Reborn in a small village in the 1990s

Chapter 248

Inside, Zhao Da'e had already turned off the lights and was quietly staying inside, while Zhou Chunhong next to him was snoring loudly. Zhao Da'e was wide awake and nudged Zhou Chunwen next to him.

"Big sister, are you asleep?"

"My eldest sister is already dead. For minor matters, burn incense; for major matters, burn paper money." Zhou Chunwen impatiently turned over and ignored Zhao Da'e.

Zhao Da'e nudged Zhou Chunwen again, "Big sister, it's past midnight, why haven't I heard any noise outside? Do you think your dad and your older brother have frozen to death...?"

Zhou Chunwen sat up abruptly, tied her hair back, and gasped, "Hiss... I almost forgot if you hadn't mentioned it. Those two idiots went out around nine or ten o'clock, and they've been freezing for over two hours in this freezing weather. If they don't catch Accountant Yao, we might have to collect their corpses tomorrow morning."

Then Zhou Chunwen put on her shirt and cotton-padded coat, all the while belittling Zhao Da'e: "Da'e, what a terrible idea you came up with. I only have one father, and if he freezes to death, what are we going to do?"

Zhao Da'e: "I'll give you a biological father in return?"

"What are you going to use to compensate me?" Zhou Chunwen retorted, but then realized something was off: "Wait a minute, who compensates with their own father? It's like I'm missing a father. Pah!!!"

Zhou Chunwen was about to turn on the light when Zhao Dage stopped her: "Wait a minute. I was just saying that, let's wait a bit. What if someone comes in a little while and sees the light on in our room, they'll be scared away."

Zhou Chunwen had no choice but to give up.

However, Zhou Chunwen still dressed herself properly, sat back on the kang (heated brick bed), neither sleeping nor speaking, and just stayed there.

Zhao Da'e also sat up, put on his cotton-padded coat, and after sitting for a while, he felt so sleepy that he lay down on his pillow and dozed off.

Although she drank a bowl of strong tea before bed, it didn't affect her sleepiness at all. It's possible that because she drinks it often, her body has developed some immunity to it.

Zhao Da'e had just fallen asleep when he sensed some movement outside.

Zhao Da'e instantly sobered up. Tonight, just in case he alerted the enemy, Zhou Chunwen had tied all the dogs to the back of the house. That way, the wind would be too strong, and the dogs wouldn't be able to hear the noises in front of them, so that if the dogs barked, they wouldn't scare people away.

Zhao Da'e drew back the curtains and looked at the pitch-black night. She could hardly see anything outside. She stared at the doorway for a while and then whispered, "Big sister, someone's here."

Zhou Chunwen snorted coldly: "Hey goose, I just looked and I couldn't see anything. What did you see? Did you see a ghost? It's so dark, don't brag."

But the next second, a scream of pain was heard outside, followed by an angry curse: "Damn it! Which son of a bitch dug this hole..."

Zhao Da'e was secretly delighted: "Hehehe, hehehe. Oh dear, oh dear, someone fell in. I'll shove him to death!"

(The word "茬" here is a unique verb, similar in meaning to "扎" (zhā), but it is a passive word, like the word for being pricked. It is used very rarely and is a very special dialect word.)

Zhou Chunwen immediately climbed onto the windowsill and looked out through the glass, but it was pitch black and he couldn't see anything. All he could hear were cries of pain.

Less than a minute later, the sound suddenly rose in volume.

"Ugh... go to hell!"

"Who are you??? Don't hit my head, don't hit my head..."

"Ah..." A piercing scream rang out, the sound seemingly containing a deep sense of pain and fear.

"My legs, my..."

Then, as if nothing had happened, the sound abruptly stopped.

The two sisters, who were lying on the windowsill inside the house, looked bewildered: "Oh no, they didn't kill him, did they?" Zhou Chunwen said with some fear.

Zhao Da'e didn't know either, and muttered to himself, "It depends on how your dad does it, but judging from the screams just now, he probably fainted from the pain."

"what is it now?"

“A broken arm or a broken leg is easy to fix. But with such a commotion, it wouldn’t make sense to pretend we didn’t know, would it?” Zhao Da’e analyzed.

There was indeed such a loud noise last night; the neighbors should have all woken up. Pretending not to know at this point wouldn't be reasonable, would it?

"Wait a while until they come back. Then turn on the lights, and then go out and pretend to check. Remember to call the neighbors..."

