However, before they even reached the edge of the wheat field, they were blocked on the road. No, it wasn't really a blockage, because the road was packed with people, all of whom looked cautious and didn't seem like they were looking for trouble.
“They’re villagers from nearby,” Zhou Cang explained to Luo Xi in a low voice, then walked over and looked at a familiar face on the path with a puzzled expression: “Wu Lizheng, what’s going on here…”
The familiar face was a man in his fifties dressed in brown. He was looking over in this direction with trepidation. When he saw that it was someone he knew, he breathed a sigh of relief: "Manager Zhou, you, you're finally back?"
Zhou Cang nodded and explained in a very good mood, "Yes, our wheat is almost ready, so I brought the chief to take a look."
Upon hearing the words "Big Boss," Wu Lizheng's heart, which had just calmed down, began to tremble slightly again. He cautiously glanced at the tall woman in the crowd.
That must be Boss Luo.
"I...I am Wu Laosan, and I greet the chief." He shrank back and quickly knelt down to pay his respects.
The others followed suit, their bodies trembling violently, showing how terrified they were.
Looking at the dark mass of people kneeling, Luo Xi's mood darkened as well.
"Get up, everyone."
It was like a ritual, and no matter how long it took, Rose was still not used to this kind of etiquette.
Upon hearing her tone, Wu Lizheng became even more frightened.
Although he heard from the people who came here to work that Chief Luo was actually a good person, Wu Lizheng still felt instinctively afraid when he thought of bandits.
If it weren't for the fact that it concerns the livelihood of the entire village, he really wouldn't dare to come.
Helpless, Luo Xi could only give Zhou Cang a wink.
Zhou Cang now understood Luo Xi quite well and immediately grasped her meaning. He took a few steps over and helped Wu Lizheng up, saying, "You all get up quickly, fellow villagers too. Our chief doesn't care about these formalities."
"Didn't you need something from me? How can you talk like this while kneeling?"
Upon hearing the word "something," Wu Lizheng disregarded his fear and quickly stood up: "Yes, it's just a small matter."
He took a deep breath and quickly stated the purpose of his trip: "The villagers from several villages want to join Chaoyang Mountain Villa. Is that possible?"
"..."
Is this a trivial matter?
The people from Chaoyang Villa were all stunned, weren't they?
It's strange that an entire village wants to become bandits, and it's not just one village.
After Wu, the village head, spoke up, two or three other village heads followed suit, saying that their villages shared the same sentiment.
It took Luo Xi a while to find her voice: "Are you sure you didn't misspoke? Several villages volunteered to become bandits? Or did they come here to do odd jobs?"
She doesn't think she has that much charm.
It seems that several villages had already planned to come together.
Wu Lizheng knew their actions were bizarre, but they had no other choice.
"Yes, Boss, I wasn't wrong. We're going to be bandits? I just don't know if you'll take us in?"
He was somewhat uneasy.
Luo Xi looked Wu Lizheng up and down, finally confirming that he wasn't joking and that she hadn't misheard.
She took a deep breath: "Why are you making this decision all of a sudden, with so many of you?"
“Becoming a robber is tantamount to rebellion, and the government can arrest you at any time.”
"You should think this through carefully. Once you've done it, there's no going back."
“The government, hahaha…” Unexpectedly, Wu Lizheng burst into a sorrowful laugh upon hearing these two words.
“Even if we don’t rebel, we’re already driven to the brink of despair, so what difference does it make?”
His eyes were slightly red, filled with endless sorrow and helplessness: "We are just ordinary people with no ambitions. We just want to be well-fed and clothed, and for our families to be together. That's enough."
"We won't talk about natural disasters, because there's nothing we can do about them. But the government, they just keep adding fuel to the fire."
Having come this far, he had nothing he wouldn't dare to say: "Collecting land tax and head tax is one thing, but then there's this shaving tax, window opening tax, shoe tax, it's really... they really want to drive us to our deaths."
Window tax? Shoe tax?
That's ridiculous!
Luo Xi couldn't help but turn her gaze to Rong Bai: Is it really that exaggerated?
Rong Bai: "..."
He didn't even notice Luo Xi's gaze; he was glaring angrily at Wu Lizheng.
He himself was forced into it; once a document came down from above, how could he not comply?
We can't expect him to pay for it himself; there are so many people in the county, even if the Rong family sold their entire estate, it wouldn't be enough.
Xiao Yi's face turned red with anger, and his fists clenched so tightly they cracked: "That corrupt official Rong Bai! I hope I never run into him again, or I'll skin him alive!"
Corrupt official Rong Bai: "..." The hairs on the back of his head stood on end.
I wish I hadn't bought this job.
Peeling?
Was such violence really necessary?
Wu Li's face grew even more bitter: "That's not all. We can manage by digging up wild vegetables and mixing them with black flour, but what we can't bear is..."
His eyes gradually hardened: "They've started forcibly conscripting men."
"Boss, you have no idea how miserable it is for many women who ran away after getting married in the surrounding villages. If there is a man in their family, they are all taken away. They don't even spare the elderly over sixty years old."
"Once these able-bodied men are conscripted, who knows where they'll be sent, or if they'll ever come back? Will this place still feel like a home? How are people supposed to live like this?"
Other people also wiped away tears.
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