At the same time, Liu Junlan was also worried about the same thing.
Of course, she wasn't like Wang Dazhu, worried about her son's life or her family's lineage.
The world is in a bad state now, and the outside world may be in turmoil, with the times creating heroes. But things in this world are often balanced. As heroes are created, there are also cowards, and more villains are lurking in the shadows. Even the evil spirits are stirring and stretching out their claws.
Just now, Wang Hu came to the Lin family crying and asking for help, which woke up the adults in the family. Lin Weiming took Lin Wanyue to the Wang family to help.
Liu Junlan and Xue Fu, mother and daughter-in-law, lit lamps and burned charcoal, anxiously waiting for them to return home while chatting amongst themselves.
"I heard that apart from our village, which received rain in the summer and relieved the drought, the situation in other villages around here is even worse than last year... Without food, many people will starve to death. Our magistrate certainly won't open the granaries to distribute grain. Once our village's reputation spreads, I'm afraid there will be a lot of people outside who will be envious," Liu Junlan said worriedly.
Xuefu remained optimistic: "Everything was fine last year, right? Nothing should happen, Mother, don't worry too much... Why don't you go and rest first? I'll stay here and wait for them to come back."
Last year was fine, but that's because everyone was suffering from drought, and everyone was poor.
What could others possibly envy about them? Naturally, they wouldn't harbor any disgusting thoughts.
But things are different now. They can know news about other villages, and those other villages naturally know more or less about Ning'an Village's uniqueness.
When people are starving to death, they're capable of anything.
When Lin Weiming returned, he overheard his mother's worried voice. He strode over, placed Lin Wanyue on a small stool so she could warm herself by the fire, and comforted Liu Junlan just like his wife would: "Mom, it's alright. With me here, dealing with a dozen or so people is no problem. If anyone dares to mess with our family, I'll smash their heads in!"
Lin Wanyue was still young in this body, and after making a ruckus in the middle of the night, she sat by the warm charcoal fire and felt drowsy.
Liu Junlan then pulled Lin Wanyue into his arms, so that she could warm herself by the fire without falling into the fire pit.
Grandma's arms carried a faint scent of soapberry, which made one feel at ease.
Lin Wanyue listened to her parents and grandmother talking with her eyes half-open.
"You..." Liu Junlan said to her son, annoyed, "You're just like your second son, simple-minded and straightforward! Even if you can handle ten or twenty, can you handle a hundred or a thousand? Besides, even if you can protect our family, can you just stand by and watch something happen in the village? If that's the case, we might as well move the whole family to the mountains, where the chances of being found by others are much smaller."
"Of course not! Our house cost twenty or thirty taels of silver, how can we let it go to someone else for nothing?" Lin Weiming immediately disagreed, and asked his mother with a forced smile, "Mother, what do you suggest we do then?"
Liu Junlan sighed and said, "I was just thinking that if we arranged for a few people to keep watch in the village, we would be able to help each other out, since we are all from the same village. If anything happens, we can just call everyone up. We are a villager who have enough to eat and drink, why should we be afraid of outsiders?"
"Mother, do you mean like in the city? Have people keep watch at night? If something happens, or if we encounter any strange people, we just need to beat the gong and drum! Even if it doesn't scare them away, it will at least alert us?" Xuefu asked excitedly.
"That's a good idea." Liu Junlan nodded approvingly.
Actually, she only had a vague idea in her mind and hadn't figured out exactly what to do.
The family then gathered together with great interest to discuss it.
“I think we should have people guarding the area not only at night, but also during the day. But if we send a whole team, everyone’s work will be too much to handle. If we just set up four watchtowers in the four corners of the east, west, south, and north, we can see further from our high vantage points,” Lin Weiming added.
Liu Junlan poked his forehead and said, "Look, your pig brain can still work, can't it? This idea you came up with is pretty good, isn't it?"
"..." Lin Weiming could only chuckle as his mother both praised and teased him.
Both her father and mother were praised by her grandmother. Lin Wanyue also nodded and woke up, rubbing her eyes. She said in a soft voice, "Grandma, the world is in a bad state, and there are many bad ghosts. I can lead everyone to dig a Bagua formation, so that bad ghosts won't dare to come in."
"Oh my, my Wanwan is the best." Liu Junlan hugged Lin Wanyue and kissed her twice, extremely excited. "Then our village's protection from evil spirits will all depend on our little Wanwan."
"Yes!" Lin Wanyue smiled, her eyes crinkling. Seeing the approving looks from her parents and grandmother, she smiled even more happily.
...
The Lin family sorted out their thoughts and went to see the village head early the next morning.
Upon hearing this, the old man from the village shrugged with delight, exclaiming, "Weiming, what you said really resonated with me!"
“These days, I’ve been thinking about this too. It’s rare for our village to be doing better than other villages, but we can’t guarantee they won’t have bad intentions. These strange and supernatural things are just as frightening. I’m getting old, and these are the kinds of things I think about, but I forget about them as soon as my head hits the pillow.” The old village head looked at Lin Weiming with expectant eyes.
Actually, the old man wasn't lying. He was old and his energy was waning. He no longer had the energy to lead the villagers in doing these things. But Lin Weiming was young and strong, and had gained considerable prestige among the villagers over the past year. It was perfect to have him handle this matter.
“Since it’s you, sir, and you’re asking me to do some hard work, it’s only right that I do it. After all, we’re all doing this for the good of the village. But I’m afraid this matter still needs to be decided by the village head, sir. Otherwise, no one will listen to me.” Lin Weiming didn’t refuse, but said to the old man.
"Of course, of course!" The old man from the village head laughed and nodded in agreement.
So after lunch, I watched as the snow outside finally stopped, and the sun peeked out from behind the clouds with a cold glow.
The Zhou family's sons beat drums and gongs, gathering the villagers together.
The village head then brought up the matter, saying, "Our village is quite sought after these days. If we don't want other villages to be envious and covetous of us, we need to make some preparations."
"Is it like the way we used to guard against bandits? The village takes turns patrolling?" someone asked.
After all, for most people, there's not much difference between guarding against bandits and guarding against people from neighboring villages who might steal their village's grain.
The bandits wanted lives, but the bandits wanted food.
But without food, won't people still starve to death?
The final result was still fatal!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
