Chapter 30: The Old Village Chief (5)

There were a pair of shoes by the river, which was really not a big deal. People who lived by the river knew that occasionally the river would bring up debris, and there would be one or two shoes that no one knew who they belonged to.

It’s just that people often take off their shoes when they go into the water, and it’s normal for shoes to be swept away if you’re not careful.

However, the shoes that were found by chance caused a huge uproar in the village. The difference between this uproar and the usual ones was that no one talked about anything this time. After everyone heard the news, they all reacted with a stunned silence, but their emotions were surging like a stormy sea, and they had all kinds of speculations.

Why did a pair of shoes cause such a big reaction among the villagers?

Let’s talk about the characteristics of these shoes. First of all, they were leather shoes. In those days, leather shoes were not cheap, and not everyone could afford them, let alone in such a small village. So, if someone had a pair of leather shoes, the whole village would slowly find out, which was normal.

Second, one of the shoes had a patch on the side. Obviously, its owner had worn it for a long time, and it was old and worn out. He didn’t want to throw it away, so he patched it up. It was a bit strange to have a patch of black cloth on a pair of shoes, and it would be very impressive. If its owner often wore it and walked around the streets, people would naturally remember it.

What made the villagers even more uneasy was that when the shoes were found, they were neatly placed on the riverbank, and the shoes were full of mud. The villagers were all too familiar with this mud, because it was the mud at the bottom of the river!

In the past, when they fished for water plants in the river, they often brought up this kind of silt, didn’t they?

A pair of familiar shoes, river bottom silt, people can’t avoid it – the old village chief!

Need we ask? The shoes belonged to the old village chief! He was the only person in the village who owned leather shoes, which he bought especially for the advanced commendation meeting. Everyone was impressed! After wearing them for a long time, the old village chief had a patch sewn on them, and everyone knew about it.

The shoes were full of silt from the river bottom. What did this mean? No one dared to think about it, and even if they did, they were afraid to say it out loud. The old village chief was like a thorn in the villagers’ hearts.

The villagers were silent, but there was one person who was not silent, and that was the village’s old priest!

On the day he got the news, he suddenly went crazy. First, he ran to the main road in the village, then walked back and forth in the village along the road until late at night, refusing to go back.

Someone persuaded him, “You’re so old, why don’t you go home and rest? You’re walking around, making noise and disturbing people’s sleep.”

The old priest did not answer, but when he was urged to do so, he would yell, “What do you know?”

The villagers stopped trying to persuade him, and let him go. But after 12 o’clock at night, the villagers were woken up again, because the sound of crying and laughing that came from the night made the villagers, who were already on edge, feel scared.

The men went out to see what was going on, only to find that the old priest had really gone mad. He was running back and forth on the village road, crying and laughing, and his voice was like a ghost howling.

This was a new era, and the country had just emerged from suffering. Education was being popularized, and some bad habits were being broken. As rural people, they were accepting new ideas while struggling to forget things they had once believed in.

Perhaps the villagers in this village were also close to success, but the behavior of the old sacrificial priest undoubtedly triggered the fear they had buried deep in their hearts, making them afraid! After all, as people in a remote village, they had never heard of anything, but they had heard a lot about ghosts and gods.

The villagers couldn’t help it, and finally someone took action to pull the old sacrificial priest, but he was surprisingly strong, and he actually broke free and started running back and forth and laughing!

After all, once someone started, it meant that more people would join in. After seven or eight characters, after a lot of effort, they finally managed to hold the old priest down. They sent him back to his own courtyard, whether he wanted to go or not.

Anyway, they couldn’t sleep, and many people followed them during the process of returning to the courtyard.

But once inside the courtyard, the old sacrificial priest suddenly began to laugh hysterically. The sound of his laughter was shrill and desolate, and it made people’s hair stand on end. Finally, a man with a short temper couldn’t help but slap the old sacrificial priest and yell, “You better wake up! You’ve made the whole village a mess!”

