Chapter 32
Ye Jia passed the message to Guo Huai, and he had a plan in mind. He was not in a position to talk to Ye Jia about the following matters, and Ye Jia did not ask any more questions.
Looking up, he saw that it was getting late, so Ye Jia took Old Man Sun’s ox cart back home.
The children of the family had already gathered together to play. Or rather, the two grandsons of the Sun family were coaxing Rui Jie'er to play. Perhaps knowing that the Zhou family was their grandfather's employer, the two of them prioritized Rui Jie'er in everything they did. Rui Jie'er was also a good-natured child, and didn't need their coaxing at all. When Ye Jia entered the house, Rui Jie'er and the two Sun children were squatting in front of Diandian's nest, chattering.
Ever since Diandian grew up, his fierce nature began to show. Unlike other dogs, he rarely barked, preferring to hide in the shadows and stare at people silently. He had been in the Zhou family for so long that even the neighboring old lady, Wang, didn't know they had a silent dog.
When Ye Jia came back, Diandian jumped out of her nest, quickly rushed to her legs, and sniffed around her legs.
The howling voice still tinged with babyishness. Old Man Sun, who had parked the ox cart in the back, couldn't help but take a few more glances. It was simply because the gray dog looked more and more like a wolf. Curious, he saw Ye Jia squat down and pick up the little creature. The gray dog nestled in Ye Jia's arms, tilting its head back and licking Ye Jia's chin repeatedly. He then looked away.
Yu came out from the backyard with mud on her feet.
When Zhou Jingchen was not at home, Yu Shi took care of the three plots of chives in the backyard. Since most of the family's income came from the food stall, Yu Shi treasured the three plots of land and personally watered and fertilized them.
Ye Jia had been out and about all day, with no free time. Yu had already prepared the leeks and put them in the kitchen. When she had some free time, she bought two large pig heads. She cleaned them up, imitating Ye Jia's daily routine. She didn't know how to braise them, otherwise the pig heads would have been ready long ago. Seeing Old Man Sun following behind Ye Jia, Yu immediately knew what was going on.
Ye Jia specially prepared several dishes to entertain guests. When she happened to be serving the braised pig's head, Ye Jia and Yu Shi invited Old Man Sun to sit in the yard.
It's just one thing, hiring someone to do the job.
Libei Town lacked a hawker industry. Most shops hired workers through referrals from acquaintances. They either sought help from people from the same village or ethnic group, or spread the word among regular customers. The amount of wages depended on the employer; there was no universally agreed-upon price. In those days, there were no laws protecting workers, and most temporary and long-term workers depended on their employers' wishes.
Ye Jia didn't want to look for people from the same village. Distrust of these people was one thing, but the main reason was that the Zhou family had no relatives in Wangjia Village. If something happened, they would be alone and helpless, and Zhou Jingchen was not in the village, so they would have to suffer in silence.
After thinking about it, Yu explained the recruitment plan to Old Man Sun in detail. She spoke in a pleasant tone now: "...We don't have anyone in the village we can trust. We've been relying on Old Man Sun for his constant support lately. He's been helping us out whenever we need help. Now that we have the money to hire someone, why not give it to Old Man Sun? We can't trust anyone else to do things for us."
Old Man Sun was constantly picking up and dropping off the Zhou family's mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. He knew better than anyone what Ye Jia was doing. Originally, Yu hadn't mentioned it, but he had actually been wanting to shamelessly bring it up. Now that Yu had put it so beautifully, he naturally agreed.
He agreed before even discussing the wages, which was because Old Man Sun trusted the Zhou family and knew that the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were very kind people.
Ye Jia had called him over because he knew he would agree, so he naturally smiled. "Don't worry, Uncle Sun. Mom and I are not the kind of people who would be so harsh. Since you've asked Uncle Sun to work for you, we won't treat you unfairly in terms of wages."
After thinking about it, he realized that the fragrant soap wasn't made every day. The business wasn't booming yet, so it was definitely one order at a time. Ye Jia's wages for Old Man Sun were naturally based on a daily basis. Ye Jia's wages were generous, too: one hundred coins a day, including two meals.
