"No rush, no rush. Don't take the money yet. You weren't in our village this afternoon. The village chief just finished a meeting. There are already refugees in Pingxi County. We must be very careful!"

"What? Refugees... refugees?" Zhao Erleng's wife was startled by the word.

She and Zhao Erleng had been in Pingxi County recently. She had heard some of the legends about the refugees and had seen some beggars in tattered clothes on the street, but she did not expect the refugees to invade so quickly!

Her heart began to pound, and beads of sweat the size of soybeans soaked her forehead. Her face turned pale, and she remained silent for a long time.

"Don't worry, we have a guard team, and they all have weapons now. But Erleng's wife, you and Erleng's brother shouldn't come back too late these days, and don't bring too much silver!" Jiang Ling comforted Zhao Erleng's wife.

After hearing this, Zhao Erleng's wife nodded, carefully put the account book into her bosom with a look of vigilance, and left Jiang Ling's house in a state of fear.

As night fell, Wang Tieshuan, along with several women, children, and a few henchmen, quietly arrived at the entrance of Lujia Village.

The guards were now on high alert. When they heard a rustling sound coming from the bushes, they immediately became alert and asked, "Who's there?"

"Giggle... Waaah..." The sound of howling ghosts came from the bushes, sounding particularly abrupt in the quiet night.

The guards now consisted of groups of ten. Although they were timid, they still mustered their courage and continued to ask, "What's the point of pretending to be a ghost and scaring your grandpa?"

Hiding in the bushes, Wang Tieshuan saw that the group had no intention of retreating. He gritted his teeth, grabbed a young girl, held a gleaming machete to her fair neck, and stood up, threatening, "Get out of my way, or I'll kill her!"

Everyone was stunned, having never seen anything like this before. Wang Erleng, thinking these people weren't afraid of him, threatened again: "Get out of my way, or I'll kill her!"

As he spoke, the sharp cleaver had already slashed the girl's tender neck, and blood flowed down her neck.

This scene terrified the guards. One of them snapped out of his daze and grabbed another man beside him, and they ran wildly towards the village chief's house and Jiang Ling's house, one of them heading towards the village chief's house and the other towards Jiang Ling's house.

"Jiang! Not Anru! No! Jiang... no... something terrible has happened!" A voice filled with fear echoed through the night sky.

The man, his legs weak, stumbled to Jiang Ling's house and began frantically banging on the door.

Jiang Ling had been feeling extremely anxious since early this morning, and the unease intensified as night fell. She was sitting in the yard, lost in thought, when a sudden knock on the door startled her.

She cautiously put on the electrode ring she had bought earlier and tiptoed toward the door. Only after confirming that the person was a man from the village's guard team did she carefully open the door.

"Oh no! Oh no! The refugees have reached the village entrance!" The man was pale, sweating profusely, and his words were incoherent.

"We've reached the village entrance? Is...is someone injured?" Jiang Ling asked quickly, noticing the man's expression.

The man nodded and then shook his head, wanting to say something but not knowing how, and could only pace anxiously in circles.

Seeing this, Jiang Ling first went back into the house to give some instructions to the children, then locked the door and followed the man towards the entrance of Lujia Village.

At this moment, the village chief had arrived at the village entrance and seemed to be having a heated argument with someone.

Worried that the village chief might be injured, Jiang Ling rushed to him and asked, "Village chief, what happened?"

"That beast! How could he treat a defenseless little girl like that!" the village chief said, pointing to a dark figure on the ground.

Jiang Ling was somewhat surprised. Then, in the light of the torch, she saw a scene that made her eyes turn blood red and her hair stand on end in fury.

A four- or five-year-old girl lay on the ground with her eyes wide open, the bloody wound on her neck particularly glaring!

"Beast!" Jiang Ling cursed inwardly.

"Tsk, an old geezer has arrived, and now a young wench has come. What else can your Lu Family Village do?" Wang Tieshuan looked at Jiang Ling with disdain.

Just then, the gossipy henchman gently moved the torch closer to Jiang Ling's face, revealing a lewd grin as he flattered her, "Big brother, this little wench is much prettier than those other women!"

"Do you want to...?"

"Nonsense, do you need to tell me? I'll let you have your fun after I've had my fill!" Wang Tieshuan looked Jiang Ling up and down with ill intent.

"I won't make things difficult for you. I've heard that your village is very wealthy, especially a man surnamed Jiang. Is that true?" Wang Tieshuan asked, sizing up Jiang Ling.

The village chief was furious upon hearing this. He was about to reprimand the village chief when Jiang Ling quietly shook her head to stop him.

Jiang Ling smiled and said to Wang Tieshuan, "The person you're looking for is me!"

"Hey, it's true what they say, 'I've searched high and low, but found it without any effort!' This young lady is beautiful and rich, I've really struck it rich!" Wang Tieshuan said smugly, showing off his big yellow teeth.

Hearing this, Jiang Ling looked disdainful, but she still pretended to be indifferent and said to Wang Tieshuan, "But my money isn't so easy to take. Let's see if you have the guts!"

Wang Tieshuan wasn't stupid; he knew Jiang Ling was trying to provoke him. He sneered and rebuked her, "Little wench, that kind of provocation is outdated. If you don't give it to me today, I'll kill them all and make this place a river of blood!"

As he spoke, Wang Tieshuan picked up another girl. The girl was so frightened by Wang Tieshuan that she burst into tears. Wang Tieshuan then slapped the girl's tender face twice.

The girl's face was immediately swollen from the slap. Jiang Ling's anger had reached its peak. She never expected that there would be people in this simple and honest era who were even more disgusting to her than Lu Youren and Old Lady Lu.

Suppressing her anger, she said to Wang Tieshuan, "I'm not trying to provoke you. I can give you the money, and I can give you the person. Do you dare to come with me to get it?"

Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned, especially the village chief and the guards, who quickly surrounded Jiang Ling and the village chief.

"An Ruren, don't worry, even if we die, we won't let this beast touch a single hair on your head!" the guards said.

These words warmed Jiang Ling's heart, but she knew this was not the time to be moved.

She whispered to the crowd, "Don't worry, I've already thought of a way!"

Before anyone could react, Jiang Ling slowly stepped out of the protective circle, hooked her hand around Wang Tieshuan's arm, and said, "Let's go, dare to go?"

Wang Tieshuan, who was used to seeing people who were submissive and obedient, found Jiang Ling's personality quite novel. He nodded and let the woman and child walk in front of him, saying to Jiang Ling, "Let's go, I want to see what you're up to, you little wench!"