Unfortunately, Chen Xiaobei's happiness was short-lived.
He was groggily sleeping when he heard movement at the door.
Opening his eyes, he saw Chen Xiaowen, a member of the village guard, standing there looking somewhat flustered, unsure whether to enter or leave.
Seeing him awake, Chen Xiaowen smiled and said, "Brother Xiaobei, you're awake."
"Xiaowen, is something the matter? Come in and tell me."
"Brother Xiaobei, Steward Liu from the county town just came. He said he was looking for Yang Zhi, so I let him come into the village. He also told me to let you know that he has called for Yang Zhi and will come to find you again."
Hearing that Liu Ce had come, Chen Xiaobei was very excited. The three tigers were almost recovered and could be exchanged for silver.
With this thought, he lost all desire to sleep. He quickly got dressed and followed Chen Xiaowen out of the courtyard.
Arriving under the large locust tree, Chen Xiaobei specifically looked at the three tigers again.
The three tigers were usually docile, only getting up to roam or lying down to sleep. However, they did not allow anyone to approach. If anyone got close, they would arch their bodies and let out low growls. This was true even for Chen Xiaobei. When he was still more than ten feet away from the tigers, they all opened their eyes warily and stood up.
Seeing this scene, Chen Xiaobei actually felt delighted, as it proved the three tigers had recovered.
He seemed to see a thousand taels of silver waving at him.
After waiting under the large locust tree for a short while, Liu Ce and Yang Zhi arrived. Yang Zhi still had that brilliant smile on his face, while Liu Ce appeared to be troubled.
This was rather strange. What was wrong with Liu Ce?
Upon reaching the large locust tree, Liu Ce merely nodded at Chen Xiaobei.
Seeing his serious expression, Chen Xiaobei did not immediately bring up the matter of the tigers.
As expected, Yang Zhi spoke first, "Brother Xiaobei, I have good news."
"Sun Jian's subordinates have all been captured. They will be sent over tonight for us to guard."
"What?" Chen Xiaobei was instantly stunned.
"Sent here to be guarded?"
He looked at Liu Ce with a puzzled gaze.
Liu Ce nodded slightly, "Brother Xiaobei, I know this is very sudden and might be difficult for you, but there is no other way."
As he spoke, Liu Ce took out a silver note from his sleeve.
"Take these three thousand taels of silver for now. I will send more to you later."
Chen Xiaobei, however, repeatedly waved his hands and shook his head. "Brother Liu, this is not about silver. I have no place to house them here. Where can I keep them? There are no extra houses."
Yang Zhi beside him chuckled, "Ah, what kind of house should we give such people? Just find a cave in the mountains and keep them there."
Liu Ce finally showed a hint of a smile. "Yes, finding a cave would be fine. Anyway, these people will eventually be executed, so they'll just be living a few more days."
If that was the case, Chen Xiaobei was no longer worried. There were indeed a few caves on Qingniu Mountain, which he knew of.
After finishing this matter, Liu Ce's expression remained serious.
"Brother Xiaobei, could you help find a few vacant houses in the village? We are willing to buy them."
There were vacant houses. There were two readily available.
One was Chen Yutian's house. Chen Yutian's entire family had been sent to the frontier. Before leaving, he had sent word through Big Black that the house was to be given to him.
The second was Chen Ping's house.
Chen Ping's house was already mostly empty.
Therefore, his house could also be made available.
But these could not be sold. If they were sold and someone came looking for them later, it would be difficult to handle.
With this thought, Chen Xiaobei slowly said, "Steward Liu, villagers cherish their homes dearly. It's unrealistic to buy them from here, but if you are staying for a short period, I can help you rent two."
Liu Ce was very agreeable. "Alright, renting is fine. By the way, can it be cleaned up a bit? After all, my young lady will be staying here."
Who?
Chen Xiaobei was completely stunned. "You said who?"
"My young lady, Liu Rumei. She will be temporarily staying in Hetou Village. Oh, and we have dozens of people with us, so we'll crowd in with Fourth Acre and Brother Yang Zhi for now."
What did this mean? Why was Liu Rumei coming to Hetou Village?
Seeing Chen Xiaobei's confusion, Liu Ce quickly said again, "By the way, please don't tell anyone about my young lady coming to Qingniu Mountain."
From this, Chen Xiaobei could roughly guess that Liu Rumei must have encountered an extremely difficult situation and had no choice but to hide in Qingniu Mountain.
"Okay, Steward Liu, I've noted it. By the way, what about these three tigers? They've almost recovered."
Looking at the three tigers, Liu Ce inwardly lamented. He had personally promised Chen Xiaobei that he would nurse the tigers back to health and send them to Qingniu County for a thousand taels of silver.
But now, he could not fulfill that promise. After all, he was homeless. Even if he had the money, where would he put the tigers?
However, Liu Ce was a clever person with many ideas. His mind raced, and he came up with a plan.
He took another silver note from his sleeve.
"Speaking of which, I almost forgot about it. We agreed on a thousand taels of silver. Here you go."
Liu Ce handed the silver note to Chen Xiaobei and then said, "Please keep raising these tigers for me for a few more days. I will come to pick them up once I have made arrangements back there."
This cleverly solved two problems: first, not buying the tigers, which would have made him break his promise; second, temporarily keeping them here could cover up the awkwardness of having no place to put them.
Chen Xiaobei, of course, was unaware of these calculations. So, he took the silver note and readily agreed to Liu Ce's request. "Alright, I'll raise them for you for a few more days."
After Liu Ce left, Chen Xiaobei began to get busy. Since Lidong was not at home, he had to arrange many things himself.
The first matter was to arrange where Liu Rumei would stay. After much thought, he decided to have Liu Rumei stay in Chen Ping's house.
After all, Chen Anbang had been the village head, and his house was relatively better and more spacious.
Furthermore, there was a donkey shed in his house, which was previously used to keep the village donkeys. If Liu Rumei wanted to keep horses, it could accommodate two or three horses with some squeezing.
He instructed Chen Xiaowen to have people pry open Chen Ping's door and tidy it up a bit. This solved the first problem. The second problem was naturally to find a cave to keep Sun Jian's subordinates.
He already had a place in mind.
Taking a few village guards with him, Chen Xiaobei entered the woods to the west of the village.
As he entered the woods, Chen Xiaobei saw puffs of smoke in the distance and suddenly slapped his forehead.
"Oh, I was supposed to be burning lime. How many days has it been? I've completely forgotten about this."
Seeing Chen Xiaobei arrive, the village guards who were adding firewood stood up and waved at him.
"Village head Xiaobei, don't worry, the fire won't go out."
Chen Xiaobei felt very touched that the village guards could carry out his requests without fail.