The door opened from the inside shortly after the knocking began.
Upon seeing that it was the old village chief, Huang Ye bowed and said, "Greetings, Village Chief."
The old village chief waved his hand: "Are your husband and wife here?"
"Yes, village chief, please come in."
Upon hearing that the village chief had arrived, Su Wanyan, who was still having dinner, immediately had Luo Xue clean up the leftovers and went downstairs with Yu Nanqing to greet him.
The old village chief sat in a chair with a worried expression. On the table next to him was a cup of tea that Huang Ye had just brewed, but the old village chief had no appetite for it.
"Village Chief," Su Wanyan called out as she stepped forward.
Just as the old village chief was about to get up, Su Wanyan raised her hand to stop him: "Let's sit and talk."
"Sigh." The old village chief sighed.
After Su Wanyan and Yu Nanqing were seated, the old villager said, "If it weren't for the special circumstances, I wouldn't have come to bother you."
After all, they offered generous sums of money.
Although money can't fill your stomach in the dead of winter, it will be useful everywhere when spring comes.
Su Wanyan smiled and said, "Actually, even if the village chief hadn't come to see us today, we would have gone to find you anyway. We hope the village chief can tell us in detail what happened."
The old village chief opened his mouth, hesitated, and finally said, "I said today that there were wild beasts in the mountains, but I didn't want to cause panic among the villagers. Yesterday, when Old Yang went hunting in the mountains, he encountered no wild beasts at all, but bandits."
"..." Su Wanyan and Yu Nanqing exchanged a glance, realizing that their guess was correct.
"Since Old Yang was able to return safely from the bandits, the bandits must have had some ulterior motive. They deliberately let Old Yang return to deliver a message, right, Village Chief?" Su Wanyan guessed.
Upon hearing this, the old village chief paused for a moment, then asked, "How did you know?"
"Just a guess."
After he finished speaking, the old village chief looked even more surprised.
Su Wanyan smiled and said, "Actually, it's not hard to understand. This village only has a few dozen households, and the total number of people is no more than a hundred. Because of the special terrain, it is common for the mountains to be blocked by heavy snow."
"The food you've stored up after a year of hard work is barely enough to survive the winter, let alone the bandits who suddenly appear on the road. By now, their supplies have probably run out."
At this point, going down the mountain to rob became their last lifeline.
Hearing Su Wanyan say this, the old village chief was speechless, then sighed again: "What you said is right."
This was something he had always been concerned about.
The old village chief said, "The reason the bandits let Old Yang come back was so that he could pass on a message to me, ordering me to hand over all the grain in the village within three days. If I don't comply, they will lead their men to plunder the village."
The old village chief looked up and said, "You two are from out of town. I came here to ask you to pack your things and leave early tomorrow morning. I've checked the weather these past few days, and there shouldn't be any major snowstorms."
He casually pointed in a direction: "If we can get over this mountain, we can reach the next village without any problems..."
If the villagers' food is given to the bandits, they won't survive the winter. If they aren't, the bandits will plunder the village. Either way, they'll die. The village chief has no intention of sitting idly by and letting himself be slaughtered.
The reason for not discussing this matter with the villagers today is to avoid causing them panic. Once the barricades are in place, we will ask them to bring out their hunting tools so they are more prepared. Only then will we reveal the whole story to them.
Su Wanyan and Yu Nanqing are both good people. Su Wanyan even helps the villagers with their medical needs. He shouldn't have dragged them into this matter, both morally and logically.
As the old village chief spoke, he reached into his pocket and took out the money he had initially collected—a heavy bag of silver ingots—and placed it on the table: “I’m afraid I won’t need this money. It hasn’t been of any help, so you can take it back.”
“We will stay,” Su Wanyan said with a smile.
The old village chief was slightly taken aback, then frowned, not quite understanding: "Stay?"
He smiled helplessly and said, "Even if you stay, you won't be of much help."
The bandits in that village suddenly appeared half a year ago. He had inquired about them in secret, but they usually only robbed passing caravans and never attacked the village.
No, perhaps the bandits knew the village was poor, which is why they didn't attack them.
Now that the mountains are snowbound and fewer people are out trading during the winter, the bandits have set their sights on the village.
"Don't rush to conclusions." Su Wanyan pushed the bag of silver back: "Now that you know the bandits' intentions, the village chief should explain the situation to the villagers as soon as possible. Nobody wants to be kept in the dark about something like this."
Moreover, if these bandits are indeed remnants of the Hundred Valley Gang, then ultimately it was they who caused this trouble.
"Sigh, I'm telling you guys..."
He sighed again halfway through his sentence: "Never mind."
He wasn't the type to keep pestering others after giving them advice, but he ultimately didn't take the money. He stood up, patted the wrinkles on his clothes, and said, "Anyway, I've said what I needed to say. Goodbye."
Huang Ye escorted the old village chief out of the courtyard.
The next day, early in the morning.
Su Wanyan was half asleep on the second floor when she suddenly heard some noise outside. Before she even opened her eyes, she felt a large hand covering her ear, blocking out half of the noise.
Smelling the familiar scent, Su Wanyan lingered, snuggling closer to Yu Nanqing and falling asleep again, indulging her little whims.
On the other side, the village chief gathered all the villagers and told them about the bandits in a very concise and clear manner.
He felt that Su Wanyan was right. The bandits' intentions were obvious, and they had only been given three days. He simply did not have time to let the villagers digest the information.
Everyone must be on high alert.
Upon hearing the village chief say that bandits were coming to plunder the village, the villagers became agitated and began to discuss the matter.
However, there was no time for discussion. What followed was the frantic production of barricades and weapons. The village chief ordered people to search for usable tools not only in the dozens of households but also in the vacant buildings.
A bow and arrow for hunting, a sickle for chopping wood, and a hoe are all acceptable.
When Su Wanyan woke up, she looked out the second-floor window and saw that the villagers had gathered together to reinforce and refurbish their hunting tools.
Although they didn't know if it would be useful, none of them wanted to hand over their food to the bandits.
Although there are few people in the village, those who remain are all their closest relatives.
Even among their neighbors, they shared an unbreakable bond, and all of them were working together with a single-minded determination to protect those around them.
"Your Majesty." At this moment, Luo Xue came in from outside, her face beaming with a lovely smile, and handed Su Wanyan a note: "A message from Brother Xiao Bu."
Ignoring Luo Xue's age, Su Wanyan really felt that with that smile and that appearance, calling him "Brother Xiao Bu" wouldn't feel out of place at all.
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