25: Chapter 25 The Tragic Zhoujia Village

Zhou Ping put down his bowl and took a deep breath.

"Uncle Qin, Zhou Family Village is finished."

Village Chief Qin Zongliang's hand trembled slightly.

Zhou Ping lowered his head, looking at the remaining soup base in the bowl, his voice low.

"Not long ago, we went out to sea with two fishing boats and eighteen men, but not a single one returned."

Village Chief Qin Zongliang fell silent.

As another fishing village, he naturally understood how devastating it was for a village when fishing boats went out to sea and never returned.

Last year, Qin Family Village also suffered an incident where fishing boats failed to return from the sea, which almost left Qin Family Village with no food at the time.

If it weren't for the fact that Qin Yin took over her father's position as captain at a young age and successfully led the crew back from fishing at sea, the villagers of Qin Family Village might have had to flee from famine last year.

This was also why Village Chief Qin Zongliang invited these famine refugees into the village.

If the villagers of Qin Family Village were the ones fleeing from famine, how would he, as the village chief of Qin Family Village, hope other villages would treat them?

Naturally.

What gave Village Chief Qin Zongliang his confidence was still Lord Qinling located inside the temple!

With Lord Qinling around, Qin Family Village truly didn't have to worry about food now~

Zhou Ping continued to speak,

"Zhou Family Village relies entirely on those few fishing boats to make a living. With two fishing boats going out and not returning, how can we live?"

He raised his head, his eye sockets terribly red.

"Those who could leave have all left. Going out to flee from famine at least gives us a chance to survive."

The actions of the few people drinking soup nearby slowed down.

Someone buried his head even lower.

Someone's shoulders trembled slightly.

Zhou Ping took a deep breath and looked at Village Chief Qin Zongliang.

"Along our way here, we passed through several villages, and all of them also experienced situations where fishing boats went out to sea and didn't return, so they didn't have much food either."

"Therefore, we fled all the way to Qin Family Village."

Listening to the situation described by Zhou Daniu, Village Chief Qin Zongliang thought for a moment and asked,

"When did your village's boats have the accident?"

Zhou Ping stated a date.

Village Chief Qin Zongliang calculated it and was startled in his heart; that was precisely the day Qin Family Village last went out to sea.

But the fishing boats of Qin Family Village had returned safely!

"Uncle Qin, didn't your village's fishing boats have an accident?"

"Mm, nothing happened."

Village Chief Qin Zongliang nodded.

Zhou Ping wasn't surprised by this.

He raised his head, a strange expression on his face.

"That giant grouper on the large locust tree at the entrance of the village..."

"Oh, that fish? It was salvaged by the fishing boats when they went out to sea."

Village Chief Qin Zongliang explained.

"Such a huge fish, how did it end up in the tree?"

Zhou Ping remembered the scene of the giant grouper hanging on the Old Locust Tree vividly.

"That fish was originally meant as a filial tribute to Lord Qinling to thank Lord Qinling for his protection, but Lord Qinling didn't want it and returned it for us to eat ourselves."

"Lord Qinling?"

Zhou Ping was stunned.

"Lord Qinling."

Village Chief Qin Zongliang said.

"The deity our village worships; the temple is right in the center of the village."

Zhou Ping frowned and thought for a long time.

"The deity enshrined in your village temple is Lord Qinling?"

"Yes, for many years."

Village Chief Qin Zongliang nodded and said.

Zhou Ping didn't speak.

He remembered Qin Family Village.

He had come here with his father when he was a child, but at that time, Lord Qinling in this temple truly had zero presence.

He didn't know when it had become like this!

Village Chief Qin Zongliang told Zhou Ping about the deeds of Lord Qinling's protection.

Listening to this, Zhou Ping could barely stay seated.

A deity that could protect fishing boats at sea?

And even rescued the fishing boats from the hands of evil entities once?!

What a joke!

If there really were such a deity, any coastal fishing village would devoutly worship it!

Not to mention that Village Chief Qin Zongliang also said that even when martial artists came to the village to wreak havoc, Lord Qinling protected them!

Why hadn't he, Zhou Ping, ever seen such a deity?

"Uncle Qin, you aren't hoaxing me about things related to Lord Qinling, are you?"

Zhou Ping grabbed Village Chief Qin Zongliang's hand.

"Of course I wouldn't talk nonsense about matters concerning Lord Qinling; that would be disrespecting Lord Qinling."

Village Chief Qin Zongliang said with a serious expression.

Realizing that Village Chief Qin Zongliang was being serious, Zhou Ping took a breath and pleaded,

"Can we offer a stick of incense to Lord Qinling?"

"Of course you can."

Village Chief Qin Zongliang agreed.

After the group of refugees from Zhou Family Village finished drinking their fish soup, Village Chief Qin Zongliang led the group toward the temple.

At this time, the small courtyard in front of the temple was already crowded with villagers.

Old and young, men and women, some holding incense, others carrying offerings, all facing the direction of the temple gate.

Blue smoke drifted out from the temple, rising in curls in the sunlight and enveloping the entire small courtyard in a hazy mist.

Zhou Ping stood at the courtyard entrance in a daze.

He didn't expect that there would be so many villagers burning incense here.

Village Chief Qin Zongliang didn't stop, walking straight through the crowd to the front of the temple door.

He turned around and faced the villagers.

The villagers immediately quieted down.

Village Chief Qin Zongliang cleared his throat, his voice aged yet clear.

"Fellow villagers, these few people fled here from Zhou Family Village."

The villagers' gazes fell on Zhou Ping and the others; some of them had already seen these people at the village entrance earlier.

Village Chief Qin Zongliang continued.

"Not long ago, Zhou Family Village went out to sea with two boats and eighteen men, and they were all gone—neither fishing boat could return."

Hearing this situation, the villagers of Qin Family Village couldn't help but gasp.

Last year, when one fishing boat from Qin Family Village didn't return, it almost plunged Qin Family Village into dire straits.

Not to mention Zhou Family Village, which lost two fishing boats at the same time!

"When did this happen?"

A villager asked.

Village Chief Qin Zongliang reported the date.

Those crew members who had once gone out to sea, including Qin Yin, changed their expressions simultaneously.

"Isn't that the day we last went out to sea?"

A crew member suddenly raised his head, his eyes wide open.

"That's right."

Village Chief Qin Zongliang nodded.

The villagers instantly boiled over with commotion.

"The same day?"

"Didn't we haul up an empty net that day?"

"Right! That net was freakishly heavy, but when we pulled it up, there was nothing inside!"

"And then the divine statue started glowing!"

"Captain Qin Yin shouted to turn back, and we hurriedly rushed back!"

"Thanks to us believing what Qin Yin said, that really was Lord Qinling warning us!"

Those crew members chattered all at once, their voices trembling more and more as they spoke.

At this time, Qin Yin raised her hand, and the villagers quieted down once again.

She looked at those crew members and villagers, then opened her mouth to say,

"That day, what we hauled up wasn't an empty net."

She paused.

"It was those unclean things in the sea. Lord Qinling must have blocked them for us."

There was complete silence in front of the temple.

Only the sound of incense smoke rising in curls could be heard.

A crew member slowly knelt down.

He knelt on the ground, facing the direction where Lord Qinling's divine statue was located.

"Thank you, Lord Qinling, for your protection."

Those crew members who had once gone to sea knelt down one after another.

Their families knelt down along with them.

The children imitated the adults' appearance, clumsily kneeling on the edge of the futon.

They were all thanking Lord Qinling for his protection.

If not for Lord Qinling's protection, these crew members would probably have died in that vast sea long ago.

Zhou Ping stood in place, blankly watching all of this.