She didn't want to cry, but she couldn't hold back. The thought of her aunt and the twins waiting for her uncle to come home made her feel terrible.
For the first two days after they left, Song Tantan and Ye Moxun were both in low spirits. It wasn't until that night, when they spent the night in a small village, that they returned via a different route than when they had brought the grain.
This trip is not just about delivering grain; Ye Moxun also needs to conduct investigations in various places, so he is traveling slowly and spending more time in each location.
However, it was impossible for a large group of hundreds of people to walk slowly like this, so after passing this village, Ye Moxun planned to have Lin Yu take the others back to Xifeng first, while he, Song Tantan, and the dogs would travel around to various places.
They arrived at the village before dark today. The village is small, and there are not many villagers, who seem to live quite scattered. This was the information they obtained after sending people to investigate beforehand.
They found the village chief, explained their purpose, and the chief found them an empty house to spend the night in.
"Village chief, your village seems a bit too quiet?" Ye Moxun asked tentatively.
The village chief looks like an honest man, in his early fifties, but don't judge a book by its cover. He might be a cunning old fox. This village seems a bit strange; we need to be careful.
Unexpectedly, the village chief didn't try to hide anything and told the truth, "Our village looks like it has a lot of houses, but actually not many people live here. Many houses are empty."
Why is that?
"It was all caused by the Hu people a few years ago. As soon as they entered the village, they burned, killed, and looted. Many villagers were killed by the Hu people before they could escape. We were lucky because we lived far from the village entrance. When we heard the screams, we immediately took our families and fled. We were on the run for more than half a year before we dared to come back when we heard the news that the Hu people had been driven out of the Central Plains."
The village chief wiped his eyes with his sleeve as he spoke, his voice choked with emotion, "We really had no other choice. We had nowhere to go. There were refugees everywhere, and we could easily be robbed by other refugees on the road. It seems there is no peaceful place in the Great Jin Dynasty. In the end, we had no choice but to come back."
Even after returning, things were difficult. They worried all the time that the Hu people would invade again, but this was ultimately their home. They could only endure it slowly and rebuild the abandoned fields. Fortunately, the Hu people had not appeared for more than a year.
"Village chief, is there any rice or grain for sale? We'd like to buy some." Ye Moxun handed over one tael of silver.
The village chief's eyes lit up when he saw the silver, but his gaze quickly dimmed. "Although we have farmed, the harvest is only enough to feed ourselves to about 80% capacity. We really don't have any extra grain to sell."
“It’s alright. We brought some dry rations and originally wanted to cook a hot meal, but since the conditions don’t allow it, we’ll just have to make do with this,” Ye Moxun still stuffed a tael of silver into the other party’s hand. “We’ve really been bothering you by staying in your village, so please accept this small token of our appreciation.”
"The house was already empty, and it's not easy for you to be away from home, so there's no need for this money." The village chief looked somewhat reluctant, but still insisted on not accepting it.
After some initial refusal, Ye Moxun finally gave in to the old village chief's insistence and left after exchanging a few more words.
"I could tell he really wanted it, but he was too proud to accept it no matter how much I pleaded. He's such a strange person," Song Tantan said thoughtfully, watching the village chief's departing figure.
"Don't think too much about it. In any case, it's always better to be careful when you're out and about." Since they had agreed to eat only dry rations, it wouldn't be good to cook rice. After thinking for a moment, Ye Moxun instructed Lin Yu and the others, "Be careful when you sleep tonight, don't sleep too soundly."
"Does Master Ye suspect that the village chief has a problem?" Lin Yu asked.
"It's hard to say, but be careful, especially on your way back. Be extra cautious, or you could lose your life," Ye Moxun said earnestly. "You're not married or have children yet, you don't want to die out there like this, do you?"
Lin Yu's expression hardened, and he solemnly said, "Of course I am unwilling. I understand. From now on, I will act cautiously and dare not underestimate anything."
After a quick dinner, everyone went to find their own rooms to rest. As Ye Moxun had said, ten people to a room, and if there wasn't enough room on the bed, they would sleep on the floor. In short, they shouldn't be too scattered. Those who knew kung fu and those who didn't should be paired together, so that if anything happened, those who didn't know kung fu wouldn't be wiped out in one fell swoop.
Ye Moxun and Song Tantan were in the same room. Ye Moxun slept on the floor. The two had a good meal in the room, then sat and chatted quietly for a while before going to sleep.
Perhaps because he was not used to being in an unfamiliar place, Ye Moxun tossed and turned and could not fall asleep, unlike someone who fell asleep soon after lying down.
Ye Moxun didn't feel sleepy until almost midnight, but just as he was about to fall asleep, he heard the system yelling, "Host, there's a ghost."
Ye Moxun, who was woken up, said: "Speak like a human being."
System: "There are about a dozen people dressed as ghosts trying to scare you. They are of varying heights and are quietly sneaking into the courtyard through the back door."
There's a backdoor?
It seems they've done this kind of thing quite a few times. Perhaps they're trying to rob and kill someone. If someone suddenly wakes up and sees a ghost in front of their bed, they'll be scared half to death. They'll either faint or their legs will go weak. Then the person pretending to be the ghost will take the opportunity to kill them. Of course, if the person is asleep and hasn't woken up, they'll just kill them.
Looking at the person sleeping soundly on the bed, Ye Moxun was completely impressed. Just as he was about to get up and wake the person, he saw the person who was sleeping on the bed suddenly leap up in the darkness, moving lightly without making a sound.
In the blink of an eye, Song Tantan had already darted to his side, pressing her finger to her lips, "Shh, don't talk, someone's coming in."
She's quite alert; she can even detect abnormalities while asleep. We can't underestimate her any longer.
Fearing that the ghost-masking gang would kill them and that the others were completely unaware, Ye Moxun and Song Tantan gestured to each other, indicating that they should go out and rescue the people first, and not let the other party succeed.
Song Tantan didn't want to see her companion killed either, so she naturally agreed. She followed Ye Moxun and took two steps toward the door, but he suddenly stopped and grabbed her.
"What's wrong?" Song Tantan asked in a breathy voice.
Ye Moxun patted his forehead. Sigh, concern makes one lose focus. For a moment, he forgot about his ultimate weapon. Why bother going out to stop them one by one? Besides, the two of them couldn't stop more than a dozen people late at night. Even if all the dogs came at him, on someone else's turf, there was no guarantee there wouldn't be any mistakes.
He pulled a pill directly from his pocket and then took out a lighter. Seeing this, Song Tantan understood what he was going to do and immediately sat down quietly.
Before long, the whole room was filled with a faint fragrance, like the scent of herbs, or some other smell. Everyone who smelled this fragrance fell asleep, and those who were already fast asleep slept even more soundly.
Hearing several thuds of heavy objects falling to the ground, Song Tantan and Ye Moxun looked at each other and smiled in the darkness. It was done; they estimated there were about ten people.
The system said there were twelve people in total, including adults and children. It seems that this kind of thing is tacitly approved by the whole village. Earlier, the village chief pretended to be a noble and virtuous person who was not moved by money, but it turns out he was just waiting for this.
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