dognovel Chapter 546 The once grand ancestral hall is now just a frame.
Chapter 546 The once grand ancestral hall is now just a frame.
He was one-eyed, and during that naval battle, Old Lu cut off his arm.
There's definitely something wrong with my hand.
But... Chen Hu jumped into the sea in front of everyone.
Xu Yiyi still vividly remembers the color of the sea that day.
She always remembered the color of the sea that day clearly.
It was first a bluish-green, and later it turned into rouge.
No, she shook her head.
It's not rouge; rouge doesn't have that fishy smell.
It's like a whole bolt of silk gauze, first dyed with indigo, then soaked in a vat of cinnabar, slowly spreading out a chaotic red.
The red tinged with purple, a deep, almost blackish purple, like stagnant blood left out for too long.
Something is swimming in that red.
Its grayish-blue dorsal fin, sharp as a blade, slowly and deliberately slices through the water's surface.
One, two, three or five.
It bites anyone it sees, and occasionally, a flick of its tail stirs up an even deeper blush.
Under those circumstances, Chen Hu should not have had any chance of survival.
Xu Yiyi was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Did anyone see which direction they went?"
"East."
Xu Yiyi: ...
She sighed inwardly, gripped two swords, and ran towards the eastern coast.
Xu Pinghai stared in disbelief, then ran a few steps and shouted, "Hey! What are you doing here again?"
"I'll go help!" Xu Yiyi said cheerfully.
Xu Pinghai immediately fell silent, his worry evident on his face.
"No, I have to follow them." With that, he started to run after them.
"Pinghai, you went to join the fun too? The ancestral hall is almost burned down, didn't you see?"
Xu Pinghai stopped abruptly, turned around, and was completely dumbfounded.
It was only a little bit burning a moment ago, how long has it been?
More than half of them caught fire.
Xu Pinghai felt like crying but had no tears left.
"Don't just stand there, put out the fire!" he said, quickly picking up the basin he had just thrown away to fill with sand.
"Huh? Oh oh."
In an instant, those who were filling sand went to fill sand, and those who were fetching water went to fetch water.
Even though they acted quickly, by the time the fire was extinguished, only the frame of the once-large ancestral hall remained.
Xu Pinghai went in first.
The ancestral hall was built of stone, so this fire couldn't completely burn it down.
But the roof was about to collapse, and the century-old beams on it were burned black, with dark red cracks appearing on the surface.
It wasn't fully burned, but it was already rotten; I reckon if you touched it, charcoal would fall off in a shower.
But what's truly deadly is what's inside.
"We're not going to get beaten to death by the clan chief, are we?" An uncle next to him nudged Xu Pinghai's shoulder.
Xu Pinghai sighed, "I'm not sure if you'll get beaten to death, but I doubt you'll come out unscathed."
The incense table, the offering table... all became a thick layer of indistinguishable ashes on the ground.
The sea breeze blew in through the empty window, and the dust swirled up, making it hard to open one's eyes.
That's not the most important thing. The most important thing is that not a single ancestral tablet is left in the ancestral hall.
Those wooden tablets, painted in gold and black, which once filled the shrines, are now so indistinguishable that their shapes are no longer discernible.
Some people were not giving up and used a stick to poke around in the ashes, but they only found stone slabs at the bottom.
“There’s still some left, Zhenming Gong’s memorial tablet…”
Someone pulled a small piece of wood from the ground, and coincidentally, all that was left were the two characters "Zhenming".
Seeing this makes one even more heartbroken.
Everyone stood in the center of the still-warm ruins, the stone slabs beneath their feet still burning their shoes.
No one spoke.
The sound of the waves crashing near the shore came incessantly, one after another, making the silence seem even more deathly.
I don't know who let out a sigh first.
Everyone unanimously thought of the old clan chief.
The sea breeze suddenly picked up, whistling through the empty stone frame, like it was crying.
