Originally, Xia Manni wanted to invite the village chief to dinner, but the village chief had something urgent to make arrangements.
Xia Manni and others simply drank some rice porridge and waited for the village chief to call them after the communication was completed.
Zhang Cuiling said thankfully: "Fortunately, we prepared everything we needed yesterday, otherwise it really wouldn't feel like Chinese New Year."
Xia Manni consoled them, saying, "It's okay. As long as they have food, new clothes, and lucky money, the children will consider it a New Year's Day."
She suddenly thought of returning to the noodle stall and said with some regret, "It's just that our noodle stall probably won't be open on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year."
But Erwa said, "Mom, why don't I go post a notice?"
After hearing this, Xia Manni immediately stopped him: "Goodbye, I've been feeling restless lately. Didn't your Uncle Jin say that I can't go out?"
Just then, the village chief came over.
"Big Boy, I've already made arrangements with the carpenters and hired a few more to help. You can take the third boy with you and go over there later. We'll be at my house."
Big Boy nodded and said, "Okay, I'll take the blueprint and go there in a moment."
"Men, women, and the elderly have all been separated as we discussed here. Even though today is New Year's Eve, we all agreed to meet in the workshop at the back after lunch."
Xia Manni had to admire the village chief's ability. After all, today was New Year's Eve, and it was understandable that there were some people who were not cooperating.
Moreover, they can patrol at night, so the village chief only needs half a day to do ideological work among the villagers.
This shows how prestigious the village chief is in the village.
The villagers' trust in him is also real.
After they finished their lunch, they set off with their belongings.
Jin Zian took Si Ni'er to the woods outside the village. According to their idea, they wanted to release some poisonous gas and miasma.
Xia Manni and Zhang Cuiling looked at the hundred or so women in front of them. Each of them was holding farm tools, kitchen knives, and spatulas. In short, they brought whatever they could.
"Female generals, follow my instructions and run two laps first!"
Xia Manni thought for a long time and didn't know what to call them. Later, she felt that female generals were more appropriate.
The women below were all stunned.
The village chief told them to follow the ladies of the Xia and Zhang families and practice self-defense skills so that they could help if thieves really came.
Why did you run up there?
But the village chief also said that everyone had to listen to Xia Manni, and those who did not listen or cooperate had to go to him.
So Xia Manni took all the women and ran around the village twice, and while running they met a group of men.
It turned out that they all had the same schedule at the beginning, running two laps every day and then doing horse stance.
After finishing the training, they started practicing bayonet fighting, wrestling and boxing.
Shi'an Village has never been so lively, because everyone is busy with their own things most of the time, and usually there are more people when the village chief holds a meeting.
A total of three teams were arranged to patrol on New Year's Eve, one in the east, one in the west, and one in the north of the village.
Each team consists of ten people, who change shifts every two hours. Most of them are middle-aged and young people.
The shifts are rotated in this way until everyone has been scheduled and then the shifts are rescheduled.
This was proposed by Da Wa, and the village chief directly arranged people.
New Year’s Eve should be a day for family reunion, but Shi’an Village doesn’t feel like New Year’s Eve at all.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, there was no movement outside.
Da Wa took the first lookout tower he had built and set it up behind the woods and in front of the village.
The village chief specially brought people up to take a look, and they could indeed see very far.
When he learned that the eldest son could also shoot arrows, he asked him to lead others to practice archery.
On the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, the day when work should have started, no one left the village of Shi'an.
Those who were waiting to open their stalls again were all wondering why they didn't set up their stalls.
"Auntie, why don't we go back? I can't stand it anymore."
The person who was called aunt curled her lips, thinking that she couldn't escape.
This went on until the 20th day of the first lunar month, when complaints were rampant in the village.
Suddenly a horn was blown from the direction of the lookout.
This is a code sign that someone is coming.
It was the time when people were sleeping. They had practiced before at this time, so they gathered quickly.
I don’t know how many people are coming from outside, but I can tell there are quite a few.
According to their arrangement, men are in front and women are behind.
Several people died in the poisonous fog outside; they all had poor physical fitness.
Those with better physical fitness entered the village and shot some arrows from the lookout tower, but as they had only learned for a short time, they only hit less than ten people.
The rest went straight into the village, and the melee began.
After all, those thieves were soldiers in disguise. There were more than fifty of them who entered the village, and less than two hundred of them stole things from the village.
Although some were injured and some fainted in the end, we won in the end.
More than a dozen thieves died, and the rest were tied up by the villagers.
Before the village chief went to report the news to the prefect, someone outside said that the prefect was coming.
An Qingnian was confused for a moment, but he did not show it on his face and quickly received the prefect.
"An Qingnian, I heard your village was robbed last night?"
"That is exactly what is happening, sir."
The village chief gave a brief account of the incident and praised Dawa and the Xia family highly.
"How did you get the news?"
When the prefect asked, An Qingnian narrowed his eyes and said, "I haven't heard anything. It's just hearsay."
"Go and call the child you mentioned and his family."
An Qingnian didn't understand the purpose of the prefect's visit. After interrogation, he found out that those people were subordinates of the Third Prince.
But he didn't dare say any of this.
The people from Anqing asked someone to call Xia Manni and others over.
Xia Manni had thought of various lines of speech along the way, fearing this situation.
The imperial court would certainly suspect whether they were secretly colluding with the rebels.
"Greetings, His Excellency the Prefect."
After Xia Manni and others entered the room, they knelt down and bowed without seeing the person sitting on the high seat.
But time passed and the person above him remained silent.
"What's your name?"
Xia Manni:?
You mean, old acquaintance?
You know what, I really seem to have heard that voice before.
The voice was a little lazy and a little arrogant.
"Look up."
Xia Manni and others looked up, and Xia Manni knew who it was at a glance.
Even if she didn't know him, she knew the guards behind him.
Isn’t this the County Magistrate Zheng who ran away from Shizai Village at that time?
He met her on the way and took Liu Miaoyan away.
"Master Zheng? I'm Xia Manni."
The man nodded after hearing this. Yes, this is the name.
The reason why he was so familiar was thanks to Liu Miaoyan and the memory of her pulling him in at the end of the ten-year village.
But I have to say, this woman has grown a lot taller.
She looks much more beautiful than when she was in Shizai Village.
There were several children kneeling beside her. She was really capable, as she not only brought the children to Jin'an.
He actually settled down in Shi'an Village.
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