After you sever ties, it's no use crying and regretting it.

Chapter 11 Exclusion

Outside Ningshui Village in Penghui County, at the foot of Lianyun Mountain, the area has been affected by drought. Many trees on the mountain are drooping, having lost many leaves, and many branches have withered. The weeds on the ground have also suffered the same fate.

The disaster is spreading and worsening, and Penghui County has been severely affected.

Once their food and drinking water supplies are completely exhausted, they will have to start fleeing the famine.

The famine problem is becoming increasingly severe. Even the food available on Lianyun Mountain is becoming increasingly scarce and difficult to find, making life increasingly difficult for the villagers of Ningshui Village.

At this time, the villagers of Ningshui Village had no harvest because the fields had cracked due to drought and they could not grow crops. Last year's grain had been almost used up, and the disaster relief grain had not yet arrived. They had to find other ways to fill their stomachs.

At the foot of Lianyun Mountain, one can still find some grass roots, tree bark, and other things that can fill their stomachs. The villagers have no choice but to eat these things to fill their stomachs and hope to survive until the relief food is distributed.

Many villagers in Ningshui Village are struggling to make ends meet and have no choice but to seek a living in this way.

Among the crowd, a woman who was so thin she looked unrecognizable, and whose clothes were dirty and tattered, was with three thin and emaciated children. In a corner at the foot of Lianyun Mountain, she was diligently shoveling wild grass and picking the roots that still had some moisture so that she could take them back to cook and eat, barely enough to fill her stomach.

The area where they lived was quite far from the rest of the village, and they had little to no communication with them, clearly indicating that they were being ostracized by the other villagers.

In this area, the weeds had all withered completely, and the roots had been almost entirely pulled up by others, leaving very little. It was difficult for them to find anything edible to eat.

However, under the pressure of survival, the woman and her three children did not dwell on such issues and continued to try to find food to eat.

Only when they occasionally remember something will their eyes show a pained look, but they are quickly driven by hunger and have to give up thinking and continue searching.

The four people searched diligently for edible food, but to no avail. The tattered basket contained only a few withered grass roots, not even enough to fill the bottom.

This situation made the mother and her three children even more anxious, but there was nothing they could do but continue searching in this area without venturing to other regions.

This is the land allocated to them by the villagers. They cannot search elsewhere, otherwise it will cause greater conflict, and they may not even be able to keep this little bit of grass.

The famine struck fiercely, and the situation in Ningshui Village was particularly severe. They had almost no way to survive, and the people had become numb.

Even if the disaster relief food arrives, their family may not receive much, or even a single grain of old rice.

This near-desperate situation left the mother and her three children starving and their faces growing numb.

The harm they suffered was far too much, much of it fabricated and baseless accusations, yet they were not allowed any defense. The decision had already been made, and their family's sins were sealed.

In particular, their daughter, whom they had previously raised with such care, turned out to be the daughter of another wealthy family. She had already been taken back by the Yuan family, and their family was being gossiped about and branded with the stigma of child abduction.

They were completely unaware of the situation, yet they were smeared with such filth that it was impossible to wash it off.

The daughter who was taken back, now Yuan Yutong, was clearly the most pampered in their family before, and didn't have to do any work. Yet, before leaving, she still had a cold face and accused them of mistreating her!

The eldest son's family, who had always been at odds with them, seized the opportunity to launch an attack, joining forces with others to slander their family and confirm their accusations.

This has ruined their reputation in Ningshui Village, and no one dares to associate with them anymore.

Besides worrying about the impact on their family's reputation, others also knew that their family had offended the Yuan family and was being ostracized by the village chief and clan leader, so they were sure they would never recover. They were all worried that they would be implicated by their family and targeted as well.

They still need the protection of their clan and village, and they really dare not go against the village.

Even though they knew that Lü Daquan and Xie Shulan's family had been framed, they dared not speak up to testify for Lü Daquan's family, nor dared to stand against the village.

The past few days have made the situation of Lü Daquan and Xie Shulan's family even worse. In the eyes of others, this family has been ruined and is beyond recovery.

With this understanding, and with Wu Guizhi and others from the eldest branch of the family leading the bullying, life became even more difficult for Lü Daquan and Xie Shulan. Seeing that this family had no hope of getting ahead, others also joined in the exclusion and bullying, taking pleasure in bullying this family during these miserable and difficult days.

Of course, by bullying Lü Daquan and Xie Shulan's family, they could also gain some benefits, which helped them continue to survive. They even went so far as to play the role of bully, enjoying it immensely, as a stepping stone to get some food.

These people are not innocent. Especially after being maliciously misled by certain individuals, the rumors about Lü Daquan's family have become increasingly outrageous.

Faced with this vicious cycle, Lu Daquan and his group's explanations will only lead to more serious doubts and more frantic framing.

Those people originally benefited from bullying and framing the Lü Daquan family, receiving food and other things. They had become reckless and no longer considered any questions of conscience. They simply accepted that the Lü Daquan family deserved to be punished for their evil deed of switching the child, so that they could bully them without feeling uneasy.

Even if they feel uneasy, they will quickly erase it.

The worsening famine and the increasing scarcity of food and drinking water have made their survival even more challenging.

In such circumstances, they could become perpetrators for a simple cornbread or a little clean drinking water.

Over time, they became numb to framing and bullying Lu Daquan's family, and felt that doing so was normal.