Chapter 83: Treating the Whole Village Well, Jiang the Second, Inviting the Wolf into the House, Mr. Jiang
Early in the morning, some people returned to the village.
Even the heavy rain could not block the path home.
Last night, many terrifying sounds were heard.
Especially in the cold night deep in the mountains; the more they listened, the more afraid they became.
None of them had rested well.
Early in the morning, they could not hold back and returned to the village.
As it turned out, there didn’t seem to be any movement at Master Liu’s house.
The heavy rain had washed Master Liu’s high walls clean, and the green tiles were dripping wet.
The colors were vivid.
The villagers who lived nearby had clearly heard crying and shouting.
Yet they hadn’t expected the village to be so quiet upon their return.
A group of people gathered, and then the brave ones walked to the front to knock on the door.
As a result, with just a gentle push, they saw the husband of Sixth Auntie, Old Mole, lying on the ground.
He had an arrow in his chest, his eyes wide open in death, his mouth agape. The rainwater washed over his face, making the large mole on his face even more prominent.
Going further inside, there were all kinds of corpses, some they recognized and some they didn’t.
They found A-Cui’s fiancé, Xiao Wu, pinned under a corpse.
When Xiao Wu saw the villagers return, he wailed loudly.
He was truly scared to death.
His arm had been grazed by an arrow feather, and his leg might have been twisted, but he was not dead.
At this moment, cold and hungry, he felt like he was about to freeze to death. He was soaking in the water, with the corpse of a bandit still pressing down on him.
“The bandits came. They killed Master Liu, they killed so many people, and then, I don’t know why, they started fighting among themselves. They all died, they all died…”
His lips were blue and purple, and he trembled as he spoke.
The villagers dragged him out.
They entered the inner room.
The scene in the inner room was also incredibly cruel.
That Old Madam, who used to be high and mighty and looked down on all the villagers, was dead, wearing only her undergarments; she hadn’t even put on her outer coat.
Suddenly, a villager wailed loudly, knelt on the ground, and shouted at the top of his lungs, looking up: “Flower, Flower, look, the old hag is dead, she’s dead.”
His daughter, Flower, had been fancied by Master Liu, who said she was good for childbearing. Master Liu had said that since they couldn’t repay their debt, they should use their daughter as collateral. To survive, their family had borrowed a bag of coarse grain at the beginning of the year, worked for free for a whole year, and lost a daughter, yet they still hadn’t paid it off. They had thought that at least their daughter would be able to eat a full meal and not starve to death once she went there.
But on the third day, his daughter was beaten to death.
The old hag said his daughter had stolen her earrings.
She was beaten to death alive.
He wanted to see his daughter, wanted to ask if she had eaten her fill, but in the end, he only saw a tattered straw mat, with a pair of scarred feet exposed, without even shoes, none, none…
“Flower, oh Flower… do you see, do you see.”
The wailing continued in waves.
Most of the villagers had returned.
Old Uncle Five was old, but he couldn’t make decisions, so he brought everyone to find Jiang the Second.
After all, this time, without Jiang the Second, they would all have become corpses.
Jiang the Second was educated and a capable person; they wanted to ask him for advice.
Then they saw the five members of the Jiang Family returning.
Jiang the Second was riding a white horse.
Today, Jiang the Second seemed different from before. Why was his face so handsome? It was as if a mountain demon had swapped his face.
“The Second, you’re back. Are you all alright?” Old Uncle Five called out warmly.
Qin Luoxia held the child and greeted them: “Uncle Five, Uncle Dagen, Brother Hulu~~ Why have you all come over?”
Jiang Changtian quickly jumped off the horse and spoke politely to everyone: “Since you’re here, come straight inside. Come in and sit. We are all family; there’s no need for formalities.”
Everyone saw Jiang the Second approach and panicked, taking a big step back in a flurry.
Did Jiang the Second look like this?
Was this what he originally looked like?
They hadn’t looked closely before, as he left early and returned late.
He was too enchanting.
Not a single The Eldest Miss in the village could be found who was prettier than him.
His face looked both beautiful and kind; one couldn’t bear to say a harsh word to him.
No wonder that little daughter of Luo Xia looked like a snow doll; she was just like Jiang the Second, exactly the same.
Everyone was shocked by Jiang the Second’s appearance.
Then they remembered there were more shocking things at hand.
Everyone was dead, everyone was dead. Master Liu’s family was mostly dead, and many bandits had also died. What should they do?
Jiang Mianmian had fallen asleep on her Mother’s back and only woke up when she smelled the familiar scent upon arriving home.
Opening her eyes, she saw many people.
