Drought: I Have A Spirit Spring And A Farm In My Personal Space - Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Counter-Attack! The Method to Defeat the Xu Family

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

At night, Chen Zhiyuan entered the space and put the harvested potatoes into the storage room. After planting the new crop, he brought back a few and secretly placed them under the bed. When he realized that Zhu’er, who was sleeping soundly, was not disturbed, he carefully went to bed.

This girl was still too thin and weak. Perhaps it was because she had been malnourished for a long time. After the battle last night, she went to bed very early today.

But from now on, she didn’t have to worry about food. Tomorrow, she could even have a meal of stewed beef with potatoes. In a few months, she would be able to gain some weight.

“Ka-cha!”

A soft sound came from outside the room, immediately alerting Chen Zhiyuan.

Chen Zhiyuan quietly got out of bed, picked up the butcher knife by the bedside, and leaned against the door to listen for a moment. Then, he pushed the door open and left the room.

“There’s no need to hide it anymore. Let’s speak frankly. Did Xu Qingfeng send you here?”

Chen Zhiyuan asked in a deep voice.

No one outside the house answered. More than a dozen figures sneaked up under the moonlight and surrounded Chen Zhiyuan in the courtyard.

“Humph! A bunch of people acting sneakily. Do you think I won’t know if you don’t tell me?”

Chen Zhiyuan held the butcher knife tightly and stepped forward. He slashed at the chest of a robber who had just climbed over the fence on the left side of the courtyard. The man grunted and fell to the ground.

“Brothers, this is tricky! Everyone, be careful!”

Seeing that Chen Zhiyuan’s attack was fast and ruthless and that his attack had killed a person, some bandits began to remind everyone.

When the rest of the bandits saw that their brother had fallen, they no longer held back. They drew their weapons and slashed at Chen Zhiyuan one after another.

Chen Zhiyuan’s breath sank into his sea of qi. The knife in his hand knocked away a long sword with a single slash. The slash turned into a cleave and cut through a bandit’s abdomen.

In an instant, red and black splattered all over the ground.

“Ahhhhh! Help! It hurts so much!”

The bandit, who was still conscious and knew that his intestines were leaking out, cried out in pain.

“Woof, woof, woof! Woof, woof, woof!”

The only two dogs left in Taoyuan Village also began to bark wildly. Every household began to light up its pine branches.

“We are the good men of Black Wind Mountain. Today, we have some enmity with this fellow. Those who don’t want to die, stay at home and don’t come out! Brothers, let’s attack together and chop him to death!”

The leader of the bandits shouted at the village and waved his knife forward. More than a dozen bandits rushed towards Chen Zhiyuan together.

Inside the inner room.

Li Zhu’er, who had awoken in shock, heard the movement outside the house. She pushed open the door and smelled the stench of blood. The smell was so strong that her hands and feet were about to go soft. However, she still endured the discomfort in her stomach, and she shouted, “Someone! There’s a murder! A bandit has entered the village and killed someone!”

Seeing that everyone in the village had been startled awake, Chen Zhiyuan no longer had any scruples. He swung his butcher knife up and down, and wherever he went, broken limbs flew in the air.

When the other bandits saw that they were no match for him, some of them immediately retreated and began to flee.

They were originally a group of mobs. Seeing that some of their companions had fled, the rest of the people were unwilling to lag behind and scattered like birds and beasts.

No matter how much money the boss had given them, they had to be alive to spend it. If they had lost their lives, why would they need money?

Chen Zhiyuan rushed a few steps forward, his two arms clamped around the necks of the two people who had escaped. He asked loudly, “Speak, who sent you here?”

“Please spare our lives, please spare our lives. We have taken money from the Xu Residence. They made us say that we are the strong men from Black Wind Mountain, and we have come to take the lives of Chen Zhiyuan and his wife.”

“Yes, yes, yes. We have taken money from the Xu Residence and acted like bandits from Black Wind Mountain. Please spare our lives. I have an 80-year-old mother and a three-year-old son.”

