Chapter 644: Chapter 644 Connections and Relationships Chapter 644: Chapter 644 Connections and Relationships The next day, because wolves had entered the village in the middle of the previous night and someone had died, the villagers were terrified and feared that such misfortune might one day befall them. As a result, as soon as dawn barely broke, everyone got out of bed and rushed to Erlaizi’s doorstep to see how General Situ and the county magistrate would deal with the matter.
Last night, General Situ had been busy here the entire evening, and his guards had cleaned up the entire scene so that it no longer bore the terrifying sight of bloodshed and gore from the night before.
Two piles of wolf corpses were placed in front of the dilapidated house.
The corpses of the wolves inside the house had already been cleaned up, but the bloody heap of human bones on the bed remained.
It wasn’t that General Situ hadn’t dealt with it, but rather, he wanted to wait for Erlaizi’s relatives to handle his funeral.
However, he didn’t know that Erlaizi lived alone, his parents had passed away early, so there where no relatives to speak of. Even if there were some distant relatives, Erlaizi’s reputation for thievery had become notorious over the years, the relatives abhorred him to an extreme and had gradually become estranged.
Some villagers with faint hearts could hardly believe their eyes upon seeing the bloody pile of bones in the house; just yesterday, Erlaizi had been alive and kicking. Immediately, sighs of lamentation echoed one after another…
“Oh my! How unpredictable life is! Erlaizi used to steal chickens and dogs; I rather detested him, but I didn’t expect him to meet such an end.”
“Indeed, the poor man hadn’t even taken a wife and now he’s died , it’s too tragic.”
“This is what you call truly cutting off one’s lineage. He has no family left, not to mention there’s no one to mourn him, to wear sackcloth, or burn Joss Papers for him; it’s pitiful indeed.”
“And to die without a complete corpse, too. I saw it with my own eyes, just now there was still a finger lying there.” The speaker gestured and wrapped their own arms, looking utterly horrified.
While the villagers felt sympathy, there were also those who had been wronged by Erlaizi and spoke angrily, “I think he got what he deserved, always skirting good deeds and committing bad ones. This is Heaven’s retribution.”
“Let it go, let it go, the man is dead. Let’s not hold on to past grievances,” the villagers persuaded one another.
“You all know, my vegetable garden is close to his house. Whatever we planted, he would pick as if it were his own. When scolded, he would ignore it with indifference and still come back the next time. It infuriates me just to think about it.”
“Erlaizi indeed was a hateful person, but he’s dead now, so there’s no need for you to hold a grudge any longer,” someone replied.
“I’m just venting my anger.”
Everyone pointed at the skeleton of Erlaizi and the discussions were endless.
The village head knew about Erlaizi’s background and had sent someone early in the morning to the neighboring village to invite back two specialists in handling burials to bury Erlaizi.
According to prevailing customs, everyone is quite taboo about funerals, and even more so for an unnatural death like Erlaizi’s. Folklore says that those who die unnatural deaths would become fierce ghosts, and ordinary people truly dare not touch them, hence the profession of arranging funerals for others emerged, though the price is relatively high.
The village head also had the village’s young men carry the bodies of the several dozen wild wolves to the edge of the mountain and bury them in a large pit.
After this incident, the villagers were in a state of panic. Situ Yongjie saw this and, after the village head had finished handling everything by noon, he especially called for a meeting with the county magistrate and the village head.
Mostly, it was about how to prevent wild animals from coming down the mountain and harming the villagers.
The village head looked troubled, “General Lord, you don’t know. To the east of Mo Family Village, within a hundred miles, there are deep mountains, and it’s very difficult to prevent animal attacks. Moreover, the Mo Family has been settled here for over a hundred years, and every few years, there have been incidents of wild animals injuring people. It really is an unending struggle; it causes me endless headaches.”