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"Brother, I’m scared..."

At the Chen Family’s stronghold, inside a sizeable room with blue stone tiles, a little girl, bearing a four-to-five tenths resemblance to Chen Qing, hid behind a burly man. Her eyes seemed to have swollen from crying, and she looked out weakly.

The burly man protecting her had a more straightforward and robust build.

Compared to the girl’s delicate features, the man appeared much more simple and honest. Yet, at the moment, a hint of severity laced his normally naive face, and he held a sickle in his hand.

While shielding the young girl, his eyes burned red as he stared outside!

"Ye Waizi, what are you doing?"

The courtyard was surrounded by a group of villagers in plain clothes, old and young, mostly able-bodied adults. The few elderly men who led them were dressed noticeably better than the average farmer.

"That’s right, Ye Waizi, why are you putting on such a display? What are you planning to do?" A lean and sharp-featured man also snickered, "Don’t cause trouble during a happy event."

"To hell with your happy event!" the burly man roared fiercely, "All of you, get lost! Anyone who utters nonsense again, don’t blame me for being rude!"

"Chen Ye, who do you think you’re frightening?" sneered another short man, "You, who get bullied and cannot even let out a fart at home, are beaten and scolded by your own wife. What now? Want to use a knife? Try laying a finger on me, see what happens?"

"Oh, come now, we’re all family here, why turn it into such a fuss?

" The leading elderly man hastily interjected with a chuckle, "I understand that it’s an injustice for that Pan Family boy to marry your sister, Chen Yuan, but she owes them a life. Besides, they’ve seen her body.

If she doesn’t marry over, people will point fingers at her, and her reputation is already not good. "

"I didn’t!" the girl screamed angrily, "He’s making it up!"

"Everyone’s talking about it. How could it be made up?

" a woman hastily spoke up, "Now the whole Pan Family Stockade knows; my two nephews jumped into Yuxi River to save you. The younger one, poor thing, was bitten to death by those cursed beasts, and the elder nephew escorted you back. What, does the sister of a Magistrate’s family think she can just walk away without acknowledging it? "

"My dear nephews, who saved a heartless, ungrateful wolf," she continued, her voice rising, "I’m setting it down right here. Even if she were the daughter of a Prime Minister, this marriage must be recognized!"

"No, no, it’s not like that..." the young girl cried frantically, shaking her head with a pale face, while Chen Ye stood immovable, grasping the sickle like a Gate Deity in front of her.

He wasn’t entirely clear about the specifics, only that his younger sister had gone down the mountain yesterday because she was supposed to set off for Lyuzhou to find Chen Qing the next day.

So, she had specially gone to the foothills of Yuxi Mountain to pick some fresh mushrooms to bring to her second brother, Chen Qing, who had always enjoyed their mother’s mushroom soup since childhood.

He thought that soon his whole family would likely have to stay with the second brother in Lyuzhou City, and it might be a long time before Chen Qing could enjoy mushrooms from Yuxi Mountain again, so he hadn’t stopped her.

Chen Yuan inherited her looks from her second brother, and she was quite attractive.

Dressed up, she resembled a young lady of a well-to-do family, but her temperament was that of a wild country girl.

Since childhood, she had loved roaming the mountains and knew the deep forests of Beipo even better than herself.

He hadn’t been concerned at the time but had never anticipated such trouble.

When he returned, he saw a man from Pan Family Stockade dragging his little sister into their village.

Armed with the sickle he used for chopping wood, he had dashed forward to snatch Chen Yuan back.

At that time, several brothers from the Chen family had also helped him, given that he was now the brother of a Prefectural Governor.

After returning, quite a few young men from the Chen family were eager to curry favor with him.

The group from the opposing side, upon realizing that Chen Yuan was the blood sister of a Magistrate, were taken aback and didn’t dare to abduct her forcefully, allowing him finally to bring his sister back to Chen Family Village without further incident.

But they hadn’t anticipated that by night, a sudden change occurred!

