Chapter 109: This woman becomes stranger the more I look at her

Lu Laoda climbed out of the water, still dripping wet, and grinned at He Chunhua: "Are we at peace?"

He Chunhua nodded slowly: "We are at peace."

With their cards on the table, they dropped all pretense. They drew a boundary along the central axis extending from the boat dock to the village chief's house. The east side was allotted to the government soldiers, the west to the bandits, and the drying ground and granary were divided equally.

Within a quarter of an hour, everyone had to return to their designated side of the boundary.

From that moment on, as long as neither side crossed the line, they could coexist peacefully until dawn.

The bandits went back into the water and carried out the large fish. Lu Laoda told them to move the fish to the eastern side, then said to He Chunhua, "This one's quite lively and tastes delicious. Consider it a gift for Lord He, to calm your nerves!" After saying this, he gave a signal, and the bandits withdrew.

In an instant, the open ground at the village entrance was completely clear of bandits.

He Chunhua watched them go, his expression serious: "These bandits don't seem like common ruffians."

He Yue said shamefacedly, "I was rash, forcing Deputy General Zeng to act."

"Young and reckless!" He Chunhua glared at him, a hint of disappointment in his eyes. "You dared to make a move without even finding out the Lu fellow's background? Now you've stirred up trouble, and he's already on guard. It's best if the bandits' proposal for peaceful coexistence is genuine, otherwise, there will be bloodshed tonight!"

He Yue pursed his lips and lowered his head.

"The boy even had a large piece torn from his clothes during the chaotic fight." Madam Ying raised her hand to wipe the blood from his forehead, her heart filled with pity. "My lord," she said, "Yue'er only wanted to help..." Her husband rarely spoke to their son so harshly.

"Enough!" He Chunhua raised a hand to stop her. "Let's go back first, then we can plan for the long term."

***

He Lingchuan pointed at Mrs. Zhu and said to the Fatty on the ground, "You two, as a couple, truly have no understanding whatsoever. She said the water spirit tablet was broken, and you weren't surprised at all."

Villagers worked outside during the day and only returned home in the evening. The breaking of the water spirit tablet was such a major event; how could the people of Xianling Village, who relied on water for their livelihood, remain calm about it? Even if Mrs. Zhu hadn't given He Lingchuan a heads-up, he could tell there was something wrong with Wang Fatty just from this point.

Only then did He Lingchuan beckon to Mrs. Zhu: "Tell me, what's going on here?"

Mrs. Zhu lowered her voice and spoke quickly: "These fierce bandits came in this evening to massacre the village, but unexpectedly, you suddenly arrived. So they stayed behind to impersonate villagers, stole everyone's children, and threatened us into cooperation."

He Lingchuan sighed.

To be honest, before seeing Mrs. Zhu's blood letter, he had at most only thought he had entered a 'black village' where the villagers had committed too many killings, which explained the strong bloody aura on them.

Where there are 'black inns,' there are 'black villages'; their business is the same. Taking in travelers is a pretense; murder and robbery are their true aims. But this situation usually occurs in remote mountain villages, as the saying goes, "poor mountains and harsh waters produce vicious people."

Of course, Xianling Village, surrounded by mountains and rarely visited by merchant caravans or travelers, also met these geographical conditions.

But he never expected his opponents to be a group of bandits!

This was strange.

On the Red Cliff trade route, he had dealt with desert bandits for more than a year or two and knew well that these fellows were vicious towards civilians and and merchants, but behaved like lambs in front of regular soldiers, deeply understanding the essence of "the common people do not contend with officials."

Were these fierce, village-massacring bandits in front of him insane? Upon hearing that government soldiers had entered the mountains, they not only didn't flee but chose to stay and impersonate villagers!

"What are they planning to do?" This was his purpose in risking coming to find Mrs. Zhu.

Mrs. Zhu shook her head: "They didn't say."

"Have bandits always been rampant in your area?"

Mrs. Zhu nodded: "In the past three years, bandits have entered the village at least nine times, but they always just took valuables and left. Only once did they injure two people. Unlike this group today, who killed over a hundred villagers, and even killed the owner of this house."

He Lingchuan was slightly surprised: "Your husband also died?"

Her expression was too calm, not like someone who had lost the pillar of their family. For an ordinary farm woman, if her husband died, her world would collapse.

"Yes," she said, "he stole a small boat and wanted to row out into the lake. But after only about ten zhang, the boat capsized. It seemed like something dragged him to the bottom of the lake." Mrs. Zhu's tone was flat, as if she were talking about someone else's disaster, someone else's husband.

"I'm sorry for your loss." She wasn't particularly sad, so He Lingchuan didn't feel the need to comfort her. "Do you know where they hid the children?"

Mrs. Zhu shook her head: "The children are not in the village; they are safer that way. You'd better think about how to fight back first. These bandits are not easy to deal with."

He Lingchuan looked at her carefully for a moment and couldn't help but ask, "You're telling me everything; aren't you afraid the criminals will kill your children?"

The more he looked at this woman, the stranger she seemed.

Mrs. Zhu didn't even bat an eyelid: "After these murderous maniacs deal with the government soldiers, they won't spare us either. If I don't speak, everyone will die; if I do, perhaps there's still a glimmer of hope."

That logic was certainly sound. What was rare was her ability to analyze calmly even while in the enemy's grasp.

One must know that people naturally harbor a sense of wishful thinking. Once they become prisoners, grasping onto their captors' promises is like grasping at a last straw, fantasizing that they will truly be set free.

After all, for those in despair, cruel reality is even harder to accept.

What's more, when children are involved, it's difficult for a mother to think calmly.

He Lingchuan slowly sat back down, his right hand unconsciously resting on the hilt of his broken saber.

He already smelled the scent of danger. The broken saber was slightly cool, as if it could help him clear his mind of distractions and think calmly.

Speaking of which, last time he had battled fiercely for two hours in a dream, and after waking up, he felt the broken saber was even more intimately connected.

In other words, their compatibility was higher.

The only course of action now was to extract more information from the enemy.

He Lingchuan thought for a moment, then turned the Fatty on the ground face up. He drew his dagger and pressed it against the Fatty's neck: "I have questions for you. If you dare to shout, you'll die. Understand?"

The Fatty nodded frantically.

He Lingchuan removed the flatbread that was gagging him, then asked him, "How many of you are there?"

"Two hundred...plus," the Fatty mumbled, as expected, not daring to speak loudly.

"Be specific."

"Two hundred..." The Fatty seemed to be counting, "Thirty-five people!"

He quickly said, "We bear no ill will towards the government soldiers. We just hope to be at peace tonight, and tomorrow morning, everyone goes their separate ways, and we don't interfere with each other!"

He Lingchuan tilted his head, looking at him: "Is this what you're saying, or what your leader, Lu Laoda, said?"

"Lu Laoda!" the Fatty quickly said. "I heard him say it himself, it's absolutely true!"

Mrs. Zhu suddenly said, "Are you sure you didn't miscount the number of people?"

Wang Fatty looked at her: "We're always the same group of people coming and going. How could I miscount?"

Mrs. Zhu sneered: "But earlier, when I was locked in the Water Spirit Shrine, I heard your companions talking near the shrine. It sounded like you've also taken control of the nearby towns."

They even took down towns? He Lingchuan's expression turned serious.

Ordinary bandits usually descended from the mountains to rob households of goods, and at most, commit some sexual assault or similar. They even rarely killed people. The principle that chives, once cut, can grow back for another harvest, is understood even by country bumpkins. Killing all the villagers is like cutting off the chive roots; who would they harvest next time?