mynovelweb Chapter 88 Expelling People from the Team
Chapter 88 Expelling People from the Team
Ten miles outside Qingzhou City, Meng Fuqing and his party rested temporarily in a flat area not far from a small river.
As the sun was about to set, large patches of fiery clouds appeared on the horizon, painting half the sky in a dazzling and spectacular display.
A large number of refugees had gathered by the river. They had fled from the north and were all dressed in rags, exhausted, and numb.
They only showed a hint of longing when they saw Meng Fuqing's convoy, but upon seeing the indifferent expressions of those people, they immediately gave up the idea.
There was a man tied up in the convoy. His shoes were worn out, and his feet were bloody from walking, which was quite frightening.
After settling the vehicles and livestock, the villagers busied themselves with starting fires and cooking. Meng Fuqing's family, with many helpers, seemed relatively relaxed.
The meat they brought from home was almost gone, and Meng Fuqing was just about to wander around to see if he could hunt some wild animals deep in the forest when the child's intermittent, sharp cries rang in his ears.
She looked in the direction of the sound and saw refugees on the riverbank pointing at the water.
"Where is Guangzong? Where is my Guangzong?!"
Fan Yumei looked around anxiously, but couldn't find her youngest son anywhere.
"Didn't I tell you to keep an eye on him? Where did you go with your watchful eye?!" Cui Dazhu shouted sternly.
Now all their family's belongings have to be carried by the adults. The youngest son can only be entrusted to Fan Yumei, who has less to take. Unexpectedly, the youngest son ran away and disappeared as soon as they found a place to stay.
This child has been acting up lately. He doesn't want to walk, doesn't want to eat black bread, and won't let his two older sisters eat. Basically, he does whatever he's told not to do, and even though they love their youngest son very much, they can't help but get angry.
Hearing her husband's accusations, Fan Yumei trembled with anger. "If I don't cook, will our family starve? You don't even gather firewood or look after the kids, and you have the nerve to criticize me?!"
Cui Dazhu never expected that his wife, who used to obey him so obediently, would now disrespect him in front of outsiders. He was so angry that he raised his hand to hit her.
The couple started arguing and ignored their child, while a boy of about half a size ran over from the riverbank.
"A child has fallen into the water! Go and see whose child it is!"
Upon hearing this, Meng Bochang's expression changed, and he turned to look at Cui Dazhu and his wife, who had actually started fighting.
He was furious and couldn't help but stomp his foot: "What are you tearing up for? Your Guangzong is about to die!"
Mr. Cui was busy trying to reconcile the couple and didn't hear what the messenger was saying. Upon hearing this, his vision went black and he almost collapsed to the ground.
With bloodshot eyes, he stepped forward and slapped his son and daughter-in-law once each. "Go and see if that's Guangzong by the river! Go now!!"
The couple had bruises on their faces, but they didn't care about anything else at the moment and rushed towards the river.
Zhao'er and Pan'er, who were helping Shan Qiyu, couldn't help but get up and look towards the river. They disliked their younger brother, but they couldn't be happy to hear that he might have fallen into the water.
Shan Qiyu whispered to them, "Stop busying yourselves and go back to your place to wait."
No matter how difficult life was for the two girls under their family's care, they could not ignore the life and death of their family members; that's just how the world is.
Zhao'er and Pan'er listened to Shan Qiyu and Meng Fuqing. Upon hearing this, they put down their work and walked towards their grandfather.
A short while later, a wail came from the riverbank, and the two stopped in their tracks.
That's my mother's voice.
After finally recovering, Mr. Cui heard the crying and stood up shakily. He craned his neck to look closely and soon saw his son running back, carrying a small body.
"What's wrong? What's going on?"
Ignoring the questions from others, Cui Dazhu ran straight to where Doctor Zheng was sitting and knelt down in front of him.
"Dr. Zheng, please take a look at my son... I know we did wrong in the past, but Guangzong is still young. You are a kind and compassionate doctor, please save him!"
As he spoke, he began to kowtow.
Zheng Yi couldn't bring himself to be cruel to his child, but when he saw Cui Guangzong's condition, he couldn't help but shake his head inwardly.
He reached out to check the pulse, but could barely feel it. "Take off the wet clothes, wrap the child in a blanket, and put the child on the cow's back. Let's try one last time!"
Hearing Doctor Zheng's words from not far away, Meng Fuqing walked over and whispered a few words to him.
