Dr. Zhu did not expect that Li Ping'an would come back so quickly, and bring several men with him, with warm smiles on his face, which in his opinion was even a bit flattering.
He looked at these men carefully. From their body shape, it could be seen that they were farmers who had been doing manual labor for a long time. Although their expressions looked a little tired, they were still in good spirits, and they were not as disheveled as many refugees. In my heart, I believed Li Ping'an's words just now. They should indeed have some food.
He made a decision immediately and accepted their invitation.
This time it was Li Erlin's turn. Unexpectedly, they were even mentally prepared for a futile effort, but Doctor Zhu agreed without even a few words of persuasion?
"Seriously?" Li Ping'an was overjoyed.
"Can I still lie to you?" Dr. Zhu glanced at Li Ping'an displeasedly, "To tell you the truth, I actually have no choice. We came to Zhoucheng to seek refuge with our relatives, but we can't enter the city now. , you have also seen that there are more and more refugees gathering outside the city. It is obvious that the scope of the disaster is wide. My relatives must have a hard time at home. Even if we can go into the city, I am afraid we will not be able to stay. For how long, it actually dragged them down."
Instead of waiting here, it is better to take the initiative to find a way out. The road to escape was full of dangers. If only their family went on the road, he was not sure how many of them would survive in the end. It is already rare to meet an acquaintance at this time. If you miss this opportunity, you don’t know when the next time will be.
Besides, he knew Li Ping'an well. He had proposed more than once before that he wanted to study medicine with him as his teacher. However, as a doctor, it was very important to accept a disciple. He had never accepted because he wanted to find out Li Ping'an's character...
There were a lot of thoughts in his mind. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but glared at Li Ping'an with some annoyance. This child had good character and was smart enough, but he just wasn't persistent enough. After being rejected by him several times, he never mentioned becoming a disciple again. Something happened.
He has no shortage of apprentices. Both of his sons have studied medicine with him since they were young. Since Li Ping'an didn't mention it, there was no need for him to take the initiative to mention it. I have never heard of a master begging to become a disciple.
Li Ping'an thought that Dr. Zhu was dissatisfied with him for asking whether it was true or false. He complained in his heart that this little old man had a really weird temper, but he had a flattering smile on his face.
If he knew the real reason why Dr. Zhu glared at him, he would definitely feel aggrieved and cry out that he was wronged. It was not that he was not persistent enough or that he could not keep his face and kept pursuing him, but he knew that art in this era was not passed lightly. Dr. Zhu had several times The tone of rejection was very firm. He felt that it would be rude to continue mentioning the apprenticeship, so he gave up.
Li Erlin and the others were very happy to confirm that Dr. Zhu was going on the road with them. When they were cleaning up the house at Dr. Zhu's house, they even stepped forward to help. However, when they were refused, they did not force it and retreated to the side with happy faces on their faces.
It's enough to have an attitude. At this time, everyone is wary of everyone, and they don't want others to come into contact with their property.
Besides, although Dr. Zhu's family has a large population, including Dr. Zhu and his two sons, daughter-in-law, and five grandchildren, they don't have much property, and they can all handle it themselves.
The team escaping from famine has grown, and they are joined by an old man, two strong men, and three doctors, which refreshes everyone's spirits and adds confidence to the journey ahead.
It was not a good place to stay for a long time. Before I could express my welcome to Doctor Zhu and his family, the team that had already packed up hurriedly set off.
It is said that someone saw the villagers who had separated and fled in the mountains. The originally intact family now could not see the girl. It was not known whether they had been sold for food or something. If they didn't leave quickly, it would be bad if that person saw them.
After these days, I know from personal experience that escaping is not easy. What if that person discovers them and begs them to take them with them?
If they could have discussed it before the separation, now they may have sold their daughter, and even if it was just a guess, they would not dare to take it with them. People's hearts are so unpredictable that they can even sell their own children and take them with them to figure out how to cause mischief on the road.
If you don't agree, it will be even worse if people become angry and spread the news that they have food.
All the way south, I passed by the refugees heading north to Zhoucheng. Occasionally, someone would ask them if Zhoucheng was giving out porridge. They still had time to answer, and it could also appease the hearts of these refugees. Always keep an eye on their belongings.
Although people's hearts are sinister, for these displaced farmers, most people don't want to take risks as long as they still have something to eat.
Most of the time, the requirements of most farmers are really very low. This has been true since ancient times.
And for their effort of answering a sentence, they also received kind reminders from some refugees. Seeing that they had many children, they were told to take good care of their children. Someone in front of them in their direction was eating people: robbing children to eat and eating dead bodies. of.
When everyone heard this, their expressions changed drastically. Although they had thought about cannibalism, when they actually heard about it, they still couldn't accept it and even felt sick to the point of vomiting.
During the rest of the journey, they sobered up and never spoke to any of the refugees again. The reason was that everyone looked like they had eaten human flesh.
When the sun was setting, Li Erlin passed a fork in the road and turned in without thinking. They couldn't spend the night beside the official road. They were not familiar with the place. If they continued walking, they didn't know if they could find a fork in the road to leave the official road before dark. It wouldn't be too late at all.
Li Ping'an observed the surrounding environment. There were no mountains nearby. The mountains were far away. The surrounding area was either paddy fields or dry land, which was very empty. The fields were just like what he had seen along the way, with crops washed away.
They turned around along the path and came to a village full of messes. To their surprise, there was a green brick house at the east end of the village on higher ground that had not been washed away and looked relatively intact on the outside.
The door was not closed, to be precise, the door was missing and it looked like it had been damaged. There was no one in the house, but the cabinets, boxes, jars and barrels had been turned over, and there were signs of a fire.
Li Ping'an guessed that the owner of the house had fled, and then the refugees discovered this place. They opened the wooden door and rummaged through the cabinets to find any food. They may or may not have found it, but regardless of whether they found it or not, they had a sheltered place to stay. It's better than lying on the roadside in the wild.
Especially Li Erlin discovered a well in the backyard, so everyone happily decided to rest in this house tonight.
Everyone got busy one after another, and everyone felt much more at ease now that there was a room. One said boiling water to wipe the lower body, and the other said having a good meal in the evening, they were all very relaxed.
Li Ping'an also looked happy, and while it was still dark, he called Zhang Xiaoshan and walked out of the house.
