Landlord

"Xiao Jie, what's wrong?"

Seeing Liu Jie so nervous, Lu Chen couldn't help but ask.

Before Liu Jie could answer, he felt a shadow envelop him.

Before long, the entire car interior felt shrouded in shadow.

Lu Chen looked out the window and saw that the refugees had surrounded the car, and some even blocked the front of the car without fear of death.

"Xiao Jie, what happened?"

Looking at so many people, Lu Chen broke out in a cold sweat.

There are so many refugees, they could probably overturn the car.

"Brother Chen, you shouldn't have given money to the refugees. Not all of these refugees are good people."

"They were all people waiting to die, and you suddenly gave them hope, so they all flocked to you."

Because there were people ahead, Liu Jie dared not drive too fast, and the car could only move forward slowly.

After hearing what Liu Jie said, Lu Chen also agreed that they were all people who could only wait to die.

Now that they see a chance to survive, driven by their will to live, they have no choice but to seize this one and only opportunity.

Judging from the situation outside the window, I'd probably be dragged out if I opened it.

boom! !

Lu Chen drew his pistol from his waist, opened the car window, and fired in one swift motion.

"If you don't want to die, get the hell out of here!!"

A cold glint flashed in Lu Chen's eyes as he pointed his gun at the crowd surrounding him.

Pointing guns at them, the crowd retreated step by step out of fear.

"Xiao Jie, drive away."

Once the road ahead had completely cleared, Lu Chen then had Liu Jie start the car and leave this troublesome place.

Lu Chen breathed a sigh of relief only after the car started and completely left the crowd.

"This thing works really well."

He wiped the sweat from his forehead, glanced at the gun in his hand, and then, with lingering fear, tucked it into his waistband.

This had never happened before when Lu Chen gave money to refugees.

"Perhaps they just fled, because this unstable life will soon be over."

Lu Chen thought that this was probably the reason why he was able to escape safely.

It seems we shouldn't be too kind in the future; these seemingly harmless people are often the most dangerous.

"Brother Chen, these refugees have nothing. They'll do anything to survive. Let's avoid contact with them in the future."

Liu Jie glanced at the rearview mirror with lingering fear. If it weren't for the gun, he probably wouldn't have made it out today.

The two remained silent for the rest of the journey, and soon they reached a road through fields that stretched as far as the eye could see.

The rice paddies were golden, the rice ears drooped low, and there were a few houses in the distance, as well as figures in the fields.

Not far away, there were even several refugees holding ears of rice, with people chasing after them. Lu Chen guessed they were stolen from the field.

"Xiao Jie, go take a look at those houses over there."

"Okay, Brother Chen."

Ignoring the group of refugees, the two quickly drove up to a house.

The house was only one story high up and the windows were very small; it was clearly a house where ordinary people lived.

"Don't hit my dad! Don't hit my dad anymore!"

"Stop hitting me, sir! I promise to deliver the grain tomorrow, I promise I will deliver it tomorrow."

"Tomorrow again! How many days has this been going on? If it's not due by tomorrow, your daughter..."

There were several men and a girl in front of the house; the girl looked to be no more than 8 or 9 years old.

One of the men arrogantly directed the others to beat the man on the ground.

The man on the ground had a dark and rough face, with some purple skin, and his hair was stuck together in clumps, haphazardly tied together with a straw rope.

"Is that the landlord?"

Lu Chen looked at the leader, who was of medium build, had a goatee, and fair skin, and looked like he didn't work in the fields often.

"Yes, that tenant farmer must have failed to deliver enough grain and was beaten."

Liu Jie glanced at it a couple more times before answering Lu Chen.

Lu Chen nodded. He understood the situation; after all, anyone who was a little older knew about the landlords.

"It's wartime now, so it must be very difficult to deliver enough food, right?"

Lu Chen thought that it was wartime and the food supply was fluctuating greatly, so these landlords were eager to collect their grain.

