I survived the famine by scavenging and supported my family.

Someone actually sneaked up behind the group and launched a surprise attack!

Tiger shouted and jumped to the side. In the darkness, a thin old man stood there, his expression unreadable.

"What a pity." The village chief clicked his tongue. Soon, he flipped his wrist, and the next knife came in quick succession. Tiger couldn't react in time and could only retreat and dodge. The two of them got further and further away from the fighting crowd.

After being tripped by a stone, Hu Zi staggered back a few steps, instantly widening the distance between the two.

Taking advantage of this moment, he raised his knife and withstood the next attack.

The village chief was very strong. The man opposite him didn't know where this thin old man got such strength. His hand trembled, and he knew something was wrong. He mustered all his strength to push the knife away and ran back to the group.

The village chief wouldn't give him that chance. He took a few steps with his knife and easily caught up. With a slash of his knife, the other man had no choice but to stop and deal with it.

After a dozen or so moves, the opponent was forced to retreat step by step. The two were locked in a fierce battle. The village chief frowned, thinking that this person was really difficult to kill and that he had to find an opening.

After thinking for a moment, he pretended to be weak, took a few steps back while holding the knife, and gasped for breath.

Tiger's eyes lit up, and he raised his broadsword to chop down. In the blink of an eye, the village chief bent over and dodged, reaching out to slash the broadsword horizontally. Instantly, the man's abdomen was slashed open, and his intestines and internal organs spilled out onto the ground.

The spurting blood splattered all over the village chief.

The village chief looked at his hands with disdain, glanced at the fighting still going on in front of him, and instead of going back, he charged straight forward from behind.

While fighting, they shouted, "Your leader and second-in-command are both dead!"

At first, the group of thieves didn't believe it, until one of them saw the leopard lying in front of the car.

Looking back, I wanted to find the leader and ask if we should go and kill him now to take revenge, but I saw that the back of the group was empty.

The leader lay in a pool of blood, barely breathing, clearly beyond saving.

Immediately, the group slowed their movements, and the morale of the villagers in Wangli Village rallied again. The village head shouted, "Kill them!"

We've been fleeing famine for so long; now is not the time to be soft-hearted.

Thinking of their families behind them, the villagers in front raised their broadswords and shouted hoarsely, "Kill! Kill them all—"

Originally, the other side relied on the fact that they were all men, all carrying broadswords, and that they outnumbered the people from Wangli Village.

Now, those in Wangli Village who can't throw stones are transporting them from behind, while those with good aim are throwing stones from the front. In addition, the morale of those at the front is unprecedentedly high.

As time went by, the situation gradually reversed.

Ultimately, the people of Wangli Village turned the tide and won the battle.

There were only a few people left on the other side. Seeing that the situation was not good, they tried to run away. This time, the men of Wangli Village did not let them go. They pressed their advantage and took down all of them in half an hour.

The village chief left two people alive and dragged them back for questioning by the village head.

The situation was no longer as prudent as it had been a few days ago. After the village head finished his questioning, the man dragged the remaining thieves behind the woods and brought them down with a swift stroke of his knife.

Now the team is finally safe.

While cleaning up the battlefield, the people of Wangli Village found silver that had been hidden in a bag in advance in the bushes, along with some grain.

There's not much grain, but there's a lot of silver! With this much silver, we could buy grain in the county town!

After cleaning up the battlefield, it was almost dawn.

Five men died in Wangli Village.

According to the previous rules, each household received a share of silver, and this time, half of the grain collected was distributed to them.

Those people were heartbroken, and they wept incessantly even while holding the silver. They would rather not have the silver than have their children lose their lives here.

Besides them, everyone in the team who contributed this time also received some money.

Even the old woman who was fishing and carrying stones in the back got two hundred coins.

The whole family pitched in, even calling over six-year-old Zhao Sixia, leaving only pregnant Cao Rouan at home to watch over things.

Two hundred coins per person, two thousand coins for ten people! That works out to two taels of silver!

After collecting all the money, Granny Qian watched enviously as the village head distributed silver to other families.

The village headman watched as those who threw stones from the roof of the cart did so well or badly.

Even though her aim wasn't great, the village head didn't say anything. The woman who could brave the gossip to climb onto the roof of the cart, and the woman who could brave the gossip to go to the front and fight alongside the men, were no different from the men.

Each person receives a minimum of one tael of silver, and for a few people who are particularly accurate, the village headman may give them two or three taels.

When it was Er Shun's turn, the village head hesitated for a moment, but in the end he still rewarded her according to her merits.

