65 Chapter 65

◎No one wants to follow me up the mountain◎

Chapter 65

Listening to the village chief's words, Tang Rufeng and the village chief blurted out the last sentence almost in unison.

Tang Rufeng had done some research on this during this period, but because he was not a professional, he could only make a simple guess and still could not be sure.

But the village chief's words today made him certain of his guess.

Since he is not the only one who can think of this, the attitude of the headman of Shangyou Village is worth pondering.

"Village Chief Dai probably doesn't just want us to help improve the abilities of his villagers, right?"

Thinking about it, Tang Rufeng looked up hesitantly, with doubt in his eyes.

"Don't worry about it for now. He came to us now and asked us to help teach him. He didn't say anything else, so we'll just pretend we don't know."

Hearing Tang Rufeng's question, the village chief waved his hand, indicating that he should not think about it now. Since the other party didn't mention it, they would just pretend that they hadn't guessed it and didn't know.

"Well, that's fine. I can teach them. But if those people want to come into our village, I'd better let my godmother keep a close eye on them. Otherwise, if they become powerful and don't like being bound, they might go down the mountain and do evil, or go back to the upstream village and cause trouble. That would be bad."

After talking with the village chief, Tang Rufeng no longer hesitated and directly agreed to let the people from Shangyou Village come down, and he would help teach them how to improve their abilities.

"Okay, as long as you agree. The old man in Shangyou Village has the ability, so why don't I have it?"

After the conversation ended, the village chief sat down and relaxed, muttering to himself, but his eyes were looking at the tea that Captain Qing had brewed and brought to Tang Rufeng.

"Qingzhi, look, we've been talking for such a long time, and my mouth is dry now. How about you help the village chief make me a cup?"

It's not that he can't make tea himself, but Captain Qingzhi will use his ghost energy to watch when making tea, and know when to do what, and he does it perfectly. The tea he makes is much more delicious than the tea that the village chief brews hastily.

Now that everything is fine, he immediately took a fancy to the other person's tea-making skills.

"The village chief comes here every few days to drink a couple of sips. He remembers you and has already brewed some right over there. I'll get it for you right away."

When Captain Qing heard what the village chief said, he chuckled and flew towards the small corner where tea was being made.

He had already brewed the tea.

It was just that the village chief was so engrossed in his conversation with Tang Rufeng that he would stand up from time to time. He was afraid that if he had just let it go, the village chief would not notice and sweep it away. Fortunately, it was no big deal.

It would be bad to pour a large amount of water directly onto Tang Rufeng's desk.

After hearing Captain Qing's words, the village chief simply waited and watched the other party bring his tea over. As soon as he put it down, he drank a big gulp as if he was extremely thirsty.

Well, he didn't say that he liked drinking this tea. He just wanted to sip it slowly and carefully like Tang Rufeng.

After drinking most of the tea in the cup in a few gulps, the village chief looked at the remaining tea and drank it slowly for a long time before putting down the cup.

"By the way, Village Chief, don't hold your hopes too high. After all, the effect of the seeds is just our current guess. We won't know the specific situation until we get them and plant them."

Watching the village chief finish the tea in the cup and then turn around to rush out to do his business, Tang Rufeng thought of something and whispered to the village chief for precaution.

He was afraid that the village chief would have set his expectations too high at the beginning, and if the seeds later did not meet his expectations by half, he would be disappointed.

The village chief is old, and although his health is much better now, since the changes in the world, even though the entire Daxi Village now lives under the protection of the godmother, the village chief still has many pressures and worries.

I have something on my mind. Even if some of the food I eat now contains spiritual energy and can improve my health, I can't keep up with his efforts if I continue to consume it. I don't want to make myself sick in the end.

"I know. We're just holding onto this hope. If it doesn't work out, we'll just have to wait and see. Given the current situation, the country is definitely thinking more than we are."

Hearing Tang Rufeng's words, the village chief stopped walking out, turned around and smiled at Tang Rufeng and Captain Qingzhi. Just looking at his smile, he seemed very relaxed.

