"That old man is a bit cunning, but he shouldn't be a bad person at heart." Yun Mingwu and the others were also discussing Old Zhao's group.

"As long as they're not bad people, let them stay there. I just don't know how long they can hold out. Luckily, we don't have any land outside the village, otherwise there would definitely be constant conflicts."

Yun Xun felt incredibly fortunate that the lake had appeared in the right place at the time, which allowed the village to better enclose the area. Otherwise, they would have had to constantly guard against others harvesting their crops.

“But it’s not very safe for them to stay there. When we were on watch from the lookout tower, we often saw a green light flashing over there. We just don’t know what kind of animal’s eyes it is.” Wu Yong wasn’t so optimistic.

“We’ve reminded them several times, but they don’t seem to believe us.”

Si Cheng also had no solution to this problem. He couldn't very well send people from his own village to guard the area for them. "I'll talk to everyone later and tell the people on duty there to keep a close eye on things. If anything happens, we'll help out if we can."

"I'll inform them when I get back, so they can be more vigilant in the days to come."

Si Cheng glanced back at the lake at the village entrance, a thought flashing through his mind, but he immediately suppressed it.

Back home, Si Cheng couldn't help but think about the idea he had come up with earlier, pondering its feasibility.

"Cheng-ge, what's wrong? You seem distracted even during dinner." Yunqi noticed that her husband was only picking at the plate in front of her, not even reaching for her favorite stir-fried shredded potatoes with vinegar.

"An idea just flashed through my mind, but it's not fully formed yet. I'm currently working on it out in my head." Si Cheng didn't hide anything from his wife, and even shared it with her so she could discuss it together.

"Brother Cheng, do you think they can live on the lake for long? It's impossible to grow anything there, and relying on the fish in the lake isn't realistic. And most importantly, if they all live on the lake, it will definitely cause pollution to the entire lake. We all depend on this lake for our livelihood." Yunqi didn't think the idea was very good.

“I didn’t say they should live on the lake long-term, but rather that they should sleep on it at night to avoid being attacked by wild animals.”

"But have you thought about this? With so many people sleeping on the lake at night, won't they get up to relieve themselves on the lake anyway?"

“We can build a small, mobile bamboo raft. Once they get used to it, it won’t be that difficult. Besides, this is only a temporary refuge from wild animals in the mountains; everyone still needs to be on the ground during the day.”

"Let's not waste our time on this. Others might not even take our advice. I think they're so busy they can't even feed themselves, let alone have the energy to build bamboo rafts." Yunqi didn't think much of this thankless task.

When Si Cheng heard what his wife said, he could only put the matter aside for the time being, hoping that the animals on the mountain would see that there were already people active by the lake and would go to another place to drink water.

Old Zhao and the others outside the village probably felt the animal calls from the mountains getting closer and closer that night because of the things Pinghe Village had repeatedly told them to be careful about. They even imagined the calls of several animals in their minds. Many of them couldn't fall asleep that night.

"This is really going crazy! Everyone, let's think of a solution quickly. If all else fails, we'll go somewhere else." Some people couldn't take it anymore early in the morning and started to back out.

"This might be the purpose of their Pinghe Village. No wonder they kept emphasizing this issue to us yesterday. They were trying to make us psychologically unable to accept it, so that we would naturally leave. We can't fall for it."

"Don't accuse him of something like that. He meant well yesterday. Did someone else fake the animal sounds he heard yesterday?" Old Zhao stopped such talk. Judging from the sounds they heard carefully last night, he was indeed trying to warn them with good intentions.

"Then what do we do? I'd rather starve to death than be bitten to death by these animals. Just thinking about it is terrifying."

Seeing that everyone was starting to get anxious again, Old Zhao raised his hand to silence the noise, "After a whole night, has anyone thought of a solution?"

"How about we build a wall to enclose this small area? As long as we can sleep peacefully, that should be fine. As for the daytime, everyone should carry their weapons, and it shouldn't be a big problem."

"It sounds simple, but with so many of us, how much effort would it take to build a wall that can enclose everyone? Besides, look at the wall in Pinghe Village next door. It can't be as high as theirs, but it should be at least half the height, otherwise some animals with good jumping ability simply won't be able to keep out."

"Or perhaps we could dig deep trenches like the other villages do..."

Before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted again, "Don't bring up such a stupid idea. Don't forget we're by a lake. Once you dig the trench, the water will seep in. Then we can stand in the middle and let the water soften the ground, and we'll all sink to the bottom and become fish food."

As soon as he said that, everyone couldn't help but think of that scene, which immediately made them all laugh.

"This won't work, that won't work, you guys have to come up with a solution!" The person who had just given the idea started to get angry and embarrassed.

"No, actually his method reminded me of an idea." Old Zhao's idea at this moment was almost identical to what Si Cheng had thought.

“I visited other people’s aquaculture facilities before, and they had built houses on the water, where people basically lived and ate.”

"I do know that, but back then, they used a lot of floating materials and had to fix the houses in one place. We simply can't get that many materials now, let alone have so many of us go up there, it's not feasible."

Old Zhao, reminded of this, realized that his idea was simply impossible to implement. "However, we could make some bamboo rafts. In case any animals do come down the mountain, we'll have a good escape route. Otherwise, living in constant fear every day won't last long for anyone."

"Then someone will have to keep watch at night, and even if we get on the bamboo raft, we won't be able to outrun them by the time these animals get close."

"It's really not a place for us to stay for long. We thought that being near the mountains and the water would at least give us a way to survive, but we didn't expect it to be so difficult."

Some people turned their attention to Pinghe Village, which was not far away, and a small hope began to stir in their hearts.