies, a group of men immediately surrounded them to help, while the women quickly covered the children’s eyes.
Cui Shi stood in the crowd holding Little Tiger Girl, but kept her distance fearing she might frighten her young daughter.
A woman beside her wiped her tears while admiringly telling Cui Shi: “Sister-in-law, your men are true heroes! If my husband encountered such a situation, forget about carrying bodies – he’d be lucky not to die of fright himself! Speaking of which, Aunt Li’s fate is truly bitter – losing four family members at once. How will she manage from now on? Wuwuwu…”
Cui Shi couldn’t help but sigh deeply. How could anyone accept such sudden loss of healthy people!
According to Liu Family’s Eldest Son, Aunt Li’s family of four had left for mountain herb gathering at yinshi (3-5 am) – the exact same time as her own husband.
However, her husband had been delayed by their young daughter for half a shichen (about an hour). Had her husband left at yinshi too, perhaps he would have…
The thought made Cui Shi break out in cold sweat, and she instinctively tightened her embrace around her young daughter.
This young daughter was the Bai family’s precious Little Lucky Star, who had helped her father and brothers avoid disaster.
As for the deaths of Aunt Li’s four family members, perhaps it was heavenly fate – after all, who can oppose the will of Heaven?
The day after burying Aunt Li’s four family members, Bai Renyi led his three sons up the mountain to harvest the fleeceflower root.
During these days when the villagers were busy helping with funeral arrangements at Aunt Li’s house, no one had gone up the mountain for herbs. Thus when they arrived, the fleeceflower root remained undisturbed where it grew.
To their delight, there weren’t one but two fleeceflower roots! Both specimens were of exceptional quality when dug up, weighing at least four to five jin combined!
The men excitedly concealed the roots in their back baskets and carried them home. Bai Renyi went straight to report to his wife with a beaming smile as soon as he entered.
Cui Shi was making tiger-head shoes for her young daughter while the five “pits” (sons) played with their little aunt. They hadn’t taken the sheep out to pasture these days.
Due to the drought, the sheep had eaten all the grass roots, forcing the boys to climb trees daily to pick leaves for the sheep to eat.
The five pits brought the sheep into the house so their little aunt could nurse whenever hungry.
The little dumpling, dressed in bright red clothes, crawled around on the floor. When she saw her eldest nephew bringing in the sheep, the little foodie immediately wiggled her chubby bottom under the sheep’s belly to nurse.
She gulped down milk until the udder went flat before finally stopping.
With nowhere to expend her energy after eating and drinking her fill, the little dumpling began mischief.
Crawling around the floor, she found the little tiger her mother had made. She crawled to the sheep and suddenly waved the toy tiger in its face. Caught off guard by this move, the sheep leaped away in fright.
Successful in her mischief, the little dumpling giggled with delight.
Cui Shi looked affectionately at the little dumpling and gently chided: “Little Tiger Girl, don’t scare Grandma Sheep. If you frighten her, she won’t give you milk anymore.”
Understanding her mother’s words, the little dumpling responded by blowing a stream of bubbles: “Pfft pfft pfft… pfft pfft pfft…”Just as she was puffing away with great effort, Bai Renyi lifted the door curtain and entered. He scooped up the little dumpling from the floor and planted a smacking kiss on her fair, tender cheek, his eyes overflowing with adoration: “Little Tigress, did you miss your daddy?”
The little dumpling babbled in response.
Cui Shi narrowed her eyes with a smile and asked, “What has made you so happy?”