TIPS – Chapter 145

Before Song Jingwei could say anything, Er Baozi’s mother rushed over, pulling him along as she said, “How can this be your fault? It’s already good enough that you came back safe and sound! What, you’re being chased by the enemy and you’re not even allowed to run into the mountains? If you didn’t go into the mountains, where else could you have hidden? Would it have been better if they caught you? I wouldn’t have agreed to that! Did you not think about your family? If something happened to you, how could I go on living?”

“…” Er Baozi looked extremely embarrassed. He quickly comforted his mother while glancing at Song Jingwei apologetically. He knew his mother’s temperament well—she must’ve made quite a scene at their house before he returned. With a flushed face, he turned to Song Jingwei and said, “I’m sorry, my mother caused you all some trouble.”

Song Jingwei shook his head and replied, “It’s nothing. But as I said before, after this incident, I hope your family will seriously think about what you want to do in the future.”

Er Baozi didn’t understand what this was about. He looked around in confusion.

Er Baozi’s father stepped forward and said, “Young Master Song means… he wants us to move down the mountain?”

As soon as his mother heard that, she protested loudly, tears welling in her eyes, “What kind of logic is that? Why should we have to move down the mountain?”

Er Baozi still didn’t understand what had happened and asked his father, “Dad, what’s going on?”

His father said, “Ask him.”

Song Jingwei gave the family a cold glance and repeated, “I’m giving you two choices. One, move out of the protection zone. From now on, your family won’t have to participate in any maintenance duties. Or two, your family continues participating… But I think we all know you won’t choose the second option, right?”

Er Baozi finally understood and quickly said, “Why wouldn’t we participate? I never said I wouldn’t!” He was the one who volunteered to go down the mountain as a scout in the first place! He liked this kind of work and had a talent for it too.

“You didn’t say no, but your family doesn’t want you to participate. That’s something you’ll need to resolve among yourselves. I only care about the result,” Song Jingwei said.

“Dad, Mom!” Er Baozi immediately turned to them and said, “Who said I won’t participate? Every other family sends someone to help with the patrols, why shouldn’t we? If our whole family cowers and hides, do you still have the nerve to live here?”

“You brat, is that how you talk to your parents? We were just worried about you!” Er Baozi’s mother shouted even louder than him. “Do you know how worried we were? It was already dark and you still hadn’t come back—we all thought something happened to you! If something really had happened, how would we live? I only have one son—you! Do you have to actually get hurt before you start caring about your mother?”

“…” Er Baozi looked at his mother with frustration and helplessness. As her son, he couldn’t argue back. In a fit of anger, he said, “Fine! If you really don’t want me to participate, then let’s move away! I don’t want our family to be looked down on! I don’t want to be a coward hiding in a shell!”

After saying this, he thanked and apologized to Song Jingwei and Yuan Guanlin, then walked out of the Shen family’s main house.

“…” Seeing that Er Baozi had left, his family felt no reason to stay either and silently followed.

As they walked away, Song Jingwei called after them, “I hope that in the end, you’ll earn everyone’s applause—not their boos.”

No one looked back or said a word. They quickly disappeared into the night. Compared to their noisy arrival, their departure was like a silent play.

Once they were gone, peace finally returned to the Shen family’s main house.

Everyone was quiet for a moment, then they quickly busied themselves with preparing dinner. After all, after such a tiring evening, everyone was getting hungry.

“Madam, let me help you.” Wu Xi handed his child to Pei Hongxuan and followed Yang Shi into the kitchen to lend a hand.

Shen Junxi squeezed the hand beside him and gave a reassuring wink.

“It’s fine,” Song Jingwei said softly, then turned to Yuan Guanlin and said, “Go check on your grandfather. Tell him it’s quiet now—he can come out.”

Yuan Guanlin chuckled and ran off to fetch his grandfather.

As soon as he entered the room, he teased, “Grandpa, you still haven’t gotten over your fear of women crying? Still gives you a headache?”

“…You little brat, daring to poke fun at your grandfather?” Yuan Jinyun sat on the edge of the bed and smiled helplessly.

His big, burly grandson walked over and said in a mock serious tone, “Don’t move. I’ll give you a head massage—guaranteed cure!”

The matter with Er Baozi’s family, for now, Song Jingwei didn’t follow up on. That night, he and Yuan Guanlin discussed the situation with a few others. The next morning, they went out to reset all the traps.

Yuan Guanlin said, “They’ll definitely come back in a few days. Those farmhands of yours are useless in this kind of thing—it’s better that we watch over things ourselves.”

Song Jingwei agreed. It was just… a bit tiring. He said, “Thanks for the hard work. I’ll make sure someone regularly brings you food and water. And if anything happens, don’t try to hold out—let us know immediately.”

