Chapter 19: Exploding, Waking Up in the Pigsty

“Big brother, why are you still awake?” Lin Luoxie bounced back, only to be startled by a figure standing at her doorstep.

Just as she was about to retaliate, she recognized that it was her big brother, standing there empty-handed, so she quickly held back.

“I was worried about you…” But fearing that approaching would drag Lin Luoxie down, he could only wait there.

“Relax, big brother! You have to trust my skills. From now on, with me around, nobody will dare to bully our family.” Lin Luoxie patted her chest to reassure him.

“Second sister, weren’t you going to…? Why didn’t you bring anything back?” Lin Wenqian saw Lin Luoxie’s empty hands and thought she had come back empty-handed.

“Big brother, I hid the things in a very safe place. I’ll take them out when the time is right.” Lin Luoxie didn’t tell him where she hid the items, sporting a mysterious expression.

“Not bringing anything back is fine; it’s getting late, so hurry and rest!” Seeing Lin Luoxie’s mysterious look, Lin Wenqian didn’t press further but instead urged her to sleep as he headed back home.

“Sure!” Lin Luoxie replied but made her way toward the fish basin as she entered the yard.

She grabbed some tools from the kitchen and started working on the still-living fish.

“Second sister, if you’re not going to sleep, what are you doing here?” Lin Wenqian asked, puzzled by Lin Luoxie’s actions.

“Big brother, you go ahead and sleep. It’s summer now, and I need to gut these fish and salt them. Otherwise, they’ll stink by tomorrow.” Lin Luoxie replied without looking up.

“What? You have to gut these fish?” Lin Wenqian was surprised by Lin Luoxie’s comment.

In the past, when the villagers had caught fish out of hunger, they would just throw whole fish into the pot; he had never heard of gutting them!

“What! You all didn’t remove the insides when you ate? Fish have gallbladders, and if you don’t take them out, the fish will taste fishy and smelly when cooked. You definitely can’t eat that!”

Now Lin Luoxie finally understood why Lin Wenqian was so resistant to eating fish; it turned out to be because of the way they used to prepare it.

With this method of cooking, even pigs wouldn’t eat it!

“Then I’ll help you with these fish. After we’re done, we can go to sleep.” Seeing the large number of fish still in the basin, Lin Wenqian squatted down to help.

“We not only need to remove the insides but also scrape off the black membrane inside and take out the gills, as those are major sources of the fishy smell.”

“As long as we handle the fish properly, the fish meat and soup will taste delicious.” While struggling to scrape out the black membrane from the fish’s belly, Lin Luoxie explained to Lin Wenqian.

Lin Wenqian, being young, worked quickly alongside her, making the task more efficient.

“We’ve finished with the fish, and they’re salted. We can cook them in the morning.” Lin Luoxie leaned on her sore waist, a look of excitement on her face.

If it weren’t so late, she would definitely start a fire to cook the fish.

That evening, she had only eaten a couple of mouthfuls of unpalatable bran, and after a night of tossing and turning, she was already starving.

“Mm, it’s getting late. Let’s get some rest.” Lin Wenqian also looked eager for the delicious fish Lin Luoxie mentioned.

It had been a long time since they had eaten meat in their family. If they could eat fish, that would be a great choice.

However, they both knew it wasn’t the right time, so they had to suppress their hunger as they tiredly headed to their rooms.

At dawn, as the sun leaped over the mountain, villagers began to wake from their dreams, busying themselves with their tasks.

Meanwhile, the village chief, with a splash of red dawn on the horizon, climbed onto his ox cart headed towards the county seat.

He had promised Lin Dayou yesterday that he would go to the county to help him set up a household account.

Early in the morning, the village chief felt that something was amiss, so he hurried to get up and head to the county to handle Lin Dayou’s issue.

Not long after the village chief’s ox cart left Wutong Village, several piercing screams echoed through the village.

“Ah!”

“Ah!”

“Ah!”

“Ah!”

The four screams startled the busy villagers, causing them to drop whatever they were doing without a second thought.

“What happened? What’s going on?”

“Could it be a fight?”

“No, it’s a time of peace. The chances of a fight are slim; it must be bandits invading the village…”

Startled by the screams, the villagers didn’t even bother to close their own gates, rushing outside in a panic.

The villagers, whose lives had been marked by turmoil, and who had experienced chaos and banditry in previous times, heard those dreadful screams and felt their hearts leap into their throats.

They mustered their speed to run outside, transforming from the slow, cane-assisted walking of their daily lives into a frantic sprint.

“Did you hear? It seems the old Lin family has some trouble…”

As the villagers spilled out of their homes, they encountered a neighbor from the old Lin family, excitedly spreading the news of the commotion.

Realizing that something had happened at the old Lin family’s house, rather than bandits invading or fighting breaking out, the villagers quickly turned around to gather at the Lin residence.

By the time the outer villagers arrived at the old Lin family house, several layers of villagers had already gathered outside the walls, eagerly sharing gossip about what they had seen and heard.

The earlier screams had come from the old couple of the Lin family and their oldest son’s wife.

They had no idea how it had happened, but upon waking up that morning, they found themselves in the pigsty, faces smothered into the pig droppings that had yet to be cleared away.

The pungent smell nearly suffocated them, and after retching for quite some time, they finally regained their senses.

Trying to overcome their disgust, they struggled to stand up, only to realize they were completely naked, which sent their spirits flying.

Upon letting out another series of screams, they quickly covered their exposed bodies and raced back to their house.

Once Old Lady Lin had managed to compose herself, it took an entire hour.

When she finally emerged to feed the pigs, she discovered that the pigsty was eerily quiet.

Peeking inside, she found that the pigs were gone. After another scream, the bizarre series of events from the past few days overwhelmed her emotions, and she fainted from the shock.

When the first scream broke out at the old Lin family, the neighbors immediately stepped outside or climbed ladders to get a glimpse of the situation, and they all silently chuckled.

As a result, the villagers arriving later didn’t need to take a firsthand look; they could hear the lively descriptions of the old Lin family’s antics from the neighboring houses.

“Mother, mother! What happened to you?” Lin Daguan, busy wiping pig droppings off his face inside, was somewhat conscious of the situation.