Don't underestimate these hundred coins. The largest embroidery shop in town only makes a little over eight coins a month. Yu Shi used to work every day, sitting in the backyard of a house, embroidering all day, until she was dizzy. There were thirty days in a month, and only one meal was provided. Evenly distributed, how much is the daily wage? The wages Ye Jia offered were so generous that even Old Man Sun felt uncomfortable handling them.
"This, this..." Since they were willing to pay him, Old Man Sun, no matter how honest he was, didn't refuse. He scratched his head and cheeks with a red face, and for a long time, with red eyes, he thanked Ye Jia and Yu for their care.
Ye Jia waved his hand and said with a smile, "Our family is also grateful for Uncle Sun's help every day, so there is no need to be so formal."
Old Man Sun said he would do his best. As he spoke, he caught a glimpse of his eldest grandson, who was looking at him with wide eyes. He said, "Shuanzi can do it too. If there are any small matters that the Zhou family cannot handle in the future, you can just ask Shuanzi to run errands."
Ye Jia glanced back. The child named Shuanzi had a pair of dark, gleaming eyes. Seeing Ye Jia's gaze, he shyly turned his head and ran away. She knew that children in the countryside began helping with household chores at the age of four or five, and that many girls were washing clothes and cooking by the age of five or six, but her inherent concept of child labor was unacceptable. She smiled and went to work in the kitchen.
It takes about an hour to stew the pig's head. Since it is to be made into a cold cut, it does not need to be stewed too much. Otherwise, it will not be crispy.
During this conversation, the pig's head was almost done.
Ye Jia poked it with chopsticks, and when he saw the color was about right, he took out all the pork head meat and placed it in a large wooden basin to cool. He selected a piece of pork cheek and two pig ears, quickly chopped celery, cilantro, and garlic, mixed the marinade, poured it into the mixture, and mixed it.
After clearing the pot, Ye Jia made another dish of stir-fried lamb, three stir-fried vegetables and an egg soup.
Old Man Sun and his two grandsons enjoyed a sumptuous meal at the Zhou family's. The children often enjoyed the snacks their grandfather brought back from the Zhou family. This was their first time eating Ye Jia's cooking, and the food was so delicious that they almost ate the entire plate. Mrs. Yu smiled at the sight and gave the children some candied fruit.
It was dark after the meal, and Old Man Sun hurriedly took his two grandsons and left the Zhou family.
Yu cleared away the pots and pans and coaxed Ruijieer to go to sleep in the room. Only then did the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law find time to sit down and talk.
Ye Jia wanted to hire people, but how to assign them to work remained a challenge. This was a complex subject, and to break it down, it was crucial to the long-term sustainability of the business. According to Ye Jia, the work couldn't be divided among one person. He couldn't just hand over the work to someone else just because the pay was high. He could only teach them part of the job; the specific methods needed to remain within his own hands.
When Ye Jiayi said this, Yu Shi naturally understood. This was the benefit of reading a lot, and his comprehension ability was better than many of his contemporaries.
Although Old Man Sun was known for his cautious approach, Ye Jia had always disliked testing people's hearts with money and other such things. In ancient times, there were no patent protection laws, and making fragrant soaps, large and small, was considered a patented technology. He couldn't hand it over entirely to outsiders, as it would be pointless if the apprentice starved himself.
The two men discussed it and decided to assign the job of pounding the pig pancreas to Old Man Sun.
Men are naturally strong. Although Old Man Sun is a bit older, he's still far stronger than Ye Jia and Yu. Ye Jia would be the one to add the ingredients later. As for grinding the bath beans, Yu had originally wanted to leave it to Sun's eldest grandson. But after hearing Ye Jia's suggestion, she realized that bath beans were a crucial ingredient in the scented soap and decided to do it herself.
This is not the right way to save effort. When it comes to business, Yu knows what is important.
