Whether the government will come to suppress the bandits is still uncertain.

But after this battle, Baldy clearly didn't want to keep any more people with ill intentions, nor did he want to be threatened with betrayal again, so he used a scheme to purge them.

Those who knew the government was coming to suppress the bandits and were still willing to stay in the stronghold and stand with Baldy were either extremely loyal to him or had nowhere else to go.

These two types of people are the easiest to win over; as long as they have food to eat, they will not easily betray you.

But even if the others are appeased, keeping them around means constantly worrying about them being harmed. It's better to take this opportunity to let them voluntarily leave the mountain.

Of course, Ye Wenxue also suspected that the bald man didn't want to support such a large group of people anymore.

With the addition of the newly picked-up children, there must be over a hundred bandits in the mountain stronghold.

Baldy worried about their food and drink every day, racking his brains to earn money to buy grain, but he never expected that even after all this, there would still be people who were not satisfied.

He was just having a moment of despair, which is normal.

Just as Ye Wenxue thought, the bald man felt that things were too difficult for him.

After the eldest brother subdued the mountain stronghold, he abandoned all responsibility and left everything to himself. He also restricted everyone from engaging in risk-free business and had to find ways to earn money to buy food.

His head, which should have been long, has become quite bald, and these bastards still dare to cause him trouble, even trying to threaten him with his mother.

The person who hates the bald man the most in his life is the one who uses his mother to blackmail him.

Since the bandits either participated in the scheme or knew that someone had ill intentions but did not inform him, then he cannot be blamed.

"Don't worry, everyone. The snow has been heavy recently, making the mountain roads difficult to travel, so the government officials can't come for the time being."

Get to work, guard the stronghold, and stop daydreaming. Alright, everyone disperse.

Who wouldn't have wild thoughts after that?!

The bandits didn't even have time to glare resentfully at the bald man before they hurriedly ran off in groups of three or five, whether to discuss their descent down the mountain or to get to work, it was unclear.

Even Zhiwang couldn't help but overthink it.

But after a moment of deep thought, he finally decided to stay in the mountain stronghold.

After all, he was picked up by the bald man. Without the bald man's kindness in providing a meal, Zhiwang would have frozen and starved to death in the icy wilderness long ago.

The bald man glanced at Zhiwang with a sullen face:

"You go and do your work too. My mother and I will pack up and move to the bamboo house. If you need anything, come find me at the bamboo house."

Zhiwang knew that Elder Nian was probably upset by those people, so he left in a sullen voice.

Just as he rounded a bend, Zhiwang was stopped and half-dragged, half-pulled to a corner, where someone whispered:

"Brother Wang, is what Boss Nian said true? Are we really being watched by the government?"

Zhi Wang's face turned cold: "When has Elder Nian ever told a lie?"

The dozens of people huddled in the corner looked embarrassed.

"That's not... well... that's not what we meant, but the government officials have all fled, so how could they spare any effort to deal with a small mountain stronghold?"

Zhiwang shook his head: "Anyway, judging from Nian Laoda's demeanor, he doesn't seem to be lying, and Xing Ge too..."

Zhiwang shut his mouth, said no more, and turned to leave.

"Pshaw, what's there to be proud of? If it weren't for your kind heart, you'd still be a beggar!"

He heard a faint, mocking sneer from behind, but Zhiwang didn't pay much attention.

He went to the storeroom immediately, gathered up the valuables, and changed the locks on the main gate three times.

Over here, Ye Wenxue sat at the table, watching the bald man and his mother efficiently pack their belongings:

Are you really sure about this?

The bald man bent down to touch the silver he had placed under the bed, and upon hearing this, he didn't even look up:

"Why should I keep a group of fickle people around? I'll have to get rid of them sooner or later anyway, so I might as well talk to them clearly now."

Originally, the eldest brother didn't care much about this dilapidated bandit stronghold. If he hadn't been afraid that the bandits would cause trouble again and accidentally hurt Boss Ye, he wouldn't have helped him gather the men in the stronghold.

As for him... he took on the arduous task of being the second-in-command because he wanted to settle his mother down; they had suffered enough from the hardships of fleeing famine and having no fixed abode.

But now, not only can they not be settled, but they are also constantly causing trouble.

Internally, there were scheming bandits causing trouble, even threatening his mother's life; externally, government officials were also stirring up trouble, and might attack at any time.

Let whoever wants to be the sucker be it; he's not doing it anymore.

Ye Wenxue thought for a moment, then suddenly said, "Aren't you afraid your older brother will come back and hold you accountable?"

The bald man paused, his face instantly contorting, and after a long while, he finally spoke:

"He might not even make it back alive. Besides, we still have Boss Ye here."

As long as Boss Ye puts a few good words on his behalf, Baldy doesn't believe that his brother, who has survived a near-death experience, would still cause him trouble!

Ye Wenxue said expressionlessly, "Are you all packed? If you are, hurry up and leave."

"Wait, I'll go to the warehouse and get two more bags of brown rice, lest someone steal them all."

After Ye Wenxue and the three bald men slowly left the mountain stronghold in a donkey cart, the bandits who were secretly observing them became even more uneasy.

Could it be... that what the eldest brother said is true?

*

"Bang!"

Five taels of silver were slapped onto the table and pushed towards Su Jiu.

The bald man said sincerely, "I need to stay in the bamboo house for a while, so please accept the rent, Dr. Su."

Before Su Jiu could even speak, Doctor Chen's face darkened after hearing all the details of the mountain stronghold's affairs:

"You dismissed everyone, but what about me?"

Two days ago, Baldy made some money and said he would raise his monthly allowance to five taels. But before a month had passed and the money was even in his hands, it was gone for nothing.

The bald man scratched his head sheepishly.

"It's still uncertain whether the government will attack. Don't worry, you'll get your money back. It's just that the mountain stronghold isn't very safe... Why don't you stay in the bamboo hut for now?"

Dr. Chen chuckled to himself, thinking to himself that he should have known better than to provoke Su Jiu.

Now that's bad; if we don't stay in the bamboo house, we'll have nowhere to live.

At this moment, Lan Qing, counting the silver that had returned to her hand, suddenly spoke:

"If there's a commotion in your mountain village, will there be anyone left to work? If there's no one to work, then we won't be able to burn as much charcoal."

The bald man waved his hand: "Spring will arrive in about a month, and the charcoal won't be available for long. We'll burn as much as we can."

The Xu family had already earned more money than expected and didn't care about that; they were only concerned about Wang Chun's whereabouts.

After all, Xu Lin's father had taken Wang Chun as his apprentice, and at that time, an apprentice was almost like a son, so naturally he didn't want Wang Chun to be left helpless.

Xu Lin's father hesitated for a moment, then turned and went to the charcoal kiln to have a heart-to-heart talk with Wang Chun.

Regardless of what the child was thinking, he had to explain right and wrong to Wang Chun.

Only Dazhuang was still worried about Zhixing, who was leaving with his men: "What if some of the men he brought were up to no good..."

You have to understand that Zhixing earned the vast majority of the money, so there will definitely be people who want to take advantage of him.

Ye Wenxue patted Dazhuang's head reassuringly:

"Don't worry. People who are willing to brave the heavy snow and go down the mountain with Zhixing without any conditions are more reliable than the bunch in the mountain stronghold, even if they won't harm Zhixing."

However, this statement is not absolute.

Once you've made your money, you never know if the people around you are human or ghosts.