On the fifth day after Sicheng and his group entered the mountains, Pinghe Village also received a second notification to exchange supplies.
"Should we go and exchange it again this time?" Monkey and the other leaders who stayed behind in the village gathered together to discuss.
"We definitely have to go. This is such a rare opportunity. Besides, Brother Cheng had already discussed it with them and left some supplies that our village urgently needs. It would be such a pity if we didn't go."
"But is it okay for so many people to leave our village now?"
"What can we do? We can't let such a good opportunity slip away."
"Should we ask the village elders for their opinion?"
"Let's go ask them later. I wonder when Brother Cheng and the others will be back? Suddenly I feel like our village has too few people. When something happens, we feel like we can't manage them all." As the village accountant, Sun Shaolei was used to starting to count the number of people in his hands.
“This is a village, not some kind of organization, so why would we need so many people? This situation is just an isolated incident.” Yun Xun knew that if it weren’t for the fear of attacks on the village, there wouldn’t be any problem with so many people from the village going out.
"Yunxun, your dad and the others should be back soon, right?" Monkey thought of Uncle Zhixin and his group. If Uncle Zhixin and his group could take some people to the city, then there wouldn't be any problems.
"How could you forget about my dad and the others? But before, it was always my uncles who came back to notify us. Why is it the army coming directly to find us this time?" Yun Xun felt something was off.
"How did you receive the notification?" Upon hearing this, Brother Wu sat up straight.
“Last time, Uncle Zhizhong came back directly to inform the village, which is why we were able to arrive in the city earlier.” Sun Shaolei thought for a moment and then added, “But this time it seems that the person who came only told the people guarding the village entrance outside the city wall, and did not enter the village.”
“Something’s not right. If it were a notification from the city, Uncle Zhixin and the others would definitely have received the news before us. In order to avoid delays and allow the villages to arrive quickly and exchange for more supplies, they would have come back directly to notify us, instead of having the military send people to notify each village one by one.”
The monkey didn't believe that Yun Zhixin and his team would slack off like that. Besides, they thought it was normal for them to find an excuse to go home and visit their new recruits.
The group exchanged glances, sensing something unusual.
"I'll go around to the other side and ask around in Xin San Village to see if they've received the news." Wu Yong had previously gone fishing with the others on the other side of the lake and knew that it was possible to get to Xin San Village from the other side as well.
"Okay, let's take another path, it'll be safer." Although there are bamboo rafts in the village that can be used to paddle across, that would make us too conspicuous.
"Let's discuss this with the village. Hopefully, it's not what we're thinking. But if it really is a notice to exchange supplies, then we won't be able to explain it away."
"Yun Xun, you and Sun Shaolei go and inform the village in a bit. I'll take some people to check around the village later." After saying that, Monkey stood up and started to gather people.
Yunxun and the others first told their second grandfather and the others about this matter, and raised their own questions.
“This time, none of our people in the city have come back to inform us, so we definitely need to question this matter. We shouldn’t rush to the city now. Even if we don’t get this batch of supplies, it won’t matter.”
My second grandfather made the decision immediately: no matter what, we should give up the trip to the city.
"Should we gather the villagers and tell them that everyone is really looking forward to exchanging for the second batch of supplies? If they really miss it, we need to give them an explanation." Grandpa Qi knew that the women in his family had been thinking about it for a long time.
“Speak up, that way everyone will have a better understanding. If this is a trap and we step into it, the consequences could be unimaginable.”
Angkor soon arrived at New Three Village via a side path. New Three Village had dug deep trenches along this side path, so he couldn't cross them. He could only stand there and call out when someone passed by.
Fortunately, he was lucky; not long after, people came to cultivate the fields there.
"Big brother, over here!" Wu Tianxiang waved his hands and shouted loudly.
"You're from Pinghe Village across the street, right? How did you get here?"
People on their way to work in the fields were also surprised to see him, because people from Pinghe Village usually enter the village from that end and rarely come this way. Even if they saw him, they were usually fishing on the other side.
"Could you call your village chief for me? I have some questions I'd like to ask him."
Wu Tianxiang knew that there was no wooden bridge in their village for people to cross, so he had to trouble Village Chief Shi to make the trip.
"Alright, wait a moment, I'll go find someone right away. But I don't know if Village Chief Shi is home right now. If he's in the fields on the mountain, you might have to wait a while."
Knowing that someone from Pinghe Village was coming from this path at this time, he must have something important to do. Without delay, he put down his tools and ran towards the village after giving his instructions.
"Thank you! You've worked so hard, brother." Wu Tianxiang could only shout his thanks to his retreating figure.
"As expected, there are more honest people than not." Wu Tianxiang said with a sigh as he watched the other person jog away.
Perhaps because Village Chief Shi was working in his own fields, it took them a while to arrive.
Because he had been carrying limestone to Pinghe Village during this period, Village Chief Shi knew Wu Tianxiang and knew that Wu Tianxiang must have something to say to him, so he got down to business.
"Village Chief Shi, thank you for making this trip. I wonder if our village has received any notice about going to the city to exchange for supplies?" Wu Tianxiang hoped that they had also received the notice.
"No, no one notified us this time." Village Chief Shi hadn't expected this problem. "It's probably because our village didn't go to exchange it last time, so they didn't even notify us this time."
Upon hearing his reply, Wu Tianxiang's heart sank. It seemed there really was something fishy going on here. Otherwise, given the military's usual practices, they wouldn't simply not notify Xin San Village this time just because they hadn't gone to exchange supplies last time.
"Are the troops that were stationed here before still in our village?"
"They're still here. They've started clearing land on another hilltop, and it seems they'll settle down here with their families in the future." Although Village Chief Shi had some questions about these issues, he still told him.
"I wonder if I can call them over? I need their help." As soon as Wu Tianxiang heard that these people were still here, he immediately thought of a solution.
"Sure, how about we put up a plank and you come over to talk?" Village Chief Shi saw that relaying the message wasn't a good solution.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com