Survival [End Times]

Although Zhou Jianye vaguely heard the voice of dissuasion, he still insisted on going out. He just saw that his second sister-in-law had superb shooting skills, and those bandits didn't look difficult to deal with. He had observed that it was pitch black outside, so he just stood on the edge and fired cold shots. He didn't believe that his shovel couldn't cut anyone!

His anger came quickly and fiercely. He didn't want to sit with the weak-footed man hiding behind. He couldn't shoot, but he had strength!

A person who was already determined and somewhat stubborn, after a long period of repression, could not be stopped when he wanted to prove his ability and value. Yu Heng didn't expect Zhou Jianye to be so reckless! Go down the ladder, open the door and greet him: "Come in quickly!"

"Second sister-in-law, I--"

Yu Heng stared into his eyes: "Go in."

Zhou Jianye was scared, and the evil spirit dissipated at once, and he went into the house honestly.

Old child, old child.

Yu Heng was angry and amused, and hurried into the house when he heard movement at the end of the alley.

The chaos continued until the sky gradually brightened. Yu Heng was exhausted and came down from the courtyard wall and sat on the kang to guard. This area is within the village. It seems that Qingrong and his men's resistance was effective and blocked the bandits outside. The gunshots were sometimes far and sometimes near, but only a few deserters came here, and it was not a big deal.

When the sky first brightened, the gunshots were almost inaudible. He rubbed his sore eyes and hammered his aching neck. He knew that his complexion must be very bad now without looking in the mirror.

When he heard the gong sound again, someone shouted hoarsely: "It's safe! Come out and help carry people!"

Yu Heng breathed a sigh of relief. As soon as he stood up from the kang, he felt black in front of his eyes and dizzy. He staggered back to sit on the kang. It took him a long time to recover. There were still black spots in front of his eyes and he felt a little nauseous. After sitting on the kang for an unknown period of time, Yu Heng stood up again and went to the cellar. After a few words of advice, he went to bed.

Countless lights were lit in Laokang Village. After the bandits were completely controlled, the villagers who had stayed indoors dared to come out to treat the wounded and place the bodies... It was already past ten when Yu Heng woke up. After washing and eating breakfast, he went out and smelled the cold and fishy air, which made his stomach feel uncomfortable. Yu Heng sighed that he was getting old, and went to the threshing ground to see the situation.

There were corpses piled up in the threshing ground, one pile was the bandits, and the other was the villagers. At a glance, the number was almost the same. The threshing ground smelled of blood, but fortunately, the weather was cold and there was no stench for the time being.

Mingming said, "Auntie, let's go back. There's nothing to see here."

Yu Heng looked in another direction. There was a small group of people who were captured alive in the corner of the threshing ground, tied up and unable to move. He asked, "Have you interrogated them?"

"After a brief interrogation, they are indeed from Wujia Village." Mingming looked calm, "They don't know how many people came. They said that a few people in the village were inciting them, and they came here in a rush. Fortunately, they have not practiced, otherwise the few people in our village really can't beat them."

To be honest, Mingming couldn't bear to watch the battle last night. People with blood, courage and willingness to take responsibility are not everywhere on the street, at least there are not many in this village. This is normal. Everyone is cleaning the snow in front of their own door. When the shells haven't landed in their own yard, there is always a fluke: go to someone else's house, go to someone else's house, don't come to my house. He has seen this mentality many times. When he was on the road, the personnel were mixed, and there seemed to be some problems among the soldiers. There was no way to control all the refugees.

So the refugees are like weeds, and they can bend into any shape for survival. Some are more tenacious, and some are more twisted. Conscience is wrapped in weeds, and gradually cracks are strangled, and finally squeezed into pieces and crushed in the dust.

He had clearly seen a weak and dying person leaning against the corner of the car, but the person who was attracted by his flesh and blood could not wait for the person to die. One person moved and grabbed the person's hand, and then more people stood up in the car one after another, and they dragged the dying person out. He still remembered that when he first saw it, he was so frightened that he forgot to breathe. He was the only living person in the snow shelter in Jiangtian City, and the food in the snow shelter was at his disposal. It was the first time he saw such a scene.

He was an adult man with normal IQ, and he would not be stupid enough to think that those people dragged people out to do good things.

What did he do at that time? He scolded and questioned, but the other people in the car were indifferent. The people who dragged people smiled coldly at him. At that moment, he felt that he was also a piece of meat. He was weak and weak, and seeing that he could not encourage other people in the car to save people, he had to shrink back.

This person, as long as he shrinks once, that shadow will torture his heart and grind his liver day and night. Slowly, in order to keep himself alive, he will force himself to be as hard as iron.

He learned to stay out of things and to protect himself. But Mingming didn't think there was anything wrong with his current situation, at least he was still alive. He had that awareness, if he stood by and watched the indifference today, someone would definitely do the same to him tomorrow, and when that day came, he would not resent anyone.

Therefore, when he talked about the villagers not advancing or retreating together when facing the bandits' attack last night, he didn't feel much resentment. He looked at Yu Heng. He thought his aunt would be angry, just like last night when Brother Qingrong and other villagers who resisted with weapons, banged on the door and called for help but no one answered, they were so angry that they cursed. Unexpectedly, his aunt's face was calm, still indifferent.

"Okay." Yu Heng nodded and said to Mingming, "I'll go home first. You tell your brother Qingrong that these corpses can't be kept for a long time. The smell will attract wolves." He really went back after making a suggestion. Young people are capable, and he doesn't need to make more suggestions. Mingming can complement Zhou Qingrong very well, and he no longer has to worry about Zhou Qingrong's heart being too soft.

At noon, a big fire broke out in the threshing ground. It was a westerly wind, and the black smoke was coming towards Zhou's house. The smell of the smoke was burnt. Zheng Han closed the doors and windows to keep the smell out.

