Chapter 108: Suicide for the Son

"No, I don't believe it!"

After realizing what the patriarch was going to say next, Madam Xu's face lost all color and she interrupted the patriarch hastily, as if as long as he didn't say it, her husband would be alive and well. She was hysterical.

"No, I don't believe it. Chief, please stop talking. My husband is such a good person. He must be busy treating the tribe members. He will be fine! Third uncle and seventh uncle are busy with the tribe affairs and didn't see him, so don't say anything. My husband is fine!"

The two elders were stunned by the roar, but they did not blame anyone. If possible, they would have wished that it was their own old bones that died instead of the capable young men in the tribe. It was a pity...

"Guangji's family, niece! Calm down. We didn't want to do this either, but... Alas! Guangji was just unlucky. When he was on duty at the end of the village at night, he heard the gong but didn't have time to react. When he was about to go back to the village to inform them, he encountered the first wave of Hu soldiers' ambushes. None of the five of them who were on patrol at the time could dodge, and they were thrown into the dry well at the end of the village by those damned beasts. I have asked the tribesmen to go over there. A moment, a moment..."

Even though the tribe leader was old and had seen life and death many times before, he could not accept such a tragic situation. When he thought of the tribe members who had lost their lives, he could no longer speak and could only choke with sobs.

How could Madam Xu be willing to believe such an ending?
The mother and her two sons knew that their heaven would never return, so they huddled together and cried bitterly. The wailing sound echoed the sorrow of the people in the threshing yard who had lost their loved ones and their homes.

"Wuwuwu, Dad, Dad..."

"Wuwuwu, Daddy, come back. I don't want Daddy to die. Wuwuwu..."

Madam Xu, on the other hand, was hugging her two children, her eyes lifeless and silent. Only those lifeless eyes were shedding tears, and it was obvious that she was possessed by a demon.

The clan leader and the village chief really couldn't bear it. They had cried so many times that their eyes were swollen like walnuts. They sniffed, trying to hold back their grief and comfort each other.

"Alright, Guangji's family, stop crying. You still have Miaoniang and Yige'er. Don't be possessed! Guangji and my son will come out of the well soon. You have to cheer up and fix Guangji so that he can leave with peace of mind. My niece-in-law, the family will depend on you from now on... Please accept my condolences."

I don't know what the old patriarch said touched Madam Xu, but a glimmer of light appeared in the eyes of the madman. She nodded towards the head of the village and the patriarch, with tears in her eyes, without wiping them, and just walked towards the end of the village with her two children.

When Niang San staggered to the dry well at the end of the village, Doctor Xu's body happened to be carefully fished out by several young men. Madam Xu ran over like crazy, threw herself on her husband's body at the edge of the well, and tried with trembling hands to straighten his head, which was covered with a layer of skin, but she couldn't straighten it. Madam Xu, who had been strong and patient until now, completely collapsed.

"My husband, my husband, why did you abandon me and our three of us? My husband..."

"Dad, Dad, open your eyes and look at Miao Niang, look at Miao Niang..."

"Dad, wake up, get up, Yi'er is afraid of you!"

The mother and her two sons laid on Doctor Xu's body and cried bitterly. The two young men who were in charge of the salvage, including the two who had not yet come out of the well, were also moved and saddened when they heard the cry.

Aren’t they also poor people who have lost their loved ones and their homes?
Thinking about their parents, wives and children who were still lying on the threshing ground, they couldn't help but feel sad and wiped away their tears silently... The two people at the top were crying themselves and couldn't help but come up to persuade them.

"Aunt Guangji, please don't cry. I don't think my uncle Guangji would want to see you and your child so sad."

"Yes, sister-in-law, please accept my condolences. Don't be sad. Think about the children. They still rely on you!"

Yes, think about the children. She has to think about the children, but the children... they have no father, and their mother... their mother is not clean either. Her husband is gone, so what is the point of her living?

Moreover, she was a weak and incompetent woman. Once she lost her husband and the tribe suffered a disaster with countless casualties, no one could protect themselves, let alone take care of her own children.

In such troubled times, if you want to survive, you must follow capable and smart people, like the ones her husband rescued.

But if I want to follow them, or even get their favoritism and care, if I, as a mother, am still here... No! There is only one way for my two children to survive.

Parents love their children and plan for them in the long run. She had heard her husband say this more than once. Now it was time for her to consider the children. After thinking it through, Madam Xu raised her head, wiped away the tears in her eyes, and showed determination.

"Miao Niang, Yi Ge'er, good boy, come and listen to what mother has to say."

The two children, who had just lost the support of the big tree, looked at their mother with tears in their eyes. Their mother looked at them tenderly, and the brother and sister instantly threw themselves into their mother's arms like young swallows.

"mother!"

"Mother."

"Yes, mother is here, mother is here, my son, don't be afraid."

Madam Xu gently took her daughter's hand, and then put her son's hand into her daughter's hand. Madam Xu said, "My dear Miao Niang, I have packed all the valuables in the house a long time ago. They are all in that green bundle. The bundle is in the hole at the end of the kang in my room. You can see it by moving a corner of the kang cabinet and lifting the cover."

Xu Miaoniang was puzzled. She wiped her tears and asked, "Mother, what do you mean?"

Madam Xu avoided answering and instead reached out to hook Xu Miaoniang's messy hair behind her ears.

"My son is the most sensible and beautiful, but this chaotic world cannot tolerate people like him. Miao Niang, people like us cannot survive in this world. The only way to survive is to follow people with abilities. So my son, remember this: no matter what happens, you must take Brother Yi with you and follow the group of people who are staying with us temporarily. You must!"

"Mother, what do you mean? What about you? Aren't you going to stay with me and my brother? I don't understand..."

"Shh, don't be afraid if you don't understand." Madam Xu didn't give her daughter a chance to ask again. She pressed her daughter's lips and told her, "Just remember what I just said to you. It doesn't matter if you don't understand more. Child, take good care of your brother. Remember, you two are the closest people from now on. You must support each other and never leave each other, understand?"

Xu Miaoniang panicked, and a bad feeling welled up in her heart, but in her panic she couldn't grasp any clue. She could only hold her mother's arm tightly with both hands, and passively nodded repeatedly to assure her, as if as long as she was well-behaved and obedient, her mother would not be so weird.

"Mom, I'll be obedient and good. After we bury Dad, we'll follow the people at home. Please don't do this. I'm scared! Mom!"

"Silly boy!"

Madam Xu couldn't help but chuckle, she calmly raised her hand to break free from her daughter's pull, and reached out her hand lovingly to stroke the faces of her two children one by one, then lowered her head, looked at her husband tenderly and smiled.

"My husband, Ji Lang, please walk slowly and wait for me..."

She slowly but calmly straightened her husband's collar, then raised her hand to straighten her own collar, and then suddenly stood up, and when no one was prepared, she slammed hard into the stone well platform that was half a person's height above the ground.

Here I come, my husband...

"mother!"

"Mother..."

"Aunt Guangji!"

"sister in law……"

However, everything happened so quickly that by the time they reacted it was already too late.

Madam Xu did not leave herself even the slightest chance of survival and resolutely followed in her husband's footsteps, leaving behind her weak body that collapsed to the ground, unable to open her eyes again.