When the sun was about to go down, Li Ping'an, Cao Ya and the others came back to join the aunts.
The purpose of this trip has been achieved, and the expected harvest has basically been harvested. The wild fruits are picked only when they are ripe. Originally, Cao Ya wanted to pick them all, but Li Pingan persuaded him to stop. He ate too much of some wild fruits when they were immature. They will suffer from diarrhea. Although the food they can find now is limited, they cannot ignore it just to fill their stomachs. Diarrhea can also be fatal.
There were also a lot of bird eggs. Li Ping'an had fifteen or six in his arms. Cao Ya gave them to him, almost half of them, and asked him to take them back to Ji Xiang Ruyi and the others to eat. Li Ping'an couldn't accept them.
There was also a cauliflower snake, which Caoya caught while climbing a tree to dig out a bird's nest. Everyone was shocked when they saw her sliding down the tree with a snake. Taohua and Zhaodi turned pale on the spot. The older one scolded Cao Ya, while the younger one hugged Cao Ya and cried.
Li Ping'an and Zhang Xiaoshan were relieved after taking a closer look to confirm that it was a non-venomous snake, but they were secretly cursing in their hearts that this girl was really courageous. She grabbed the snake from the tree with bare hands without saying a word, and was not afraid of encountering a venomous snake.
The harvest was not small, but it cannot be said to be much. Li Ping'an and Zhang Xiaoshan originally wanted to look for traces of pheasants and hares, but unfortunately they were not lucky and could not find them.
After waiting for a while, Zhang Yu and the others also came back. They only caught six pheasants and nothing else.
"I only saw these six, and I don't know where the others went. I looked inside and found traces of wild boars. It seemed that they were only two days ago. I will stay one more day tomorrow. Let's take someone to look for it tomorrow, it would be great if we could catch this wild boar."
Back at the foot of the mountain, Zhang Yu discussed with Li Erlin and Chen Song and decided to stay one more day. The allure of wild boars is too great.
They killed all the pheasants and rabbits they had caught during the day and cooked several pots of soup. The aroma wafted far away. Fortunately, the location where they rested was quite a distance from the official road, so it did not attract the refugees on the pipeline.
No refugees came to stay next to them. Those refugees had been walking for a day and were exhausted, hungry and thirsty. They had been on the run for so many days, and few of them had anything worth coveting. Most of them just lay down on the roadside. Forget it, I'm too lazy to take one more step and waste more energy.
Li Ping'an and the others had a delicious meal with peace of mind. There was not much oil or water anyway, and there were only a few pieces of meat in the bowls. There was no need to worry about the burden on the stomach, which was accustomed to being hungry.
After resting for a whole day, there was meat, soup, and wild vegetable porridge. It seemed that there was no sense of urgency to escape. The children began to chase and play. The old people sat by the fire and knitted straw sandals, looking up at the children from time to time. Hey guys, put a piece of wood in the fire.
The women were tidying up the household items. After washing the dishes and pans, they sat by the fire and knitted straw sandals with the old people. People who are on the road every day are reluctant to wear cloth shoes, so they wear straw sandals. The straw sandals also break down quickly, so if there is no dry straw, they use weed poles.
The men were sitting in a group, and Cao Ya was also there. The thing to be discussed tonight was the news about the plague brought by Cao Ya.
In fact, Caoya didn't know much. The plague occurred in Fuping County, which is also under the jurisdiction of Huzhou. It is just west of Linhu County and is also a county near the river. According to the news she heard, many people died in just a few days. The government had no time to react and blockade the area. Many people had already escaped.
Chen Song's face was covered with a haze, "If there is a plague and it spreads, the gates of the counties we pass next may be closed to prevent refugees from entering. And there are so many people on the road, we don't know who they are. Where did you escape from... I can't make up my mind whether I should continue on my way or not. Tell me what you think?"
They were extremely lucky to be able to escape here one by one. If they continue walking, they don't know what will happen. Some people think it is better to continue walking, while others think it is not bad to stay here. At least they can find food on the mountain and it will be enough to last until the court comes to provide disaster relief.
"I think we still have to move forward." Li Ping'an expressed his opinion and analyzed, "According to what Caoya said, the plague caused a large number of people to die in just a few days. That should be a fast-moving infection. How many days would it take for an emergency with a high fatality rate to travel from Fuping County to where we are now? Calculated based on our footsteps? During this time, people infected with the plague should not be able to walk, right?
Moreover, Caoya arrived here a few days earlier than us. When she heard the news, she explained that the plague had occurred for several days. We had seen a lot of dead people along the way, but we had not seen a large number of people die. Doesn’t this mean that the plague has not spread? We don’t need to worry about whether there is a plague ahead, but we should worry more about whether the plague will catch up. "
"Didn't you say that people infected with the plague can't get here? Why are you worried that the plague will catch up?" someone asked.
"Who knows if it will happen? If it spreads from ten to ten, it will spread slowly in a day or two." Li Ping'an shrugged his shoulders, feeling quite annoyed that he had already come here. Not only is it halfway, but it's almost halfway, and there are still people who are wavering.
He looked at Li Erlin, who had been silent. It was hard for him, a junior, to say some unpleasant things, and it was inevitable that some people would be embarrassed by what he said, which would easily lead to conflicts. Li Erlin could only say it. He believed that his father would figure it out.
"That's it. Those who want to leave can continue to leave, and those who don't want to leave can stay. I have just thought about it. The places that are not affected by the disaster should also be collecting food. The court and government should be able to provide disaster relief soon. When we get here, no matter what Whether you leave or stay, the chance of survival is greater than before. I have fulfilled my promise to everyone before. There is only one day tomorrow, so you should think about it before making a decision."
Li Erlin's tone was calm. He was not surprised that this situation happened. When he exchanged fields for rice and grain, he knew that this day would come sooner or later.
He had already exchanged all his family's fields in Xiaochen Village for grain. He had no choice but to move forward. But some people are different and leave room.
Their common goal is to survive, but not everyone wants to settle down and take root in a foreign land.
"Er Lin, Er Lin!" Chen Song shouted hurriedly, "If you have something to say, I just can't make up my mind. Since you said you want to leave, let's keep going."
As for his entire family, except for him and his eldest son, the rest are old, young, women, and children. If he stayed, he wouldn't be sure to save so many people.
But he had no other thoughts. He was afraid that the plague was real. His father and his brother had died one after another before the flood came. He was really afraid that his family would be infected by the plague and continue to die. And after resting for a day, he also let out a lot of tension. With this reason, he thought about trying to see if he could stay.
"I still say the same thing, there is still one day tomorrow, you should think about it before making a decision. You can find food here, as long as you are careful, it is not difficult to stay and survive. If you want to stay, you can stay, but you have to keep walking. Stop being so hesitant."
If people are not aligned, they will definitely have their own thoughts. Once they have their own little thoughts, conflicts will arise. He didn't dare lead such a team, nor did he dare follow it.
In the end, they parted a bit unhappy. That night, some people were tossing and turning.
