"Thank you all for your help this time. If you ever need anything from our village in the future, please let us know, and we will do our best to help. Thank you!!"

The villagers of Majia Village all stood up, bowed to everyone, and said in unison, "Thank you!"

This gesture left everyone bewildered, and they all waved their hands, saying repeatedly, "It's nothing, don't mention it."

Village Chief Ma arranged for several elderly women from the village to take everyone to rest first, and then host a thank-you banquet for everyone in the evening.

Taking advantage of this moment, Si Cheng took out his pistol and handed it directly to Village Chief Ma. "This is the old gun. It's out of bullets. You can decide what to do with it."

“No, this is your spoils of war. Even though it’s out of bullets, you can keep it.” Village Chief Ma pushed the gun back. “We ordinary people shouldn’t keep a gun even if it’s out of bullets.”

Other villagers also said they could not accept the guns. Seeing that no one was willing to accept them, Si Cheng simply put the guns away.

At this point, Village Chief Ma asked the villagers to bring out all the confiscated weapons and carried out a simple distribution. Because the quantity was not large, it would definitely not be enough to distribute them among the people, so everyone agreed that they would all be added to the village's collective property.

"There's one more thing I'd like to ask for your opinion on."

Everyone looked at Si Cheng with curiosity. What could be so important that he was taking it so seriously?

"Some people who came back from the county town said that these people looted all the supplies in the county town. They must have come here because there was no suitable place to escape the cold in the county town. That batch of supplies should still be in the county town. Shouldn't we go and find them? While we're at it, let's go to the county town and see if they have any accomplices there?"

Hearing this, everyone was very interested. After all, at this time, many things could no longer be purchased, and some supplies would be very scarce in the future. If they could take this opportunity to bring some back, it would be worth the trip.

Although Sicheng doesn't lack these things, the other villagers do. If they can take them back this time, their family won't stand out in the village anymore. Since they're currently unclaimed and who knows who will benefit from them in the future, it's better for them to take them in.

Village Chief Ma thought about it for a moment and decided the idea was feasible. They lived nearby and knew there weren't many people left in the town. Even if some were given to the townspeople, it wouldn't be much.

“Okay, we roughly know where it is. We’ll set off together first thing tomorrow morning, but we have one condition.”

"Village Chief Ma, please speak."

"Could we make sure that all the victims in our village receive a share? Many families have lost their able-bodied men this time."

Those present exchanged glances, and Si Cheng immediately stated, "We people from the Peace District have no objections; this is all as it should be."

Everyone else also said that these were all things that should be done.

Back at the temporary rest area arranged for everyone in the village, we first checked on the injured. Fortunately, they were wearing enough clothes and had added extra layers of protection to their vital areas on the way here, so everyone only suffered minor injuries. The village had also brought all the necessary wound medicine with them, and after everyone had applied the medicine and changed their clothes, they sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) chatting about their glorious achievements.

Seeing that everyone was alright, they relaxed and started chatting. As they talked, the conversation turned to pistols, and then everyone remembered that the pistols were in Si Cheng's hands. They all asked to experience the legendary pistols, and Si Cheng, without saying a word, took out his pistols for everyone to admire.

"Brother Cheng is still the best. We only saw a shadow flash through the air, and Brother Wolf disappeared as soon as he grabbed his hand," Yun Tao exclaimed, touching his pistol.

“You guys weren’t outside, but we saw the whole thing. When the pistol was brandished on the wall, we were all stunned. Brother Cheng just threw his machete and chopped the hand off completely.”

"Next time, let's stick with Brother Cheng. If we miss out on something this exciting again, we'll really regret it."

"It's going to get even more exciting. Isn't Brother Cheng going to take us to fight a robbery tomorrow? Just thinking about it makes me really excited."

"Luckily, Brother Cheng thought of these things, otherwise I don't know who would have benefited."

The monkey scoffed and laughed, "Who benefits? Ma Family Village, of course."

Seeing everyone's confusion, the monkey explained: "Didn't you hear that Village Chief Ma and the others even knew the location? But they didn't mention it at all. If Acheng hadn't brought it up, they might have already taken it all."

"It shouldn't be that bad, right? Didn't they even give their pistols to Brother Cheng?" He said, waving the pistol in his hand.

"Are you stupid? These are guns without bullets. Giving them to Brother Cheng would be a favor to them, but if they keep them, they might be afraid of causing trouble?"

Upon hearing this, many people suddenly realized, "These people are so malicious. We've come all this way to help them, and they still try to scheme against us like this."

Si Cheng, having heard everyone discussing this for so long, directly clarified: "The people of Majia Village may not have thought of this yet, but if I don't bring it up, they'll remember after we leave, and they certainly won't offer us a share. As for the pistol, it was probably given away because they were out of bullets and had no use for it. If there were even one bullet left in the pistol, the story would be completely different."

The others who knew the inside story winked and made faces at each other. Si Cheng glanced at them, and they quickly sat down with serious expressions.

Before long, the people from Majia Village brought over a lot of food and started cooking in batches outside.

The main food was rice, and the side dish was stewed potatoes with cured meat. This was probably the best hospitality they could offer at the moment.

Although there weren't many dishes, there was plenty of rice. Everyone took out their bowls and ate their meal, some sitting and some standing.

The people of Majia Village decided to hold a unified cremation ceremony for the deceased villagers tonight. As for the bandits, the villagers also found a good place for them. There was a deep pit in the back mountain of the village. Throwing these people in should fill the pit.

More than a hundred corpses—even if we went to move them, it would take a long time. The villagers, having finished their meals, couldn't just stand by and watch; they all came to help. Two people carried each corpse, and in two trips, they finished moving them. Even after throwing all the corpses into the deep pit, it still wasn't full. By this time, the soil was frozen solid, and there was no way to break it open. But leaving them in the open like this wasn't a solution either; once the weather warmed up, a plague could break out.

Helping others is helping yourself. Si Cheng took their hoes and found a relatively high piece of land. He started hoeing along the foot of the mountain. Perhaps because the handles were not secure enough, they broke after a short while.