One of the taller men lowered his voice and said, "That old man is probably leaving soon. Let's follow him and we're sure to get a lot of results."
"I hope so. We've been squatting here all afternoon, and my legs are numb."
"Who isn't? My butt's numb too, let alone my feet."
The tall man glared at the two men with annoyance and cursed, "You good-for-nothings, aren't we just fishing?"
Look at that land, it's at least an acre. I think it's already been harvested, and they've planted other things. It's probably time for a good harvest. If we find this old man's hideout, we won't have to worry about food.
There's no need to even think about how to join that bandit group anymore.
If there hadn't been no leaves left outside the mountains, the three of them wouldn't have risked venturing into the deep mountains.
However, I discovered an unexpected surprise today.
I thought the mountain was inhabited only by the elderly, weak, sick and disabled refugees, but I never expected to find a farmer. He didn't look like someone who had been fleeing famine for months. He had a rosy complexion and a strong body, much better than those who looked like they would collapse from hunger at the slightest breeze.
The other two pursed their lips but didn't say anything more.
Seeing Old Liu walking up the hillside along the ridge, the tall man quickly said, "Quick, let's follow him, we can't lose him."
As he spoke, he parted the bushes and chased after them.
The other two quickly followed.
Old Liu walked for a while before finally reaching the place where the raft was moored. Before he could get on, he was suddenly tackled to the ground by someone who rushed over. He saw stars, but luckily, the ground beneath him was soft mud and grass, so he wasn't injured.
Upon opening his eyes, he was met with three pairs of fierce-looking eyes. Old Liu was stunned for a moment, then immediately pleaded, "Oh dear, what do you brothers want to do? I'm just an old man with nothing!"
Two dark-skinned, thin men pinned Old Liu to the ground and said viciously, "Tell us where you live and how many people are in your family. If you dare to lie, we'll kill you right now."
After saying that, the two picked up a stone from the ground, as if to say that if Old Liu dared to talk nonsense, they would smash him to death with a stone.
Old Liu swallowed hard when he saw the big rock, feeling incredibly regretful for leaving the small depression today.
He should have listened to Yi Mian and stayed away lately. Now look what happened, he might have been crushed to death by those three bastards with a rock today.
The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, and his body began to tremble involuntarily. After a while, he stammered, "My family consists of only three people: my wife and I, and our little grandson. Please, brothers, spare us. You can have whatever you want."
The two thin, dark-skinned men exchanged a glance and breathed a sigh of relief. They then looked at the tall man, signaling him to decide what to do.
I thought that with such a large plot of land being cleared, the old man must have a lot of family members, but it turns out there was only an old woman and her grandson. That makes things much easier.
They stormed straight into the old man's house, and the old woman and her grandson couldn't do anything to them.
The tall man frowned, looking at the lotus pond not far away, then at the surrounding dense forest, and asked curiously, "Old man, where do you live?"
This area is not a habitable place; it's full of forests, and there are bound to be wild animals at night. This old man's physique is not strong enough to withstand the ravages of wild animals.
Old Liu stared at the three men for a moment and hesitated before saying, "My home is in this lotus pond. You young men must be refugees. I know you are all good children, and you had no choice but to target this old man."
"It's alright, come back with me. I have food at home; you can have it all if you want, as long as you don't harm me or my family."
After saying that, he trembled a few times, clearly genuinely frightened.
The three of them relaxed their guard considerably.
They didn't really want to kill anyone; they just wanted to steal some food. Since this old man was so cooperative, they naturally wouldn't harm the innocent.
The tall man nodded in understanding. It seemed that the old man had found a good place to hide, otherwise why would the family of three live in this deep mountain forest?
Knowing the details, the tall man wasn't worried. He simply gestured for the two thin, dark-skinned men to let go, and then boarded the raft first, laughing as he said, "Let's go, old man. If you dare to play any tricks, I'll just throw you into this lotus pond and drown you."
The other two dark-skinned, thin men threatened him again before releasing Old Man Liu.
Old Liu breathed a sigh of relief, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and then boarded the raft, paddling towards the small depression. He was both anxious and flustered.
He now only hoped that the people in the small depression would realize that he was in trouble, prepare their weapons as soon as possible, and wait to go in and take down these three little bastards in one fell swoop.
The raft traveled on the lotus pond for more than half an hour. Just as the three men were running out of patience, Old Man Liu pointed to the woods ahead and said, "We're here, we're here. Don't worry, brothers."
As soon as he finished speaking, he quickly rowed towards the shore. Before he could even stop the raft, the three of them hurriedly got ashore.
By this time it was completely dark, and they could only look at their surroundings by the moonlight. However, apart from the shadows of various tall trees, they could not see anything.
The tall man looked around warily, not quite figuring out which way to go, when Old Liu swung his oar at the back of the three men's heads, yelling, "I'll teach you to threaten me, to try and steal my grain! I'll beat you bandits to death!"
Liu Dayong and Gou Sheng, who had been hiding in the woods, also went up with brooms and shovels to fight back, beating the three men until they begged for mercy.
"Spare me, hero, spare me! Ouch!"
"Stop hitting me! Ah, my head!"
Seeing that the fight might lead to a death if it continued, Jiang Yimian quickly spoke up to stop it, "Alright, stop fighting. Tie them up and take them back for a proper interrogation."
The men then stopped, took out ropes, and tied the three of them up.
Because it was dark, and the three men were bruised and battered, they had no time to remember the way and were taken to the Liu family's courtyard.
Three men with faces swollen like pigs' heads knelt in the courtyard, looking around at the people around them, feeling only regret. What three people? These were three families, more than ten people in total, big and small.
How could I have believed that old man's nonsense? How could three people really survive in this deep mountain forest?
Old Liu only realized his legs were weak when he relaxed. Sitting on the stool, he felt fortunate that the three men were still greedy and wanted the family's food; otherwise, he would have been killed by a stone today.
Jiang Yimian stared at the three people in front of her and asked coldly, "Where are you from, and why did you come up the mountain?"
The tall man with a bruised and swollen face quickly said, "I, I escaped from Yuejiang Prefecture. He and I are from the same village. Our families all died, so we ended up together."
One of the dark-skinned, thin men nodded repeatedly.
Jiang Yimian looked at the other one.
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