The men of Ning'an Village immediately changed their expressions.

A few days ago, the village head even called them together to talk about this matter.

In the past, when we went hunting in the mountains, we only worried about wild beasts injuring us; now we also have to worry about bandits coming down from the mountains…

“You…” The men from the neighboring village noticed the strange expressions on the faces of the people from Ning’an Village and became curious as well: “What’s wrong with you? We’ve gone hunting together in the mountains before, and we’re all trustworthy people.”

The man from Ning'an Village who knew them opened his mouth, but Lin Wanyue had told them about this. What if they told them and they started targeting the Lin family girl?

Now that the Lin family girl is in the village, she can help them avoid such disasters.

But if they were abducted by someone else, they might end up like these men from the neighboring village.

"I'm afraid that won't work. They're busy digging out the pond and really don't have time to go up the mountain. If you want to go up the mountain, we can't stop you. If you don't have enough water in your water bags, we can fetch some for you, but that's all we can do to help you," the old village head said slowly.

The men of Ning'an Village nodded quickly.

But they all kept their mouths tightly shut.

"..." The men from the neighboring village rolled their eyes.

They weren't stupid; they could guess that the fact that not a single man from Ning'an Village was willing to go hunting with them in the mountains couldn't be just because of the pond digging.

"Alright then." But the people of Ning'an Village wouldn't tell, so they had no choice but to nod and say, "In that case, thank you very much, sir."

The water drawn from the ancient well in Ning'an Village is so sweet that it has made their stomachs bloated, and the sound of the water splashing can be heard with the slightest movement.

For people who have suffered from drought for a long time, being able to drink enough water is already a blessing.

They carried full water bags on their backs, wrung out their clothes, and draped them over their bodies without waiting for the sun to dry them.

After saying goodbye to the village head, they headed towards the West Mountain.

On the way, they happened to meet several men carrying large logs.

These men looked strong and muscular, with sweat rolling down their slightly bulging muscles; they were clearly capable fighters.

The men from the neighboring village's eyes lit up.

"Hey, are you also from Ning'an Village?" one of the men walked over and greeted them.

The men carrying the logs were none other than Lin Weiming and the strongest men in the village.

To make good furniture, high-quality wood is essential.

It was a piece of fine wood that he specially bought from the town. I heard that it was not only of good quality and had beautiful grain, but if properly maintained, it could last for a hundred years.

Most importantly, when you get close, it has a faint, pleasant fragrance.

Lin Weiming bought quite a lot, even though it pained him greatly.

But if they want to transport it from the town to the village, they have to ask the villagers for help.

When the villagers heard that they could get money for moving timber, they all rushed over immediately, and only those who were not strong enough were left behind.

"Ah..." Lin Weiming didn't recognize them. When they came over to greet him, he looked them up and down warily and asked, "Who are you? What do you want?"

Seeing that he didn't deny it, the men smiled warmly and tried to be friendly, saying, "We just came from your village. We're planning to go hunting in the western mountains. You guys look pretty good. Why don't you come with us? There are plenty of us on both sides, and we're sure to catch a big game. We'll share half of what we catch with you! How about it?"

This already shows a great deal of sincerity!

After all, there were more of these men than Lin Weiming and his group.

They stared longingly at Lin Weiming and his group.

"No!" Lin Weiming shook his head cruelly. "It's dangerous up in the mountains. We have to go home, so we won't go hunting."

"No... why are all the people in your village so cowardly? Not one or two of them are willing to go!" one of the men complained.

Hunting is inherently dangerous when one or two people go up the mountain.

But if a dozen or so men swarm at them, even the fiercest beast knows how ruthless a two-legged creature is and would never dare to provoke it easily, right?

This is why these men from neighboring villages wanted to invite the people from Ning'an Village to come up the mountain together.

Many hands make light work.

They wanted to catch more prey, and also to reduce the danger.

The men following behind Lin Weiming clearly heard what the man said, and they were also somewhat displeased.

What do you mean by them being timid?

They clearly just didn't want to be reckless!

Look at Lin Weiming from their village, last time he came back carrying a tiger all by himself!

That's a tiger.

These skinny monkeys probably have never even seen a tiger before; after all, they've seen tiger carcasses before!

"Say what you will, we're not going." Lin Weiming's expression remained unchanged, and he even advised, "The mountain is dangerous, I advise you not to go up the mountain lightly."

"Don't even mention the dangers of hunting in the mountains, even just fishing in your river could be dangerous; you might get stuck in the mud and unable to pull your legs out." A man rolled his eyes dismissively and, as he walked over to Lin Weiming, said in a loud voice, "What a waste of such a big guy; he's such a coward."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Zhou Jiren, who was following behind Lin Weiming, couldn't help but ask.

Lin Weiming stopped him, saying, "Don't worry about it."

Seeing him like this, the man who had spoken earlier became even more unrestrained.

However, Lin Weiming ignored him and simply ordered people to carry the wood back to the village.

The furniture in the new house is almost all done, and the doors and windows are brand new. After all, we're from the countryside, so we're not as particular as city dwellers. We just applied some tung oil and varnish for preservation; we didn't use any paint.

Even the finished furniture was much the same.

The large logs Lin Weiming brought over this time were intended to be used to make a carved bed for Lin Wanyue.

...

Life in the village is monotonous. The place where Lin Wanyue and the village children play now has changed from in front of the small bamboo forest to next to the pond.

The willow branches sway gently, providing shade from the scorching sun and even serving as a source of mud for feeding fish.

The children watched the fish grow bigger and bigger every day, their mouths watering, wishing they would grow even faster.

According to Wang Hu, the village planned to save these fish for autumn and winter and harvest them as meat for the winter.

Thinking about the Lunar New Year made them even more hungry.

That day, Lin Wanyue, with Lin Diao Diao on her head, fed the fish while also planting willow branches in the soil.

However, the voices of several unfamiliar women could be heard coming from the village.

"Auntie, I'm begging you! My husband hasn't come back for days. So many of them went together, how come none of them have returned!" The woman's sobs were heart-wrenching and could be heard from miles away.