freenovelworld Chapter 331 What kind of world is this?
Chapter 331 What kind of world is this?
"syphilis?"
Everyone was stunned and exclaimed, "That, that's venereal disease! My God! She actually got that kind of dirty disease! No wonder she looked half-dead and wouldn't tell us where she lived!"
"She must have come from a brothel!"
The group immediately forgot about their meal and nervously exchanged information, trying to find out who had been in contact with the girl in the past few days.
Lu Yangyang leaned closer to the old woman and asked, "Grandma, do girls often get kidnapped in your village?"
The old woman's eyes widened in surprise, and she spat out, "Nonsense! Our leader is not that kind of person at all. That girl was trying to commit suicide by the river, but our leader found her and saved her. She was half-dead every day, and we felt sorry for her, so we gave her some food!"
"That damned bitch, how could she do this? We kindly took her in, and she brought this disease with her! Isn't she going to kill us?!"
Lu Yangyang said, seemingly casually, "So, according to you, your boss is a good person?"
The old woman glared at her: "Of course! Back then, my whole family was killed by that heartless landlord and petty official. We were desperate and had nowhere to go. It was thanks to the chief that we were taken in. Otherwise, I would be a broken old woman now."
Lu Yangyang asked with great interest, "How could there be such a vicious person in this world? Didn't you think of reporting it to the authorities at the time?"
The old woman spat again, saying bitterly, "Report to the authorities? What good will it do? In previous years, everyone had a hard time. My family fled from the north. We were lucky enough to be resettled by the government, but we didn't have any land. We could only rent land from landlords to farm. The first few years were really tough. Then we heard that the prince was carrying out land reform, and we tenant farmers could get a little land. Although it wasn't much, because taxes were getting lower and lower, if we could have that little land, our family could survive, and life would get better and better." But that heartless landlord, unhappy that we tenants had all returned our land, came to forcibly take my daughter-in-law. My wife and son went to them to demand her return, but they were brutally beaten and died a few days later. My grandson and I wanted to report it to the authorities, but the landlord, in league with petty officials, wouldn't even let us into the yamen. My grandson died. When my daughter-in-law learned of this, she threw herself into a well that very day. Our family had endured the worst of times, and just when things were finally looking up, those corrupt officials ruined us and caused our deaths. Tell me, what kind of world is this?
Lu Yangyang never expected that the seemingly fierce and miserable old woman would have such an experience.
This knock-off... is indeed a bit strange.
She couldn't help but ask, "What about the others? Were they brought back in the same way?"
The old woman shook her head: "Not entirely, but most of them are people with bad luck. We are just a bunch of people with bad luck living together."
Lu Yangyang was asking the old woman for information, and the others were also discussing it enthusiastically. In particular, a few men huddled together, trembling with fear. Among them were Ge Er and Da Qiang, who had brought Lu Yangyang here early this morning.
Looks like they didn't do anything good.
Sure enough, just as Lu Yangyang made up her mind, she saw the leader's eyes sweep over the group, and he shouted at them, "Ge Er, Da Qiang, Zhang Shitou, Liu Si, you guys, get out here! Tell me, did you do something secretly?"
The group of people were so frightened that their legs went weak and they knelt down instinctively.
"Boss, I... I just couldn't resist. That girl is beautiful. You... you don't like those delicate, weak girls. I... I just wanted to marry her, so... so..." Zhang Shitou blurted out in fright.
He had an ordinary appearance, looked quite old, and had an honest and simple look, but his eyes were darting around, and he seemed very guilty.
"You bastard!" The leader was furious and kicked him on the spot, causing Zhang Shitou to vomit blood.
He angrily pointed at the others: "What about you? What kind of outrageous things have you done?!"
Several men lowered their heads, not daring to speak. Finally, the one called Liu Si stuck out his neck and said, "Boss, we, we are a mountain stronghold, not a charity. You only allow us to mess with those unscrupulous merchants and corrupt officials. How much silver can we earn? We can't even rob decent women, and we can't even touch the daughters of officials. There are dozens of people in the stronghold, big and small, following you like monks every day, and we can't even get enough to eat. What are we doing this for? You just won't change your mind no matter what. That's how you kicked the second leader out. But even without the second leader, all these bachelors in the stronghold still need to get married, right?"
The leader was speechless after hearing his words, and could only clench his fists in anger.
Liu Si still wasn't satisfied, "If you want to be a savior, why did you set up this mountain stronghold? Everyone initially just wanted to make a living, but who doesn't want to live a good life with a wife, children, and a warm bed!"
The old woman, furious, cursed, "Do you all have no conscience?! When you were doing your forced labor, you were almost beaten to death by those corrupt officials. Who rescued you and took you in? How can you be so ungrateful and blame the head of the household? No one forced you to stay here. If you want to leave, get out of here!"
"Trying to leave? Too late. Let me tell you, none of you are leaving today." At this moment, a woman covered in festering sores staggered over, leaning against a wooden stake to barely stand, and looked at them with a cold smile: "Every single one of you, I'll make you pay with your lives!"
Everyone looked at the woman; it was the girl they had rescued a few days ago.
Compared to before when she was merely pale, now she resembled a demon risen from hell, radiating death and with only ferocious hatred in her eyes.
"If I had known that I was rescued only to be repeatedly humiliated by you, I should have died then and there!"
She fumbled for a bamboo whistle around her neck and suddenly blew it with all her might.
"What do you want to do?" The leader stared at her coldly.
The girl just stared at him with a look of utter despair: "I thought you were a good person. You told me not to kill myself no matter what happened. Even though I was completely despondent, I was still thinking about whether I should live. But you saved me, only to have me humiliated by these scumbags. Hahahaha! Since that's how it is, don't blame me. I'll drag you all down with me even in my dying moments!"
After she finished speaking, everyone heard rustling sounds around them. In no time, soldiers armed with long knives and bows and arrows quickly surrounded the entire village.
A young man in his early twenties stepped forward and looked at the woman with concern: "Little sister!"
The woman shook her head and said painfully, "No, don't come any closer."
Suddenly someone shouted, "This young woman is actually a government official!"
The man coldly surveyed the crowd in the mountain stronghold and shouted, "Arrest them all! Anyone who dares to resist, kill them!"