All of a sudden, Qin Sang became the center of everyone's gratitude. Seeing their Mother being recognized and thanked by so many villagers, Si Jin and the others felt a sense of shared glory. Their eyes sparkled as they looked at Qin Sang, nearly bubbling over with pride.
After cleaning Daner's wound, Qin Sang sprinkled a proprietary Chinese medicine on it and bandaged it up. As she worked, she said,
"It was just a guess on my part back then, and I couldn't be certain. It's because everyone was willing to believe that guess and followed my family in harvesting the grain. You don't need to thank me; you should thank yourselves."
The crowd was also fortunate that they had listened to Qin Sang and harvested their grain. Recently, they had dug up herbs to exchange for quite a bit of rice and grain with her. With food in the house, their hearts weren't troubled, but they were still worried:
"The locusts came not long after we reached the mountain. Even the tree leaves have been eaten bare. Can we still dig for herbs after this?"
"Da Zhuang's Mother, will your family still be collecting herbs in the future?"
Qin Sang began treating Caoer's abrasions. The scraped area was quite large, and although Qin Sang tried her best to be gentle, Caoer still trembled with pain, yet she never let out a single whimper.
As she treated the injuries, Qin Sang said:
"Some herbs have scents that locusts won't eat, and they won't touch the poisonous ones either.
Besides, many herbs use the roots and stems as medicine. Everyone can try digging for those.
As long as you can find herbs, my family will collect them."
Identifying many herbs relied on their leaves and flowers, but Qin Sang had the system to identify them. So, even if aconite and notoginseng were mixed together, she could clearly distinguish them.
Hearing Qin Sang say this, everyone finally cheered up:
"That's good, that's good. To be honest, the grain from my fields wasn't as much as what I got from exchanging herbs with Da Zhuang's Mother."
"That's right, Da Zhuang's Mother. As long as we can exchange for grain here, we won't starve to death."
"When the time comes, we'll exchange the medicinal roots we dig up for rice and grain. If they aren't herbs, we'll just take them home, boil them, and eat them."
For a moment, everyone laughed with hope, and Qin Sang also pressed her lips together into a small smile.
The back mountain was likely going to be dug upside down.
A discordant voice cut in:
"Widow Tian, come out..."
Everyone turned to look at the newcomers. They saw The Shan Shui Brothers walking quickly toward them, faces covered in blood and looking ferocious. Both held large stones in their hands, shouting irrationally as they approached:
"Widow Tian, it's all because of you.
I'll smash you to death, you jinx! If you hadn't kept shouting that there would be a locust plague, how could the locusts have come?"
"All the grain in my house is gone! You pay for it, you pay for it..."
Behind the two were many villagers, all of whom had previously gone to the fields saying they would help harvest the grain:
"Tian Yuanshan, you two brothers be reasonable! It was you who stopped us from helping your family harvest. If you hadn't stopped us, maybe we could have saved a few more handfuls of grain for you."
"If you two brothers hadn't committed so many evils, would the heavens have punished you like this? If you ask me, this is retribution."
The two brothers had now lost their minds, charging straight at Qin Sang regardless of anything, looking as if they were prepared for a fight to the death.
The surrounding villagers stepped forward to block the two madmen:
"Calm down! You were the ones who didn't listen to Da Zhuang's Mother. How can you blame others now?"
"You didn't take it seriously yourselves; who else can you blame?"
The two brothers, Tian Yuanshan and his sibling, shouted crazily:
"I don't care! These locusts were summoned by Widow Tian! My family is going to starve and can't survive, so she shouldn't think about living either!"
"Widow Tian, you must take full responsibility for my family's losses!"
Even while being held back, the two struggled incessantly, the stones in their hands ready to smash Qin Sang to pieces.
Qin Sang's face was cold:
"I think you two had better find a doctor to check your insanity. Are you the only family hit by the locust plague? You aren't the only ones in this village who didn't harvest, and there's the neighboring village, and the entire Songbai County.
If I could summon locusts, I would definitely have them bite you two to death. How could I let you off so easily?"
The villagers were also trying to persuade them:
"What kind of madness has possessed you? Even if the grain in the fields is gone, you can dig for herbs and exchange them for rice with Da Zhuang's Mother. It's not a dead end yet!"
"Yes, Da Zhuang's Mother just said that as long as you dig up herbs, she'll collect them all."
"Exactly! If you really hurt Da Zhuang's Mother, the whole village won't let you get away with it."
By now, Qin Sang was the hope for everyone's survival in their eyes. Naturally, they couldn't let anything happen to her.
Tian Yuanshan and Tian Jinshui were blocked three steps away. They couldn't charge in, and the stones in their hands had already been snatched away. They asked indignantly:
"Widow Tian, if we brothers dig for herbs to exchange with your family, will you accept them?"
For a moment, everyone's eyes fell on Qin Sang.
In the eyes of others, whose herbs she collected didn't matter, and everyone thought Qin Sang would agree.
However, Qin Sang sneered:
"Why should I collect herbs from you two brothers? You both wanted my life, so why should I give you a bite to eat?
I am no Bodhisattva; I don't have such a soft heart."
Whether it was the initial extortion or the later planned robbery, and considering how these two brothers were ready to kill her with stones at the drop of a hat today, Qin Sang could not leave these two menaces be.
Given their persistent and pestering nature, if she really agreed, there would likely be endless trouble in the future.
The Shan Shui Brothers grew frantic:
"Widow Tian, are you trying to force us brothers to our deaths?"
"Fine! I'll die right here for you to see! Once I'm a ghost, I'll come to your house every day to take your life!"
Tian Jinshui threatened.
Qin Sang's cold voice carried a hint of anger:
"If I don't collect them, can't you just take them to the Town? What? Did I give birth to you and raise you? You didn't crawl out of my belly, so why should I care if you have food to eat?"
"Threatening to die at my doorstep and promising to haunt me as a ghost... Fine, it seems I can't stay in Tianjia Village anymore. Er Fu, Si Jin, pack up. We're moving."
If she didn't use a trump card, they would really think she was a soft target.
As if these two brothers would actually kill themselves? This nonsense would only fool a ghost.
Good people don't last long, but scourges live for a thousand years.
Si Jin and Er Fu were very obedient. They immediately put down their work. They stopped applying the iodine, packed up the medicine, and turned back to the house to prepare for the move.
Now, the villagers were stunned.
How did a quarrel lead to Da Zhuang's Mother moving away?
If Da Zhuang's Mother was no longer in the village, what would they do?
Who would they exchange grain with in the future?
Go to the Town?
A round trip to the Town took four to six hours, and the pharmacies might not even buy the herbs.
Even if they did, the price would certainly not be as high as what Da Zhuang's Mother offered.
The crowd only needed a moment's thought to realize the severity of the situation and hurriedly shouted:
"Da Zhuang's Mother, calm down, calm down! The Shan Shui Brothers were supposed to be expelled from the village anyway. Now that the fields don't need harvesting, if they don't get lost now, when will they?"
"Right, right! Da Zhuang's Mother, if you leave, what will we do? You can't leave; the ones who should leave are The Shan Shui Brothers!"
"Everyone, lend a hand! We can't let these two brothers ruin things again. If they really force Da Zhuang's Mother away, our village will starve to death!"