Mysterious creatures emerged from the river, attacking anyone they saw, pouncing on them like wild beasts, biting and tearing at them while they were still alive, an utterly horrific scene.

Chen Family Village was located downstream of the river, with open terrain on the best farmland of Beipo, making it the most enviable village within miles.

However, when facing those man-eating monsters yesterday, this position no longer seemed ideal.

The village fell almost instantly, and most of the Chen family members were bitten to death.

I was lucky to have escaped to the upstream of Beipo with Xiao Yuan and some Chen family members, to the Pan Family Stockade!

The Pan Family Stockade was situated high and steep, and built in the style of the Miao Stockade, with cliffs at both entrances. A few men with thick wooden shields guarded the critical passes, repelling the monsters that leaped at them back down the cliffs, thus firmly defending the stockade.

By the second day, when the sun rose, those monsters seemed to be afraid of the sunlight and hid in the caves halfway up the mountain.

A group of people wanted to take advantage of the daylight to flee down the mountain but couldn’t, as though those monsters were afraid of the sun, the caves were unbelievably cool, and many places were must-pass routes downhill.

As soon as people passed by, they would immediately provoke the monsters to emerge from the caves and grab them.

Those spots were just too steep and narrow, a slight misstep could cause one to fall off the cliff.

Attempting to cross there meant either being captured by the living dead or forced to fall off the cliff, trapping a group of us inside the Pan Family Stockade.

It was temporarily safe, but unexpectedly, the people of the Pan Family Stockade suddenly took notice of our young sister, insisting that their chief’s two children had tried to save their own sister, one dying and the other wounded, and the elder one had even seen our sister naked, saying she must marry into the Pan family.

The Chen family now needed the protection of the Pan family and almost without hesitation leaned towards them, joining these outsiders in forcing our little sister into marriage, leading to the standoff we see in the yard today.

"Ye Waizi, let’s be reasonable," the leading old man said earnestly, "Given Xiao Yuan’s current reputation, if she doesn’t marry into the Pan family, who would have her? As her elder brother, you should consider her future."

"Bullshit!" Chen Ye cursed angrily, "My sister’s reputation is perfectly fine. Whatever he surnamed Pan says, is that it? Didn’t your granddaughter have rumors of an affair with someone the year before last? Why didn’t you marry her off to Huang Ergou?"

"You..."

The old man’s face turned red with anger.

Huang Ergou from the neighboring village was notorious as a ruffian, and he had forced himself upon the old man’s granddaughter.

Of course, the old man wouldn’t allow it, but he knew as well that the Pan family lad was no better.

Yet, with the entire village’s lives held in their hands, what could they do?

"Brother..." The young girl clung helplessly behind Chen Ye.

It had been the Pan family brothers who had taken a fancy to her and chased her all the way down to the Yuxi River when they descended from the mountain.

Who would have expected monsters in the river?

Pan family’s younger brother was bitten to death on the spot, and during the chaos, she escaped, only to be caught by the elder brother who was running away.

If it hadn’t been for her elder brother’s intervention, she would surely have been carried off to the Pan Family Stockade and her fate would have been uncertain.

She had heard rumors before that the children of the Pan family’s chief had a penchant for gambling, and there were strange tales of young women who married into their family and then mysteriously disappeared. How could she dare to enter such a demon’s den?

"It’s getting dark..."

Voices from the Pan family came from outside: "Have you made up your minds?"

Outside the house, naturally, it was the people of the Pan Family Stockade, led by the Pan family’s old clan chief.

His son was a mess, having almost traded his brother for a woman, and nearly drove him to his grave with anger, but now the tables had turned.

That girl turned out to be the Magistrate’s younger sister, and now she has fallen on hard times at the Pan Family Stockade; what an opportunity this was.

As long as they settled the matter today, got married and shared a room, what could the Prefectural Governor do? Would he not have to grit his teeth and accept the relationship?

At worst, he would discipline his son more strictly and make him treat his daughter-in-law better, not like the previous two who were mistreated to death. With the Prefectural Governor as a relative, if they could have a few grandsons, they would indelibly be one family in the future.

