The Wang family patriarch glanced at Chen Xi with a gloomy look, then looked at Li Si.
Although Li Si was simple-minded, he could understand the Wang family patriarch's meaning. He looked at Chen Xi with a lecherous gaze and said, "Little Xi, you shouldn't interfere in adult matters. You don't need to worry about your future life. With your brother Li Si around, you won't lack food or drink, and I'll even help take care of your younger siblings."
If Shenxi were truly the original owner of this body, or a girl living in this world, she would surely be filled with shame. But who is Shenxi? She is a general manager; how could she possibly be shy or timid?
Shenxi completely ignored Li Si. This guy was just a clown, a real villain who was being used and jumping around. The Wang family patriarch was the real hypocrite. Shenxi knew about the things happening in the Wang family. This patriarch would abuse any little power he had, and he was also insidious. He only got his position as patriarch because he had curried favor with the old patriarch's wife. If the village hadn't had the old village chief's control, the Wang family patriarch might have gone even further.
Therefore, the Wang family was divided into two factions: one faction fawned over the clan leader, followed his lead, and gained some small benefits; the other faction disdained the clan leader but could not afford to offend him, so they avoided him whenever possible.
Li Si is a clown; he can be dealt with whenever the family wants, but the Wang family patriarch can't let him stand out. Killing him is the best option.
The villagers had some reservations about keeping the women, children, and elderly and about the distribution of resources, but if the village chief were to be replaced, no one would actively support or oppose it.
If the Wang family patriarch becomes the village chief, all this food will be theirs, which is fine. However, the old village chief's prestige is still there, and no one directly opposes it. Only the Wang family patriarch's sycophants are making a fuss.
Shenxi raised an eyebrow and asked a fatal question, "If we drive these people away, when food is no longer enough, will we also drive away the old, weak, women and children in our village?"
Although the old village chief had previously planned to give food to the young and strong men in the village so that they could continue on their way, find a suitable place to stay, and then come back to find them, the choice at that time was ultimately because the young and strong men needed to continue to find a way out, and most of them were already struggling to walk and could hardly make it to travel a long distance.
What about the elderly, the weak, women, and children? They also want to live.
The Wang family patriarch's face darkened. "Then what will the old village chief do if food becomes extremely scarce in the future?"
Everyone then turned their attention to the old village chief.
The old village chief was in a difficult position. Many villagers had already died of starvation and conflict along the way, but he didn't just drive them away and abandon them!
Chenxi raised his voice, "Isn't it that whoever can solve everyone's basic food problem in the future can become the village chief?"
Everyone was stunned. That's right, who cares who's the village chief? Whoever can provide the food is the best choice. Whoever can solve the food problem in the future can be the village chief. Let alone the village chief, even being the father is fine.
Surprisingly, they reached a consensus: Li Si clapped his hands and agreed, "Whoever can make sure I, Li Si, have enough to eat every day and live a good life will be my parents."
Chenxi ignored him. "I'm being lenient by not killing you. You think you can be my parents? Dream on."
"Who can guarantee that they can provide food in the future?"
This is a real problem. In the future, when it comes to food, nothing beats the aroma of horse meat right now.
Chenxi spoke again, "How about this, whoever is willing to go into the mountains and find enough food for ten people can run for village chief first. Before going into the mountains, they can eat horse meat, and after eating the horse meat, they can go into the mountains."
"Going into the mountains, food for ten people?" The crowd hissed in unison.
Some of the able-bodied men had already climbed up a mountain ridge behind the mountain. From a distance, the deep mountains behind were indeed quite green. However, on his way to and from the horse meat, Chenxi asked the woman whose package had been snatched about the situation.
The woman's husband's surname was Li, so Chenxi could just call her Aunt Li. Aunt Li's home wasn't far from here. The men in her family, along with the men from several elderly and young families, went into the mountains together. They were starving and, seeing that they had no food left, thought they might as well try their luck in the deep mountains and maybe find something to eat. The local people all knew that the mountains were dangerous; only those who were desperate would go into the mountains. But it wasn't just one group that went; some villages went in groups, and they all perished. Sure enough, of the group of men from that family, only one injured man returned. He said there were large tigers, wolf packs, and wild boars in the mountains. He had fallen off a cliff but was lucky enough not to die or be eaten. However, he was badly injured and, lacking medical care, didn't survive a day.
Later, after discussing it, the village chief led the group to go south to make a living. Unfortunately, none of these families had any capable men, so they were left behind. Aunt Li had no choice but to go with these old people and children. If they could find a way to survive in the south, they would be lucky. If they died on the way, it would be no different from starving to death at home.
Chenxi pondered for a long time. There were tigers and wolves in the deep mountains, but that was secondary. When encountering a large number of people, these beasts would generally not attack directly, especially during the day, as they would often avoid them. Even wolves would mostly attack at night. The main problem was that the deep mountains and forests were easy to lose one's way. Ordinary people would have difficulty coming out once they entered. It was indeed not a place that ordinary people could go. What if they could use a method?
At this moment, she already had a plan in mind.
Everyone's expression changed upon hearing that they were going into the mountains to find food. Although they knew beforehand that staying here would inevitably lead to the mountains, the prospect of it being a condition for running for village chief made them hesitate. The deep mountains and forests, even in the current situation, still had few people willing to go, proving that it was extremely dangerous. Aunt Li and the others were even more disheartened. They had already heard the arguments that had arisen because of them, the elderly, women, and children, and were already disheartened. Hearing this condition now, they knew they couldn't possibly agree to it.
Even those hunters were unsure of themselves. Although they were hunters, they didn't go deep into the mountains, nor had they ever directly faced wild beasts. At most, they hunted small animals, and the biggest they had ever hunted was a wild boar.
Everyone knows that if you don't go deep into the mountains, there's nothing left in these remote areas, not even leaves, let alone food.
Seeing everyone's expressions, Chenxi chuckled and said, "Our food probably won't last more than a few days. Even if we eat horse meat, it won't last more than two days. What will we do after that?"
"Since we'll have to go to the deep mountains sooner or later, we might as well make plans early."
"Hunger is more ferocious than a tiger, and I have some ways to get into the mountains. I wonder if you uncles, elders, and aunts would be willing to listen to my advice?"
Although Shenxi was just a young girl, her composure impressed some people, but others still expressed doubt: "What can you possibly do?"
Chen Xi smiled, "I've read a lot of books. There's a lot of knowledge in books, including hunting knowledge!"
Everyone was speechless. Shen's father was the only scholar in the surrounding area, and Shen's mother was also literate. In terms of knowledge, all of them combined probably didn't know as much as they did!
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