Chapter 204 Enemy
The next morning, during the weighted run, Shen Lie called Wang Yunzheng to his side and said a few words. Then the slogan for the weighted run that day changed. It was no longer the "Thousand Character Classic" that was familiar to all the disciples, but the "Analects of Confucius" that Wang Yunzheng and Shen An liked.
Sang Luo thought of the teasing before going to bed last night and almost laughed out loud.
Qin Fangniang, who lived outside the valley the day before, heard it from afar and was stunned. She turned around and asked Chen Youtian: "Do they study while running like this every day?"
Chen Youtian's dark face was full of smiles. "Yes, not only do I read while running, but I also write when I'm not practicing martial arts. This is what A Lie asked me to do. Qinghe will test me regularly, so it's better for Ershan to stay outside. He will become more skilled and can recognize and write a lot of words."
He then said to Qin Fangniang, "In fact, it's not just in our valley. If you follow us, you can see that the boys and young men who live nearby will follow us at a distance, but they don't dare to come to our side. They also follow us secretly to learn stick techniques."
Qin Fangniang smacked her lips. She hadn't been out for a while and felt like the world had changed.
In the cave, Chen Dashan had just experienced the taste of it last night. He was now pestering Zhou Ge. The cave door was tightly sealed. He could coax Zhou Ge by saying that it was not yet dawn. Now the sound of reading outside was so loud. If he continued to coax Zhou Ge by saying that it was not yet dawn, would Zhou Ge believe him? She was so embarrassed that she refused to follow his lead. She hurriedly got up to serve tea to her parents-in-law and grandma.
However, Zhou Ge had only seen his mother-in-law, sister-in-law and grandparents in the first few days. The next day after returning home, when he woke up early, only Chen Youtian and Chen Ershan lived in the wooden house.
She looked at Chen Dashan in confusion, and Chen Dashan said, "My grandparents, mother, and little sister live somewhere else, and have already gone back. Since you are married here, I will not hide this from you, and I will take you there when I have the chance in the future."
Zhou Ge opened his eyes slightly and shook his head without thinking: "No, I live here, don't tell me this yet."
She actually felt something was wrong. Of the several families that left together, only Zhou Dalang to Zhou Silang were seen in Zhou Cunzheng's family, but Zhou Cunzheng, the women and the two younger children were not seen. The Shi family was also missing Shi Erlang's wife and several children, and the Lu family only had Lu Erlang and Lu Sanlang.
On the first day I got married, I thought they were in the cave or in the house and didn't come out to join in the fun. I didn't see them for the next two days. The adults could be said to have gone hunting and gathering. Could they have taken the young children with them as well?
But Zhou Ge always remembered what her mother said when she first entered the inner circle, and she was not curious. Only when she didn't see the elders in the family this morning did she show some doubts.
Chen Dashan saw that she was shaking her head so quickly, which showed that she was deeply in love. He really liked her no matter how he looked at her. He smiled and said, "You don't have to go there now. I can't bear to leave, but don't mention our affairs when you go home. Although I think your parents should be able to guess a little bit."
Seeing his two uncles sending the bride to the edge of the village and leaving, how could Chen Dashan not know?
Even the Feng and Gan families were actually very careful to maintain a certain distance from each other on the basis of mutual support.
Whether it is the Zhou family, the Feng family, or the Gan family, they may not know everything, but keeping a certain distance between different small groups is actually a tacit understanding in this world.
He hugged Zhou Ge and said, "That is another hiding place for our families, and also a retreat in times of chaos. Don't worry, if things get really chaotic and we need to hide to avoid disaster, I will not ignore my father-in-law and mother-in-law. However, the truly ambitious people are actually struggling outside. Those who go into the mountains are either avoiding disaster or don't want to cause trouble. There are some truly evil people, but they shouldn't form a particularly large force. Both of our villages are improving their military strength, so we should be able to protect ourselves."
Zhou Ge nodded. She trusted her husband very much on this point.
