After He Laoqi finished reporting the case, the three of them walked out of the courtyard and called Li Dong over to publicly announce that the position of village guard captain would be handed over to him.
Li Dong was overjoyed upon hearing the appointment.
After all, being the captain wasn't just about having a little extra money, but it also earned respect from the villagers. It was a position that brought both fame and profit.
As Li Dong accepted the congratulations from the others, Zhao Chunqiang, the village head, smiled and said, "Li Dong, you better do a good job. Don't embarrass Xiaobei brother."
His words were both subtle and direct—essentially, you owe your position to Chen Xiaobei.
Li Dong, of course, understood perfectly. He looked at Chen Xiaobei with a grateful expression and then patted his chest, saying, "Xiaobei brother, no, Xiaobei village head, please don't worry. I will not disgrace the mission, I will not disgrace the mission."
The news that Chen Xiaobei had become the village head quickly spread throughout the village.
As night fell, the area in front of his house became the busiest spot in He Tou Village.
Many villagers brought something to express their goodwill—some brought a few eggs, some brought some vegetables, and others brought grain. However, Chen Xiaobei refused all the gifts. He turned down everything, no matter whose it was.
As the saying goes, "Take a man's gift, eat his food, and you can't refuse him later." If he accepted these gifts, it would be difficult to carry out his work in the future.
Once the crowd dispersed, Chen Xiaowen shyly approached Chen Xiaobei.
With a red face, Chen Xiaowen handed him a bundle of wild vegetables. Perhaps feeling a little embarrassed, he lowered his head and whispered, "Xiaobei brother, congratulations... my family... we really don't have anything to give..."
Chen Xiaobei smiled and patted his shoulder. "It's alright, as long as you work well in the rear village team, everything else doesn't matter."
After sending Chen Xiaowen off, Chen Xiaobei reassured Cui Hongyu and Chen Qiao'er for a moment before heading out the gate toward the large locust tree.
Now that he was the village head and no longer the captain of the village guard, he would have fewer night shifts, but tonight he had to visit the team of former comrades-in-arms.
Li Dong, who had just become the new village guard captain, was very excited. He was sitting under the large locust tree, bragging to the crowd. Dozens of people gathered around him, listening intently.
When they saw Chen Xiaobei coming, everyone immediately stood up and greeted him.
But then Chen Xiaobei noticed that many of the people surrounding them were not members of the village guard team.
Li Dong pointed to these people and smiled at Chen Xiaobei. "Xiaobei brother, they want to join the village guard team. What do you think…"
As soon as Li Dong spoke, the people immediately chimed in, "Yes, yes, Xiaobei village head, please accept us. We don't need pay."
Chen Xiaobei smiled. The expansion of the village guard team was up to the captain, and it had nothing to do with him as the village head. But clearly, these people wanted to join the village guard because of him.
He suddenly remembered the conversation he had with Liu Rumei, the one about helping Liu Rumei scout Qingniu Mountain.
"Li Lidong, with so many people, just looking after the village isn't enough. I think we should send some people to set up a checkpoint at the foot of Qingniu Mountain."
When they heard this, Li Dong and the villagers were all confused. They couldn't understand the purpose of setting up a checkpoint at the foot of Qingniu Mountain.
"Xiaobei village head, the mountain is so big, how can we watch over it?"
Chen Xiaobei smiled slightly. "As long as we keep an eye on the road leading into the mountain at the entrance to our village, that's enough."
"This is something that Zhao Xiangzheng and He Butou specially instructed," Chen Xiaobei explained. He knew that trying to explain it in a few words wouldn't work, so it was easier to say it was an arrangement from above.
Sure enough, when he said that, no one raised any more objections.
Li Dong was efficient in his work. The next morning, at the foot of Qingniu Mountain outside the village, a piece of land was leveled, and people started to build straw huts.
Sanqiu even specifically made a wooden sign with the three characters "Qingniu Mountain" written on it, which had a somewhat ethereal look to it.
After greeting everyone, Chen Xiaobei headed into the mountain.
From the foot of the mountain to the Mountain God Temple, Chen Xiaobei was already very familiar with the path.
At each section, he would stop to observe the surroundings and make a mental note.
This way, if he noticed any major changes in the scenery in the future, he would know that someone had passed through, and he would need to be careful.
Sun Jian and the others had been waiting at the Mountain God Temple. When they saw Chen Xiaobei arrive, they pretended to greet him enthusiastically.
Sun Jian came forward and warmly handed him a large piece of roasted lamb leg. "Here, Xiaobei brother, eat something first, then we can head out."
Chen Xiaobei took the lamb leg, and Sun Gui handed him a jug of wine.
When things seem too unusual, there must be something off. Facing their excessive enthusiasm, Chen Xiaobei chose to refuse. He didn't take the jug of wine. "I don't drink, just the lamb is fine."
While eating the lamb, the group continued their journey up the mountain with ease.
Chen Xiaobei noticed that these people had an excellent memory, especially Sun Gui, who was leading the way. When they reached several intersections, he was able to accurately take the correct path without hesitation. This made Chen Xiaobei suspicious that they might have walked this path more than once.
They returned to the intersection where Chen Xiaobei had purposely chosen the wrong path last time.
After a bit of feigned thinking, Chen Xiaobei finally chose the correct route.
They continued forward, and Chen Xiaobei still employed his mixed strategy of right and wrong—some paths were correct on the first try, while others required a detour or two. By the time it was nearly noon, they had only managed to pass through three or four intersections.
As they continued, the mountain path became much flatter, and small patches of terraced fields appeared on either side.
Of course, the fields were overrun with weeds.
Some of the terraced fields had weeds swaying even before they got close.
Suddenly, Sun Jian made a quick movement, and a short knife shot out. Immediately, a wild rabbit leapt three feet into the air, rolling and struggling on the ground before it quickly stopped moving.
It made sense; the area was remote and overgrown with weeds—probably a perfect haven for wild rabbits.
At that moment, Sun Gui suddenly pointed into the distance and shouted loudly, "Look, it seems like a wolf!"
Following his direction, sure enough, about three or four miles away, perched on a protruding rock, was a gray wild wolf.
Perhaps it sensed they had noticed it, as the wolf suddenly lifted its head and let out a long howl into the air.
The phrase "a wolf's howl" is often used to describe a terrible sound, and honestly, this wolf's howl was truly unpleasant.
Hearing the howl, Chen Xiaobei felt his legs shake. Sun Jian and the others were all skilled fighters, but he was defenseless.
What if the wolf came charging at them, and they all ran away? What would he do then?
There wasn't even a single tree around.
Clearly, Sun Jian and the others were also wary of the wolf's appearance. They quickly ran toward a small stone mound with higher ground, which gave them a better vantage point.
What puzzled them was that the wolf howled once, then slowly turned and ran off into the distance.
They waited for a while, but the surroundings remained eerily quiet, with no other sounds.