"That's terrible, Lin Da's branch is completely wiped out," Grandma Zhao sighed.

Sitting in front of the stove, Zhang softly echoed, "That's right, Lin Da's father is too lazy, so his mother won't run off with someone else."

"Who could stand a family like that?"

"Lin Da's father didn't find him a good wife either, otherwise things wouldn't have turned out like this."

"When Lin Da's wife was a girl at home, she was lazy and greedy. As soon as she reached marriageable age, her parents were eager for her to get married. They asked for very little dowry, and Lin Da's husband just happened to snag her. Who would have thought that she would turn out to be just like Lin Da, someone who couldn't stand on his own two feet."

"So, before the marriage..."

Lin Yinan sat on the warm kang (a heated brick bed), listening to the three women—mother-in-law, daughter-in-law, and mother-in-law—chatting. The heat made her feel drowsy.

It was too cold, so Grandma Zhao and Li Bolan cooked as simply as possible, often cooking everything in one pot, and occasionally adding dried vegetables, dried meat, or sweet potatoes.

As for the taste, Lin Yinan couldn't say whether it was good or bad; perhaps it was because her appetite had increased.

After this incident, no matter how cold the weather, the villagers would consciously clear the snow off their roofs without the village chief needing to remind them by banging a gong.

As soon as the snow stopped, the whole family, except for the children, went out to brave the cold and actively stock up on firewood.

They didn't go far; they went straight out of the gate and started cutting in the woods.

The magistrate and his men, who were in the woods, feared that the villagers would rush over and rob them, so they took their weapons and stood guard outside the tents, confronting the villagers.

In the freezing cold, it was not a good time to clash with the villagers, so the county magistrate had no choice but to swallow his anger.

The trees near the village had already been almost completely cut down by the county magistrate and his men, and the villagers, without any hesitation, were preparing to cut down all the remaining trees to take back with them.

Seeing the trees falling one after another, the yamen soldiers and the magistrate's men were getting restless.

The villagers cut down all the trees, so they had to go to farther places to cut down trees and burn them.

Some people, seeing the villagers wearing thick cotton-padded clothes, and especially seeing a little girl in a fur coat among the crowd, were overcome with greed because of the cold.

The group slowly approached the direction where the little girl was.

They observed that the little girl was only surrounded by three or four people, and was quite far from the others. They were quick to grab her and run.

They had barely moved a step when they saw an arrow stuck in the snow in front of them, its fletching trembling slightly.

Looking up in the direction from which the arrows came, they saw that the little girl had somehow acquired a bow and arrows.

At this moment, a new arrow was nocked on the bow.

The little girl stared at them fiercely, as if she would shoot an arrow if they took another step forward.

The group exchanged glances and simultaneously stopped walking.

At this moment, the gate of the mountain stronghold creaked open, and a group of people walked out from inside the stronghold.

They carried a stiff corpse in pairs.

Upon seeing this, the villagers began to discuss it amongst themselves.

"Sigh, another person has died in prison."

"They have food and clothing, I wonder what kind of trouble they'll cause."

"Twenty people have died this month."

"Twenty people died, and there are still over a hundred inside."

The county magistrate, accompanied by his men, waited nearby, completely bewildered, not understanding what the villagers were saying.

My curiosity was instantly piqued, and I immediately perked up my ears to listen.

The villagers did not disappoint them.

"Even though they didn't kill anyone, when their family members robbed passersby, arbitrarily took other people's lives, and raped women and girls, didn't they also enjoy the spoils of war with a clear conscience?"

The village's more educated scholars spoke with righteous indignation.

The magistrate and others immediately understood that the dead were the families of bandits.

Immediately afterwards, they saw about ten people being pushed out by the Yun family's guards.

"Get out! You're fed and watered and you still won't behave. Now you're free, but you have to leave here immediately."

Those who were pushed out were all dressed in thin clothes.

From the prison to the village gate, they were almost frozen stiff. Their exposed skin was red and swollen. If they didn't keep warm in time, they would lose their fingers and toes.

"Sir, we were wrong, we will never cause trouble again, please let us go back!" someone cried and wailed.

Some people knelt down on the snow and kept kowtowing to the guards.

"I didn't take his food. I only took it because he couldn't finish it. Please forgive me this time."

In an instant, cries of agony filled the air.

Everyone is wronged and begs for forgiveness and pardon.

Although the conditions in prison were meager, with only a thin porridge for one day, at least there was a place to shelter from the wind and rain.

They regretted it after they came out; it was freezing cold outside, and if they had stayed there, they probably wouldn't have survived more than half a day.

The guards remained unmoved by their desperate pleas and simply kept driving them away.

The magistrate and his men saw the Yun family's secret guards carry the stiff corpse to a hillside not far from them, throw it down, and leave.

Judging from the actions of the bodyguards, it seemed to be commonplace.

They lived not far from the mass grave in the mountain village, and the county magistrate dared not imagine such a scene.

Those who wanted to ambush Lin Yinan and his group were stunned by the swift and decisive actions of the guards.

Some of the bandit families who were driven away were still kowtowing and admitting their mistakes, while others glared resentfully at the mountain stronghold before stubbornly turning and walking towards the road leading out of the stronghold.

The magistrate's men watched as a young woman led a thirteen-year-old girl away.

They can barely take care of themselves, how could they possibly take in such a burden?

The woman and the little girl were dressed in thick clothes, so although it was cold, they were not frozen.

The two hadn't had a proper meal in a long time, and their feet kept moving, for an unknown amount of time.

Before falling into a coma, the woman saw a cavalryman in full armor appear in the vast, snow-covered forest, and a strange smile appeared on her face.

When she woke up again, the woman found herself lying in a warm tent, her clothes were gone, and she was in excruciating pain.

A monster with thick black hair covering its face was crawling on its body.

The pain came from him.

After an unknown amount of time, the woman fainted again.

When I opened my eyes, there was a different-looking ghost in the tent.

Thinking of her daughter, whose whereabouts were unknown, the woman gritted her teeth and persevered, preventing herself from fainting.

Finally, she was left alone in the tent. A bonfire was lit outside the tent, and the ghosts who had bullied her were speaking in a language she couldn't understand.

After listening carefully for a long time, before her body froze, she wrapped her mottled body in a blanket filled with a fishy stench.

A moment later, the tent flap was lifted.

It was the hairy black monster with a long face that I saw when I opened my eyes, holding a bowl of steaming food in his hands.

The black-haired monster placed the wooden bowl on the ground and looked at her with amusement.

The woman's gaze immediately fell on the bowl on the ground, and she was so shocked by what was inside that her eyes widened and her mind went blank.

The wooden bowl contained her daughter's hand.

Her daughter's cooked hands!

I've heard that the Hu people eat women and children. Could they be Hu people?

The woman stared in horror at the black-haired monster, her whole body trembling uncontrollably.