After a conversation, Zhang Xiaozhu learned that the four old men were farmers in small mountain villages and had never traveled far. They only knew the village and county where they lived and nothing else.
Zhang Xiaozu was very embarrassed, because like the four old men, he only knew Liujia Village, Fengshui County and Baiyun City. As for where these three were located in the vast southern land, it was unknown.
Therefore, the Baihuangshan, Longduo County and Yancheng mentioned by the old man have no reference value to Zhang Xiaopou.
In the end, Zhang Xiaozu left half of the snake meat behind, waved goodbye to the four of them, and headed in the direction pointed by the old man.
The old man told him that if he climbed over three hills and walked more than ten miles, he would see the official road leading to Yancheng. There are many refugees on the official road, and among them there are many knowledgeable scholars who may be able to help him.
Zhang Xiaozu was eager to go home, so he moved very quickly. It only took him half an hour to see the Yanbei Official Road that the old man mentioned. But the situation on the official road made his heart uncontrollably heavy. He saw pedestrians on the spacious road staggering from north to south, with no beginning and end, like a long dragon.
Everyone is in ragged clothes, dusty, sallow and skinny, with chapped lips and cloudy eyes. They neither cry nor laugh, nor make noises nor make noises. They are lifeless. There is only the sound of feet rubbing against the ground, just like a group of soulless walking dead.
"Drought, it's terrible!"
The scene of the escape had a great impact on Zhang Xiaopou. He became more and more anxious. He missed the folks in Liujia Village and wondered if they were well. He gritted his teeth and wished he could get a pair of wings and fly back immediately.
"Old man, please stay. Do you know which direction to go from Baiyun City to Fengshui County?" Zhang Xiaozu stopped an old man who looked knowledgeable on the side of the road and asked.
The old man raised his slack eyelids, glanced at Zhang Xiaopou with his cloudy eyes, shook his head, and responded hoarsely: "I don't know."
"Sorry for bothering you." Zhang Xiaozu clasped his fists and saluted, moved out of the way, and allowed the old man to continue moving forward. Then he searched the passing crowd for those who looked knowledgeable.
"Brother, please stay. Which direction should I go to Fengshui County, Baiyun City?" Zhang Xiaozu stopped another middle-aged man dressed in a long gown.
"Baiyuncheng Fengshui County? Never heard of it." The middle-aged man shook his head.
"Where is Baiyun City?" Zhang Xiaozu thought that maybe Fengshui County was too inconspicuous and not many people knew about it, so he only asked Baiyun City.
"I don't know." The middle-aged man glared at him angrily and walked around him.
"Brother, how can I get to Baiyun City?"
"have no idea."
"Old man, do you know how to get to Baiyun City?"
"I don't know, get out of the way."
"Sister, how can I get to Baiyun City?"
"have no idea."
Zhang Xiaozu asked more than ten people in succession, but no one knew about Baiyun City, which made him panic. He guessed that this place might be hundreds of thousands of miles away from Baiyun City, otherwise how could no one know about it.
"Does anyone know about Baiyun City?"
"Please kind-hearted people tell me which direction to go to Baiyun City."
Zhang Xiaozu simply stood on the side of the road and shouted, just asking for someone among the passers-by to know. But he shouted until his throat was almost smoking, and hundreds of people passed by, but no one knew about it. However, a few well-meaning people told him that Yancheng was forty miles ahead and asked him to go to Yancheng to inquire. Someone must know there.
"Hey -" Zhang Xiaozhu sighed helplessly and decided to follow the advice of a kind person and go to Yancheng City to ask for directions. But just as he was about to lift his feet, a middle-aged man with a goatee suddenly appeared in front of him. Stop.
Zhang Xiaozu was overjoyed and asked hurriedly: "Brother, does he know how to get to Baiyun City?"
"I don't know." The goatee man shook his head.
"Thank you." Zhang Xiaozu clasped his fists, feeling very disappointed. He thought that the man with the goatee knew that he came over on his own initiative, but it turned out that he had stopped to rest.
But just as he was about to lift his feet, he heard the goatee man continue: "But I know someone knows about Baiyun City."
"Ah?" Zhang Xiaozhu was overjoyed and asked eagerly: "Brother, please let me know."
