Upon hearing the voice, the blue stone slab slowly moved away, revealing the tunnel inside. The person who followed looked up at Chen Jie and grinned, saying: "Jiu Si, it really is you!"
Chen Jie looked at him and realized the fellow was actually the grandson of the old Chen family, the granduncle.
Chen Jie looked at him and asked, "Why are you hiding here? Where are the villagers?"
Hearing this, the person replied, "Jiu Si, recently there have been bandits stirring up trouble. Uncle Wu Zhong had us dig a tunnel that connects to Dahei Mountain on the other side. We usually stand guard here, and if enemies come, we all hide in Dahei Mountain, and the enemies wonāt be able to find us."
Chen Jie, upon hearing this, said, "Hey, you guys are quite resourceful. What about Uncle Zhong?"
Hearing this, the young man immediately said, "Jiu Si, come in, Iāll take you to find Uncle Zhong."
Roar~
"Oh my goodness!"
The young man originally intended to invite them to walk through the tunnel, but just then, out of curiosity, the White Tiger peeked into the hole, scaring the young man so much that he fell down.
"Little White."
Chen Jie shouted, and the White Tiger pulled back its head, still curious about whether there were any hairless monkeys living underground.
At this moment, Chen Jie shouted downward, "Hey, you, the little one from the granduncleās family, come up."
Hearing this, the person immediately poked his head out and said, "Jiu Si, a tiger, thereās a big tiger."
Chen Jie said, "Itās fine, it wonāt bite."
That person, hearing this, tentatively stuck his head out, but his movements were in a fleeing posture, realizing the situation wasnāt great, he turned tail and ran.
This time, he peeked out again and said, "Oh dear, Jiu Si, youāre really something, raising a tiger for fun, itās terrifying!"
Chen Jie said, "Itās fine, it wonāt bite. Could you please find Uncle Zhong for me? I have something to discuss with him."
Upon hearing this, the young man replied, "Okay, Jiu Si, Iāll go right away, just wait a moment."
Saying this, the young man dove headfirst into the tunnel and said, "By the way, Jiu Si, my name is Xiao Song, Chen Xiaosong..."
The young man quickly ran into the tunnel to deliver the message.
Seeing this, Chen Jie couldnāt help but smile. The granduncle was such a calculating person, yet he had a quite interesting grandson.
Chen Jie thought about it, waiting for a little while. Soon after, Uncle Zhong brought back about ten people, including Uncle Erba, from the village entrance, holding weapons in their hands.
"Jiu Si!"
Wu Zhong exclaimed with excitement upon seeing Chen Jie, and Chen Jie said, "Uncle Zhong, I didnāt expect weād meet again in less than a month, hahaha..."
Wu Zhong said, "Yes, and look whoās here, Jiu Si."
Wu Zhong stepped back, and Uncle Erba limped over: "Jiu Si!"
Seeing Uncle Erba, Chen Jie also felt a surge of emotion, going forward to give him a hug, noticing that the old man was in much better shape than before, both stronger and healthier.
Itās been a year since he last saw him, ever since he went to Mianshui County, Chen Jie hadnāt seen Uncle Erba.
Recalling the days when he couldnāt afford to eat, Chen Jie felt a lot of emotion. At that time, if it wasnāt for Uncle Erbaās family support and help, it would have been much tougher for him.
While speaking of this, Chen Jie also noticed Chen Sanliu among the people following Wu Zhong.
At this moment, Chen Sanliu hid among the crowd, not daring to face Chen Jie. He had done many wrong things back then and had made things difficult for Chen Jie. Now that Chen Jie had become successful, would he not take revenge?
In fact, if it were the old Chen Jie, he probably would have targeted Chen Sanliu. However, Chen Jieās status is different now, his position is different, naturally, so are his attitude and magnanimity.
Thus, he didnāt make things difficult for Chen Sanliu.
Instead, he smiled and said, "Uncle Sanliu, you seem to have lost quite a bit of weight recently, havenāt you?"
Chen Sanliu blushed and said, "Haha... Just a bunch of lousy bones, good days donāt add flesh..."
His attitude was quite humble. Chen Jie said, "Make sure to get enough rest, things will get better in the future."
As they were speaking, White Tiger, who was lying in the house, suddenly came out to make its presence felt.
The group of hairless monkeys outside conversing piqued its curiosity. When it poked its head out, Chen Sanliu immediately saw it.
"Ah, tiger, tiger..."
Frightened, he let out a cry and was about to run away. The others were also startled, all nervously eyeing the White Tiger.
At this time, Chen Jie said, "Everyone, donāt be afraid, this is my pet, it doesnāt bite. Sit!"
Chen Jie shouted to the White Tiger, and upon hearing this, it immediately sat down. However, its imposing presence still deterred the villagers from getting close, even Wu Zhong felt a bit fearful.
Feeling impressed, Wu Zhong thought, Jiu Si is indeed impressive. Itās only been a short time, and heās already raising tigers, truly remarkable.
With such thoughts in mind, Chen Jie saw that everyone was very afraid of Little White, so he patted it and told it to go play elsewhere.
Little White was very astute, knowing these hairless monkeys were quite timid, so it left.
Watching the big tiger leave, Uncle Erba patted his chest and said, "Oh my, it scared me to death, just now my heart was pounding."
Chen Jie laughed and said, "Uncle Erba, donāt worry, this tiger is very intelligent, itās fine."
Hearing this, Uncle Erba replied, "Still quite terrifying."
Chen Jie laughed without responding, then turned to Wu Zhong and asked, "Uncle Zhong, why have the villagers taken refuge in the mountain?"
Upon hearing this, Wu Zhong replied, "Sigh, itās all because of those rebels causing trouble. Our lives were going well, then these guys pretended to be government officials to collect taxes, and they came on strong. I went into the town to seek help from the Fishing Guild and found that Zhou Chu was also overwhelmed, and we couldnāt defeat them alone."
"So I came back and rallied the nearby villages and towns, getting everyone to flee to the mountain, so those fake government soldiers couldnāt find us."
Upon hearing Wu Zhongās words, Chen Jie also chuckled.