Chapter 14

Lin Yiming returned to the village and continued his cultivation.

On the sixth day, the villagers who went to the town to buy grain finally came back.

One by one, carts loaded with grain drove into the village along the rugged path. The villagers, their faces full of excitement, gathered at the village entrance.

"Finally, we have grain! Great!"

"Yes, with the grain, even if the harvest is poor this year, we can still get through for a while."

"We owe this to Yiming. Without Yiming, where would we get the money to buy grain?"

Amid the villagers' discussions, Uncle Zhang, who led the group to buy grain, directed the others to stop the carts.

"Villagers, we're back. Now, each household should send one person out, and we'll distribute the grain." Uncle Zhang shouted at the top of his lungs. Amid the cheers of the crowd, he opened the wooden barrels filled with grain.

Instantly, plump and round grains of wheat appeared before everyone's eyes.

Soon, under the direction of Uncle Zhang, several respected elders in the village, and Lin Yiming's sister, Lin Ning, the villagers began to distribute the grain.

The grains were quickly divided among the households, and everyone's face was filled with excitement.

Suddenly...

"What is this!"

Suddenly, just as the grain in the barrel had been distributed by only a small portion, a man who received the grain pointed at the bag and shouted loudly.

Hearing his shout, the crowd gathered around the barrel. Upon seeing it, everyone was shocked.

Instead of wheat grains, the barrel contained wheat bran, the outer husk of wheat!

"How can there be wheat bran?"

Uncle Zhang exclaimed, reaching into the barrel and pulling out more wheat bran. Wheat grains were edible, but wheat bran was not.

Upon discovering the wheat bran, the crowd continued to search the barrel. Soon, the entire barrel was overturned, and it was found to be almost entirely filled with wheat bran and many stones.

"What about the other barrels? Quickly, check the other barrels."

Someone shouted, and the crowd opened the other barrels.

Like the first barrel, the top layer of these barrels contained wheat grains, but the bottom was filled with wheat bran. To avoid detection of the weight difference, they had also added many stones.

"We've been tricked!"

Seeing the ground covered with wheat bran, Uncle Chen, a respected elder in the village, fainted.

"What a sin, what a sin!" Uncle Zhang sat on the ground. He was responsible for buying the grain, and now he had been deceived. How could he face everyone?

"I... I..." Uncle Zhang's mouth opened, and he spat out a mouthful of blood, then fainted as well.

The remaining villagers who had gone to buy grain almost all collapsed to the ground, tears streaming down their faces as they pounded the ground with their hands, breaking their hands but still continuing to pound, shouting loudly.

Lin Yiming never expected this to happen.

Given the situation, there were only two possibilities: either Uncle Zhang and the others had colluded to deceive him, or they had truly been deceived. Lin Yiming believed that Uncle Zhang and the others would not deceive him, so it must be that they had been deceived.

Sighing inwardly, Lin Yiming took a step forward and found a villager who had gone to buy grain, asking softly, "Where did you buy the grain?"

"At the town, at the Minong Trading Company."

Upon hearing the name of the trading company, the villagers immediately shouted loudly, "Minong Trading Company, since they deceived us, we will go find them. We can't let them get away with this. And the grain, we still have several boxes that haven't been opened. These are all evidence. When we show them, I don't believe they can deny it!"

"Right, let's go find them!"

Lin Yiming stood among the crowd, listening to their agitated voices, and suddenly said, "We must go find them. This time, I will go with you. It just so happens that the children's medicinal baths have stabilized, and I have the time."

As Lin Yiming spoke, he sighed inwardly. The villagers were too kind. If they went, they might be deceived again. At least he had lived two lives, and this time, he would go with them to see what happened.

The crowd did not object to Lin Yiming's words. The money for the grain was provided by Lin Yiming, and now that he wanted to go with them, they could not refuse.

After discussing, they set out early the next morning.

Because the village had water, the young and strong men stayed behind. The fields had been neglected for a long time, and now that they had water, they could not leave.

With the young and strong men staying behind, only the old farmers could go. More awkwardly, they did not have the money to take the official road and had to take the ordinary small paths.

Although the money for the grain was provided by Lin Yiming, the villagers also contributed, though the majority was from Lin Yiming.

The crowd set out in carts, and on the way, they did not encounter any bandits or mountain bandits.

As the sky gradually darkened, they had to stop and find a place to set up tents.

It would take three to four days to travel from Nanlin Village to the town, and they would have to camp outside during this time.

The old farmers skillfully set up the tents and immediately began to gather dry wood to start a fire. The biggest fear when camping outside was not bandits but wild animals, so they had to prepare enough dry wood early, as most wild animals were afraid of fire.

Before the sky was completely dark, the fire was already lit. As the flames flickered, a series of chaotic footsteps could be heard from the distance.

In no time, on the desolate and rugged road, figures began to appear in the crowd's line of sight.

"Bandits!"

Lin Yiming, seeing the figures in the firelight and the rising moon, felt a sudden tension. There were about thirty bandits, each strong and robust. Some of them held broadswords, and one was even riding a red warhorse.

This was a warhorse, not a low-quality horse for carrying goods. Although the warhorse did not look pure in color and was probably quite old, the fact that they had a warhorse was very surprising.

The thirty bandits immediately surrounded Lin Yiming and the others.

Lin Yiming took a step forward, moving to the front of the crowd. His hands, hidden under his sleeves, were already tightly clenched. Although the number of old farmers from the village was not small compared to the bandits, if it came to a fight, the old farmers would not stand a chance against the bandits. Each of these bandits, regardless of their strength, was at least a warrior. Especially the one on the horse.

Lin Yiming's gaze fell on the red warhorse. Only one bandit was riding a warhorse, so it was likely that he was the leader of the bandits.

What was most surprising was that the leader did not reveal his face. He wore a blood-red ghost mask with a terrifying and grotesque appearance.

Why would an ordinary bandit hide his face?

Lin Yiming was puzzled. Could it be that this bandit had another identity and was very famous, so he wore a mask? If that was the case, it would be a big problem.

Compared to ordinary bandits, this bandit was more concerning.

The old farmers, seeing the bandits, were afraid but still gathered the courage to stand behind Lin Yiming.

As the bandits surrounded the crowd, a very short and thin bandit, who looked like a bamboo stick and could be blown away by a gust of wind, stepped forward and walked to Lin Yiming's opposite side. He pointed at the crowd and shouted, "Leave your things, and you can go!"

Upon hearing the bandit's words, Lin Yiming felt slightly relieved. At least these bandits were only after the goods and not killing, which made things easier to handle.

Taking a step forward, Lin Yiming said to the bandit, who clearly had a bad heart, "The things on our carts are just wheat bran. Taking them won't do you any good."

"What? Wheat bran? Boy, don't try to fool me!" The bandit's small mustache twitched upward, full of disdain. "I've seen more bridges than you've walked roads. Don't try to fool me. If it's just wheat bran, why would you need so many people and carts?"