But who knows what he is thinking.

His wife knew that they had lived together since they were young and had several children together.

Although I can't guess all of the village chief's thoughts, I can guess most of his ideas just by looking at his recent behavior.

"If you ask me, you're just overthinking it now. Who can predict what will happen in the future? Even my godmother can't predict it all now."

Seeing the village chief enter the house with a thoughtful look on his face, as if he was thinking about something that he still couldn't figure out and had made all the arrangements, Grandma Shitou gave him some advice.

Compared to the younger generation in the village, her abilities were not particularly aggressive. She could only communicate with plants that had grown brains, nothing more.

The prerequisite for communicating with plants is that the plants themselves learn to speak plant language. Otherwise, she can only feel the emotions of the plants, and can only guess at more thoughts.

What Grandma Shitou said about Ying Huai not being able to fully predict what the future would be like as a result of the subsequent changes was true.

Because Ying Huai could not communicate with the heavenly way here, he could not even ask a question. Everything he knew now was based on the basic knowledge of cultivation that he learned in the Tianyuan Secret Realm of the cultivation world.

But as time went by, the changes in this world gradually developed in a direction that he could not understand. Ying Huai really had no idea what the future would be like.

"You went to ask questions to your godmother again?"

After hearing what his wife said, the village chief came back to his senses, as if he was reminded. He moved closer and asked Grandma Shitou what she knew now.

"I don't know anything, but you know it too. There are so many mutant plants and animals on the mountain right now that I can't even go up there. I can only wander around the village every day, and the plants I can come into contact with are limited.

The reason why my godmother could tell me all this is because I often plant things on the small piece of land next to her.

As Grandma Shitou spoke, she put the newly dried medicinal herbs at hand into a cotton bag.

Recently, changes have occurred in those plants. Even the crops grown in the village fields have mutated, not to mention the medicinal herbs growing on the mountains.

She only brought back so many after seeking the consent of the mutated medicinal herbs that had become spirits.

Not to mention that the changes caused by the mutation of those grains are on the taste buds, but the changes caused by these medicinal herbs that can be used on the body are more obvious.

That is, the efficacy of the medicine has been enhanced, and it also contains spiritual energy. It is obviously a good thing at first glance.

If it weren't for her abilities, and the fact that she had been staying in the mountains for so many years, those plants would have been familiar with her and there was no way they would have waited obediently for her to pick them even though they had mutated and were able to resist.

"By the way, has the kid from our village returned? He said he would go down the mountain to get a doctor, but I don't know if he's found one yet."

Seeing that the village chief didn't say anything, Grandma Shitou thought that she had comforted her husband and directly changed the topic to what she wanted to know.

"They haven't come up yet. I heard from the eldest and his wife that they contacted the doctor down the mountain when the child just came down from the village. But the doctor seemed hesitant in his words, as if he was struggling with whether to go up the mountain or not."

When the village chief heard his wife change the subject, he followed her line of thought and stepped forward to help sort the herbs in the drying basket while speaking.

The villagers he mentioned basically knew something about it.

After all, the children in the village are just going down the mountain, not to participate in any secret mission, so their mobile phones can still be used.

After the mutation, the network was strengthened to prevent signal loss and people from having no way to seek help. They didn't have to worry about poor signal at all in the mountains.

"It's understandable that they're conflicted. After all, the town at the foot of the mountain is where they've lived for decades. It's inevitable that they'll feel reluctant to move so suddenly. We'll see. If they really don't want to come up, then forget it."

When the village chief heard what Grandma Shitou said, he lowered his head and thought for a while, then decided to give up the idea of asking his eldest son to persuade him.

Everyone is responsible for their choices, and he cannot influence other people's decisions, even though the village chief wants to have more doctors in the village who can help the villagers with their illnesses.

The doctor couple at the foot of the mountain have been known for their character and medical skills over the years and are trustworthy, but he doesn't want to force them if they are unwilling.

