Chapter 137: Lu Family Fort

"Although you participated in this matter and count as accomplices, fortunately, you were able to wake up in time. Otherwise, I would not have given you the chance to kneel here and beg for mercy."

Hearing this, those hundred-plus people instantly felt the giant boulder in their hearts fall to the ground; it was as if they had grasped a straw in their despair, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"However..." Lu Yu's tone shifted.

These two words instantly pulled their hearts, which had just settled, back up to their throats; everyone was incredibly nervous.

"Death can be avoided, but living punishment is hard to escape."

Lu Yu's gaze was like a searchlight, sweeping across their faces one by one, and he said sternly, "Of the rice previously distributed to you, everyone keep ten catties; hand over the rest to me."

Once these words were spoken, the faces of those hundred-plus people instantly turned deathly pale.

"What, you aren't willing?"

Lu Yu noticed their hesitation, and his voice turned abruptly cold, "Do you think that just by admitting a mistake, you can avoid paying any price?

If you don't want to hand it over, that's fine too. I don't want to be too ruthless; you can take that grain, leave this place, and go live somewhere else."

"I, I am willing to hand it over!" A thin man was the first to raise his hand.

When he felt Lu Yu's gaze land on him, he hurriedly lowered his head and whispered, "It is indeed true that we did wrong in this matter, and accepting punishment is only right."

"I am willing too."

"I am also willing to hand it over."

Soon, everyone raised their hands one after another.

One had to know, having finally been allocated a few dozen catties of rice, to have only ten catties left in the blink of an eye—no one would be willing to part with it.

But compared to the dozen or so cold corpses on the ground, being able to keep their lives was already a stroke of great luck.

"Brother Chen,"

At this moment, someone gathered their courage and asked cautiously, "After we, after we return all the grain we were allocated, will today's matter, will it, will it just be considered settled?"

The others also held their breath nervously, their hearts in their throats, waiting with full concentration for Lu Yu's answer.

"That's right."

Lu Yu nodded, his expression softening slightly, "Punishment is not my goal; I just want you to learn a lesson so you don't make this kind of mistake again in the future.

As long as you honestly do as I say, I guarantee I will not pursue today's matter any further.

Moreover, if you perform well later on, this grain collected will be returned to you in the future."

Hearing this, the crowd was moved to tears, and they knelt on the ground again, kowtowing incessantly to express their gratitude.

Seeing this scene, the people around them also secretly breathed a sigh of relief; they had just been worried that these people would also meet a tragic end.

"Alright, get up, all of you. I hope you can keep your word and not pull any tricks; otherwise, you know the consequences yourselves," Lu Yu reminded them again.

"We won't, Brother Chen, we absolutely will not hide anything."

"That's right, even if we were given the courage of the heavens, we wouldn't dare do such a thing again."

"Brother Chen, thank you for your magnanimity in sparing us this once; there will definitely not be a next time."

Those hundred-plus people stood up tremblingly, their eyes filled with deep reverence for Lu Yu.

"Now that I've finished talking about your punishments, it's time to talk about the rewards."

"!"

Hearing this, Zhang Cheng and the others behind Lu Yu felt their bodies jolt, and a flash of excitement appeared in their eyes simultaneously.

Two or three of them were secretly rejoicing in their hearts that they had resisted the temptation back then and had not followed Yang Jiawang to cause trouble.

Otherwise, let alone rewards, they would likely have lost their lives.

The hundreds of people around also cast envious gazes toward Yuan Chen and the others.

Everyone was guessing what kind of generous rewards they would receive. It should be quite astonishing, right?

After all, in the situation just now where the enemy was many and they were few, it would have been very difficult for anyone else to have the courage to stand up and block them.

By comparison, although Yuan Chen's expression seemed calm, his slightly rapid breathing betrayed his inner agitation.

"You four," Lu Yu looked at the others besides Yuan Chen and Zhang Cheng, "each of you is rewarded with one hundred catties of rice."

Hearing this news, those people's mouths instantly hung wide open, and after they realized what had happened, they hurriedly bowed and thanked him repeatedly: "Thank you, Brother Chen! Thank you, Brother Chen!"

One had to know that when Li Meng was still in control here, having a few catties of rice was enough to find a woman and live life together.

Now that they could suddenly obtain one hundred catties of rice, they instantly felt they had become the wealthiest group of people in Li Family Fort.

"Zhang Cheng, you also contributed quite a bit to these hundred-plus people being persuaded to retreat, so you can take two hundred catties of rice."

"Thank you, Brother Yu! Thank you, Brother Yu!" Zhang Cheng's tears of excitement welled up and spilled over.

He had only been hot-headed at the time and said that one sentence; he never expected that because of that one sentence, he would be able to get an extra one hundred catties of rice. This was truly an unexpected joy.

The previous four people felt some regret in their hearts upon hearing Zhang Cheng's reward.

If they had known it would be like this, they should have said a few more words back then; no, if they had known it would be like this, they should have rushed to the front and performed more actively!

Because it went without saying that among the six of them, Yuan Chen would definitely receive the most rewards.

Just at this moment, the gazes of everyone present fell involuntarily upon Yuan Chen, as if time had frozen at this very instant.