"Okay, the pig pancreas will be delivered tomorrow, and we can get it right away when we get off the stall." Ye Jia felt that Yu was truly a great business partner. She was sensible and could draw inferences from one instance. Many things could be understood immediately by her.
Yu nodded, put down her cup, and stood up. She was about to go to the kitchen to help make the dough for the chive and egg pancakes for tomorrow morning.
"Mom, let's not make them tonight." Ye Jia hurriedly stopped her. "When the weather gets hotter, the taste of overnight pancakes will definitely be much worse. We only sell 300 pancakes a day, so we have to work harder and make them to perfection. We can't let the reputation of our Xishi stall be ruined just because of the hot weather."
Things do spoil easily in hot weather, especially their cooked food. Yu Shi never interfered in areas she wasn't familiar with, so she listened to Ye Jia's words. It happened to be a free evening, so the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law took a bath and enjoyed the cool air in the courtyard.
June is approaching, and I'm afraid July and August will be extremely hot. I wonder how people in ancient times could survive without air conditioning or fans.
The evening breeze brought a chill. Ye Jia fanned herself with a large cattail leaf fan when a sudden thought struck her: "Mom, do you think we should plant a tree in our yard? It's been left bare like this, and the kang fumes are too strong. Even a well wouldn't be able to withstand it."
Before Ye Jia mentioned it, Yu had not thought about it. But when he mentioned it, Yu looked back at her own yard and felt that nothing about it was pretty.
The Zhou family's yard wasn't small, covering 400 square meters. However, this was also due to the low value of land in Libei Town and the small population. Every household had a large yard, and many raised livestock in their own yards.
The Zhou family's small house is its three-room apartment. It was built to be cramped and short to save on materials. In the harsh summers of the northwest, a low house gets hot. Originally, Ye Jiacai hadn't planned to stay long, so he'd left it alone. But now that business was being built here, the family's living conditions naturally needed to be improved.
"I'm thinking that once our soap business really takes off and we have more money, we'll tear this house down and rebuild it." Ye Jia said it casually, but every word struck her heart like a hammer. "Then we'll talk to the neighbors about buying some land nearby and making a bigger yard. We'll focus on planting grapes or flowers and trees against the wall..."
Yu drank a mouthful of mung bean water from the well, and the sweet soup cooled her stomach. "Jia Niang, just think about it."
Ye Jia laughed and looked up at the sky.
Dusk fell, bringing a strangely peaceful atmosphere. The two sat in the courtyard for a while before returning to their rooms for bed. The next morning, they woke up at four o'clock, lit a lamp, and kneaded bread in the kitchen. Yu Shi gradually became more proficient at it, and now she could make perfect bread without Ye Jia's guidance.
The two were busy for a while, and only went to open the door when they heard the sound of an ox cart outside.
With the proliferation of breakfast stalls in the tile market, pancakes have lost their appeal. Some things are delicious at first, but after a while, they lose their appeal. Ye Jia had considered selling something else; she even considered selling pancakes. But then she realized she couldn't be too greedy. She wouldn't have to devote as much time to running the breakfast stall in Libei Town if she started another business.
However, Jianbing Guozi is definitely worth making. You can make it in your spare time and eat it at home.
They arrived in town early today, and when they arrived, the other stalls were still closed. The chive and egg pancakes were selling fast, and it was very busy that morning. The three hundred pancakes were sold out quickly, and it would take some time before the pig head meat started selling.
They had just set the table when they spotted a tall, sturdy woman approaching from a distance, carrying a large bag. Ye Jia was fiddling with the chopping board and braising liquid. Seeing the woman walking straight toward Xishi's stall, Yu Shi assumed she wanted to buy some pancakes. She immediately stood up and said with a smile, "Sorry, we're sold out today. If you want some, you'll have to wait until tomorrow morning..."
Before she finished speaking, the girl smiled and turned to look at Ye Jia.
Without saying anything else, she placed the large package next to Ye Jia's hand and said, "Jia'er, this is what the Second Master asked me to bring to you."