At worst, I can ask Rufeng to bring out a medical student.

The children in the village are not stupid, they just focus their attention in different places.

Just like their boy Gangduan, he has an unusually good brain. During this period, when Grandma Shitou was busy on her own and there was no one around to help her with the collection of herbs, it was Gangduan who stepped forward to help.

He has a good brain and basically remembers all the herbs that Shitou Grandma mentioned once or twice. He can also remember where these herbs are placed. According to Shitou Grandma's placement habits, he arranges them in different categories to make it easier for Shitou Grandma to find them in the future.

It was because of this incident that the village chief paid attention to Gangduan's brain.

Before, the village chief stayed in the village all year round. Even though he knew that Gangduan was smart, he only focused on his academic ability.

But now, there is no need to think about going to school for the time being. The children who returned to Daxi Village have been having fun for a while because they don’t have to go to school.

There is no proper school in Daxi Village, so it is impossible to send children there and have them supervised.

In the past two days, the village chief has been thinking of asking the villagers to work together to build a house on a small piece of land in the center of the village, so that his youngest son and daughter-in-law can go in and work as teachers for a few days.

The couple both had teaching certificates and often tutored other people's children when they were in the city. As long as the courses were not highly professional, such as college or university courses, they had no problem with them.

Look at the twins who used to like running around with their older brothers and sisters these days. Now they look clean and fair, and as cute as soft buns.

Because his mother is taking care of him, not only have his abilities improved, but he has also gained better control over his abilities. He no longer throws water balloons or mud balls when he is angry with his brother, or when the twins have a fight among themselves.

That's more than just being well-behaved.

"Your thoughts are all based on one thing, so go and talk to them yourself. I can't really tell what they're thinking."

After hearing what the village chief said to her about his youngest son and his wife, Grandma Shitou shook her head and muttered.

"Gangbi, your parents must be bored staying at home lately. How about I find something for them to do?"

Seeing that his wife was not going to get involved, the village chief turned to look at Gangduan, who was squatting quietly sorting medicinal herbs, and asked him a question.

"Grandpa, you have to ask my parents yourself. They shouldn't be that free lately, right? Aren't they still taking care of my two younger sisters?"

Hearing his grandfather's voice, Gangbi put the herbs in his hand aside, making sure that he would not make any mistakes when he came back to divide them later. Then he stood up, walked to the village chief, squatted down and watched him answer.

His grandfather was going to talk to him, and the conversation might take quite a while. Gangduan was not used to multitasking and was afraid that he would make mistakes, so he simply gave up one of the options and concentrated on squatting next to the village chief and talking to him.

"You didn't even notice this?" The village chief was incredulous.

"Your parents are so bored these days. They've been wandering around the village with one of the twins in their arms these past few days. Every now and then they go to the fields to help water and till the soil. Since they don't have to do anything, they just watch the twins use their abilities to till the soil."

At this point, the village chief was speechless. His youngest son and his wife really didn't treat the child as a child when taking care of him.

It was as if he had come across a fun and novel toy and he had to pester the children to perform for him.

In their words, children are born to play.

If it weren't for the fact that they usually care so much about their children's education, food and clothing, the village chief would have wanted to beat his son as soon as he expressed this idea.

He can't beat his daughter-in-law. After all, she was not raised by him. She came from thousands of miles away to marry him, raise children and take care of the family. He definitely can't show her a bad temper.

But my son is different. He doesn’t feel any psychological burden when he hits me.

"Well...I haven't played with my sisters in a long time."

Speaking of his own sister, Gangduan also has some thoughts about her.

These days his parents always assign him homework. He is so busy with the homework that he can't play with Brother Shitou. When he finishes his homework, Brother Shitou and the others have gone off to play, so he can only stay at home and continue to play with his elders.

Because he had more free time, he almost memorized all the medicinal herbs that his grandmother brought back from home.

Now he is waiting for the day when his grandmother will be free to take him around the village to see if there are any fresh plants for him to pick.

