Soon Jiang Zhi and Xu Errui climbed up the steep slope again and returned home.
Little Man didn't expect the two of them to come back so quickly. The road was difficult now, and even if they were empty-handed, it would take at least more than an hour to go back to the mountain from the village.
In addition, he also discovered a problem: "Er Ruiniang, why do you look so bad?"
Next to her, Qiaoyun, who was grinding green ginkgo for a family, also saw that her mother-in-law and husband had pale faces: "Mom, are you cold?"
The clothes Jiang Zhi wore from yesterday to now have become a hard shell after getting wet with water and then dried by wildfires. They were soaked in mud and ashes.
When Jiang Zhi saw everyone gathered around, she said to Xiao Manye: "We didn't enter the village. Just when we arrived at Zhao Li's house down below, all his family members disappeared. Zhao Li's father and daughter-in-law were dead...they were killed by someone! The fire was also those who People let it go."
She didn't dare to go into more details, it was too scary.
robbing? Robbing people and selling them as slaves? Or was he killed and thrown into the fire?
There is no way of knowing the outcome, and no one cares about where those people have gone.
Silence, deathly silence, everyone's face was as pale as earth.
For these farmers who have been dealing with soil all their lives, murder and arson are almost out of reach in life.
Xu Errui's teeth were chattering, and despite his mother's orders, he did not dare to tell the story of the bandits who almost went up the mountain at this time.
But there are some things that even if he doesn't say, some people will think of it. Xiao Manye trembled his lips: "That road... needs to be blocked more firmly!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Xiaoman and Xu Errui immediately agreed: "Okay, let's go now."
Before Jiang Zhi said anything, the frightened Xiao Mannai said he wanted to leave.
Now the fire on the mountain is not extinguished, and there are murderous bandits. Those who stay are either burned to death or killed.
Xiao Manye and Jiang Zhi had the same opinion: Don’t leave!
Xiao Manye is based on experience, Jiang Zhi is based on inference.
What is the cause of the fire on the mountain?
It's because there is chaos at the foot of the mountain.
The villages were burned down, either by refugees or by insurgents.
Now we only know that Zhao Li's two families were killed, and Xu Youcai's group of people live in the village. We don't know what the situation is now. It's probably more bad than good.
Moreover, Jiang Zhi suspected that there were people living on the mountain and that the murder of Zhao Li's family was revealed by the villagers themselves.
If he were to go down the mountain to escape now, he and his family might not survive more than three days based on their ability to survive.
As the old saying goes, the most dangerous places are the safest.
Now that there is a mountain fire burning, no one would think that there are still people alive on it.
As soon as Jiang Zhi said this, everyone looked better, and even Xiao Mannai didn't mention leaving.
Mr. Xiaoman bit into the bamboo cigarette stick that had long been out of tobacco and said: "Er Rui Niang, our group of people can survive the fire because you gave us this life. From now on, whether we should leave or stay, it's all up to you!"
Although he and Jiang Zhi were from the same village, and they rarely interacted with each other, they only knew that Jiang was not a gentle woman.
Now that I think about it, Er Rui's father is not in good health, and a woman is running the house and outside the house. It is normal for the children to be beaten and scolded when they are impatient and impatient.
Moreover, the root cause of Errui's father's illness was caused by Xiaotian's mother and son, and anger was inevitable.
When Xiaotian left this time, I heard from Errui that the child had brought everything he should have brought, and Jiang didn't withhold anything, which showed that some of the rumors were not credible.
From this period of time, it can be seen that Jiang is decisive, organized and reliable in everything he does.
In troubled times, the most fearful thing is that a group of people will be without a leader, and they will talk about things here and there and not be united.
Master Xiao Man looked at his family, which was old, weak, sick and disabled, and then at Xiao Man who was still unable to support himself. He knew that among this group of people, only the Jiang family could be the leader.
Today, he took the opportunity to say this.