“It’s done, no problem,” Yuan Guanlin waved his hand and said. Back in the day when he was fighting against river bandits, hadn’t he taken on ten men by himself?

Sure enough, just two days later, those enemy soldiers arrived.

As soon as Yuan Guanlin saw them, he immediately made hand gestures to his comrades and whispered, “There are too many of them. First, we split them up. Deal with the ones we can; if we can’t, lure them toward the ‘woman’.”

The enemy soldiers were very cautious. They entered the mountain slowly, carefully testing the ground beneath their feet. They didn’t dare to step where there were no visible paths, afraid of falling into traps.

It seemed those few soldiers who had fallen into pits earlier had suffered badly—some came back with broken legs, others with injured backsides. The traps were too ruthless, with sharp wooden spikes hidden inside. A soldier with bad luck falling in could even lose his life.

“Everyone be careful, there are traps here!” This was the second time this soldier had come; he had some experience now. Suddenly, he saw a flash of bright-colored clothing nearby. His eyes widened—was that a woman?

As men who marched and fought all year round without even seeing a woman, the soldiers were practically driven mad with longing.

This soldier had both the guts and the desire. He quickly glanced around at his comrades without making a sound and said, “Aiyo, my stomach hurts. I’m going to the latrine!” Then he rushed into the bushes in a hurry.

“Watch out for traps!” the others called out, chuckling at his urgency.

“So fussy,” the squad leader cursed, but they had no choice but to wait in place.

But after a long time, that soldier still hadn’t returned. The squad leader turned to the men beside him and said, “You two, go check on him.”

“Yes, sir!” Two more soldiers went into the bushes.

Back at the waiting spot, the bored soldiers glanced around. Before long, just like the one who’d gone to the latrine, they also spotted a flash of bright clothing and flowing long hair.

Not all soldiers had the nerve to go alone. They reported to their team leader: “Captain, it looks like someone’s over there. We’re going to check it out.”

“Go ahead! Be careful!” The squad leader said, keeping a close eye on the direction where someone had been seen.

“Yes, sir!” The soldiers went ahead. They really did see a woman’s back, so they followed her farther and farther.

“Ah!” A scream suddenly rang out in the distance.

“What happened?” The squad leader immediately led his men to check. He ordered, “Leave a few men here to wait. The rest, follow me!”

“Yes, sir!” Five or six soldiers stayed behind to wait for the four or five who had gone off and hadn’t come back. They were puzzled—why did none of them return?

“Takes that long to use the latrine? Did he fall into the cesspit?” one soldier grumbled.

“Are you stupid? There’s no cesspit here,” another one snapped.

“Why don’t we go have a look?” someone suggested. They were tired of waiting. What if someone really was hiding up ahead, with food and money? If they missed it, wouldn’t that be a loss? Not to mention the women—if those who went ahead had already taken the prettiest ones, wouldn’t they be left with nothing?

“Alright.” Just as they were about to move out, suddenly a group of people surrounded them from all directions.

“Kill them!” Over a dozen men charged in wielding hoes and shovels, knocking the five or six soldiers to the ground one by one.

“Grab their spears—go!” Among them, some were even dressed in women’s clothes, though they were clearly burly men. With the soldiers’ spears in hand, they quickly went back into hiding.

As for the group of soldiers who had gone ahead, they had walked so far and still couldn’t find where the scream had come from. Instead, they started to feel lost and unsure of their location.

“Should we head back the way we came?” one soldier suggested.

Just as he finished speaking, another cried out, “There’s someone over there!” He pointed to a direction where a shadow had flashed by—again, it looked like a woman.

“Go! Let’s check it out!” Everyone got excited and rushed off in a frenzy.

The squad leader followed closely behind. They figured a woman couldn’t run fast—they’d surely catch her. Once they had her, they could interrogate her for the hiding place. Wouldn’t that be killing two birds with one stone?

“Ah!” Another scream came from ahead—it was the soldiers at the front falling into a trap.

The soldiers at the back halted all at once, standing in shock near the edge. Their comrades in the pit were already mangled beyond help.

“How could this happen? That woman clearly ran through here…” The soldiers were confused. They had clearly seen her run right over this spot—why didn’t she fall in?

“Quick! We’re heading back!” The squad leader looked gravely at the huge pit before him and decided to retreat.

“Captain?” Were they really retreating?

“These people… they were prepared. They knew someone would return here.” The squad leader glanced once more in the direction the “woman” had run and said, “Let’s go check on the others—quick!” If his guess was right, the soldiers they had left behind were probably already done for.

“Trying to escape? It’s not that easy!” A loud shout came from within the forest.

