freenovelworld Chapter 54 Village Chief Li Steps Down, Each Makes Their Own Choices
Chapter 54 Village Chief Li Steps Down, Each Makes Their Own Choices
A dark glint flashed in Shen Shuli's eyes as she ended the conversation.
"Alright, Young Master Chu, have a safe journey."
Xie Chengyuan glanced at the girl again before turning and leaving.
The main force had originally planned to leave this morning.
They can leave the mountain after another day's journey.
But in the early hours of the morning, they suddenly experienced a life-or-death battle, and more than a dozen people were seriously injured.
They could only remain stationed there, allowing the wounded to recover properly before making further plans.
Most of the villagers fled.
The remaining people seemed ashamed and huddled around their luggage, bewildered and unsure of what to do.
Left with no other choice, the village chief stepped forward to take charge.
Su Yunhai is already catching up on sleep.
I didn't tell the village chief about today's plans or the arrangements for the rest of the day before I went to bed.
The village chief knew that Su Yunhai harbored resentment.
But there was nothing he could do.
His son had been stabbed in the back and was seriously injured, so he definitely wouldn't leave; he would stay and wait for his son to recover.
"Everyone, come here, I have something to say." The village chief called the remaining people together to discuss the matter.
Seeing that the village chief was still willing to talk to them, the villagers quickly ran over to wait for the village chief to make arrangements.
These past few days, they've been assigned tasks every day.
Suddenly, no one was there to supervise them, and they didn't know what to do.
Like a soulless puppet.
"Please be quiet. I've called this meeting to discuss our plans for the future."
"Many people were seriously injured in the battle with those barbarians today and are unable to move. They need to stay here for a few days to recuperate."
“I know some people don’t have much food and water and can’t last long. If you’re thinking of leaving, you can leave early. Just follow the mountain road south for another thirty miles and you’ll be out of the mountains.”
"Then it will be the official road, and you can decide for yourselves where you want to go."
"If any of you wish to stay, you may do so. However, from today onwards, I will no longer be the village chief. Even if you stay, I will no longer concern myself with your affairs."
"Otherwise, if something like today happens again, and everyone hides away and refuses to help, others aren't stupid and won't keep using you as shields. So, I advise you to think carefully about whether to stay or leave, and to be careful in the future."
Old Li was speaking to the villagers, and also to his entire family.
The entire Li family.
Only Li Rui and Li Dazhu stepped forward.
Everyone else kept their distance.
The old man didn't want everyone to go and die needlessly, but he still had to make his stance clear, right?
Su Yunhai's daughter is only thirteen years old, yet she understands the principles he's put into words.
result……
The old village chief made a surprising statement.
The villagers were all dumbfounded.
They never expected the village chief to say something like that at this time; it was clearly an attempt to drive them away!
"Village chief, how can you not be the village chief? If you don't lead us, how are we supposed to know what to do next!"
"Village chief, how can you drive us away? You're the one who brought us here! How can you abandon us!"
"You can't blame us for this! Those are incredibly strong, cannibalistic barbarians from the North who drink human blood and eat human flesh! Of course we're scared. You can't expect us to go and die!"
"Knowing we can't win, they still send us. Are they deliberately trying to send us to our deaths? That's so heartless!"
"Exactly, aren't the Su and Shen families quite powerful? They won even without us helping them, didn't they?"
“That’s right, the capable should do more. Although we didn’t participate, we didn’t get a share of the spoils either, did we? I saw them take quite a bit of silver!”
The old village chief never expected that the villagers would say such things.
He thought that by giving everyone a way out, they could at least apologize to the Su family and strengthen their unity.
If something similar happens again, at least we won't back down, we won't betray our partners, and we'll cooperate for mutual benefit.
The result was extremely disappointing for him!
"Alright, alright, if that's how it is, then I'll just ignore everything!"
"And the Li family members, whoever wants to leave, tell me now, and I'll assign you household registration so you can leave right now."
The old village chief coughed in anger, his aged face turning red.
"Anyone who doesn't want to stay must give me a statement." The old village chief's cloudy gaze swept over each member of the Li family.
The Li family members were so ashamed that they lowered their heads and dared not meet his gaze.
Soon, the crowd became lively.
"Let's go, let's go. There's still a group of bandits and soldiers watching us. They might rush out and stab us at any moment. We don't know how long it will take to feed these people. My family's food can't keep being consumed like this. I'll leave first."
Some villagers made a decision immediately, without hesitation, and left with their families and belongings.
Seeing that some people were leaving, the villagers became even more restless.
Gradually, more and more people chose to leave.
Even the Li family visited several homes.
Li Erniu's family was among them.
When Li Erniu heard the word "barbarian," he was so frightened that he didn't dare to go forward no matter how much Li Dazhu tried to persuade him.
Right now, he only feels guilty and doesn't know how to face Su Yunhai and Li Dazhu. He just wants to stay far away from them.
Wu Shitou shared the same idea as Li Erniu, so he also chose to leave.
In the end, only fifty-three people remained.
Most of them are members of the Li family.
Village Chief Li is, after all, the patriarch of the Li clan and the backbone of the Li family.
Wherever the backbone is, that's where they are.
Those who remained, persuaded by Village Chief Li, each sent a representative to apologize to the Su family and express their stance.
Su Yunhai slept for a full six hours before waking up.
Shen Shuli was worried that bandits and government officials would catch up with them.
After all, the team is at its most disorganized and weakest right now.
All of their main combat forces are seriously injured and need to recuperate.
She has to shoulder the responsibility for everyone's safety.
Shen Shuli didn't take the villagers' choice to heart.
After this experience, Shen Shuli no longer had any expectations of the people in this world.
She was acutely aware of this.
They are all fictional NPCs pre-arranged by the author in the book, and their thoughts are difficult to change in certain matters.
Only when the characters awaken and break free from the constraints set for them by the author can they perhaps truly be reborn.
The Su family now only has two men, Su Chang'an and Su Ding'an, to carry on the family line.
Shen Shuli asked her mother to assign them tasks so they could get things set up quickly.
As for the members of the Su family's eldest branch, they were among the first to run away when they heard about the barbarians.
The people from the third branch of the family were also forcibly taken away by Old Lady Su.
They also stole a mule cart from Su Yunhai's house.
The truck was full of dried meat, weighing over 500 jin (250 kg).
Enraged, Shen Yuehua abandoned her dignified and ladylike demeanor and cursed loudly for an hour before calming down.
Many villagers also fled without taking their belongings with them.
The old village chief decided to distribute some of these items to the villagers who had left.
The remaining portion was distributed among the villagers who chose to stay.
Each family received only about ten kilograms of grain, which was better than nothing.