Dr. Zheng was taken aback, then frowned and asked, "Will it work?"
"Isn't he choking on water? Try squeezing it out like cotton. If he can't breathe, try pumping air in. His face is turning purple. Let's try anything, even if it's a long shot."
Although she said that, Meng Fuqing knew in her heart that she was doing this to help restore her heartbeat and breathing. The water that was squeezed out was just from her stomach. She was just explaining it in a simple way that they could understand.
Seeing that she compared a person to cotton, Doctor Zheng's lips twitched involuntarily. After thinking about it, it seemed to make sense. He tried to do as Meng Fuqing said, turning the child's head to the side, clearing the child's mouth, and pressing the child's chest. Sure enough, water flowed from the corner of the mouth, and he was greatly encouraged.
He said to Cui Dazhu, "I'll press down a few times, and you blow a few breaths into the child's mouth to see if we can save him."
Cui Dazhu overheard their conversation and didn't believe Meng Fuqing could be so kind as to save his son, but he had no choice but to do as he was told.
Cui Guangzong vomited some water, but he remained unconscious. Finally, Doctor Zheng administered acupuncture and tried to have Cui Guangzong lie on the back of an ox and be led back and forth.
The child showed no signs of waking up; instead, his life force grew weaker and weaker until he finally died.
Cui Dazhu and Fan Yumei stared blankly at their son for a long time before bursting into tears, as if the sky had fallen.
Mr. Cui's father rolled his eyes and fainted.
Zhao'er and Pan'er stood aside with their heads down, leaving only Cui Miao'er calling out to this person and comforting that person, busy and flustered.
As expected, the person could not be saved. In winter, falling into the water is not just about drowning. However, Fa Zi said that if the team encounters this situation again, they can try to rescue the person.
After a long while, Fan Yumei struggled to the riverbank and asked, heartbroken, who had pushed her son into the water.
At first, no one paid any attention, but seeing that she was grabbing onto someone and wouldn't let go, insisting on getting an answer, the refugees couldn't afford to offend the whole convoy, so they could only say, "Who pushed your son? It was clearly your son who was trying to steal the fish that someone had caught, and he accidentally fell into the river!"
Fan Yumei, upon receiving the answer, refused to believe it, insisting that someone had deliberately killed her son.
At their lodgings, Cui Dazhu slumped down beside Cui Guangzong's corpse. It took him a long time to stand up. His eyes were bloodshot and his expression was terrifying. He walked straight toward Zhao'er and Pan'er.
He raised his large, fan-like hand and slapped his two daughters, gritting his teeth as he said, "It's all because of you two jinxes that this trouble has happened!"
In the past, his son was fine even though his daughters were not doing well. Now, his two daughters have turned their lives around, but the only son of the Cui family has died. What else could he be but a jinx?
The incident happened so suddenly that the villagers didn't have time to react. Zhao'er instinctively stepped forward to shield her sister and took the slap herself.
With a "smack," Zhao'er was knocked to the ground, bright red blood flowing from her ears and mouth, and she fainted with her eyes closed.
Startled by the sound of the slap, the villagers rushed forward to stop Cui Dazhu. Meng Bochang angrily rebuked, "Cui Dazhu, have you forgotten what you promised?"
Cui Dazhu was burning with rage and couldn't think straight. "My son was killed by these two jinxes, what's the point of them being alive?! Don't stop me, I'll kill these two good-for-nothings sooner or later!"
"Make way, let him have it!"
Amidst the chaos, Meng Fuqing's voice rang out.
Everyone turned to look behind them. Meng Fuqing was standing not far away, holding a crossbow as if selecting a target.
The villagers, no longer able to control Cui Dazhu, scattered faster than rabbits.
Once there was no one blocking Cui Dazhu's way, Meng Fuqing twitched his fingers slightly and fired a crossbow bolt.
Before Cui Dazhu could react, his shoulder was pierced, and his screams ripped through the surrounding area. But it wasn't over yet. An arrow struck his leg, and another his arm. After three arrows were fired, Meng Fuqing's crossbow was empty.
Fan Yumei, who had just returned from the riverbank in a daze, saw this scene and her confused mind instantly cleared up, and obvious fear appeared on her face.
Meng Fuqing gave her a cold look and said, "Drive out all the Cui family members except for Cui Zhao'er and Cui Pan'er. Anyone who pleads for them should also be driven out."
After saying that, she turned and left.