"This might be an important spot for animals to drink water, so everyone should leave quickly. It could be dangerous if we encounter any troublesome animals." As soon as Si Cheng finished speaking, he led Yun Qi along the mountain range and continued deeper into the mountains.

Hearing this, the others quickly followed suit, wondering to themselves if the screams they heard last night had come from this side.

As dusk fell, they found a natural cave. Although the entrance was small, the cave was quite spacious once inside.

Si Cheng and his men thoroughly inspected the cave, inside and out, and confirmed that it was not the burrow of any particular animal. Moreover, there were no other exits except for the front, making it seem as if it were prepared for everyone to set up camp.

"I can finally get a good night's sleep tonight. You know, I didn't dare to sleep soundly last night." Many people relaxed upon seeing this.

This time, Si Cheng simply assigned tasks by groups. One group was responsible for collecting firewood, another group was responsible for leveling the ground inside the cave, and two more groups were assigned to collect stones to raise the cave entrance. He then led his own group to patrol the vicinity.

Fortunately, there was this natural cave, otherwise the night would have been very unsettling.

Perhaps because they were in the mountains, all sorts of animal sounds rang out at night, including wolf howls, which terrified many of the women who had come along, turning them pale and causing some to even cry.

At this point, many people were glad they hadn't camped by the pond, otherwise, even with their numbers, they might have been injured.

There was an oddball in this group, Yun Qi, who actually leaned against Si Cheng's lap and fell fast asleep.

This gradually calmed their restless hearts.

As dawn broke, those sounds disappeared.

Si Cheng told everyone to stay in the cave while he climbed to the top of the mountain to survey the surrounding area, as only from a higher vantage point could he better determine his location.

Many people wanted to follow, but this wasn't the time to rely on numbers. Si Cheng went directly to his old partners, Monkey and Big Bear.

When they finally reached the summit after all their hardships, they discovered that the mountain range in front of them was truly enormous, stretching as far as the eye could see.

After looking around, I couldn't find any village at all. It seems that Hujia Village is really in grave danger.

"Monkey, look ahead, isn't there a tree?" Big Bear asked, pointing to a mountain directly in front of him.

"Where? I can't see it at all. It's all bare. Are you seeing things?"

At this moment, Si Cheng also walked over and looked in the direction that Da Xiong was pointing.

There really was a tree, but only a tiny bit of it was showing. From a distance, it looked like a blade of grass growing on the ridge, but if you judged by the distance, you wouldn't be able to see it from this side if it were grass.

“It might be there. My father-in-law told me that these tea trees are a new variety that is highly cold-resistant, so it’s quite possible.”

"That must be it. We haven't seen any big trees along the way. All the trees were broken by the ice long ago," Big Bear said confidently.

Si Cheng glanced at the approximate location, mentally described the route they had taken, and discussed it with the two of them before descending the mountain.

"Let's go! We've almost found our bearings. Everyone, let's give it our all and try to get there before dark." We've already wasted some time climbing the mountain, so everyone needs to speed up for the rest of the journey.

At this point, no one had any objections; they were all eager to find a safe place to return as soon as possible, because this mountain was truly unbearable for humans.

At this moment, everyone disregarded the pain in their feet and gritted their teeth to keep up.

"Look, it's just ahead." The closer they got, the clearer the trees on the mountain became, and everyone couldn't help but pray in their hearts that this was the place.

"It really is a tea tree. Looks like we've found the right place." The closer we got, the clearer it became.

Everyone quickened their pace as a whole tea plantation came into view.

Si Cheng found it unbelievable that things were going so smoothly. It seemed that since this life began, he and Xiao Qi had been lucky, and everything they did went relatively smoothly.

It's the season for picking tea seeds now. I don't know if it's because of the new variety, but it's amazing that it can still produce so many fruits in such harsh weather. Some of the fruits have even bent the trees under the weight.

"Everyone, clear the area under the tree first, and be extremely careful of venomous snakes." We haven't encountered any snakes on the way here over the past two days, and I'm afraid everyone might have let their guard down.

Yunqi looked around. In her memory, her uncle's tea garden was not far from his home. If the tea garden was here, then was her uncle's village also nearby?

Si Cheng saw through her thoughts and led her along the edge of the tea garden, hoping to find something there.

But as they walked further and further away, their hearts sank, because the many broken bricks they found on the ground indicated that Hujia Village was indeed in this area, but it had now been replaced by high mountains.

Yunqi squatted down and hugged his legs, crying bitterly. Images of his grandmother and uncle kept flashing through his mind, and the heartache was suffocating.

Si Cheng stood quietly by her side, waiting for her to vent. It was a long time before Yun Qi calmed down and said to Si Cheng apologetically that she was fine.

"Let's go, or they'll pick up all the tea seeds." Si Cheng patted her head and coaxed her.

"How could I possibly pick all the tea leaves in such a vast tea plantation?" Even as she said this, she wiped away the remaining tears from the corners of her eyes and strode towards the tea grove.

Si Cheng didn't bother to correct her awkward behavior and followed closely behind her.

Seeing Yunqi come over to pick tea fruit with red eyes, Yunxun and the others quickly turned their heads away, trying their best not to look into her eyes, so as not to remind Yunqi of her sad memories.

"Brother Cheng, there are so many tea seeds! How many trips will it take us to transport them all?" Along with the joy of the harvest came the trouble of carrying them, especially for the women who came along. Walking on mountain paths was already hard enough; if they had to carry heavy loads on top of that, they didn't know if they could handle it.

"We can't just leave it here to waste; we can get it out in a few more trips."

Those who recognize tea seed varieties identified these as oil tea seeds, which have a relatively high oil yield.

Without needing anyone to urge them, everyone sped up the process of picking tea seeds.

While picking tea seeds, they also found a small puddle of water. This water was spring water dripping down from the mountain. Now they didn't even need to look for drinking water. Seeing that it was getting late, they simply put the rice in the pot to simmer, so they could eat as soon as they finished their work.

As darkness fell, everyone had filled a large bag with the collected materials. They then formed a circle around the bag and rested inside it.

After walking all day, everyone was too tired to move, so they simply sat on the ground and ate their meals without even washing their hands.