The beloved baby has a space

Chapter 24 Someone is coming
Shanyang Village is located south of Hujia Village, separated by two large mountains, with a road leading to the town between them. Normally, it takes half an hour to cross the two mountains if you're fast on your feet.

Now that the snow has melted and the mountain roads are slippery, it took a large group of people almost an hour to get there.

The village chief of Shanyang Village didn't want to come along, but if he did, the situation would be completely different.

But the people from Shanyang Village said, "Last time we went there, the village chief of Hujia Village didn't give us any face at all, making us lose face in front of outsiders. They even took away Doctor Hu. Our village suffered so many casualties, and they still wouldn't let anyone come to treat us. Isn't this blatant bullying because we have no one to back us up?"

"Yes, village chief, you have to go. What is Hu Family Village anyway? They're just a bunch of down-and-outs!" Someone spat on the ground.

The village chief of Shanyang Village thought to himself, their Hujia Village was dirt poor, the snow had collapsed and the whole village was almost invisible, yet they could still give out 50 jin of grain, and maybe there was even more hidden away.

And seeing that they were all so hungry that they had no choice but to exchange food for the dolls, they refused to lend a hand.

Such a group of heartless people are probably not easy to deal with; it's probably for the best that he went along.

Because of the extreme hunger, more than a hundred able-bodied men from Shanyang Village were mobilized, especially the three families whose babies were to be exchanged; the men were particularly indignant.

If we take back the baby that was found in Hujia Village, their baby can live!
Just one more day, just one more day, and they can go to town to buy food, and then they won't have to painfully abandon their child.

Not everyone ate the doll, but those who did are now extremely excited.

The taste of a child is better than the taste of chicken, duck, fish, or pork...tsk tsk.

Those people's eyes practically glowed with greed as they followed the line, even thinking, "If I can grab one doll, I can grab two, three... more!"

Hehe, if we force the people of Hujia Village to try it themselves, they definitely won't be able to resist.

As they rounded the second mountain, they could see the people of Hujia Village busily building houses, carrying stones, cutting wood, and mixing mud, working with great enthusiasm.

On the largest mud dam, several women were tending a fire, with a large earthenware pot on top, bubbling something over.

Being far away, I could only watch the rising smoke and the aroma of cooking.

The people of Shanyang Village were drooling with envy.

"Village chief, are they cooking—" the dolls?

We can't let them eat it first!

The village chief of Shanyang Village raised his hand: "Wait, all the able-bodied men are outside, don't go directly there. Hide the sickles and machetes, which are easy to hide, in your clothes first. Hide the hoes and shovels, which are harder to hide, over here first. Leave a few people here, we'll go and meet them first."

If we go there with weapons, the people of Hujia Village will definitely be on guard.

Someone with a quick wit realized what was going on and hurriedly said, "I heard before that the baby was picked up by the Wang family! Let's go straight to the Wang family's place. They live in a remote area, so we'll go around to the bamboo grove there. People here shouldn't be able to see us."

“The Wang family came here as refugees and have only lived here for a little over ten years. How can they compare to the close relationship we have built up over generations?” someone added. “Even if they saw it, they would just turn a blind eye.”

It's like heaven is helping them! The migrant family picked up a migrant child, isn't that a perfect opportunity for them?
The group became increasingly excited and took a detour of half an hour, walking along the bamboo forest on the mountainside before heading straight for Old Wang's house.

Hu Erpang is 9 years old this year. He is the younger brother of Widow Zhou's husband's family. Because Widow Zhou and Ma Shi of Old Wang's family are very close friends, Hu Erpang also likes to play with Old Wang's children.

Today, he noticed a cluster of forsythia blossoms growing on the hillside in front of the bamboo grove, looking exceptionally beautiful. He decided to make a wreath to give to Fuwa.

Fuwawa is naturally Ayu. Recently, everyone has been calling Ayu and Fuwawawa interchangeably, and the children are following suit.

Hu Erpang had just picked a bag when he suddenly heard a group of people talking. Afraid that the adults would scold him, he simply hid behind a rock.

Just then, he heard someone say, "Everyone in their village has gone to build houses. I bet Old Wang's husband went too."

"Definitely. When the men go out, it's just a bunch of women at home, easy to deal with."

"It would be best to avoid fighting. We're all from the same hometown, there's no need to make things so tense."

"Hey, whose baby is that we found...? Why don't we ask the kids in their village? If we find out, we can just lure them over and take them away. They're not theirs anyway, so they shouldn't come looking for us." "Hehehe, they won't get anything anyway, we'll definitely have plenty to eat—"

"Shut up!"

Even with repeated reminders from the village chief of Shanyang Village, there were still some people who would grumble about the situation, even though there were more than a hundred people in the group.

Hu Erpang didn't quite understand what it meant at first, but when he heard about the baby he had found and the word "eat," he remembered his sister-in-law scaring him a few days ago by saying that other villages ate babies.

He immediately shuddered and almost rolled out from behind the rock.

Once these people had gone a little further away, he turned around and ran in another direction, along a path the children often took, which would allow him to get back to the village faster.

Hu Erpang had long since lost the flowers in his hand. Although his name was Erpang, he was actually not fat at all; he looked like a skinny monkey.

He ran very fast, and even tripped and fell several times along the way, getting covered in mud.

Halfway there, they met Hu San's two children. They saw Hu Erpang but didn't have time to laugh at him.

Then they heard Hu Erpang gasp for breath, "Quick...quick...quick, find an adult! There are people outside...want to..."

Hu Erpang pounded his chest hard, took a deep breath, and said quickly, "Someone's trying to steal the lucky doll!"

Upon hearing this, the two children disregarded everything else and ran away.

One of them ran back to his own home, and the other ran to Old Wang's house.

On the way, we encountered a few more children.

"Quickly tell the adults, the Fuwa doll has been stolen!"

"Quickly tell Grandma and the others that Fuwa has been arrested!"

So the children passed the message around, and the fastest one had already reached Old Wang's doorstep.

The child yelled at the top of his lungs, "Something terrible has happened! The Fuwa doll has been eaten!"

Bang!

The wooden basin in Liu's hand fell to the ground, and all the clothes inside spilled out.

Grandma Wang immediately came out of the house, clutching her chest, and exclaimed in disbelief, "What did you say?!"

The child was also bewildered, but hurriedly shouted, "They...they all say that the Fuwa mascot has been captured and eaten—so many people have come!"

The children hurriedly relayed the message, each adding their own interpretations along the way.

By a twist of fate, it turned out to be almost exactly the truth.

Before Old Mrs. Wang could speak, Liu had already bent down, picked up the laundry mallet from the ground, and held it in her hand.

"Where?! Where?!"

"I'll fight you to the death!!!"

On the other side of the hillside, Ayu, who was herding sheep and picking flowers with Wang Wulang, suddenly heard someone calling her.

"Hey, Ayu, weren't you eaten?"

Little Ayu blinked.

Ayu: How come I didn't know?
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(End of this chapter)