Lin Yinan stood up, walked over slowly, and said calmly, "Without rules, there can be no order. If you don't want to stay, you can go down the mountain now. If you want to force your way up, then we'll see if your necks are tougher or their swords are sharper."

"If we allow you to stay here, you must follow our rules!"

The villagers looked at each other, and they all saw fear in each other's eyes.

At this moment, the village chief came over with a gong and struck it twice in front of everyone.

"What are you all doing, causing trouble? Get back home! You just started eating and you've already forgotten your own names?"

The villagers lowered their heads in shame after hearing the village chief's words, and returned to their families, no longer daring to complain.

"Lord City Lord, I'm so sorry! I've troubled you!"

The village chief hurriedly came over to apologize.

"The village chief did a great job!" Lin Yinan said, pointing to several bundles of tarpaulin on the ground. "These are tarpaulins that the military camp lent you. You should organize the villagers to set up tents before dark."

"Yes, I will do as you say."

The village chief nodded repeatedly, afraid that Lin Yinan might get upset and have those men in black kill them.

"Go."

Lin Yinan waved to Zhou Yong, who was standing to the side, ready for action.

"You're from this village?" She sized up the young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, her voice completely flat. "Yes, may I ask what the city lord's orders are?"

"Then I'll leave this place to you. Make sure they set up the tents before dark, and don't cut down any trees around here..."

When Lin Yinan instructed him to lead people to cut down trees, he should not cut down the thick ones, but rather leave them spaced out, and he should not cut down large sections at once, to avoid future soil erosion.

Finally, she asked, "Can you do it?"

Zhou Yong clasped his hands in a fist salute, "This humble general will certainly live up to the City Lord's expectations!"

After giving her instructions, Lin Yinan prepared to leave. After taking a few steps, she added, "Oh, right, after the tents are set up, have the village women boil a big pot of ginger for everyone to warm them up. After being in the rain for so long, they're prone to getting sick."

"Yes, Your subordinate obeys!"

Lin Yinan led the Qianxia sisters to the military camp on the mountain. She had done everything she could; whether they could make it through was entirely up to them.

You can't just feed someone until they don't know how to eat!

Watching Lin Yinan and the others leave, the village chief stamped his numb feet, looked at the shivering child huddled in his parents' arms, gritted his teeth, and gathered everyone in the village together.

"Now listen to my instructions: one team will go cut down trees, and the other team will gather firewood..."

Zhou Yong said, "Those who want to cut down trees, come with me. The city lord instructed that the trees in this forest cannot be cut down at will."

At this point, everyone had no more tempers and picked up their machetes and tools to leave with Zhou Yong.

Many hands make light work.

An hour later, the first tent was set up, and inside the tent, a long row of large communal sleeping areas were erected using tree branches.

The village chief first let the elderly and children in the village go inside to take shelter from the rain.

Before long, a simple kitchen was also built right next to it.

Zhou Yong found the village chief and said, "Uncle Village Chief, the kitchen is set up. Have the aunties find some ginger and quickly make a pot of ginger soup for everyone to warm them up. After being rained on all day, they might get sick."

"Alright! I'll go right away." The village chief left with a frown on his face.

Let alone the elderly and children, probably not a single person in the entire village has dry clothes.

A moment later, the village chief's wife and Zhou Yong's mother found the village chief.

"Honey, we have the ginger, but all the firewood we found is soaked and won't start a fire. What should we do?"

The village chief raised his voice and called over Zhou Wang, who was helping out.

Zhou Yong put down his machete and said, "I'll go to the military camp to borrow some firewood."

He wiped the water off his face and ran up the mountain.

"Brother Yong is a fine young man!" The village chief's tightly furrowed brows relaxed.

Halfway there, Zhou Wang was stopped by two guards.

These black-clad guards always trained them to the point of exhaustion, which made him somewhat apprehensive, and he even had trouble speaking clearly.

"Yun, Captain Yun."

Yun Shiyi pointed to a bundle of dry firewood wrapped in oilcloth on the ground, revealing a pair of sharp eyes staring at him.

"Did you come back to borrow firewood?"

Under his boss's scrutiny, Zhou Yong felt immense pressure. He swallowed hard and nodded with difficulty.

"yes!"

"Lord City Lord, you foresaw this. Here, take this firewood!"

Zhou Yong breathed a sigh of relief and immediately bowed, saying, "Thank you, City Lord, and thank you, Captain Yun!"

Yun Shiyi raised an eyebrow, a slight smile curving his lips. With a light tap of his toes, he and his companions disappeared into the woods.

Zhou Yong picked up the firewood and ran down the mountain as if a ghost was chasing him.

With firewood in hand, the women gathered all the pots in the village together and threw the washed and chopped ginger into the pots to boil water.

Remembering that everyone hadn't eaten all day, the village chief's wife asked each family to contribute some rice, which was then cooked into porridge in ginger water. When it was ready, a handful of salt was sprinkled on top, and the ginger porridge, which was both filling and warming, was thus prepared.

With the combined efforts of more than 300 villagers, the six tents were finally set up before dark.

The villagers either changed into dry clothes or stood in front of the fire to warm themselves, eating thick ginger porridge.

After a bowl of ginger porridge, everyone felt warm all over and felt alive again.

"I wonder when this rain will stop?"

The village chief squatted in front of the tent, gazing at the torrential rain outside, lit his treasured water pipe, and began to puff away.

The sound of women sobbing could be heard from inside the tent.

"We finally settled down here, and now we have no home!"

"Sigh! I was hoping to make some money from the rapeseed in the field."

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!