Tomb Raider: I Can Hear Antiques Talk

Chapter 152 Village Punishment
In the night wind, the three of them couldn't help but feel hairy watching this weird and silent activity, and goosebumps blew up all the way down their backs to their scalps.

At this time, the villagers stopped one after another, and the village chief lit a torch and lit the coal pillar.I don't know if oil was poured on the coal pillar in advance, the flames shot into the sky instantly, and the faint crackling sound came from the air.

The village head stood in front of the fire and yelled loudly in the local dialect. It sounded like he mentioned some outsiders, village rules, treasures and so on.

After speaking, I saw three or five villagers walking all the way to Xu Er's house with sticks and farm tools.The three quickly jumped off the wall, huddled in the corner between the outer wall of Xu Er's house and the outer wall of the next door, and poked their heads to look out.

After a while, Second Mama Xu's crying sounded, accompanied by the crying of children and the scolding of villagers.

These chaotic voices came all the way from the yard to the door. Through the light of the fire in the hands of the villagers, the three of them saw that those people tied up the ten-year-old child they saw in the evening and were carrying them to the threshing field. After crying and shouting, he was stopped by several villagers and pushed to the ground.

What the bridge-takers said before they contacted the village chief finally understood that it was indeed they who asked Xu Er to sell the porcelain. Unexpectedly, they ran out ahead of time, and the villagers could only blame Xu Er's family.

Looking at the blazing fire, the angry villagers, and the distressed mother and child, they instinctively felt that something bad was going to happen next.

Taking advantage of the villagers' lack of time to take care of them, they carefully followed behind, running and avoiding behind the walls, and followed all the way to a low wall not far from the fire in the wheat field.

The child kept crying, yelling words such as "Mom" and "Brother" all the time, and the cry of Xu Erma came from afar.

Several villagers pushed the child in front, and a strong villager came out beside the village chief, holding a bucket full of cold water in his hand.He took a bucket and poured water on the child's head, and then took out a knife, looking to attack the child.

He was still muttering something, to the effect that Xu Er's family colluded with outsiders to cheat away the treasure passed down from their ancestors, and now they are punishing this family according to the rules of their ancestors, hoping that their ancestors would not blame others and so on.

Seeing this, the bridge-takers understood in their hearts that they were going to attack the children and let Xu Er's family suffer for them.

They didn't expect that in this age, there are still these backward lynchings, and the so-called family law and village rules can be greater than the king's law.Although the bridgemen are good at stealing and defrauding antiques, after all, thieves have their own way, and even they can't see such reckless behavior of human life.

Seeing that the knife was getting closer and closer to the child, Xu Er suddenly rushed out from the crowd, lifted a big stone and threw it towards the burning fire, knocking down the burning coal tower, and the splashing fire lumps scared everyone Back again and again.

The village chief called for someone to pin Xu Er to the ground, and angrily reprimanded him in the local dialect.Xu Er didn't resist, he just squinted at the fallen fire, and continued to giggle.

The onlookers were not monolithic at all. Before seeing someone pouring water on the child's head and trying to attack the child with a knife, he couldn't bear to look directly at him.Seeing that Xu Erlian had hit the fire, some people were already preparing to leave one after another.

The village head shouted at the villagers furiously, and the man with the knife pointed at Xu Er again, cursing angrily, blushing and shaking his neck roughly, as if making up his mind.

The bridge-takers were unwilling to get involved in matters that had nothing to do with them, but remembering that Xu Er had saved them from a crisis last night, a sense of loyalty to repay their kindness welled up in their hearts.Looking around, I saw a two-wheeled cart parked nearby, so I pushed the cart and rushed towards the village chief.

The villagers didn't expect a cart to come out of the low wall behind them, and they screamed and avoided.The cart headed straight for the village chief's back. The village chief couldn't dodge in time, and was slammed into the car and lay down.

Seeing that there was still a person standing beside the fire with a bronze statue in his hand, the three of them pushed the village chief and bumped into that person again.But who would have thought that with the sudden impact, the man would be torn apart, the robe fell loosely in the car, and a pile of straw and bones scattered from the robe.

Qiao Ke was startled, but after careful identification, he realized that it was a dummy, just serving as a shelf for the bronze statue.It seems that this bronze statue has something to do with the family law of their ancestors.

Before the three could figure it out, the bronze statue in the dummy's hand was also picked up by one of the bridge passers-by and held in his hand.The surrounding villagers panicked for a while, and several people eagerly wanted to come up and fight for it.Seeing that they cared so much about the bronze statue, the bridgeman held it up high as if to smash it, and the villagers were so frightened that they dared not go forward again.

At this moment Xu Er had already struggled to his feet, held his younger brother in his arms, and ran towards home.The bridge riders also held up the bronze statue to threaten the villagers, while pulling the cart on which the village chief was still lying to retreat.

However, there were many villagers, and there were only three people on the bridge. The villagers quickly formed a big circle, and several strong young men were ready to pounce on them at any time.The bridgers had to take out their machetes. It seemed that it was impossible to get out without blood today.

The burning coals scattered on the ground have gradually extinguished at this time.A gust of cold wind blew by, and a shrill sound like a baby's cry came from a distance.

The villagers were terrified when they heard the voice.But the screams continued one after another, and even became denser and more frequent.The villagers suddenly panicked and scattered, and fled to their respective homes. Even the old village head struggled to get off the cart, and ran tremblingly to his own home.

It seems that last night, the grotesque monster was attracted by the noise in the village.

The bridge riders threw down their carts, and wanted to flee back to Xu Er’s house, but they thought that they had broken faces with the people in the village today, and the bronze statue that Xu Er used to scare away the monsters yesterday was also in their hands. It's better to take advantage of the chaos and leave quickly.

Relying on the memory of the day, the three of them ran towards the exit in the north of the village, and along the way there were constant screams from behind them.Under the hazy moonlight, the three of them could always see a whole body wrapped figure standing on the hilltop or in the field beside them, as if the dummy holding the statue was also following them all the way.

The three of them were driven by fear, as if a steam wheel was under their feet, they did not dare to stop at all, they ran until Venus appeared in front of them, and only then did they see a small town with little lights in front of them.

At this moment, the shouting stopped, and the bridge passers finally came to their senses that they were out of danger, so they dragged their feet to find a place to rest at the base of the wall.

When they finally recovered their breath, the three of them followed the lights to find a small guest house. After asking, they found out that it was only a few kilometers away from the border between the two provinces. The train and the car returned to the suburbs of Beijing.

(End of this chapter)