Chapter Ninety-Nine: Unexpected Reunion

tside the courtyard, and bring it in at midnight.""I'm not very familiar with the villagers. My third brother is the most familiar, especially the elderly gentlemen next door. Just now when I was walk...Everyone quickly gathered their belongings and continued on their journey.

The simple wooden sled was no longer usable, so Zhao Shu rode the village head's donkey, and the other two old men rode the big blue mule together.

Perhaps the old men were used to it, and knew that refusing was pointless.

This time, they sat very comfortably on the backs of donkeys and mules, but their hands were busy all the time, looking like they were carving small things for children.

Everyone marched out another ten miles in one breath, and only set up camp again as the sun began to set.

Thus, the crowd traveled by night, camping wherever they could. Whenever they stopped, they would seize every opportunity to forage for wild plants and hunt, barely scraping by on whatever food they could find.

Over the next three days, they traveled over a hundred more miles.

This time, they arrived at a prefecture city called Lingquan Prefecture.

From afar, the walled city was much more imposing than the county town.

But likewise, the carriages blocking the front door have become even more numerous...

At just one glance, everyone's hearts skipped a beat and sank to the bottom.

Because a tall wooden fence stood before the city gate, guarded by even more soldiers.

The village head wouldn't believe it and clung to the last shred of hope, personally going with Li Laosi and others to inquire.

Worst case scenario happened!

The five liang of hush money per person didn't disappear just because the city was larger than the county.

All ravens are black, and people still want to find shortcuts to riches.

After asking several times to make sure they hadn't heard wrong, everyone walked back dejectedly.

Li Lao Si clutched the chopping knife, his teeth gritted with rage.

If he wasn't hampered by having to care for the young and old at home, he would have loved to charge straight in with a sword and hack these scum to pieces!

Just then, he suddenly heard someone shout, "Qiu Sheng, Jia Yi!"

He turned his head, before he could see clearly, Jia Yi had already rushed out like a little tiger.

"Master, it's my master!"

Liu Biaotou was lying on the hood of a car by the roadside, waving to them. Li Laosì was also overjoyed.

Though he managed to send a message to Liu, the head鏢頭, in his desperate escape that day, he hadn't seen him since and couldn't help but worry.

Unexpectedly, I ran into you here.

The Liu family of three hurried back to camp in a carriage, following the crowd.

The villagers, hearing that the city gate ahead still required road money, were all furious.

Some were shouting angrily, some were crying in despair. The atmosphere at the camp was so heavy that even the little children dared not speak a word.

Mrs. Liu was so thin that she looked almost unrecognizable compared to before. It turned out that both Mr. Liu and Young Liu were injured.

She had to catch a train and take care of two people, she was really stretched thin.

Seeing the Li family, she felt like she was seeing her own kin. She didn't speak much before falling asleep with her head tilted to one side.

Tao Hongying and Li Laotai and others saw that they were pitiful, so they covered her with clothes and also boiled porridge for the family to fill their stomachs.

When Li Laosi saw that Liu Biatou had a hurt arm and Liu Yang's back was oozing blood, he guessed that their family must have encountered trouble.

But he didn't ask any further, only asking Zhang Shenyi for help with his treatment.

This simple injury was naturally not difficult for Dr. Zhang, and he took care of it in a short while.

When Liu, the head鏢師, saw that his wife and children were settled, he regained his spirits and spoke.

"Qiu Sheng, we can't go forward. Every city has set up roadblocks. The situation is chaotic. To survive, we have to take a gamble."

Li Laosi nodded and sighed as well.

"Liu Gege, do you have any good ideas"

Liu Biatou raised his chin and pointed to the continuous mountains and forests ahead.

"To cross mountains, we must only cross mountains. I once walked this path when I was young, chased by an enemy. Entering the mountain here and heading south will lead us to climb over forty mountains. But as long as we reach the other side, descending the mountain will bring us to the Jinsha River. It's four hundred li shorter than taking the official road and avoids all cities. However, it will undoubtedly be very dangerous."

Li Lao Si didn't wait for a response. The village head and others listening beside him had already gasped in shock.

