Chapter 381: You scoundrels are so rampant that you cannot tolerate them

Soon, Ling Xiao took the bandits to the mountain to buy meat and rice.

Seeing this, men, women, old and young all cheered with joy and hurriedly boiled water and set the pot on the stove.

After a while, the aroma of meat and rice filled the air.

The children, who usually climbed trees in the mountains and fished in the sea, stopped climbing trees and catching fish. They just sat in a row, staring at the scene eagerly.

As soon as Lingxiao shouted "Dinner is ready", he immediately rushed forward with a broken earthen bowl in his hands.

Seeing this, Xie Zhuoning and Xiao Jinxuan also went out to help Ling Xiao prepare meals for them.

"Don't be impatient, eat slowly, and..."

They were told not to rush, but the children ate voraciously, wishing they could swallow the bowl in one gulp.

Only a few old women held their bowls, but they took small bites and were reluctant to eat.

Seeing this, Xie Zhuoning walked over and asked, "Why aren't you eating?"

The woman shook her head in embarrassment and said, "Save it for the children. They are growing up now. After this meal is finished, they can have a few more meals."

"But won't it get spoiled if left alone?"

"It's okay. The weather won't be bad. Cook the meat and bake it into jerky. Eat a little at a time. The meat will last for a long time!"

They all had smiles on their faces while talking, but Xie Zhuoning felt very upset.

A bowl of meat, a bowl of rice, these were the most common things, but they were reluctant to eat a single bite and wanted to save them for their children.

In the wealthy families, just one dish of duck tongues brewed with wine would require hundreds of ducks, without the meat, only a tiny bit like the tip of the tongue would be taken.

It is true that the rich have wine and meat, while the streets have frozen corpses.

"My Lord, Madam, you should eat some too."

At this time, the dwarf Tiezhu came over, holding meat and rice that had just been taken out of the pot.

Xie Zhuoning felt upset and had no appetite, so he said, "Give my share to the children."

Xiao Jinxuan said, "You haven't recovered yet, so eat a little and share my portion."

“I don’t feel comfortable doing this…” Tiezhu tried to refuse in every possible way, but after much persuasion, he finally gave it to the children to share.

Seeing the children eating so happily, a big man wiped away his tears.

Seeing this, Tiezhu walked over and scolded him in a low voice, "Why are you crying for no reason?"

The man was the one who had carried the iron pillar and pretended to be a general. He lifted his sleeves and wiped his eyes. "No, I didn't cry...Iron Pillar, are we going to die?"

Tiezhu frowned and shouted angrily, "What nonsense are you talking about?"

He lowered his eyebrows and said, "When we went down the mountain to buy meat, we met people from the Green Forest Alliance."

It was their bad luck that they ran into the muzzles of their guns on the way back.

When the group of people saw them, they wanted to rob them, but they were beaten to a pulp by the man called Ling Xiao.

"When they escaped, they told us to wait and that they would report to the leader and vice leader soon and send people to deal with us."

Tiezhu's expression suddenly changed, "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"I saw everyone was so happy, I was too embarrassed to say..."

"Oh, you, you!"

Tiezhu hurriedly found Lingxiao and asked him in a flattering manner whether he had had a conflict with the people from the Green Forest Alliance.

Ling Xiao nodded, "Yes, they were just a mob. I beat them away in no time."

If he wasn't unfamiliar with the surrounding terrain, none of those minions would have been able to escape.

Tiezhu felt very sad in his heart and he quickly called everyone over, asking them to pack up their things and leave as soon as possible.

"Why are you leaving?" Xie Zhuoning asked doubtfully.

Tiezhu sighed, "We don't want to leave either, but this Lord Lingxiao has offended the Green Forest Alliance. They will take revenge for any slight, and we won't have an easy time. Now pack up and head into the mountains. Although there are more dangers, there may still be a way to survive."

Finally, he said, "You guys should pack up and leave here."

Unexpectedly, when he was telling everyone to pack up, the sentry came over and said, "Tiezhu, it's bad! The Green Forest Alliance is here!"

Tiezhu's dark face turned pale with fear, "How come you came so quickly?"

There was no choice but to put on a smile and go over to greet her.

But just as he approached, he was kicked and stepped on by someone.

The leader looked down at him and stepped on his face. "Hey, Tiezhu, you've become successful. You can eat rice, noodles and pork. I can smell the fragrance from far away. The guests are coming, why don't you take some out to entertain them?"

The old ladies nearby hurriedly brought over the meat they were reluctant to eat, and carefully said, "My Lords, please enjoy..."

After looking up, the leader winked at the person beside him, and another person stepped forward and raised his hands, "Give these to us, you are treating beggars like this!"

The hot stew spilled all over the floor. The women were distressed and quickly got down on the floor to pick it up.

However, those people stepped on the flesh in a vile manner and laughed wildly.

"Eat, I'll let you eat. If you want to eat, kneel down on the ground and lick it!"

When the people in the village saw this, they all suppressed their anger and dared not speak out.

The weapons in their hands were rusty axes and rakes for digging the soil.

But those outlaws were holding murderous knives in their hands.

The leader stepped on Tiezhu's face again before letting him go. "Tiezhu, we're here for no other reason than to ask you to pay your taxes this year."

Tiezhu ignored the burning pain on his face and said, "Isn't it... isn't it time yet?"

The leader glanced at him and said, "It's already early this year, don't you know?"

Tiezhu looked embarrassed, "But we really can't come up with a hundred taels of silver right now..."

"Aren't you tied up with some rich and powerful meat tickets? You can even afford rice, noodles and meat, so why can't you come up with silver? And who told you that the tax silver is 100 taels? The price has increased this year, and it needs 500 taels!"

Hearing that shocking number, Tiezhu's eyes went dark and he almost fainted.

He couldn't even come up with a hundred taels of silver, let alone five hundred taels!

"You...you are going too far!"

"You're going too far? When I asked you to hand over the things, weren't you quite brave? It's ok that you dared to keep the good stuff for yourself, but you actually dared to beat up my people?"

The leader sneered and waved his hand, and instantly a dozen or so men behind him drew their swords at the same time.

"I'll give you one stick of incense to pay five hundred taels of tax, or I'll kill you, old and young, one by one, until there are none left!"

Before he finished speaking, a murderous voice was heard.

"In Daye, we will not tolerate the rampant behavior of you scoundrels!"

The chilling sound was like a sword being unsheathed, carrying with it a stern aura.

The leader looked up and saw five people coming out of the house.

There were two men and three women. The sharp-eyed ones immediately recognized that the man who was speaking was the guy who beat them up.

However, the leader's gaze fell on the woman next to the man who was speaking, and his eyes instantly became obsessed.

"What a beautiful young lady..."