The Whole Village Thrives After Adopting a Lucky Girl

Chen Sanyou was carried to Old man Jiang’s house and placed on a bamboo bed.

Noticing that Chen Sanyou’s mouth and eyes were somewhat skewed, Yingbao brought out the silver needles given by Lady Wen and used them to perform acupuncture on Chen Sanyou.

The needles slowly penetrated into acupoints like the Earth Storehouse, Cheek Car, Dumb Door, Joint Valley, Communication Inside, Modest Spring, Bearing Jelly, and Wind Pool.

After the acupuncture, she performed bloodletting by inserting the needles, then used a pry to open his mouth to feed him half a bowl of soup mixed with Wudingzhi herb.

Lady Wen also took Chen Sanyou’s pulse and confirmed Yingbao’s diagnosis.

However, she had no medicinal materials at hand and could only count on her apprentice, Yingbao, for his treatment.

Yingbao continued the treatment on Chen Sanyou, including acupuncture and bloodletting. After the series of treatments, his face gradually relaxed, and he soon fell asleep.

Upon seeing his father’s condition stabilized, Chen Yin finally felt relieved, and he talked to Jiang Sanlang about the bandits.

“Those bandits are ruthless. They kill anyone they see, even the elderly and children are not spared.”

Chen Yin wiped his eyes with his sleeve and dejectedly said, “They even went into the mountains to search. Seeing the unfavorable situation, I took my family and ran to the mountains, losing much of our food along the way.”

Jiang Sanlang was curious, “How did you end up in Jiang Village?”

Chen Yin said with a bitter face, “My uncle said we should seek refuge in a remote village. We thought of Jiang Village as you were originally from here, and we might even run into you. So we came this way.”

“Where is Chief Chen?” Jiang Sanlang asked.

Chen Yin replied, “My uncle’s family separated from us while fleeing. We lost contact with them.”

There were no roads in the mountains, and with the bandits chasing after them, their group of dozens of people was in a total panic, running in every direction they could.

“On the way, dad suddenly fainted and we were all terrified. We traveled all night and didn’t expect to actually run into you all, boo hoo…”

Thinking of the panic from last night, and the ecstatic joy of seeing Dalu and Yingbao this morning, Chen Yin couldn’t help but tear up.

Jiang Sanlang patted his shoulder in silent consolation.

Seeing that the Chen family had not eaten, old man Jiang had his daughter-in-law cook them a large pot of rice porridge using their rice.

Chen Sanyou’s family, including the old and the young, was a group of more than ten people. Although they had brought some food with them, it wasn’t much. This left old man Jiang scratching his head.

They were all fellow villagers fleeing from disaster, friendly acquaintances who got along well. It would seem inappropriate to just ignore them. But if he were to help, his own limited food supplies would run out.

Due to the current unrest caused by bandits, even if they had money, they couldn’t buy any food, and they didn’t even know when this turmoil would end.

Sigh, they would just have to take it one step at a time. From now on, everyone would have to survive on porridge, hoping it could sustain them a little longer.

Not just old man Jiang, even Old man Jiang was torn. So many people have come and they simply couldn’t afford to host them all.

After having a bowl of porridge, Chen Yin recuperated slightly and also realized this problem. So he presented five taels of silver to Jiang Sanlang.

“Sanlang, I want to set up a couple of straw huts first. We will reside in those huts. I know it’s been tight for all of you, so I don’t want to impose on you.”

Jiang Sanlang nodded, took the silver, and handed it to Jiang Jiu who was next to him: “Big cousin, please take care of this. Use this silver to hire villagers to build two huts for Uncle Chen’s family.”

Jiang Jiu didn’t refuse but took the silver and went to find people to help.

Since the family was willing to pay for the construction of their own huts, it was more than good news.

The village head of Jiang Family Village was open-minded. He not only agreed to let the Chen family reside in the village, but also allowed them to build straw huts in areas of the village where they would not be in the way.

