After trying for a long time, Zhou finally opened a box.
"Huh? What's this?" The eldest daughter-in-law looked curiously at the neatly arranged black mud balls lined with sawdust.
The dark mud balls were all the same size, a little bigger than a child's fist, and each ball had a line on it; there were twelve in total.
The second son's wife asked curiously, "It's so dark, is it mixed with charcoal?"
It has to be said, this is the truth.
Mrs. Zhou stared at it for a long time but couldn't figure out what it was. "It looks like my son's toy."
The second son's wife said, "It must be a mud ball that my younger brother-in-law was playing with."
Everyone nodded and didn't think much of it, moving on to the next box.
The last box took a long time to open, and inside were indeed the Molotov cocktails that Chen Kai had shown them.
There were only three Molotov cocktails in the box; the rest of the space was filled with sawdust.
Zhou took one out and suddenly realized, "Huh? This cotton thread is the same as my son's toy."
Zhou held the Molotov cocktail, and the more she looked at it, the more beautiful it seemed, and the less it appeared to be harmful.
Over here, Chen Kai and Xiao Tian were being pulled along by Xiao Bao and the others to play together.
At this time, Chen Kai and Xiao Tian were unaware that the dangerous item he had developed—the secret weapon—had been secretly taken away by their family.
They found the "weapon," though they don't know if it will work; they'll find out when they try it.
Next, they needed to investigate the situation thoroughly, so Zhou called Chen Nong over to ask him questions.
After understanding the situation, Zhou and his group decided to wait until they met up with the people from Lotus Village before taking action.
Meanwhile, Qiangzi was discussing how to steal food from the people of Anping Village, since there were too many of them to easily take it.
They were unaware that the other side had devised a plan to eliminate them, making them even more villainous than the villains themselves.
As dusk approached, the people from Anping Village and Dashan Village finally arrived at their destination and joined up with the people from Hehua Village.
"Finally here! I'm exhausted!"
Upon arriving at their destination, the children, who had been walking all day, ignored the adults' calls and immediately lay down on the ground.
"Clang clang clang—" The village chief's gong rang out.
“There’s a dilapidated temple up ahead. We’ll rest there tonight. The old people and children can sleep in the temple, and the rest of us can rest outside.”
There were too many of them; the dilapidated temple simply couldn't accommodate them all.
After packing up their belongings, before it got dark, the village chief called a team to find a water source, while the rest patrolled and warned the surrounding area. The women then boiled water and cooked.
After arranging things properly, the three village chiefs gathered together to discuss tomorrow's itinerary.
Outside the rest area of Anping Village, several women with children were begging for food, while some refugees brought firewood, straw sandals, and other supplies to exchange for some food.
Because the three villages had sent people with machetes and other knives to guard the area, no one dared to rush in; most of them only dared to shout from outside.
Several old women came out and headed towards the house with firewood.
They wanted to exchange some firewood to take home and light at night to keep warm.
Most of them stayed at the resting place, and those who went to collect firewood could not go too far. The village chief had given an order not to go up the mountain, so they did not collect much firewood, just enough for boiling water and cooking.
The group that went to find water couldn't bring back much firewood, so if they wanted more firewood, they had to exchange it for something.
An old woman looked at the firewood behind a man, picked up a large bundle and said, "Want to trade a bean curd cake?"
The woman next to the man was about to say she wanted two when the man stopped her with a look.
“Sure!” the man said.
The old woman had her eldest grandson carry the firewood, then took out a bean curd cake from the flat cloth bag and handed it to him.
The man took the soybean residue cake, swallowed hard, but before he could put it down properly, his youngest son snatched it away and wolfed it down.
The man was furious and snatched the food back. Even though he had taken a big bite out of it, he carefully put it in his arms and ignored his crying son.
The woman retorted angrily, "My son is hungry, what's wrong with feeding him!"
The man glared at her and said, "It's all your fault for spoiling me. If you keep causing trouble for me, you can forget about living with us."
His parents, younger brother, and younger sister are still hungry. Every time they find some food, they always share it with his son and daughter-in-law. But these two only think about eating it all by themselves.
Upon hearing this, the woman turned pale and dared not make a fuss anymore. She was afraid of being abandoned, and if she was abandoned, she would only face death.
Some refugees, seeing that firewood could actually be exchanged for food, shouted, "I'll trade two bundles of firewood for one bean curd cake!"
"My family is the same!"
The man glared at the person offering discounts, but there was nothing he could do; his shop still didn't lower its prices.
His family's firewood was different from others. While other families used dry branches broken off dead trees, his family used dead wood brought down from the mountain, which burned longer.
The people of Anping Village are discerning; they are all farmers who have spent their lives cutting firewood, so they know exactly what kind of firewood burns the longest.
Soon, all six bundles of firewood belonging to the man's family were replaced.
The women exchanged the firewood and went home.
Granny Jia complained, "The village chief is really something, he won't even let us go up the mountain to collect firewood. If we went by ourselves, we wouldn't need to exchange food for it."
Granny Yi said, “Don’t think like that. Didn’t you see the fierce looks in the eyes of those refugees outside? They look like they want to eat us alive. If any of us dare to go up the mountain to collect firewood, they might try something underhanded. We’re not familiar with the terrain here, so we could easily get hurt.”
Granny Bing said, "Yes, this isn't the village anymore. You think you can just go into the mountains whenever you want? There are plenty of refugees outside. If you encounter a vicious one, you might not make it out alive in the dark of the forest."
Granny Jia swallowed hard. "Even if we don't bring food with us, will we still be watched?"
Granny Ding said, "Be more careful. Some people just can't stand seeing others doing better than themselves. They're wicked."
As darkness fell, the people searching for water returned, but unfortunately, they found no water.
Not long after, another piece of bad news came: the group from Peach Blossom Village was resting a hundred meters behind them.
One villager gritted his teeth and said, "Village chief, let me take some men to teach those bastards from Peach Blossom Village a lesson."
The village chief narrowed his eyes and said, "No rush. We can't cause trouble now. Let's rest and recuperate. We'll have plenty of opportunities to teach them a lesson."
Their village and Peach Blossom Village had long since fallen out. Last time, he sent people to Peach Blossom Village to demand an explanation from them, but the new village chief of Peach Blossom Village actually had his people driven out of their village. Very well, he will make those bastards pay with their lives sooner or later!
The village chief was confident because their village was protected by their ancestors, who would bestow treasures upon them and even grant them magical artifacts.
There are three people in their village who have obtained magical treasures from immortals. They have been touched by the immortals and have been favored by the gods.
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