Traveling Through Farmhouses: Taking the Baby on a Famine Escape

Zhou Dashan noticed that no one was coming out of the surrounding tents, so he quickly sent someone in to check.

"The clan chief and the others have fainted and cannot be woken up."

"Same here."

Zhou Dashan looked at Liu Ergou and the others and asked sternly, "What have you done to the people inside?"

"No, they were just drugged with sleeping powder. They woke up with a splash of water and will be fine."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Dashan immediately arranged for villagers to fetch water to wake the unconscious man. Fortunately, the cold water woke him up.

Zhang Xixi immediately stroked Xiao Jin's fur beside her. Upon hearing this, she twitched her lips. Sleeping gas really is an essential item for thieves!

"Tell me honestly where you're from!"

Liu Ergou and his men resignedly said, "We live on that hillside over there. We were just too hungry, so we took some of your food. Please spare us!"

"Don't feed us to the tigers, we know we were wrong."

Zhou Dashan continued, "How many times have you come to steal from us?"

Liu Ergou looked up and saw two tigers glaring at them. He quickly lowered his head and said obediently:

"This is the second time today. We only took a tiny bit each time, really."

The families whose food was stolen earlier realized that the meat and sweet potatoes were not stolen by their own family members, but by the people in front of them.

Old Mrs. Wang immediately realized what had happened and angrily cursed, "So it was you who stole my flesh, you heartless bastards!"

The other families also stepped forward and angrily cursed them, some even trying to hit them, but Zhou Dashan stopped them.

"We can't use vigilante justice. Let me find out how much they stole first."

Zhou Dashan looked at Liu Ergou and the others, "Tell me how much you stole in total. If you tell the truth, you might get a lighter punishment."

The two men exchanged a glance. "We only took five pieces of meat and a dozen or so sweet potatoes."

That's all!

The two waved their hands, "And what we just took is all here, that's all."

Zhou Dashan then turned to look at the Wang family and their relatives, "Tell me how much stuff you lost!"

Old Wang pursed her lips and said first, "I don't know about other families, but my family is missing a big piece of meat and four sweet potatoes."

“My family also lost a piece of meat and a few sweet potatoes.”

"My family is the same."

"..."

The amount stolen was about the same as what Liu Ergou and the others had said. Zhou Dashan did the math in his head and realized that the stolen items were worth less than 500 coins, which wasn't a serious crime. He would decide on the punishment tomorrow.

"Alright, everyone go back and rest. We'll talk again tomorrow."

"Everyone go back!"

Zhang Xixi and the others led the two tigers back to their tent and lay down to rest, as they had things to do tomorrow!

In the kitchen, the Liu brothers were tied up and thrown on the ground. They jumped and moved towards the stove before stopping, finding it warmer there.

"Second brother, what should we do?"

"What should we do? How should I know? We can only wait for our older brother to come and save us."

The next day, Zhou Dashan decided to give Liu Ergou and his accomplices ten strokes of the cane each, and then make them compensate Lao Wang and his family double for their losses.

After breakfast, Zhou Dashan had the clan elders give them ten lashes. After the beating, the two men lay on the ground crying and begging for their parents. When they heard that they had to pay compensation, they cried even harder.

"We have no money!"

They would have stolen again if they had money. I really regret it now!

Zhou Dashan said seriously, "If you don't have money, just do odd jobs to pay off your debts. You can work for each family for ten days."

"Clan chief, should we ask them to feed us? If so, I won't let them work for my family," Old Wang said hurriedly.

"We'll give you two sweet potatoes a day. If you don't agree, go and ask them for compensation yourself."

Judging from this man's irresponsible attitude, she won't get any money from him. It's better to have a skilled worker and a long-term laborer to serve her.

Old Wang smiled ingratiatingly, "I'll do as the clan leader says."

When Liu Dagou and his group passed by Zhang Xixi's camp on their way back, they found a large group of people gathered together. Feeling a sense of unease, they quickly rushed over.

Seeing Liu Ergou and the others lying on the ground groaning and crying, I knew they'd been discovered, those two idiots.

Just as Liu Dagou was about to step forward, he suddenly remembered something and went back, pulling Liu Sandan away.

"Big brother, let's ignore them!"

"There are only two of us, so we can't beat them. This time, we'll let them suffer a bit first, and then we'll go back to town."

Liu Sandan nodded upon hearing this. This time, his second brother and the others needed to be taught a lesson. They had been told to take things slowly and steadily, but they just wouldn't listen.

In the deserted village, Liu Ergou and his companion lay on the ground, blaming each other. "Second Brother, I told you not to come, not to come! Now look what happened!"

"Now it's my fault. If you hadn't eaten all the meat, I would have come."

"..."

Zhang Xixi and her friends wanted to try their luck in the mountains today, hoping to find some wild fruits and vegetables.

The Jin couple also went to the mountains. After resting for a day, they had recovered their energy. The mountains were great; they could run freely and there were all kinds of prey.

It seems like no one has been in these mountains for a long time, so they are rich in resources. I just searched around the perimeter and found a lot of bamboo shoots and wild vegetables.

Zhang Dacheng and Zhang Wenhong easily hunted several pheasants, and they happily carried their catch down the mountain.

When the villagers saw that the Chen family had carried a lot of bamboo shoots, they all went up the mountain after lunch, and every family made stewed pheasant and bamboo shoots for dinner.

Liu Ergou and his companion were so hungry and thirsty that they swallowed hard, their bottoms aching. They wondered if they would have any food tonight, and whether their older brother and the others had returned.

After dinner, Zhou Dashan thought that the two men must have been very hungry to commit the theft, and they hadn't stolen much. Besides, they were neighbors and would see each other often in the future, so he gave Liu Ergou and his companion two sweet potatoes and a bucket of water.

After everyone in the village had rested at night, Liu Dagou took advantage of the moonlight to sneak into the kitchen where Liu Ergou and Liu Dagou were locked up. The kitchen was just a place with a stove and two wooden planks to block the wind.

"Big brother, you've finally..."

Liu Dagou quickly shushed him and whispered, "Keep your voice down, aren't you afraid of waking them up?"

Liu Ergou and Liu Gou Dan were so excited they wanted to jump up, but their bottoms hurt when they moved. They were also afraid of making too much noise and disturbing the villagers, so they could only cover their mouths and look at Liu Dagou and Liu Gou Dan with teary eyes.

Their eyes revealed their grievances; we were in such a terrible situation, why didn't you come to save us sooner!

"Alright, that's what you two did to disobey. Let go of each other!"

Liu Ergou and the other man removed their hands from their mouths and said, "Big brother, we know we were wrong, we..."

Before they could finish speaking, Liu Sandan stuffed two pieces of rag into their mouths. Then he turned them over, pulled down their pants, and poured medicine onto their wounds.

"Ouch!" Tears welled up in Liu Ergou and Liu Gou's eyes from the pain, and they groaned, "Is there no brotherly love left?!"