Ye Wenxue turned around awkwardly, first glancing at the potatoes, which were mostly covered in mud, in Shuangshuang's bamboo baskets, then at Siwang, whose harvest was less than half full, and chuckled:
"No rush, take your time."
Siwang was practically glued to Dazhuang's back.
They both took the small hoe from Ye Wenxue's hand, without even glancing at Siwang:
"If some people are not focused and move slowly, they shouldn't be envious of others who are quick and efficient."
Siwang, fuming, quickly picked up the potatoes and strode forward, leaving even more potatoes behind, making Sanyuan's task even heavier.
Since the space lacked preservation technology, Ye Wenxue dared not grow too many vegetables. In addition to the vegetables she was supposed to supply every three days to the people down the mountain, she planted more vegetables that could be stored, such as sweet potatoes, potatoes, and corn.
The potatoes in the space grew very quickly, so some seeds were left in the cave.
The cave next door grows sweet potatoes.
They're almost ripe, but we'll keep the tips of the sweet potato vines to eat; we can't harvest them yet.
Ye Wenxue rested for a while, squatting down to sift through the potatoes that had fallen behind her. Just as she was about to take the small hoe and continue working, Su Jiu rushed over:
“Someone is calling you from outside the mountain. I heard it from inside the mud house. It’s that bald man’s voice. Aren’t you going out to check?”
The baby in the cradle is almost woken up!
Ye Wenxue patted the dirt off her hands and asked, puzzled, as she walked outside:
"Didn't Zhixing just come by? What's the bald guy doing here again?"
"How would I know?" Su Jiu was too lazy to delve into the bald man's intentions and hurriedly ran back into the house to study medical books.
Ye Wenxue greeted the children, grabbed a handful of clean snow to wash her hands, and then covered her neck with her clothes to keep the cold wind out.
She slowly walked through the snow onto the path, and when she saw that several people were dead in the trap that Su Jiu had blessed, she immediately understood.
These people were probably following Zhixing and came looking for him. I don't know what bad things they were planning, but they didn't notice the trap and were poisoned to death after being hit by the mechanism.
Ye Wenxue carefully put away the poisoned wooden arrows, then approached the corpses for a moment, picked up the cloth bags they were clutching tightly, opened them, and found gold and silver inside.
The bald man shut up as soon as he saw Ye Wenxue, cautiously approached her, and made a hand gesture:
"Boss Ye, those belong to our mountain stronghold, you see..."
Ye Wenxue gave him a half-smile, then picked up the cloth bags one by one and counted them briefly:
"You didn't get this much money, did you?"
Silver was too heavy to carry, so before leaving Longxing Prefecture, Zhixing specially exchanged a large amount of silver for gold ingots, a small portion for gold grains, and left the remaining loose silver pieces unexchanged.
Therefore, Ye Wenxue could tell something was wrong without having to count the details.
The bald man hung his head dejectedly, not daring to hide anything from her:
"They... also robbed the Xu family of their money. Several members of the Xu family were injured. They didn't believe me and refused to let Doctor Chen treat their injuries."
Ye Wenxue's expression was complicated: "How do you discipline your subordinates?"
The bald man glanced at Ye Wenxue out of the corner of his eye and sighed:
“Those who didn’t submit to me in the mountains have all come down, and the few who had dissent have also been driven away by me. These few people are usually very obedient; if you ask them to take half a jin of rice, they won’t take six liang; if you make them go hungry to farm, they never complain…”
So even though these five people were privately dissatisfied with Zhixing, the bald man only gave them a few warnings and didn't kick them off the mountain.
Who would have thought that a moment of carelessness would almost lead to the loss of all their wealth?
The bald man was silent for a moment: "Perhaps someone has become greedy because they have too much money."
Ye Wenxue glanced at him and suddenly asked, "Are they in charge of the warehouse?"
The bald man shook his head: "I'm only responsible for farming."