Hearing the coughing in the bedroom, Zheng Han was a little worried. He went into the bedroom and asked Yu Heng: "Mom, what do you want to eat?" The mother-in-law is old. Last night, her husband and Mingming went out to catch thieves, and the mother-in-law stayed upstairs alone to guard the door. After all, she is old. It was so cold in the middle of the night. At noon, the mother-in-law fell ill again with a fever and didn't even have lunch.

Yu Heng was not too worried: "Just cook me some porridge, add sugar."

"Hey!"

Zheng Han told her son to take care of his sister and stop playing on the kang, then left the bedroom and went to the kitchen. She opened the rice jar and scooped rice with a rice spoon. There was only a thin layer of rice left in the rice jar, which was very inconvenient to scoop. She simply grabbed it with her hands. After washing the rice, she put the pot on the stove, and took the hot water pot down to the bathroom to wash clothes.

Suddenly she heard crying next door, and she sighed: "Qinghu scolded the child again? Alas, the child is pitiful."

In recent years, her husband's cousin Zhou Qinghu's temper has become more and more strange. She actually knows a little bit. After the cold wave that year, Qinghu's parents-in-law and Qingshui's youngest son all died in the cellar. At that time, Uncle Jianye's family was too difficult. Everyone seemed to have lost their souls. Uncle Jianye and Aunt Xianglan were also sick. Sister Qinghu also had a disease at that time, and it was her mother-in-law who helped to enlighten her. It turned out that this person was also strange. After recovering from the illness, his temper became worse! She used to be quite aggressive, but later she became a little crazy. She started to quarrel with her husband Song Kai, and she was no longer affectionate with her two beloved sons, and often beat and scolded them.

"She is mentally ill." Her mother-in-law said.

"She doesn't even want her children because she is sick?" Zheng Han shook her head. She had just wrung out a piece of her daughter's small clothes when she heard her door being knocked. "Qingrong! Qingrong!"

It turned out to be Song Kai?

Song Kai, the brother-in-law, had never come to their house alone. He was a very taciturn person.

She quickly wiped her hands and went to open the door. Song Kai's upper body was covered in blood, which frightened her: "Brother-in-law, you-"

"Where's Qingrong! Ask him to call Dad and Qingshui back quickly!"

"Qingrong is not here-" She stared at the blood on Song Kai's body.

Song Kai turned around and left, running staggeringly. Zheng Han was really scared. Brother-in-law Song had never gone out. How could there be blood on his body? Thinking of the crying of the child she just heard, she seemed not to hear Sister Qinghu's voice? Her heart jumped and she ran directly to the next door.

The door next door was not closed, and no one else moved into Uncle Jianye's house. Uncle Jianye also wanted to collect some rent to subsidize the family expenses before, but was confused by Sister Qinghu, so the house was relatively deserted. The crying of two children came from the bedroom. She was also very familiar with this place, so she rushed in directly.

As soon as she entered, she saw Zhou Qinghu lying on the ground motionless, her chin was covered with blood, and blood was still flowing out of her mouth.

****

Zhou Qinghu died. In the daily routine of cursing, she suddenly spit out a large mouthful of blood and died directly. Yu Heng learned the news while she was sick, and only when she was buried was Zheng Han standing at the door to see her off. Funerals are not popular now. Before it got dark, Zhou Qinghu's body had been placed.

Too many people died in the past two days. Zhou Qinghu's death was like a ripple in muddy water. No one cared except relatives.

The aftermath of the Wujia Villagers' attack on Laokang Village has not stopped, and panic continues to spread in the village. But life still has to go on. Yu Heng gave Zhou Qingrong a lot of material support during his illness, and replenished the guns and ammunition in his storage ring as soon as they were used up. After two days of rest, Zhou Qingrong combined the performance of the villagers he observed during the resistance against the robbers that night and selected a group of reliable ones from them.

Dare to fight and fight, not a coward.

That night, Zhou Qingrong and Mingming performed the best, especially Zhou Qingrong finally established his strength and position in the village in that battle, and his voice reached an unprecedented maximum. And he was also tempered in that battle. Yu Heng finally found an opportunity to guide him and let him have the ambition to lead Laokang Village.

People are ambitious animals, and this ambition will grow stronger when they have matching strength.

It took several years of guiding education to slowly turn an ordinary stone into jade. Yu Heng was also worried that Zhou Qingrong would float too high all of a sudden. From time to time, she had to have a mother-son talk with him, and she also led the two children to pull his floating soul back to the ground. It was really painstaking.

Mingming was holding the winter bamboo shoots and peeling them by the kang, and pretended to be sour and said: "Mother Shufen is really good to Brother Qingrong."

Yu Heng couldn't help laughing: "Am I not good to you?"

Mingming smiled and said: "Okay, okay. Aunt, I will go up the mountain in the afternoon, you have a good rest at home." He planned to go up the mountain to find pheasants to nourish his aunt's body. He was a little scared. Now the oldest people in the village are only his aunt and Uncle Jianye next door. Although he said he was the oldest, his aunt was actually only in her early sixties. In the past, she was just a little old lady who had just joined the square dance team, while other old ladies in their seventies were still full of energy. But now... he was really worried that his aunt couldn't survive this damn weather.

"Be careful. I just heard that someone was bitten by a poisonous snake the day before yesterday. Tie up your sleeves and trouser legs, and gloves too..." Yu Heng gave him some instructions, and Mingming agreed to all of them. When he went out in the afternoon, he was fully armed. Before going up the mountain, he went to find Zhou Qingrong and asked him to go home. His aunt was sick now, and it was safer to have a man at home. Zhou Qingrong agreed immediately, and he happened to have something to say to his mother.

So the two of them hit each other and left.