Chapter 30 Bandits
"Don't put all the blame on my son!" Wei Chunlan was getting anxious as she realized things were getting increasingly unclear.
“Pang Hu’s theft is a fact. Now, in order to rectify the atmosphere in our village, Pang Hu will be given thirty lashes. From now on, anyone who does such dirty things in the village will suffer the same fate, or even worse!” The village head naturally did not take Wei Chunlan’s words seriously and directly ordered people to take Pang Hu to be flogged.
"Don't hit my son! I'll fight anyone who dares to hit him!" Wei Chunlan protected her son and refused to let go.
“If you keep making trouble, I’ll kick your whole family out of the village. You know what’s going on outside; whether you live or die depends entirely on your luck,” the village head said, his face darkening.
Wei Chunlan dared not utter another sound. She watched helplessly as Pang Hu was dragged away to be beaten with thirty strokes of the cane before she and her daughter-in-law sheepishly pulled Pang Hu back.
The village headman clearly thought so. After Pang Hu was dragged away, he talked about the current situation outside.
"The relief grain hasn't been distributed yet, so everyone should be careful. Also, a lot of disaster victims have come from the north to the county, and they might come to our village. You all need to be vigilant and not bring just anyone into your home..."
After the village head finished speaking, he dismissed them and sent them back.
After this incident, theft became rare in the village. Song Yushu also highly recognized the village head's abilities. In the current situation, if he didn't take a tough stance, the village would have been in chaos long ago, and the whole village would have suffered.
"Now that there are already disaster victims here, it seems that this disaster is more serious than we thought. From now on, we should try not to go out. Who knows what those people will do when they are starving?"
Father Wei once again gave instructions to the younger generation in the family.
"Father, since we don't have anything else to do right now, let's dig a secret tunnel. Otherwise, if some bad guys manage to get into the village, we might have a hard time escaping," Song Yushu thought it was always good to have more escape routes.
“That’s right. We can hide the food in the secret passage beforehand, and then hide down as soon as there’s any noise,” Brother Wei also thought it was a good idea.
The Wei family had a large population, and they took turns digging every day. It wouldn't be long before they dug out the tunnel. The excavated soil would be transported out and disposed of at night.
The entrance to the secret passage was located in a corner of the courtyard, piled with miscellaneous items, making it difficult to spot.
While the Wei family was digging a secret passage behind closed doors, many disaster victims arrived from outside the village.
They looked numb and were as thin as bones. The villagers dared not go out and could only watch from the top of the wall.
Some villagers, unable to bear it, threw down some inconspicuous food, but the disaster victims actually blocked the door of that house and refused to leave. After that, no one dared to be overly compassionate anymore.
Over time, these disaster victims stopped coming into the village and instead stayed outside digging for wild vegetables to fill their stomachs, and for a time, both sides lived in peace.
On the other hand, after Zhou Lao Er returned to the Zhou family, he found that apart from Zhao the Cripple, the other members of the Zhao family had not left home.
Zhao Yuzhi pretended not to understand Zhou Lao Er's meaning and insisted on leaving her three younger siblings in the Zhou family. There was no other way; the Zhao family had no food reserves, and letting them go back would only mean they would starve to death.
However, Zhou Lao Er did not bring much grain back this time, which was not enough to feed so many people. Zhou Chengli also acted as a hands-off manager, and brought nothing back from the academy except some books.
Seeing that they were struggling to find food, and with many disaster victims arriving in the village, it was difficult for them to even leave their homes, let alone dig for wild vegetables.
Just then, the unreliable Crippled Zhao returned, and even more unusually, he brought a bag of grain with him.
"Hurry up and help me!" Zhao the Cripple swaggered in carrying grain on his back, followed by two burly men.
"Father, where did you get so much grain?" Zhao Yuzhi's eyes lit up when she saw the grain, and then she asked Zhao the Cripple.
“Your father has a wide network of connections, see? These are the brothers I made outside. Hurry up and cook a couple of dishes to entertain them!” Zhao the Cripple ordered without any politeness, treating the Zhou family as if it were his own home, and directly greeted the two big men.
Zhou Lao Er was unhappy with his attitude, but he could only put up with it because he had delivered grain.
"I heard your son-in-law is a scholar, why don't we see him here?" one of the burly men started the conversation.
“My son-in-law is studying very hard! He’ll definitely pass the imperial examination. I’ll call him out to toast you all!” Zhao the Cripple was good at reading people’s expressions. Seeing that they were interested in Zhou Chengli, he went directly to Zhou Chengli’s door and knocked.
Zhou Chengli was clearly annoyed by the interruption, but he couldn't embarrass Zhao the Cripple in front of so many people, since Zhao had brought the grain. So he went over and exchanged a few perfunctory words with them before returning to his house.
Zhao the Cripple initially felt that Zhou Chengli was being disrespectful, but the two burly men didn't care and continued to try to get information out of him.
"Sister, I think there's something off about those two. Dad doesn't know any brothers like that. Could they be swindlers?" For some reason, Zhao Yuhe felt uneasy looking at the two men.
“What kind of swindler would go to such lengths to cheat us? Grain is extremely precious these days. If they are willing to give grain to Dad, their relationship must be good. Don’t worry about it,” Zhao Yuzhi said without much thought. Having grain now solved their immediate problem, and she could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
The two burly men stayed at the Zhou family's house for two days before leaving, and Zhao Yuhe finally breathed a sigh of relief.
No one expected that these two would bring such a great calamity to the village.
During this period of disaster, apart from some refugees digging for wild vegetables to fill their stomachs, hardly anyone went out, and they all went to bed early at night.
That night, however, a burst of firelight appeared outside Zhoujia Village. The villagers, fast asleep, were completely unaware of the impending disaster. By the time they were awakened by screams, it was too late to escape.
"Clang! Clang! Clang! Gather! Gather! One person from each household, gather at the village head's house! Get up quickly!"
The Wei family was awakened by the sound of the gong. Wei's father quickly put on his clothes, took a torch, and went to the village head's house.
Song Yushu and the others couldn't sleep either, so they got up and waited for Wei's father to return. The village head rarely allowed the villagers to gather at night unless there was an emergency. This sudden gathering made everyone hold their breath.
When Wei's father returned with a torch, his face was grim. Before they could ask, he explained everything.
“Zhoujia Village has been looted by bandits. Those bandits haven’t left yet, and we don’t know the situation. We need to prepare early and pack everything up.”
Wei's father's words weighed heavily on their hearts.
"I suggested to the village head that the villagers dig a tunnel as a backup plan. As for whether they are willing to do so, I don't know. However, the village head asked each household to send a able-bodied man to patrol every night. Tomorrow, the village entrance will be blocked to prevent outsiders from entering."
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