Chapter 29: Escape from the Troubled Times 27

The day of returning to Lingzhou seems just around the corner, yet it seems so far away.

Lin Xia didn't expect that Xiangzhou's water system was so developed. Just after crossing a big river, there was another small river, and there was no telling how many rivers there were behind...

If it was during last year's drought, crossing the river was very easy. It was just a short road of tens to hundreds of meters. If it was snowing and cold, crossing the river was also very easy. You just had to walk across the ice.

However, as the weather gradually warmed up, the ice melted, the river water swelled, and it became difficult to cross the river.

Lin Xia was walking barefoot in the river at this time, feeling the stones under her feet carefully. The stones in the river were smooth, and if she was not careful, she would get soaked all over.

Obviously, she would not let herself make such a low-level mistake. She moved carefully step by step and successfully reached the other side, leaving only her red feet stepping on the gray pebbles.

In fact, the river behind me should be called a stream. It is about ten meters wide in total. Some parts are only a little over one meter deep, and the rest are only calf-deep. There are small pebbles on both sides. From a distance, it looks like a pile of sand, but when you look closer, you will realize that it is all stones.

There are more than one such shallow streams. In the next three days, Lin Xia passed two shallow streams and a swamp, and he did not plan to take the wild trails anymore.

The water content in the wild here is too high. The most important thing is that Lin Xia found that the sky was turning cloudy and covered with thick clouds, and it was likely to rain later.

If it rained, she would easily be trapped, and besides, it was time for her to replenish her supplies.

Lin Xia planned to find a county town to rest and get some information. She remembered that the young man who crossed the river before said that there was an uprising of refugees here. At the last moment of fleeing famine, she could not fail in the uprising team.

Having made the decision, Lin Xia did not hesitate and started looking for the official road or the small path used by local villagers. These roads usually lead to the city.

Having said that, taking the official road is the second best option. If you are unlucky and encounter soldiers passing by, and they don't like you, they will kill you with a knife, and there will be no way to seek justice.

In the following time, Lin Xia no longer headed south blindly. In ancient times, most people lived near water or close to mountains, so as long as they followed the river, they would always find a village.

Finding the village means finding the direction to the county town.

After about two or three hours, Lin Xia looked at the quiet village not far away. He did not plan to ask for directions or confirm with them whether the county town was ahead. He just set foot on the path used by the villagers.

These paths have irregular piles of stones built by humans at regular intervals.

Lin Xia did not understand the significance of these stone piles in the past, but after walking more, he realized that they were signs used by ancient people to find their way and calculate distance. They were piled up spontaneously by the villagers and were a unique wisdom of the ancients in finding their way.

The road Lin Xia took was a small path where many villages met. She walked along the path and found no less than a dozen villages along the way. However, most of the villages were populated but silent, with only a few villagers working outside.

When she saw individual farmers, she tried to go up to them and ask for directions, but the farmers seemed to have a stress disorder and would run away as soon as they saw her, leaving Lin Xia no chance to speak.

Lin Xia left with regret.

As for farmers with a large number of people, she would not ask at all. She would just avoid them as far as she could. She did not want to add hidden dangers to herself and be besieged and served on the table.

After walking for two hours, we saw more and more people traveling on the road.

Some had ruddy complexions and were in good health; some were pale and skinny, but they all walked forward with their families and luggage.

Lin Xia frowned. What was going to happen again?

Put aside your doubts and continue to follow the direction they left.

Suddenly, while walking on the road, Lin Xia saw a young man pulling a skinny child. The child kept struggling, and it looked like the man was trying to eat the child.

Lin Xia looked around and found that there were only three people present, her and the other party.

She said she was not a good person, but when she encountered such evil things happening right before her eyes, her rare conscience was stirred. The nine years of compulsory education told her that it was time to mind her own business.

Seeing that the young man had no weapons and his cheeks were sunken, and he didn't look like he could fight, Lin Xia walked forward with confidence and scolded him.

"What are you doing? Why are you pulling this kid?"

The other party had not noticed Lin Xia's presence at first, but when she shouted, they both became alert instantly and stopped pulling immediately, staring at her with hostility.

Lin Xia: ...I know him, why didn’t you say so earlier?

There was a second of awkwardness before Lin Xia realized that she had misunderstood. She then looked at the man embarrassedly and explained.

"Haha, go ahead. I was wondering what you were going to do to this kid."

It's a rare opportunity for me to be kind, but I ended up doing it the wrong way. Luckily I didn't go up to chop him off, otherwise I would have had two more innocent souls in my hands.

The other man saw that Lin Xia had good intentions, but he still didn't relax because he saw the big knife in Lin Xia's hand.

This woman doesn't look like a good person.

The scene was silent.

asphyxia.

Lin Xia turned to leave when the little boy spoke.

"Sister, this is my dad, thank you sister."

Seeing that the other party was willing to communicate, Lin Xia immediately took advantage of the situation, put away his sword and asked, "I wonder if I can ask you for directions, big brother. Is the nearest county town in this direction?"

There was another silence. Just when she thought the other party would not answer, he slowly replied, "The county town is in this direction."

Then he added: "It will take an hour to get there, but..."

The other party was a little hesitant.

"I don't know what to say, big brother, could you tell me, I would be very grateful."

"Girl, you are from another place, right? Our county does not allow outsiders to enter. You must check your identity before entering the city, and only those with local household registration can enter."

In addition, it was emphasized: "You are not allowed to bring weapons into the county, and this thing on you..." is not allowed.

Lin Xia was confused, and understood what he was not saying. Not only could she not use the household registration she had robbed before, she couldn't take the big knife with her either.

After thinking for a moment, he asked again, "I am going to Xiping to visit my relatives. I wonder if you know how things are going in Xiping. Is it safe?"

This time the adult on the other side didn't say anything, but the child did say, "Sister, don't go there. There are rebels in Xiping."

"Yes, young lady. Several counties over there have been occupied by refugees. You might as well wait for a while. I heard that the provincial capital is sending troops to encircle and suppress them."

Lin Xia smiled bitterly: "I didn't expect something like this to happen. My aunt is in Xiping Shaobei County, and I don't know if anything happened to them."

Shaobei was the next county she was going to visit. As long as she passed Xiping County, she would reach Lijiang. The timing of the refugees' rebellion was really inappropriate.

“I heard that a large number of refugees gathered in Shaobei a few days ago. There is no news that Shaobei has been breached, but it is definitely a dangerous time over there. Even people here are in panic and dare not stay in the village.” The other person’s face showed a sad expression of sympathy for his own kind.

This is a big problem. She said that everyone seemed to be in danger along the way, and the source of the problem was here.

She wanted to go to the county town to see how well the defenses were. If she wandered around alone, she might be discovered easily if she was unlucky. After all, there was nothing to hide on the road except for some green grass.

If she is caught, could you let her go because we are both refugees?

If you think about it, her ending could be even worse.