We're Hanging off a Cliff!

Zhou Chong had long regarded her words as divine decrees and dared not disobey them in the slightest.

Old Madam Zhou had previously calculated that a locust plague would strike the area within a month, followed by a severe drought.

Zhou Chong immediately made the decision, ordering his men to go down the mountain separately and move grain from the surrounding counties and towns to Eagle's Beak Stronghold, filling the granaries to the Manman.

This time, Zhou Fuyu approached him, and he immediately sent dozens of his men along. It really wasn't a big deal.

They were just a few ordinary people; in their eyes, the matter could be resolved in the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

They waited and waited, but no one came. Zhou Wanwan lit incense, and Zhou Qingyan, Zhou Qinghe, and Zhou Qingchen all pinched their noses.

Soon, all of these people fell to the ground with a series of thuds. Zhou Wanwan walked closer and saw that the side of the mountain was piled with hundreds of stones of various sizes, stacked very high.

With just a gentle push, it would roll down the mountainside. If a carriage were to pass by here, it would be smashed to pieces, and the people inside would likely not even be left with a complete corpse, but would only be turned into a pile of minced meat.

Zhou Wanwan stared at the pile of stones, a cold, mocking smile playing on her lips.

"That bastard Zhou Fuyu is getting bolder and bolder!"

They've been causing trouble time and time again, but this time they've gone so far as to try and wipe us all out. They deserve to die!

She turned to the bandits from Eagle's Beak Stronghold behind her and said, "Strip them of all their clothes and see how much we've reaped this time."

Liu Xiuyuan has already led the people of Liu Family Village into action.

Who would have thought that these honest, unassuming farmers, who used to be too shy to speak loudly to strangers, would now exude such a bandit-like air about them?

Zhou Fuyu had the most valuable items on him: more than ten pieces of loose silver and a ten-tael silver note.

The most eye-catching item was the jade pendant, which was actually imperial green jadeite, with a smooth and translucent appearance throughout, far superior to the jade pendant Zhou Wanwan.

That piece of mutton-fat jade pendant from last time is no longer of much use; all its spiritual energy has been absorbed.

Zhou Wanwan grasped the imperial green jadeite and felt a powerful force drilling into her body.

She sat down directly on the ground and quickly felt extremely comfortable.

After a while, she opened her eyes and saw Liu Xiuyuan holding a box, saying, "A total of 165 taels of silver, and several pieces of jewelry."

Zhou Wanwan raised an eyebrow and said, "This trip was quite profitable. Alright, it's getting dark, let's head back soon!"

When Zhou Fuyu woke up, he was trembling with fear. "Mom! Where are we? Where are my clothes?! Where did my clothes go?"

The bandits opened their eyes one by one, startled:

"Oh no... we're hanging off a cliff!"

Don't move! If you move again, we'll fall! Who did this? Waaaaah...

When Zhou Wanwan left, she had them tied up one by one with hemp rope and hung from the trees nearby. Now they are naked and disheveled in the wind.

Zhou Fuyu, who is afraid of heights, was so scared that he wet himself. "Waaah... I want to go home, you guys climb up quickly! Who did this? It must be someone from Liu Family Village, nothing good ever happens when I run into Liu Family Village."

The bandit leader spat angrily and said:

"Bah! I had several dozen taels of silver on me, and now it's all gone. That was my savings of several years!"

I planned to use it to get married, but now it's all gone.

The other bandits nodded in agreement.

"That's right! This trip was a complete disaster, a loss of both wife and army."

"Weren't you saying it was just a few ordinary people? How did it turn out like this?"

Zhou Fuyu had no words to express his distress. He sighed and said, "You guys go up first, I'm scared, my legs are weak..."

When Zhou Wanwan and her group returned home, they saw that Liu Su'e had cooked two dishes: soybean and pig's trotter soup, and stir-fried cabbage with shredded pork.

She served Zhou Wanwan a bowl of porridge and said:

"I never imagined that our family would be unable to eat wild vegetables now, and there aren't many cabbages left in the field, just this little bit."

The villagers couldn't bear to eat it themselves, so they brought it all to us."

The result of the locust plague is that nothing grows; perhaps some wild vegetables will remain, but not many.

This was the first time Zhou Wanwan had witnessed the devastation of a locust plague. The mountains were now mostly barren, with many wild grasses that humans couldn't eat, which the locusts didn't like and thus remained.

After finishing her dinner, Zhou Wanwan went to find the village craftsmen and began researching gunpowder.

Having immersed herself in the medicinal properties of plants for many years in her previous life, she could tell you perfectly well which herbs could be used as medicine and which medicinal materials needed to be combined, even with her eyes closed.

But the proportions of gunpowder were completely beyond my understanding—like trying to blow a fire with a rolling pin.

Since she could only experiment slowly, she ground sulfur and saltpeter into powder, added charcoal in the correct proportions, and twisted a cotton thread to use as a fuse.

She pulled her brothers and uncles back a dozen steps until their backs hit the corner of the hospital wall before stopping, her hands trembling as she lit the fuse.

"Sizzle--" Sparks shot up rapidly along the cotton thread as the group stared intently at the ceramic bowl.

"Bang!"

A sharp bang rang out, making your ears ring, just like a small firecracker!

Lingbao was so frightened that she hid in Zhou Wanwan's arms, muttering, "Wow... so powerful?"

Zhou Wanwan, standing nearby, was also stunned for a moment before she reacted. Her face lit up with wild joy, and she rushed to the ceramic bowl, squatting down to examine the remaining powder at the bottom. Her eyes shone with an alarming gleam. "It's done! It really is done!"

Liu Dalang kept muttering, "My goodness, this thing is louder than a firecracker!"

Zhou Qingyan looked at Zhou Wanwan and said, "Little sister, what... what is this thing? It's amazing!"

Zhou Wanwan looked at them and said:

"This is our village's secret weapon. You are not allowed to tell any of you from now on."

However, this thing still needs further experimentation; we need to find a place.

Zhou Wanwan went directly to a place near the neighboring village. The roadside there was covered with weeds, but most of them had already been eaten by locusts.

Looking at the wild grass that hadn't been eaten by locusts, Zhou Wanwan asked, "Do you know where the Songhua stone vein is?"

Many wild vegetables couldn't speak; they just stared blankly at Zhou Wanwan.

A talking foxtail grass exclaimed, "Ah! A monster... a monster! It can actually understand our language!"

Zhou Wanwan simply pulled it out; it was too noisy.

Zhou Wanwan held the jade pendant and, sure enough, heard the voices of the trees nearby:

"These people are incredibly stupid; the Songhua stone vein must be the route they frequent."

All I need to do is go with them tonight; these people only appear at night.

They just happened to take this route.

"You bet! This route is really hard to find. Even if you follow them, they're extremely wary, so it's impossible to find them."