…
On the fourth day after Chen Dashan's marriage, Zhou Ge also joined the martial arts team. However, she had almost no basic skills, so she was ranked last and was taught individually by Chen Dashan. She often looked for Sang Luo for sparring.
His wife has come to learn martial arts, so why would Chen Dashan be lazy? It happened that Shen Lie was devoted to the book, so he was happy to throw the burden to him.
When Zhou Ge and Sang Luo were practicing martial arts together, Gan Shi would come over to join in the fun when she had nothing else to do. She saw Chen Lie and Wei Qinghe studying together from afar, and would ask Wei Qinghe about things she didn't understand, or write on the sand table next to them with a wooden stick. She said to Sang Luo, "I see that your Chen Lie is more serious about studying than Yun Zheng and Xiao An."
Could Sang Luo say that it was all caused by a joke she made?
Due to the limited length of the bamboo slips, one volume of "The Analects" only has three chapters and more than 2,000 words. But in fact, many of the words are not in the "Thousand Character Classic", but Chen Lie learned them quickly.
Thinking about how she had tried to tease him last night, but he had her pinned on his lap. Even though her breathing was disordered, she did nothing but rubbed her lips with her fingertips, and finally almost put her finger next to her ear and said, "Wait a minute, I only have two more articles to read."
That look, that voice, and that soft and hot breath falling on her ears, made Sang Luo's heart beat shamefully faster.
How many times have we fought?
Chen Lie knew how to seduce her.
…
With food and shelter, one can practice martial arts and study, and the neighbors are not too worrying. Life in the mountains is peaceful and quiet, and in a trance it does feel a bit otherworldly, and it can even make people forget that the outside world is still in chaos.
But this is just an assumption after all.
On the first day of the twelfth lunar month, it started snowing in the mountains.
It's no longer just the top of a very high mountain, but snow is flying all over the sky. The snow is so thick that the entire shoe surface will sink into the snow when you step down.
Chen Lie simply stopped his morning exercises and let everyone stay in for the winter. The family finally put on the fur coats that Sang Luo and Shen Ning had made early on.
A bunch of naughty boys will not stay at home obediently during the winter. It is easier to catch pheasants in the snow than before. They go to the nearby mountains in groups early every day. They all have some ability to protect themselves, so the adults don't care.
The second year of the journey was much colder than the first year. The snow continued to fall until the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month. Fortunately, there was a shortage of everything in the mountains except firewood. Otherwise, Sang Luo couldn't imagine how the people hiding in the mountains would survive such a cold winter this year.
Life in the villages outside the village was relatively easy. On the Laba Festival, every family cooked Laba porridge. The porridge was not yet cooked, but the sweet aroma of the beans had already spread. It was originally a warm and cozy time to celebrate the festival, but the porridge was not cooked yet and Shen Jin and Shen An had not returned.
There was a fire burning in the cave during the day, and the door was not closed. Sang Luo and Shen Ning kept looking out. They didn't know how many times they looked out, but they saw Erniu and Zhou Silang running back far away. Zhou Silang went to another home, and Erniu came straight here, calling out "Master" from a distance.
Sang Luo's heart skipped a beat, and Chen Lie had already hurried out to meet him.
"Master, there are outsiders entering the inner circle, about 40 to 50 people. Xiao Jin seems to have recognized a few of Tian Ya's enemies and followed them up. They are heading towards the Zhou family's village. They asked me to come back and report the news."
Chen Lie and Sang Luo both changed their expressions. Fortunately, Xu Wenqing, Xu Wenhong, Zhou Sanlang, Ershan and Daniu were also there. Although Xu Wenbo, Chen An and Shen Jin were smaller and weaker, their several months of martial arts training were not in vain.
Chen Lie turned around and took out his knife and bow and arrow, and told Sang Luo: "I'll ask Uncle Lu Er and Uncle Lu to go out for a while, you gather the rest of the village to our house, no one should come here, but it's safer to gather together."
