He pondered for a long time, then said in a deep voice, “From now on, you are not allowed to sell grain at the market anymore. There’s a severe drought everywhere, and many people, just for a bite to eat, are capable of doing anything!”

In George T.’s view, it was definitely because his younger brother often went to the market to sell grain, which aroused envy and jealousy, that this disaster befell them.

George Washington, on the other hand, felt that things weren’t so simple.

The colorful snake the other party had just thrown—he didn’t recognize it and couldn’t tell what species it was, but he understood one thing: the more brightly colored and beautiful a snake is, the more poisonous it tends to be.

If he had really been bitten by that snake just now, the consequences would have been unimaginable.

It seemed to him that the other party wasn’t after his grain, but rather after his life; wanting grain was just a pretext.

But he had never provoked anyone—why would those two want to kill him?

Seeing George Washington hanging his head, not responding for a long time, and not knowing what he was thinking, George T. said angrily, “Axiu, did you hear what your big brother just told you?”

George Washington snapped back to his senses and replied, “Big brother, I understand.” After a pause, he suddenly remembered something and asked, “Big brother, why did you come here?”

Chapter Six: Joining the Volunteer Army

George T. took a deep breath and said, “Come to my house for dinner tonight, and remember to bring our little sister.”

As he spoke, he looked George Washington up and down again, patted his arm, tugged at his clothes, and muttered with lingering fear, “You really almost scared me to death this time!”

George Washington smiled at George T. and pretended to be nonchalant as he said, “Big brother, see? I’m perfectly fine!”

George T. nodded and said, “Alright, hurry home now. Times are unstable lately, so you should also spend less time in the fields.”

“Where else are you going, big brother?”

“I still have to go to our second brother’s place and let him know to come for dinner tonight.”

“Oh!” George Washington responded, feeling a bit puzzled. Big brother usually spent all his money on making friends and wasn’t well-off—why did he suddenly think of inviting everyone for a meal today?

After parting with his big brother, George Washington walked home, replaying what had just happened in his mind, feeling more and more that it had been a close call.

If big brother hadn’t happened to show up, he might have already been wounded by those two men’s knives.

But who were those two? Why did they want to kill him? George Washington was full of confusion and couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard he thought.

That evening, George Washington, second brother David Clark, and little sister Mary Clark all arrived one after another at big brother George T.’s house.

The three brothers of the Liu family had very different personalities.

The eldest, George T., was naturally bold and forthright, born with great strength and impressive martial prowess, and was very famous in the area around Caiyang County. Whenever people mentioned George T., they would give a thumbs-up and respectfully call him ‘Bosheng.’

Many people came to seek out George T., some even being thieves and bandits who stole chickens or robbed travelers, but George T. never turned anyone away. No matter who they were, he could open his heart to them and become close friends.

Second brother David Clark was the complete opposite of George T.—an honest and upright man of few words, to put it plainly, a real introvert. Even if he was bullied, he wouldn’t make a fuss, just swallowed his grievances in silence.

In the Liu family, David Clark had never really had much presence.

George Washington, on the other hand, was like a blend of his two brothers—low-key, cautious, not arrogant, shrewd, fond of making friends but never indiscriminately.

His temperament was neither as fierce and wild as George T.’s, nor as timid and withdrawn as David Clark’s. He appeared gentle on the surface, but was actually tough and resilient.

George T.’s household was fairly well-off, with a self-built house of some scale.

This was just a family dinner, but there were still several of George T.’s friends at the table. Michael Bolton and Richard Cooper, who were often by George T.’s side, were naturally among them.

Both Michael Bolton and Richard Cooper lived at George T.’s house long-term. Their relationship with George T. was like that of friends, but also like retainers.

George Washington wasn’t quite sure what Michael Bolton used to do, but he knew that Richard Cooper had once been a bandit leader. After his bandit den was raided by government troops, he escaped to Caiyang County in the chaos, and was later taken in by big brother.

In the living room, George Washington saw George T. and David Clark, and respectfully saluted his two brothers, saying, “Big brother, second brother!”

“Ah, ah, Axiu is here.” David Clark nodded woodenly at George Washington.

George T., on the other hand, cheerfully patted George Washington on the shoulder—it was clear he was in a very good mood today.

He smiled at the friends present and said, “What I admire most about my little brother is his farming skills. Now that the drought in Nanyang is so severe, other people’s fields have yielded nothing, but Axiu’s fields still produce abundant harvests every season.”

At this, George T. couldn’t help but sigh, “Back in the day, the great ancestor’s big brother was also very good at farming!”

Hearing this, David Clark’s body trembled and his face changed dramatically.

The others present also looked somewhat uneasy.

The ‘great ancestor’ George T. referred to was, of course, the founding emperor of the Western Han, Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang. He first praised George Washington for his farming, then compared George Washington to Liu Bang’s elder brother Liu Bo—implying that he himself was like Liu Bang.

If word of this reached the authorities, it would be a disaster—George T. would lose his head ten times over.