The two bandits nodded their heads and begged for mercy.

When Chen Zhiyuan heard the truth, he asked Zhu’er to throw two straw ropes from the house. He tied the two bandits back to back and threw them on the ground, and he shouted, “Villagers, don’t panic. The thieves on Black Wind Mountain have already been beaten up and chased away by me. There are still a few who have been knocked down by me. If you have the guts, follow me to carry the bodies to the county office to collect the reward money! Whoever carries the bodies will get the reward money. I won’t take a single cent!”

After hearing the last sentence, a few men with hoes and shoulder poles came over with torches in their hands.

Seeing Chen Zhiyuan standing in the courtyard like a god of war, surrounded by broken arms and corpses, they mustered up their courage and entered the courtyard. They called for the other villagers to bring over straw mats, bed boards, and other items to collect the corpses and weapons of these bandits.

Good heavens! These were all rewards!

The more disastrous the year was, the stricter the imperial court would be with the bandits. For the bandits that were still alive, the reward would be doubled, while the reward for dead bandits remained the same.

Having these copper coins was enough to buy a few bags of rice for the family, and two bolts of cloth could make clothes for the wife and children.

For these benefits, they had to put aside their disgust towards these awful and bloody things first.

Just as the villagers were fervently moving the corpses and picking up weapons, Chen Zhiyuan suddenly felt someone tugging at the corner of his clothes.

Chen Zhiyuan turned his head and saw that it was the pale-faced Li Zhu’er.

“Zhu’er, you must be scared. Just hide in the house and don’t come out.”

Chen Zhiyuan quickly comforted her.

“Hubby! I’m not afraid of this, but are you really going to send them to the county office?”

Li Zhu’er shook her head and looked at Chen Zhiyuan worriedly.

“Of course! Zhu’er, it’s all thanks to you that I was prepared. These thieves sent by Xu Qingfeng didn’t succeed. It seems that he really intends to go back on his word and silence people. I’m sure Pockmark Wang and the others won’t be able to get away with this either. After all, I was the one who instructed them to go. I have to care about their lives. Besides, I certainly won’t let Xu Qingfeng off!”

Chen Zhiyuan clenched his fists tightly.

Although the three of them had cheated him many times, they didn’t deserve to die. If the three of them died because of this, he would feel a little guilty.

“Hubby, I know that you are very capable, but the Xu family is rich. The county magistrate of Qingshui County is also a corrupt official who doesn’t care about anything else except money. If Xu Qingfeng bribed the county office first, I’m worried that you would be framed by the Xu family instead…”

Li Zhu’er said nervously. Because she was worried about Chen Zhiyuan’s safety, she even insulted the county magistrate.

If the county magistrate of Qingshui County only cared about money and nothing else, that would be great!

Chen Zhiyuan frowned, and then laughed out loud. He hugged Zhu’er and kissed her fiercely. “Zhu’er, I’ve thought of a way to bring down the Xu family. You’re really my lucky wife! You take a rest first. I’ll be back soon!”

Chen Zhiyuan laughed out loud and walked out of the courtyard.

“Elder Liu! Elder Liu! Please lend me your pen and paper again. I want to write a report! When I come back from the county town, I’ll definitely bring a stack of good rice paper for you!”

“I really don’t know if it’s a blessing or a curse for our Taoyuan Village to have a descendant of the Chen family like you. It’s only been a few days, and someone has died. What’s the use of rice paper? You can’t eat it. If you can bring back more food, I’ll burn incense for you! I’ll go back and get it for you!”

“Hahaha, whether it’s a blessing or a curse, you can’t hide from it. Elder, I might even be able to get an official position when I enter the town this time. I’ll make sure that no one in our Taoyuan Village will starve to death!”

“Then I’ll burn incense for you personally!”

The voices of an old man and a young man, accompanied by the day breaking, ushered in a new day for Taoyuan Village.