"Yuan Chen."

Lu Yu fixed his gaze on Yuan Chen and said slowly, "Your performance this time far exceeded my expectations, and I am very satisfied.

Especially at the final moment, knowing you might lose your life, you still stood in front of everyone without hesitation, so you can receive five hundred catties of grain."

"Five hundred catties!"

"Five hundred catties!"

In an instant, a burst of shocked discussion erupted in the crowd, the sound as loud as a thunderclap.

The four who had received one hundred catties of grain couldn't help but swallow hard, their eyes filled with envy.

Zhang Cheng looked at Yuan Chen, his eyes full of admiration.

To tell the truth, he had been so scared at the time that he almost couldn't even hold his weapon, and his legs had been trembling incessantly.

If Yang Jiawang and the others had taken a few more steps forward, he likely would have truly dropped his weapon and fled in a panic.

But as for Yuan Chen, he was like an unshakeable iron tower, never having retreated a single step from beginning to end. He was truly deserving of this five hundred catties of grain.

"Brother Chen."

Yuan Chen did not know if it was out of excitement or fear at this moment; he licked his lips and stammered, "This, this is all something I should have done."

"You rescued everyone from the tyrannical rule of Li Meng and even distributed grain to everyone; it is my honor to be able to guard the basement for you."

"There is really no need to give me extra grain, and besides, five hundred catties, this, this is truly too much."

Lu Yu shook his head gently and said in a firm tone, "One thing is one thing; the matter of the reward is settled, no need to decline further."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Chen opened his mouth, but in the end, he did not insist further.

For one, he could see that Lu Yu acted decisively; once a decision was made, it was very difficult to change.

For another, five hundred catties of rice—it would be a lie to say he wasn't tempted; to him, this was simply a huge fortune.

The tone of the crowd on the scene was full of envy.

"Five hundred catties of rice, if one person eats it, how long would that take to finish?"

"Even if you count it as eating one catty of rice a day, you could eat for nearly two years, right?"

"Two years!"

"Don't forget, this rice can be taken over to Zhou Family Fort to trade for money; 500 catties of rice could be traded for 500 yuan. What couldn't you buy with that?"

"Yeah, if we had been able to step forward like them at the time, would we have been able to get a hundred or two hundred catties too?" someone said with a face full of regret.

"Easier said than done; if it happened again, you probably still wouldn't have the guts to stand out."

Lu Yu looked at the crowd around him and raised his voice, saying, "It is not just Yuan Chen and the others who have rewards; you, who did not follow along to cause trouble just now, also have rewards."

"!!!"

The entire scene instantly quieted down, silent as the grave.

Everyone widened their eyes, simply unable to believe their ears.

They, they could actually receive rewards too?

"There are still many daily necessities in the basement; line up, and everyone can take one item."

As soon as Lu Yu's voice fell, thunderous cheers instantly erupted on the scene.

Many people were so excited they wept with joy, feeling incredibly fortunate that they had made the right decision earlier.

Looking at those hundred-plus people who had caused trouble, their eyes held both envy and embarrassment, but more than that, deep regret.

They thought to themselves, if only they had known how to be content at the time, if only they could have restrained the greed in their hearts, if only they had realized their mistake and pulled back from the brink when they followed along.

Would they not only avoid having to return most of the grain now, but also be able to receive an extra daily necessity?

What a pity, there are not that many "ifs" in this world.

Several hundred people consciously formed a line to collect supplies in turn, with bright smiles blooming on everyone's faces.

"I didn't expect that besides Yuan Chen and the others, we could also have rewards."

"Yeah, actually, didn't we just do what we were supposed to? To think there would still be a reward, it's like a pie falling from the sky."

"What pie from the sky? This is because Brother Chen is a good person, kind-hearted and generous. If you replaced him with Li Meng, you'd be thanking the heavens if he didn't rob our things, let alone distribute things to us."

"Yeah, we must remember Brother Chen's kindness; don't be like those people, ungrateful and still wanting to bite back."

"That's right, that's right."

Being looked at with disdain by the crowd, those hundred-plus people all felt ashamed.

"Let's go back too, keep ten catties, and turn in the rest of the grain in full," someone suggested.

"Hmm, Brother Chen said in front of so many people that he would let bygones be bygones; based on his character, he shouldn't be lying to us."

"Right, this matter was indeed our fault; being looked down upon by others is deserved, there's nothing to complain about."

After speaking, they each turned and left.

Not long after, they returned carrying the grain.

Zhang Cheng led people to check them one by one; after all, the amount of grain each person received at the time was about the same, so it was easy to check.

Fortunately, no one played any clever tricks or pulled any stunts.

Everyone who finished collecting their supplies expressed their gratitude to Lu Yu one after another.

"Brother Chen, you truly are the great savior of our Li Family Fort!" An old grandfather's wrinkled face was streaked with tears.

Lu Yu smiled at him and then said loudly, "From today on, this place will no longer be called Li Family Fort; from now on, it shall be called Lu Family Fort!"

The crowd was stunned for a moment, then immediately cheered excitedly, echoing the sentiment one after another.

Yes, the three words "Li Family Fort" had already become history along with the downfall of Li Meng.