Guo Xiu’s eyes, excited and blurred, looked at this savior under the torchlight.
"Chen, Chen Brothers," Guo Xiangshen, already agitated, began, scrambling to his feet and rushing to Chen Ku. "Chen Brothers, you really came to save us."
But Chen Ku, with a "complicated" expression, looked down at Grey Snake on the ground.
He isn’t dead, is he? I’ve never killed anyone before, and now...
Guo Xiangshen, however, was staring at Grey Snake’s corpse.
What do you mean, he might not be dead?!!
Upon hearing this, Guo Xiangshen, in fear and resentment, snatched up the pitchfork.
"He must die! I’ll stab this beast to death!"
As the pitchfork pierced Grey Snake’s back, blood bubbled forth.
This beast plundered my home! I’ll stab him to death! All my family’s grain, just gone like that!
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!
"Damn it, he even dared to lay hands on my daughter and steal my money! Die, die, die!!"
With immense hatred, Guo Xiangshen stabbed Grey Snake more than ten times. Gasping heavily, his forehead beaded with sweat, he finally stopped.
He turned to look at his son and daughter, who were covering their mouths in fright.
Panting, he paid them no mind. He just looked at Chen Ku, pleading, "Such a despicable cur deserves worse than death. Tonight, no matter how many of these vermin die, the government won’t blame us one bit. Brother Chen Ku, don’t worry. As long as you can ensure the safety of Guo Someone’s family tonight, I am willing to give you fifteen mu of land! What do you think? Saving our family’s lives is what matters most!"
Chen Ku had only been feigning the shock of a first-time killer. He hadn’t expected the other man to be so perceptive. To alleviate Chen Ku’s supposed unease—whether for revenge or some other reason—Guo Xiangshen had not only personally stabbed Grey Snake over ten times but was also willing to offer an additional five mu of land.
Since that was the case, there was even less to worry about.
Chen Ku nodded gravely. "I’ll escort you out of the village first."
With Chen Ku guarding them, even if vagrants tried to pounce, none could get close.
Thus, amidst continuous terror, they were escorted by Chen Ku. The Guo family, seven in all, who had found it difficult to either leave or stay, finally escaped from the village, which resembled a hell filled with demonic vagrants.
But not long after Guo Xiangshen’s family had escaped, a cry was heard, "Ah! Beasts, beasts!!"
From a distance, Guo Xiangshen saw that the vagrants had not only stolen all their grain but had also set fire to their family estate, burning it down.
It had been built with good timber and had taken a year to complete.
"Beasts, a pack of beasts! None of you will meet a good end! You beasts will all go to the Blade Mountain Hell!"
Guo Xiangshen’s eyes were bloodshot, and his body trembled, on the verge of collapse.
It was his daughter who promptly supported him, gently consoling him through her tears, "Dad, it’s good that our family is safe. You said it yourself, as long as we’re alive, grain and houses are just material possessions."
Old tears streamed down Guo Xiangshen’s face. He had said as much, but he hadn’t anticipated that these beasts would burn down his estate as well.
Chen Ku looked towards the burning Guo family estate.
He figured that anyone who died inside tonight would have been turned to charcoal in this inferno. Who could tell how they died? It was too chaotic. More than one or two had perished, all of them scrambling for grain...
However, after tonight, it would likely all be over.
Those one or two hundred people, leaderless now, were just a scattered mob. Having looted so much, they would disperse like startled birds and beasts. For the time being, they probably wouldn’t launch a second raid on Dachen Village. This would give him some peace of mind about his family when he went to the county seat.
The timber in Guo Xiangshen’s estate was indeed of high quality.
A massive fire blazed all night, painting half the village sky red, and was only extinguished at dawn.
As daylight broke, no vagrants remained in the village; no one knew where they had fled.
Only the people of Dachen Village who had hidden in their homes, in caves, or under broken haystacks during the night had survived the ordeal.
Chen Ku had returned to the dilapidated cave dwelling much earlier and brought his family back to their house.
