Liang Qi lowered his head and thought for a while, then raised his bright, dark eyes with a hint of lake blue and smiled, saying, "I think the same as Sister Yang. I feel that the army is very likely to cross Qixing Mountain and go to Chengzhou."

Liang Qi bypassed the several dead bodies on the road and said to Xiao Yue with a questioning look, "I'm still not sure about the army's direction. I'm worried that if the army is going to cross Qixing Mountain and the villagers have moved there, they might be in danger. To be on the safe side, we should inform the villagers first."

Xiaoyue stopped, looked up at Liang Qi with a determined gaze, and said, "Then I'll go with you."

Upon hearing Xiaoyue's words, Liang Qi suddenly felt as if he had drunk a bowl of ice water on a hot summer day, feeling extremely warm inside. He hugged Xiaoyue for a moment and then let go, smiling broadly at her, and said, "Go and fetch the horse in front of Sister Yang's house, and then wait for me in my yard. I need to get something."

After Liang Qi finished speaking, he flew away like an arrow released from a bow. When Xiao Yue looked over at Liang Qi, he had already disappeared.

Xiaoyue shook her head, sighed helplessly, and trotted to Yang's house. The horse was standing in front of the woodpile, chewing on the firewood.

Xiaoyue approached the chestnut horse, took its reins, and the horse was very obedient. As Xiaoyue led it, it set off in the direction she indicated.

When they arrived at the gate of Uncle Liang's house, one door was lying on the ground and the other was half open. Xiaoyue led the chestnut horse into the yard, but the big black dog was gone.

The window was also broken. Through the torn paper, Xiaoyue could see that the room was littered with things. The soldiers had ransacked the place. The sewing basket on the kang (a heated brick bed) was overturned on the edge of the kang, half on the kang and half hanging in the air. The unfinished hemp rope was piled on the ground. The stools and tables were also overturned. Half of the window leading to the kitchen was broken...

Xiaoyue turned her head away and quietly stood in the courtyard, leading her chestnut horse, waiting for Liang Qi.

Liang Qi ran over from the backyard, carrying a bow on his back and three arrows in a quiver tied to his waist. When he reached Xiaoyue, he half-embraced her waist and leaped onto her horse. He took the reins from Xiaoyue, flicked them, and the chestnut horse galloped off towards Seven Star Mountain.

In less than half an hour, the two arrived at Seven Star Mountain. Liang Qi stood on the bank of the swamp and waved his bow toward the cave. Immediately, someone in the cave also waved back, and then that person quickly ran down the mountain.

The newcomer was Xu Fanyuan. Liang Qi drew his bow and shot an arrow, a piece of paper stuck in the arrowhead. With a "whoosh," the arrow struck the large tree opposite, about half a person's height off the ground. Xu Fanyuan reached the foot of the hill, went to the tree, and pulled out the arrow.

He took the paper down, glanced at it, then turned back and waved to Liang Qi, indicating that he had received it.

Liang Qi quickly mounted his horse and galloped towards the village.

After Xu Fanyuan opened the paper, he found it read: "The army is likely to cross Qixing Mountain. Villagers should take precautions and stay hidden."

Upon seeing such an important letter, Xu Fanyuan went directly to Village Chief Xu. Village Chief Xu then struck the iron basin again, summoning the able-bodied adults to discuss a solution to the matter.

At this moment, Hu San rubbed his sleepy eyes, pouted and said, "Isn't it true that no one is coming? No matter how many people are down the mountain, we are not afraid of them in the mountains."

Xu Fan glanced at Hu San, who seemed unconvinced, and thought for a moment before saying, "Since a large army is going to cross the swamp, someone must have known the secret of Seven Star Mountain long ago. Otherwise, they wouldn't knowingly venture into the tiger's den. They must have a way to deal with the poisonous gas and the swamp."

Gao Sheng and the others nodded in agreement and said, "If we can enter the mountains smoothly, others can too. There are far more experts in the army than in the civilian population."

"Luckily they were just passing through, otherwise we could have sealed the cave entrance and waited for the army to pass before coming out and going home," Hu Langzhong said casually.

Village Chief Xu glanced around at everyone, sighed, and said, "Is there any other good idea?"

The others also lowered their heads. Village Chief Xu looked at the cave entrance and realized there was no way to block it. The entrance was wide enough for two oxcarts to pass through, but the height of the entrance was as high as the treetops outside the cave.

Niu San said worriedly, "We can't block it."

“We can’t keep moving things, and we haven’t found a suitable cave yet,” Hu Jianan said hesitantly.

"Why don't we all block our way back to our caves? Two out of three, and the rest..." Before he could finish speaking, someone else said, "The army is passing through. As long as we don't run into them, they have the speed to march and won't have time to come and see us." Uncle Liang said unhurriedly.

"Yes, yes," everyone echoed.

Village Chief Xu glanced at Uncle Liang, who nodded to him and gave him an encouraging smile. Village Chief Xu seemed to feel more confident and said, "Those who don't have firewood at home, hurry up and go out and cut a bundle. Those who have firewood don't need to go out; just stay home quietly."

"The number of people on duty has been increased from one to two, and they rotate every two hours. They cannot be left unattended for 24 hours. If they see the army arriving at the foot of the mountain, their first task is to quickly start banging on the basins."

Those that could still move could be moved deeper into the cave. Liang Bo, Gao Sheng, Doctor Hu, and I formed a two-person team and patrolled every hour.

Another thing to do is tell the villagers not to panic. When the army wants to cross the swamp, they can start fires to remove the toxic fumes; we have time to prepare.”

After Village Chief Xu finished arranging things for everyone, he shouted "Dismissed!" and the villagers went back to their places to do their own things. At this moment, Uncle Liang grabbed Xu Fanyuan and asked anxiously, "Have you seen Liang Qi?"

Xu Fanyuan nodded happily, helped Uncle Liang sit down on the stool at the cave entrance, and said with a smile, "I came with Xiaoyue, the two of us rode a warhorse."

"Good, good, it's good that you've recovered." He murmured to himself, then got up and walked into the cave.

When Li Lei heard Uncle Liang call out to Xu Fanyuan and ask him a question, he stopped to listen. After Uncle Liang left, he asked Xu Fanyuan, "Is Xiaoyue alright too?"

"He's doing great, full of energy," Xu Fanyuan said enthusiastically.

Li Lei coldly replied, "That's good."

When Li Lei returned to their cave, he saw Li Qianqian and said to her, "It was Xiaoyue and Liang Qi who delivered the message."

Lu Xiaomei asked excitedly, "How is Xiaoyue? Is Liang Qi better? Are they together?" A barrage of questions followed, but Li Lei only replied with one sentence: "I don't know."

Lu Xiaomei nudged Li Qianqian, who tugged at Li Lei's sleeve and said cautiously, "Sister Lu is only concerned about Xiaoyue and Liang Qi. We've been together for so long, don't you care?"

Li Lei glanced at Lu Xiaomei, whose neck and ears were red, and stammered, "Everything's fine. Why don't you ask Xu Fan about it?"

As Lu Xiaomei pulled Li Qianqian back into the house, they whispered to each other. Lu Xiaomei said to Li Qianqian, "I wonder how Bai Hongmei is doing at the Xu family's? Why don't we go and see her?"