This is a dense forest. There are many trees on the mountain. Larch trees as thick as buckets and birch trees as thick as bowls can be seen everywhere.

There are birds in the forest, chirping.

The rustling snowflakes were blocked by the leaves and only a thin layer remained on the ground.

There was an open space in front of the cave. Shen, the leader, rode on his horse and said loudly, "Come on, a few people, follow me into the cave and take a look."

Several officers holding torches led the way, and each family followed with one person.

Xie Ling pulled Gu Li inside, wanting to see what the cave looked like.

The cave was dark, the walls were covered with moss, and a cold air rushed from the soles of my feet straight into my heart.

Xie Ling immediately decided to sleep in the carriage and refused to sleep in the cave.

Several officers looked around, took out powder from the cloth bags beside them, and sprinkled it evenly around.

Xie Ling took a look and thought it should be realgar powder to prevent snakes and insects.

A tall and thin official stood at the entrance of the cave and shouted, "Everyone with a horse carriage, please give us some hay to feed the horses and use it as a ground cover.

The women went to find water, half of the men went to chop trees, and the other half came to help set up the tent. The children also kept busy and went to collect firewood. "

At the command, everyone got busy.

Except for the position of the official, the rest of the positions obviously belong to whoever grabs them first.

Zhang stood in the cave without moving, accusing Liu of being clumsy and scolding the concubine at home, telling her to be more vigilant to prevent others from stealing the things in the house.

Old Mrs. Li was not willing to be outdone and started arguing with the old lady of the Chen family.

"Mrs. Chen, I was clearly the first one to come here."

Old Mrs. Chen put her hands on her hips and said, "You twist your butt, and this is your home? My second daughter-in-law has been eyeing this place for a long time and has come here a long time ago."

There was a commotion in the cave.

Outside the cave, people were working hard.

The prisoners basically came from wealthy families, but there were also commoners like Xu Xingzhi.

He swung the axe and chopped the shorter tree trunks, and the clanging sounds continued.

After the trees were cut down, strong and sturdy men carried them into the cave and piled the trees flat on the ground one by one.

A young man took the children to find small branches with good flexibility and placed them on the trees to use as mattresses.

Some people also shook out a piece of black oil paper under the command of the officials.

With muslin straps tied at each corner, the huge piece of oil paper was tied to the trees around the clearing, blocking the falling snow.

Xie Ling, Qiuyue and a group of young ladies of similar age were collecting firewood near the woods.

The young ladies gathered in groups of three or five, all with their own family members, and were not familiar with those from other families.

The weeds were knee-high and the bushes were overgrown. A young lady named Wu rolled up her skirt, holding a sickle in her hand, and led the way for the crowd.

The forest was dangerous, so the group did not dare to walk too far. They just picked up firewood not far from the cave and looked for any edible wild vegetables.

Xie Ling watched them pick the vegetables at random, even picking some poisonous weeds that were inedible. After thinking for a while, she said, "I know a little about plants and trees. I will teach you how to identify the vegetables that are edible."

All the young ladies gathered around at once, looking around.

Xie Ling squatted under the tree, pointed at a bright red fruit and said, "This is called a snake fruit, and it can't be eaten."

A young lady was so frightened that her face turned pale. "I can't eat it. I just ate two."

As he said this, he reached into his neck and tried to vomit.

Xie Ling held her hand and said, "It's okay to eat it, but the surface of this fruit is covered with a layer of wax, which can cause diarrhea."

When the young lady heard that she would have diarrhea, she covered her stomach again.

The young ladies around her couldn't help laughing because of her amusing herself.

"This is called Zhe Er Gen, and it tastes better when eaten cold. This is called Shepherd's Purse, and it tastes better when cooked. This is called Dandelion, and it also tastes better when cooked..."

The tall trees in the forest blocked some of the falling snow, allowing these wild vegetables to survive, but they were all wilted.

A group of people followed Xie Ling closely, digging up the wild vegetables Xie Ling mentioned and putting them in bamboo baskets.

Soon, everyone's bamboo basket was filled with vegetables.

When they walked to a place, Xie Ling frowned slightly. She always felt that the ground was weird.

As she expected, the next second, their feet suddenly felt empty and the group of people fell into a three-meter-deep pit!

It should be a pit used by hunters to catch wild animals.

Fortunately, there were two people who walked slowly and did not fall in. They stood at the edge of the pit, looked down, and asked in horror what to do.

The little girls were panicked and most of them started crying.

Xie Ling said coldly: "Don't be afraid, there are two people outside, you can ask them to get help."

One of the voices was crying, "I, I'm lost!"

The girls in the pit asked, "What about the other one?"

"We are twin sisters, both of us have poor directions."

As soon as the words fell, the girls in the pit started discussing.

"Then what should I do..."

"I was so scared. I shouldn't have come to collect firewood."

"Will there be wild beasts woooooooooooooo..."

"It's all Xie Ling's fault! If she hadn't taken us to look for wild vegetables, we wouldn't have fallen in here!"

Gu Tingwei from the second branch of the Gu family suddenly pointed at Xie Ling and said.

Her sister Gu Tingjing immediately agreed, looking at Xie Ling with resentment, "Yes, yes, blame her. If it weren't for her, how could we have fallen in!"

"That's not what I meant." A young lady with a high bun stood up with her arms folded, looking at me with a sarcastic look, "She was kind enough to teach us how to identify wild vegetables, why are we blaming her?"

The girls around also echoed the words of the woman with the high bun.

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading!