A Big Fire

He sent the boiled medicine to the thatched hut where the wounded rested.

The senior brother was diligently changing the dressings for the wounded. When he saw him carrying the medicine, he smiled.

“This thunderstorm came suddenly. You didn’t get wet when you delivered the medicine, did you?”

Shen Leyan took off his hat. There was a layer of moisture on his clothes, but it didn’t get wet into his underwear. It was not a big problem.

He smiled back and handed the medicine over.

Most of the wounded were young and middle-aged, with only one child. Some of them were unable to move due to burns on their limbs, and some had a large area of ​​their faces destroyed, which looked extremely scary.

However, when the senior brother fed them the medicine, no one in the room cried out in pain. Even the child who looked only five or six years old just looked at him with watery eyes and began to drink the medicine quietly.

 “They…”

Senior Brother: “Their throats are affected by the poisonous smoke from the fire, and they can’t speak for the time being. I wanted to ask them about the specific circumstances of the fire yesterday, but they can’t speak now, and they can’t read or write, so I had to give up.

It’s a pity for that child, Goudan. He is only five years old and has one leg burned like that. I don’t know if it can be cured.”

Shen Leyan thought for a moment, touched his pocket, and found a small bag of candied fruit.

Then he half-knelt down in front of the bed and handed the candied fruit to the child.

Senior Brother praised: “Knowing that the medicine is bitter, you can use candied fruit to coax the child. Our junior brother has grown up…”

Shen Leyan curved his peach blossom eyes. He was handsome and easy to make people feel close to him.

“Goudan, do you want to eat candied fruit?”

The village is poor, and there is usually no snack to eat.

The child’s eyes suddenly widened and nodded repeatedly.

 “Then I’ll ask you a question. If you answer it, I’ll give you all the candied fruits in this bag. It doesn’t matter if you have a sore throat and can’t speak. Just nod or shake your head.”

Shen Leyan rubbed Goudan’s head.

He suppressed his voice and asked in a low voice: “Is there a cellar in the village to avoid fire?”

He remembered that it was mentioned in the original book that such small villages in the mountains often have hidden cellars to hide from bandits in the mountains.

This thunderstorm showed no signs of stopping for a while. He couldn’t return to the sect, so he had to find a place to hide in case of danger.

The child hesitated for a long time, probably because his family had told him not to tell outsiders about the cellar.

But he couldn’t resist the temptation of the candied fruit and nodded quickly.

Shen Leyan opened the candied fruit and fed it into the child’s mouth.

He took out a handful of peanuts from his pocket and shook them in front of the other person.

With a sly smile: “Goudan, where is the cellar? Please point in the direction.”

The child stretched out his hand and pointed to the yard outside the thatched house.

The entrance to the cellar was in the yard.

 Shen Leyan stuffed all the peanuts to Goudan, stood up and looked at his senior brother.

“We have a place to sleep tonight.”

Senior brother: “…”

Senior brother murmured to himself: “Why do I feel that my junior brother has grown up? He is really tired and confused.”

After saying that, he gave Shen Leyan a cold look to the back of his head.

At night.

Because of the heavy rain outside, the outer disciples who came with them rested nearby and did not gather in the thatched house.

He didn’t know if it was because of the fire that just happened but there were no candles in the village. Looking out the window, he could only see the heavy night covering the sky and the earth. With the heavy rain brought by the strong wind, the night seemed to have life and was surging everywhere.

The decoction has the effect of helping sleep and relieving pain. The injured have fallen asleep and the house is silent.

 He saw that his senior brother had also spread a straw mat and quilt on the ground to rest. He pointed to the yard: “Then I’ll go to the cellar?”

The senior brother struggled for a moment: “It’s not good for you to go to someone’s cellar?”

“In just going there to sleep.”

“… I’d better go with you.”

Shen Leyan picked up the quilt: “Senior brother also thinks something is wrong in the village?”

He was hit on the head and hissed in pain.

“What’s wrong! I’m afraid you’ll mess with the food in other people’s cellars.”

“How could I be such a person?!”

The senior brother said faintly: “You just used snacks to trick Goudan.”

Shen Leyan: “…”

He left his senior brother with a cold look at the back of his head.

The entrance to the cellar was under a pile of miscellaneous items, and a fireproof bluestone slab pressed down the entrance.

 After walking down a short flight of stairs, they arrived at the spacious cellar, which was about the size of a room.

Shen Leyan lit a tinder and looked at the things in the cellar. There were several large jars of water and a little rice and flour, as well as sickles, hoes and other farm tools that could be used to chop people.

Shen Leyan picked up a sickle and weighed it.

With a weapon in hand, he felt more or less safe.

The senior brother spread out the quilt and lay down on the ground: “Are you not going to sleep yet?”

He would definitely not sleep tonight.

The tinder went out, and Shen Leyan sat quietly holding the sickle, listening to the snoring of the senior brother.

After a while,

 “Senior brother, you are not asleep either, are you? Let’s chat for a while.”

Senior brother: “…My name is not Zhang Huaimin.”

“You are not asleep.”

“Are you afraid of the dark and dare not speak?”

“I was thinking that the burned houses are very close to this fire shelter.”

Even an old man like the village chief who was staggering did not take much time to walk over. If a young man ran over, it would probably take half a minute.

If so, how could so many people be injured and killed in the fire?

Even if the fire broke out late at night and everyone was asleep, if someone was burned in a house after the fire, they would definitely shout loudly, and there would be movement.

Senior brother’s voice was full of sleepiness: “Maybe everyone was panicked after the fire and forgot about it – it can’t be that they didn’t want to escape.”

Just as Shen Leyan was about to speak, the senior brother suddenly pressed his shoulder and spoke in silence.

 “Shen Leyan, did you hear someone shouting outside the cellar?”

“Ah?”

He always got half of his English listening test wrong in college, so he couldn’t hear it.

“Someone is really shouting.” Senior brother stood up at once, “We have to go out and take a look.”

Shen Leyan held the sickle tightly and handed the hoe next to him to senior brother: “Okay… let’s take a look first.”

They walked up the steps. Near the bluestone slab at the entrance, Shen Leyan also heard it this time. There was indeed someone shouting outside, mixed with the heartbreaking cry of a child.

“Fire – it’s on fire again – someone come – someone come -“

It was a heavy rainy day, and even firewood couldn’t burn. Not to mention that no one in the house had lit a candle, so how could there be a fire?

From the sound, the fire seemed to be quite big.

The child’s cry sounded very pitiful.

Senior brother’s tone became more urgent, and he reached out to try to open the bluestone slab: “That crying sound should be Goudan, right? There’s a fire, we have to help put it out.”

“Senior brother! Wait a minute!”

“How can we wait when there’s a fire?!”

Shen Leyan grabbed his senior brother’s sleeve and controlled his slightly chilly voice.

“Have you forgotten that their throats were hoarse from the poisonous smoke, and they couldn’t even make a sound. How could they shout loudly? How could they… cry?”