Li Ping'an slept deeply and for a long time. When he woke up, it was already bright.
He was a little confused after sleeping too much, but before he could recover, he heard a noise, with panic and anger in the voice. Li Ping'an sat up dullly and saw his younger brothers and sisters huddled together, their eyes full of uneasiness, and Xinglong among them was trembling all over.
"What happened? Where are my parents?" Li Ping'an's voice was hoarse. He had been saving water for the past two or three days. He drank less water and his throat was basically dry. He slept all night without any water, so it was a little difficult for him to speak.
The younger brothers and sisters were startled by Li Pingan's voice. Little Ruyi found that her eldest brother had woken up, opened his mouth, and immediately howled, crying and throwing himself on Li Pingan.
In the blink of an eye, the four little ones gathered around Li Pingan. Li Pingan cried to Xinglong Ruyi and asked Fugui what was going on.
With his eldest brother, Fugui seemed to have found a backbone and quickly calmed down, "Dad and mother went to grandpa's place. My eldest aunt, second aunt, third aunt, and Chen Yi's mother were robbed this morning when they went to pick wild vegetables. Yes, I got beaten."
Li Ping'an's heart sank, and he wanted to know more details, but Fugui only knew so much. His parents were not here, and his eldest brother was not awake yet. He wanted to watch his younger brothers and sisters, but he did not dare to go and ask.
"Big pot, will we also be robbed and beaten?" Xiao Ruyi's eyes were red from crying, her voice was choked and trembling, her little hands tightly grasped Li Ping'an's sleeves, "I heard people say that they will also rob children. .”
"Don't worry, your parents and eldest brother are here, no one can snatch you away!" Li Ping'an put his palm on Xiao Ruyi's back and glanced around, and sure enough, he saw that the children were all like quails. Around the adults, there were no groups of people laughing and playing like usual.
At the aunt's house, sisters Taohua and Zhaodi were hugging each other. Zhang Xiaoshan was holding a stick in his hand and sitting next to the sisters with a straight face.
"Zhang Xiaoshan!" Li Ping'an shouted. When Zhang Xiaoshan turned around and looked over, he shouted again, "Come here!"
Zhang Xiaoshan put down his stick and walked over, his expression still ugly, "What are you doing?"
"Do you know what's going on?"
"Know."
"..." Li Ping'an had a black line on his head, "You know but you still don't tell me? I didn't offend you, did I?"
"The ones who beat me are people from Qingshui Village. They came over. Fortunately, your aunt and the others didn't go too far. Someone heard the call for help and came back quickly to call for help."
"My aunt and the others are fine, right?"
"It shouldn't be a big problem, but we need to wake up."
Li Ping'an was convinced that Qingshui Village was not far from Xiaochen Village and was also close to Wubei Mountain. He thought that people from the two villages would meet sooner or later if they were on the mountain, but he never expected that they would meet so soon. , and the other party showed malice as soon as they met.
But come to think of it, the flood forced countless people to hide on Wubei Mountain. In Xiaochen Village alone, there were seven to eight hundred people, men, women, and children. Before the floods, poor families often went up to the mountains to pick wild vegetables and the like. The mountains had long been harvested. With many people and few resources, it was inevitable to grab things. If you didn't let me, fights would naturally break out.
Li Erlin and Chen Dajuan came back. Li Erlin had a dark face, and Chen Dajuan had a sad look on her face, with sadness and worry on her brows.
"Mom, are your aunties okay?" Li Ping'an asked with concern.
Chen Dajuan shook her head, "It's not a big deal, no bones are injured. I'll send them some eggs later."
The family used to raise chickens and still had some eggs. Although they were short of food now, it was the child's aunt who was beaten after all, so sending a few over was enough. But they probably won’t eat it and will keep it for the children.
I didn’t want to send it over now. There would be a lot of people in my mother’s house, and it wouldn’t be good for people to see her. Chen Dajuan then took out the wild boar meat she had received last night. After a moment of hesitation, she cut out a small piece and made it for the children later. She planned to make the rest into bacon.
"Dad, please accompany me to see the trap we dug yesterday."
Li Erlin's mouth twitched, knowing that Li Ping'an wanted to tell him something, so he turned around and walked out, and Li Ping'an hurriedly followed.
After walking far away, Li Ping'an asked: "Dad, how was your discussion last night?"
Li Erlin's face darkened, "The two clan elders did not agree to let the young people in the village take risks. They thought that the food was enough to survive. The granary in the county was burned down, but the main branch of the Chen family still had food. They said that the flood After retreating, I can borrow food from the direct lineage of the main branch. The clan leader is also hesitant."
"What did the village chief say?"
"The village chief has also been persuaded, but he doesn't fully believe that Zhengzhi can lend them food. He wants to be prepared. He will continue to persuade the clan elders today, but whether the persuasion succeeds or not, he will tell the villagers tomorrow Let’s talk plainly.”
Li Ping'an was silent for a moment, and then whispered: "Dad, let's not wait. You and your uncle can also go to some familiar and reliable villagers to vent their anger. What happened this morning is not necessarily a bad thing. The crisis has come, and I think there are probably many people who are hesitant."
"Your grandpa said the same thing. I told your grandpa about this in private just now at your grandpa's place. He said that the clan leaders are old and their styles and ideas are more conservative. But your grandpa also said that if We can only escape in the end, so let us not forget the village chief and his family. If we are on the same journey, we should take care of them."
At this point, Li Erlin sighed sadly, "Your grandpa said he won't leave. His body will drag us down on the road."
"Why is grandpa talking about this? His words don't count. If he wants to escape then, dad, you and your uncles will carry him away. What else can he do to us besides moving his mouth?"
"You are the only one who dares to talk like this." Li Erlin smiled and kicked Li Ping'an. This child has been sensible since he was a child. He has never hit him once. He kicked him twice last night and felt good.
In fact, what Li Ping'an said was from his heart. If he really wanted to leave here, he couldn't really not take his father-in-law with him. To be selfish, if the father-in-law doesn't leave, Chen Dazhu and the three brothers may not leave together. Although the three families are mostly women and children, the three brothers are also grown men. One more man will provide more security.
While talking, they came to the place where Li Ping'an had laid the trap yesterday. At a glance, the two of them were happy. They saw a dead deer lying in the largest trap. They also saw a deer pierced by bamboo in the other two traps. Transparent pheasant.
"Dad, hurry up!" Li Ping'an looked around and quickly called Li Erlin to take away the prey. Then he dug up the bloody soil on the ground. After re-disguising it at the entrance of the pit, he sprinkled the bloody soil on the ground. On the top.
The two of them returned to the hay shed grandly with the prey, attracting many envious looks. Zhang Xiaoshan also swept away the ugly look on his face, ran over and asked, "Did we catch it in the trap we dug yesterday?"
Seeing Li Ping'an nodding, he couldn't wait to ask: "Which one was caught in the trap I dug? Is it this little deer?"
"Yes, yes, this deer was caught in your trap."
"I just said my luck is not bad!"
If you say that, then I won't tolerate you, "What you dug and I dug, we dug together!"
"Li Pingan, you die!" Zhang Xiaoshan was so angry that he looked for his head on the ground, "Where's my stick, Zhaodi, bring me my stick, I'm going to fight with Li Pingan today!"