The old priest really stopped laughing. His face was swollen from the slap, but he didn’t even touch it. He suddenly turned to the crowd and yelled, “I’ve stirred up the village? You know nothing! Our village is going to die, all of it! It’s one thing if you can’t save it, but it’s another if you don’t! It’s good that he’s back, back…”

Deadly silence. Everyone was silent except for the old priest, who was screaming like a madman. The old priest’s words were like a sledgehammer, hammering into everyone’s hearts!

“Hahaha, are you afraid? Are you afraid? Wait, everyone will die. The messenger of the river god is a powerful vengeful ghost. We will all die a bad death. I’m going to go see our village. It’s going to be gone. Hahaha…” The old priest was incoherent and began to laugh like a madman!

Finally, someone couldn’t stand it anymore. When people are weak and nervous, they are always sensitive and irritable. A man rushed out and gave the old priest a kick like a madman: “What are you talking about? What are you talking about? You’re upsetting people’s minds. Do you have any benefits? I’ll kill you, you son of a bitch!”

“Hahaha… death, that is, everyone must die…” The old priest didn’t care whether he was being beaten or not, he just laughed and kept repeating that sentence.

More and more people couldn’t help but go up to the old priest, but no matter what they did, he just laughed and repeated the same sentence: “Everyone will die, there’s no escape.”

Finally, a woman couldn’t stand it anymore and shouted, “Stop hitting him! He’s just an old man. Hasn’t he done enough evil?”

This sentence finally made people sober up a little, and they dispersed. However, they were still angry, as if they had been possessed. People had forgotten that they were beating up an old man.

It wasn’t that they were malicious, but because they were so fragile that they couldn’t bear the slightest breeze, even though the breeze was brought by an old man.

“Hahaha… it’s too late to say that you’ve done evil now, too late…” The old priest lay on the ground, his hair disheveled, his face swollen and bruised, and even with traces of blood on his nose and mouth, but he still said, “I’m not afraid of you, you old man, I’m not afraid of you, you old man, I’m not afraid of

One man couldn’t help but go up and hit him again, but was stopped by his wife, who said, “You say we’re evil, but you were the first to leave. I saw it! And don’t talk nonsense here. It’s normal for the river to roll up a pair of shoes.”

The woman’s argument was supported by the people, and yes, it was normal for the river to roll up a pair of shoes! Suddenly, people felt relieved. Were they being too sensitive? They were acting like they saw enemies everywhere.

The atmosphere relaxed, and people suddenly stopped being angry. Some people lit up cigarettes, and some people finally began to regain their conscience, began to help the old priest, began to apologize, and began to wipe his face.

But the old priest was not grateful at all. He just said, “I’m leaving, so I’m going to die too… I saw the river god appear, and I knew that people were going to die. I don’t want to see dead people, so I’m leaving. I’m leaving… so I’m going to die too…”

“Everyone will die!” the old priest suddenly shouted again.

However, the people were already at ease, so they didn’t bother to argue with him anymore. They helped him take care of his wounds, gave him a few words of comfort, and then dispersed.

That night, the people slept well. The river rolled up a pair of shoes. It was normal.

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Bangzi also went to see the excitement that night.

But he did not participate in the beating of the old priest. Although he clenched his fists when the old priest went crazy, he almost lost control. He was also one of those who did not help that day. The old priest touched his most vulnerable chord.

But he still didn’t. He was still simple and honest by nature, and he always felt that it was a bit wrong to beat an old man, so he held back.

Later, the woman’s words made him feel at ease, and he began to sympathize with the old priest. These superstitious old people are always nervous. This was all Bangzi thought.

After he felt at ease, he slept well, like most of the villagers.

But the next morning, Bangzi couldn’t help but think about it again, and suddenly he realized something that made his heart start to feel uneasy again.

Why were the shoes that had been swept up by the river lying neatly by the river?