Chapter 850: Chapter 853: Confiscating the Carriage
"Of course we need to report to the government. You’ve done such a terrible thing, how can we possibly let you go?"
"Exactly, how could we let you go? We’re not out of our minds."
"..."
"..."
Upon hearing these words, Yang Ming sneered, "You report to the government. Are you sure they’ll come? You need to tell the government the actual situation, right? When there’s an infectious disease in such a remote area, how do you think the government will react? If you don’t tell them the truth, what do you think will happen when the government finds out you’ve given false information?"
These words led to whispered conversations among the villagers. The government was an authority they dared not offend, and they all turned their heads to look at the Village Chief, unsure of what to do.
Seeing that he could finally persuade some villagers, Yang Ming continued, "Our family of three really isn’t made up of bad people. If we were bad people, would we wait for you to catch us? We’d have run away long after committing misdeeds."
These words made the Village Chief’s expression ease a little, but this village was very superstitious, and even if it wasn’t their doing, it must be the misfortune brought by this family of three.
Just then, Little Shitou ran up again, crying and shouting, "Village Chief Uncle, they really aren’t bad people. They cured my mother’s illness."
Hearing Little Shitou’s words, a flicker of surprise flashed in the Village Chief’s eyes, and he blurted out, "You can cure diseases?"
Yang Ming shook his head, "We don’t cure diseases. Little Shitou’s mother just had a fever, and we happened to have some essential herbs with us. If we could cure diseases, we’d have helped the villagers by now."
At this moment, a villager spoke up, "Village Chief, what do we do now?"
The Village Chief pondered for a moment before speaking, "Let them stay at Little Shitou’s mother’s house for now; let’s wait for the doctor to come and check everyone."
"Village Chief, what if they run away?"
"They wouldn’t dare." The Village Chief replied harshly, word by word, then turned to look at Xiaoxiao and Yang Ming, "If they dare to run, we’ll kick Shitou’s mother and her child out."
"..." Xiaoxiao was speechless. If they were truly bad people, who would care about that mother and her child? But as luck had it, they weren’t bad people and couldn’t bear to watch the villagers drive out Little Shitou and his mother.
Originally, being caught was just a delay tactic, waiting for a chance to escape. Now, however, escaping wasn’t easy anymore. They could only wait for the doctors’ diagnosis results. If the villagers were cured, they could hopefully leave.
"Hold onto their carriage; I doubt they can run away."
"... Huh? How could this be allowed?"
Xiaoxiao wanted to continue arguing, but she was stopped by Yang Ming.
Yang Ming thought that they shouldn’t confront them directly anymore; they should wait and reconsider. These people were barbarians; reasoning wouldn’t work, so he said, "The carriage can be detained, but the things on the carriage are necessary for us. We must keep them; they’re things to take care of the child, including the little goat, which is for my son to drink milk."
The Village Chief looked at Yang Ming’s family of three, then nodded towards the villagers, finally securing the items, but the carriage was taken away.
The farce finally dispersed, and the villagers left, but their eyes remained fixed on Xiaoxiao and her companions; escaping would probably be difficult.
Suddenly, Xiaoxiao thought of those women sold into the mountains, who could never escape all their lives. They were now in a similar condition.