Chapter 168 Return to the Valley

When Chen Lie said he was leaving, he just walked a few steps away to collect himself. Afterwards, he said goodbye to Chen Dashan and went to the small courtyard of Shen San's house to pack up some clothes that Xiao Jin and his brothers could not take away before, as well as two quilts, pillows and other things.

Shen Jin knew that his elder brother had gone to pack up his things, so he borrowed a hoe from Manager Xu's house, dug a grave himself, and buried Li on a piece of mountain land not far from his shelter.

There was no monument, but he was buried next to a tree, and the location of the tree was remembered.

Shen Yin and Shen Tie were in bad condition. Shen Jin knelt down and said a few words, kowtowed three times, then chased after Shen Lie and the others who were waiting not far away and left Shili Village together.

…

When we arrived at the cave where we had communicated with Manager Xu, it was already completely dark.

Chen Lie and Chen Dashan caught two pheasants and a nest of wild rabbits on the way. Wei Qinghe followed them in and out of the mountains several times and gained experience. Although he was not good at hunting, he picked up a lot of firewood along the way and carried it on his back, so he was not short of firewood after entering the cave.

The cave was long and narrow. Several people lit a fire and checked it inside and out. After making sure there were no insects or snakes hiding inside, they sent the children inside and settled them down.

The job of killing chickens, stewing soup and roasting wild rabbits was taken over by the Xu family. The last bit of rice soup and salt and sugar water in the afternoon was given to Shen Yin and Shen Tie. In the evening, Wei Lingzhen made some skimmed chicken soup, some chopped chicken, and some of the rice that Wei Qinghe had saved and the wild vegetables picked on the way by Shen Jin, and made a small pot of chicken porridge for the three little ones.

The pottery basins, pots, bowls and chopsticks were exactly what Shen Jin had left in the shelter. He picked them all up and borrowed Wei Qinghe's backpack to carry them. They were considered the belongings of the three brothers.

They ate five meals a day. Although each meal was not much and was basically liquid food, compared to the previous few months, the food they ate was real good food. Although Shen Yin and Shen Tie still had no strength, they were much better than during the day. At least they were not afraid that the person would fall asleep and not wake up if they didn't see him.

The Xu family ate chicken soup and roasted rabbit meat. They were trapped in Qiyang County these days and were in a very bad situation. They hadn't had a proper meal for a long time. After eating and drinking, they began to feel sleepy.

After a day of escaping, both physical and mental strength had reached their limits. Shen Lie took the initiative to guard the entrance of the cave, allowing the Xu family and the Shen Jin brothers to rest.

Chen Dashan was also resting, and he would switch shifts with Shen Lie in the second half of the night. However, he remembered that Shen Lie was particularly silent that day and had not eaten anything at night. After everyone fell asleep, he walked to the entrance of the cave, found a stone and sat down next to him, tilted his head and asked, "Are you still not able to recover?"

Shen Lie shook his head.

He was sad for sure, as the situation at that time and the realization at that moment had a huge impact on him. But after his emotions calmed down a little, Shen Lie was also very clear that the reason why the children were in such a situation was, after all, because of his good uncle, who was not a human being. He would not force the blame on himself.

Chen Dashan glanced at the cave behind him and saw that it was far enough away. He asked in a low voice, "You don't know how to explain this to your sister-in-law?"

He knew that Sang Luo had nearly starved to death because it was his grandparents who rescued her.

Right? Not entirely.

Shen Lie didn't know what to say.

He said, "Explain the situation clearly. Luo shouldn't be angry with me because of this. If she were here today, she would probably make the same decision as me."

He paused and said, "It's just that she doesn't mind because she's kind. As for me, I really don't know how to tell her when I go back."

Even if he could hunt more, how could he really have no pressure when bringing three more children into the valley? One year of chaos outside might not be stressful, but what about two or three years?

Sang Luo would not really starve, but although she had enough meat, she would not have enough food.

Xiao Jin said they wanted to eat grass seeds, but whether it was him, Sang Luo, or Xiao An and Aning, who could really eat rice by themselves and watch the three brothers eat grass seeds?

He smiled to himself and said to Chen Dashan, "It seems that I have to go back to the way we lived in the deep mountains and forests for a year."

They feed on meat and various wild vegetables.

He can spend this day, and so can Xiao An, Aning and Xiao Jin, but they cannot ask Sang Luo to accompany them.

After all, he and Sang Luo were only living together temporarily, and it was impossible for such a large family to drag Sang Luo into the big pit of their Shen family.