More than forty mountains, if you climb one a day, it would take more than forty days.

Moreover, such deep mountains and old forests are too dangerous, with wild beasts and venomous snakes everywhere.

It's not that simple to get in and want to get out.

But if we don't go over the mountains and stick to the official roads, there are at least five or six county towns and three prefectural cities.

Each person needed at least fifty taels to buy their way out, a total of five thousand taels for the whole village. It was simply a fantasy...

"Big Brother Liu, you rest first, let us discuss this."

Li Laosi left Liu Biaotou behind and then gathered everyone in the village with the village head.

This is a matter of life and death, and everyone has the right to participate in the decision.

At this point, there wasn't really any room for choices.

Those left behind were the refugees who had gathered together, waiting for death or, perhaps, starting a rebellion against the soldiers.

Or simply wait until the Kyoto Imperial Court arrives and follow them in the chaos.

But even if you seize the opportunity once, can you make it to every city on your way south every time

Moreover, with more people, robbery, theft, child trafficking, there is no evil that can't be done, only what hasn't been thought of.

Because they prepared early and set off early, they had everything they needed, unlike others. They were undoubtedly the envy of everyone and the primary target.

Perhaps being in a crowd is no safer than being in the mountains, facing wild beasts and venomous snakes...

A heated discussion ensued from the afternoon until dusk, and finally, a plan was reached: to cross the mountains and reach the Jinsha River directly.

Perhaps the previous two mountains were not too difficult. Although it was tiring to climb, there was no real danger.

This gave the villagers a lot of confidence, and since they had already made up their minds, everyone seemed more relaxed.

Boil water for cooking, tidy things up, and prepare as much as possible.

For a while, the small camp was abuzz.

Mrs. Liu slept for a while, had some porridge, and regained her strength. She hurriedly tidied up the carriage and packed everything she needed.

Li Laosan made a sled, tied things onto it, and Liu Biaotou could even drag it up the mountain.

Tao Hongying and Zhao Yuru were flustered, they also wanted to tidy up the baskets and boxes of luggage at home, but they were stopped by Li Laotai.

Others didn't know, but she was aware of more.

Many things, like most of the food, have been put away by the granddaughter.

In the midst of all this chaos, with so many people in the family, everyone felt their own burden was light, assuming that the heavy things were on others. No one bothered to carefully calculate.

Actually, what they carry on their backs is not really that much.

Take another look at the granddaughter. Right now, she's being held by Uncle Zhao and playing, with a wooden toy horse in her hand, a few of her tiny white teeth are showing because of her smile.

Now, Xijia An was also happy. He got a big slingshot and circled around the two old men, smiling broadly.

The future is uncertain, but for the children, we have to fight through any hardship.

This was the sentiment of all villagers.

If they themselves were to die, it would be their own fault, but the children... that's not right.

They still have to grow up, get married, and so many good days ahead...

That night, everyone slept soundly with such determination.

In the early morning, as always, I started by building a fire to cook breakfast. Then I fed the mules and donkeys, fetched water and stored it, and made some flatbread for dry rations.

The Liu family of three were traveling together and had brought food, but it was rice.

Tao Hongying took charge and set aside the glutinous rice for the children. Each household chipped in with some sorghum flour, bringing out over a dozen steamed buns for them.

Almost done, just need to eat and then we can leave.

At this time, Jiā'ān and Jiāxǐ were running around in a frenzy, shouting.

"Where did Grandpa Zhao and the others go Why haven't we seen them"

Everyone was surprised and looked around, but there was indeed none to be found.

The village head said, "Is it more convenient to go nearby"

Li Laosì immediately called two villagers to look for people in the nearby forest.

As a result, just as they stepped into the woods, the villagers suddenly cried out in alarm.

"Uncle Zhao!"

The birds at dawn, startled, spread their wings and swiftly dashed into the sky.

In late autumn, the leaves fell one by one, stubbornly circling..., you killed me!""You clean up the mess you've made. Don't dare drag me into it, or I'll make you pay!"Wen Yu Shi frowned, flicking her sleeve dismissively. She didn't even bother to look at Wen Jun Y...