Ye Jia looked up and saw the girl yelling, "I sent it to the town entrance that day but you weren't there, so I took it back. A few days ago, when the Second Master was escorting the caravan to South Vietnam, I was away so I sent it to you. Keep it safe, or if the Second Master comes back and asks about it, I'll be punished again."
After saying that, she put down her things and ran away.
Ye Jia was stunned for a moment, and wanted to chase after him to return the things to the owner, but the person had already run away. Speaking of which, Ye Jia remembered that he was now rich and could redeem the things that he had pawned to the original owner.
There was a person next to him who was used to eating pig head meat at Xishi’s stall. As soon as he saw the freshest meat was served, he came over to ask.
With guests coming, you can't just leave it alone. You naturally have something to sell. Yu, munching on a pancake, glanced at the large package and immediately thought of her daughter-in-law's encounter with Cheng Feng in town a few days ago. Jia Niang had clearly made it clear she didn't want his things, so why was he still chasing her to give them away? Yu's face suddenly turned a little sour, and she wondered why the second son of the Cheng family didn't even have the slightest bit of understanding!
Cheng Feng was the original owner's lover, but to Ye Jia, he was a complete stranger. Honestly, Cheng Feng left a less profound impression on Ye Jia than he did on Zhang Chunfen. After a few deals, Ye Jia quickly forgot about him.
"Mom, please help me." Since the fresh meat was brought in, Ye Jia naturally bought more. She was too busy to handle it. "Help me pack this meat."
Yu quickly put the matter aside and came over to help.
The two worked all morning, and by noon, both pig heads were sold out. Yu, exhausted, leaned against the wooden shelf, pounding her back. Ye Jia, thinking she'd go to the butcher's house later to inquire about the pig pancreas, asked Yu to wait at the stall while she went to the tile market.
Speaking of which, the tile market in Libei Town may not seem large, but in fact, it sells a wide variety of things. Many spices that cannot be found in the Central Plains can be found here. There are not only spices and medicinal materials, but also slaves, livestock, and horses. But horses are not common. First, they are expensive, and second, the sellers are wealthy. It seems that you can only see one once a month, and today there happened to be one for sale. It’s not that Ye Jia doesn’t covet the horse. After all, horses run much faster than cows. But a horse costs at least thirty taels, and a good horse is worth a thousand gold. She was very tactful and retracted her extra eyes. She went in and found the butcher’s stall.
Because the location of the tile market was fluid, aside from Ye Jia's Xishi stall, which was secured by Wu Su and Si Le, no one else dared to move. Everyone else had to rely on luck to secure a spot. Butchers have been in business for a long time, so their position is fixed. But today, for some reason, it seemed as if he wasn't there.
Ye Jia searched the butcher's stall but couldn't find it. Just as he was about to go get some goat milk from the goat seller, he heard a commotion coming from the open space to the west. Then he heard screams in the distance and the sound of someone running like crazy toward the tile market. Then there was the sound of something falling. The tile market, which had been bustling and peaceful just moments ago, was suddenly in turmoil.
She was just wondering when a big man next to her shouted at the top of his voice: "Hurry up, the horse bandits are coming! The horse bandits have entered the town!"
When this shout was uttered, the entire Wa City was thrown into chaos.
Ye Jia reacted quickly, quickly going to the goat seller to pick up some goat milk and leaving. She walked so fast, almost running, that she reached the gate of Luzhai. By then, the vendors in the tile market were also moving, some carrying their loads, others packing up their stalls. The once orderly tile market suddenly became chaotic. Ye Jia arrived at the gate carrying the goat milk. Fortunately, Yu Shi had already loaded everything onto the ox cart.
"What's wrong? Why do you look like that?" Yu still didn't know what was going on. Seeing the chaos in the tile market, she was a little curious. "Is there a fight going on? Why are all these people packing up their stalls?"
"Let's go, Mom. There's no time to talk." Ye Jia grabbed her.
Holding onto Yu, who was trying to look behind him, he hurried along while whispering, "I heard someone behind us shouting that bandits are entering the town!"
