Volume 1 Chapter 26 The Crimson Wooden Box's Bloodshed (6)
Dahou and Er Ya held Gege and Dudu, Lin Chun closed the small gate of the yard, took everyone to Dashan Bo's home. After a few people had lunch, several yamen runners and Shi Wen hid in a large tree not far from Lin Chun's house. Lin Chun carefully entered the kitchen and lit a fire at the chimney mouth, making others think he was busy with New Year's Eve dinner at home. As the sky gradually darkened, Lin Chun took Dahou and Er Ya, carrying a full basket of offerings to the ancestral tomb in the east of the village.
"Da Fu, are you ready? Father told you to hurry up and prepare to pay respects to the ancestors' tombs!" Lin Da Fu's wife shouted from the kitchen door to Lin Da Fu who was preparing in the house. Lin Da Fu knew that tonight Linjia Village would not have a peaceful New Year's Eve, so he delayed for a while in the house, trying to help Lin Chun delay for a while, and then followed his old father with Lin Chun to her home.
"Coming, coming..." Lin Dafu slowly walked out of the house, seeing that his father was somewhat unhappy, he quickly went forward to take over the basket from Village Chief's hand, and with his younger brother, supported their own Village Chief out of the house. When they arrived at the ancestral tomb, many villagers had already finished paying respects to their ancestors and left. The village chief gave Lin Dafu a reproachful look again. From afar, Lin Dafu saw Lin Chun San's siblings paying respects to Pei Wu Shuang at Lin Lao Tou's ancestral tomb, but he didn't notice his own father's expression, only thinking that the first task assigned by Big Sister had already been completed.
The village head's own son looked at the ancestral tomb of Lin Lao's family and also raised his head to look, seeing Lin Chun San and his siblings kneeling in front of Lin Da Lang's wife's tomb, burning incense money, and Da Tou and Er Ya still wiping away tears. His heart was both heartbroken and comforted, sighing at the understanding and hardships that Lin Chun San and his siblings had experienced. He also took another look at his own son and didn't scold him again, thinking that his own son probably sympathized with these three children too! Alas...
Lin Chun noticed the village head's family coming over, knowing that Old Man Tai Fu must have been delayed at home for a long time. By now, the sky was almost completely dark, but Lin Lao Tou's family and Liu Er Niang's family had not arrived yet. It seemed they were still searching for treasure on their own. The only thing was that Lin Chun couldn't hear their earth-shattering shouts of excitement anymore, which he thought was a bit regrettable.
Sure, here is the translation:
"Sure enough, before long, Lin Chun saw thick smoke rising from the direction of his house. Lin Da Fu was indeed paying attention to the direction of Lin Chun's house and saw the thick smoke rolling up into the sky. He immediately shouted: "Father, father, look! Is that not the direction of the Dai family's house? How did such a big fire start? Could it be that the fire in the stove wasn't extinguished?"
Lin Tianliang heard Lin Dafu's shout and quickly turned his head to look towards the foot of the mountain in the west of the village. He saw that the direction of Da Ya's house was indeed thick smoke billowing into the sky, and faintly visible flames could be seen in the darkening night sky, very eye-catching. In a short while, the village was in an uproar, with everyone carrying basins and buckets running towards Lin Chun's house in the west of the village, shouting "The west of the village is on fire! The west of the village is on fire!" Everyone had been frightened by the big fire that had occurred before, and this time some elderly people who had witnessed the great fire in Xishan decades ago also came out of their homes, letting their children and daughters-in-law support them as they headed towards Xishan.
"Sister, sister, our mountain is on fire! Sister, let's go back and take a look!" Da Tou and Er Ya were both in a hurry, their faces pale. Lin Chun hadn't told them the details beforehand, but now seeing that they were almost in tears, he felt a pang of sympathy. He knew that Da Tou and Er Ya had been looking forward to moving into their newly renovated house, and now it might be gone, which would be hard for them to accept all at once.
