Granny Lin's eyes closed weakly. At this point, there was nothing she could say that would make a difference, and she couldn't bring herself to stop them either.
"It's too early to make decisions now. If it truly comes to that, I won't stand in your way. But before then, let's see how things play out outside first."
She paused, then added, "These next couple of days, Dashan and Erhe, you two stay home and reinforce the courtyard walls—make them taller and sturdier. Tomorrow, I'll go to the village head's house and bring back a dog. Dogs are alert; if anyone tries to break in, they can serve as a warning. Once the courtyard walls are done, I'll go talk to your Third Aunt and have Sulan and Cuie stay with her for a while with the children. Her house is in the middle of the village, farther from the mountain foot and surrounded by more people—much safer than our place."
Only after the children nodded in agreement did Granny Lin let out a silent sigh.
She was just an ordinary woman who didn't know much. These were the only measures she could think of.
She couldn't predict what was coming next. All she could do was prepare as best she could, and leave the rest to fate.
The news of the official reward had spread through the village by mid-afternoon. A village already weighed down by tension grew even more unsettled.
The villagers, too, could guess what they might soon be facing.
In no time at all, women, old and young, and able-bodied men were rushing about, consulting one another on what to do. Quite a few households, like the Lin family, were reinforcing their walls and getting dogs.
For families that had dogs, their extra ones were taken away by villagers who begged, pleaded, and threw full-blown tantrums. Even the village head's family had every last puppy—some only days old—snatched up clean.
Anxiety gripped the village from one end to the other.
Time slipped by quietly.
As the New Year approached, Yuxi Village felt none of the festive joy that usually accompanied the season.
Days earlier, several neighboring villages had gathered their men—over a hundred strong—and marched up to the north side of the mountain.
As expected, they found nothing. The bandits had caught wind of their approach and fled long before.
But the tension in Yuxi Village reached its peak when someone claimed to have seen the bandits escape into the Shennü Mountain range behind their village.
On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, snow fell thick and heavy once more. White blanketed the walls, and the dark roof tiles were wrapped in silver.
After nightfall, the village was utterly silent. Not a soul could be seen on the roads.
The snow cast a faint glow in the darkness, shrouding the entire village in a hazy luminescence.
The wind howled. Snow swirled. Then, a burst of frantic barking suddenly pierced through the storm, reaching every household.
"Woof—"
"Woof woof woof! Woof woof!"
In an instant, a flurry of commotion erupted. One by one, villagers burst out of their homes clutching torches, converging on the road before streaming toward the village's rear. "They're here! At the back of the village! Hurry—go help! Don't let the bandits break in!"
It was the time of evening when farming families sat down to supper.
The Lin family was all gathered in the kitchen eating. The women and children had been staying at Lin Sannai's place these past days, coming home only for meals before heading back to sleep.
No one expected they'd be caught off guard today. The bandits had chosen this very moment to strike, their arrogant laughter ringing out alongside their arrival.
"Hahaha! Didn't expect the first house we hit to be a fat sheep—living in a big tiled house! Plenty of loot to go around!"
"Brothers! They're in the kitchen! A few of you come with me—break the arms and legs of any man you see, toss the brats out of the way, I can't stand the little bastards' crying! If there are any pretty women, strip 'em bare and drag 'em out—they owe us for all the hiding we've done! The rest of you, split up and find the silver and grain like usual!"
"Goddamn it! We've been chased half to death these past days—I've been waiting to blow off some steam in this village! Listen up, you in there! Be smart about this! If you make my brothers happy, we might just let you live!"
The filth and jeering were unbearable to hear.
And there were a lot of them.
"Stick to the plan! Erhe, grab a blade and come with me! Mother! Sulan! Barricade the kitchen door and don't come out!"
Lin Dashan reacted the instant the first bark sounded, snatching the bow and arrows off the wall and charging out.
Lin Erhe grabbed the hatchet by the door and followed close behind.
Young men with hot blood running through their veins—just the thought of their wives and children being violated and slaughtered was enough to turn their eyes blood-red with killing intent. Fear didn't even cross their minds.
