Everyone turned around and saw a short and thin figure outside the courtyard gate, carrying a man covered in blood on his back, slowly stepping into the courtyard step by step.
"A-Liang——" He Rou cried with joy, pushing through the crowd and rushing forward: "A-Liang, you are back, you are finally back..."
Yesterday, A Liang went out and wore this dress. She made it with her own hands, stitch by stitch, and it was his favorite.
But when she held her husband's cold and hard hand, He Rou's smile froze on her face, and she stood there blankly without any reaction as if she had been struck by lightning.
"Young lady, are you kind?"
Seeing that He Rou was silent, the villagers gathered around him one after another. Seeing Chu Liangshan, who had bite marks on his face and was still staring at death, his face suddenly turned pale and they all backed away, not daring to look directly at him.
Without stopping, Song Xixi carried Chu Liangshan into the living room and gently placed him on the large recliner.
"Dad, Dad, why don't you speak? Why don't you speak..." Chu Xiaoshun saw his father's eyes open and didn't realize that his father was dead. He kept shaking his cold hands, trying to get his father to speak.
Seeing this scene, all the villagers present covered their faces.
"Xiao Shun, your dad is gone. Let your dad sleep. He hasn't had a good night's sleep in a long time." He Rou walked in with someone's support. Her mood seemed to have returned to normal and she looked extremely calm.
"Leave? Dad is obviously here?"
Chu Xiaoshun seemed not to understand, and stubbornly shook his father: "Dad, please talk to me. Can you please talk to me? If you don't speak, I will be angry and I will ignore you for the whole day..."
"That's enough!" He Rou shouted loudly, startling everyone: "Your father is dead. He is dead. He won't speak anymore. He will never talk to you again. He is dead -"
Chu Xiaoshun looked at his mother blankly, and then at his father who had his eyes open. His eyes turned red and he cried loudly: "I'm not dead, daddy's not dead, daddy's not dead, wuwu, daddy's not dead, I won't let daddy die..."
…”
He Rou couldn't bear it anymore and cried while hugging her son.
"My condolences." After Song Xixi said these two words, she finally looked at Chu Liangshan, who would never wake up again, and turned to leave.
Some villagers wanted to stop her, to find out her identity and to find out how Chu Liangshan died.
But before he could stretch out his hand, Song Xixi glanced at her coldly, and he could no longer stretch out his hand. He watched her walk out of the living room and out the door, and her little figure disappeared into the dim sky.
Chujia Village is twenty miles away from Songjia'ao. When Song Xixi returned home, the sky was completely dark.
"You girl are willing to come back. Do you know that your parents are so anxious that they have gone to the mountains to look for you!" Yang Cuilian, who was standing at the door looking around, saw Song Xixi and walked over quickly to look her up and down.
Seeing that she was uninjured from head to tail, but that her clothes had a few cuts and a few invisible stains, she let out a long sigh of relief.
The next moment, a large group of people poured out of the room, including Song Qingqing, Lu Erhu, Tietou, and the adults who were worried about them and specifically found the Song family.
"Little sister!"
"Xixixi!"
A group of half-grown children surrounded Song Xixi. Song Qingqing had a keen sense of smell and smelled the bloody smell coming from Song Xixi. Her expression suddenly changed: "Are you injured?"
Song Xixi shook her head feebly, turned around and walked out: "I'm going to find my parents."
After walking a few steps, Niu Hua'er heard an urgent call not far away: "Xixi, is Xixi back?"
Yang Cuilian responded hurriedly: "I'm back, I'm back, I'm back well!"
The adults walked and ran, and soon appeared in front of Song Xixi.
Niu Hua'er raised her hand and was about to hit her daughter, but saw that her daughter was unusually silent and there was no trace of anger on her face. She couldn't hit her with this hand: "My dear, what's wrong with you? Is something wrong?"
In the afternoon, Song Niannian ran to the fields in a panic and said that Guobao had gone to the mountains for the reward of five taels of silver that was reported in Chujia Village.
The news that Chu Liangshan had disappeared and was suspected of being dragged away by wild animals without any trace of his body was spread in several nearby villages, and the Song family had naturally heard of it.
Therefore, they were anxious, fearing that Song Xixi would not know the importance of the situation and risk going into the mountains to find the person for five taels of silver, so they immediately dropped their hoes and shovels and went to the mountains to find the person.
It was just such a huge mountain that they couldn't even figure out the direction. They got lost several times and almost couldn't get out, so they didn't dare to go deeper. They were going to go down the mountain to gather the villagers to search together, but they didn't expect Song Xixi to come back on her own.
Song Xixi didn't want her family to worry, so she smiled and said, "It's nothing. I found the person, but I didn't get the reward."
The Song family looked at each other, not daring to ask whether the person was dead or alive.
However, Lu Erhu and the others did not think much and asked one after another: "Xixi, have you found the big hunter? He is okay..."
Before they could ask clearly, their mouths were blocked by their parents.
Just by looking at Song Xixi's face, everyone present knew that the outcome was not good.
"Dead, bitten to death by wolves!"
Song Xixi said casually, describing the bloody facts in a plain tone: "Chu Liangshan captured the wolf cubs and was retaliated by the wolves. When you encounter wolves in the future, be sure not to offend them, otherwise..."
The last sentence she said was looking at the group of half-grown children in the yard: "Otherwise they will fight you to death!"
She will never forget the scene when she saw Chu Liangshan's broken body lying on the cold ground...
Are the wolves too ferocious?
They are also flesh and blood creatures, and it is normal for them to hate those who take away their cubs.
Is it Chu Liangshan’s own fault?
He is a hunter, and the wolf is just prey.
On the way to send Chu Liangshan home, Song Xixi seriously reflected: If she had persuaded Chu Liangshan at the restaurant that day, would she have been able to avoid this tragedy?
The answer is no.
Even if Chu Liangshan gives up his identity as a hunter and never goes up the mountain again, the vengeful wolves will not let him go and will most likely break into Chu's village, leaving the family of three with no way to escape.
Song Xixi only regretted not being able to get to know Chu Liangshan before he took action against the wolf cub, otherwise he would have been prevented from doing so.