Jiang Zhi was not too surprised by Xiao Manye's decision, and he felt the same way.
To survive, unity and no internal strife are the key, and she doesn't have to pretend to refuse in times of crisis.
But to say that one's life is surrendered is a bit too heavy. Jiang Zhi's consciousness has not yet reached the height of being responsible for the lives of others.
If you want to protect yourself, it's okay to help.
So, Jiang Zhi nodded: "Uncle Chang Geng, let's support each other from now on! I am short-sighted, and I need your help on some things!"
Since we want to continue to hide our whereabouts, according to Jiang Zhi's opinion, we should not move on the way down the mountain.
I hope no one will discover the traces I walked today.
Just waiting for the ash from the mountain fire to cover up, people misunderstood that there were no living people living on the mountain.
Mr. Xiaoman nodded repeatedly: "You're right, I, an old fool, just wanted to pile more dirt, and I almost made a mistake."
Now go and pile new soil immediately, that is to tell the bandits that someone above them is still active recently.
After he calmed down, Jiang Zhi handed his trampled chicken to Xiao Mannai and asked her to stew it all for everyone to have a good meal.
Eating a chicken for one meal was unthinkable before. Normally, people would marinate it and eat it for ten days and a half.
But now one surprise comes one after another, and after finishing this meal, I still don’t know if the next one will be there.
Xiao Mannai didn't feel bad about saving food. She only ate white batter for the last meal, and stewed chicken with dried vegetables for the next meal.
Although I promised not to cook or light fires during the day, there was smoke everywhere now, and I didn't worry about being discovered by people down the mountain.
The two families drank steadily, and even Xu Dazhu drank a large bowl of oily chicken soup.
Jiang Zhi gnawed on the chicken bones and sighed. The chickens that grew up drinking mountain springs and eating natural foods taste good and have delicious meat. From now on, he will raise chickens all over the mountain and eat chickens every day.
After dinner, she took her son and daughter-in-law back to her home. She ate, drank, and continued to live her life.
At this time, the old hens that had survived the disaster in the stone fence were flapping vigorously, reminding their owners of their existence.
Why! They have been starving for a whole day. They were not burned to death or trampled to death. Now they are starving to death.
Qiaoyun felt extremely distressed. She usually took care of these chickens and hurriedly opened their stone fence doors.
The chicken that was panicked yesterday had only forgotten those fearful memories after just one day. It flew into the nearby woods, drank a few mouthfuls of mountain spring water, and then began to rummage in the scorched earth with great interest. Eat.
Those charred green onions are their favorite. They peck through the hard shell with their sharp beaks and pick out the pulp inside. They will even sing a few clucking songs when they are happy with the meal.
Looking at these carefree chickens, Jiang Zhi suddenly laughed.
She was very calm in front of Mr. Xiao Man, but she knew in her heart that it was not easy to survive with such a group of people. It would be like hell.
All right!
Nowadays, even chickens know how to find food in the mountains and forests, so there is no reason why people can’t survive?
Jiang Zhi never thought that his confidence would be built on a group of chickens.
Now the grain bags at home can no longer be moved and need to be kept for planting.
If Qinggangzi is used as the staple food, poultry, eggs and meat must follow, otherwise the gastrointestinal tract will be uncomfortable.
Are these things found on mountains that have been burned by fire?
Suddenly, a chicken pawed wildly and pecked out a burned mountain rat from a crack in the stone.
The mountain rat turned around and tried to run away, but several chickens clucked excitedly and surrounded it. In the end, the mountain rat was pecked to death one by one.
Jiang Zhi watched with great interest and shouted loudly: "Er Rui, let's go pick up the meat!"
"What?"
Xu Errui was thinking of ways to repair the house. When his mother called him, he ran over with a gray face.
Next to her, Qiaoyun, who was peeling green kohlrabi shells again, also had a puzzled look on her face: What are you talking about?