The six-month-old puppy brought back from the village head's house bristled its tail, darting around their feet in frantic circles, snarling fiercely at the intruders.
Granny Lin reacted just as quickly. The moment her two sons charged out of the kitchen, she slammed the door shut, grabbed the door bar, and after a brief pause, wedged it firmly in place. Tears spilled from her eyes in that same instant, scalding her vision red.
Her sons had gone out to fight the bandits—to risk their lives.
A mother's heart ached, twisted as if a knife were carving into her very flesh, stealing her breath.
But behind this wooden door, there were more people to protect.
"Mother… Mother… please open the door," the young woman stammered, frozen by the sudden terror. Zhang Cuie's face was streaked with tears as she clutched desperately at her mother-in-law's arm, begging. "Let me out—I have strength, I can fight too. Let me go help Erhe… Mother, please, let me help him!"
Li Sulan had already picked up the kitchen knife, her knuckles white around the handle, her gaze resolute. "Life or death is up to fate! Mother, let me out—I won't regret it!"
Lin Jiang had already lit a torch by this point, even bringing along the lamp oil he usually begrudged using. "Mother, I can use fire—I can coordinate with Eldest Brother and Second Brother!"
Seeing her daughter-in-law and youngest son about to rush out and fight to the death, Granny Lin's pain was so intense she nearly bit through the soft flesh of her mouth. She barked sternly, "Everyone stay put!"
Then she lowered her voice in warning, "Dashan and Erhe aren't fools. As long as they can hold the bandits off for half a moment, the villagers will arrive, and we can still fight for a chance to live—this was a plan we all agreed on beforehand! If you rush out now, you'll only throw our own ranks into chaos. Are you prepared to die together? Think about what Dashan and Erhe are risking their lives for!"
It was so that they could live.
The cleaver clattered to the ground with a sharp ring. The two young women collapsed to the floor, sobbing uncontrollably, while the boys had long been frightened out of their wits, unable even to cry aloud.
In the chaos of the commotion, no one noticed that the youngest girl in the family was the calmest of all.
Baixiang disliked seeing her grandmother and mother cry—this awareness became especially pronounced when she saw their tears.
She grew annoyed at the people who had barged into their home.
The tiny girl stood before the kitchen door, tilting her head to peer through the narrow crack in the door. Quietly, her left hand slightly curled, a dense black qi that ordinary eyes could not see rose from her palm and slipped through the narrow gap.
Remembering that her beloved father and second uncle were out there, Baixiang reluctantly diluted the black qi's intensity by more than half.
At that moment, the clamor outside grew louder, and the bandit leader's voice was already laced with killing intent. "Just the two of you dare to come out and face us? A bow and a cleaver give you that much courage? Ungrateful bastards! Since you're looking for death, I'll send you on your way!"
Lin Dashan and Lin Erhe stood blocking the kitchen door, hunting bows already drawn, arrows aimed directly at the bandit leader. Their voices were deep with fury and cold as ice. "Arrows have no eyes—you'd best not make any rash moves!"
Then he softened his tone slightly. "You lot barged in mainly for silver and grain. As long as you don't touch my family, you can take all the money and food in the house! But if you insist on harming anyone, we brothers aren't pushovers either—we'll stake our lives to drag a few of you down with us!"
Lin Erhe echoed his elder brother's words, twirling the cleaver deftly in his hand, putting up a formidable front against the twenty-odd fierce bandits.
Being afraid was useless now—neither he nor his brother could afford to back down even a single step.
The bandit leader raised his chin and sneered contemptuously at the two brothers. "I'll take you for a master archer who can hit a target a hundred paces away—but with just one bow, how many can you kill at once? Brothers, attack!"
At the word "attack," the women and children of the Lin family behind the kitchen door instantly widened their eyes in fury!
A grief-stricken, piercing cry tore through the door and walls, splitting the night sky, a voice dripping with blood: "Dashan! Erhe!!"