She also saw many ants.
Qin Luoxia went to open the door. She reached out, and the ants on the door scattered and then quickly disappeared.
She pushed the door open and entered the courtyard.
Everyone followed her in, and seeing the courtyard, it wasn’t much different from their own, other than being cleaner.
Jiang Mianmian fell into the arms of her sister.
Mother went to pour water for everyone.
Jiang Feng followed Father to greet the guests.
Jiang Yu was assigned to look after Jiang Mianmian.
She curiously held her younger sister and watched the commotion.
Jiang Mianmian also pricked up her ears, curious about what had happened.
Jiang Feng served tea to everyone.
He moved stools.
He also handed everyone a steamed bun to go with the tea.
Some ate it directly, some stuffed it into their bags, and some looked at Jiang the Second, who was sitting at the front, with some embarrassment.
Jiang the Second had clear brows and a gentle expression; he looked reassuring, making people feel that he was an extremely good person.
“The Second, what should we do now? The bandits and Master Liu’s family are all dead. A-Cui’s fiancé, Xiao Wu, survived and said the bandits had internal strife. By the way, Sixth Auntie is also still alive, but both her legs are broken, and she can’t speak clearly; she just groans in pain.” Old Uncle Five spoke up.
“Are they all dead?” Jiang Changtian showed a look of shock, followed by deep thought.
This group of undisciplined people actually didn’t interrupt while Jiang the Second was silent, but instead waited patiently and quietly.
“Master Liu’s daughter is the concubine of the County Magistrate. If we rashly report this to the authorities, I fear they will vent their anger on us. We are all alive, so why is Master Liu’s family dead? Secondly, this group of bandits is dead, but there must be other bandits. If the bandits come again, I don’t know when that will be, and we certainly won’t have such good luck next time; we won’t be able to escape.”
When Jiang Changtian spoke, he tapped his fingers on his knees. Sitting on the small stool, having also fled for the night, he looked as beautiful as if he had just returned from a peach banquet in the heavenly court, even more exquisite.
“Old Uncle Five, if you trust me, I will make the decisions for everyone this once. If you don’t trust me, then our family dare not stay. At worst, we will take our family to the capital to seek refuge with a nobleman. That nobleman values our Fenger highly and even left behind a horse, hoping Fenger would go to them.”
“We trust you, we trust you!”
“Mr. Jiang, please don’t leave. All of us in the village, young and old, rely on you to leave us a path to survival.”
“Yes, yes, Brother Jiang, you must stay. We will listen to you; we will do whatever you say.”
“Mr. Jiang, you saved the lives of my whole family. From now on, our lives are yours. If you say go east, we will never go west.” A man said, patting his chest.
Old Uncle Five also stood up and bowed respectfully: “Jiang, Mr. Jiang, we all rely on you.”
Jiang Changtian was persuaded for a while.
Then he said earnestly: “Master Liu’s family has a lot of stored grain. If we distribute it to everyone, it should be able to last us a few days. But for now, we still have a life-and-death crisis, and our fate is uncertain. We must first unite to defend against foreign enemies. Our Fenger has a secret manual given by a nobleman, and Fenger has practiced it for a short time, but it has been quite effective.”
At this moment, Jiang Feng took out his sword, keeping back thirty percent of his ability, and slashed at a tree stump. The stump split into two halves as if it were tofu.
Everyone watched with envious eyes. If they had this skill, their wives and children would certainly not go hungry.
“I can let Fenger teach everyone to practice. Everyone, men and women, young and old, can follow along. Once we have practiced well, we will defend against foreign enemies together. As long as we survive, by next spring, we can divide the fields and mountains. We will distribute based on everyone’s performance. In the future, we will all have fields and land, have fine grain to eat, and will no longer be oppressed by masters.”
“Brother Jiang.”
“Mr. Jiang.”
“Brother Jiang.”
The enthusiastic shouts came one after another. Thinking of having fields and land to divide next year, everyone trembled with excitement.
They looked at Jiang the Second as if he were a living Bodhisattva who had come to save them from suffering.
Hearing the respectful shouts, Jiang Changtian’s expression became increasingly humble and kind, and he exuded an ethereal, fairy-like aura.
He had gone to see these people when they were sick and had sent them medicinal herbs. In order for his family to gain a foothold in the village, he had helped everyone here.
But everyone used to call him Jiang the Second.
Now, he had brought in bandits and killed a whole family.
Everyone called him Brother Jiang, Mr. Jiang.
He was surrounded by the crowd, and as he passed through them, he saw the figure busy wearing an apron in front of the kitchen stove.
He smiled.
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