“Big Goose…” Zhou Chunwen looked at Zhao Da’e with a strange expression: “It’s not like you’re staying at my house for the first time. My neighbor to the east is blind… Zeng the Blind, he’s been blind since he was a child, for over sixty years now. Shall we take him out to see the world later? Or should we talk about my neighbor to the west? My neighbor to the west is lame, he got polio and has been lame for decades, it’s really hard for him to walk, in this pitch black, which neighbor should we call?”

Zhao Da'e couldn't help but gasp: "Sister, your two neighbors are really damn outstanding."

Speaking of this, Zhao Da'e does know a thing or two. For example, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms that Zhou Chunwen keeps talking about is basically what he heard from his blind neighbor when he was a child. That man didn't seem to have a very good personality, but he wasn't a particularly bad person. After all, a blind man couldn't do anything really bad.

The neighbor downstairs is extremely stingy. He's a cripple, somewhat disabled, and over sixty years old. He has an elderly, paralyzed mother in her eighties to depend on. The cripple himself is a bachelor.

However, Blind Zeng wasn't a bachelor; he had a wife, who was from the Zhao family. But not from the same clan; she was a distant relative named Zhao Weihui. She was also partially disabled, and Zhao Da'e had to call her his great-aunt.

The generational names of the men in the Zhao family are Ting, Tie, Yong, Zhong, and Ren. The generational names of the women are Wei, Chun, Qing, Xiu, and Shu.

There are many people, and some give random names, but those are a minority. After all, Zhao Da'e is a very special case. There are two in the family, one was a random name, and the other was a random name given by Zhao Da'e...

This Zhao Weihui not only has epilepsy, but she also has two noses. That is, she has four nostrils, which is quite frightening...

Zhao Weihui, before her episodes of illness, couldn't get married; Zhao Chunhui, after her episodes, was even less likely to marry. Fortunately, she eventually met Zeng the Blind, who wasn't afraid of her frightening appearance…

The couple had two children, but one child died young; Zhao Da'e didn't know the specific illness. The other child also had congenital cerebral palsy. Although still alive and quite old, he couldn't go out and easily got lost. So, Blind Zeng often locked the mother and child up, because if they went out, they wouldn't be able to find their way home. Only Blind Zeng was mentally sound and a craftsman.

But no matter which neighbor it is, it's not easy to be a witness...

Zhao Da'e thought for a moment and asked, "Big sister, don't you have any normal neighbors or anything?"

Zhou Chunwen shook his head helplessly: "There really isn't one..."

Zhao Da'e's mind raced as he considered countermeasures.

If we don't go out, we'll be fine in a while. Let's not even talk about whether Accountant Yao was beaten to death or not. Even if she wasn't, if she passed out, she'd be freezing for a few hours and would be cold by tomorrow morning.

The cold in Northeast China is no joke; it can really freeze you to death.

Don't be fooled by the fact that a broken arm or leg might not seem like a serious problem. But if someone freezes to death, the situation immediately becomes much more serious.

But it's the middle of the night...

“I’ve got it…” Zhao Da’e’s eyes turned cold.

"Big sister, set fire to the woodpile."

"Huh?" Zhou Chunwen was stunned: "Holy crap! Big Goose, are you trying to cover up the crime?"

"Big sister, do I look like that kind of person?" Zhao Da'e said, "Big sister, go and set fire to that pile of corn stalks in front of your house. It's a bit far from your woodpile. It definitely won't burn there... Once it's on fire, more people will come. Then, someone will see Accountant Yao. And since your house is on fire, didn't it? Did Accountant Yao set it on fire? Everyone will start to suspect something."

"What if Accountant Yao breaks her leg and says we took a taxi?" Zhou Chunwen asked.

“Evidence,” Zhao Da’e said. “You need evidence to speak. He broke his leg at your doorstep, so you’re the ones who beat him? He has no evidence whatsoever. Besides, there were a bunch of people there. Everyone could see the fire, but no one could see anyone break his leg. Just say that Accountant Yao started the fire. Turn the tables on him first, and we’ll talk about it later.”

"Okay." Zhou Chunwen took the matches and went out.

A short while later, Zhou Yuren and Zhou Tianfu returned from the back.

Then, Zhou Chunwen ran back.

A minute or two later, the pile of corn stalks at the very front of Old Zhou's house caught fire.

Flames shot into the sky, turning half the sky red.

Zhou Yuren was still puzzled, so Zhao Da'e told him what had just been said.

Zhou Yuren asked, "So what do we do now?"

"Change your clothes, pretend you know nothing, and go out to put out the fire and rescue people."

So Zhou Yuren and Zhou Tianfu changed their clothes and went out.

A fire broke out in the village, and a large group of people rushed out to put it out.

