"Let go, let go!" The fat woman's eyes glistened with tears, and her feet kept twitching, as if she would soon lose her life.
Liang Shuyan's hands slowly relaxed, and Dashan leaned forward triumphantly: "Hmph, weren't you very arrogant just now? What happened? Now you look so pitiful, like you're begging for help!"
"I'm a blind woman, I didn't even realize that you, Madam, were skilled in martial arts! Please, Madam, forgive my rudeness, I beg you to spare my life!"
"roll!"
Erniu was nowhere to be seen. Liang Shuyan had no idea when he had gone out. At that moment, Jin Erniu was squatting in front of the donkey cart, smoking incessantly. Sanwang frowned and jumped off the donkey cart.
"Second brother, what's wrong? Didn't Mother beat that woman? Why are you still so unhappy?"
“What do you know? I think Mother is really different from before. She wasn’t so mysterious or ruthless before. Just now, I clearly saw those strong men holding long sticks. My older brother and I didn’t know how to face them. But when those strong men got close to Mother, they all fell to the ground, and they were trembling all over.”
Sanwang pouted, "This only proves how powerful Mother is. Why do you doubt her? If it weren't for Mother, our whole family might have been beaten to death by the people this woman called."
The two brothers were discussing this matter when Liang Shuyan appeared beside Erniu without him noticing and pulled him over, saying, "Tell me, do you think your mother is heartless?"
Jin Erniu hesitated for a moment: "How could that be, Mother? No, it's just that I feel, when did Mother become so powerful?"
Sure enough, this brat was suspicious. She said coldly, "What's so great about it? In the face of danger, even if you are unarmed, you will still fight with all your might to deal with the enemy, because you only have one thought in your mind: it's either you or me!"
Jin Erniu thought about it and agreed. In the face of danger, a person's potential is enormous, something he had experienced firsthand. Once, he was pinned down by a group of people at a construction site. At that time, he had only one goal in mind: if he didn't drive these people away, he would die; if he didn't want to die, he would fight them to the death!
"Alright, let's hurry up and find a place to stay. If it weren't dark, would we all be sleeping on this donkey cart all night?"
Jin Erniu nodded: "Okay, Mom!"
Jin Dashan and Jin Sanwang followed along, the whole family crammed onto the donkey cart, which creaked and groaned as it headed south of the city. After about half an hour, they arrived at a place called Daling Village, where a dozen or so families lived, nestled against a large mountain called Daling.
An old man wearing a black cotton-padded coat walked over carrying a shovel, seemingly heading towards the woods.
Liang Shuyan quickly stepped forward and asked, "Grandpa, are you from this village?"
The old man nodded: "Yes, that's right. May I ask who you are?"
The old man looked at Liang Shuyan's family, young and old, and then glanced at the things on the donkey cart. He then laughed and said, "I can tell at a glance that you are refugees, can't I?"
"Yes, that's right. Our family has come all this way and we need to find a place to stay. Excuse me, ma'am, do you have any places to stay nearby that you can rent to us?"
The old man shook his head: "Oh, good, God has eyes! In this way, Daling Village will no longer be just me, Wang Daikui. From now on, this village will be lively."
Liang Shuyan was surprised: "What, old lady? You said that only your family lives in this village? Where did everyone else go?"
The old man sat on the edge of the field, his withered hands rubbing together: "You're from out of town, so I won't hide it from you. A while ago, we had a locust plague here. Many people were infected with the plague. Some died, some left, and in the end, I was the only one left in this village!"
"Then why haven't you left yet? Everyone else has left. It must be because life in this village is no longer sustainable, right?"
The old man gazed at the distant mountain and said, “There is a stone tower on the mountain. That tower guards the village. Legend has it that the tower has a spirit. If you offend this divine tower, the people will suffer a terrible disaster. Presumably, the reason you moved away is because you didn’t take good care of the stone tower, which led to this calamity. Now that you have come, it is naturally thanks to the stone tower!”
Liang Shuyan was startled. How much did this old man believe in this deity?
“So, there’s a place to stay in the village now, and we can pay rent,” Liang Shuyan said again.
The old man stopped talking about the stone pagoda and quickly changed the subject to a large courtyard next door. He smiled and said, "It's alright, no rent required. Since you've come to our village, we're all in the same village now. Just make sure you don't go to the stone pagoda again and don't do anything to betray our village!"
Liang Shuyan didn't care about anything else and readily agreed.
The old man led Liang Shuyan and her group to a large courtyard at the foot of the mountain, where they found three dilapidated tile-roofed houses surrounded by weeds. A gust of wind blew by, carrying with it the smell of weeds.
"If you're going to move in, you'll need to clear this place out first. There's nothing else here, just some weeds."
Wang Daikui also has a granddaughter named Xuehua. Xuehua is very fair-skinned, and her name reflects her appearance. She is very pretty. She glanced at Liang Shuyan and her group, and her face showed displeasure. She then pulled Wang Daikui away.
After some stammering and hesitant conversation, Wang Daikui said, "I'm really sorry, but my daughter doesn't really like outsiders staying here. Well then, I'll take you to the end of the village. There's a big courtyard there with about ten acres of wasteland. If you can settle down there, it's a bit better than here."
Liang Shuyan naturally didn't care about any of that: "It's alright, old man, is there enough room for all of us?"
"There are about 20 households at the end of the village, and all the rooms are empty. If you want to stay, feel free to stay there. It's just that it might be a bit far to fetch water. Our village is a bit strange. There is water at the beginning of the village, but the end is dry. You have to go to the beginning of the village to fetch water, but the crops grown at the beginning of the village are not as good as those grown at the end."
Li Zheng hesitated for a moment, then pondered and said, "There are such strange things. In any case, everyone can live at the end of the village and manage their own group of people. It's not bad."
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