After chatting with Gangbi for a while and confirming that he could not provide any advice, the village chief chose to give up and planned to wait for his youngest son and his wife to come back in the evening before talking to them in person.

The children in the village are still very fun. Anyway, the villagers are busy with farming recently and have no time to take care of the children. It’s the same to put the children next to my youngest son and his wife and let them play with them.

It doesn't matter how you play, it's just about bringing two adults who are almost bored. It's not like Shitou and the others haven't brought them along before.

Tangtang, Ranran, aren’t you all grown-up kids now?

Thinking about it, the village chief nodded, confirming that his idea was very feasible. Then he stood up and walked aside to wash his hands.

"I'm going to find someone now. We don't have that much stuff left here. If you can't move it, just leave it there and wait for the boss and the others to come back and help you move it."

Having said that, the village chief went out in a hurry.

Grandma Shitou looked at him, who had just returned home and was now going out again, and sighed helplessly.

How come this is becoming more and more unstable?

Thinking about it, Granny Shitou turned around and said, "Where did you put the coins just now? Let me see. The medicinal materials nowadays are better than before. If something else is mixed in by mistake and it is not noticed when decocting the medicine, it will easily cause trouble."

As she spoke, Grandma Shitou tied up the herbs she had gathered and put them aside, waiting for her eldest son and others to come back and help put them in the storage room. She then walked to the position where Gangbi was squatting in front of her, watching him pick up the sorted herbs and carefully distinguish them.

"That's amazing! You got it all right. It would be great if there was a doctor down the mountain who could come up. He could even send some supplies and ask someone to help teach you. If nothing else, you'll know some daily procedures, which will definitely be useful when you grow up."

As Grandma Shitou spoke, her eyes went blank, as if she was looking into the distance at the future of the children at home.

Neither the Wu family nor any other family in the village had ever thought of keeping their children by their side for their entire lives.

I'm not thinking about letting anyone out right now, but I'm still not sure what's going on in this world right now.

The external situation is still unclear, so parents will inevitably be cautious.

Those children who have grown up will be treated more strictly and will not be allowed to go down the mountain, participate in rescue operations at the foot of the mountain, or eliminate mutated plants and animals.

On the contrary, the younger children in the village are not so strictly controlled by their parents, and many things are relaxed to allow them to explore on their own.

At their age, they are able to adapt to the world most quickly, so being too restrained is not a good thing.

According to the old man's idea, if he let his youngest son and his wife be teachers to look after the children in the village, and teach them according to their own ideas, wouldn't the children be made to cry?

When their own children cry, at least their parents are there to comfort them. Even though it is their own parents who make the children cry, at least they can calm them down.

If a child in the village was teased and cried, we would have to run across half the village to find the parents.

You can imagine how lively the village will be by then.

"Your grandfather has never really thought about how much evil your parents have underneath their seemingly steady and gentle demeanor."

Anticipating the dire straits that the children in the village might face in the future, Grandma Shitou spoke softly to Gangbi.

"Grandpa should know, but when my parents were tutoring other children in the city, no parents ever complained, so Grandpa thought my parents were really suitable for tutoring other people's children."

Gangduan looked at the medicinal herbs in his grandmother's hand seriously. After hearing what his grandmother said, he tilted his head and thought carefully about his parents' life in the city before, and briefly talked about it.

"They are the same. After all, they are other people's children, and they are the ones who pay them. How could they bother to make such a fuss? These children in the village are different. The families in the village have good relationships and treat their children as if they were half their own."

Grandma shook her head and watched Gangbian put the remaining herbs into the cloth bag. Only then did she stand up with relief, put away the winnowing baskets used for drying herbs, and put them in the storage room.

After listening to his grandmother's words, Gangduan tilted his head and thought about how the aunts and grandmothers in the village usually treated children like them, as if they were really coaxing them as their own younger generations.

Of course, there are also some people who like to tease children. Fortunately, after making them cry, they will always take out some delicious food to comfort them. Only when they see the children smiling will they feel relieved.