As soon as she finished speaking, Yu's face turned pale. She no longer had any curiosity and quickly climbed onto the ox cart.
Old Man Sun reacted quickly, glancing at the tile market and, without hesitation, sternly telling Ye Jia to get on the cart. Then, regardless of the vendors trying to stop him, he cracked his whip and the cart sped off. Ye Jia turned to look at the tile market, which had been thrown into chaos in less than half an hour. From a distance, he felt a sense of dread and unfamiliarity as he watched people flee in all directions.
To be honest, she felt very awkward and unreal.
But watching the smoke and dust billow in the distance, Ye Jia could indeed hear the chaotic sound of horse hooves. Finally, she was convinced that the bandits had entered the town. But why? Libei Town had over a dozen villages under its jurisdiction. She had taken a look at them the last time Zhou Jingchen drew the map. Libei Town was surrounded by villages in a ring, with the villages at its center. Logically, shouldn't the bandits have entered the villages first?
Ye Jia frowned, feeling that something was amiss, yet she didn't dare test her luck. If bandits really were entering town, how many heads would she have left for them? Or were they just not attractive enough?
When the ox cart arrived at the town entrance, Old Man Sun did not take the usual road, but instead took a smaller road back to the village.
Arriving at the village, every household was locked up. Many of the livestock and poultry they kept in their yards had disappeared. Ye Jia knew that every household in the village had dug a cellar, perhaps hiding their livestock there.
Such a large village, yet a whole morning was completely deserted. The Zhou family's courtyard was locked and hadn't been opened. Rui Jie'er was at Old Lady Wang's. They went to Old Lady Wang's door, but it was also closed. They called out, but no one answered, as if no one was there. Old Man Sun ran to the village entrance, looked around for a while, and then came back and said he would take them to the back mountain.
"There's a hidden cave in the back mountain," Old Man Sun said sternly. "Go back and get your valuables, then go to the back mountain to avoid the limelight."
Ye Jia listened to his tone, then watched Wang Jiacun's skillful evasion. He belatedly realized the gravity of the situation. He no longer hesitated, and quickly returned home with Yu Shi to retrieve his valuables. Ye Jia then grabbed Diandian, who had somehow hidden behind the door, and left.
Despite the suddenness of the incident, Yu Shi hadn't forgotten to grab two bags of noodles. She also loaded all the food from the kitchen into the car.
After Old Man Sun sent the two of them up the mountain, Ye Jia remembered the cave she had found while wandering around the mountain. She and Yu Shi went there. Old Man Sun, worried about his grandson, said he would go back to his village to check on him and then left.
When the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law reached the cave entrance, they were nearly killed by a knife. As soon as their hands touched the grass and trees covering the cave, several knives were swung out. Only when Ye Jia spoke did the knives be sheathed. The people hiding in the caves were indeed from the village. Seven or eight people were hiding in each cave, all of them elderly, weak, women, and children. As luck would have it, Old Lady Wang was also inside, holding Rui Jie'er.
When Rui Jie'er saw Yu and Ye Jia, she rushed over with red eyes and hugged Ye Jia's legs.
"Aunt, grandma." The little guy didn't know what was going on. He was suddenly carried here and looked aggrieved.
Seeing they were from the village, they made way for them. Ye Jia and Yu squatted inside. The cramped cavern smelled of a group of women, and it was unpleasant. The other women didn't live as well as the Zhou family, and they didn't clean as often. In the hot weather, the smell was a bit dizzying.
Ye Jia squatted for a while and wanted to go out for some fresh air, but was stopped by Old Lady Wang.
"Jia Niang, stay out of the house for at least three days," Old Lady Wang said firmly. "Those bandits will enter the village tonight."
Old Lady Wang was so certain, and the other women didn't want to refute him. Seeing their solemn expressions, Ye Jia put aside his pretentious thoughts: "What's going on? Why did the horse bandits come here so suddenly? Why didn't they have any warning?"
