The largest group of people from other villages numbered only about fifty. Now, whoever can lead them to food has the final say.
Shenxi spoke again: "Clan Chief Wang, there's no need to kick him out, but—" She drew out her words slightly, looked at the Wang family, who were clearly somewhat dissatisfied but dared not confront them directly, but she didn't care about that: "However, he will no longer be the clan chief, and I will not be responsible for his food."
"Are you going to let him starve to death?" The wife of the Wang family patriarch was known for her fiery temper, and even though she was afraid, she still had to shout it out.
"Whether he starves to death or not is none of my business. Aren't you all here? You can share some of your food with him. He probably won't starve to death, unless you all stop working!"
The Wang family head was taken aback. With so many people in the family, it wouldn't be unreasonable to give him a little bit each day. However, his daughter-in-law was still somewhat unwilling. Her father-in-law was usually very selfish and often encouraged his mother-in-law to skimp on their dowry.
Even if she's unwilling, she wouldn't dare not separate from her husband when her mother-in-law and husband are around.
"Of course, if your family members are not willing to support him, I have nothing to say. If he can work, that's fine too. If he can't do manual labor, but he can use his brain to help everyone get more food, that's also acceptable."
Seeing that no one in the Wang family dared to object, he turned and pointed at Li Si: "He doesn't have to be kicked out. Who among you is willing to support him?"
For a moment, no one spoke up!
Who would be willing to support a useless person, especially one with whom they have no family ties? Even when things were going well in the village, let alone the current situation, no one would want to support such a person!
Shenxi snorted inwardly. This was human nature. They disagreed with her ruthlessness, but when given the choice, they all became cowards.
Li Si, enduring the pain, seeing that there was no way to turn the situation around, began to plead: "Xiaoxi, please give me a way out, old village chief, I beg you."
The old village chief turned his head away from him, thinking, "He reaped what he sowed!"
Chen Xi shouted sternly, "Hurry up and throw it out!"
"yes!"
Li Si screamed like a pig being slaughtered, and then he started cursing, hurling all sorts of nasty insults. Zhao Rong was so angry that he plucked a handful of grass and stuffed it into Li Si's mouth, and then led his men out.
Once Li Si's cursing had stopped, Chen Xi felt relieved and a smile spread across her face: "Everyone has had a long day, let's eat well! After we finish eating, I'll go over some rules."
Of all the things they had been through, tonight's events left the deepest impression on them—the girl was amazing!
Food is essential; you can't live without it, especially after a long day of work. Meanwhile, Zhao Rong and the others returned. They had thrown Li Si a little further away, but didn't dare go too far, fearing there might be wild beasts in the forest that could harm them.
After a quick meal, Chen Xi gathered the people again and said loudly, "Now that things have come to this, in addition to the rules I mentioned before, I realized today, through Wang Liangui's matter, that I haven't thought things through enough."
It wasn't that she hadn't thought things through; rather, she couldn't act directly without dealing with Wang Liangui, the head of the Wang family. If she brought it up too early, the timing wouldn't be right, and the effect wouldn't be good.
"Sir, please speak, we are listening."
The clever villagers immediately agreed, saying that this leader was intelligent, capable, skilled in martial arts, and a formidable person. As long as they obeyed him, they would probably live a good life in the future.
"First of all, since we've already gathered together, and we're not all from the same village, let's not differentiate between villages for better communication. We're all one group, so the concept of villages doesn't apply anymore. You can come up with a powerful and catchy name for our team later. Think about it carefully tonight, and we'll collect them tomorrow. Whoever's name is good can use it. It won't be used for nothing; you can get an extra portion of food tomorrow."
"I can get an extra serving of food! That's great! I'm really hungry. I must think of a good name!"
"Come on, with your blockhead who doesn't know a single word, what good name could you come up with! I'm better than you, I know dozens of words."
“You can still have a name even if you can’t read. Who says you can’t? It’s not like you can’t think of a name.”
"I want to think about how to get more food for Daddy too," a childish voice chimed in. The child's mother patted his head and said gently, "Okay!"
Once everyone had calmed down, Chenxi continued, "Secondly, since it's now a collective, the former village chiefs and leaders of each village no longer hold that position, including the clan chief."
Seeing the puzzled looks on everyone's faces, Shen Xi continued, "You all saw what happened with Wang Liangui today. Everyone was acting independently, which is not conducive to unity. From now on, I will divide people into small teams based on their abilities. Each team will have a captain. You will listen to your captains, and the captains will listen to me."
At this moment, someone in the group of about thirty people raised an opinion: "Chief, our clan chief is very good. He has led us all the way here. You can just form us into a small team and let our clan chief lead us."
"Zheng Yang, don't say another word!" the leading man shouted.
“Chief, not to be nosy, but we’re happy to have you lead us. If we’re really scattered and regrouped, we might not adapt well.” Zheng Yang looked up and met Chen Xi’s eyes. “Chief, our chief is really good and capable. Please let him continue to lead us!”
Chen Xi became interested. The first time, this man hadn't gone into the mountains with her; instead, he had sent two young men around eighteen or nineteen years old to accompany her. Although their group wasn't large, they were mostly able-bodied young men, with more men than women and few children. Even the women were all young and, though thin, were clearly in good health.
"Where did you come from?"
"Beishang Qingshui Village." The leading man looked up, his eyes resolute.
“It’s so far!” Shenxi found the place in Beishang from the original owner’s memories. It was much farther than theirs. It was really difficult to get here. No wonder only the young and strong were left.
How many people came out?
"There were about six hundred people. Later, on the way, the previous village chief, who was also the clan chief, realized that he couldn't take care of everyone. So he handed over the responsibilities of the new village chief and clan chief to me. Then he led all the elderly people in the village to commit suicide. Even so, when we got here, only this many people were left."
A collective sigh arose; although they had suffered greatly, they hadn't lost so many people.
Shen Xi nodded, then pointed at Zheng Yang and asked him, "Do you also agree with his suggestion?"
The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment, then nodded: "We've all suffered together to get here, and it's more reassuring to be in the same team."
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