Xu Errui and Xiaoman helped set up the kang (a heated brick bed) in the village, and some of the migrants who moved in still recognized them.

Just then, a woman washing clothes outside the shack saw him and greeted him: "Errui, are you here to familiarize yourself with the land?"

Her voice was hoarse and ingratiating as she awkwardly ran her fingers through her red, frozen hands.

These migrants always felt guilty towards the indigenous people.

Next to her were several wooden buckets and basins, filled with men's clothes, which appeared to belong to the wounded soldiers.

Even though it's not freezing cold, the water is still icy cold, and it looks like it's going to freeze to death.

Xu Errui nodded: "Yes, my mother and I came here to familiarize ourselves with the land."

Upon hearing "Mother," the woman's ingratiating smile froze, her hand unconsciously wiping itself on her apron, and her gaze towards Jiang Zhi filled with obvious fear: "Aunt Jiang has come down the mountain!"

Jiang Zhi gave a faint "hmm".

Li Laoshi explained in a low voice from the side: "Yaozu's wife has been gossiping to people these days, saying that you, sister-in-law... uh, are very fierce!"

Jiang Zhi scoffed, "Not fierce? If I wasn't fierce, I would have been beaten and eaten long ago."

She grew up in the countryside and knows the rules there well. The more rustic and simple the countryside is, the more it reflects a jungle mentality.

Only the strong can thrive in the countryside, while the weak... will only be bullied and trampled upon, and even the most basic morality and law will not be respected.

There was once a popular internet saying: "The city is full of tricks, I want to go back to the countryside, the roads there are even more slippery..."

Just like those vagrants who rush into people's homes to rob, are they thinking of killing and arson?

No, they didn't intend to kill anyone; in their simple and kind hearts, they only wanted to take advantage of others.

As for other people's losses, they won't care. They might even think, "I only picked some of your vegetables and took up an extra foot of land. What's the big deal?"

As for the gossiping of those few women, these outsiders have come to regard themselves as villains who "bully men and women" and commit all sorts of evil deeds. Jiang Zhi doesn't want to explain. This is fine. She has always thought this way, which can save her trouble.

At this moment, the noise from the medical tent grew even louder, and Jiang Zhi and the others eventually arrived at the scene, no matter how slow they were.

A large crowd gathered in front of him. Outside the medical tent, Xu Changshou was stripped of his pants and forced to sit on a wooden bench, where he was beaten with military sticks. Each blow made him scream and howl.

Farmers don't have many rules. Apart from the shy young girls who haven't gotten married yet, all the old women and young wives are watching this rare event, which will be a topic of conversation for the rest of their lives.

Xu Yaozu and his wife knelt on the wet, muddy ground next to Luo, wailing and begging for mercy, promising never to do it again.

Zhang Juntou said coldly, "I'm only giving you three blows because you're old. Otherwise, I would have beaten you to death with ten blows."

Xu Yaozu turned pale with fright: "Thank you, thank you for your mercy, Squad Leader Zhang!"

After the beating, Xu Changshou could only groan, whether from pain or embarrassment, he lay there unable to lift his head.

Xu Yaozu couldn't lift it by himself, so several members of the Xu family helped carry it back to the shack before the land survey could continue.

This time, no one dared to say anything more. The land belonging to Xu Changshou's family had been verified by other villagers and was returned to them.

The migrants reported their original places of origin and population, and they were just waiting for unclaimed land to be rented out. Soon the process was coming to an end.

Jiang Zhi and the others stood at the back of the crowd, waiting for the last group of people to leave before walking up to Zhang Juntou and praising him: "Squad Leader Zhang has guts; he easily subdued these unruly shrewish women."

Zhang Juntou had already seen them arrive, and snorted coldly: "No matter how tough those scoundrels in the camp are, they can't escape my grasp. I'm not afraid of that old monster causing trouble."

He had long wanted to deal with Xu Changshou, ever since he decided to stay at the medical shed.

In order to appease the Xu family members who had just returned, no one was laid a hand on Xu Changshou. Instead, he was simply thrown into a ditch as a minor punishment to teach him a lesson.

Unexpectedly, Xu Changshou was incredibly audacious, acting like a fool in front of everyone, which gave Zhang Juntou a perfect excuse.