Last time she risked her life to call for help, but many people didn't know. After the village head publicly rewarded her, he secretly made up for it with this gift.

With so many people watching, the village head couldn't very well side with Er Shun's wife, otherwise Old Man Xi would have something to say about it.

After rewarding them, the village headman began distributing money to those who were at the forefront.

Each person receives a minimum of five taels of silver, with the more valiant and fierce they are paid.

When Granny Qian saw five heavy silver coins fall into those people's hands, her eyes turned black with envy.

Those who rush to the front can each get five taels of silver!

Granny Qian saw that some of the women who rushed ahead did nothing but shout at their husbands when they saw thieves behind them.

"Just like that, I can get five taels of silver. I think I can do it too!"

After the initial portion was divided equally, the village head called everyone to the front in turn. Xi Ershun killed five people and took ten taels back with him.

After much back and forth, only three men and one woman remained on the field.

Granny Qian looked closely and realized it was Zhou Lanxiang, her former mistress!

Zhou Lanxiang hadn't expected the village head to distribute the money so openly, so she could only grit her teeth and wait for it to end.

After waiting and waiting, Ning's father was called away, leaving him alone on the field.

"Zhou Lanxiang killed thirteen thieves single-handedly."

The village head was multitasking and keeping an eye on everything for them; otherwise, the leopard wouldn't have almost had a chance to take advantage of them.

"Thirteen!"

"Zhao Lao Er's wife is... really something!"

"Is this still a woman?"

"How vulgar this woman is, mixing with a bunch of men..."

No sooner had they offered a few words of praise than someone said something unpleasant. The village head glanced over and saw a villager shrinking back.

He didn't curse; he just went over and pulled the person out of the line.

The village chief didn't know what the village head was going to do, but when he saw the village head going to arrest someone, he went along to lend a hand.

"Ma Laosi! If you're tired of living, you can go flee the famine by yourself." The village head threw him to the ground in front of everyone.

"Apologize!"

"Apologize to the women in the village!"

"If they hadn't been throwing stones from behind, if they hadn't been holding knives in front, would you be standing here safely?"

With so many people watching, isn't this blatantly embarrassing himself and giving those women face?! Old Ma's face turned red and then pale.

The village chief said in a sinister tone, "If you don't want to apologize, fine, but our Wangli Village doesn't tolerate such heartless scoundrels who curse the well-digger after drinking the water!"

"Pack yourself up and get out of the group." The village chief grabbed him by the collar and threw him aside.

"Village Chief..." An old woman rushed out of the village, crying and bowing, "Lord Village Head! I apologize to you all, please don't kick my fourth son out!"

In Wangli Village, with so many people traveling together, they still encountered so many thieves daring to rob and steal. I can't imagine what those two people would encounter if they traveled alone.

Letting them flee the famine on their own now is no different from taking their lives!

Upon seeing his mother, Ma Laosi finally showed some emotion. He lowered his head and said, "Village head, village chief, I'm sorry."

"You didn't tell us!" The village chief kicked him.

Ma Laosi turned around, faced the eyes of the villagers, lowered his head, and said, "I'm sorry, ladies of the village."

Seeing that his attitude was acceptable, the village head waved his hand, and Wang Xiufeng went to help Ma Laosi up and pull him aside.

The village head then gave Zhou Lanxiang some silver.

Zhou Lanxiang alone took thirty taels!

Granny Qian was breathing heavily through her nostrils, her eyes wide as she stared at the pile of silver.

It's too big to hold in one pair of hands!

If only... if only Zhao Lao Er and the others hadn't left home yet! Wouldn't all this silver belong to the Zhao family?

Granny Qian hesitated, feeling somewhat annoyed as she thought about the attitude of her second son's family.

Forget it! It's not like it's grain. If it were thirty bags of grain, she might be envious.

Granny Qian comforted herself as she walked back.

Zhao Ningning was rewarded with fifty taels of silver by the village head for discovering the thief and for her quick thinking, making her the highest-paid person in the family.

Holding the silver, Zhao Ningning's face was almost frozen with a smile. This was the first time she had earned so much money through her own abilities.

When Zhao Ningning offered the money to Ning's mother, she refused it. So Zhao Ningning carried the pile back to the living room and placed it in front of the TV cabinet.

She also patiently stacked them into a pile.

Sleeping in the living room, Zhao Ningning could see him as soon as she turned over.

At 9:00 AM, the weather started to get hot again.

The area reeked of blood, so the village head led his men up the mountain to avoid the area.

However, it is not too far from the water source, making it convenient for villagers to wait for water.

