Chapter 229

The next day they entered the jurisdiction of Nanning Prefecture, and the further they went in, the more they experienced the hardships that Hong Daniu and his group had endured before.

The water calamity in Nanning Prefecture was significantly more severe than in Guangning Prefecture!

Trees as thick as a person’s arm were snapped in half at the waist, and thousands of acres of fertile fields were completely destroyed, resulting in a total crop failure.

Entire villages like Zhuangzi were gone. To put it this way, along the dirt road from Shanshui Village to the prefectural city, one could still see quite a few new graves. Here, there weren’t even new graves to be seen!

Bai Manshan took four or five people and detoured to Nanning Prefecture.

He had business investments there and needed to check on things first, and incidentally inquire about something and pick up some items.

He handed over the convoy to Hu Wenhua and instructed him to follow Hong Daniu’s lead straight to Baijiazhuang.

The convoy didn’t pass through the prefectural city but took smaller roads between villages. They encountered more disaster victims along the way than in Guangning Prefecture, though not excessively so.

Being stared at directly was quite uncomfortable. The men without carts tightly gripped the big knives in their hands.

The sharp blades emitted a cold light, indeed much more effective than wielding hoes and shovels.

The dirt road became increasingly difficult to traverse. By midday, they didn’t dare to rest much. Hastily using the cooled boiled water they had prepared in the morning, they mixed it with stir-fried noodles to eat. A serving of stir-fried noodles accompanied by a gulp of cooled boiled water, along with a cucumber or winter melon, filled their stomachs, and they hurriedly resumed their journey.

They had to arrive at Baijiazhuang before nightfall. With so much merchandise, they feared it had already attracted attention. Spending the night elsewhere might bring danger.

This made it tough for both Fan Dazhu and Erzhu. While everyone else ate stir-fried noodles, they had raw food, paired with cooled boiled water that seemed to glue their throats shut.

Others had yellow-flowered winter melon to counteract the greasiness, but they didn’t.

The two dared not speak much. Those people on the road had eyes glowing with a faint green light; if they were left alone, who knew what might happen!

As darkness approached, Bai Manshan and his group who had taken a detour to the prefectural city finally caught up with the convoy. After joining forces with them, they continued together to Baijiazhuang.

“Don’t get too pleased. You won’t sit in the head of the village for long. Sooner or later, it will be returned to me. The landlord has said that I’ve worked hard and achieved much. You’ve all heard it!”

“Old Master Sun, every household must make adobe bricks to build houses. Even Xu Village Head’s family is doing it.”

“If he wants to do it, it’s his business. Anyway, he won’t stay in the village head’s position for long. My family won’t do it. We didn’t do it before, we don’t do it now, and we won’t need to do it in the future!”

“But with over ten people in your family, if none of you make adobe bricks, who will build your houses? If you don’t hurry and build your houses now, what will you do during the busy farming season?”

“Yeah, all the houses in our village were washed away. If we don’t hurry up and make adobe bricks to build houses, we won’t be able to plant winter wheat.”

“Although the fertility of the land is not as good as before, we still need to plant crops. Otherwise, what will so many of us eat?”

“We lost some of our grain due to the flood. If Old Master Sun had listened to the landlord and moved earlier, we might not have lost those crops!”

“Yes, thank goodness the landlord came. If it weren’t for the landlord, would we have been like the other villages, with homes destroyed and lives lost?”

Previously addressed with honorifics, Old Master Sun’s name was gradually replaced with “Old Man Sun,” revealing growing impatience.

A faint smile tugged at Bai Manshan’s lips, and he sneered coldly.

His guess was indeed correct. Village Head Sun hadn’t relented and was only thinking of tripping up the new village head, perpetuating his usual arrogance.

Very well, the items he was going to fetch from the prefectural city would come in handy now.

Village Head Sun became anxious and shouted, “What are you muttering about! I was just lamenting our family’s property. If we move, won’t all our property be lost?”

“If we don’t move, it’s not just our property that will be lost; our lives will go with it!”

“Yes!”

The village head, Sun, was taken aback to find that those who had previously been meek were now shouting at him loudly. With a dark face, he sneered repeatedly, “Good, very good! When the landlord comes back to restore my position as village head, whoever dares to challenge me today, I’ll be the first to deal with them!”

The crowd fell silent for a while. Then, Xu Qing stood up and said, “I’ve said it. Every household must make adobe bricks! You can complain to the landlord when he returns and let him deal with me, but I don’t think the landlord will listen to you.”

Before his voice even fell, others chimed in, “The landlord isn’t unreasonable. Don’t try to scare us with the landlord!”

“That’s right! The landlord is fair.”

Hearing this, Bai Manshan felt it was time for him to step in.

Straightening his back, he walked around the corner with a torch held high. When the noisy crowd saw him, there was a moment of dead silence, followed by bursts of cheers.

“It’s the landlord! The landlord is here again!”

The village head, Sun, showed a hopeful look on his face and rushed to complain first, “Landlord, Xu Qing has been wearing me out. Considering I have no merits but have suffered a lot, please make a decision for me.”

Bai Manshan raised an eyebrow. “Oh? How has he been wearing you out?”

“After the flood receded, we were already exhausted and couldn’t eat or sleep well. He demanded us to work day and night to make adobe bricks, repair the fields, raise livestock… Especially for my family, the workload was countless. This is clearly targeting my Sun family!”

The people holding torches looked indignant, but out of respect for the landlord, they held their tongues, waiting for Old Man Sun to finish speaking.

Unexpectedly, after Bai Manshan listened, a smile spread across his face as he asked, “Do you think Xu Qing is unfit to be the village head?”

A glimmer of hope appeared on Sun’s face, and he hurriedly nodded.

The family members behind him also showed joy on their faces, their previous pride now even more evident.

Bai Manshan continued amiably, “Do you feel that your family can no longer work with Xu Qing?”

This time, not only did Sun nod, but everyone behind him did the same.

Was the landlord going to intervene on their behalf?

With a smile on his lips and his eyes slightly narrowed, Bai Manshan whispered softly, “I understand.”

He turned to the other villagers and instructed, “Xu Qing, take your efficient men and tie up the entire Sun family, gag them, and lock them away in a place.”

Xu Qing acknowledged with an “aye” and waved his hand. Dozens of men immediately lined up and began to tie up the people.

Old Man Sun was shocked, his mouth wide open. “Land… Landlord…”

Before he could finish, a rag was stuffed into his mouth, leaving him only able to emit muffled sounds.

Bai Manshan waited until all the Sun family members were securely bound and unable to escape before he explained, “Last time, you made such a big mistake that nearly two hundred lives in the entire village were lost! You show no remorse, continue to cause trouble, what? Do you think Bai Manshan is a soft-hearted person who eats vegetarian food? A person like you can’t stay in the Bai family, and your family can’t stay either!”

He took out the indenture he had brought from the prefectural city and handed it to Xu Qing, instructing, “Tomorrow morning, send this to the prefectural city and sell it far away.”

Hu Wenhua and his group watched in astonishment at Bai Manshan’s decisive actions, speechless.

Mr. Bai really showed that the more gentle his smile, the more eagerly he could provoke.