From Hoarding to Time-Travel: My Supplies Saved Him-Chapter 43 - 44: Disposal

The impromptu band of robbers was made up of refugees with no families. Besides the ones tied up in a pile, dozens more lay on the ground.

These were the people’s mortal enemies, and no one wanted to waste their energy on them.

But in this sweltering heat, if the bodies weren’t disposed of quickly, the smell would become unbearable, not to mention how unsettling it was to have them just lying there.

Doctor Liu had also warned that leaving them out could cause a plague. They had to be dealt with.

After endless buck-passing, night fell, and the bodies were still lying there, untouched.

Jin Qianqian sat by the fire, hugging her knees and idly poking the flames with a stick. "Do you think there’s something wrong with Gu Yuanlei up here?"

She pointed to her forehead. "How could he not understand something so obvious?" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Ancient Wen Heng replied, "He’s been blinded by a woman. If we weren’t on the road, the clan would have already convened at the ancestral hall to have him expelled."

"Surely it’s not that serious? He didn’t bring those people here himself. At worst, he’s just implicated and deserves some punishment."

Ancient Wen Heng gazed at the distant, starry sky. "This world isn’t like our old one. Forget the laws of the land—the clan rules alone number in the hundreds."

"For minor scuffles, the worst you’d get is a few strokes of the rod, or the clan elders would mediate, and that would be the end of it. But what Gu Yuanlei did is different. True, he only indirectly brought those people here, but at the most critical moment, he ran to the other side to defend outsiders, abandoning his own parents. That is a grave act of unfilial piety."

"That alone is enough for many to despise him."

"Then, when Fourth Brother and the others testified that the Lan Family was indeed involved, he continued to defend them. That’s a clear sign of where his loyalties lie. He’s not going to come out of this well."

At this, Ancient Wen Heng looked at Jin Qianqian with concern. "We still haven’t found a bookshop. You need to learn the laws of this era. There are many lines you can’t cross, and the punishments are severe."

Jin Qianqian’s biggest frustration now was being illiterate. "Can you show me the script they use here? I want to see how many characters I can even recognize."

Ancient Wen Heng casually wrote a few traditional characters in the dirt. "You can guess the meaning of most of them, so you’re not completely illiterate. But for the more obscure ones, you’ll need to practice reading and writing a lot more."

Seeing a single character with so many strokes made Jin Qianqian’s head throb. "Can’t I just learn to read and not write? It looks like they still use those soft, floppy brushes. I really don’t have the talent for that."

Ancient Wen Heng said, "That doesn’t sound like you. In the future, if you want to write me a letter, are you going to ask someone else to write it for you?"

Jin Qianqian was speechless. ’Why would I be writing letters for no reason? Has he got nothing better to do?’

Ancient Wen Heng saw right through her. "You don’t actually think those cell phones you packed can still send texts or contact anyone, do you?"

"Look at us. We’ve been on the road for months just to cross the distance of two provinces. If something really happened, our only option would be to send letters via the courier stations."

"Ugh!" Jin Qianqian groaned. "How am I supposed to live like this? We’re not even done being refugees, and the future already looks completely bleak."

’I thought I could just find a place and, with my stash of supplies, live a comfortable, if not extravagant, life. Modest wealth and peace was all I wanted.’

But after that reality check from Wenheng, all Jin Qianqian could think about were the countless inconveniences.

Ancient Wen Heng added, "It’s not as bad as you think. There’s another benefit to being here. As long as you have enough money, you can buy a whole host of servants to wait on you."

Jin Qianqian was speechless.

"Old Six, Seventh," Gu Yuanshui and Gu Yuanhuo approached together. "Let’s move these bodies a little farther away. The children are getting scared looking at them."

Ancient Wen Heng looked up at them. "Just the three of us? And move them where? To the back of the mountain at this hour?"

"We have to take them to the back of the mountain. There are people camped all around us," Gu Yuanshui said, frustrated. "My kids are too scared to sleep. No one else will help; they all claim they’re either injured or exhausted. You two aren’t going to refuse me, your Fourth Brother, are you?"

Ancient Wen Heng replied, "We should find more people to dig a pit and bury them. Otherwise, the smell will be unbearable for everyone in a couple of days."

"Why go through all that trouble? Leaving their corpses to rot in the wild is what they deserve. And don’t forget, our own father’s life is still hanging by a thread."

Ancient Wen Heng and Jin Qianqian suddenly looked at each other. How could they have forgotten?

’Tonight is critical for Gu Dashishi,’ Jin Qianqian thought. ’We have to get some medicine into him, or he really might not pull through.’

Ignoring the brothers, Jin Qianqian immediately turned and walked toward Li Cuicui.

"Seventh, you really need to teach that wife of yours some manners," Gu Yuanshui said, pointing at Jin Qianqian’s retreating back, his voice dripping with censure. "We’re in the middle of a conversation, and she just turns and walks away."

Ancient Wen Heng wasn’t about to indulge him. "I think it’s just fine. At least she isn’t like Fourth Sister-in-law, who runs her mouth nonstop, spewing all kinds of filth without a care that she might be disgusting herself."

"You..."

"You what? Do you really think you can stand there and criticize my wife? Don’t forget, our households are already separate. Even Mother hasn’t said a word, so what business is it of yours?" Ancient Wenheng had the lowest opinion of the Fourth Brother and his wife; they always seemed to think they could profit by putting others down.

Ancient Wen Heng rolled his eyes, then turned and followed after Jin Qianqian.

"Did you see that? I say one thing, and he throws a dozen insults back at me?" Gu Yuanshui’s eyes bulged with rage. "My wife was right all along. That Seventh Brother and his wife have no respect for their elders."

"Oh, give it a rest. With Father, Mother, and Eldest Brother around, when is it ever our turn to say anything?" Gu Yuanhuo, true to his name, enjoyed fanning the flames. "Anyway, they’re gone now. What’s your plan for the bodies?"

Gu Yuanshui was silent. ’That Seventh Brother wriggled out of it again.’

"Mother, why don’t you get some rest? I can watch over Father. I’ll call you the moment he wakes up." Jin Qianqian crouched beside Li Cuicui, her eyes betraying her worry.

’The old woman seemed to have lost her earlier spirit. It was as if she had aged several years in an instant, with new lines etched at the corners of her eyes.’

"I’ll stay and watch him. You’ve all been busy all day." Li Cuicui didn’t even look up, her gaze fixed anxiously on Gu Dashishi’s face. He had lost so much blood that, even beneath the grime, his complexion had a deathly pallor.

Using her sleeve for cover, Jin Qianqian pulled a small cloth pouch from her robes. She glanced around conspiratorially. "Mother, I have some millet. Should we make some porridge for Father?"

"He’ll surely be hungry when he wakes up."

It took Li Cuicui a moment to find her voice. "Where... where did you get this?"

Ancient Wen Heng came over and untied a bamboo tube from his waist. "Don’t worry about where it came from. Millet is very nourishing, and Father needs to regain his strength."

"Qianqian is too clumsy; I’m afraid she’d waste such good millet. A task like this requires Mother’s personal touch to make the porridge just right."