As they waited, Wang Xiufeng, who had been watching the villagers line up, returned and told his father: "The water supply is cut off."

The village head was greatly alarmed and hurriedly went to check on the spring.

The spring, which used to yield several buckets of water every hour, is now showing no sign of gushing water at all.

The water supply is really cut off!

The village head felt somewhat disappointed.

In these dry days, they finally found a water source and finally decided to stay here for a few days.

There's no water again.

"Let's wait and see," the village head said listlessly. "What if it's just a temporary water shortage?"

The team couldn't stay here any longer; firstly, there were too many people, and secondly, it would be easy to see something was wrong from the bottom of the mountain.

The group of thieves who launched the raid noticed something amiss when they saw movement on the mountain and saw smoke coming from cooking on the mountain, which is why they targeted this place.

Another reason is that it's too hot, so they need to find a cool place to stay.

"How big is the cave you found? Tell me in detail." The village head asked his son as they walked, and by the time they reached the group, he had a rough idea of ​​the size.

They moved to the back of the mountain!

This was not a good time. After waiting all noon, the spring still showed no sign of flowing. In the afternoon, the village head announced that the procession would begin at 3 PM.

As for the spring, five people are sent over every day to keep an eye on it, and they go back to notify the villagers when there is water.

Otherwise, it's not good for a group of people to just stay up all night.

Hearing that the cave was cooler than outside, the villagers all agreed. In the afternoon, after packing up their things, they saw that the spring was still dry at Shenshi (3-5 PM). They immediately decided to lead their men to the back of the mountain.

Moving from the south slope to the north slope immediately makes it cooler, to say the least.

Upon reaching the cave, even before entering, one could feel the cool breeze emanating from within, much to the delight of the villagers who had been suffering from the high temperatures for almost a month.

The cave appeared to be about ten feet high and eight feet wide, and it was pitch black inside, with no bottom in sight.

When Wang Xiufeng saw that there was no water source and it was dark, he returned without going in to check.

They're going to stay here tonight, so they need to go inside and check if there are any wild animals.

Holding a torch, Wang Xiufeng went inside and immediately smelled a foul odor.

It smells like wild animal droppings!

Wang Xiufeng paused, then retreated to find someone to discuss it with.

Finally, the village chief led a dozen or so men inside, carrying torches and broadswords.

Ning's father was also inside. He was thinking that after they finished hunting the wild beasts, they could quickly find a good spot so that his wife and children could get some rest.

Inside the cave is a large, sunken pit filled with sand.

The torches shone over, and shadowy figures could be seen in the large pit. When Ning's father finally saw the wild beast at the bottom of the pit, his face lit up with joy.

—A wild boar! It's a wild boar!

He was relieved. If wild boars could survive here, it meant that these boars were the most dangerous creatures in this cave.

However, there were quite a few wild boars in the group, at least seven or eight at first glance, and they were all large boars, with no piglets.

Three or four are manageable; with so many villagers, they can hold them off. But if seven or eight rush out, they could injure people in the group who can't escape in time.

—It's not easy to fight; we can only outsmart them.

Ning's father stroked his chin, pondered for a moment, and said, "Wang Xiufeng, shall we dig a trap?"

There are many pits in the cave. Taking advantage of the terrain, they can dig a deeper pit and bury some spiky wood at the bottom so that the pigs can run out and fall into the trap, making it easier for them to deal with them one by one.

Wang Xiufeng agreed after a moment's thought. He left two men to keep an eye on the wild boars while he led his men out to ask for reinforcements.

All the able-bodied men in the village came out to dig pits, while the women hauled soil from the bottom of the pits.

The elderly and children would rummage through their own firewood to find thicker pieces, sharpen both ends, and then take them to the trap.

With many hands make light work. Within an hour, the trap was dug, and Wang Xiufeng led his men to block up the other exits.

In the group, a thin villager volunteered to lure the wild boar over. Wang Xiufeng recognized him immediately—it was Zhao Lao Er's son! If he remembered correctly, Zhao Qi was only thirteen years old this year!

After asking Zhao Lao Er and getting his consent, Wang Xiufeng told him to take the torch.

Zhao Qi took two torches and, without even needing to give directions, ran straight to the wild boar pit and threw one of the torches down.

He had a good aim; the torch he threw landed squarely on the group of wild boars.

The wild boar, which had been sleeping soundly in its cave due to the heat, was awakened by the noise. Looking around and seeing light, it immediately found a source of its rage—

They came up one by one from the bottom of the pit and rushed straight at Zhao Qi!