Money makes the world go round. When Jiang Jiu gave out five taels of silver, the villagers all pitched in. Three grass huts were soon set up, using several thick tree trunks as support and the roofs were covered with thin bamboo and thatch, providing protection against both wind and rain.

The inside of the grass huts was also stuffed with two large bundles of straw, serving as beddings for the night.

Chen Yin’s family of four squeezed into one grass hut with the elders, while the families of the elder and younger brother, having more members, occupied one each.

Chen’s sister-in-law was a little upset, murmuring to her husband, “What’s up with Jiang Sanlang’s family? They live in proper houses while we must live in the grass huts. How are we supposed to sleep in this small hut at night?”

They had three children, the eldest son was already fifteen, and the youngest daughter was also ten. It didn’t seem right that they had to squeeze together with their parents.

Chen Dalang was also not happy, but considering they were refugees, it was already good for the villagers of Jiang Family village to take them in. He couldn’t be too demanding. “Sigh, let’s just squeeze in for now. We’re not staying here forever.”

Chen’s sister-in-law snorted and spread the quilts on the straw, starting to tidy up the things they brought with them.

But to their surprise, by evening, Chief Chen Fu’s family, as well as Li Dayong and Li Eryong’s families, arrived at the Jiang Family village in disarray.

This group consisted of twenty or thirty people, a whole group with both young and old.

This shocked Lizheng, the village chief of Jiang Family village, who immediately asked Jiang Jiu what was going on.

Jiang Jiu had no idea and had to go ask Jiang Sanlang.

Jiang Sanlang was talking with Chief Chen, “You mean, those bandits are currently raiding villages everywhere?”

Li Dayong nodded, “On our way here, we met many villagers. They were from neighbouring villages and even from the town. Their homes were all raided by the bandits.

Yesterday, I also met a villager who said that their resistance attempts led by Lizheng were defeated. The bandits were rampant; they simply didn’t fear death and wounded several of them in an instant.”

“Little brother, you had no idea, the bandits we met earlier were only a small part, and now more and more bandits keep coming.”

Li Eryong said, “I met an acquaintance who once saw bandits carrying the Beast Fangs flag. They would forcibly conscript anyone they met, and anyone who dared to escape or resist was killed on the spot.”

Chief Chen said, “That’s why, Sanlang, this is not a good situation. Staying in Jiang village is not safe either. We need to make a plan and prepare early.”

He had seen it on his way— the bandits were launching organized attacks on the villages as if they planned to use this place as a stronghold. If so, there would be a brutal battle ahead.

Jiang Sanlang pondered for a moment, then said, “Since we can’t avoid them, let’s fight! We can’t always wait for the Imperial Court’s rescue.”

Chief Chen stroked his beard and nodded, “I agree, but our manpower is limited, and we don’t have weapons. How are we to fight against the bandits with bare hands?”

Chen Zhu, who had experienced battle, chipped in, “Aren’t there wild bamboo in the mountains? Let’s buy some ropes from Jiang village and make bamboo arrows for long-range attacks. Once we kill the first batch, we will have our close-combat weapons.”

Jiang Sanlang suddenly recalled his previous attack on Chen Guanglu, thought about it, and said, “If we can’t do it openly, let’s do it secretly. We cannot just sit and wait for death. Bandits are also human; they need to sleep and rest. We might as well take the initiative and ambush them.”

“That’s feasible.” Chen Zhu agreed.

Yingbao, who was eavesdropping on their conversation at the door, began to think.

Not only did the bandits need to sleep, but they also needed to eat. Since they were organized, the food they snatched would definitely be hand over to their leader for distribution and management. It would be great if she could find their storage location and collect all the food into her cave mansion.

However, this was easier said than done.

“Yingbao, what are you doing?” Wei Zhan ran over and seeing the girl sneaking behind the door, he asked curiously.

Yingbao casually walked away, “I’m doing nothing.”

“Then why are you hiding behind the door?” Wei Zhan blinked and asked again.

“None of your business!” Yingbao glanced at the boy, considering whether to seal his mouth.