Chapter 10: Disguise and Inquire
Su Zhizhi tied the whip back to her waist:
"We hunted a lot of snakes in our village and made whips out of their skins. A big pot of snake meat stew is delicious!"
Qiu Ming was no longer calm.
The calm expression on his face almost broke.
The snakes that their gang carefully raises have always been human-eating snakes, but what did this little girl say?
A big pot of snake meat stew?
The skin was peeled off and used as a plaything for her?
Qiu Ming looked around again.
If what this little girl said is true, there must be an expert on this mountain.
"Who in your village is capable of catching so many snakes?"
Qiu Ming pretended to be surprised and asked Su Zhizhi, but failed to get any information out of her.
Su Zhizhi only said proudly: "In our village, everyone is very capable."
A large area of flat land on the west side of Black Bandit Mountain has been reclaimed into farmland.
It is the spring sowing season, and there are many people busy working in the fields on the mountains.
Su Zhizhi looked towards the ridges of the fields.
Qiu Ming and others also saw the scene in the fields. Everyone was busy plowing the fields, facing the loess and with their backs to the sky.
It was clearly a peaceful scene, but something seemed amiss.
Qiu Ming discovered that it was not an ox pulling the plow, but a person.
Qiu Ming rubbed his eyes and looked carefully again. The figure of Liu Yinhuan pulling the plow was reflected in his inverted triangle eyes.
!!!
Not only Qiu Ming, but also the group of people behind him had their pupils trembling.
Liu Yinhuan, who was showing off his power in the gang and had a nose in the air, was forced to pull the plow with a miserable face.
There was an old man standing next to Liu Yinhuan. Everyone saw the old man raise his hand and slap Liu Yinhuan on the forehead.
Liu Yinhuan didn't dare to fight back, and trembled with her head hanging down.
Like a stray dog.
Liu Yinhuan, who was the "cow substitute", was really devastated. He felt that his life was worse than that of pigs and dogs.
He was first interrogated by the white-faced village chief, and then he was tied up and sent to Doctor Yu, where he was fed various medicines and endured the torment of being on the verge of life and death.
Among the dozen brothers, six woke up.
The rest of the people, if they don’t wake up before the next hunting trip, will never have the chance to wake up again.
Those who woke up were thrown into the fields the next day to work like animals, and they worked harder than cows.
He occasionally wanted to take a break and take a breath, but the person supervising him was Old Man Qin.
They took a long breath, and Old Man Qin could glare at them accurately.
Also, all the snakes they had raised for years were chopped up, even the skins were left...
Liu Yinhuan has been a bully in the village since he was a child. He has never been bullied to this extent.
He gritted his teeth and kicked the yellow mud under his feet.
The people on this mountain are so damn evil!
When the big boss Qiu Ming arrives, their Green Snake Village will raze Black Bandit Mountain to the ground, cut these people into pieces, and grind their bones into ashes!
Pah--
Liu Yinhuan slipped and fell forward.
As he got up in a filthy state, his eyes happened to sweep across Qiu Ming and his group in the distance.
Liu Yinhuan immediately lowered her head, but a light flashed in her eyes.
The boss is here with his men!
OK, OK.
This damn life is finally over.
After seeing Liu Yinhuan clearly, Qiu Ming on the mountain also quickly looked away.
Qiu Ming winked at Li San behind him.
Li San immediately clutched his stomach and cried out:
"Oh, my stomach hurts. Excuse me, where is the toilet?"
Bai Xun glanced at Hao Ren, and when he saw Hao Ren nod slightly, he pointed in a direction:
"It's behind the thatched cottage."
"Thank you, ouch...it hurts so much..." Li San ran away holding his stomach.
Li San went around to the back of the thatched hut, but did not go into the toilet. Instead, he slipped towards the kitchen while no one was paying attention.
There was a large vat of water for cooking at the kitchen door, which Kong Wu had just filled.
Wu Yingniang, Hua Erniang and Grandma Qiu were busy cooking and casually scooped a few scoops of water from the bucket.
Li San hid behind the house next door, took out a gray pill from his arms, and threw it into the water tank.
The pills dissolved in water and disappeared without a trace in an instant.