This is what it means to let Chen Dashan and most of the young and strong people stay here.
Sang Luo frowned as she thought about the 40 or 50 people on the other side. She simply picked up a long stick and a bow and arrow, called Shen Ning, and said, "The door is locked. Let's go out together."
The entrance to the valley is usually carefully hidden, and now under the thick snow, there is no need to worry about being found, so there is no need to stay behind.
Several families who lived further out than Chen Lie and his family also got the news earlier. Not to mention the young and strong, even Zhou Ge followed Chen Dashan out. Xu Wenyin also followed behind the Xu family.
Well, there’s no need to mobilize. They all quickly picked up their weapons, locked the door, and followed Erniu and Zhou Silang who were leading the way, and chased out quickly.
Xu Wenqing and his team were not worried about not being able to find help because the footprints left in the snow were so clear.
It takes more than two quarters of an hour to walk to the village near Zhou's house to see people, but this group of people do weighted running in the morning as a warm-up every day, so they found people in less than a quarter of an hour.
It was too conspicuous. There were about forty or fifty people, nearly forty of whom were young and strong. They had already confronted the young and strong people in the village led by the Feng family.
They had just met and hadn't started fighting yet, but Xu Wenqing led a group of fellow apprentices behind him to hide in the bushes, ready to act according to the situation. However, Chen Lie and his men came very quickly. Well, there was no need to hide anymore. They just called out "Master" in a low voice and they emerged from behind the bushes one by one.
Shen Jin held the bow tightly, his whole body tense. When he saw Shen Lie, his nose was sore and he said, "Brother, the family that married Wang Meiniang was among that group of people. The four brothers are all there. Tian Ya was taken to their house by my father and died."
First of all, when Wang Meiniang's family was married, the villagers didn't know what was going on. But when they heard how Tian Ya was gone, everyone realized that it was because of those beasts that ate...
Chen Youtian and the others clenched the long sticks, hoes and axes in their hands in an instant. There was no old man or child in that group except seven or eight women. They were all young and strong, and they were mixed up with the four brothers. How could they be any good?
When something like this entered the inner circle, everyone's faces turned pale.
Shopkeeper Xu and Uncle Xu also looked unhappy. They looked towards the group of people in front of them. They only recognized one of the four brothers, but now they saw the back of their heads and had no idea which one it was.
He looked at the group of people in front of him, and some of them had also noticed Chen Lie and his group.
Young men, women, and half-grown children, but all of them had weapons in their hands and bows and arrows in the baskets on their backs. This configuration was very similar to the young men who rushed out of the village in front when they found out that they were a group of outsiders!
A group of people who were robbing others outside did not expect that they were surrounded from the front and back just after they entered the inner circle and found some people. When they counted the young and strong people on both sides, they found that they outnumbered them by a large margin. They felt weak for a moment and turned sideways to retreat, forming a triangle with the two groups of people, guarding on both sides.
The leader had already put away the greed on his face when he saw the vegetable fields, chicken coops and houses. He changed his face and looked innocent: "What do you mean? We are just passing by. You with sticks and clubs, you say that people are not allowed to pass by this place?"
Several older men from the Feng family stared at this group of people. They didn't think they were good people at all. Just as they were about to speak, Shen Lie and Chen Dashan behind them had already brought their men closer.
"You can pass through, but if there are any of us who are our enemies, leave them behind first." As he spoke, he had already put the arrow in his hand and said to Shen Jin on the side: "Draw your bow and arrow, aim at the four of you and shoot yourself. If the force is not enough, just point them out to me. The elder brother who can't kill will shoot you with arrows."
He then said to the group, "My brother is not very good at archery. If you run around randomly, it's your own fault if you get shot to death. If anyone wants to run, I don't recognize him as an enemy. Whoever runs will be chased by our arrows."
As soon as he put his arrows on the bow, Chen Youtian and his men who could only use hoes and axes were spared, as all the disciples put their arrows on the bow at the same time. In the blink of an eye, even the formation changed.