The soldiers immediately froze in place, alertly scanning around to locate the source of the voice.

A man in the trees quickly threw down a large net, followed by a basin of chili powder. As the enemy soldiers were caught in the net and started coughing violently, a group of men armed with various weapons emerged from all directions. They had cloths covering their mouths and noses and charged forward, swiftly eliminating the trapped soldiers.

“One of them escaped! Hurry and chase him down—don’t let him get away!” The men shouted loudly. A few of them hoisted their shovels and gave chase. Soon, gasping for breath, they surrounded the fleeing soldier and struck him down with their shovels.

“No one gets away! If they escape, more enemies will come to kill us! So we must root them out completely!”

“That’s right! Root them out completely!”

“Don’t be afraid! They’re no match for us—we have the numbers!”

“Not afraid!”

These men, who had never fought a person in their lives and only knew how to farm, encouraged one another, boosting each other’s morale and giving each other courage. In the past, they wielded hoes and shovels to feed their families. Now, they wielded them to protect their homeland—for the lives of their wives, children, and parents!

So they weren’t afraid. Even of killing—they weren’t afraid anymore.

When the last enemy soldier finally fell to the ground, the fierce fighting came to an end. The men still gripped their weapons tightly, not daring to let go. Their hearts were still pounding furiously. They couldn’t believe it was really over.

“They’re all dead,” Yuan Guanlin said as he sheathed his knife and, panting, turned to the others. “Come on, gather all the bodies together. We’ll pile some branches on them and burn them.”

The men put down their weapons and followed Yuan Guanlin’s orders, starting to move the corpses.

“There are more over there—let’s go take care of that side.” Some of the men volunteered.

They knew the bodies couldn’t be left lying in the road. Burning them together was a good idea. They would rather exhaust themselves than let their families see such a grim and filthy sight.

The forest soon became busy again. Everyone quietly searched for more corpses and firewood.

As the pile of enemy bodies burned, some of the men finally realized—they had killed. Some looked pale, clearly unsettled, still struggling to adjust.

Yuan Guanlin stepped forward and said, “I know none of you wanted to kill, but think about it—if we hadn’t killed them, they would have found your homes. They would have murdered, set fires, stolen money and food, and even taken our women! Can we let that happen? Would you want your family to die at the hands of the enemy?”

The men all shook their heads. Of course they didn’t want that.

“Exactly. We’re doing this only to protect ourselves—to protect our wives, children, and parents. We didn’t kill because we wanted to. We’ve done nothing wrong!”

One man wiped his face and shouted.

“He’s right! Not only did you do nothing wrong, you’ve done something incredible. You did a great deed for everyone. They should be thanking you! You’re all remarkable heroes!” Yuan Guanlin gave them a thumbs-up.

At that, the men no longer felt so heavy-hearted. Gradually, they began to accept what had happened.

“Alright, let’s head back and share the news of our victory with everyone. Let them celebrate,” Yuan Guanlin said, leaving the two men he had brought with him to continue standing guard, while he led the rest back into the mountains.

The villagers in the mountains had long been waiting anxiously. When they saw the men return, all safe and sound, they were surprised and delighted—but also confused. Had the earlier news been false? Had the enemies not shown up after all?

“About seventy to eighty enemy soldiers came down the mountain…” Yuan Guanlin said, immediately alarming everyone again. But he quickly added, “They’ve all been killed by us. Even the corpses are nearly burned to ashes. So there’s no need to worry—they won’t be coming here.”

The men behind him echoed, “That’s right! As long as we’re here, they won’t reach this place!”

Seeing their waiting family members filled them with pride and heroic spirit. They would never forget today—nor how they felt.

“All of them were killed? Did any of our men get hurt?” The villagers, upon hearing that a battle had taken place, immediately worried about their husbands, sons, and brothers who had gone to fight.

“We’re all fine. We had a solid strategy and it made killing easy.”

“Exactly!”

“That’s great, thank heavens! You really managed to kill them all just like that?”

Some were still in shock. They had assumed a battle would mean serious injuries or deaths. When they’d heard their family members were going to fight the enemy, many had spent the night worried sick.

“Hehe! We’ve got your young master Song to thank—it was his idea,” Yuan Guanlin said as he walked, eager to return and claim credit with Song Jingwei. This time, he had truly made a great contribution.

The men trailing behind him had already found their families and were excitedly recounting the experience in vivid detail.

As they spoke of how smoothly it all went, all of them expressed sincere gratitude for Song Jingwei’s clever plan. Thanks to it, they had been able to easily eliminate the enemy.

After this battle, the villagers gained confidence—and courage. They all believed that even if the enemy came again, they no longer needed to fear. Staying here was safe.