"Horse bandits usually come quickly, entering villages or towns at night, robbing quickly and leaving after a short raid."
Others interrupted, their voices lowered: "...the bandits came from Yujia Village in the northwest yesterday."
"There was a riot in Yujia Village all night, with killing and looting. I heard that there were few people left alive in Yujia Village by early morning."
As someone spoke, they wiped away tears. "Several girls from Wang Sisao's sister's family were kidnapped by bandits and abused beyond recognition. They were left behind the village, their skin barren and their lower body covered in blood. This morning, the bandits followed the road behind Yujia Village to the town. We were lucky to have discovered something was wrong early in the morning and returned to the village to report it..."
"How come no one is doing anything about such a big thing? What about the garrison?" Yu's teeth shuddered as she heard this. She shivered for a long time before angrily shouting, "Such a big thing happened in Yujia Village. What are they doing?"
"How can they care about it? Shuniang, you don't know that it takes a whole day to go from Yujia Village to Dongxiang Town and back! Not to mention what happened last night, no one from Yujia Village escaped, so the message couldn't be delivered to the garrison. Even if a verbal message was delivered, they wouldn't care!"
The people of Wangjia Village have lived here for generations and are used to it. "Those bandits don't fight, most of them just take the loot and run. They all have horses, and when they run, even a person with ten legs can't catch up. By the time the soldiers from the garrison arrive, they've already run away."
As they spoke, a group of people sighed.
Ye Jia's heart sank. Thinking about what he had said last night about taking root here, he realized it was a rather foolish fantasy. He raised his eyes and inadvertently met Yu's.
Yu looked terrified and couldn't help but reach out and grab Ye Jia's arm.
"Jia Niang," Yu's heart was in turmoil. Although she had been in Wangjia Village for three years, this was the first time she had encountered a situation like this. She had heard of bandits entering the village to steal food and people, but they always took the goods and left. She had never heard of them killing people. "Jia Niang..."
Ye Jia patted her and took out a few things from the basket on his back.
One was the large machete she used to chop pigs' heads, one was the axe she used to chop firewood at home, and the other was a knife for cutting vegetables. She had just gone back to find the cash box, and the rest was just these things. She weighed them in her hand for a few times and gave the kitchen knife to Yu.
Although no words were spoken, the kitchen knife gave Yu a lot of comfort.
There was a humming sound from Ye Jia's backpack, and suddenly, a furry head poked out. The terrified women huddled in the cave were surprised that Zhou's wife hadn't forgotten to bring the dog out even at this hour. Before they could even ask how she'd managed to escape without the dog, they saw Diandian nimbly kick her hind legs and leap out of the backpack. She silently approached the cave entrance, her eyes fixed on it with a deep gaze.
Ye Jia instantly made a 'hush' gesture.
The cave quickly quieted down. Footsteps could be heard amidst the trees, accompanied by the sound of soft breathing. Yu's hair stood on end, her face pale, and Ye Jia instantly covered Rui Jie'er's mouth.
The women and children in the cave huddled deeper into the cave, and a few brave ones crept to the edge of the cave entrance.
But in a moment, the grass rustled, and the footsteps seemed to fade away. The sound of the grass being disturbed also became much quieter. But no one dared to move. Diandian remained crouched in the front, small and imposing. His fur stood on end, his lanky frame tense. A threatening whine emanated from his throat.
The grass and trees trembled again, as if hearing a faint warning. Heavy footsteps were heard moving away. Along with the footsteps, someone was talking in a language that Ye Jia couldn't understand.
The woman understood and glanced at Diandian strangely.
Diandian paid no attention to it. She poked her head out of the bushes, howled twice, and then came back in. She shook her head and snorted loudly, then flicked her tail and rushed back to Ye Jia, nestling beside her legs.
This was Ye Jia's first time encountering something like this, and honestly, she was still a little confused. She'd been doing business fine that morning, still thinking about it. But then, back in the village, things had turned out like this. Having only eaten one pancake this morning, Ye Jia was feeling a bit hungry. Suddenly, Yu took Ye Jia's hand and gave her a piece of cake.