In order not to embarrass Sang Luo, they could not live together from the beginning. Chen Lie had already considered the possibility of letting the Xu brothers and the Xiao Jin brothers live separately in the smaller cave above and to the side of their own cave.

He took some fine grains from home and waited for the three children to recover. After that, he would hunt outside to provide food for the three little ones, and occasionally eat some grains from his share.

Although Chen Dashan didn't know that Chen Lie and Sang Luo were not really husband and wife yet, he knew that most of the Shen family's food was actually saved by Sang Luo who had worked hard from dawn to dusk. Chen Lie brought back ginseng and the skins he hunted later, and also bought food and medicine, mostly coarse grains.

It was not possible for a family to plan their life so meticulously, and Chen Lie also hunted, and Sang Luo was definitely not that kind of person. It would be fine if Chen Lie had only three siblings, but with six siblings, he understood that it would be difficult for Chen Lie to bring himself to speak.

He patted Chen Lie on the shoulder and said, "Don't think about it. I haven't had much contact with my sister-in-law, but I know her personality. She won't mind such things. Besides, we were fine in the forest for a year. What's wrong with eating meat and wild vegetables? Isn't it better than eating grass seeds?"

This actually made Shen Lie laugh, and he felt a little more at ease.

…

After a short rest for the night, the two men woke up everyone at daybreak, prepared some food to take on the road, and continued on their journey as soon as it got light.

Because of the arrival of thousands of bandits, the return journey was quite smooth. We basically didn't meet any people walking in the woods for the first two days. They must have all fled into the inner area. It was not until the third and fourth days that we saw people walking in groups outside looking for wild vegetables to eat.

However, Shen Lie was concerned about the physical conditions of Shen Yin and Shen Tie, so he was unwilling to take a detour and delay any longer. When he found some human traces, he gave the two children to Xu Wenqing and Wei Lingzhen, and asked Wei Qinghe, Manager Xu and Uncle Xu to all take swords. Others could not tell whether they had martial arts skills or not, but they could see that the five of them were holding swords made in the army. This alone was enough to scare people. In addition, they did not carry any food, so no one took the initiative to approach them along the way.

It was not until the fifth day that the forest was deserted. At noon on the sixth day, the group arrived near Yun Valley.

Wei Qinghe had been exhausted these days. Seeing that they were almost there, his eyes lit up and he turned to his sister and brother-in-law and said, "We'll be there soon. We just need to climb a little further up the mountain."

The Xu family members looked around curiously, trying to find the cave that Xu Wenbo mentioned. Only Shen Jin held the bag on his back very tightly with his hands, and the cloth was tightened by his grip.

Chen Lie and Chen Dashan looked around and found no trace of human beings. The mountains were covered with dense trees. Once they entered the mountains, they soon lost sight of human figures. They were led by Chen Lie and Chen Dashan through many twists and turns and finally stopped at a place. They walked around several large rocks and then fumbled around in one place and uncovered a lid that was exactly the same as the shelter.

As soon as the lid was opened, someone inside spoke up almost instantly: "Who?"

Lu Jilang's voice.

Shen Lie smiled: "Second Uncle Lu, it's me."

Arrange everyone from the Xu family to go down first.

Lu Erlang recognized the deep voice, and then saw a group of people coming down.

He recognized Manager Xu, and there were also two young men who looked somewhat similar to Xu Wenbo. Lu Er realized that they had brought all the members of the Xu family.

He just greeted the shopkeeper, and then saw Wei Lingzhen and Uncle Xu holding Shen Yin and Shen Tie.

Seeing the emaciated Shen Yin and Shen Tie, Lu Erlang's expression changed slightly and he asked Shopkeeper Xu, "Is there a commotion outside?"

Shopkeeper Xu was also looking at the cave. When he heard Lu Erlang ask him this, he nodded and sighed, "Fortunately, A Lie and Da Shan went out this time, otherwise my family and these three children would have died."

Chen Lie and Chen Dashan wiped out some traces outside and were the last to come in with Shen Jin. Lu Erlang didn't say much either. Since no one was left outside, he locked the entrance lid from the inside and led a group of people to the cave entrance.

It was only at this time that the Xu family realized that the secluded place that Chen Lie and his friends were looking for was actually in such a hidden valley.

It was not easy for so many people to go down the valley. Lu Erlang went down first to report the news, and the others had to be brought down one by one by Shen Lie and Chen Dashan or sent down with ropes.

The Xu family and the Shen family are closest to this entrance, so Sang Luo was the first to get the news, and Shen An went to notify the Xu family.

