This one-sided massacre did not last long; soon, more than a dozen heads were stuffed into bags.

Zhang Juntou ordered his men to take the bodies away and burn them in a centralized location. He also expressed his condolences to the victims on the mountain.

"Old man, this was bandits causing trouble, but we have now wiped them all out."

Next, the village will be cleared out, and the remaining refugees will be forcibly repatriated. You can live your lives in peace.

This needs to be washed thoroughly.

Xiao Manye gave a wry smile: "Thank you for saving my life, sir. From now on... will we really be able to live a peaceful life?"

Zhang Juntou revealed a sly smile and said meaningfully, "Old man, don't worry, as long as the bandits dare to come, my soldiers will not be idle. No one can be arrogant on my territory."

No one ever tires of making achievements and establishing a career; of course, the more the better.

The soldiers from Xujia Village came and went quickly; they had other matters to attend to, leaving behind only a dilapidated old Yunya.

By this time, it was completely dark, and the mountain had returned to calm. Everyone felt like they had survived a disaster.

The basket that had been left behind was retrieved, and the bright red satin quilt was casually placed in the yard.

Xiaoman's face was covered in black and white marks, her clothes were torn, her shoes were missing, and her body was stained with blood, but she was extremely excited, pacing back and forth excitedly: "Grandpa, Grandma, Big Brother, I beat that bad guy up really hard today."

No one praised him; instead, Xu Dazhu scolded him: "Be quiet. If you're not tired, go help pack your things."

Xiaoman's unstable emotions were obvious to everyone.

Everything in the house had been turned upside down, and Chunfeng was tidying up the messy items.

Upon hearing the word "packing," Xiaoman felt all her strength drain away, collapsing to the ground, too weak to even lift her hand.

Nini ran over with a bamboo tube of water and patted his face, saying, "Uncle, Uncle, have some water!"

Xiaoman shook her head wearily, her lips chapped and dry: "I don't want to drink, I don't want to see water...blood!"

He wasn't unfamiliar with dead bodies; he had even handled corpses with Xu Errui before. But watching human heads roll around on the ground today was unbearable, even for the strongest person.

Xiaoman's grandmother was kicked, but fortunately, she had recovered well in the past six months and was not injured except for a scrape on her forehead.

At this time, thanks to Xu Errui's protection, the refugees were killed as soon as they reached the cliff, and Jiang Zhi's house was not destroyed.

Xu Errui, who had performed meritorious service, squatted silently at the foot of the courtyard, not even moving when the little wild boar nuzzled its head into his arm.

Jiang Zhi squatted down next to him and patted his back, saying, "Er Rui, you did a good job today."

Xu Errui said in a muffled voice, "Mother, I couldn't come down the mountain to pick you up. If Uncle and the others are... killed again, will you blame me?"

He was constantly tormented by worry about his mother and his grandfather.

Jiang Zhi frowned slightly. Was Xu Errui troubled by something? Was it a mistake to abandon the weak and elderly when faced with danger?

Perhaps every parent has the answer.

If it were possible to exchange lives for lives, the rooftop of the children's hospital would be filled with parents.

The fact that Xu Dong had told the young people to stay away when he led his troops up to find medicine earlier indicates all of this.

Jiang Zhi said in a deep voice, "Er Rui, the fact that you can think of your uncles shows your kindness."

But from a selfish perspective, your mother definitely wants you to be well.

If something like this happens again, I still hope you can take Qiaoyun and run away. Don't fight those refugees for a few chickens or a bag of grain.

“Your uncles would think the same way. They would rather die themselves than see Dazhu, Xiaoman, Chunfeng, and Nini get hurt.”

"Mother!" Xu Errui cried, "I didn't even take care of the family's food! Scold me! Scold me!"

When they were about to take Dazhu and Qiaoyun away, they didn't care about anything belonging to either family.

Once the refugees come in, all the medicinal herbs that my mother has worked so hard to collect for half a year, as well as the grain she traded down the mountain for, will be looted.

