Chapter 23 The Sound of Horse Hoofs
Facing Ding De, he wanted to change his face and teach him a lesson!
Ding Xiaodie and Ding Gui pretended not to see anything and continued walking forward. The original owner had been bullied by him a lot, so now he was nothing.
"Hey, this..."
Ding De choked and watched them walk away. It was like the sun rising from the west.
"I'm talking to the second son of the Ding family. See? An old man is a treasure in the family. Your mother spoke for the third son's family, and now even the third son is tough."
"That's right, why don't you bring your mother here to raise her?"
When several villagers who usually hang out with Ding De saw this, they started to make fun of him.
Ding De was so angry that he just cursed: "I can support you if I want to, and give you another mother."
"Hahaha!"
Everyone burst into laughter.
Although they were laughing, they still had to talk about business. In the end, Ding De worked hard to find the families who agreed to stay, and he gathered eight families, all of whom had some food on hand.
But if you count the number of people, there are only about twenty or so, and most of them have elderly parents and young children. There are actually not many young and strong people.
Ding Rong was very dissatisfied with this. He meant that at least half of the villagers were willing to stay.
But even if he was not satisfied, he would not say anything and let the second child do whatever he wanted. In the end, he would be responsible for whether the task succeeded or not.
Dabao and Erbao heard the news and went back to the house to tell their father about it.
"The second eldest son of the Ding family is trying to get everyone to stay. So far, eight families are willing to stay."
Lai Fu sat in the corner smoking a pipe. He had just eaten lotus root yesterday, so he felt stronger today. In fact, his mind had also begun to change.
Seeing that I am unable to earn a living for the villagers, let them decide whether to leave or stay!
Erbao saw that his father didn't say anything, so he asked, "Dad, what are you thinking about?"
Lai Fu took a long drag on his pipe and said, "Let them do whatever they want. They can stay if they want and leave if they want. I can't control them."
Yang knew that her husband was upset, so she winked at her two sons, signaling them to speak less.
Just at this time, Ding Xiaodie and Ding Gui came to the door and told them that they wanted to go up the mountain.
Dabao and Erbao were immediately interested.
"Xiaodie, let's go up the mountain with you!"
"Okay, we came here specifically to call you two brothers."
There is strength in numbers, and the two young brothers are not outsiders. It would be fine to share half of the food we pick up with them. Putting aside the people in the same village, interpersonal relationships are also very important at the moment.
The old ancestor particularly liked Ding Xiaodie. When he saw her coming, he pulled her into his arms and hugged her for a while.
Ding Xiaodie also affectionately filled the old ancestor's gourd bottle with water.
After they went out and up the mountain, the ancestor took a sip and said, "This water... is sweet."
The water people drink these days is either muddy water or water with a slightly astringent taste. Modern mineral water like this naturally tastes clear and sweet in their mouths.
After the old ancestor finished speaking, he saw that everyone looked unconvinced, so he asked Yang to take a bowl and pour it out for them to see.
"Oh, this water is so clear."
"It looks like well water."
They used to have a well in Aozigou, and the water in it was sweet. But since the drought, there has been no water in the well for a whole year!
The ancestor asked everyone to take a sip, and after drinking it, everyone's face looked surprised.
It tastes better than well water.
"But we haven't seen any muddy water in the pond along the way. Where did Xiaodie get such good water?" Lai Fu was very confused. What he was most concerned about along the way was water resources.
But no one in the village could find water.
Yang said, "Maybe the baby brought it with her before she left the house, and she has been reluctant to drink it. Now that she met grandma today, she might as well share some with her."
The old ancestor nodded in deep agreement: "Xiaodie is a very kind child. I hope God will bless her more!"
Just as the family was talking, a fight broke out in the street outside.
The reason was that the corpse of the town resident next door was so smelly that everyone wanted to fight over the house, so the two families started fighting.
Even though these people usually don't have enough to eat or drink, once they start a dispute and fight, they will fight to the death. In a short time, men on both sides are injured.
He shouted that he wanted to go to the village chief to seek justice.
An hour ago, Lai Fu went to the street to stop everyone from walking around and wasting their energy, but no one listened to him. Now, when the fight started, each one hit harder than the other.
Village chief Lai Fu was dragged to the street by the villagers. He didn't want to get involved, but when he looked at the two families, he felt a sense of disappointment.
So he roared, "If you want to fight, then fight. Kill one less and I will applaud you! You have never seen such shameful things. You have lived in such a state and still don't know how to unite. You are afraid of being at a disadvantage over the smallest things. You still think you are in the village. If someone's field stalks occupy someone else's land, or someone's pond leaks into someone else's land, you will have a fight and a quarrel.
Good, now you still have the bad temper you had in the village, quarreling and quarreling."
“…”
The two families were completely dumbfounded.
Unexpectedly, when the village chief was called out to seek justice, both families were scolded.
However, this scolding hit the point, and many sensible people in the village have quietly lowered their heads.
This is the fact. The whole village came out to escape famine, but there were infighting every day. It was a bit embarrassing to hear the village chief scolding them directly.
"What? You're going to keep quiet?" Lai Fu roared, "Fine, if you're going to keep quiet, I'll say a few more words. Everyone go back to your rooms and get ready. When the sun goes down and the weather isn't so hot, we'll set off."
"Village chief, where are we going?" someone asked.
"Let's go along the official road. If we stay here, we'll all starve to death."
Lai Fu said this and went into the house. The villagers standing on the street discussed with each other for a while, and had no choice but to go back to their own rooms to start packing and preparing.
And during this process, some villagers came to Ding De and said that their family planned to continue following the team and did not want to stay.
Then came the second, the third...
No matter how much Ding De said, they would not change their minds, and the small group that was finally put together was dispersed again.
Ding Rong wasn't surprised when he heard the news. "What did I say? No one dared to stay. In the end, we had no choice but to follow the villagers and take this road. Well, forget it, let's go back to the house and pack up!"
"But brother, we have food, so there's no need to follow them, right?"
"What good is having food? If you run into bandits, you'll lose your life if you're all alone."
Ding Rong stiffened as soon as he finished speaking, his expression changing slightly: "Did you hear that? There's movement."
"What's going on?"
Ding De watched his brother's focused expression and listened intently, "There really is movement. It's the sound of horses...horse hooves."
Ta-da-da!
A burst of hurried horse hooves sounded from afar, galloping along the quiet street, instantly tightening everyone's heart.
(End of this chapter)
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