Chapter 870: Doing a Good Deed

Everyone watched Niu Qi's wife wailing here, and an expression of deep pity appeared on every face; many simply turned their heads away, unable to bear the sight.

Almost everyone could empathize with the grief Niu Qi's wife was feeling.

She had lost her husband, her children had lost their father, and her family had lost its pillar. From now on, the lives of the three of them would be devoid of color.

Soon, the commotion alerted the villagers. Many of the women from the village ran over to help lift Niu Qi's wife and supported her back to Niu Qi's home.

Various words of comfort poured from the mouths of these women.

"Sister-in-law, stop crying, or you'll ruin your health."

"Sister-in-law, try to look at it from a different perspective; we still have to live our lives well in the future, don't we?"

"Sanfeng, you have to look forward. No matter what, we have to raise the children."

Although the women were all trying to persuade and comfort Niu Qi's wife, many of their voices were choked with tears.

Clearly, these women had been infected by Niu Qi's wife's extreme sorrow.

However, when a person is grieving to a certain extent, they cannot hear any words, and any persuasion or comfort feels pale and powerless.

Thus, Niu Qi's wife remained practically deaf to these words, continuing to wail loudly with no sign of stopping.

The thirty-odd men who had entered the mountains watched this heartbreaking scene. Almost every one of them clenched their fists tightly, but they quickly loosened them again.

Mainly, everyone felt utterly helpless in the face of the situation.

As Niu Qi's wife slowly departed supported by the group of women, Sun Dafu let out a long sigh. After thinking for a moment, he called out to those with the surname Niu

"Everyone named Niu, follow me. Everyone else, go home."

As he spoke, Sun Dafu took the lead and walked forward, with the group of Nius following behind.

After Sun Dafu led the group away, Wang An and the others headed back to their own homes.

On the way back, Wang Li said thoughtfully to Wang An

"Fourth Brother, you know, when Niu Qi was alive, he spent every day scheming against this person or that person. He pretty much offended everyone in the whole village. I feel like I really hated him too."

Wang An glanced at Wang Li but didn't speak, because he knew Wang Li wasn't finished.

Seeing that Wang An didn't proactively respond, Wang Li continued

"But now, seeing his wife crying like that, I feel like it would've been better if he were still alive. At least if he were alive, he could still provide food for his family."

Wang An never expected that Wang Li could have such a compassionate thought.

It had to be said that Wang Li was actually a decent kid.

After finishing, seeing that Wang An remained silent, Wang Li subconsciously asked

"Fourth Brother, don't you have anything to say?"

Wang An gave Wang Li a sidelong glance and said

"Mm-hmm, you're right."

Mainly, regarding this kind of matter, Wang An truly didn't know what to say.

Someone else's tragedy is, in the end, someone else's business. One might feel sad for a while upon seeing it, but afterward, one still has to live their life and do what needs to be done.

After returning home, Wang An only briefly mentioned the matter of Niu Qi to his family; he did not describe Niu Qi's gruesome state in detail.

Mainly, speaking of such things would only make his family feel disgusted and uncomfortable. There was absolutely no benefit to it; it was better not to say anything.

Two days later, he heard from the villagers that Niu Qi's wife had eventually taken the advice of Sun Dafu and the other Niu clansmen and buried Niu Qi's body right there in that ravine.

However, according to custom, the dead must be placed in a coffin.

Therefore, the members of the Old Niu family mobilized, carrying lime, tools, and wooden boards back into the mountains to build a coffin for Niu Qi on the spot.

Then, after using lime to simply treat the corpse, they used iron shovels to scoop it into the coffin and buried it.

That's right; Niu Qi's body—or more accurately, Niu Qi's skeletal remains—was shoveled into the coffin with iron shovels, mainly because everyone was afraid of contracting a disease or attracting some kind of disaster.

Although Niu Qi's wife wanted to do it herself, she was stopped by the Old Niu family.

The reason they stopped her was that a living example had already emerged.

And that living example was the "big tiger" comrade Li Biao.

Because on the night they found Niu Qi, Li Biao began to suffer from a persistent high fever, and he became delirious from the heat.

Unfortunately, Li Biao's parents—Li Facai and his wife—didn't even look for the village's barefoot doctor; instead, they invited a "Great Immortal" who specialized in surgery to their home.

To be fair, it wasn't entirely wrong for the couple to think this way. After all, since Li Biao had recovered from losing one of his "eggs," his health had been consistently good.

This illness had indeed occurred after he came into contact with Niu Qi's corpse.

Therefore, the couple believed that Li Biao had offended something unclean.

Once the Great Immortal arrived, it was a total chaotic mess—killing chickens, killing dogs, and searching everywhere for donkey hooves—claiming that Li Biao had encountered a great evil.

In short, Li Biao's family was tormented by this so-called "Great Immortal" for an entire night.

But after the night passed, Li Biao's condition became even more severe.

When Village Chief Sun Dafu heard about this, he brought the militia, gave the "Great Immortal" a sound beating, and kicked him out of the village.

Then, under Sun Dafu's strong pressure, Li Facai and his wife finally hitched up the horse carriage and took Li Biao to the Xing'an Township Health Center.

Upon arriving at the health center, after a brief inquiry by the doctor, a single shot of penicillin brought Li Biao's fever down. After two days of IV drips in the hospital, Li Biao was discharged.

Later, through the doctor's explanation, they learned that Li Biao's fever and illness actually had absolutely nothing to do with Niu Qi's corpse.

It was mainly because of that hurried cold bath he took and the fact that he wore wet clothes while being blown by the mountain wind for a long time.

Additionally, Li Biao had been scared out of his wits and hadn't eaten dinner that night, which led to him accidentally falling ill.

However, the already weakened Li Biao did not receive proper medical treatment immediately; instead, he was wasted for a whole night by that so-called "Great Immortal."

That night had pushed Li Biao to the brink of death, making the already weak man even weaker, which resulted in him staying at the township health center for three days.

According to the doctor, if Li Biao had taken a tablet of Analgin the moment the fever started, he wouldn't have needed to go to the hospital at all.

To be honest, when Wang An heard this news, he practically let out a pig-like squeal of laughter.

Damn, strange things happen every year, but there are especially many this year!

However, Li Biao had done one good deed: he let everyone know that if you're sick, you must see a doctor first.