Two tall, burly men and a fierce old woman. The two men from Lijia Village chickened out. Did they look like refugees? They looked like thugs!
"You...you mustn't do anything reckless! There are many people in Li Family Village!"
"Ha, is this how your Li Family Village tricked us into fleeing famine?"
Tao Wanniang sneered, "I highly suspect that you have already done the same thing!"
“The world is a difficult place, because there are heartless people like you who take advantage of our misfortune. Today, I, Tao Wanniang, will act on behalf of Heaven to uphold justice.”
As Tao Wanniang spoke, she addressed her two sons.
"Ling Dahu, Ling Dapeng, show some manly spirit and beat them to a pulp!"
"Ah, Mother!"
The Ling brothers were still hesitant. The other party hadn't even made a move yet, so it wouldn't be good for them to act like this!
"What's wrong? Fine, I'll do it myself!"
As Tao Wanniang spoke, she picked up a kitchen knife and swiftly swung it at the two men from the Li family.
The Ling brothers dared not let Tao Wan's mother lead the charge, so they immediately grabbed their carrying poles and rushed forward as well.
This startled the two men from the Li family, who immediately dropped the sticks they were holding.
"Auntie, please, please, we...we had no choice! The village well has no water, and the crops in the fields barely survived before being eaten by locusts. We...we were blinded by greed for a moment, please let us go!"
A gleaming kitchen knife is truly frightening, especially for someone who has been fasting for several days; the sight of a kitchen knife makes their legs go weak.
"Big Tiger, Big Roc, take off their clothes and tie them up... Yes, tie them up right there, let everyone passing by see what kind of scoundrels are these!"
Tao Wan's mother said bluntly, "Take a look around your clothes and see if you have anything valuable."
"Ah? Mother, this...this isn't..."
Upon hearing this, Ling Dahu realized something was wrong. Wouldn't this make them look like robbers?
"It's nothing. People have come to bully you, and you're still so weak. Today, I'm going to teach you that being soft-hearted towards the enemy is being cruel to yourselves."
"If you let them go, what if they go back and call the villagers?"
"What if they hold a grudge and try to trip us up?"
“Look back at your wives, children, Aunt Liang and Xiao Qiao’er, and your mother and me—who among you can be bullied by these scoundrels?”
Tao Wanniang's words were piercing, her tone rising and falling, and the Ling brothers gradually came to accept her.
The two brothers exchanged a glance, both seeing the same determination in each other's eyes. Yes, the Ling family needed the two of them, grown men.
Aunt Liang silently covered Xiao Qiao'er's eyes, watching as the Ling brothers stripped the two men naked and tied them up, while Tao Wan's mother stared menacingly with a kitchen knife in hand.
"Let's go, let's hurry on our way. Even if the villagers find us, they won't be able to catch up!"
They were truly two people who were penniless!
Tao Wan's mother found nothing of value on the two men, and their emaciated appearance after they took off their clothes was truly unappealing, so she urged her two sons to hurry on their way.
After the incident at Lijia Village, Tao Wanniang was less inclined to pass through the village. No one could guarantee that the villagers wouldn't actually harbor malicious intentions.
After traveling for three days, the group finally rested in a deserted wilderness.
In the desolate wilderness, there is a dilapidated Dragon King Temple where one can rest, but as far as the eye can see, what should have been fields has all turned into yellow earth.
"Mother, is this the road to the provincial capital? It seems to be getting more and more desolate!"
The eldest daughter-in-law, Wang Hongyu, voiced her question: Logically speaking, shouldn't a place near the provincial capital be even wealthier?
"We took a detour, but it was in the direction of the provincial government."
It was Aunt Liang who spoke up, "When I was young, I did go to the provincial capital."
"Sister Tao didn't want to go through the village, so she naturally took a slightly off-center route, but I checked the position of the stars tonight, and she's right!"
Tao Wanniang couldn't help but glance at Aunt Liang. She could even tell where she was by looking at the stars. Aunt Liang must have some skills!
"It's okay to go a little off course; it's just to avoid trouble."
Tao Wan's mother said, "Hurry up and start the fire, boil some water. I left some rice last time. We're out of dried steamed buns, so let's eat rice!"
After Tao Wanniang finished speaking, the Ling family members' eyes lit up with desire.
However, everyone tacitly agreed that their father must have given them something again, but they couldn't say it in front of outsiders!
In the middle of nowhere, you don't have to worry about people eyeing your food.
Tao Wanniang wasn't lying this time; the rice was truly gone, so she had already sold the small-leaf sandalwood bracelet.
However, she doesn't plan to say anything now. She has less than five taels of silver on hand, which is enough to buy some rice, but she plans to make do for a while.
Because there was no one around, they weren't worried about being found out while cooking. After the adults and children ate some, they all went to sleep.
Tao Wanniang was awakened by the rustling sound. She rubbed her sleepy eyes, and when she saw several balls of fur, her eyes widened!
Rabbits! There are wild rabbits, three or five of them! Could it be that the whole family has come out?
Tao Wan's mother looked around and realized that her son, who was sleeping like a dead pig, was unreliable.
Rabbits love carrots, so Tao Wan quickly spent one coin to buy two carrots through the trading system.
"Little bunny, come here, eat a carrot~"
Lowering her body and squatting down, Tao Wanniang used carrots to lure the wild rabbit.
The wild rabbits in this desolate wilderness must have survived by eating grass roots and the like.
These carrots are so fresh and tender, still carrying the fragrance of grass, she wants to eat them, and surely the wild rabbit wouldn't want to either!
Perhaps these rabbits were really starving, because they were completely mesmerized by the smell of carrots and rushed forward. Tao Wanniang pounced on them, one in each hand, but the other three snatched the carrots and ran away.
"Let them run away. With two silly rabbits, we can manage to have a few meals."
Tao Wanniang chuckled, glanced at the others who were fast asleep, and without disturbing them, tied up the rabbit and went back to sleep.
The next morning, when Tao Wanniang woke up, she saw Xiao Qiao'er and her eldest grandson playing around a rabbit.
The sons and daughters-in-law huddled together, seemingly whispering something.
"Mother, you're awake! Look at these two rabbits, could they be..."
Upon seeing Tao Wanniang wake up, Wang Hongyu asked cryptically, as if to suggest that it might have been given to her by her father-in-law.
“Last night, one of you slept like a log, and five rabbits came, but I only managed to catch two.”
Tao Wan replied, "The old rule applies: keep the fur, clean it, and in this hot weather, we can only dry it into jerky."
"Aunt Tao, do you want to eat rabbit? Rabbits are so cute, can you please not eat them?"
Upon hearing Tao Wan's mother's words, Xiao Qiao'er's thin face fell, and she asked with a wronged expression.
"Oh, you don't eat rabbit?"
Tao Wanniang scoffed, "If you don't want to eat rabbit, do you want to eat tree bark?"
"Spicy rabbit head, braised rabbit meat, cumin rabbit skeleton, stewed rabbit soup, um, just thinking about it makes my mouth water. Little Qiao'er, are you really not going to eat these, or are you going to gnaw on tree bark?"
"The child is just being silly, Sister Tao, please don't tease her!"
Grandma Liang immediately pulled her granddaughter over. The old woman was practically drooling just listening to this. If you can eat meat, who wants to gnaw on tree bark?
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