The goatee man's triangular eyes scanned Zhang Xiaopou up and down, and finally his eyes fell on the small cloth bag hanging on Zhang Xiaopou's waist. He glanced left and right again, and when he saw that no one was paying attention, he lowered his voice and asked, "Yes?" Food?”
The small cloth bag contained the remaining half of the snake meat. It was the advice given to him by the old man he met in Baihuang Mountain. He said that all the people who were fleeing would be hungry and red-eyed. If they saw the meat in his hand, , will definitely swarm him and grab it, so I suggested that he wrap the meat in cloth so that no one can see it.
Zhang Xiaozu felt that what the old man said made sense, so he borrowed a piece of cloth and did as he was told.
"Yes." Zhang Xiaozu responded.
The goatee man's eyes suddenly brightened, and he reached out to grab the cloth bag on Zhang Xiaozu's waist.
"Wait a minute!" Zhang Xiaozu frowned slightly, swatted away the goatee man's outstretched hand, raised the bone knife in his hand, and said: "There is food, and there is a knife, a knife that has killed people."
The implication is, if you rob me forcefully, don’t blame me for being rude.
Zhang Xiaopou had killed people before and had been on the verge of life and death several times. At this moment, his tone was serious, and he had some power.
"Ah, haha, abrupt, too abrupt." The man with the goatee quickly retracted his hand and said haha with an awkward smile. He felt the sense of oppression emanating from Zhang Xiaozu's body and knew that the young man in front of him was not easy to mess with.
"Little brother, come here and talk." The man with the goatee pointed to the road not far away, made an invitation gesture to Zhang Xiaopou, and then walked over there first, not afraid that Zhang Xiaopou wouldn't follow.
Zhang Xiaozhu asked and shouted for a long time, and finally found an insider. Naturally, he would not give up easily.
"How much food do you have?" Seeing Zhang Xiaozu following him, the goatee man's eyes couldn't help but fall on the cloth bag around Zhang Xiaozu's waist, he rubbed his hands and swallowed and asked.
"A pound of meat." Zhang Xiaozu replied.
"Give them all to me, and I'll tell you who knows Baiyun City." The goatee man said eagerly.
"Half." Zhang Xiaozu frowned.
"No, I want them all." The goatee man said firmly.
Zhang Xiaopou had to give in because he was asking for help, but he was not stupid and said: "Take me to find that person and I will give you all the meat. Otherwise, there is no need to talk."
"Okay." The goatee man agreed readily. After saying that, he turned around and walked north, saying as he walked: "Follow me, not far ahead. When I passed by, I heard a little old man begging someone to write a tombstone for him. .”
"What tombstone?" Zhang Xiaozu asked in confusion.
The man with the goatee replied: "The little old man is illiterate. He took a piece of wood and blocked the road to ask someone to write on it the tomb of so-and-so in Liujia Village, Fengshui County, Baiyun City. I didn't hear the details clearly."
"What did you say?!" Zhang Xiaozhu's body trembled when he heard this, and his voice suddenly rose dozens of times.
The man with the goatee was startled by Zhang Xiaozu's suddenly raised voice, and said hurriedly: "I said the little old man asked someone to write on the wood."
"I'm asking him what words he asked someone to write on the wood?!" Zhang Xiaozu asked.
"Why are you so anxious?" The man with the goatee glanced at Zhang Xiaopeng dissatisfiedly and said, "The little old man asked someone to write on wood the tomb of so and so in Liujia Village, Fengshui County, Baiyun City. I didn't catch the specific name. Why, do you know that person? Little old man? Oh, you and he are both from Baiyun City, so we can’t tell you that we really know each other - ah, what are you doing?! Put me down quickly!"
The goatee man suddenly screamed in fear because Zhang Xiaozu grabbed him by the back of the neck and lifted him up.
Zhang Xiaozu ignored him and just urged: "Is it in front?"
"Yes, right in front." The goatee man replied honestly. He felt that Zhang Xiaopou suddenly exuded a terrible and violent aura, as if he wanted to choose people to devour, and he was so frightened that he did not dare to say another word.
Baiyun City, Fengshui County, Liujia Village, so-and-so’s tomb.
Zhang Xiaozhu's eyes were red at that time, and tears were welling up in his eyes. Everyone in Liujia Village was his closest relative, so no matter who died, he would be heartbroken.
