Li Zheng looked at the worried expressions of the crowd, his brows furrowing. He swept his gaze around the room before finally settling on Scholar Han.
“Little Han, what do you make of this?” he asked.
Scholar Han himself had no need to worry about taxes or conscription—his family’s meager landholdings fell far short of the hundred mu threshold for taxation, and conscription would never target him personally. Still, he genuinely cared about the villagers.
After a moment’s deliberation, he spoke seriously, “If the court is going to war, they won’t just let everyone pay off their obligations with silver. They’ll force conscription. The question is whether this is a rebellion or a border conflict. I’ll go into town tomorrow to find out more.”
He knew conflict at the borders was inevitable, but this seemed too soon. And then there was the capital—who knew if some chaos had erupted there? He would need to investigate thoroughly before drawing conclusions.
Li Zheng nodded. “That’s wise. If it’s a border war, we’ll need to prepare in advance. Otherwise, we might not even know how we die.”
The others murmured in agreement. Once the border region fell into chaos, the surrounding areas would follow. Bandits would run rampant, raiding villages, burning homes, and looting without mercy. Sticking around and waiting to die was not an option.
The crowd dispersed, leaving Scholar Han alone with Li Zheng to discuss matters privately.
“Li Zheng, where did you get this news? Since you know about the conscription, you must know who we’d be fighting, right? I didn’t want to ask with so many people around.”
Scholar Han had friends in the county town, yet none of them had heard anything about this, which struck him as odd.
“Little Yue told me. Just keep that between us.” Li Zheng said firmly. “We don’t need anyone else knowing. She didn’t say anything beyond that, and I didn’t press. I doubt she knows more.”
With some understanding of Xi Qingyue’s character, Li Zheng trusted that if she knew more, she would have said it all rather than stopping halfway.
Scholar Han’s expression shifted to surprise, then he smiled, suddenly realizing where the news had come from.
“I saw a carriage heading to Little Yue’s place today. Someone must have brought the message to her. I’ll make a trip to the county tomorrow. If nobody there knows yet, it’ll either mean the news hasn’t reached the county yet, or the county is deliberately keeping it under wraps to prevent people from fleeing, especially soldiers,” Scholar Han said with conviction.
Curious, he turned back to Li Zheng. “That lot in the capital have their master making pills for immortality every day. One of these days, he’s bound to poison himself. His swarm of sons will tear each other apart no matter what. Whether it’s internal strife or a border war, we’re done for. What’s your plan? Send people to fight or take the clan and flee?”
Li Zheng sighed heavily. “And where would we flee to? You just said it yourself, the powerful will be tearing each other apart. It’s possible we’d just be snatched up—officers or no officers.”
Scholar Han shook his head. “Getting caught somewhere else is possible, sure, but staying here? Chaos will hit within a few months, maybe sooner. The real worry is some city might not survive the fall, and the higher-ups might still be trying to keep a tight lid on it. If that happens, we’re only going to die worse.”
A cold sweat broke out on Li Zheng’s back. Scholar Han had a point. When the going got tough, the officials would flee first, leaving the common folk behind to take the brunt of Bei Yue’s fury and buy escape time for the real movers. This wasn’t just theory—there were historical precedents for this kind of cruelty.
Drawing a sharp breath, Li Zheng made his decision. “Alright. I’m going into town with you tomorrow. We’ll see the lay of the land first.”
Before they could finalize anything, Li Zheng’s son, Liu Xin, came rushing in, panting hard.
“Dad, trouble! The people from Cheng Family Village are here. They’re about to reach Qingyue’s place. Hurry, you have to come now! I just saw a big group of them carrying weapons from the fields and ran right back.”
Without waiting for an answer, Liu Xin grabbed the teapot, poured himself some water, and gulped it down noisily.
Li Zheng and Scholar Han got to their feet instantly and strode toward the door, fearing something grave if they arrived too late.
But to everyone’s surprise, Xi Qingyue and Xi Weilan had vanished—even the mule cart was gone from their thatched cottage.
Dozens of men from Cheng Family Village swarmed in, armed to the teeth with weapons—hoes, hatchets, cleavers of all sorts—and a few even hoisted ladders over their heads.
Li Zheng arrived just in time to see them slamming a ladder against the wooden gate, breaking it open.
“What do you think you’re doing? Do you think Willow Tree Village is weak?” Li Zheng shouted sternly.
But the Cheng people barged in regardless, this time too cautious to strike with abandon. Instead, they carefully slid a thick wooden plank across the ground ahead of each step, checking for hidden traps before moving forward.
When they entered the empty cottage, they found it stripped bare of all furnishings—tables, chairs, and beds completely gone.
“Where are they? Where’d they go?” Cheng Laosan and Cheng Laosi roared with rage, surveying the hollow space. Both their fury and the bewilderment of the Willow Tree villagers were palpable.
The villagers soon felt a mixed sense of relief that the sisters had vanished—at least they wouldn’t have to lie awake worrying about them at night.
But Li Zheng’s brow was deeply creased with suspicion. The Xi child had been speaking far from fear the other day—if anything, she had sounded like she planned to take on anyone who came at her, and her words had nearly frightened him. So where had they gone? Something wasn’t right.
Turning sharply, Li Zheng fixed the Cheng Village men with a steely glare. “You people stormed Little Yue’s yard earlier. Whatever happened when that lout got himself cut up—he deserved it. Now you mean to start trouble here? This is not your territory for a fit. If you don’t get out now, I will report you to the authorities!”
Before he could finish, Cheng Laosi shouted back through gritted teeth, “Where have you hidden them? She beat up my brother badly. We’re not letting her get off easy. Hand over the womanfolk now, or else—!”
“Or what happens?” snarled the Willow Tree villagers, who had already formed a tight ring and brandished their own tools.
Already outnumbered, and now parading an imprecise threat against an armed village, the men from Cheng Village knew full well they were at a disadvantage—especially since the key target was gone.
“Just you wait!” Cheng Laosi snarled venomously. “We’ll be back!”
As the bully mob retreated, the Willow Tree villagers stood staring at the empty cottage, utterly confused.
Just then, a five-year-old boy toddled up to Scholar Han, clutching a letter.
“Uncle Han, Big Ya told me to give this to you.”
Pausing in surprise, Scholar Han took the letter, broke the seal, and read aloud the brashly scribbled contents within:
“Uncle Han—Once Cheng Laosan gets hurt, they aren’t going to back off. When they come again, it won’t be one or two people. But I’m not the sort to suffer fools lightly. If there’s another fight, someone’s bound to end up dead. One or two isn’t such a headache, but if too many die, it’ll bring trouble right to the village. So, I’m going to go up the mountain and lie low for a few days. Also, could you put it about cleverly in Cheng Village that if they want payback, they can find me up in the mountain? We can look after ourselves. Forget about us! And thank everyone for me.”
After Scholar Han finished reading, the villagers stood stunned.
“She just ran off into the mountains, lived there?” Aunt Wang muttered in trembling worry. “What if she runs into wolves?”
A hunter who often went deep into the mountains smiled and comforted the others, "Don’t worry, she can even kill a wild boar weighing over three hundred jin, and she knows how to set traps. She’ll be fine. She just doesn’t want to drag us into this."
"That’s right, she even told the Cheng family to look for her in the mountains. She’s clearly trying to lead those people away."
Listening to the villagers’ discussion, Scholar Han sighed. He knew exactly why Xi Qingyue had done this.
With conscription and tax increases looming, the official decree would likely arrive soon—that was the real concern. She simply didn’t want to stir up more trouble and cause problems for the villagers.
What a good child she was!