As soon as he finished speaking, the bald man realized what was happening.
These people are only responsible for farming, so how did they sneak into his storeroom and steal the silver?
If they were truly so cautious, they wouldn't have missed the trap and died needlessly from the poison.
The bald man's expression hardened; there were probably still malicious people in the stronghold.
"No, Mother is still at the mountain stronghold, I have to go back right away!"
Ye Wenxue glanced at him: "Wait."
She quickly ran back to the earthen house, called a few children, took Su Jiu, and carried the goose that refused to go into the snow.
When the group arrived at the path, the bald man had already ordered the body to be disposed of and paced back and forth with a solemn expression.
"Let's go to the bamboo house first."
The bamboo house is located between the valley and the village, so it's convenient to take the kids there along the way.
Worried about the Xu family in the bamboo house, Ye Wenxue held an umbrella, carried Xiao Yuanyuan on her back, and pulled Siwang along, trying to walk as fast as she could.
But the roads were slippery due to the snow, and Siwang, being young, almost fell.
The bald man gritted his teeth and squatted down: "I'll carry him on my back, I can walk steadily."
Ye Wenxue looked at Siwang and asked for his opinion.
Siwang vaguely knew that his mother was in a hurry, and he also knew that he was a burden to his mother. He did not refuse the bald man's help. He tiptoed forward and jumped onto the bald man's back.
Behind him, Dazhuang and Sanyuan carefully supported Su Jiu.
A gust of wind blew by, and Su Jiu almost slipped and crashed into a tree. Da Zhuang and San Yuan didn't dare let him walk alone, so they decisively stepped forward to help him.
Both of them were short, and carrying the goose, they walked within the massive encirclement of the bandits' henchmen, untouched by the wind.
After walking for a while, I felt warm all over.
The bald man carried Siwang, who weighed eight or nine pounds heavier, without breaking a sweat or even panting, and still had time to ask questions.
"Boss Ye, have you seen Zhixing? That brat left a note and ran away with his men."
Ye Wenxue and the others were all taken aback.
Ye Wenxue frowned: "I saw him. He came to ask me how to grow bean sprouts. Considering he made money for me, I only accepted two taels of silver."
"By the way, Zhixing said you've caught a cold from drinking too much these past few days, but the matter of going down the mountain to gather information can't be delayed any longer. He plans to use the guise of a merchant trip to lead a group to Tanzhou City to investigate."
Bald man: "...I can drink alcohol for months and I won't catch a cold!"
Ye Wenxue didn't understand where his inexplicable competitive spirit came from. She first sent the chicks, along with Su Jiu and the goose, to the bamboo house, asking Su Jiu and the goose to take good care of the group in the bamboo house. Then she turned around and went to the mountain stronghold with the bald man.
Ye Wenxue had given this decision carefully.
The footprints are still in the snow; follow them to find the valley.
Even with poisoned arrows deployed, they wouldn't be able to hold out for long if there were too many people.
The valley is not safe; it would be better to move to the bamboo house.
With Su Jiu and Da'e around, and with Lan Qing, Xu Lin, and Grandpa Xu around, there's no way the children will get hurt.
After descending the mountain, Ye Wenxue couldn't help but roll her eyes at the bald man.
“Your village has too many problems.”
Fortunately, she didn't aspire to be a village chief or elder sister because she wanted to set a good example for her children; otherwise, she would have caused trouble every few days, which would have been incredibly annoying.
The bald man looked full of regret: "I never thought that a mere few hundred taels of silver would fuel the greed in some people's hearts."
Ye Wenxue found it unsurprising:
“The heinous and risk-free business you did back then is far more serious than theft and betrayal.”
Even if the bald man is suppressed and restrained, once a person has done something bad and lost their bottom line, they are capable of anything.
The bald man and the others remained silent.
They clearly understand that even if they haven't killed any good people in the past, it doesn't mean they are completely innocent.
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