Chapter 39: No one alive

The strong woman felt as though she had been directly branded as the pillar of ingratitude.

“If you ask me, Dazhuang’s wife deserves to be beaten,” someone murmured from the crowd.

“In my opinion, the beating was too light,” another added.

“This person can’t be heartless,” the clan elder remarked, shaking his head in disappointment as he cast a displeased glance at Dazhuang’s family.

The strong woman glanced around and noticed the glares directed at her. Her heart skipped a beat as she realized she had angered the crowd today, and guilt began to creep in.

Dazhuang’s father stepped forward, throwing his hands up in frustration. “What are you talking about? Our whole family is grateful to Su Yatou!”

Dazhuang’s mother, feeling the weight of the situation, covered her face, pushed her husband away, and fled from the scene.

In the midst of the chaos, no one noticed that Su Yin and the others had returned.

The three of them stood quietly behind the crowd, observing the unfolding farce.

Butcher Yang leaned in and whispered to Su Yin, “Niece, you were right. People can’t be too nice. If they become accustomed to it, it will ultimately be your fault.”

He touched the money bag in his pocket, contemplating that if someone had a headache, he might be able to help with this money.

Now it seemed this amount of money had to remain a secret; otherwise, it could lead to trouble.

Yang Dahe shared this sentiment as well. He patted Su Yin’s shoulder in a comforting gesture and said, “Don’t take that person’s words to heart.

Everyone still thinks well of you. Don’t be discouraged by this small group of people. You are right, but they are the ones who are wrong those heartless individuals.”

Su Yin shook her head, not as disheartened as her uncle believed.

She acted with a clear conscience, understanding that human nature couldn’t be measured by her own standards, nor could she expect others to meet those standards.

In life, some people know how to show gratitude, like Madam Xu, while others, like the strong woman, simply do not.

Her behavior and actions would never change based on what others said or did.

In truth, Su Yin was not as fragile, selfless, or kind as everyone believed. People are fundamentally selfish, and while she didn’t mind helping when she could, when her own safety was at stake, it was a different matter entirely.

Of course, she was willing to help; she treated everyone equally as long as she felt secure.

But she only extended her assistance to those who truly deserved it. If someone didn’t merit her help, she wouldn’t hesitate to walk away, even if they were in dire need right in front of her.

So, her little uncle and Yang Dahe were really thinking too highly of her.

Su Yin chose to remain silent. Even if she explained her viewpoint now, she knew her uncle wouldn’t believe her; he would merely think she was being dramatic. In time, he would come to understand her true temperament.

Later, they wouldn’t call her cold-blooded.

Just then, someone in the crowd finally spotted the three of them and exclaimed in surprise, “Oh, Su Yatou and the others are back!”

Mother Su, who had been looking worried, felt a wave of joy wash over her face. She hurried toward Su Yin, reaching out to grab her ear.

“You damn girl, you’ve worried me to death!” she scolded.

“Mom, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts!” Su Yin cried out.

As soon as she heard the pained protest, Mother Su immediately released her grip.

“Have you eaten?” she asked, noticing her daughter’s dusty face and the signs of hunger.

“I haven’t eaten; I’m hungry,” Su Yin replied, her voice a mix of fatigue and hunger.

Su Baozhu quickly scooped a large bowl of thick rice porridge from the pot. “I’ve been waiting for you to come back to eat, so hurry up! If you didn’t return, my sister-in-law wouldn’t eat,” she urged.

Su Yin handed the bowl of porridge to her mother. “Mom, you eat first.”

Mother Su rolled her eyes at her. “There’s plenty in the pot for you to eat now. You need to go over and tell Grandpa Li Zheng later.”

“Yes, I will,” Su Yin replied.

She refused to eat and squatted under the big tree, savoring the thick porridge. After a long day of rushing around and consuming a lot of energy, she felt hunger gnawing at her.

As the hot porridge slid into her stomach, she felt a wave of comfort wash over her, and it lifted her spirits.

After Yang Dahe and Yang Tufu returned to the camp, they were treated the same way as Su Yin.

Once the three of them had finished dinner, they headed to the area where Li Zheng was.

“You three have worked hard all day, so take a seat,” Li Zheng said, gesturing for them to sit.

The four of them settled down on one side.

“What’s the situation outside? Are there any signs of that group of people coming back?” Su Yin asked.

“Those people are dead, and they should have been chased down,” she continued.

Yang Dahe and Yang Tufu nodded in agreement.

“They’re all dead, and we’re safe for now. However, it’s best to keep the details of the five we surrounded and killed today to ourselves to avoid unnecessary trouble.

The identities of those people are unclear, and the ones chasing them are likely not easy to deal with either.”

“If word gets out that we killed those five, everyone could be in danger,” Yang Dahe added.

They were ordinary people and couldn’t afford to offend powerful figures.

Yang Lizheng nodded in agreement. “You’ve thought this through well. I will instruct everyone in the village to keep this a secret.

If anyone spreads the word recklessly, I will follow clan rules and expel them from the family.”

In ancient times, being expelled from a family was considered a serious offense. If people knew about it, it would make it difficult to navigate life outside.

How could a person who was expelled from their clan be considered a good person? Such an individual would naturally face rejection from others. This was the nature of the times.

Yang Fu, sitting on the side, asked, “Are they really all dead? Was there no one who slipped through the net?”

His question confused Yang Dahe and Yang Tufu. They had seen the dead bodies scattered everywhere, but they hadn’t bothered to count how many there were before they arrived.

Before the two could answer, Su Yin stepped in. “They’re all dead. When I noticed something was amiss with them earlier, I counted the number of people on their side.

Then, when I arrived at the scene, I counted the bodies. Of the five we killed, the rest died there, and no one escaped.”

Even if someone had managed to escape, the people pursuing them would never let them go.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

“Third Grandfather, have the people who were looking for the mountain spring water returned?” Su Yin asked.

“They came back earlier and searched for the mountain spring water as you described, but we didn’t find it,” Yang Lizheng replied.

“Third Grandfather, if we can’t find it tomorrow, perhaps the shopkeeper was mistaken, or the mountain spring water has dried up.

Maybe we should return to the official road via another trail,” Su Yin suggested.

The mountain spring water was likely a fabrication, and she didn’t want them to waste too much time searching for it.

She couldn’t reveal her precognitive dreams, so she had to find a compromise.

She noticed on the map that by going around the shortest hill ahead, they could bypass the bloody road and return to the official road.

Yang Lizheng nodded. “You’re right. We’ll search for half a day tomorrow. If we can’t find it after that, we’ll leave again.

This period of hard work will also give the elderly, the infirm, women, and children a chance to rest for half a day.”

After making the decision, Yang Lizheng called together the men from each household to select those who would search for water tomorrow.

Su Yin didn’t need to worry about these logistics. She returned to her camp to rest.