That was the Prefectural Governor of Lyuzhou, after all. Even a speck of dust from under his fingernail would be enough for their Pan Family to enjoy a lifetime of fortune.

Seeing the urging from outside, a few young and strong men of the Chen Family exchanged a look and suddenly made a move, with one of them swiftly approaching from the side and hugging Chen Ye tightly, while the others quickly joined in the fray.

Chen Ye was tall and strong, and amidst the struggle, four or five young men couldn’t subdue him; he seemed about to break loose.

Especially that short one, who lost several teeth to a punch from Chen Ye amid the scuffle; his face twisted in rage, he directly picked up a stone from the side and smashed it towards the opponent’s head!

"Brother!!!"

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Down at the base of the mountain, Chen Qing suddenly looked up. Though faint, he thought he heard his Xiao Yuan’s voice.....

"Sir, based on the footprints, there should still be quite a few survivors who have run up the mountain."

Hearing this, Chen Qing nodded and looked at the sky, which was already dusky.

If he remembered correctly, the top of the mountain should be the Pan Family Stockade, a treacherous place.

Since there weren’t many zombies in the wild mountains, if things were set up properly, he should be able to defend it with his soldiers without much problem—it was also the perfect opportunity to regroup.

Now, all he could do was pray that his younger sister and older brother were safe and had made it to the Pan Family Stockade.

Thinking this, he wasted no time and led his men up the mountain.

Along the way, they naturally encountered zombies suddenly attacking from the caves, but with Chen Ying, a Fourth Rank Magician, clearing out the remnants in the caves was not an issue, and the group quickly reached the Pan Family’s defensive position.

Seeing living people guarding the key spot, Chen Qing’s heart softened with relief. Having living defenders meant the Pan Family Stockade had not fallen, and his brother, though seeming dull, was actually very astute and would definitely keep his sister safe to the mountaintop.

"Who goes there?" The group on the other side was also stunned by the sight of the imposing crowd and quickly called out.

"Chen Qing, Prefectural Governor of Lyuzhou. I’ve come specially to rescue relatives and settle them in Lyuzhou. Are you brothers from the Pan Family Stockade?"

"Chen... Chen Qing?"

The expressions of the people on the other side became odd as they whispered among themselves, "Isn’t that the Chen Qing mentioned by our chieftain?"

"Good heavens, it truly is. What are we to do now?"

"What are you panicking for? The chieftain has given orders not to speak recklessly!"

The people on the other side whispered among themselves, but by that time, Chen Qing, with his heightened senses, heard everything clearly and felt a sudden clench in his heart, a wave of unease welling up!

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"This... what are we to do now?"

At the top of the mountain, the Pan Family chieftain looked at the carnage in the courtyard and burst out in anger, "What have you done... you’ve killed the man?"

By that time, Chen Yuan was lying on Chen Ye’s body, crying so hard she was nearly exhausted, while Chen Ye’s head, smashed beyond recognition, clearly had no chance of survival. A group of the Chen Family men were also frightened, their faces pale as they hid to the side.

The Pan Family clansmen were also scared seeing this scene. They never intended for someone to die.

Especially since this was the brother of the Magistrate’s family!

The chieftain’s face turned an ashen hue with anger. He wanted to become in-laws, not conjure enmity. Now, even if he married that girl, it would only beget a huge grudge, not something marriage could offset.

"You make it sound so easy!" The Chen Family man who had struck the blow spoke viciously, "What other way was there to overcome him? How was I to know his skull would crack the moment I struck him?"

"Could that have been done with just one hit?" The eldest son of the Pan Family chieftain retorted with a laugh tinged with anger.

"Anyway, it’s done now!" The short man said harshly, "If it weren’t for your forced marriage, would this have happened? None of you can escape responsibility. If Chen Qing comes, no one can run!"

As he spoke, he looked at the weeping Chen Yuan, his expression one of vicious resolve, "Now... there’s no turning back!"