At the end of the Sui Dynasty

Chapter 153 Dry Well
As the saying goes, more than 100 people work together. When the sky is completely dark, the entire deserted village will be cleared up. Some houses that have not collapsed can barely make do after simple repairs and reinforcements. It will rain soon. Well, having a roof to cover your head is naturally better than sleeping in the open, so everyone happily lived in, lit torches, and set up iron pots to cook dinner.

The house in front of me is a brick and tile structure, so it is relatively well preserved, but the courtyard wall has collapsed. The house has a living room and three rooms, one of which is an independent kitchen. Presumably this family used to be considered a wealthy household in the village. To store food and other supplies, Gao Bufan and Dou Xianniang each occupy one of the remaining two rooms, which is just right.

Thanks to Pei Xingyan's frenzied looting of the village these days, the team now has sufficient food reserves. The grains alone cost more than 20 shi. Even if each person eats a catty a day, it is enough for 200 people to last for half a month. , Pei Xingyan and others also robbed a lot of animals, except for some strong ones that were left to pull carts, the rest were slaughtered for Da Yazhai, so everyone has had a few bites of meat these days, and their living standards have risen sharply .

The effect of eating meat is undoubtedly immediate. The little girl Dou Xianniang is obviously plump, her pointed chin has become rounder, and her rosy melon-seeded face is even more beautiful. The mole also seems to be more spiritual, every frown and smile are so charming and lively.

The lights in the hall were flickering, and Dou Xianniang had just finished distributing food and cooking for the Huotou soldiers. At this moment, she was pouted, humming an unknown song, and counting the remaining firewood, rice, oil and salt. Obviously, she was in a good mood.

Gao Bufan was bored, flipping through Li Jing's military book "Mirror of the Six Armies" under the oil lamp, occasionally raised his head, his eyes fell on Xiao Nizi's round buttocks, and he couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

The body of the 15 years old girl has been pulled out of the line, like the eared corn, full of youthful breath, but now it is late spring, Dou Xianniang has also changed her thick clothes, and she is wearing A linen dress with a slender waist and shoulders like a knife, but the plain clothes can hardly conceal her natural beauty.

Gao Bufan's throat felt a little dry just looking at it, Dou Xianniang seemed to be aware of it and turned her head to look, the two people's eyes met, and they immediately blushed like an electric shock.

Gao Bufan couldn't help sweating, and hurriedly lowered his head and pretended to continue reading. Dou Xianniang was heartbroken, and Brother Gao's hot eyes just now made him both shy and a little happy, and a little bit looking forward.

Just when the atmosphere was ambiguous, Liu Gou'er ran in in a panic and said, "Master Fanfan, sister Xianniang, it's not good, Brother Qiusheng accidentally fell into a dry well, Uncle Ying and the others went down to save people, but they all died." Couldn't make it up."

Gao Bufan and Dou Xianniang's complexion changed, one put down the military book, the other put down the ledger, and ran out after Liu Gou'er.

When Gao Bufan and Dou Xianniang arrived, the dry well was already surrounded by people, and the surroundings were illuminated by torches as bright as day. Han Laoshi was holding a torch to inspect the mouth of the well, with a rope tied to his body, obviously preparing to go down the well To save someone, the people next to him tried to persuade him not to go down the well.

"Master Gao is here, get out of the way!" Seeing Gao Bufan, everyone immediately moved out of the way.

Gao Bufan walked quickly to the dry well, and asked in a deep voice, "What's going on?"

A villager immediately said tremblingly: "Just now when everyone was preparing to cook dinner, Qiu Sheng found a well here, so he wanted to get some water up, but he fell down as soon as he looked at the mouth of the well. Uncle Ying and that boy Qijin went down to rescue him." People, but they didn’t come up again, and everyone shouted at the mouth of the well for a long time without any response.”

"I have long said that this village is unlucky and cannot live here. There may be something unclean in this well. Otherwise, Qiusheng is a good young man, and he will fall down at a glance. Uncle Ying and Qijin will go down. I didn’t make a sound after that, and I haven’t come up until now.” Another villager said with a look of fear on his face.

As soon as this remark came out, everyone present fell silent, and looked at the dry well with a trace of fear, as if there was really an evil spirit hiding in the dark well.