However, rather than putting out the fire, it was more about keeping an eye on it to prevent it from spreading too far and setting the entire mountain ablaze.

It is said that water and fire are merciless.

And that was indeed the case. When the corn stalks caught fire, the flames from two or three donkey cartloads of corn stalks were as high as three or four stories. Even from ten meters away, you could feel the heat on your face, and no one could get close.

There was only one old well in the village, and indeed someone came with buckets of water, but Zhou Yuren said, "The fire is too big to put out. Don't let anyone get hurt. These corn stalks aren't worth much. Just use them as fuel for a big bonfire during the New Year."

Seeing Zhou Yuren's words, everyone stopped trying to save him and watched happily.

Suddenly someone noticed the unconscious Accountant Yao: "Hey, isn't that Accountant Yao? When did he get here? Accountant Yao... Accountant Yao..."

Accountant Yao had already been dragged to the door of Zhou Yuren's house, but she still hadn't woken up.

Everyone was puzzled: "Oh dear, he's fallen asleep here? That's really strange. We all came to put out the fire, and he's asleep?"

At this moment, Yao's uncle, who was also the village chief, looked at Yao's face and felt that something was wrong. He lowered his head and touched Yao, and everything seemed normal. He was confused: "What's going on? When did he arrive?"

"I don't know," was what everyone said.

Zhou Yuren also looked bewildered and said, "I don't know. Everyone was busy putting out the fire and didn't notice."

Zhao Da'e, standing to the side, watched others carrying buckets of water and said, "Could it be that the fire is too hot and Accountant Yao has fainted from the heat? Should we get him some cold water to help him wake up?"

Since no one knew what to do, they simply accepted Zhao Da'e's explanation.

So Zhao Da'e carried a bucket of water and, with a "kutong" sound, poured the water over Accountant Yao's head.

(Kutong is also a local term that describes the sound of water being poured or falling into water.)

After a while, Accountant Yao woke up with a whimper.

"Ahhhhhh..." Accountant Yao groaned in pain, her voice trailing off, "It hurts so much, my leg... my leg is broken..."

The village chief was shocked: "What? A broken leg? What happened?"

When Accountant Yao looked up again, he realized that almost the entire village had arrived, and he was completely dumbfounded: ???

Why are there so many people?

Accountant Yao was about to say that Zhou Yuren had given the discount, but with the whole village here, who would believe her?

The problem is, he broke his leg, right in front of someone else's house?

Somewhat outrageous.

Accountant Yao looked over there again, and saw flames shooting into the sky...

He was even more dumbfounded: Holy crap! It's on fire...

Accountant Yao's mind is a bit overwhelmed right now; he's completely confused. The whole village is here, but no one saw him do anything wrong, and no one saw his leg being broken.

If he were to reveal that his leg was broken, he wouldn't be able to tell who did it without evidence. People would definitely press him about why he came here in the middle of the night. Could he really reveal that he was taking revenge on Zhou Yuren in the middle of the night? He would be out of a job as an accountant.

"me……"

After stammering for a while, Accountant Yao finally came up with a plausible explanation: "I was the first to see Old Zhou's house on fire, and I rushed over in a panic. It was too dark, I didn't see clearly, and my thigh hit a telephone pole. I was running too fast, and that's how I broke it..."

Everyone was dumbfounded: Holy crap!!! His thigh broke from hitting the utility pole? That took a lot of force!!!

Doesn't it hurt?

Zhao Da'e, who was listening nearby, was also stunned: Holy crap!!! That's insane!!!

It has to be said, this Accountant Yao is really something else. Not only did she turn a scandal into a good thing, but she also instantly elevated her image as the village accountant!

You have to admire him!

The village chief was skeptical: "Then... what are you going to do?"

Accountant Yao steeled her resolve: "Don't worry about me. Putting out the fire is the priority. Old Zhou..."

Zhou Yuren said with a forced smile, "Oh, Lao Yao, look at you, you've run yourself ragged trying to help my family. I feel so bad about it..."

"As the village accountant, the village's affairs are my affairs!!!" Accountant Yao said righteously, "So what if I broke a leg? It's a small matter. As long as the villagers are safe, I feel warm inside. Old Zhou, as long as your firewood is okay, everything I've done is worthwhile."

Zhou Yuren almost stepped forward and grabbed Accountant Yao's hand, shaking it hard: "Say something normal, please! I beg you, if you don't say it was me who gave you the discount, I'll be too embarrassed to admit it."

The impressive image of Accountant Yao not only instantly enhanced her reputation but also covered up the whole incident.

The village chief nodded, quite satisfied, and said, "You did a good job. You're truly my nephew..."