Chapter 18 Borrowing Food
The knives in the six people's hands were all hatchets, which might be of some use against other people, but were far from enough to deal with Zhou Chen.

"You guys have followed me all the way, do you have any advice for me?"
"We guys would like to borrow some money from you, brother."

"If you wanted the money, just tell me earlier. Why were you sneaking around with me? I thought you wanted something."

When several people heard what Zhou Chen said, they laughed and said, "Then just take it out yourself."

"I want to take it out too, but I don't have it."

Everyone suddenly felt that they had been fooled by this boy, and one of them stepped forward and waved a hatchet in front of Zhou Chen.

Since Zhou Chen was a big customer of the blacksmith shop, the boss gave him a box for knives before he left. Amber was in the box at that time, and no one knew that Zhou Chen also had a knife with him.

"Boy, I advise you to be honest, otherwise I will destroy you." Hearing this, Zhou Chen smiled without saying a word and suddenly rushed in front of him. Before he could react, Zhou Chen grabbed the blade and then twisted it hard, and the heavy hatchet broke in the middle instantly.

Seeing the hatchet broken into two pieces in his hand, he was so scared that he wet his pants on the spot. The other few people were so scared that they left him and ran away.

"Sir, please spare me. I was only thinking of taking advantage of you because I was so hungry." Zhou Chen smiled and took out twenty cents from him and said, "Get out of here and don't let me see you again."

They took the money, said thank you and quickly left Zhou Chen's sight. They were also ordinary people who would do such a thing because they were desperately hungry. Zhou Chen naturally would not make things difficult for them.

After solving the problem, Zhou Chen picked up the rice again and continued on his way. When he returned to the village, it was still early and many villagers saw Zhou Chen carrying rice.

At a time when people could only have a bowl of porridge a day, Zhou Chen was able to carry back such a big bag of rice. Naturally, he attracted a lot of envious looks. If people didn't know Zhou Chen was so powerful, they would have rushed up to grab it.

Soon Zhou Chen returned home. As soon as he walked into the yard, he heard voices coming from inside, and it was a man's voice.

Before he entered the house, Leng Yiyao came out and said, "Brother Chen, you're back." At the same time, a man a few years younger than Leng Yiyao also came out.

"Brother Chen, you're back."

Zhou Chen didn't know this man. Seeing Zhou Chen's puzzled look, Leng Yiyao quickly explained, "Brother Chen, this is my distant cousin Leng Feng who came to see me today."

"Oh, cousin, come in quickly." After Zhou Chen entered the house and put the rice in the kitchen, he asked Leng Yiyao to cook. Leng Feng looked at the rice that Zhou Chen had just put in the kitchen and couldn't help swallowing.

This action also caught Zhou Chen's attention, "Yiyao, cook more rice and more meat. My cousin has come here with great difficulty, and we can't let him go hungry." Leng Yiyao sternly said and continued to work.

Soon the food was out of the pot. Looking at the two bowls of rice and the large bowl of bear meat in front of him, Leng Feng's saliva began to flow. However, seeing that Zhou Chen and Leng Yiyao had not started eating yet, he naturally felt embarrassed to pick up his chopsticks first.

Seeing that Leng Feng hadn't picked up his chopsticks yet, Zhou Chen immediately urged him, "Eat quickly, what are you standing there for?" Then he started to eat himself.

Leng Feng hadn't eaten such a sumptuous meal for a long time. In the past, perhaps he only had rice and meat during the Chinese New Year. Seeing him wolfing down the food, Leng Yiyao couldn't help but said, "Eat slowly and don't choke. No one will snatch the food from you."

With Leng Feng around, Zhou Chen didn't feel comfortable eating like a wolf. Instead, he ate slowly and chewed his food carefully. Leng Yiyao was used to Zhou Chen eating like a wolf, so she suddenly found it weird that Zhou Chen ate like this. She couldn't help but burst out laughing.