Meanwhile, Xu Yiyi hurriedly arrived at the eastern coast.
Old Lu, gripping his long spear, watched the people fighting below from the rock.
Hearing the commotion behind him, Lao Lu turned around and glanced back.
Xu Yiyi was looking at him with a resentful expression.
"What kind of look is that? They're all done over there?" Old Lu teased with a laugh.
She first snorted in dissatisfaction, then climbed onto the reef.
"You said you were here to protect me, but you left me all alone over there to watch the show? There are so many pirates over there, aren't you afraid I'll get hurt or lose my life?" Xu Yiyi said irritably.
"What are you saying? You're just lucky to be alive, destined to die of old age." Old Lu smirked and raised his chin. "Those dozen or so pirates over there are no match for this one, and your uncles are here too, they're not just sitting around doing nothing, plus you... how could such a small number of pirates be enough to go around?"
Xu Yiyi pursed her lips and shifted her gaze to the two people below who were fighting fiercely.
"It really is Chen Hu," she murmured softly.
He still has his signature one eye, but the arm that Old Lu cut off has been replaced with a prosthetic. It's made of iron, and when you try to cut it with a knife, it makes a clanging sound; it's impossible to cut it.
No wonder the uncles said it looked a bit strange.
Xu Yi slowly wiped the two swords clean. "How long have you been fighting?"
“It’s been going on for quite a while. I noticed they were fighting before. Chen Hu isn’t very capable. Your grandpa probably just got into it and was teasing him like he was playing with a cat.”
Old Lu forcefully thrust his spear into the reef, then crossed his arms over his chest.
Xu Yiyi stood beside him, holding two horizontal swords, ready to strike.
Old Lu said in a deep voice, "Keep your little schemes to yourself. My skills are about the same as your grandfather's. I might not even be able to beat him. If he really goes crazy and stabs you, you'll really lose your life here."
Xu Yiyi rolled her eyes at him. "I haven't even said anything yet, and you already know what I'm going to do? Besides, you just said I'm destined to die of old age."
Old Lu smiled smugly.
"Nonsense, I've known you for so long, it's not like we've known each other for nothing. When you look at those shifty eyes of yours, I know you're up to no good. As for my life, I'll definitely live to a ripe old age, I'm just afraid you don't value your life."
Damn it!
Xu Yiyi just wanted to get rid of Grandpa Xu, since he was a pirate.
He's also a pirate leader.
If he doesn't die, who will?
Even in his current state, Chen Hu still wants to come back for revenge.
Who knows if he offended anyone else when he was young, or if he might bring more people to the island and endanger other tribesmen.
Furthermore, all the children in the family need to go to school, and there's no guarantee that they might pass the imperial examinations and return with honors. What if his status harms a few of the children?
It would be better to take advantage of the opportunity now and kill him to get rid of him.
Xu Yi thought through gritted teeth.
Seeing that the two below were fighting evenly, he took the bow and arrows off his back.
Her hand was steady as she took down the mulberry bow.
The wind pushed her from behind, and the salty, fishy smell of the sea filled her sleeves.
The rocks beneath her feet were rough, and the thin soles of her shoes were digging into her soles, yet she felt as if she were nailed to these black iron rocks.
The bowstring was pulled back against his chin, taut like a full moon.
Seeing this, Lao Lu stopped trying to persuade him and took the spear that was standing to the side back into his hand.
Following the arrow's trajectory, through the flashing blades, his gaze firmly locked onto that familiar figure.
Grandpa Xu was wearing old clothes, making him difficult to see clearly in the darkness.
Fortunately, the moonlight was bright enough.
The tip of Xu Yiyi's arrow moved slightly with Grandpa Xu's movements, forming a line from three points.
The wind whistled past their ears, drowning out the sounds of their battle.
"Take it easy!" Old Lu said calmly.
She held her breath, her knuckles turning white from the effort.
Right now.
The strings vibrated softly, tearing through the heavy, murky air.