Li San ran back holding his stomach.
When Qiu Ming saw Li San coming back in good health, he knew that the plan was half successful.
The Midnight Pills of their Green Snake Village are made from hundreds of snake venoms and are extremely toxic. A poisoned person will become paralyzed all over after two hours and will not survive midnight, hence the name Midnight Pills.
The antidote is only in Qiu Ming's hands. As long as he doesn't give the antidote, everyone will die.
"It's time to eat—"
The aroma of food came from the kitchen.
As dusk fell, the working villagers returned in groups of three or four, carrying their hoes.
When we were bandits, we all ate together in a big pot. Later, when we became good people and villagers, we still ate together.
Each of them held a bowl in their hands and walked to the kitchen window.
Wu Yingniang and Grandma Qiu served each person a large spoonful of plump, glistening rice, paired with pickled vegetables made in winter, and topped with tender wild boar meat.
Yesterday a wild boar was caught in a trap and killed enough to feed the whole village for several meals.
That trap was the one Su Zhizhi insisted on digging last year.
She wanted to play hide-and-seek with Po and hide in a place where Po couldn't see her even if he flew. So she pulled Kong Wu together and dug a big hole to bury herself.
Su Zhizhi was standing in the pit, excitedly covering herself halfway with soil when Wu Yingniang appeared in time, picked up Su Zhizhi and spanked her.
Su Zhizhi didn't dare to dig a hole to bury herself again, but the big hole remained. From time to time, one or two wild animals fell into it, and the villagers were happy to get an extra meal.
Su Zhizhi held two crude pottery bowls in her hands and stood on tiptoe by the window:
"Mom, Grandma Qiu, I'll have one bowl, and I'll bring another bowl for Ache."
Grandma Qiu smiled with kind wrinkles all over her face:
"Zhizhi is so good, grandma will give you more gravy."
Wu Yingniang laughed: "Aunt Qiu, don't give the child too much food. It will be a waste if he can't finish it."
Su Zhizhi held the full bowl and greased her feet:
"Thank you, Grandma Qiu. I will eat it all!"
She had only taken two steps when Hua Erniang dodged in front of her and pulled out a food box from behind her back.
"Zhizhi, put the bowl in. There's food for Doctor Yu in here. Please take it with you."
Doctor Yu studied medicine in his own small courtyard, often staying at home for several days at a time, and sometimes even forgetting to eat.
"Okay." Su Zhizhi put the bowl away, covered the food box, and went to Doctor Yu's yard to deliver the meal.
Qiu Ming and a group of people also pretended to take a bowl to get food.
They had not originally intended to eat it, but if everyone else ate it and they were the only ones not, the villagers would inevitably become suspicious.
Besides, the food was so delicious.
It is true that the Green Snake Village pretended to be refugees, but in order to get here, they had to sleep in the open air along the way. Especially today, after going up the mountain, they had not had a sip of water or a bite of food, and their stomachs were empty now.
Qiu Ming walked to the window with the bowl in his hand, putting on a simple and pitiful smile:
"Auntie, it doesn't need to be much, just a little will do."
Grandma Qiu, with her head full of white hair, scooped a large ladle of light white water from behind her and poured it into Qiu Ming's bowl.
One or two grains of rice were faintly floating in the water, bobbing up and down.
Qiu Ming suppressed his murderous gaze and said, "Aunt, what is this?"
Grandma Qiu still smiled kindly:
"Oh, I heard you've been hungry for quite some time. Your stomachs are hurt. You can't eat greasy food or meat. Some porridge is just right."
Qiu Ming: ...
Is this called porridge?
Isn’t this just a bowl of water?
The villagers just said nice things, but they are too stingy when it comes to doing things.
Poor and stingy.
Qiu Ming cursed in his heart, but said stiffly: "Aunt is right."
After the people from Green Snake Village left with their soups and cursing in their hearts, Wu Yingniang, who had finished her meal, returned to the kitchen to take over from Grandma Qiu.
"Aunt Qiu, go eat. Let me take over."
Wu Yingniang turned around and looked at him, wondering:
"Tsk, where's the pot-washing water I poured earlier?"
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