Jiang Zhi agreed with his choice: to give up his property and not run off to pick her up, but instead stay by the cliff to protect the children and women.

It's easy to say that, but very few people can actually accept it.

Often, what may seem like a small amount of money to outsiders can be a matter of life and death for the person involved.

Someone once clung desperately to a swaying pickup truck during a typhoon, only to be crushed to death by the vehicle.

There are far too many instances where people couldn't bear to leave their electric bikes behind during floods, and ended up being swept away along with them.

The thought of Xu Errui facing the refugees alone, still thinking about food, while someone who should be praised was crying and sobbing, made Jiang Zhi furious. She immediately started cursing: "Idiot, you really are an idiot."

As long as people are alive, as long as this mountain exists, we can find those things again. Who are you crying to? Shut up and go wash your face, you're shameful!

Xu Errui wiped his face and left.

More than half a year has passed, and he has accepted that his mother doesn't scold him anymore, but now he feels comfortable being scolded by his mother a few times.

Everyone is fine, it's just that Xiaoman's things were ruined.

Although some food was recovered from the hillside the next day, the spilled grain and broken oil jars were still losses. Fortunately, the two families could manage to get by.

Jiang Zhi believes that natural disasters are never the most frightening thing; what is truly terrifying is human infighting and infighting.

Without protection, without a peaceful society, property becomes a death warrant.

These successive upheavals are exhausting, even harder than doing farm work every day.

The chickens suffered the most; half of the hens died, while the rooster survived.

But someone plucked a feather from it, and its beautiful tail was gone, leaving only a single broken feather drooping down.

The wings were also broken. Jiang Zhi applied medicine to the wound and then tied it with willow branches to set the bone.

It can no longer fly to the tree branches until it is fully recovered, and its voice, which it had only recently been able to breathe freely, is now hoarse.

Every day, several of the chicks I've nurtured are trampled to death, and half of them have run away. I don't know if they can ever be found again.

This caused Qiaoyun to secretly cry. In the end, she still plucked the feathers from the dead chickens and made them into roast chicken pieces, but she didn't eat a single bite herself.

When faced with basic needs like food and clothing, the poor have no right to talk about feelings.

On the third day of the refugees' looting, the autumn rain came, and the misty rain enveloped the entire mountain forest, leaving no time for people to grieve over life.

Everyone who could work went to the fields and sowed seeds before the rains.

Fortunately, Xu Errui guarded the cliff and prevented the wheat seeds from being stolen; all of them survived.

People in front shoveled shallow trenches into the soil that had been splashed with manure, and people behind then evenly placed wheat seeds along the trenches.

This year, the winter wheat planting area is large, and as long as there are no natural disasters, it will be enough to feed two families next year.

It is said that you need many people to work, but few to eat. Now, all the workers are skilled, and no one is slacking off. A hillside can be finished in a day.

The drizzle fell all night, washing away the oppressive, blood-stained air.

As soon as the rain stopped, several people stepped into the wet mud and planted radishes and other vegetables on the edge of the slope.

Besides radishes, there are also scallions. The seeds are too small, so they need to be mixed with wood ash or fine soil before being sprinkled into the soil.

For the past two days, neither family has mentioned what happened; everyone is quite somber.

No one bothered to speculate about how those deceased refugees would become bandits or what their families would be like.

This world is so cruel; the pressure to survive can completely erode humanity.

Xiaoman stopped running down the mountain. Every day before dawn, he would go to the forest to practice his martial arts and then work during the day.

Xu Errui also said that he would learn from them after finishing the farm work.

He didn't want to be so nervous about how to deal with the refugees next time he encountered them.

Three more days passed in the blink of an eye, and unexpectedly, the wounded Xiang Dejin and his companions came up the mountain.

However, they couldn't find Old Cloud Cliff, so they had to rely on Li Laoshi to lead the way.