"Curse them! The salt is gone, and so is the bedding..." his sister-in-law cried, looking at the devastation in their home. "This gang of cutthroats!"
But Mother Chen, hearing the weeping from various households in the village and the sound of many firecrackers—firecrackers at such a time were a signal that someone in a family had died, asking the villagers, old and young, to come and help—heard them from seven or eight families in a row. Looking at her own house, where only a salt jar and a few sets of bedding were missing, she closed her eyes and said to her daughter-in-law, "Stop crying. We’re fortunate enough; our losses are minimal. Guo Xiangshen’s entire estate was burned to the ground, and other families even lost lives. Aren’t they much worse off than us?"
Hearing this, the sister-in-law stopped crying and silently went to the kitchen to cook.
Chen Ku stood in the courtyard, feeling his cheeks moisten.
Suddenly, a torrential downpour began.
Just as he had expected. Rain at daybreak. Now, any tracks at Rest Spring would be completely washed away.
This autumn deluge poured over the ruins of Guo Xiangshen’s estate, extinguishing the last embers and white smoke, leaving Guo Xiangshen beyond tears...
If it had rained earlier, perhaps his estate could have been saved.
"Dad, what do we do now?" Guo Wen asked, staring blankly at the ruins.
Guo Xiangshen, meanwhile, was busy digging out a large, very well-hidden chest from the rubble. He let out a breath and said, "Xiu, you go and take this land deed for fifteen mu to your Brother Chen Ku. Thank him for saving our family last night."
"Fifteen mu, Dad... Isn’t that too much?" Guo Wen said, his heart aching. Their family only had a little over a hundred mu in total; giving away so much at once was painful.
Guo Xiu, however, had no objections. She nodded obediently and delivered the land deed to Chen Ku.
Watching his daughter leave, Guo Xiangshen turned to scold his son, "To say you’re stupid is an understatement! You can only see what’s right in front of your nose. Let me ask you, wasn’t the whole village plundered this time?"
Guo Wen scratched his head. "So what?"
Guo Xiangshen sneered, "We had so many long-term workers, yet even we couldn’t protect our grain. Do you think anyone else in the village could? About half the families have been looted clean. In a couple of days, it’s time for the autumn tax. With no grain to pay, they’ll have to sell their land. So, the fifteen mu I gave away today? In a few days, I’ll get back thirty mu, maybe even fifty mu! You believe me?"
Guo Wen’s eyes lit up. "Dad, you’re truly amazing!"
Guo Xiangshen said coolly, "Otherwise, how do you think our family acquired over a hundred mu of land? Now, I have a task for you. Take this silver, go to the county seat, and buy grain. Take plenty of guards. Then, use that grain to buy land from the villagers."
Guo Wen nodded vigorously. "Dad, I understand!"
As his son was about to leave, Guo Xiangshen reached out to stop him again, saying, "After you buy the grain, send a cartload to Chen Ku’s family. That’s for the tax on the fifteen mu of land he now owns."
Guo Wen frowned and exclaimed, "Dad, you..."
Guo Xiangshen snapped, "You know nothing! Just do as I say."
Unite with the powerful, devour the weak—this was the way of survival.
Meanwhile, Chen Ku had received the land deed for fifteen mu from Guo Xiu. As the girl left, she kept glancing back, clearly affected by the events of the previous night.
Regrettably, a peaceful country life with a wife and children warming the hearth was not his dream; they were fated to meet but not to be together.
Looking at the land deed for fifteen mu of prime rice paddies and wheat fields in his hand, and then at the devastation in the village, he guessed what was happening.
While this raid had cost Guo Xiangshen dearly, it had also, in a way, created an opportunity for him to acquire more land. After all, only his grain and buildings had burned last night; his other assets were untouched...
Looking at this easily acquired land, added to what his family already owned, he was now a landowner with more than twenty mu. And in the future, as his income increased, his family’s landholdings would likely grow even larger...
I never thought I’d finally become a member of the landlord class.