Nobody knows what the price of grain will be tomorrow, so these landlords definitely want to sell as soon as possible.

"It's not just now. Even without war, it would be difficult to pay the full amount. If the harvest is bad, you'll pay less; if it's good, you'll pay more. In short, it will never be possible for you to pay the full amount."

Liu Jie helplessly spread his hands, succinctly revealing the plight of these tenant farmers.

Indeed, regardless of whether it is a prosperous or chaotic era, only the common people suffer.

Thinking this, Lu Chen opened the car door and got out, with Liu Jie following closely behind.

"Sir, we have too much grain to hand over this year, and the harvest from the fields is far from enough."

The man on the ground was a middle-aged man, and the others did not continue to beat him.

"Can't even pay this little bit of grain? I don't care. If you don't pay by tomorrow, your daughter can prepare to become my concubine, hmph."

The landlord snorted coldly, glanced at the little girl on the ground who was clinging to his leg, crying and begging for her father's mercy, and kicked her to the ground without any politeness.

"What era are we living in? How can such a thing still happen?"

At this moment, Lu Chen felt a surge of anger and roared, momentarily forgetting that he was in 1937.

"Brother, get up."

Liu Jie stepped forward to help the middle-aged man up, but the man glanced at him and made no move.

"Who are you people?"

When the landlord saw Lu Chen and Liu Jie, and then looked at the man on the ground, he suddenly realized what was going on.

"Oh, you're his relatives, right? I didn't know you had such wealthy relatives. That makes things easier. He can't pay his grain tax, so you can make up the difference."

The landlord looked at the man on the ground, then saw the car in the distance, and mistook the two men for the man's relatives.

After calming down, Lu Chen realized that it was too early to strike at the landlord.

"They're not relatives, but I just can't stand it and want to intervene."

Lu Chen looked at the landlord coldly and spoke. Liu Jie stood next to Lu Chen, looking extremely arrogant.

"No? Then why are you meddling? Beat him up!!"

Upon hearing Lu Chen's words, the landlord was absolutely furious.

He was already annoyed by the unstable grain prices and was venting his anger when these two shameless people appeared.

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing?"

Seeing the group of men surround him, Liu Jie immediately pulled out his pistol, pointed it at them, and wore a mocking smile.

goo-dong...

The men who had surrounded them saw the gun and retreated in fear, even the landlord swallowed hard in terror.

"Why are you retreating? You're blocking my way!"

"Brothers, brothers, let's talk this out. It's not that serious, it really isn't."

The landlord first reprimanded his subordinates before looking at Lu Chen and his companion with an expression as if he were turning the pages of a book.

Lu Chen glanced at the man and the child before turning to the landlord and speaking.

"How much grain does he have to pay?"

"He only rented one mu of land, and this year he has to pay 150 jin of rice."

The landlord held up five fingers.

"Nonsense! As far as I know, you only need to hand over 80 jin (40 catties). Besides, it's wartime now. You can only get 150 jin (75 catties) when the harvest is good, let alone now."

Before Lu Chen could speak, Liu Jie was the first to rebuke the landlord.

"Sigh, as you said, it's wartime now. Although grain prices are high, nobody knows what the price will be tomorrow. I want to make more money too. I can't just let him farm for free. Besides, he keeps putting it off, from today to tomorrow, from tomorrow to the day after. When will he ever get to the bottom of this?"

The landlord looked helpless. The price of land had plummeted due to the war, otherwise he wouldn't be leading people to collect grain every day.

"How many silver dollars does this acre of land cost?"

Listening to the two talking, Lu Chen decided to buy the land, as his plan was to grow rice there.

"One hundred and forty silver dollars."

When Lu Chen expressed his desire to buy, the landlord immediately spoke up. He had just uttered a price when Liu Jie glared at him, almost pointing a gun at his face, before he changed his mind.

The landlord now knew that the man in front of him knew the market price and wouldn't try to fool him.