After a long while, the Sun clan chief, his throat parched from cursing, kicked the dozen or so downcast men in the hall dozens of times before he finally slumped into his chair, exhausted and furious.

"Have you searched the surrounding mountains?"

A man mumbled, "The brothers searched all over the mountains. We only found some traces of mud, but we didn't find Liu Ming or that child."

"And what about Zhou Erlang? Did he return home?" the Sun clan chief asked slowly.

"He came back once in the early morning. Before the clansmen lying in ambush could react, he knocked them out. He only stayed for a short while before disappearing into the mountains again. Now we don't know where he's gone," someone reported truthfully, then looked at the Sun clan chief. "Should we capture the Zhou family to force him to show himself?"

The Sun clan chief glanced at the man, disappointed. "Do you think Zhou Erlang is stupid?"

"He's hiding precisely because he's worried we'll capture them. As long as he stays in the shadows, we can't touch his family."

"After all, since ancient times, there have been a thousand days of being a thief, but not a thousand days of guarding against one. Zhou Erlang, now hidden in the dark, is like a coiled venomous snake. If we so much as touch his family, he will strike back fiercely."

"And he is no ordinary man. Unless we stop farming and abandon our family businesses, how can we guard against him? Besides, there are still Zhou family members scattered outside. We absolutely cannot do anything stupid or foolish."

The Sun clan chief waved his hand. "Go down. Spread the word to the villagers that bandits entered the village last night-enemies of the Liu family, come to settle a blood feud."

As those men were about to leave, the Sun clan chief's voice came from behind them again.

"Also, recall all the clansmen who were watching the Zhou family. Since Zhou Erlang won't show himself, there's no need to completely break ties with the Zhou family."

"Have a few clansmen try out those incomplete cultivation manuals and see if they have any effect."

"Yes, clan chief." The men finally withdrew slowly.

The Sun clan chief sat in his chair, his face dark, muttering to himself.

"Is he dead? Or did he escape?"

He wasn't afraid of Zhou Ping. Zhou Ping's elusive movements made the Wang and Sun clans hesitate to act rashly, but wasn't Zhou Ping himself also constrained by his family, old and young?

What worried him was whether Liu Ming and that Liu family brat had escaped or been killed by Zhou Ping.

If they had escaped, that would be a great calamity.

Then, he got up to seek out the Wang clan chief. With such a major incident in the village, as the prominent families, and the Zhou family being the village head, they naturally had to come forward to calm things down.

As for framing Zhou Ping for the Liu family massacre and reporting it to the authorities, he didn't even consider it. Did he really think the government was incompetent? This matter was already riddled with doubts and couldn't withstand any scrutiny. It was better to let it settle quickly. Reporting it would just be asking for trouble.

After three to five years, it would naturally fade from everyone's memory.

Meanwhile, in the Zhou family mansion, Zhou Hong, though he hadn't slept all night, was full of energy and extremely excited. His younger brother had returned in the morning, completely unharmed and safe. How could he not be thrilled?

When Zhou Dashan heard the news, a trace of relief appeared on his aged, weary face, and he then fell asleep peacefully. In the backyard, Chen Nianqiu and Madam Huang were also crying tears of joy, nearly affecting their pregnancies. The maids, unaware of what had happened the previous night, and not even knowing about the Liu family massacre, only thought the master's family was celebrating some happy event.

But how could they know that they themselves had narrowly escaped death the night before?

"Zhou Shi," Zhou Hong called out loudly. A servant emerged from the side room-not particularly sturdy, but very strong and fit.

"What are your orders, eldest young master?"

"Come with me for a walk through the village."

"Yes, sir."

The night had been peaceful, and Zhou Hong had even seen a figure leaving from the corner of the wall, so he was in a good mood. He chatted with Zhou Shi as they walked.

"Zhou Shi, you and Zhou Hu have been with our family for five years now, haven't you?"

"Yes, eldest young master," the servant replied honestly. "It was the second young master himself who bought us from the human trafficker, giving us the good life we have now."

"You're grown up now. Do you have any plans?"

The servant immediately became panicked and knelt down, his voice choked with tears. "Eldest young master, have I done something wrong? I'll definitely change. Please don't drive me away, okay?"

Zhou Hong quickly helped him up, laughing. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm not driving you away. It's just that you're grown up now, and as your master, I should consider helping you settle down and start a family."

"You and Zhou Hu are both good children. We've seen everything you've done over the years. What do you think of Chunlan? Would you be willing to marry her?"

Upon hearing Zhou Hong's words, Zhou Shi's heart settled, but his face flushed red as he lowered his head.

Zhou Hong smiled and remained silent. He wasn't blind; he had long noticed that Zhou Hu and Zhou Shi had lost their hearts to Huixiang and Chunlan from the backyard. Naturally, he would go with the flow and play matchmaker.

