Su Minghui saw a group of women rushing towards them. He was scared and took a few steps back. He turned and saw his wife just a few steps away. He quickly ran over and hid behind his wife, looking like a pitiful creature begging for protection!
Madam Wang was also momentarily stunned by the group of women and forgot about finding trouble with the two girls. Seeing Su Minghui running towards her, and the group of dust-covered women behind him! She quickly stepped forward and pulled Su Minghui behind her to protect him.
The other women from Houxi Village who were watching saw the bad turn of events and, with the speed of a hundred-meter dash, rushed to the front, standing in front of their own men like mother hens protecting their chicks.
They blocked the women's hungry gazes. The entire scene looked like a group of middle-aged people playing a game of "eagle catching chicks," with you dodging and me chasing, you chasing and me dodging!
For those who were slower, or the women of Houxi Village who had not come out to watch the excitement from the start, by the time they realized what was happening and rushed over, their men had already been entangled by two or three women.
At this moment, the fighting power of the women was evident. They even felt that the fatigue and discomfort they had experienced from the journey for days had all miraculously healed in an instant.
Rolling up their sleeves, they went at it! Tearing clothes, pulling hair, scratching faces, slapping, attacking the opponent's weakest points. They were ruthless and unflinching. Both sides fought fiercely, with constant screams.
"Stop, all of you, stop!" Su Minghui emerged from behind his wife after he felt his crisis had passed. He tidied his clothes and began to maintain order. He wondered if his actions of hiding behind his wife earlier would affect his image in the future!
The crying women, seeing a burly man step out to stop them, quickly tidied themselves up and stepped forward to talk to him. "Village Chief, you see, we are all women, young girls. Traveling alone is like sending ourselves to our deaths. Please be kind and take us with you! If anyone doesn't have a woman in their household... they would at least have someone to cook for them along the way, wouldn't they?" As the woman spoke, she put on a shy expression.
If she had been able to wash up and put on makeup, she might still have had some charm. However, now, after not bathing or washing her face for a long time, with her messy hair and body odor, she looked quite unappealing.
Madam Wang rolled her eyes. She pulled Su Minghui back again and fanned her nose with her hand, saying, "We don't lack people to wash clothes and cook. Who is willing to bring more mouths to feed at this time? Whoever is willing, go find them. Who are you trying to disgust with this act?"
The woman ignored Madam Wang and kept talking to Su Minghui. She knew the nature of men. She refused to believe that this man would not be willing to gain a woman for free.
"We all have food. We can bring our own provisions and join you, can we? We will just follow behind you. We will also help with the work, and we hope you can look after us mothers and daughters along the way." Another younger woman stepped forward and asked Madam Wang. Unlike the others, her eyes were not constantly wandering to the men who already had families. She tightly held the hand of the little girl in front of her, who was only a few years old, and looked at Madam Wang pleadingly.
Madam Wang's attitude towards her was much better. She was about to discuss it properly with Su Minghui.
Unexpectedly, some of the scroungers from Houxi Village, as well as some men whose wives had died, hearing that they could get women for free, came over in twos and threes. Some scroungers even brought their elderly mothers to help them choose.
They walked over to the group of women and appraised them from head to toe. Some of the scroungers even had lecherous smiles and reached out to touch the women. They opened their mouths full of yellow teeth and joked about testing their touch. Su Minghui sternly stopped them.
He couldn't stop them from marrying, but he wouldn't allow them to humiliate people like this. He had daughters himself. If one day his daughter... No, at least in the team under his charge, such a thing could not happen!
After being stopped by Su Minghui, they were not annoyed. It was known that most of these single men were from families who could not afford wives. Some were poor, some had bad reputations, or their elderly parents were too domineering. Others had married but their wives had been worn down to death or driven away.
But at this moment, they had become sought-after goods. Just like a noble family selecting servants, the mothers of these scroungers took on the airs of matriarchs from a large family, picking and choosing, pinching and looking at these women.
In the past, they could never have imagined that they would have a day to choose others!
There were also some respectable families whose wives had died on the road. They sincerely wanted to find a woman to manage the household. Even in times of famine, having a woman in the family made a difference. Moreover, some had elderly parents and children to care for.
In this scene, whether it was the women who were forced into this situation or the men who were laughing heartily, all their faces, in Su Muqing's eyes, were distorted. It made her feel very uncomfortable.
And so, inexplicably, it evolved from a women's brawl into a large-scale, one-sided selection event for refugees. Su Muqing watched, her mouth twitching! Her eyelids also twitched violently several times!
This, this is truly unpredictable! The entire development could be described as changing rapidly. She had neither guessed the beginning nor the end!
Seeing that there were still a few girls around her age standing there waiting to be chosen, just to survive, Su Muqing felt a sense of oppression and annoyance. She originally thought of walking away, out of sight, out of mind.
But then she saw Er Gouzi, a notorious scrounger from their village. He had a lecherous smile on his face and walked with a limp towards the little girl sitting on the ground.
He pulled the little girl up with both hands and then said to her with a smile, "Little sister, will you follow big brother from now on?"
A man in his late thirties or early forties called himself "big brother" to a thirteen-year-old girl. It was utterly shameless.
The little girl's eyes welled up with tears, but she dared not say anything in protest. She looked towards the woman and her three daughters who were there, desperately showcasing their advantages, for help.
The woman was her stepmother, Li Shi. The three daughters were brought by her stepmother. They had met this group of hooligans on the road only yesterday, and their father and brother had been killed by them.
Before, her stepmother had proposed many times along the way to exchange her for food and water, but her brother had always stopped her. Yesterday, for the sake of her own daughters, she had even tried to push her out to be bullied by those bad people.
But who knew that she suddenly got her period, and the man was a bit superstitious, thinking it was bad luck. He slapped her, and then threw her back. Only then did she escape death.
Finally, the stepmother's eldest daughter was dragged out by the hooligans and violated, and the stepmother herself was beaten up by those people.
Until this evening, they were driven to travel again. Those hooligans saw three ox carts traveling alone and wanted to rob them, but unfortunately, they were beaten into this state by someone else.
The little girl looked at her stepmother and the others, her eyes changing from intense hatred to final despair. She slowly closed her eyes, her face full of lifelessness. What could she do?
No! Perhaps she could still... die! That way, she could go find her parents and brother. It's just that she was too useless. Unable to avenge her father and brother!