"Brother Cheng, really?" Yun Xun and Yun Jianying immediately turned to Si Cheng's side.

"They said they cooked it, but don't listen to their nonsense. Back when we were stationed, there was a huge grassland with lots of rabbits. If you were careful, you could always catch a few," Si Cheng replied while packing his backpack.

"Everyone, let's gather some firewood first, then we can chat together after we light the campfire," Uncle Bing urged, seeing that it was getting dark. He quickly told everyone to stop chatting.

"Yes, sir!"

After saying that, they scattered in all directions. After this period of training, they were all now skilled workers. In no time, they had gathered enough firewood for the night.

Everyone gathered around the firewood, but since there was no water source nearby, they didn't cook a meal. Instead, they took out the dry rations they had prepared and ate a simple meal with cold boiled water.

"Uncle Bing, could you tell me the approximate location of that orchard?" Si Cheng wanted to familiarize himself with the terrain before continuing his journey.

"If we had followed the old route, it would have taken two hours to get there from the village. But we've walked for so long today and still haven't seen it. It might have changed location. The limestone site also changed direction before, so I can't be sure about its current location."

"I wonder if there are still snakes there now?" Yun Jianying felt a little uneasy thinking about the previous story.

"Speaking of snakes, we'll all have to take turns on night watch tonight, in case of any unexpected situations," Si Cheng suggested to everyone.

"I have to stay on night duty, otherwise I really won't be able to sleep peacefully," the monkey agreed.

Si Cheng directly assigned the duties: "There are seven of us in total. Uncle Bing is an elder, so he doesn't need to stay on night duty. Me, Monkey, and Big Bear will take three shifts, and the three of you will each stay with one of us. Each shift will be three hours. Does everyone have any objections?"

"No objections," everyone quickly chimed in.

“I’m not seventy or eighty years old, I can keep watch with you all.” Uncle Bing also said he wanted to join in.

“No need, two people are enough, and besides, we need you to scout the way during the day.” Si Cheng firmly refused Uncle Bing. “Wait a minute, Monkey, you go first. I’ll guard 12 o’clock, and Big Bear will guard 3 o’clock.”

No one objected to this arrangement. Zhao Dongwei and Monkey were in one group, Yun Jianying and Si Cheng were in another, and Yun Xun and Big Bear were in the third.

After the distribution was completed, everyone spread the collected dry leaves on the ground, put the blankets they had brought on top, and prepared to rest.

I checked the time by the firelight and found it was only a little past seven o'clock.

Zhao Dongwei said, "It's still early, let's chat."

"What should we talk about?"

"How about you tell us your stories from your time in the army?"

The monkey said, "What stories can soldiers have? They just train all day long. Let Uncle Bing tell us about the village's past, so we can learn more."

“Alright, I’ll tell you some stories I’ve heard.” Uncle Bing leaned against the rock behind him. “I’ve heard from my elders that our Yun family ancestors migrated here from Mongolia. They used to be a large tribe, but for some reason they offended powerful people, so the whole family moved here to live in seclusion. In the beginning, this place was called Yun Family Village because of our surname. As times changed, many families with different surnames moved here. In the 1950s and 60s, some of them objected to the name of the village, feeling that there was more than one surname in the village and that they couldn’t be domineering. So the village chief went to the town and changed the name to Pinghe Village.”

"So our ancestors were Mongols, no wonder we are all generally tall," Yun Xun said proudly.

"Yes, because of their height and good physique, many people in our village went to fight against the Japanese, but many of them never came back."

Yun Jianying said, "We all know this. The ancestral hall is still full of merit awards and plaques."

At this moment, Yunxun also thought of his father who was serving in the army: "I wonder how my father is doing now, and when I will be able to see him again?"

Si Cheng patted his shoulder to comfort him, "It shouldn't be long. They'll definitely need to maintain order in this area, and they'll come back when they find an opportunity."

“My grandfather said the same thing, but I’ve seen my mother secretly wiping away tears behind our backs a few times. I feel that my mother and aunt have really had it so hard. They both treat themselves like the men of the family.”

At that moment, no one knew what to say, and could only dryly say, "It will pass."

The atmosphere suddenly became quiet.

Big Bear jokingly said to everyone, "How about I tell you a ghost story?"

"No, let's not. Let's get some rest. Everyone's tired," Yun Jianying was the first to object. He was joking; the goosebumps from before hadn't even gone away yet. Who would dare listen to any ghost stories?

Si Cheng then spoke up: "Get some rest, everyone. We'll continue tomorrow, so conserve your energy and try to get back as soon as possible."

The night passed peacefully, and the next day everyone began a new exploration.

Meanwhile, in the county town, the Chen family was also talking about Yunjia Village.

"Why don't we go find our son-in-law first? We really can't stay in this county town any longer." Chen Qinghua simply couldn't stand the constant anxiety he felt every day.

“But with so many of us going to my brother-in-law’s house, his father might not be too welcoming, right?” Chen Baoguo was a little worried that his sister would have a hard time making the decision.

But his son didn't care about any of that; all he wanted was to escape immediately. "Dad, let's go find Auntie first, or people will really die. At worst, we can do more work there. Besides, haven't Auntie and the others already separated their households?"

“That’s right, honey. If we don’t leave now, they’ll come and ransack our place tomorrow, and we’ll starve to death. If we leave now, at least we can keep some things and our sister won’t have to give us too much money. Those people are really not leaving us any way to survive. The neighborhood next door is full of crying. They won’t even leave us a blanket. How are we going to live? Many people are already trying to go to the other side of the river to seek refuge with relatives and friends.”

Hearing his wife's words, Chen Baoguo finally made up his mind. "Then you guys hurry up and pack, pick out the things that are easy to carry. Tie the grain in plastic bags twice, I'll go find a plank of wood, and don't say we'll wait until night, I'm afraid those people will be guarding the riverbank at night, we'll leave in a little while."

The family quickly divided the work and, in order to escape this place as soon as possible, they hung as much of what they could carry on their backs as possible, and secretly hid what they couldn't carry, hoping to have another chance to take them away next time.