Furthermore, the presence of people from the village here means that Liujia Village can no longer survive, and everyone has abandoned the village and fled.
Why is there only one little old man asking for help? Where are the others?
Not all——
For a moment, Zhang Xiaozu felt panicked and did not dare to think any further.
The man with the goatee looked at the rapidly retreating scenery on both sides and listened to the whistling wind in his ears. He was a little confused and a little scared. What was so confusing was that he never expected that this skinny young man could be so powerful. He could carry a person in his hand. He was walking as fast as he could, but he was shocked that he had threatened such a powerful person to hand over all his food. Was it because he thought he would live too long?
"There, there, is that little old man." The goatee man suddenly pointed at a thin figure in the distance by the road and shouted.
Zhang Xiaozu looked in the direction he pointed, and sure enough he saw a thin old man, weeping and digging at the same time. There was a thin little girl next to him, holding a thin piece of stone in her hand, helping the old man dig the soil. A few steps away from them lay a man, whose appearance was blocked from view.
Zhang Xiaozu held the goatee man and the two men jumped up, spanning a distance of more than ten feet in an instant, and landed next to the little old man with a thud, raising a cloud of dust. The little old man was so frightened that he trembled violently and sat down on the ground.
Zhang Xiaozhu's eyes first fell on the little old man and the little girl, and found that he did not recognize the grandfather and grandson. Then he immediately looked at the person lying on the ground. This person had dark skin and was already thin. After careful identification, he suddenly discovered This man's face was somewhat similar to Niu Dawa's, and he shouted uncertainly: "Da-Da Wa?!"
The more Zhang Xiaozhu looked at it, the more he looked like Niu Dawa. Thinking about the content of the tombstone that the little old man asked someone to write, he immediately decided that this person was Niu Dawa. He immediately knelt down beside Niu Dawa, held his head in his arms and called urgently: "Dawa, what's wrong with you? Dawa, wake up?"
"Big boy, wake up, I'm a pawn!"
"Big baby?"
"Big baby!"
Tears poured out of Zhang Xiaozu's eyes like a flood. No matter how he called, Niu Dawa didn't respond at all. What's even more terrifying is that he can clearly feel the stiffness and coldness of Niu Dawa's body.
Zhang Xiaozhu never imagined that after seeing Da Wa in the dark forest, they would be separated by yin and yang when they met again.
Scenes of past events came to mind, and Zhang Xiaozhu couldn't stop crying.
"Young man, do you recognize my benefactor?" The little old man was in shock. Hearing Zhang Xiaopeng calling and crying while holding Niu Dawa's head, he hurriedly climbed up and asked cautiously.
"Is his name Niu Dawa?" Zhang Xiaozhu asked with tears in his eyes and choked with sobs. He held a trace of fantasy in his heart, hoping that the little old man would shake his head and tell him otherwise.
In fact, he was deceiving himself. The date-shaped scar behind the right ear of the man in his arms clearly told him that this was Niu Dawa, because the scar was caused by him accidentally poking it with a branch when they were playing around when they were children.
The little old man didn't know who Zhang Xiaozu was talking about Niu Dawa, but he still replied: "My benefactor's name is Niu Guangmao, whose courtesy name is Letian."
Click!
Zhang Xiaozu felt like a thunderbolt struck his forehead, and his mind was buzzing and going blank.
"What's wrong with him?!" After being stunned for a while, Zhang Xiaozu suddenly looked at the little old man and asked. The fierce look in his eyes made the little old man shrink back in fear.
The little old man wiped his tears and murmured: "In order to save our grandfather and grandson, my benefactor risked his life to fight a group of big-tooth soldiers alone. He was extremely brave. A dozen or so big-tooth soldiers were chopped down by my benefactor with a steel knife. On the ground, but my benefactor was also stabbed several times. His wounds burst several times along the way, and he never received treatment. The result - the result was -"
The little old man choked up and couldn't speak any more.
The little girl also cried, begging with tears and snot in her eyes: "Oh, my benefactor is a good man, he saved me and grandpa. Can you save my benefactor, he is still alive, he is still alive. Please. Please, save the benefactor."
"Still alive?!" Zhang Xiaozu was suddenly startled and immediately overjoyed.
