The Hidden Immortal

Chapter 14 The Clever Crow

rainy night.

Thunder roared across the deep night sky.

Every now and then a thunderclap would sound, like a golden dragon soaring across the sky, illuminating the world with a bright light.

A dozen or so crows perched on a branch, tilting their heads and occasionally blinking.

I watched as two furtive figures approached from afar, soaked by the rain.

"Brother, can the two of us manage? We can't get much done in one night, can we?" The shorter figure shook the rainwater seeping down his raincoat.

The straw hat offered no protection from the rain, which streamed down my face.

The figure next to him, half a head taller, snorted, "Only when more than 80% of the land is cultivated does it count. Getting 20% ​​per acre is enough for him."

"That's true."

These two people are naturally Li Tianjian's two sons.

As early as when Chu Xun was about to reclaim thirty acres of wasteland, the two rascals had already made up their minds.

No matter what, we can't let Chu Xun finish it!

Why is he living better than our Li family? We even ate the food that our Li family gave us back then!

There's no other reason, I'm just unhappy to see you doing well.

Most importantly, Li Tianjian's wife had secretly told them about it.

If Chu Xun's land reclamation is unsuccessful, when the land surveying officials come to inspect, Li Shoutian will also be punished.

If they could remove him from his position as village chief, then no matter what, Li Tianjian would have to take over.

The two rascals, upon hearing this, could no longer contain themselves.

Taking advantage of the heavy rain in the dead of night, the day before the land surveying official was to inspect the fields, they came to deliberately cause trouble.

As they walked, they picked up stones and branches from the roadside and threw them into the fields.

Wherever he went, he would poke at people randomly with a branch.

They made a mess of the fields that had already been sown.

Although the rain was so heavy it felt like the sky had a hole in it, the two of them were having a great time.

A dozen or so crows in the tree tilted their heads and stared at the two for a long time, when one of them suddenly cawed.

The other dozen or so responded immediately, and then they all fluttered up and took flight.

In the rainy night, like a black lightning bolt, it pounced straight at the two bad boys.

The two were still immersed in the joy of destroying Chu Xun's land reclamation achievements and their father's impending appointment as village chief.

Suddenly, a crow swooped down on me and pecked at my head and body.

Crows would pick up stones and branches from the ground, swoop down from high above, and smash them down.

They are not large, but when they peck at people, it can be quite painful.

Adding to the impact of falling rocks and branches, before the two could even react, their straw hats were knocked off, hitting their heads with a series of loud thuds.

"You damned beast, get out of here!"

The two launched a flurry of counterattacks, but to no avail.

The crow cleverly dodged, and when the two lowered their hands to pick up the straw hat, it immediately launched an attack.

This happened repeatedly, leaving them in pain all over.

He had no time to cause trouble; he cursed and ran towards the village.

The crows chased after them relentlessly until the two hurriedly ran back into the house and closed the door, at which point they all landed on the eaves.

It cackled and looked down.

It seems that anyone who tries to go out will immediately be given another scolding.

Li Tianjian's wife came out of the inner room and saw that her two sons had wounds on their heads, bleeding continuously with the rainwater, and she immediately panicked.

"What happened? Did you fall?"

The eldest son, Li Sanjing, had one eye pecked shut, and his face was torn open by crow claws, with several wounds. A large chunk of his hair was also pulled out.

He cried out in pain, "I don't know where these crows came from, they're acting like they're going crazy, it hurts so much!"

The youngest son, Li Mangu, was in no better shape; his face was covered in blood, and the back of his hands were scratched raw. He was in so much pain that he was crying and snotting from his nose.

Li Tianjian's wife looked on with heartache and cursed, "My poor son! What kind of beast is this! It's all Chu Xun's fault!"

She never imagined that she was the one who encouraged her son to do bad things, which led to his injury.

He only thought that if it weren't for Chu Xun, this wouldn't have happened.

Li Tianjian also came out from the inner room and was stunned to see his two sons injured like this.

He knew perfectly well what his two sons were doing out in the middle of the night, but he kept quiet, taking it as tacit agreement.

Who would have thought that the task wouldn't be completed and he would be injured like this? It's a classic case of trying to steal a chicken but losing the rice instead.

Just then, a crackling sound came from the roof.

Before anyone came out, the crows brought stones from outside the courtyard and started throwing them down.

Thanks to the family fortune accumulated by his father, the Li family's house is one of the few brick and tile houses in the village.

When the stone hit the tile, it made a loud banging sound, and the tile was quickly smashed.

The rain dripped down the cracks.

Li Tianjian's wife was so angry that she picked up a broom, jumped up and waved it to chase the animals away, but to no avail.

The crows threw the object and ran away; they didn't even fall down.

She was so angry she felt like her lungs were going to explode!

"Damn beast!"

The rumbling thunder drowned out her curses.

Crows circled and hovered in mid-air, cawing incessantly.

The next day.

Chu Xun was woken up early in the morning by Zhang Anxiu. The land surveying official was coming to inspect the fields today, and she couldn't wait.

Chu Xun chuckled. Although the rain had stopped, it had rained so heavily last night that the surveying officials probably wouldn't arrive too early.

But Zhang Anxiu couldn't wait and insisted that he go to the fields to wait first.

What if the land surveyor arrives early?

Li Shoutian also arrived early in the morning. Today is very important, as it relates to whether the year's land reclamation will go smoothly.

If he does a good job, he will have an explanation to give to the county government.

If you don't do a good job, the men will blame you, and you'll be in deep trouble.

Upon entering the courtyard, Li Shoutian first congratulated Chu Xun with a cheerful smile, saying that he would soon receive thirty mu of farmland.

Then he started talking about strange things: "I don't know why, but a flock of crows came to my older brother's house and spent the whole night carrying stones and smashing the roof tiles to pieces."

"The couple and their two kids got soaked in the rain all night, and now they're cursing while busy fixing the roof."

Chu Xun's heart skipped a beat. The crows outside the village were familiar faces; they wouldn't attack people without reason.

The Li family must have done something to upset the crow.

What can they do?

Chu Xun's mind raced, and he thought of the thirty acres of land he had reclaimed.

The crows have been roosting around that thirty acres of land lately. Could it be that they saw something last night?

Thinking of this, Chu Xun waited until he finished breakfast, then took Zhang Sanchun and Zhang Anxiu, and went to the fields with Li Shoutian.

When Zhang Anxiu arrived, she was furious to see the field in such a mess.

"Who's so inconsiderate as to throw so many stones into the ground and mess around with it!"

Li Shoutian frowned as he watched, gritting his teeth and cursing, "What heartless beast would do such a thing? Aren't they afraid of being struck by lightning?!"

Whether the land reclamation went smoothly or not had a great impact on him.

If the officials really blame you, losing your position as village chief is secondary; if they find fault with your incompetence, that would be a serious matter.

Only Chu Xun understood why the crows had gone to smash Li Tianjian's house roof tiles all night.

If I'm not mistaken, it must be that their family came to cause trouble in the middle of the night and were discovered by the crows, right?

Perhaps in the eyes of Li Tianjian and his family, this was already a very difficult situation.

But what they don't realize is that they should actually be grateful.

If those two giant snakes also came, it wouldn't be as simple as just having tiles smashed; it might mean the elderly burying their children.