Ultimately, the elders failed to arrange the marriage.
The widow refused the young man's money.
She stayed in the Zhang family with her daughter, doing chores like cooking and washing clothes.
Women in those days were very conservative. Without a man, they rarely left their families to find work in other places.
The next few months passed peacefully.
Nothing significant happened in the Zhang family.
This tranquil period continued until the end of the year.
On December 20, 1962.
A member of the Zhang family, responsible for guarding the foothills, rushed up the mountain, shattering their peaceful life.
“It's a catastrophe! A fully armed force is marching towards our Zhang family! Everyone, flee for your lives!”
“How many are there?” asked the Zhang family elder.
“I didn't count them all, but there must be over a thousand, even tanks and cannons…” the Zhang family member, known as a "Nose," said with a face full of terror.
Those who specialized in gathering information were called "Noses" by the Zhang family and were stationed in key locations for intelligence gathering.
Now, the Zhang family was scattered, and few Noses remained, as even their basic living needs weren't met!
“It seems they haven't given up on destroying our Zhang family! They are preparing to wipe us out!” the elder lamented.
“Old Three, what's the point of talking about this now? Don't sit there waiting for death, quickly arrange for everyone to escape into the underground passages!” another elder said.
There were many secret passages beneath the Zhang family's ancient residence. Of course, only the elders and the upper echelons of the family knew about them.
The younger generation, or those of lower status, were completely unaware.
The situation was urgent, they had no time to hesitate. They packed a few belongings, some food and water, and hid in the secret passages.
The young man and a handful of remaining young adults were responsible for protecting everyone's safety, reinforcing the mechanisms and traps guarding the passages.
A few hours later, the mysterious force arrived at the mountain.
But they found only an empty city.
“Seems like the Zhang family has good intelligence, they knew we were coming and packed up and left!”
The leading man, a middle-aged man, said.
He wore two bars and three stars on his shoulder.
A bespectacled, refined-looking man next to him said, “They might not have left, perhaps they're hiding in the underground passages!”
“Don't worry about that! According to my information, there were internal struggles in the Zhang family this spring, and most of them left. Only a few old folks, women, and children remain!”
“Even if they're burrowing mice, I will drag them out and complete the mission!”
Saying that, the middle-aged man waved to the troops behind him, “Open the gate for me!”
As he spoke, a tank rolled out, adjusted its cannon, and fired a shell at the gate!
…
After more than an hour of effort, they finally cleared all the obstacles and entered the Zhang family's ancient residence.
Then, they launched a search that lasted for several days.
Unfortunately, they didn't find anything valuable.
Because the important things had already been hidden.
Finally, they set their sights on the Zhang family's ancestral hall.
But the hall was also empty. Aside from hundreds of memorial tablets, there wasn't a single soul!
“The cunning Zhang family!” the middle-aged man roared.
He kicked one of the memorial tablets with his foot.
“Crack…”
The tablet flew out from under his foot.
But a second later, a series of mechanisms could be heard activating from beneath the tablet.
“Not good, there's a trap!” the middle-aged man shouted.
As soon as he finished speaking, a barrage of arrows rained down from all directions, instantly killing over a dozen people!
Even the middle-aged man was hit in the thigh.
In a panic, the middle-aged man grabbed a dead man as a shield, and under the protection of his men, retreated from the ancestral hall.
When they emerged from the ancestral hall, they were in a state of disarray. Dozens of corpses lay inside the hall!
This lesson forced them to become cautious.
…
Zhang Yun Feng's side.
After 540 days, he finally completed the task bestowed upon him by the Heavenly Grant.
Because his soul was relatively strong, he did not experience amnesia or enter a state of mental derangement like previous generations of Zhang Qi Ling.
Solving the Heavenly Grant would ensure the Zhang family's safety for 30 years!
He then left the Zhang family's ancient building and headed towards the northeastern Zhang family.
In the final stages of the Heavenly Grant, his right eyelid twitched uncontrollably. There's a saying, “left eye twitching means wealth, right eye twitching means disaster.”
He had already anticipated a major change in the Zhang family!
That's why he rushed to the Zhang family immediately.
He changed horses several times along the way, and finally walked for several days before arriving at the foot of the snow mountain on January 3, 1963.
At the same time, the battle between the mysterious force and the Zhang family members reached its peak.
After walking for half a day, he reached the outer boundary of the Zhang family's ancestral residence.
What he saw was a sight that made his teeth grind in anger. The Zhang family's ancient residence was almost completely destroyed, with collapsed buildings and bomb craters everywhere!
“Indeed, human hearts are more terrifying than ghosts and spirits!”
Facing these beasts, Zhang Yun Feng showed no mercy.
He wielded his sword like a small golden man, bravely charging into the enemy camp.
No one could withstand him!
Bullets hitting him were like hitting a wall of bronze, immediately deflected. The ricocheting bullets even injured several people.
Such a terrifying sight struck terror into the hearts of those men, who looked like they had seen a ghost.
Attacking the leader, he charged into their ranks with a single dash, and captured the middle-aged man.
He severed his head in front of everyone!
With the middle-aged man dead, the men scattered like birds.
During their battle with the Zhang family, they had already lost hundreds of men, and their fighting spirit had dwindled.
Zhang Yun Feng's god-like appearance was the last straw that broke the camel's back, completely shattering their psychological defense!
In less than ten minutes, the men retreated from the Zhang family's ancient residence in disarray. The battle ended abruptly.
After repelling those men, Zhang Yun Feng went to the Zhang family's ancestral hall, found the mechanism, and opened the passage.
He reunited with the Zhang family members inside.
After more than ten days of fighting, the Zhang family members had run out of ammunition and food, and several elderly people had even starved to death!
The young man was also injured, his shoulder was shot.
Fortunately, a family member had treated his wound.
“They've all gone, come out!”
Zhang Yun Feng said to everyone.
Back on the surface, looking at the ruined Zhang family residence, many people began to cry.
Zhang Yun Feng had no time to comfort them, he took care of the family members' bodies himself, burying them on the back mountain.
He worked for half a month, until New Year's Eve.
In those fifteen days, they disposed of all the bodies and cleared out dozens of rooms from the ruins to live in.
At the New Year's Eve dinner, Zhang Yun Feng announced a major decision:
“My uncles, brothers, sisters. After this meal, you are all to descend the mountain. There is no need for the Zhang family to exist!”