As soon as Qi Yanxuan opened the door, he saw Shen Yanqing walking out of the room. He must have heard the knocking on the door outside.
Shen Yanqing opened the gate and the person who came was none other than the anxious-looking village chief of Kaoshan Village, Shen Fuqing.
"Village chief, is there anything wrong?" Shen Yanqing asked doubtfully.
"Yan Qing, where is your father?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Old Man Shen came out of the room.
"Village Chief, what's wrong? Did something happen? Why are you so anxious?"
"Yanshan, Zhaojia Village was looted by bandits last night." The village chief said with a bitter look on his face.
"Zhaojia Village? It's only a few dozen miles away from us. Our village is in danger." Old Man Shen (also known as Shen Yanshan) looked worried.
"Who said it wasn't? Last night, some villagers got up at night and found a fire in the direction of Zhaojia Village. They thought it was a forest fire caused by the drought, so they rushed to inform me. I took a few strong men to check out the situation, but found that it was Zhaojiazhuang that was on fire. The fire had been burning for a while, and the whole village was on fire. There were also villagers hacked to death by bandits on the road to the village." After saying this, the village chief's face was full of horror.
“Then our village must also be careful. No one can tell whether the bandits will come to our village.” Shen Yanshan pondered.
"Yes, we were so scared that we couldn't sleep last night. We came door to door to notify everyone at dawn, asking everyone to be alert and knock on pots if there is anything. Anyone who hears it will knock on the pot to notify everyone. I still have to notify other families, so I'll leave first." The village chief was about to leave.
Shen Yanshan hurriedly called out to the village chief: "Wait a minute, village chief. This may not be enough. If the bandits sneak in and kill people, there will be no time to notify the nearby families."
"What should we do then?" The village chief became anxious when he heard this.
Shen Yanshan consoled him, "How about this? Each household in our village will send out a man, with 20 men forming a team, to take turns keeping watch. The watchmen will carry hatchets and gongs. If there are no gongs, they will use iron basins. They will patrol the village. When bandits come, they will ring the gongs, and the elderly, women, and children in the village will hide. The men will then take up their weapons and fight the bandits."
"This is the only way. I will go and inform everyone now. Those on night watch will gather under the big camphor tree at the entrance of the village and divide into teams. Now it's a disaster year and there are bandits everywhere. How can the people survive?" After saying this, the village chief sighed and left.
“Dad, let me go to our house.” Shen Yanqing looked at Shen Yanshan.
"Okay, remember to be careful." Shen Yanshan patted his son's shoulder. They were both hunters and had seen many wild animals, so there was no need to worry about his skills.
*
At three quarters past the hour of You, Shen Yanqing walked towards the village entrance. Less than a cup of tea later, he noticed someone behind him. He stopped immediately and said helplessly, "Come out."
Qi Yanxuan was actually doing this on purpose. How could he have gone along without being discovered? It was so hard to find a man I liked, but if he ended up in the hands of a bandit, who would I turn to for justice?
“Brother Shen, I’m here to give you a weapon.” As he said that, he took out a dagger from his waist and handed it to Shen Yanqing.
Shen Yanqing took the dagger and pulled it out. He saw the sharp blade. He had never seen this material before, so he didn't ask any more questions.
"Okay, I received the weapon, you can go back."
After hearing this, Qi Yanxuan took out a short knife of the same type from his waist and looked at Shen Yanqing with a smile, "Brother Shen, since we are here, let's go together."
Shen Yanqing knew that he would definitely follow, "Follow me closely."
"Got it!" Qi Yanxuan smiled triumphantly.
***
The camphor tree at the entrance of the village was already full of people. The village chief, standing in the middle of the crowd, saw Shen Yanqing bringing the young man from this morning, and stepped forward to ask, "Yanqing, who is this?"
Qi Yanxuan stepped forward and introduced himself in a familiar manner: "Hello, Village Chief. I am Yan Qing's cousin Qi Yanxuan. Just call me Yanxuan."
"Okay, then you will be in the same group with Yan Qing later." After saying that, the village chief began to speak to everyone.
"Is everyone here? Let's start dividing into teams now!" the village chief shouted.
"Shuanzi, Zhuanzi, Dasheng...you are a team."
"Yougen, Youqing, Dahai...you are the second team."
"Yan Qing, Yan Qing's cousin, Dashan...you are the third team."
"Wenxiang, Brunei, Wenxuan...you are the four teams."
"Dafu, Erfu, Fugui...you are Team Five."
"Fugui, Goudan, Heiwa...you are Team Six."
"Two teams will form a night watch, rotating every three days. Teams one and two will start tonight. Do you understand?"
"I heard it." Everyone shouted in unison.
Night came quickly and the first night was peaceful.
On the second night, it was Qi Yanxuan and Shen Yanqing's turn to go out. They put their short knives on their waists, took the gong and went out.
Village entrance
The three brothers of the Shen family organized everyone to patrol after seeing that everyone had arrived. "When it gets dark, Team 3 will patrol from the beginning to the end of the village, and Team 4 will patrol from the end to the beginning. This way, we will have someone watching us at all times, which is safer."
As he said that, he took the four teams to the end of the village.
As night fell, everyone patrolled the village. Fortunately, the night was peaceful.
…
Two days later
On the third night, it was the turn of Team 3, which Qi Yanxuan and Shen Yanqing were in, to keep watch.
The third team was walking towards the end of the village. When they were almost there, Qi Yanxuan heard the sound of footsteps.
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