Chapter 515: Chapter 515 Pigsty Chapter 515: Chapter 515 Pigsty “Ghost, ghost, ghosts! There’s a ghost, save me!” Erlaizi screamed as he ran.
His shrill cries carried far in the still night.
It sounded as if he had encountered something terrifying.
The villagers of Mo Family Village, most of whom had been sound asleep, were rudely awakened by his noise.
“What’s Erlaizi up to now, sneaking around stealing chickens and dogs?” complained someone who had been awakened, grumbling in bed.
“Let him be. He’s the kind of person who loafs around every day, not thinking of earning his keep with honest labor, instead always wanting to live off stealing from others. He’s no use alive, just ignore him,” his wife pulled the blanket over her head, turned over, and went back to sleep.
Erlaizi had a bad reputation in Mo Family Village; although many villagers were disturbed by his noise, not a single person was willing to go out and check on him. After all, he had a poor reputation, and now that something had happened, no one dared to go out.
Of course, there were also some who had heard about his previous ghostly encounter at Aunt Li’s house, a midnight horror that made him shriek dismally—perhaps he had run into those filthy things again and they didn’t want to get involved.
The next day
At dawn, the villagers didn’t start their day with household chores as usual—washing clothes, carrying water, and the like. Instead, they went straight to Erlaizi’s house to see what had happened the night before, why he had been screaming all night in such a spine-chilling manner.
About a dozen villagers approached Erlaizi’s closed front door together, only to find it tightly shut as if no one was home.
Suddenly, a villager with sharp eyes pointed towards the pigpen and exclaimed loudly, “Look over there, Erlaizi is right there!”
Everyone followed the direction pointed by his hand…
There they saw Erlaizi lying motionless in the pigpen of the neighboring house, as if dead, with a sow nosing at his clothes with her stinky snout. His clothes were torn and tattered from the sow’s rooting, almost leaving him naked.
“Let’s hurry over and see if he’s alright,” despite hating him for his thieving habits, the villagers couldn’t help but feel concerned about his life, so they clumsily moved in to check on him and see if he needed help.
A brave male villager stepped forward, touched Erlaizi’s nose to check for breath, then turned to the crowd and said, “Don’t worry, everyone, he’s still breathing.”
“Quickly, let’s get him inside.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Come on, we need two more people to help carry him in,” the male villager called out to the crowd.
Most of those who had come were women, and Erlaizi’s clothes were nearly torn to shreds by the sow, leaving many parts of his body exposed.
“Men and women shouldn’t touch; we can’t carry him,” the women gestured and shook their heads, unwilling to tarnish their reputations by helping Erlaizi, the scoundrel.
Lady Li was also standing in the crowd. She had waited for Erlaizi the previous night for a long time, not seeing him come over with the watermelon for a secret rendezvous. Feeling quite angry, she thought he had played her for a fool. Later, when she heard him shouting about ghosts throughout the village, she didn’t understand what was going on. Now, feeling anxious, she also followed the crowd early in the morning to watch the drama unfold, to see just what sort of ghosts Erlaizi had been stirring up.
The male villager felt helpless; he was the only man there, and with none of them willing to lift Erlaizi, how could he move him by himself? But it also seemed inappropriate to just let Erlaizi lie in the pigpen and sleep there!
Lady Li was rather meddlesome, always pushing her way to the front of the crowd.
The male villager spotted her at once: “Auntie Li, I know you’re kind-hearted and don’t have many reservations. Come over and give us a hand, will you?”
Lady Li, feeling guilty, suddenly turned pale and without thinking, cursed fiercely, “Why should I carry Erlaizi! I’m not even acquainted with him. Are you out of your mind?”