A fierce wife enters the house: She helps up a house full of spineless people.

Several strong young villagers dragged the refugee and Chen Shuyan toward the village ancestral hall.

The refugees were terrified and let themselves be dragged along, constantly begging for mercy.

Only Chen Shuyan struggled desperately as he was dragged up, crying out incoherently, "Grandpa! Grandpa, save me! I didn't mean to! They forced me to!"

Old Chen stood under the eaves, the dim light illuminating his wrinkled face, which was devoid of any color.

Human hearts are made of flesh and blood, but at this moment, his heart felt as if it had been frozen in an ice cellar for three days and three nights, cold and hard, and he could not feel any pain.

Inside the ancestral hall, a dozen oil lamps illuminated the solemn and dignified ancestral tablets clearly.

Chen Shuyan and the other refugees were thrown onto the cold floor tiles, surrounded by the village elders and able-bodied men, while Chen Defu sat in the chair in the center.

With a loud "thump," everyone's heart skipped a beat.

"Speak! Who are you? Why have you come to our Chenjia Village?" Chen Defu pointed at the leader of the refugees and asked sternly.

Although the leader of the refugees had no injury on his leg, he was terrified by Wang Jinzhu's astonishing kick. At this moment, he only wanted to save his life and dared not hide anything.

He knelt on the ground, trembling, and kowtowed repeatedly: "Sir, spare us! We...we are all refugees who fled from the north. We were starving to death in the county town. It was...it was him!"

He suddenly pointed at Chen Shuyan beside him.

"He found us and said he was a scholar from Chenjia Village. He said there was a very wealthy family in the village who not only had a full granary but also several hundred taels of silver in cash."

He said that if we helped him get in and killed the man and woman in the house, all the food, silver, and women inside would be ours!

These words immediately caused an uproar in the ancestral hall.

"My God! Is this something a human would say?"

"That's his uncle's family! How could he do such a thing!"

"You beast! You're a complete beast! All that knowledge you've gained from studying the classics has gone to waste!"

The villagers' curses pierced Chen Shuyan like knives.

Wang Tianfang, who was sitting in the corner, was listening to the trial with his fists clenched. When he heard the sentence "Women... all belong to us", a surge of anger rushed to his head. He stood up abruptly, and before anyone else could react, he took a few steps forward, swung his arm, and punched Chen Shuyan hard in the face.

With a "crack," Chen Shuyan screamed and covered his nose, blood instantly gushing out from between his fingers.

"She's your sister-in-law! Are you even human?!" Wang Tianfang, like a mad lion, straddled Chen Shuyan and began punching and beating him. The surrounding villagers were stunned for a moment, until they saw Chen Shuyan's eyes roll back in his head from the beating, before they rushed over to pull him away.

"Tianfang! Stop!"

"Quick, pull him back! Don't kill him!"

It took two burly men a great deal of effort to pull the bloodthirsty Wang Tianfang off the ground. With his feet off the ground, he still lunged forward defiantly, pointing at Chen Shuyan on the ground and cursing, "This kind of beast should be beaten to death! I'll beat you to death, you bastard!"

Chen Shuyan was curled up on the ground, her face covered in blood, too weak to even cry out.

He abruptly raised his head, his face flushed crimson, the veins on his neck bulging, and roared at the leader of the refugees, "You're lying! I didn't! It was you! You forced me to bring you here because you saw I had a few taels of silver! You said you'd kill me if I didn't lead the way!"

He cried, tears streaming down his face, and turned to Chen Defu and Old Man Chen, "Village Chief, Grandpa! You have to believe me! No matter how wicked I am, I wouldn't do something so heinous!"

"Really? Would a group of starving refugees seek out a poor scholar who looks like he has nothing to offer as a guide, or would they just rush into the village and rob it first? Unless, of course, this scholar tells them there are big fish in the village that will give them a good meal!"

As soon as Wang Jinzhu finished speaking, the villagers immediately understood.

Yes, the refugees need food. Chen Shuyan is a penniless man, what do they want from him? It must be that Chen Shuyan promised them some huge benefits!

"So that's how it is! That damned bastard!"

"For money, he'd even try to kill his own uncle!"

Looking at the disdainful and angry eyes of the people around him, Chen Shuyan's last shred of hope vanished.

He gave up trying to explain, instead crawling towards Old Man Chen, hugging his leg, and wailing, "Grandpa! I was wrong! I was really wrong! I was just out of my mind! Please, for my parents' sake, forgive me this time! I'll never do it again, Grandpa!"

Old Chen kicked him away, not wanting to say another word.

The heavy wooden door of the ancestral hall was closed, followed by the heavy sound of a large lock being locked.

The ancestral hall instantly went dark, with only a few dim lamps illuminating Chen Shuyan's bloodless face. He was finished; his life, at this moment, had come to a bloody end.

The next day, just as dawn was breaking, the entrance to the ancestral hall in Chenjia Village was already crowded with people.

The villagers, who hadn't slept all night, all had dark circles under their eyes, but their energy was exceptionally high. Each of them held a weapon in their hand, and their eyes, staring at the ancestral hall gate, seemed to be spitting fire.

The oxcart belonging to Wang Jinzhu's family was already harnessed. Wang Tianfang and Wang Xiaobao stood by the cart with ropes and sticks, ready to escort the prisoner.

Old Chen seemed to have aged ten years overnight. He stood hunched over, silently on the outskirts of the crowd, not uttering a word. Chen Shi and Chen Yuxiang stood beside him, their faces also filled with sorrow.

Wang Jinzhu distributed hot flatbread and meat soup to the villagers who had been keeping watch all night; she had gotten up early that morning to make them.

"Everyone has worked hard. Let's eat something to fill our stomachs first," she said loudly. "This matter won't be over until we get the person to the county. From now on, the safety of our village will depend on everyone working together."

The villagers received the hot soup, their hearts filled with warmth.

"Jinzhu is right! From now on, anyone who dares to mess with our village will have to ask this machete in my hand first!"

"That's right! We must unite!"

"We'll start patrolling tonight. Who knows what kind of heinous things these vagrants might do!"

As everyone was talking, the ancestral hall door creaked open.

Chen Shuyan and the other refugees were pushed out one by one, their hands tied behind their backs.

Overnight, Chen Shuyan seemed to have been drained of all his energy. His hair was disheveled, his face was filthy, and his eyes were dull. He no longer resembled a scholar at all.

When he saw the oxcart waiting outside, his body suddenly trembled violently. He knew that he was going to the county government office.

"No! I won't go! I don't want to see the officials!" He suddenly struggled wildly, screaming, "You can't send me! I'm a scholar! You can't treat me like this!"