Gao Bufan frowned, he absolutely didn't believe in ghosts and gods, but the ancients believed in ghosts, no matter how much he explained, it would be futile, and at this time saving people is the most important thing, if the prediction is not bad, this dry well is probably deserted For too long, the dead branches and fallen leaves have fermented toxic gases such as methane gas. This thing can kill people, and it is necessary to save people quickly and in time.

"Everyone back off, torches are never allowed to go into the mouth of the well, this is a military order!" Gao Bufan gave an order in a stern voice, and then jumped into the well.

The people present couldn't help exclaiming, Dou Xianniang's pretty face turned pale, and hurried to the well to check, while anxiously saying: "Uncle Han, give me the torch."

Han Laoshi took a step back, shook his head and said, "Young Master Gao said that torches cannot be put into the mouth of the well. This is a military order."

The other villagers and government soldiers holding torches also retreated one after another. Gao Bufan has declared that this is a military order, so naturally no one dares to disobey. The five government soldiers who raped a prostitute and were beheaded last time are still vivid in my memory!
Dou Xianniang stomped her feet anxiously, so she stared worriedly into the dry well, but the dry well was obviously very deep and pitch black, and it was impossible to see to the bottom.

Let’s say that after Gao Bufan jumped into the dry well, he immediately held his breath, used his hands and feet, and quickly climbed down to the bottom of the dry well. He descended about ten meters. At the end, Gao Bufan stretched out his hand and touched a human body. He picked it up and carried it to his shoulders. After groping again, he found two other people, one left and one right clamped under his armpits, and then he only relied on his legs to kick off the walls of the well on both sides to bounce up.

With Gao Bufan's current strength, it was not difficult for him, and he took the three of them up to the mouth of the well in just ten seconds. Seeing this, Dou Xianniang heaved a sigh of relief. Cheers, almost cast admiration.

Gao Bufan jumped out of the well, quickly put the three of them flat on the ground, and checked his breath. He found that the young villager Liu Qiusheng who fell into the well first was out of breath and his pulse stopped beating. His heart sank. Fortunately, Both Liu Ying and Liu Qijin were still breathing.

Gao Bufan ordered cold water to be poured on the heads and faces of Liu Ying and Liu Qijin. After a while, they gradually regained consciousness. The villager named Liu Qiusheng was hit on the head when he fell into the well, and his left temple was sunken. One piece was estimated to have died on the spot, and there was no need for further rescue.

Liu Qijin was the last to go down the well, and he inhaled the least amount of poisonous gas. After waking up and resting for a while, he was able to sit up and talk. He rubbed his head and asked in a daze, "What's going on? Didn't I go down the well?" ? When did you come up?"

Liu Gou'er waved his hand in front of Liu Qijin's eyes, and asked curiously: "You fainted at the bottom of the well, it was Young Master Bufan who went down to rescue you, you don't remember at all."

Liu Qijin shook his head blankly: "I just remember smelling a bad smell, it's very bad."

Gao Bufan explained: "Toxic gas will be produced in abandoned wells, which can poison people to death if inhaled too much. Moreover, these toxic gases will explode when exposed to open flames, which can kill people alive."

Everyone couldn't help but suddenly realized, Liu Qijin patted his chest in fear and said, "Young Master Gao knows a lot. Fortunately, Uncle Ying and I were in a hurry to save people, and we didn't have time to light a torch. Oh, how is Brother Qiusheng?"

Liu Gou'er shook his head: "Brother Qiusheng is hopeless!"

Liu Qijin's eyes fell on Liu Qiusheng's corpse, and his expression dimmed instantly.

During this period of time, everyone has experienced too much life and death. To put it bluntly, they are indifferent to life and death, and to put it bluntly, they are numb. Regarding Liu Qiusheng's death, even the villagers in the same village were only dejected for a moment, and then they were ready to put the body away. Remove the burial.

Just as the villagers were about to carry Liu Qiusheng's body away, Gao Bufan's eyes could not help falling on the corpse's clothes, which were stained with a thick black liquid, and there seemed to be a smell of engine oil in the air.

Gao Bufan couldn't help being moved in his heart, and quickly said: "Wait a minute!"

The two villagers who were carrying the corpse stopped subconsciously and looked at Gao Bufan suspiciously.

Gao Bufan went to the corpse and squatted down, stretched out his fingers to wipe the black liquid on the corpse's clothes, put it under his nose and smelled it, his expression became extremely weird in an instant, this smell... oil?
(End of this chapter)