Si Cheng and his group stayed in Gaozhuang for two whole days. During these two days, they prepared the rations for the next few days. All the wild rabbits and fish they caught were pickled and smoked. This way, they could save a lot of water on the journey ahead. They only needed to prepare enough drinking water to reach the next water source.

The people of Gaozhuang also carried their luggage to their respective assigned villages. As for the items they couldn't take, Sicheng told them to store them in the basement and come back to retrieve them when they had the chance.

Several elderly people in Heping Village were also talking about where these travelers had gone and whether they could exchange their travels for salt.

"I wonder if they've arrived at their destination yet? Will there be any dangers along the way?" Lu Yunfeng had a bamboo skewer dangling from his mouth, a habit he had unconsciously developed since giving up smoking.

Yun Ming'an held his cup and took a sip of Tieguanyin tea. This tea was something his eldest son, Yun Zhizhong, had found somewhere in the county town, and he cherished it very much, rarely letting his old friends taste it. Fortunately, the old men didn't have a particular fondness for tea; if it were wine, he wouldn't have been allowed to enjoy it all by himself.

"With Ah Cheng here, what could they possibly do?" Yun Ming'an had a lot of confidence in Si Cheng.

"Acheng is a good person in every way, except he didn't end up with a good family. Luckily, we sealed off the village this time, otherwise, if that troublemaker hadn't come in, we don't know how much trouble our village would have been in." Now, the old men get together all day long, chatting about this and that. And now, they're talking about the strange things that happened yesterday.

"If it weren't for those few families in the back mountain having overheard her bizarre request, Yun Zhiming and his wife would actually have wanted to let them in." Speaking of this, Sun Shiguang was also somewhat relieved. Although letting those people in wouldn't harm the village, Yun Zhiming's family would have suffered.

"Those women from Gaojia Village who came with her must have been promised some favors to get them to come along. It's probably because of them that she was allowed to leave the village." Thinking of the women from Gaojia Village who had come with her, Second Grandfather decided to settle accounts with their village chief when Sicheng and the others returned. It wouldn't be fair for their village to take them to exchange for salt, only for them to turn around and rob them of their supplies.

"I don't know what Yun Zhiming's wife was thinking. We've already helped her refuse, but she still passed some grain down the wall to them." Third Grandfather Yun Mingquan said, sounding exasperated with his niece-in-law. He said she was indecisive, but sometimes she was very decisive. "Everyone said we'd wait for Sicheng to come back before arguing with them, but after they cursed at her a few times, she rushed home to pack a big bag of things and handed it out."

Second Grandfather Yun Ming'an had a different opinion: "She lacks confidence. After all, A-Cheng is in charge of many things at home, and the women who came with her said some really harsh things, and they even made some sense. She's afraid that A-Cheng will have a problem with the family when he comes back, since she is, after all, his own mother."

"The fact that she could bring people over to cause such a scene when Acheng wasn't home means she's confident that Zhiming and his wife are soft-hearted. Once she's let in, it'll be easy to invite her in but hard to send her away." Sun Shiguang had seen many people like this before; once they were in trouble, even their reputation was worthless.

"I don't know how Gaojia Village got sealed off, yet those people still managed to get here. Traveling alone like that, aren't they afraid of encountering any predators?" Thinking this, Grandpa Yun Mingbao couldn't help but sigh at their incredible luck.

"Who knows what kind of trouble Acheng and the others will cause when they get back?"

"It won't cause any trouble," Yun Ming'an said with an air of profound certainty.

"You mean they wouldn't dare do this when Acheng and the others are home?" Lu Yunfeng asked after organizing his thoughts.

"So they're trying to take over his house. If we think about it a bit deeper, they might be planning to take advantage of A-Cheng's absence and empty his house with all these people." The old men were having all sorts of wild ideas, but little did they know that what they were thinking was not far from what Gao Shuzhen was planning.

"Even if they have such thoughts, it won't work in our village. It seems we need to tell those on duty that if we see them again, we should just ignore them and chase them away." Second Grandfather didn't think it would be difficult to explain to Sicheng later. As long as they weren't blindly filial, they would seriously consider whether it was worth the sacrifice for some people.

Yun Zhiming's family is also sighing and lamenting because of this matter.

"I'm telling you, you've been sighing since last night. Don't you see what time it is? Why aren't you cooking lunch for Junjun and Lele?" Yun Zhiming could tolerate anything, but he couldn't bear to see his two little darlings go hungry.

"How can anyone have the appetite to eat now? I don't know how Xiaoqi will live with a mother-in-law like this."

"Don't think about such nonsense. Xiaoqi and the others will continue to live with us. As for her mother-in-law, let Acheng handle it. Acheng already kicked them out last time, which means there's a problem. Let's not take everything on ourselves." Seeing that she was still sitting there motionless, Yun Zhiming went into the kitchen, cracked a few eggs into a bowl, and prepared to use the broth that had been simmering in the pot to steam some egg custard for the two little ones to fill their stomachs.

"I wonder if Ah Cheng will blame us when he comes back?" Mother Yun kept repeating what she had said before.

"What's it to blame us for? Is it to blame us for not letting people in, or for giving them things?" Yun Zhiming had been hearing this question since yesterday and was getting impatient. "Since it's all over, there's no point in talking about it anymore. Besides, Acheng and the others don't care about such a small amount of stuff. But there's one thing you must remember: we can't let any more outsiders into the house. Our Xiaoqi can't withstand even the slightest risk."

Hearing this, Yun's mother nodded vigorously, "That's right, even though we're not home, we should guard this place. If Acheng wants them to move in later, we can't agree to it."

"Now you're scared? Yesterday you kept saying you couldn't refuse your in-laws when they came to visit. Luckily, Aunt Wu and the others from the back hill overheard what happened, otherwise I don't know how we would have ended up like this." Although Yun Zhiming knew that he wouldn't suffer much if he faced that mother and son at his home in Pinghe Village, there was no need to let them in and create more of a joke.