Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside-Chapter 37 - 0: Heading South

The Great Chu Dynasty was strict about household registration management. Without the household registration papers, one was not considered a good citizen and could be bought and sold at will.

"Xiao Yu is right, we should first find the household registration papers, then bury everyone," Third Grandpa called several adults, assigning men and women to search the corpses of the villagers of Gu Family Village.

"This is the household registration paper of Gu Ergou’s family."

"This is Gu Dazhu’s family."

"This is Uncle Shiyi’s family."

"This is Aunt Nine’s family."

In just half an hour, they found twenty-one household registration papers among over a hundred bodies.

Gu Dafu, clutching these household registration papers, was trembling in both hands. There were only about fifty households in Gu Family Village, yet they found twenty-one household registration papers in this pile of bodies – half of their village was dead.

"Third Uncle, our family is guilty," said Gu Dafu, as the eldest son of Village Chief Gu, who had been taken under his wing early on to be taught as the next village chief. He always saw himself as the future chief of Gu Family Village, considering the villagers his responsibility. But now, half of Gu Family Village died because of a single order from his father, he was full of guilt and self-loathing, wishing it were he who had died.

Third Grandpa looked at Gu Dafu and sighed, "Da Fu, everyone has their fate. They had this misfortune in theirs. Stop blaming yourself and hurry to dig a pit to bury everyone."

Gu Dafu cried for a while and handed the household registration papers to Third Grandma, "Third Aunt, please distribute the registration papers, land deeds, silver coins, and such that we found to each family."

In case any villagers came searching, they could hand over their belongings.

"Yes," Third Grandma took the household registration papers and, along with Ms. Chu, Mrs. Cui, and Mrs. Chen, distributed these items to each household. They found some large dead leaves, stacking several together to wrap each set of belongings.

Third Grandpa began digging pits with several men. Elder Qin and Qin San Lang also came to help. Qin Er Lang stood by watching without lifting a hand and even huffed discontentedly when he saw Elder Qin and Qin San Lang digging.

Too many people from Gu Family Village had died, so they had to dig a very large pit. They dug from the morning until the end of the afternoon and only then managed to create a pit ten meters wide and five meters deep.

After digging the pit, Gu Jinli and Luo Huiniang paved it with collected dead grass. There were no coffins available to enshrine the bodies, so the least they could do was lay some dead grass for them so their departure wouldn’t be too desolate.

After paving the pit with dead grass, Father Luo and the others began carrying the bodies of the villagers into the pit, one by one. Over a hundred bodies filled up the five-meter-deep, ten-meter-wide pit.

Then Gu Jinli and the others covered the bodies with more dead grass. Mrs. Chen, watching from the sidelines, got goosebumps, "Xiao Yu and Hui Niang are braver and braver, not afraid even at the sight of so many bodies."

Her two were sons, who had been huddling in the distance ever since they had seen the corpses of the villagers; they dared not come near. Brother Xing and Sister Mei were the same, hiding in fear beside them, staying far away from the villagers’ corpses.

Hearing Mrs. Chen’s words, Third Grandma glanced at her and said, "In these times, if you want to survive, you have to be like Xiao Yu and Hui Niang. The more afraid you are, the worse your luck. Those evil men won’t spare you just because you’re scared."

Hearing Third Grandma mention those evil men, Mrs. Chen shivered in fear and complained, "Third Grandma, I had just forgotten the sins of those evil men, and you speak of them again. How will I be able to sleep tonight?"

Third Grandma didn’t say anything more.

Third Grandpa and the others had already buried the villagers’ corpses, building a mound. Gu Dafu tore a corner of his undershirt, ripped it into two strips of cloth, crossed them into a cross as grave markers, and placed a rock at the top of the mound to hold them.

Father Luo dug up a withered tree and planted it beside the grave: "At least it provides some shelter for the villagers from the wind and rain."

Gu Dashan, with his adept hands, twisted three relatively stiff grass ropes from the wild grass that Gu Jinli found, buried the ropes in front of the grave, and then lit them with a Fire Stick, as a way to offer incense to the villagers.

"Everyone come over and see our fellow villagers off on their last journey," Third Grandpa called out. Everyone gathered in front of the graves, knelt down together, and kowtowed to the deceased villagers.

With each kowtow they made, Third Grandpa sang a line of the funeral song, and after three resonant kowtows, Gu Jinli and the others stood up.

In addition to their collecting the corpses of the murdered villagers, there were also many survivors at the foot of the mountain returning to collect the bodies of their slain relatives.

The heart-wrenching cries of the disaster survivors reverberated continuously at the base of the mountain.

There were also those who took the opportunity to loot the possessions of the deceased. Third Grandpa and the others only shook their heads and sighed, refraining from interfering.

After taking care of the villagers’ bodies, they did not leave, but sat beside the graves, waiting for any villagers who might return. However, by nightfall, not a single surviving villager had returned.

After helping to bury the bodies of the villagers, Qin San Lang went into the mountains and now returned with a string of mountain rats.

Mrs. Chen’s eyes lit up with envy when she saw the mountain rats in Qin San Lang’s hands: "Oh my, Brother Qin is so capable, to be able to find so many mountain rats even now."

Though the mountain rats were lean, there were about a dozen of them. To find so many in a time when nearly ninety percent of the animals had starved to death was quite an achievement.

"Brother Qin has worked hard. Give me the mountain rats, I’ll clean them up and roast them for everyone to eat," Mrs. Chen snatched the mountain rats from Qin San Lang’s hands and, with Gu Dagui and her two sons, gleefully went off to the side to deal with the catch.

Qin Er Lang, seeing this, snorted discontentedly, his eyes filled with anger towards Qin San Lang: "As if you’re the only foolish one."

Not only did they rescue a bunch of troublesome people, but now they’ve also attracted two self-serving country bumpkins. He was just waiting to be bled dry by this bunch of farmers who didn’t know how to do anything.

Qin San Lang simply smiled and did not refute.

Third Grandpa felt embarrassed and hurriedly said to Elder Qin: "Brother, please don’t take offense. The country folks don’t understand propriety, making you bear with our laughter."

Elder Qin, however, didn’t mind and chuckled: "What’s there to mind about? It’s just a few mountain rats. Since fate has brought us together, we should look after each other."

Gu Jinli looked at Elder Qin. This elderly gentleman seemed unexpectedly kind to them, strangers. Reflecting on the identities of Elder Qin and his companions, she had a guess that perhaps Elder Qin wasn’t helping them, but rather helping himself.

...The identities of Elder Qin and his companions probably wouldn’t withstand scrutiny; hence, they may wish to blend in with the disaster survivors, to later have people who could vouch for their identity.

That was Gu Jinli’s speculation, but she wouldn’t intentionally try to confirm anything. In this troubled world, survival was her primary goal. As for the kind of people gathering around and what identities they held, she didn’t care, as long as they were not there to harm them.

Mrs. Chen was deft with her hands and quickly took care of the dozen or so mountain rats, stringing them on branches and roasting them over the fire. Before long, the rats were cooked. She sneakily ate two herself and gave her two sons each one, but Gu Dagui snatched them away and handed all the cooked rats to Third Grandpa.

Ms. Chu and Mrs. Cui also brought out some beans, added a little water, and cooked them in a pot. Several families shared the meal together.

After eating, the adults from several families discussed the path they would follow from now on. Gu Jinli took the opportunity to take out the letter left especially for them by Young Master of Qi Mansion, which was in a cloth bag, and handed it to Third Grandpa: "Third Grandpa, this is a letter specifically left for us by the Young Master of Qi Mansion. It says that heading east carries many dangers, and advises us to travel south as much as possible."