After a long stalemate, an old voice said, "Pingzhi, we entrusted this village to you because we thought you were a capable and competent person. You actually want to take the people of the village out. Do you know that if we go out, we will all die?"

A voice on the other end said with great distress, "Pingzhi, how could you bring outsiders in? For so many years, no outsiders have ever come into our place, which is why we have been able to live well and why we have people like you. Now that you've brought outsiders in, if this place becomes unsafe, where are we old folks supposed to go?"

Leng Pingzhi quickly said, "Gentlemen, this is the manager of a goods store. I invited him here to help us earn a living. It's been several years, and no one has come to deliver goods to us. We also don't have the money to go out and buy things. If this continues, we will only starve to death in these deep mountains."

A voice sneered twice and said, "In the end, you just want what we old folks have, don't you? If you had just told us, would we have refused? Our ancestors set a rule that we must never let outsiders in, and yet you've brought people in."

Leng Pingzhi quickly retorted, "How could I possibly covet your things? There are so many of us here. How many years can we survive on what we have? I just want to find a way for us to make a living, at least so that we can eat whatever we want. Unlike now, where the crops in the fields are becoming fewer and fewer, it's quite difficult to even have enough to eat."

Finally, Leng Pingzhi coldly called out to the outside, "Gong Yong, Gong Yong, come here."

After Gong Yong squeezed through the crowd outside, Leng Pingzhi said to him, "You should quickly send the elders and ancestors back first. I'll settle things here and then go apologize to them."

Upon hearing this, Gong Yong looked somewhat troubled at the several elderly people leaning on canes standing at the cave entrance. Xu Di observed that the elderly people were indeed quite old, and each of them was emaciated. He guessed that the people in this village were indeed running out of food, just as Leng Pingzhi had said. If they didn't find a way to survive outside, it was only a matter of time before they starved to death.

With strict household registration checks outside, these people can't survive without someone to help them escape from here. So, Xu Di was brought in by Leng Pingzhi and Gong Yong today, defying the village's rules, because he was truly desperate.

Xu Di shook his head. An old man saw Xu Di shaking his head, raised his cane and pointed at Xu Di, asking angrily, "Young man, why are you shaking your head?"

Xu Di laughed and said, "I'm laughing because you're all becoming like the frogs in the well, with their limited perspectives."

Upon hearing this, the old man's face turned very ugly, and he shouted sternly, "Who are you cursing?"

Xu Di laughed and said, "Am I insulting you? I'm just stating the truth. You've all locked yourselves up in this tiny place, neither going out nor letting anyone in. What are you if not like a frog in a well? I don't know who you are, but I do know that the people of Daliang now have a wide variety of grains, as well as a great variety of vegetables and fruits. In the area north of the Yangtze River and south of the Yellow River, we plant winter wheat in the autumn, harvest it the following summer, and then plant corn imported from foreign lands. In the autumn, we can harvest another crop of corn. These two crops a year are making people's lives better and better. And look at you? You just lock yourselves up here, your own minds are corrupt, and you suppress the active ideas of young people. Calling you a frog in a well is an understatement."

The old men looked at Xu Di, panting. Xu Di chuckled and said, "You should think more positively. Since you're already old, don't worry about what the young people think. Respect their ideas. After all, this world will eventually belong to the young. They can create a lot of wonderful things for this world. As for you, just wait and enjoy the life your descendants will create for you."

Leng Pingzhi couldn't help but look at Xu Di with new respect, but he couldn't let Xu Di spew such rants at these old guys, so he quickly said to Gong Yong, "Second brother, you quickly take a few people and send these old folks home."

The old guys didn't want to leave. Gong Yong had already been convinced by Xu Di's words and wanted to hear what Xu Di had to say next. He waved his hand behind him, and several henchmen quickly stepped forward, dragging, pulling, and carrying him away.

Xu Di looked at Leng Pingzhi, sneered, and said, "Boss, I now strongly suspect that you brought me in here just to kill me. Look at you now, what can you offer me in exchange? What do you have that would make me want to do business for you and make money to support so many people?"

Leng Pingzhi said awkwardly, "Since I'm asking you to help me make money, I naturally have the things I need to prepare for the sale. May I ask your surname?"

Xu Di knew that Leng Pingzhi, who had been arrogant at first but became obsequious later, had had enough of staying in this valley. Now he was eager to get out and live a normal life, instead of being confined to this small space like his ancestors, watching the sun rise and set, day after day, month after month, year after year, until he slowly grew old.

Xu Di coldly uttered a single word, "Chen." Xi Jing'an knew that he was preparing to use the Chen family's name to discuss matters.

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