"How about this: in a few days, I'll arrange your wedding and give you five mu of land as a foundation for your little family. What do you think?"

"Eldest young master..." Zhou Shi's eyes reddened. He had been a child from a poor family, sold to a human trafficker by his parents because they couldn't afford to feed him. He had endured all the hardships of the world until the Zhou family bought him, and only then did he feel the warmth of the world.

Now, the master's family was even willing to give him land and help him start a family. How could he not be moved?

"What's there to cry about, a grown man?" Zhou Hong laughed as he wiped away Zhou Shi's tears, then continued walking toward the village.

He wasn't doing this without reason. After everything that had happened, he knew that the family simply didn't have enough manpower. He planned to buy more servants.

As for Zhou Hu and Zhou Shi, whose backgrounds were well-known and who were utterly loyal to the Zhou family-even if they lacked some ability-Zhou Hong still intended to train one as a steward and the other as a manager, responsible for the family's internal and external affairs.

In this world, only genuine affection can win people's hearts. Even if Zhou Hong's actions were a means of winning loyalty, they were still sincere, backed by tangible benefits.

Moreover, their land belonged to the Zhou family, and their wives came from the Zhou family's backyard. Everything they had originated from the Zhou family, so naturally, they would be even more loyal.

Giving them the Zhou surname long ago was also so that their future children would bear the Zhou name. Even if there was no blood relation, they would still be members of the Zhou family.

This was a last resort, and there was even a risk of the servants becoming stronger than the master, but there was no other choice.

The Zhou family was different from the other families, which had many members and could rely on their own clansmen for everything. The Zhou family had no one to use, so they had to strengthen the family with servants. Using the wife's clan or the mother's clan was even more out of the question. After all, servants could still be controlled, but the wife's clan or mother's clan was a different story.

Before long, Zhou Hong arrived at the largest banyan tree in the village.

At this moment, it was packed with people, all clamoring and noisy, each one fearful and uneasy.

"What exactly happened to the Liu family?"

"When I passed by this morning, I almost threw up. The place was full of corpses, blood splattered everywhere, severed hands and feet-it was terrifying."

"Tell me about it. Old man Liu San, already in his seventies or eighties, died a miserable death. His head rolled into the yard, and his body had at least seven or eight sword cuts, with his intestines spilling all over the ground."

"Don't talk about it. Just hearing it scares me."

"You haven't been to the Liu family courtyard to see it. It's full of corpses. Some were chopped up so badly they didn't even look human anymore. You couldn't even piece them together."

A farmer asked in confusion, "Tell me, what kind of vicious enemy did the Liu family provoke, to be so cruel as to wipe out the entire household?"

The person beside him looked around, then lowered his voice and said, "Let me tell you, it wasn't any enemy. I heard the Liu family got their hands on an immortal treasure, so last night, the Wang, Sun, and Zhou families joined forces to massacre the Liu family."

"No way! How do you know?" the farmer exclaimed.

"Keep your damn voice down!" The man hurriedly pulled the farmer down, then said with some pride, "I hadn't gone to sleep at that time last night, so I heard it all clearly."

He spoke proudly, but didn't notice that someone nearby had heard his words and was giving him a few extra glances.

When the Wang and Sun clan chiefs, along with Zhou Hong, appeared, the entire crowd suddenly fell silent. Everyone looked at the three men in front with trepidation.

Among the crowd, some looked on with fear or resentment. They were more or less connected to the Liu family-some afraid of being implicated, others resentful because their relatives had died horribly. However, these people all hid their emotions deep in their hearts, not letting anyone detect them.

The Sun clan chief looked with satisfaction at the silent crowd below, feeling an unprecedented surge of pleasure in his heart.

Even if everyone knew that they were the ones who had wiped out the Liu family, who would dare to speak up? Who would say anything?

Then, the three families each gave a speech, blaming everything on the enemy bandits. Afterward, they divided up the Liu family's nearly two hundred mu of land cleanly. The Wang, Sun, and Zhou families each got thirty mu, while the remaining hundred-plus mu were distributed among the villagers.

Perhaps some had been fearful and indignant before, but when real land was placed in their hands, naturally, no one would go to the authorities for something that didn't concern them.

Because ordinary commoners didn't even have the means to report to the authorities. There was always a layer of landlords and prominent families between them and the government.

Although the Qingshui County yamen had heard about the Liu family tragedy, as long as taxes could be collected, as long as no one reported it and made it public, and as long as it didn't stir up public outrage, they would naturally turn a blind eye, and write it off as a case of enemy bandits.

After all, having no major incidents in the county was also a political achievement for them.

And so, everyone benefited. The Wang, Sun, and Zhou families gained the Liu family's wealth and status; the villagers of Baixi Village got land; and the county yamen got political achievements. Only the Liu family-all forty-nine members of the clan-died horribly, and their ancestral property was taken by others...

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