The gentle face of his father and the tender face of his mother appeared in his mind, and Gangduan inexplicably felt that his future life would be particularly lively.

The younger generation who had gone down the mountain and were mentioned by the village chief and Stone Grandma were now strolling around the town.

Originally, they went down the mountain planning to rest for one night and then go straight up the mountain the next day, but unexpectedly, their trip was not smooth.

The first thing they did when they got up the next day was to send a few people to the market to buy things they needed to bring up the mountain. The rest, including the younger one who went down the mountain specifically to find an obstetrician who could deliver the baby, looked at the time and headed in that direction as soon as they got to work at the health center.

They weren't very clear about other doctors, but they knew where doctors usually gathered.

So when they went down the mountain, they didn't even think about going anywhere else and went straight to the health center.

But when they actually arrived at the health center, they found the doctors before they started seeing patients and stated their demands. The doctors in the hospital looked at each other in bewilderment.

Another older doctor was a little hesitant when he heard them say that the woman at home could not give birth at the health center and had to ask someone to deliver the baby at home.

But after understanding the situation clearly and hearing these people say that they were on the mountain and the woman's belly was already too big to move down the mountain at all, he hesitated for a while and chose to keep quiet.

She originally thought that if the place was not far from the town, she could still go to the mother's home to help with the delivery for the sake of the mother and the unborn child.

But now that she heard it was on the mountain, she gave up.

Now, not to mention that giving birth is a journey through the gates of hell, she took the risk of going to the mother's home to deliver the baby because of the lack of medical facilities. What if something unexpected happened? In an unfamiliar place, her family probably wouldn't be able to find her if something happened.

Of course, the most important point is that the woman in labor is on the mountain.

Everyone in the town knew about the changes happening outside. Even if they were to eat a scallion at home, they would carefully examine it to make sure it was okay before eating it.

Not to mention the dangers of mutated plants and animals outside that she might face at any time. She really didn't want to live long enough, so she was so impulsive and went forward without caring about her family.

It is true that a doctor's duty is to save lives and heal the wounded, but she is selfish. She has family and children at home. Knowing that the danger may involve her own life, she is reluctant to go.

The group of people from Daxi Village who came down the mountain just looked at the doctors without saying a word. When it was time to go to work and see patients, they turned around and went to see other patients.

They were a little anxious because they had visited the doctor several times but had not found a doctor willing to make a visit.

Finally, a young nurse who was left behind looked at them cautiously, and then she mustered up the courage to explain to them.

"Giving birth is difficult for girls. If you don't send the baby to the hospital and give birth at home, not to mention whether the birthing environment at home is suitable, if something goes wrong, there won't even be emergency equipment or resources. It's very easy to get into trouble. I suggest you ask the authorities if there is a team that can help carry the mother down."

After the young nurse finished speaking, she looked at a few people cautiously, knowing that these words were a rejection. What if the other party got emotional and hit her?

Fortunately, no matter how upset the young men in Daxi Village were, they were still good-tempered and would not vent their anger on strangers who kindly reminded them.

Seeing that there was a look of dejection in their brows, the nurse made sure that they would not have any bad intentions, and then hurried away.

"Let's go and look for it with the authorities. What if there's a solution?"

Looking at the man standing behind him with a look of self-blame on his face, the brother who led the way down the mountain patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't blame yourself. When we first returned to the village, no one could have imagined things would be like this. Even going down the mountain was difficult. The current situation is truly force majeure. What we need most now is to find a way to salvage it before it becomes a bigger crisis."

As he said this, he turned the person around and pushed him out of the clinic.

"Let's go. I remember Tang Tang just mentioned that the town government has issued a call for people with special abilities. There should be quite a few people showing up by now, right? Maybe someone can help us get your wife down the mountain?"

The people nearby listened to his words of comfort and nodded in agreement, looking at their fellow villager who was being pushed ahead with worry in their eyes.