Seeing Ye Jia looking over, she hinted to her to secretly put it in her mouth. When Ye Jia put it in her mouth when no one was paying attention, Yu Shi pretended to pat Diandian's back a few times, muttering that it was not in vain to raise this little thing.
The woman next to him who had just looked at Dian Dian a few more times thought for a moment and asked, "Young wife of the Zhou family, are you raising a wolf or a dog?"
"Dog." Ye Jia hadn't swallowed the food in his mouth yet, and his words were vague.
The woman simply didn't pay any attention, glancing at it with a strange gaze. No matter how she looked at it, it didn't look like it. Remembering what the man outside had said earlier, saying there was a litter of wolf cubs hiding here, the more she looked at it, the more it looked like a wolf: "I see this little thing's tail is sticking down. Could it be a wolf cub?"
Ye Jia's heart moved. She glanced at Diandian's tail and shook her head firmly: "It's a dog. My husband got it from outside. It's the most ferocious breed of dog."
She was so sure that no one else asked.
Honestly, if someone raised wolves in the village, the people raising chickens, ducks, and sheep would naturally be unhappy. Anyone living in the countryside knows that wolves are ferocious creatures, inherently vicious and driven to eat meat. If one day, you're not watching carefully and one of them kills someone else's livestock, what would happen? No one was thinking about it during the initial panic, but now that the insecurity has subsided, they naturally start to worry about other things.
Ye Jia touched Diandian's back and said to everyone, "I only keep it in the yard and take good care of it. I won't let it wander around outside easily."
The women thought about it but didn't say it out loud. But when Ye Jia pointed it out, they felt embarrassed.
This disturbance didn't last three days. The next morning, villagers came shouting from the back mountains. Yesterday, the bandits had arrived in town and, unluckily, had run into the Cheng family. They'd looted as far as West Street, but before they even reached Wangjia Village, they were attacked by the Cheng family's vicious escorts, killing several of them. The rest rode away at breakneck speed, fleeing in panic without even having time to take their loot.
After the village chief explained the situation clearly, the people from Wangjia Village who were hiding in the back mountain packed up and went down the mountain.
Ye Jia and Yu Shi huddled in a corner, their limbs numb when they emerged. When they arrived home, they discovered it had been ransacked. Yesterday, the gang had been running around, and several had descended eastward to Wangjia Village. With so few people, no wonder they were so cautious in the back mountains yesterday.
Letting out a depressed sigh, Ye Jia and Yu Shi began to count the property losses.
Bedding and clothing were scattered across the floor, and what little money Yu had saved was stolen. The grains in the kitchen cabinet were gone, as was the piece of meat in the bucket. The three plots of leeks in the backyard were fine, and the chicken coop in the yard was empty, but the four chickens inside and Ruijie's two sheep were locked in Old Lady Wang's cellar. Other than that, there wasn't much damage.
"It's a good thing I took the cash box away." Ye Jia was particularly grateful. Although her behavior seemed a bit like she loved money like her life, if she hadn't taken the cash box with her, it would definitely have been stolen if she had left it at home. "Otherwise, our family would have been starving again."
Yu was also very grateful, but she also felt a little scared: "If the Cheng family's escorts were not here, we might not be so lucky."
When she mentioned this, Ye Jia's heart sank: "No matter what, we managed to escape danger this time."
There was a hint of sadness in Yu's eyes and eyebrows, and she frowned, looking worried.
Ye Jia naturally understood her feelings, that sense of crisis where everything was at risk. Ye Jia had originally wanted to hold off for a while, but now, looking at the fence that threatened to collapse with just a few kicks, he suddenly made up his mind: "Mom, let's put our business on hold for a while. Let's discuss something while we're here."
Yu didn't sleep all night last night. She couldn't sleep with the house in such a mess, so she nodded and went to the outer room with Ye Jia.
Ye Jia pondered for a moment, then said something that frightened Yu, "I have a suggestion. Let's move our family to Dongxiang Town."
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