Leng Feng thought she was making fun of him, so he quickly stopped what he was doing. Zhou Chen saw this and said, “Your cousin is making fun of me, it has nothing to do with you, just eat quickly.”

After eating and drinking, Leng Yiyao went to clean up the dishes, while Zhou Chen and Leng Feng sat by the stove and warmed themselves, "Xiaofeng, come often when you have nothing to do in the future." "Okay, I know, Brother Chen," and then the two chatted casually. Not long after, the dishes were washed, and Leng Yiyao called Zhou Chen aside.

"What's wrong with Yiyao? Why can't you say it to her face? Why do you have to do it behind your cousin's back?"

"Brother Chen's cousin's village was attacked by bandits, and now there is no food at home. He came here to borrow food from me. After all, he is my cousin, so I thought."

“Since he is our cousin, let’s give him a hand if we can.” Then Leng Yiyao found a bag and went to the cellar to fill it with brown rice.

Leng Feng was delighted when he saw Leng Yiyao's actions, but Zhou Chen stepped forward to stop him and said, "I bought a lot of rice today. You go and pack some rice for your cousin, and I'll get the meat from the cellar."

Afterwards, Zhou Chen went to the cellar, which was in Leng Yiyao's room. Leng Feng couldn't see it at all as he was sitting outside.

There were three piles of meat neatly arranged in the cellar, weighing a total of nearly 1,400 kilograms. Zhou Chen picked a good piece and cut 20 kilograms directly.

While waiting for Zhou Chen to come up, Leng Yiyao had already packed the rice, which looked to be about twenty kilograms. Leng Feng also showed a smile that was difficult to conceal on his face.

Seeing what Zhou Chen had in his hand, he refused and said, "Brother Chen, I'm already very grateful that you can lend me food, but I can't take this meat."

"What's wrong with taking it? Let your cousin pack Yiyao's bag." Zhou Chen originally planned to send Leng Feng back, but Leng Feng said that his home was not far from the next village, so Zhou Chen gave up the idea.

Seeing Leng Feng going out with large and small bags on his back, the villagers passing by the door showed envy in their eyes, but it was just envy. The weather was cold and Leng Feng walked quickly towards home with the food on his back, muttering to himself, "With these foods, we won't have to go hungry this winter."

When he returned to the village, Leng Feng was stopped by several village thugs, "Hey, isn't this Leng Feng? What are you carrying on your back? Let us see it."

Leng Feng was not willing to let them see it. If they saw it, it would be disastrous. However, he was not a warrior, so how could he be a match for so many people? The bag behind him was snatched away by someone. Leng Feng wanted to get it back, but was kicked hard to the ground.

No one paid any attention to Leng Feng lying on the ground. Instead, they opened his bag and found rice and bear meat inside.

"Hey Leng Feng, you've made a fortune, where did you get all this food?"

Leng Feng climbed up from the ground in pain and said, "You bastards, give the food back to me."

There was another round of punching and kicking. After they had enough, they took the food and left. Liu Lengfeng lay alone in the snow, sobbing quietly.

"Brother Chen didn't expect you to be so generous today that you were willing to lend the newly bought food to Xiaofeng."

Zhou Chen asked back, "After all, he is your cousin, so of course I will help him if I can."

"By the way, Brother Chen, since my cousin's village has been attacked by bandits, do you think our village will also be targeted by bandits?"
Zhou Chen smiled and said, "With me here, we have nothing to fear even if the bandits really come." Then he thought for a while and said, "It's safer to hide the food." Then he got up and put the food in the cellar, leaving only two or three pounds of food outside.

Just as Leng Yiyao said, a group of people appeared outside the village soon after it got dark. "Damn, that village was so poor yesterday. The entire village could only gather about 300 kilograms of food, which is not enough for the brothers to eat for a month."

A younger brother came over and said, "Brother, I heard that this village is pretty good. The villagers gathered together to eat meat some time ago. They should have a lot of food stored in the village."

(End of this chapter)