On the other side, Feng Dalang, Feng Erlang and Gan Erlang were Chen Lie's serious disciples. The master said there were enemies among them, so what was there to discuss? They lined up in a row and put their arrows on.
If these three were apprentices, then the young men who followed them to learn could be considered half-disciples without a title. They didn't even need to be called; as soon as Feng Dalang and his men made a move, all the young men in the village would follow suit.
It was just a test just now, but after just a word when they met, they were directly targeted by seventy or eighty arrows. A group of people who had done a lot of evil outside, now in the heavy snow, broke out in a layer of white sweat on their backs. They stepped back subconsciously, and then thought of what Chen Lie had just said, how could they dare to move?
"What enemies? We just came in!"
Several people couldn't hold back their anger, they all knew what they had done before, but they didn't recognize Chen Lie and the kid beside him at all, they were so angry that they wanted to curse, who the hell had provoked such an evil star outside!
But this is not the time for internal strife. He just said hurriedly: "Don't shoot arrows randomly, point out who it is, and make it clear what the hatred is."
Chen Lie didn't waste time talking to them. He was the one who taught Shen Jin archery himself, so he knew exactly what level he was at. "Nock the arrow."
Several women in the group screamed, "Stop shooting arrows and let us disperse!"
The crowd was obviously in chaos. Behind them was a vegetable field surrounded by wooden fences. They could not retreat, so they all lined up on both sides. Xu Wenqing and the others had guessed the nature of this group of people, so there was no way they would show mercy. As long as anyone ran away, they would shoot arrows at their legs for fear of killing them by mistake.
There was a cry of pain, and Shen Jin looked at nothing but the four brothers who finally recognized him. He shot an arrow at one of them.
Ever since Xu Wenqing fired the first arrow, the group of people became confused. The leading men waved their swords to block the arrows and shouted angrily: "I will fight you!"
They didn't have the courage for more than three breaths, and they howled and hid behind a tree with their heads in their hands. There were too many arrows. Fortunately, someone reacted quickly. As long as they didn't jump around, no one would attack them. They all raised their hands and squatted down.
Shen Jin fired the first arrow, and Shen Lie immediately followed up with another arrow. Iron arrows and bamboo arrows are different, not to mention Shen Lie's strength? Even the thick winter clothes were pierced by the arrow.
After all, he was still afraid of accidental injuries, so Chen Lie mostly shot arrows at the legs.
Shen Jin saw one of his enemies kneeling down, and with trembling hands he nocked the second arrow. The three brothers had already started fleeing in three directions.
This was a noticeable sight. Shen Lie and Chen Dashan each shot two arrows, and Gan Erlang and Feng Dalang on the other side each shot one arrow. The three brothers didn't dare to move their legs because the iron arrows of Shen Lie and Chen Dashan almost pierced through their thighs.
Only then did Shen Lie ask Shen Jin: "Are they the four?"
Shen Jin clenched the bow tightly: "Yes."
…
After making such a grudge, how could they really let this group of people get away? Chen Lie told them about the grudge he had with the four brothers. The faces of the Feng, Zhou, Gan, and Zheng families all changed. Some were holding arrows, some were holding long sticks, and the encirclement was shrinking.
As they surrounded the group of people and got closer and closer, Zheng the butcher, who was holding a butcher knife in his left hand, and several of Zheng's sons all changed their expressions.
A young woman who was shot in the leg, seeing that she was recognized by the Zheng family, cried and begged for mercy, "Relatives, relatives, I am Da Niu's sister-in-law, save me."
"Save you?" Zheng the butcher was filled with murderous intent. He rushed forward, swinging the butcher knife in his left hand and chopped down.
The butcher knife only cut the woman's leg. Zheng Dalang held his father back and looked at the group of people again. There was scrutiny in his eyes when he looked at each of them.
"Evil ghosts, a bunch of evil ghosts, none of you can leave today."
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