However, he wouldn't tell Jiang Zhi and Xiao Man, the other members of the Xu family, about these things.

Xiaoman also called out, "Squad Leader Zhang!"

Zhang Jun nodded: "Let's go inside and talk!"

After sitting in the wind for so long, he also felt cold. In the end, since the matters between the two families were simple, they went into the office to handle them.

A charcoal brazier had already been placed in the office. Although there weren't many sparks, the heat dispelled the chill in the room.

Zhang Juntou thought that since it was just these two households, he could finish the business quickly and then ask Xiang Dejin and Magistrate Zhang about it. But when he actually started to handle it, he found that it was not simple at all.

"Squad Leader Zhang, Sister-in-law Xiaoman came back from out of town. Her household registration isn't here, and she's already living on the mountain. What do you think we should do?"

Upon hearing that the population needed to be re-registered, Jiang Zhi, thinking of Chunfeng's household registration, immediately passed the question to Zhang Juntou.

To be honest, Chunfeng is an unregistered resident, especially since she was involved in a murder case before.

While on the mountain, the two families had already discussed that if Chunfeng were discovered, they must vehemently deny any connection with that Boss Hu.

They only said that Xiaoman found her and left, and they didn't know about Boss Hu.

Jiang Zhi also asked Li Laoshi, who was the first to recognize Chunfeng, about this issue.

As a result, he had no evidence to suggest that Hu Laoda's disappearance was necessarily related to Chunfeng. He only suspected that a man and a woman had disappeared at the same time.

Jiang Zhi was so angry that she almost set the pigs on him. Both families lived in fear for months, only to find out that they had scared themselves.

The only problem now is that two years after Chunfeng left with the divorce papers, the Xu family's household registration records have been changed.

Xu Dazhu is still single, the two are not married, and her name is not on the household registration.

When Zhang Juntou saw Jiang Zhi and Xiao Man take out the land deed and household registration book, he was a little surprised that they would ask such a simple question: "Where was your original place of residence before? Just write it down, and I'll just write it down here!"

This is how migrants from outside who want to settle here do it.

Jiang Zhi reminded her again: "Sister-in-law Xiaoman used to live in the village!"

Zhang Juntou was still puzzled, then suddenly realized: "What does it have to do with anything? Just write down the place of origin... Oh, are you trying to say that woman is now married to Xu Xiaoman's brother?"

Jiang Zhi was speechless. During this time, refugees came and went in a constant stream, numbering at least eight hundred if not a thousand. Zhang Juntou had long forgotten about the disappearance of Hu Laoda and a woman half a year ago, while he and the others were still extremely nervous.

When Zhang Juntou heard Jiang Zhi mention the registration of female refugees, he naturally thought of marriage.

Since Zhang Juntou had forgotten, the matter was no longer mentioned. Jiang Zhi glanced at Xiaoman, reminding him to keep it in mind.

Xiaoman realized what was happening and quickly nodded.

Jiang Zhicai said, "Sister-in-law Xiaoman is already married, so it will be difficult for her to obtain citizenship now!"

Chunfeng was married and was still someone else's wife. Naturally, she didn't have a divorce agreement or a letter of separation when she ran away. Even if she stayed at the Xu family's house, she would still be taken away if they came looking for her.

Sure enough, when Zhang Juntou heard that Chunfeng was married, he immediately frowned: "You're illegally harboring abducted women!"

Xiaoman got anxious: "My sister-in-law had a child with my brother, but because my brother was injured and paralyzed, my sister-in-law was forced to remarry by her family."

She's willing to stay at my house now; she won't go back. They're abusing her; they even broke her fingers. Chief Zhang, you must help us!

Xiaoman was so anxious that she couldn't even speak clearly.

Jiang Zhi explained, "This sister-in-law and Brother Xiaoman were each other's first wife when they were young and had children. She was forced to remarry because of a misunderstanding, and now she wants to come back and register her household registration again."

Zhang Juntou understood and rubbed his hands together, saying, "It's a good thing for a broken mirror to be mended, but now that she's officially a citizen, it's like she's married twice. If others come after her, it'll be troublesome. We need to think this through carefully."