When she heard that Chen Lie had returned, bringing Shopkeeper Xu's family and the Xiao Jin brothers with him, Sang Luo finally felt relieved after being worried for five or six days.

Chen Lie had been away for too long, more than twenty days. Sang Luo felt at ease during the first ten days, but when he hadn't returned after fifteen days, she became more and more worried.

Running out of the cave with Shen Ning, they looked down at the entrance at the sight of Shen Lie climbing down the cliff with a child in his arms. The two of them looked up with joy in their eyes.

Shen Ning had been extremely excited since she heard that Shen Jin and the others were coming. Now that she saw her eldest brother coming down with a child in his arms, she was already guessing: "Sister-in-law, who did you say came down? Tian Ya?"

Seeing that the figure didn't look like him, she guessed, "Is it Xiaotie?"

Sang Luo nodded: "It looks like Xiaotie, we'll know when we get down."

Mrs. Xu and her three children also hurriedly followed Shen An out, all looking excitedly at the cave entrance high up. If they hadn't been worried about not being able to shout in the valley, they would have really wanted to call out.

There is nothing more exciting than family reunion during war.

Chen Lie went down to the bottom of the cliff and turned around to see Sang Luo waiting a few steps away, looking at him with a smile.

He had been away for more than twenty days. Seeing Sang Luo and Xiao An Aning waiting there, his heart felt like it was caressed by a warm breeze. He tightened the heavy iron in his arms, his throat rolling, and took a few steps towards Sang Luo.

"I'm back." After saying this, his throat seemed to be choked. He paused for two breaths before whispering, "I brought Xiao Jin and his brothers back with me. I'll explain the details to you later."

While saying this, he was paying attention to Sang Luo's expression the whole time. He held Chen Tie's hand and was so nervous that a thin layer of sweat appeared on his palms.

Sang Luo had seen Chen Tie's appearance at this moment. He looked completely different from what she remembered. It was no exaggeration to say that he was skin and bones. Moreover, he was still asleep after coming down from the mountain. She guessed that something might have happened, so she nodded and said, "Okay."

He reached out to take the heavy iron.

Chen Lie quickly stepped aside and said, "He hasn't changed his clothes for a while. Let me carry him in. Please make some porridge for him. These kids are starving. I'm afraid their health is damaged. Now they can only eat some porridge to slowly recover."

Sang Luo nodded: "Okay, is there something wrong outside?"

Shen Lie nodded: "Yes, Qiyang County was breached by bandits."

Shen An and Shen Ning on the side were dumbfounded. Even in the most difficult times, they had never been so thin. They could not imagine what had happened. The brother and sister followed their eldest brother and sister-in-law and walked quickly into the cave.

Chen Tie was placed on the bed where Shen Lie slept. It was hot at the moment, so the thick bedding had been put away. Only straw and mats were laid out, and a thin summer blanket was used to cover the bed.

Chen Lie still had to go up to the cave to pick up people, so Chen Ning took the initiative to take over the task of cooking porridge. Sang Luo was also concerned about the situation outside, so she told Chen Ning to cook it lightly, and when it was cooked, crack an egg and make egg drop soup, which would be good for the people.

Shen Ning agreed repeatedly, washing the rice quickly, and occasionally looking back at Shen Tie on the bed.

She was still asleep at this moment, her eyes were a little red. After washing the rice, she quickly lit the stove.

…

Shen Yin and Shen Jin were carried down by Chen Lie and Chen Dashan one after the other. Shen Yin was in much better condition than Chen Tie. Although he was also very thin, his eyes reddened when he saw Sang Luo and Shen An, and he could still call them sister-in-law and second brother. Shen Jin was much more reserved. He called people one by one, looked around the valley carefully, and only dared to look at what was in front of him. He didn't even turn his head to look around.

Chen An saw that Jin, Yin, and Tie had all come down, and stared at Chen Lie in a daze: "Brother, where is Tian Ya?"

After asking the question, he looked up at the cave at the exit and saw that there were still people there.

But Chen Lie just patted Chen An and said, "Take Xiao Jin and Xiao Yin in to rest."

Shen An was stunned there. He looked at Shen Jin, his throat choked, and after a while he asked, "Where's Tian Ya?"

Shen Jin just lowered his head and shed tears, and even Shen Yin's eyes turned red in an instant.

How could Sang Luo not guess it? She patted Shen An, took Shen Jin and Shen Yin by the hand, and said, "Go in first, and we'll talk after you go in."