NOVPUBWu Bin still lacked experience; he didn’t understand the principle that the law does not punish the masses.
If one or two people beat someone to death, that’s fairly easy to judge. A life for a life would suffice.
But if a group of people beat one person to death, that would be very troublesome.
You can’t just sentence everyone in the entire village to death because of one person, can you?
So, when the villagers gathered together to do something, they were very united and emotionally charged, and a slight misstep could easily lead to a bloody incident.
Seeing that the villagers’ emotions were becoming more and more agitated, Song Ren could only speak up, "Fine, I’ll go, I’ll send people to the shrine immediately. I just hope everyone will come with us. There’s strength in numbers, now this should be satisfactory, right?"
Seeing Song Ren give in, the village chief said to the villagers, "Alright, Factory Director Song has already agreed to go save people with us. Hurry back and get your tools, we’re heading up the mountain now!"
Under the leadership of the village chief, a group of villagers and Factory Director Song’s workers marched mightily toward the mountain.
Song Ren had originally wanted Song Bing to just stay at home, but Song Bing insisted on going up the mountain with them.
Walking on the mountain path, Wu Bin asked, "Your village isn’t of the same clan, right? Why then do you still build a village shrine?"
Wu Bin couldn’t quite understand.
Generally, only families of the same clan would build a shrine to enhance the family’s cohesion.
But clearly, Song Ren’s village was not of the same clan; everyone had different surnames.
Song Bing explained, "It’s precisely because we’re not of the same clan that we want to build this shrine. The county officials came before, saying that they wouldn’t allow us to bury our dead traditionally anymore. With no other choice, even with such regulations, many people in our village still buried their elders randomly on this mountain behind us."
"If everyone in the village does as they please, people would feel it’s unfair. Why can you bury but I can’t? Gradually, this mountain became a chaos of random graves. If the officials came down for an inspection, our entire village would be doomed."
"So, for the sake of fairness, the village chief took the lead to organize a vote, and we discussed building a village shrine. In the future, everyone’s elder’s memorial plaques would be placed inside the shrine, and we would all worship them together. Isn’t that better than burying them randomly on the mountain?"
Upon hearing this, Wu Bin immediately understood.
If people in the village buried their dead randomly on this mountain, once the county decided to develop it, various troublesome situations could arise.
For instance, if a grave blocked the way during road construction, would you dig it up or not?
Digging it up would be a big problem.
After all, that would amount to excavating someone’s ancestral grave, and they would fight you to the death over it.
Therefore, to avoid such problems in the future, establishing a village shrine became particularly important as a way to make everyone feel that they were being treated fairly.
But no one could have anticipated that the shrine, which was only halfway constructed, would be buried by a landslide. No one knew if this was an act of fate or something else.
"We’re here." 𝑛𝘰𝘷𝑝𝘶𝑏.𝑐𝘰𝘮
As Wu Bin and Song Bing discussed this, they had already reached the location.
Looking forward from where they stood, a large landslide had submerged most of the shrine, leaving only a part of the shrine’s rooftop exposed.
The village chief wasted no words, he picked up tools and called on the villagers to start shoveling dirt.
The netizens in the live broadcast room saw this scene and started to discuss it.
"Is there still a need for rescue, with it being like this?"
"How can there not be? Some people may be buried, but maybe something underneath is supporting them, leaving a space. For geological disasters, the golden window for rescue is twenty-four hours, okay? As long as it hasn’t been twenty-four hours, you can’t give up."
"These arguments make sense, but with the extent of the mudslide and landslide, it feels like even vigorous rescue efforts might be futile. Most of the shrine is submerged, and without heavy machinery, how long will it take to dig with shovels?"
"That means you’re not the one who’s buried. If you were beneath there and heard activity above, whether or not they could rescue you isn’t the point; at least you could see hope for survival. Anything is fine as long as there’s hope."
While the netizens were still discussing, Song Ren came over from a distance and handed Wu Bin and Song Bing a shovel each.
Song Ren spoke in a hushed tone, "Just stand over there later and pretend to shovel a bit, that’s enough. If you hear any noises, run first without looking back, under no circumstances."
Per the village chief’s order, everyone was to begin the rescue effort with shovels.
Yet Song Ren was still worried that the landslide had not completely ceased, which is why he wanted the two of them to stand by at a relatively safe spot to "help out."
After giving these instructions, Song Ren joined the other villagers in a more dangerous place to shovel dirt and rescue people.
Watching the villagers shovel under the village chief’s direction, Wu Bin said, "It feels like the villagers’ attitude towards your family is quite strange. They used to respect your family, but the moment trouble arose, they couldn’t wait to push your family to the forefront?"
Song Bing pursed his lips and said, "Aren’t all the villagers like this? On normal days, they see your family making money, so everyone wants to earn with you. Once something goes wrong, money is of no use."
"Take our village chief, for instance. He hasn’t had a good relationship with my family. Before my family became wealthy, everyone in the village had to listen to him. He’s been the village chief for decades and is used to having people obey him."
"So now with something like this happening, wouldn’t he rush out to direct everyone?"
Hearing Song Bing’s explanation, Wu Bin had an epiphany.
No wonder the village chief was so eager to lead everyone. There was this underlying relationship.
Just then, as Song Bing shoveled down, he suddenly noticed something odd about the dirt beneath his feet.
After digging with his shovel, it seemed like the dirt below was being sucked down, continually seeping lower.
Song Bing hurriedly slapped Wu Bin’s hand.
"Old Wu, take a look at this, what’s going on? Why is the dirt moving on its own?"
Wu Bin first glanced at the spot where Song Bing was digging and seeing the dirt flowing faster and faster, his face turned pale as if he had realized something.
"There’s a hole below, run!"
No sooner had Wu Bin spoken than the ground beneath them suddenly caved in.
Without anything to hold onto, the two of them fell straight into the pit.
Seeing the two fall into the pit, Song Ren was shocked.
Just as he was about to rush over to rescue them, the mountain shook violently, and another landslide occurred, completely covering the spot where Wu Bin and Song Bing had just fallen!
