Chapter 95: Chapter 95: Just Listen and That’s Enough

“In the Qi Family, small matters are always decided by the parents, but when it comes to major issues, they have always given us enough respect. If anyone has any thoughts, just speak up. No matter what choice we make in the end, I will respect everyone’s opinion.”

Even though Yi Meng hadn’t explicitly stated her stance, everyone already understood her viewpoint.

Leaving the villagers, she didn’t want to travel with those who, when faced with danger, simply pass the risk onto others.

At this moment, Mrs. Qi was still a bit groggy, but upon hearing her fourth daughter-in-law’s voice, she forced herself to perk up.

Exchanging a glance with her husband, Mrs. Qi sighed helplessly but said nothing.

In these matters, though she said she’d listen to everyone, in reality, Mrs. Qi would always heed her own husband’s decision in the end.

If he wanted to stay, they stayed; if not, then they wouldn’t.

This lifetime of hers: marry a rooster, follow a rooster; marry a dog, follow a dog. Having married Qi Zheng, she would follow him for life.

Qi Zheng understood the meaning in his old wife’s glance and felt warmth in his heart, but when thinking of what they had to face next, his heart turned cold as ice.

He initially thought their village was especially united, that even when facing rebels, bears, and the wolf pack outside the cave, the villagers were extraordinarily cohesive.

But now, thinking carefully, it seemed that such so-called unity was merely his own wishful thinking.

Qi Zheng cleared his throat, instantly drawing everyone’s attention to himself.

“Everyone, just share your thoughts!”

Qi Zheng said, looking at the other families: “You all sit down and think together too! Although you are not part of the Qi Family, by choosing to stay and face the wolf pack with us, we have a life-and-death relationship now.”

The other families seemed somewhat constrained, but they still took the lead in sitting down and joining this discussion with the Qi Family.

Qi Quanli glanced left and right, and was the first to raise his hand.

Qi Zheng looked over, which immediately made Qi Quanli shrink his neck in intimidation.

It was only when Yi Meng encouraged him that he shrunk his neck and said, “If we separate from the villagers, then how do we proceed? Didn’t we all agree to head north together?”

Qi Quanyin echoed, “Lao Liu is right. We’re all heading in the same direction, taking more or less the same path. When we say we’d separate, would we be in the front or let them lead the way?”

Their questioning caused the atmosphere to become even more silent.

It was a while before Qi Zheng spoke, “If we really do part ways, they might not head north after all.”

Before the Qi Family could ask further, another old man, the elder of another family, said, “That’s right. When choosing the route earlier, quite a few people wanted to head towards the Capital City. I glanced at the map before, and if we continue on our current path for another three to five days, we should reach a fork in the road.”

He paused, then added, “The fork between going to the Capital City and heading north.”

“Going to the Capital City sounds pretty good!”

Qi Quanli scratched his face, “It’s under the feet of the emperor, definitely more stable than the northern frontier.”

Qi Ercai couldn’t hold back and kicked Qi Quanli’s leg, asking irritably, “Then can you guess why the rebels are advancing from there?”

“Ah? I—I wouldn’t know that!”

Qi Quanli pulled back his leg after being kicked, looking completely puzzled: “Second brother, are you stupid? I’m not the rebel leader, how am I supposed to know why they’re attacking from there?”

Qi Ercai rolled his eyes. He really didn’t want to look at this youngest brother of his any longer.

Qi Dalang, both amused and exasperated, explained, “Little uncle, rebels are by definition against the court, which is why they are called rebels. As rebels, they certainly aim to overthrow the court and establish a new one!”

“Huh?”

Qi Quanli was utterly confounded: “Is that—is that so?”

“Why else would they choose to be rebels? Wouldn’t ruling atop a mountain have a better ring than the name of a rebel?”

Qi Ercai rolled his eyes again.

Qi Quanli understood now and laughed awkwardly, “I—I just didn’t think it through at first.”

Qi Zheng shifted his gaze, deciding not to pay attention to his unreliable, flighty youngest son.

Qi Quanjin furrowed his brow and spoke at this moment, “If possible, I would like to separate from them.”

This was the first direct expression of an unwillingness to travel with the villagers.

Everyone’s attention focused back on Qi Quanjin.

Mr. Wang Sr. sighed, “Quanjin, it’s not that uncle doesn’t want to go along with you, but after what happened tonight, everyone’s afraid they won’t want to part ways with your family.”

“What do you mean?”

Qi Quanli couldn’t help himself and inquired again.

But this time, no one thought he was talking too much; rather, all eyes were on Mr. Wang Sr.

Mr. Wang Sr. smiled bitterly, “Think about it, before, Quanjin alone dealt with the bear, and then used bear dung to ward off the wolf pack. As for just now, it was even clearer—Quanjin made trip after trip to bring water to the wolves. I honestly don’t believe not a single person noticed.”

As Mr. Wang Sr. spoke, everyone’s hearts sank.

Mr. Wang Sr. continued, “What Quanjin’s wife said earlier was correct. Who knows how long it will take to reach our destination, and whether we’ll face any other incidents along the way? Surely they wouldn’t forfeit the presence of someone as capable as Quanjin?”

The atmosphere thickened further in silence.

Qi Quanjin also felt a bit frustrated.

It wasn’t a problem for him to protect his family. In fact, protecting the villagers as well wasn’t too difficult.

Yet the issue arose when these people pushed out their entire Qi Family, without even a word about caring for the children, and expected them to step up—this was something Qi Quanjin couldn’t accept.

“So, what should we do now?”

Qi Quanli asked once more, unable to hold back.

Mr. Wang Sr. looked at Qi Quanjin, then at Qi Zheng.

Qi Zheng, having been friends with Mr. Wang Sr. for many years, instantly knew what he meant upon meeting his gaze and said, “Brother, just say whatever you’ve got in mind!”

“Sigh, my idea isn’t really a good one, just hear it out.”

Given Qi Zheng’s words, Mr. Wang Sr. gathered his courage and said, “Quanjin is capable, and among us, no one is a coward, so I was thinking we could separate from them and head through the forest.”

“For one, there’s no path in the forest; it’s not a safe journey, but with our small numbers, we can move quickly and also lose them.”

Upon hearing this, many gasped.

From Mr. Wang Sr.’s suggestion, it seemed he intended to completely cut ties with those people, even taking them into the forest!

Mr. Wang Sr. heard the gasps and felt somewhat helpless, “You all shouldn’t think my method is too ruthless, but if we bring up going into the forest, those people might follow for at most half a day, and once they realize we’re serious about the forest route, they’ll give up following us.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep