Chapter 17: Chapter 17: Two Paths

The whole village had heard about the unrest in the city, and upon learning the village chief was calling the head of each household to his place, they knew it was to discuss this matter.

This was a matter that concerned the fate of each household, so everyone brought along one or two extra people.

But it was always the eldest sons and grandsons; no one brought girls.

So when Qi Zheng appeared with his fourth son and little granddaughter, the three of them instantly became the focus of the gathering.

“Mr. Qi Sr., why did you bring such a little baby along?”

“Exactly, what can a baby do in such matters!”

The faces around showed varying degrees of disdain.

Qi Zheng didn’t get angry; he chuckled and replied, “I just enjoy bringing my granddaughter along. If you’re jealous, you can hurry back and fetch your babies; there’s still time.”

“Hey, old man, who brings a baby to discuss serious business?”

Someone retorted unhappily.

The village generally maintained harmony, but there were always moments of discord.

Qi Zheng snorted, choosing not to argue.

Just then, the village chief emerged from the house. Everyone saw him and fell silent, turning their attention to him, waiting for him to speak.

The village chief cleared his throat, opened his mouth to speak, but first let out a long sigh.

This sigh brought everyone’s hearts up to their throats in an instant.

A few impatient individuals quickly asked, “Chief, with the city in chaos, what should we do now? Give us some guidance to calm us down.”

The moment those words were spoken, the place became lively, urging the chief to express his stance.

“Stop making noise, listen to the chief!”

Someone called loudly, asking for silence.

The village chief sighed again, appearing older than his usual self, particularly his eyes looking void of spirit.

“As you all know, there’s chaos in the city. Initially, I planned to discuss with the village elders about what to do, but considering it’s a matter for the whole village, it’s better to call everyone here.”

The chief coughed twice, then continued, “If the city’s really chaotic, we might not be safe here either. I think, if there’s anyone in the village who has somewhere to turn to, we should hurry to seek refuge. While we still have grains, even if we go to seek refuge, we won’t be looked down upon.”

“What?”

Everyone was shocked.

Someone asked, “Chief, where do we seek refuge? Do any of our villagers have relatives in affluent households?”

“Yeah, Chief, stop saying that. Even if there are places, that would be few; what happens to the many of us with nowhere to go?”

Yongping Village was poor, and outsiders didn’t want to marry into it. To get wives for the young men here, they mostly resorted to swapping brides with other villages.

However, it wasn’t for one-on-one family swaps.

Smart matchmakers arranged for one girl to marry into the village and then another out of it.

In essence, it was a swap between villages.

This led to each household having relatives from only a few villages, depending on the number of girls in the family.

The village chief wiped his face and said, “If there’s no place to go, we have two options.”

“Either we all hide in the mountains until things settle down below.”

“Or…”

The second option, the chief tried to say several times but couldn’t bring himself to articulate.

No one interrupted because he simply couldn’t utter the second choice.

He wouldn’t say, and people were anxious, pressing him further.

Finally, Qi Zheng waved his hand and loudly said, “Stop with the fussing.”

The villagers quieted down, and Qi Zheng looked at the village chief, “Chief, just say it out loud! Whether it’s feasible or not, we must know it to discuss potential solutions.”

The chief gave Qi Zheng a grateful look, seemingly gathering immense courage, and said loudly, “The second option is to flee.”

“What? Flee?”

The crowd erupted again.

They had heard of fleeing, had seen people flee to their village, but being the ones to flee was unprecedented.

Only after walking far, two families just reached the village chief’s gate heard this and immediately went weak at the knees, kneeling on the ground.

“Chen Er and Zhang Laosan are here!”

Someone near the gate noticed the figures at the entrance and shouted out.

The crowd instantly quieted down, all eyes turning towards the gate.

At the doorway, two men were kneeling.

One looked to be forty or fifty, the other roughly thirty or forty.

Chen Erqiao and Zhang Sanniu, these two were among those who fled here to Yongping Village.

Their families were with them as well.

But as they said, the hardships of fleeing left only a few survivors.

When they reached Yongping Village, these two men were barely hanging on, their families even fainted from hunger.

If Yongping villagers weren’t kind-hearted, offering a bowl of rice soup, the weeds over their graves would have grown tall.

These families arrived at Yongping Village, penniless, settled with grass huts at the foot of the mountain, surviving by doing odd labor and occasional hunting.

The good years brought plenty of work, so they had been busy working, not going hunting for a while now.

Without hunting, they didn’t sell grain, which kept them clueless about the city unrest.

“Chen Er, Zhang Laosan, come in quickly.”

Someone hastily called them into the courtyard.

They didn’t want to flee, hoping these two would speak of the hardships again, persuading the chief to rescind the idea.

Qi Zheng took Qi Manman from Qi Quanjin’s arms, “Old Four, help them up.”

Speaking of fleeing, Qi Zheng was more accepting than most there.

No choice, his Manbao had just mentioned it yesterday.

Qi Quanjin immediately stepped out, lifting one of them in each hand.

Then others reacted, rushing to help.

Thus, Chen Erqiao and Zhang Sanniu went from being on the ground to supported by two people each.

The chief also ordered family members to bring two small stools for them.

Only after sitting did Chen Erqiao regain his senses, red-eyed, looking at the chief, and choked asking, “Chief, why flee now? Isn’t the year going well?”

The chief sighed and had to explain the unrest in the city once more.

Just as he finished, Chen Erqiao couldn’t hold on, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep