The fire crackled and blazed, but the warmth it gave off could not dispel the chill in everyone's hearts.
Granny Li had been gone for a while before Granny Lin finally snapped back to her senses. "With such a generous reward, there will surely be brave takers. Many will go after those thirty taels of silver. Who knows how many lives will be lost before this matter settles… Sulan, Cuie, when Dashan and Erhe return, tell them not to do anything else for the next few days. Have them build the courtyard walls higher and place wooden clubs and firewood knives behind the doors and in the corners!"
Hearing this, the two young women were both startled, sensing the gravity of the situation. "Mother?"
Lin Jiang's mind worked quickly and he had already grasped the key point. "Thirty taels of silver is enough to sustain an ordinary family for half a lifetime. For that sum, the able-bodied young men of every village will likely band together to kill the bandits. When that happens, the bandits will surely flee and seek refuge somewhere. The best hiding place is Divine Maiden Mountain, and our home sits at its foot. If the bandits try to plunder food while fleeing, our family will be the first to bear the brunt!"
By the time he finished speaking, the young women's faces had turned deathly pale.
Granny Lin pressed her lips together, her expression grim. "Also, keep a close eye on the eldest and second sons. If you notice any sign of them getting ideas, tell me immediately. If they dare to join that commotion, I'll break their legs myself before they go and lose their lives!"
Lin Jiang's eyelids twitched. "…"
Li Sulan and Zhang Cuie likewise. "…"
No one knows a child better than their mother.
Given the family's current circumstances, the eldest and second sons might very well join the others to suppress the bandits for money.
And Granny Lin was absolutely certain that the eldest and second sons would indeed get involved. Even if they only got a mosquito's leg's worth of that thirty taels of silver, it would still ease the family's situation somewhat. Those two would definitely throw themselves into it with all their might.
At the thought, she felt a headache coming on. The family could not withstand any more storms right now.
Baixiang, who had been sitting obediently in her uncle's lap the whole time, saw the adults' grim expressions and pressed her little lips together.
She was a bit unhappy.
This had happened several times now. She didn't like seeing her grandmother and mother frowning. She felt most comfortable when they smiled and talked and looked at her with happy faces.
It was all the bandits' fault.
"Grandmother, Mother, Auntie, Uncle, where are the bandits?" Baixiang furrowed her little brows, her small face utterly serious. "Baixiang can fight the bandits."
If she beat the bandits, her grandmother and mother would be happy, right?
"Little girl, talking nonsense." Granny Lin scooped her granddaughter into her arms and rubbed her little head, taking it as the innocent rambling of a small child. "Fighting bandits isn't as simple as you say. Those brutes are vicious. No matter what, Grandmother will find a way to protect all of you."
"…" No one believed her when she told the truth, but Baixiang wasn't annoyed. She curved her eyes and smiled at her grandmother, sweet and obedient.
Plenty of people who hadn't believed her words before had ended up crying with snot running down their noses later.
But Grandmother was different. She liked Grandmother. She wouldn't make Grandmother cry.
…
In the evening, Lin Dashan returned from town, bringing more concrete news about the bandits.
The reward notice from the yamen had been posted just today.
Because the yamen had already determined that there were over fifty bandits entrenched north of the mountain, armed with knives, axes, iron hammers, and other weapons, the dozen or so constables of the town yamen were utterly incapable of suppressing them.
In recent days, the yamen had borrowed men from other offices for support, but the bandits were cunning. The moment they caught wind of it, they split into several small groups and scattered. When the constables charged up the north side of the mountain, the bandits simply committed crimes elsewhere. When the yamen men gave up waiting and withdrew, they regrouped and reclaimed their stronghold.
They toyed with the yamen back and forth like a cat playing with a mouse. Throughout this process, the common folk suffered no shortage of calamities. The bandits had clearly gone blood-crazed and completely reckless—not only killing and looting, but even beginning to frequently rape women.
The people feared the bandits to the extreme, yet hated them to the bone, and the flames of that hatred continued to rise.
"On my way back today, I already heard several groups of people talking about organizing men to capture the bandits," Lin Dashan analyzed. The tall man sat hunched on a small stool, his limbs folded, and in the dancing firelight, his eyes were deep and dark. "With numbers comes courage. With those thirty taels of silver on the line, there will be no shortage of people willing to risk everything. I reckon it won't be long before something big kicks off."
Li Sulan's heart immediately lurched. With her mother-in-law present, she didn't dare say much, lest she bring scolding down on her husband, but her hand still couldn't help gripping her husband's forearm, as if that could stop whatever unspoken thoughts were in his head.
But she wasn't the only one who understood her husband in this household.
Granny Lin's face also turned grim in an instant. She asked in a low voice, "You're thinking of going after the reward too?"
Lin Dashan was silent for a moment before he spoke. "Mother, it's not about the reward. The mountain bandits are vicious and cunning. Once they learn that the villagers are rallying people to wipe them out, they'll gauge the situation and know they can't fight us head-on—they'll run. If they flee into Goddess Mountain, our entire Yuxi Village won't know a moment's peace. Rather than live in constant fear, waiting for the bandits to strike whenever they please, it's better we strike first. No one wants their family to come to harm. No one wants their menfolk to risk their lives fighting bandits. But as things stand, the blade is hanging right over our heads. If I won't step up and you won't step up, then we'll truly be at their mercy. At that point, forget protecting our own lives—we wouldn't even be able to protect our wives and children. Then what kind of man would I be?"
He was just an ordinary villager, after all—naturally afraid of death.
Who isn't afraid of death?
But he was also a man, and the eldest son of the Lin family. When forced to make a choice, he chose to face the danger to buy his family peace.
When faced with the bandits' raised blades, someone had to stand up and resist first before more would follow.
Was he really supposed to just watch the bandits swagger into their homes, plunder their money and grain, violate their wives and daughters, and then swagger back out?
He couldn't do it.
To live that spinelessly—he'd rather die.
Granny Lin's face went pale, and she remained silent for a long time.
Li Sulan's hand, gripping her husband's arm, trembled without cease, tears already streaming down her face beyond control.
Zhang Cuie's eyes were red as well. Her lips opened and closed as if she wanted to say something, but no words came out.
Those words—they couldn't refute them.
If the bandits truly came, resisting meant death. Not resisting… the consequences would be just as brutal.
"Big brother, I'm with you!" Lin Erhe gritted his teeth hard and said firmly. "I refuse to believe those bandits have nine lives like cats—they can't be unkillable!"
Lin Jiang said, "Big brother, second brother! I'll also—"
Before he could finish, the two men cut him off in unison, "You'll what? You stay home! We need a man holding down the fort in the rear!"
Lin Jiang lowered his gaze. Never had he hated his crippled right hand more than at this moment.
The young boys nearby had already been frightened to tears by the adults' conversation, but they didn't dare wail out loud. They sniffled and sobbed, their eyes filled with fear and confusion.
Baixiang saw how miserable they looked, hesitated for a moment, then reached out his little hand and clumsily patted his brothers' heads to comfort them. Then he subtly shrank back into his mother's arms.
Eek, there's snot.