Chapter 138: Experience Trumps Youth

Seeing everyone looking at one another in silence, with no one speaking up, Chen Daliu did not mind and continued, "This ox is collective property of the village, but it is also registered with the commune. I have gathered you all here today to ask for your thoughts."

As soon as Chen Daliu finished, someone immediately waved their hand without a second thought.

"What is there to think about? Of course, we do it."

"That’s right, why hesitate?" With no other options at the moment, this might be the only way.

"Then we slaughter the ox."

Upon hearing this, someone asked hesitantly, "If the people from the commune ask about it, what should we do?"

"Let me ask you, is Great-Aunt more important, or is the ox?"

The person questioned immediately turned red, glared angrily at the speaker, and said loudly, "Of course Great-Aunt is more important!" What a thing to ask—even though an ox is the lifeblood of a country person, how could an ox compare to Great-Aunt?

"Then that settles it."

"I didn't mean that Great-Aunt isn't important. It's just that the commune officials are quite troublesome; I'm worried they will be relentless and cause trouble. If Great-Aunt is trying to recuperate and gets disturbed by them, wouldn't that delay her recovery?"

Someone to the side curled their lips: "If they ask, we'll just say the ox got lost." He wasn't afraid of being punished.

"It won't be that easy to brush them off."

"So what? The ox belongs to our Niuluo Village. The ox has legs; if it gets lost, there’s nothing we can do, is there?"

This caused the older folks to shake their heads: "That won't work. Everyone knows that oxen know the way home; that excuse has too many holes and won't hold up."

"That's right." Another old man with gray hair and a white beard stroked his beard and added, "We will say the ox went missing, and then we will go to the commune to report it and ask them to help us find it."

As for the timing, they would naturally wait until Great-Aunt’s condition improved and all traces of the slaughter were gone before reporting it.

Chen Daliu nodded immediately upon hearing this: "Uncle Li's idea makes sense." Ginger is indeed spicier when it's old; to think he could come up with such a plan.

The others nodded in praise.

Indeed, if they did it this way, even if the commune wanted to blame them, they wouldn't punish them too severely.

Seeing that no one objected and that everything was settled, Chen Daliu raised his hand and said to the quiet villagers: "One more thing, I'll say it now: this matter should stay among us in the village. Let it rot in your stomachs; no one is to leak a word of it."

"Village Chief, don't worry. Our Niuluo Village isn't like other villages."

"That's right. You can rest assured, everyone knows the gravity of the situation."

"Exactly. Even if you didn't say it, no one would talk."

"Right. We will definitely keep this buried in our stomachs. Even if we get dead drunk or are in our dreams, we won't let out a single word."

Who didn't know that this was a serious matter? If it got out, the whole village would be the ones to suffer. Besides, everyone just wanted Great-Aunt to get better, so they certainly wouldn't talk.

"Anyone who dares to leak this is an enemy of Niuluo Village. May they be cursed with bad luck for eighteen generations..."

In the past, everyone would have thought such words were excessive, but at this moment, no one found them too harsh, and they all nodded in agreement.

"Alright, let's start preparing. Get the knives, pots, and pans ready. Since it's still bright out, let's get it done early so Great-Aunt can recover quickly." At Chen Daliu’s command, the crowd dispersed in a flurry.

They used the same knife from the last pig slaughter, which Li Laohei had polished until it shone.

After sharpening it, he even pulled a blade of grass to test the edge, nodding with satisfaction. While it wasn't sharp enough to sever hair, it was still formidable.

Perhaps because they had discussed the slaughter in front of the ox, when they were ready and went to cover its eyes, the usually docile creature refused to let anyone near.

The ox snorted heavily, pacing back and forth around the tree stump, and even tried to break the tether to escape. Had Chen Daliu not used a thick rope from the start and tied the ox's neck with a water-soaked hemp rope, it might have actually broken free.

After several failed attempts, many people were covered in sweat. Someone remarked, "This ox is truly intelligent."

If everyone had only held a glimmer of hope for this method before, that hope had now grown. The more intelligent the ox was, the faster Great-Aunt would recover after consuming it.

But no matter what, even with three or five men surrounding it, they couldn't subdue the ox to let Li Laohei do the job.

Several times, young men who volunteered to subdue the ox were nearly kicked and injured.

Back at the treehouse, Xiao Hei opened its half-closed eyes. It looked toward Bai Xi's bedroom, where the breathing was soft and steady, indicating that Bai Xi was still in a deep sleep.

Hesitating for a moment, after hearing more shouts and discussions and realizing two more people had nearly been kicked by the ox, Xiao Hei stood up. Its master had ordered it to watch over the villagers, and it could not ignore them.

Xiao Hei quickly opened the door, used its paws to pull it shut behind it, and headed for the center of the village.

While the villagers were still at a loss, someone with sharp eyes spotted Xiao Hei approaching.

"Look, Xiao Hei is here."

"Xiao Hei? Oh, it really is. Why is Xiao Hei here?"

Soon, everyone was drawn to Xiao Hei.

"Hiss, look, what is Xiao Hei carrying in its mouth?"

"I don't know, it's hard to tell."

Once Xiao Hei got closer, everyone realized what it was.

Chen Daliu had seen it twice before and subconsciously said, "That is Great-Aunt’s dagger." He had been afraid Great-Aunt might hurt herself with it, but seeing her use it to peel wild fruit skillfully and put it away afterward, he hadn't said anything more.

As soon as he spoke, someone realized: "Does Great-Aunt know about this too?"

"I didn't tell her, but looking at this, she must know, right?!" Chen Daliu said uncertainly.

"Regardless of whether Great-Aunt knows, we must get this done!"

Li Laohei held a large knife, spat twice, and stared at the agitated ox with wide eyes, looking ready to rush over and draw blood at any moment.

The others agreed.

Xiao Hei walked through the path the crowd cleared. Seeing Li Laohei still stubbornly glaring at the ox, it gave him a look of disdain.

Li Laohei swore he really saw contempt in Xiao Hei's eyes. He scratched the back of his head, wanting to explain that he wasn't incompetent, but that the ox was just too strong and difficult. However, realizing he couldn't speak beast-tongue and that Xiao Hei represented Great-Aunt, he couldn't be disrespectful, so he could only rub his nose and accept it.