"Quickly, quickly, take the village chief to your home and see if you didn't extinguish the fire for cooking lunch?!" The village chief's face is full of panic.
"How is it possible? I made breakfast this morning, and at noon we were still eating leftovers at Uncle Dashan's house. Cuihua Auntie fried some dough balls and called us to eat them with soup. We didn't even light the stove at home. The dishes for tonight are already prepared and just need to be heated up. It's so cold outside, even if there was a spark from noon, it should have gone out by now! How could there be a fire?" Lin Chun also chimed in with a sorrowful tone.
"Was it someone who set fire to your house? But on this New Year's Eve, every household is busy at home, how could it be?..." Lin Dafu said with a puzzled face, and Lin Chun was quite satisfied with Lin Dafu's acting skills.
"Dad, I saw that at Lao Lin's ancestral tomb, apart from the offerings made by Da Ya and her siblings, there was nothing else on the other tombs. It was the same with Liu Erniang's family, not a single trace was left behind. Could it be..." The village chief's second son had a sharp gaze and quick thinking.
Lin Tianliang was furious when he heard his two sons' words! "Go, Da Fu, follow me to take a look. Da Gui is here, wait until it's all right and then come find us!" Lin Tianliang was really anxious, pulling Lin Dafu, calling out to the three siblings as they ran towards the west of the village.
As for Lin Chunjia's home, it was in an uproar at this moment. The villagers were all crowded in the courtyard, while Shi Wen led several yamen runners to jump down from the tree and surround the outside of the courtyard. In a hidden location, several bodyguards were discussing the hilarious situation between Lin Lao and Liu Erniang's two families.
One of them was vividly describing: "Lin Lao and Lin Er Lang entered the room where three children were sleeping, it was pitch black, they didn't even dare to light a lamp, but saw that the red wooden box on top was shining with light. The two of them couldn't wait to take a step forward, hug the box into their arms. Lin Er Lang said: 'Dad, our aunt said there's really a red wooden box, look at it, in such a dark room, it's still shining brightly, it must be very valuable, I wonder if there are any valuable things inside.' Luckily, our aunt and big brother went to the kitchen and the next room, we should move quickly, hide the good stuff first, just in case...' But Lin Er Lang hadn't finished speaking when he stepped on a round wooden stick, fell flat on his back, and brought down Lin Lao as well. The two of them were so scared that they didn't dare make a sound, helped each other up, and just as they reached the red wooden box, their four feet were clamped by rat traps. Lin Lao and Lin Er Lang endured the pain without making a sound for the sake of money. I was watching from the dark, their faces were all red. Lin Er Lang even covered Lin Lao's mouth. Then the two of them shakily opened the box, didn't even look clearly, stretched their hands in to feel around, and as expected, their four hands were clamped by rat traps again. Ah, I was watching from the rooftop, I felt so sorry for them it hurt... haha, they still didn't dare shout loudly...". Haha, this person finished speaking and couldn't help but burst into loud laughter.
"Come on, come on! Let me tell you, let me tell you! So Lin Dabao entered the bathroom, and as soon as he saw the bathtub shining brightly, he started to nervously rub his hands together. Then, he carefully made his way towards the bathtub, but before he could take five steps, one foot landed in a hole! This Lin Dabao is quite fat and chubby, and his foot got swollen up like a pig's trotter! Before he could even lift that foot out, the other foot landed in another hole nearby! He tried to use his hands to push himself out of the hole, but they both got caught by rat traps! Hahaha... now he's wailing away! This Lin family's big lout really has some unusual ideas!
This dark guard was so anxious to share what he saw that he pushed aside the other dark guard who was monitoring Liu Erniang and started gesturing with his hands, saying..."
"Haha... Quick, quick, let's hear about Liu Erniang's situation..." The others surrounding the three Dark Guards, having heard the miserable situations of the rooms and people being monitored by Dark Guard Sixteen and Dark Guard Eighteen, couldn't help but burst into laughter. They then turned their heads to ask about Liu Erniang's situation.
