The path was indeed as the yamen said, not easy to walk at all. Pulling a cart is much more strenuous than driving on the official road.
Ye Yunze's health has improved a lot. He and Ye Yutong are walking behind. Li Wenxiu and Ye Mingxuan took turns pulling the cart.
As he said, Mantang was very strong and pulled his mother and sister to walk quickly and steadily.
When the Maodan family's car got stuck in the pit, he, Uncle Yongchang and Uncle Wencai helped lift it up.
After walking for more than an hour, everyone was sweating profusely.
Yongchang, who was walking at the front, suggested that everyone rest for a while and drink some water before continuing.
This path is bumpy and bumpy all over, and the advantage is that there are fewer people. Although there are some refugees, they are all in groups, and there is not much threat to them.
Although the official road is flat, there are also many refugees, and it is easy for others to stare at them as fat people. If you are not careful, your things will be stolen and robbed.
Ye Yutong found a shady place and sat there drinking water and resting.
Li Wenxiu wiped the sweat from her forehead and touched the scar on her forehead.
He said distressedly: "Tongtong, you and Ping An can sit in the car later. Mom will hold you."
Ye Yutong smiled and said, "Mom, no need, I'll just go by myself."
She was physically weak when she was riding in the car a few days ago, but now she has recovered, how can she still be held by someone?
No matter how stupid I am, I am only six years old this year, and I already know that I am helping Uncle Wencai push the cart.
Thinking of the food I gave to Uncle Wencai and the others yesterday, I asked, "Mom, do you want to bring some fried noodles to Uncle Yongchang?"
My previous thought was to leave immediately with the villagers and take some food to a few uncles, not only to repay their favor, but also to keep each other's thoughts in mind.
Uncle Yongchang will go with their family and bring out some more food on the way so that everyone can eat together without having to worry about so much.
But now that Uncle Wencai is traveling with them, it would not be appropriate if he does not give it to Uncle Yongchang.
Li Wenxiu thought for a while and said, "If you have more, give some to your Uncle Yongchang. The portion will be the same as the amount given to your Uncle Shitou."
"Mom, there's not that much fried noodles left. I'll go in and fry some more tonight. We'll eat this too when it's not convenient to cook in the future."
She had a few kilograms left over from the last fry and planned to keep it for herself to eat. Since she wanted to give it to Uncle Yongchang, it wasn't enough.
Everyone was sitting here to rest, but Mantang and his sister were digging for wild vegetables with hoes. They were said to be wild vegetables, but they were already very old and could not even be chewed when put in their mouths.
Seeing that there were greener leaves on the tree, the brother and sister plucked them down like treasures.
Mantang Niang was boiling water there, her face was pale, and she couldn't stop coughing.
Ye Yutong took a look at their cart. There were a lot of things on it, including two wooden barrels with lids, filled with water.
There was also a large iron pot, several shabby quilts, old clothes, and some farm tools. Two baskets contained unknown items, covered with straw.
There were two long wooden sticks stuck under the cart, probably for self-defense.
The lady boiled the water and called her children to come over to drink. Seeing Ye Yutong's eyes, she asked with a smile: "Girl, do you want to drink?"
Ye Yutong smiled and shook his head, "Thank you, I just drank."
Li Yunze and Ye Mingxuan were also looking at Mantang's family. The families traveling with them all knew everything about them.
This one is a new member, so for everyone’s safety, we still need to get to know their character.
Mantang put the wild vegetables and grass roots he dug in the cart, took a bowl of water that his mother handed him, and drank it in small sips.
This habit of drinking water in small sips was changed from when I was fleeing from famine.
He used to take big gulps whether he was eating or drinking.
But water is too precious now. My mother said that drinking water in small sips to quench thirst can save some water.
He thought what his mother said made sense, so he did it.
After resting for a quarter of an hour, everyone continued on their way, and encountered several refugees begging for water and food, but Yongchang and Wencai drove them away.
In the evening, after passing a small forest, Yongchang and Wencai took a look at the terrain and decided to rest here for one night and start their journey again early tomorrow morning.
Li Yunze and Ye Mingxuan went around the area and didn't see anyone. They both thought the place was nice, so they picked up some branches and came back to light a fire.
Yongchang has already added a large iron pot, ready to boil all the water he brought with him, and put it in bamboo tubes and water bags, which will be convenient for drinking.
Everyone thought his method was good, and they all imitated him by setting up an iron pot and starting to boil water.
Ye Yutong didn't have an iron pot at home, so he used an earthen pot to symbolically burn a little and showed it to everyone.
Except for Li Yunze, everyone in the family knows that the water that my sister drinks every day is given by the gods.
As soon as the water was boiled, several refugees came up from the path. When they saw the water in the iron pot, they all licked their lips.
Ye Mingxuan and Li Yunze stood up, took the guy and took a few steps forward.
The few people paused and passed by the two of them, but they didn't go far and stopped about ten meters away from them.
Li Yunze said to Ye Mingxuan: "Brother, you will often encounter this kind of thing in the future. Don't pay too much attention to it, as long as they don't come to grab things."
Ye Mingxuan nodded. He also understood this truth. There were advantages and disadvantages in leaving separately from the large army. The advantage was freedom without restrictions.
The disadvantage is that others will see that there are few of them, and they will try to steal their water and food.
He thought for a while and said: "We will discuss with Uncle Yongchang later. Starting from tonight, we will arrange for four people to keep vigil, two people per shift."
"Okay, just follow what brother said."
When making dinner, Ye Yutong's family still cooked wild vegetables to a paste, and the other families were almost the same.
Ye Yutong ate a few mouthfuls of glutinous rice when he saw his mother-in-law, and gave the rest to his son and daughter.
Mantang was also a sensible child. He forced his mother to eat another bowl, and then he shared the rest with his sister.
She nodded inwardly, feeling that such a family atmosphere would not raise too bad children.
I have two more approvals for them in my heart, and I will observe them later, and if possible, take them into the mountains together. There are many wild animals in the mountains, so it is good to have more people.
After dinner, several people sat together to discuss the vigil.
In the first half of the night, it was Yongchang and Maodan's grandmother, and in the second half of the night, it was Li Yunze and Wencai's daughter-in-law.
Those who didn't get their turn today will watch tomorrow night.
Except for the two night watchmen, everyone went to bed early.
Ye Yutong entered the space under the cover of her mother. She first went to the mountain to pick up the eggs.
Looking at the more than 20 roosters in the pen, he touched his chin. They don't lay eggs, so why keep them?
But how can we get out to eat? Or should we say it's a pheasant? But they are all so fat, they don’t look like pheasants!
She first caught two of the thinner ones and put them in the small yard, and then let them out when she had the chance.
