Sun Zhilei's foot must have twisted when he fell, and it's already starting to swell.

Si Cheng, along with several members of his clan who had been following him, found some tree branches to weigh down the pit and erected a sign next to it that read, "Pit ahead, danger."

"You guys should just turn back, you can't even walk any further." Yunqi saw that everyone had already been delayed for a long time and didn't want to linger any longer. After saying that, he prepared to pack up his things and continue on his way.

“We need to keep going. If you want to turn back, do it as soon as possible,” Yun Yang kindly suggested, and began to quickly gather his rope, squatting down next to Yun Qi.

"You're just leaving like this? What are we going to do?" Sun Zhilei looked at the people in front of him, who were about to set off. He was very anxious. He was already injured. How was he going to get back?

"With so many of you, why can't you go back?" This clearly refers to those who had walked ahead with them earlier.

"Can't you take us back first?" This was what Aunt Lü said to Si Cheng.

"Why should we? If we waste a whole day like this, how many more things will be delayed at home? Are you going to help us with all that?" Yunqi was not polite at all to this aunt from the same village.

After saying that, he ignored them and continued walking along the edge of Sicheng. Yunyang and the others quickly followed.

The remaining people just looked at each other. What else could they do? They could only help take them back; they couldn't just leave them there unattended.

Later on, we encountered some minor potholes along the way, and everyone took precautions and warnings seriously.

When everyone finally arrived at Gaojia Village, they saw everyone bent over, working hard to harvest the crops.

The terrain of Gaojia Village is somewhat similar to that of Pinghe Village, both being relatively flat, making it entirely possible to use machinery for harvesting, just like in their village.

Seeing them harvesting by hand like this, it's clear they couldn't buy gasoline. Everyone is even more grateful for the village's decision to exchange gasoline for theirs. If they had gasoline, they would be working hard in the fields like them.

"You're Ci'an's nephew, right?" Si Cheng would occasionally come to stay during the summer vacation, and most people in the village knew him.

"Yes, Uncle Daping, this is the harvest season."

"Yes, if we don't harvest now, the crops will be ruined."

"Then why don't you use a combine harvester to harvest the crops?" Yunyang blurted out.

"How can you harvest without oil? What, do you have oil in your village?" Uncle Daping asked curiously.

"We went to Xihe Village to exchange for it." There was no point in hiding it, so Si Cheng told him directly.

"Now that the vehicles can't move, how are you going to transport the oil back?"

“We carried it on foot, for several days and nights.”

"Sigh!" Uncle Daping said nothing more after hearing this, shook his head and walked away.

Everyone was confused. What was going on?

If they couldn't figure it out, they stopped thinking about it. Once they entered the village, everyone went off to find their relatives.

There wasn't a single house in Gaojia Village, just a few scattered wooden sheds.

Si Cheng found the original location of Uncle Gao's house. The house had long been leveled, probably because of the excavation of resources inside, with most of the broken bricks piled up together.

Rice was spread out in the open space in the middle, and two small sheds were simply built on the side with wooden planks and stones to block the wind.

"Auntie, are you home?" Seeing the scene before him, Yunqi was too embarrassed to ask if she was home.

"Is that Xiao Qi?" Gao Jie called out from behind.

"Sister," she turned around and saw Gao Jie carrying a basket of rice on her back, her back almost bent over.

Si Cheng quickly took the basket from his back. "Is everything alright at home?" the two sisters asked in unison, then smiled at each other.

Knowing he had found the right place, Si Cheng put down the iron frame on his shoulder.

Gao Jie pulled out two relatively intact stools from the room. "Sit down, rest for a bit. I'll get you some water."

"Sister, could you boil some water for us? We're starving, let's cook some instant noodles first." Because they were traveling with others, they didn't dare take out any food from their spatial storage. They had only eaten a simple bite on the way, and their stomachs were already growling.

"Look at me, I've forgotten that things are different now. How long did it take you to get here? Why are you being asked to cook instant noodles now? Isn't this a slap in my face?" As she asked, she quickly started washing the pot and cooking the noodles.

Just as they were about to eat their noodles, Gao's mother returned. "Xiao Qi, why are you here at this hour? Is everything alright at home?"

"Everything is fine. My parents were worried about you, so they sent us over to check on you."

"Your mom and dad are really something, letting you run around like this? Isn't it safe on the road?"

"It's alright, we're walking slowly, so we were able to spot any potholes on the road in advance."

"Mom, let my cousin and sister eat noodles first. They're starving after walking all this way." Gao Jie quickly interrupted her mother, who was about to launch into another barrage of questions.

After finishing his noodles, Si Cheng took the basket, asked for directions, and headed straight there.

Yunqi then told the mother and daughter in detail about what was happening at home and what had happened in the past few days.

"Your place is better, mainly because people need to be united. Our village is not like that. People still quarrel every day over trivial matters."

"So nobody's going to do anything about it? Isn't there the village chief?"

“There’s no village chief anymore. Those people ignored his advice and insisted on going into the house to move things. They didn’t get out, and they dragged the village chief inside with them. Because of this incident, the village officials don’t care about these things anymore.”

"So now you're relying entirely on manual harvesting, and you can't even build houses. What will you do when winter comes?" Yunqi asked with some concern. "And the way you're drying the grain, it won't dry without the sun."

"Then why don't you go out and go find some oil?"

“Why wouldn’t they want to go out? A few young men were so confident they’d bring back a truckload of oil, but the village elders advised them against it, thinking it was too dangerous. They’d been to the county town before and figured the potholes on the road weren’t too difficult for off-road vehicles, so they set off together. Several days have passed, and they haven’t seen them return. Their families got worried and went out to search for them. They found tire tracks in a pothole. They organized a group to go down and check, but the pothole was too deep; they couldn’t see the bottom. Because of this, those families made a huge scene in the village, and since then, no one has mentioned going to buy oil again. There’s nothing we can do for now; we can only bring it back from the fields.”

“We brought some engine oil from home this time. See if you can borrow a harvester from the village later.”