It was the height of summer, and even the air was scorching hot. The blazing sun shone through the clouds onto the procession that was on its way.
Grandma Zhu was worried that the hot weather would cause her granddaughter and grandson to suffer from heatstroke, so she had them sit on a cart with wild taro leaves held above their heads. The leaves looked a lot like lotus leaves and could block out a lot of the sun.
The daughters-in-law took turns resting on the cart. These past few days, Sun's mind was entirely on medical books, and she would bury herself in them whenever she had a spare moment.
Tao, panting and wiping the sweat from her forehead, was speechless at Sun's actions and shouted at the top of her lungs.
"Third brother's wife, the sun is so bright, don't burn your eyes if you read like that."
"Sister-in-law, it's okay, I'm almost finished reading this book."
Sun casually held up the taro leaf while intently reading the medical book in her hand.
The team has been traveling for the past few days, and no one has had a proper rest. It's clear that the rest of the team is about to collapse.
Even Old Lady Zhu, panting and leaning on a wooden stick, followed shakily behind the cart.
Liu, supporting Old Lady Zhu, anxiously touched her forehead and said worriedly.
"Mom, have you had some water?"
Grandma Zhu was reluctant to drink water; before traveling day and night these past few days, the water in her water bag was almost gone.
Worried that her son, daughter-in-law, and grandchildren wouldn't have enough water to drink, she has been trying to drink as little water as possible these past few days.
She dared not tell her daughter-in-law about secretly hiding water, so she could only nod with a smile.
"You've already drunk it, don't worry."
Although Old Mrs. Zhu made excuses, saying she had already drunk some water, the observant Mrs. Liu still noticed her mother-in-law's chapped lips and quickly took out a water bag and handed it to her.
"Mother, have some more."
Grandma Zhu swallowed hard, hesitated for a moment before taking the water bag, took a small sip perfunctorily, and then twisted the bag shut before handing it back to her daughter-in-law.
"Alright, let's hurry on our way!"
Liu watched her mother-in-law's actions with a pained expression, tied the water bag around her waist, walked towards Sun, and whispered something.
"Jiayan, please persuade Mom. She's not drinking water, and her health will collapse if she continues like this."
Upon hearing this, Sun suddenly looked up at her mother-in-law and indeed found that her mother-in-law's skin was dry, her lips were severely chapped, and even had traces of blood.
She pondered for a moment, put down the medical book in her hand, picked up the ointment she had prepared earlier, climbed down from the cart, and walked towards the front of the group.
She jogged over to Chen Xiang's side and handed him the ointment. "Lord Chen, it's too hot. Your leg injury will fester. You should change the ointment frequently."
"No wonder I always feel a stinging pain in the wound on my foot."
Reminded by Sun, Chen Xiang suddenly realized what was happening and hurriedly took the ointment.
Taking this opportunity, Madam Sun whispered, "Lord Chen, let's find a shady spot. Your wound needs to be treated."
Chen Xiang thought Sun was right and nodded in agreement, "Okay, let's take a break for now."
Upon hearing Chen Xiang's order, the other escorts immediately waved and shouted to the back of the group.
"Let's go into the woods to rest and recuperate."
Under the command of the escorts, the group entered the woods one after another, each finding a shady spot.
Grandma Zhu was worried about her daughter-in-law who had left the group. When she saw her return, she quickly took out a water bag and handed it to her.
"Third son's wife, drink some water."
Sun took the water bag and came to Old Lady Zhu, slowly squatted down, and said with a smile, "Mother, I'm not thirsty, let your daughter-in-law feed you water."
"No need..." Old Mrs. Zhu was about to say no when her daughter-in-law took the water bag and poured several mouthfuls of water into her mouth.
Sun carefully placed the water bag on her mother-in-law's lips and kept it there until she had drunk quite a bit before removing the water bag.
Grandma Zhu knew her daughter-in-law cared about her, so she smiled helplessly and pushed the water bag into her arms, saying, "You drink too."
"Okay, Mother, let me see if there are any herbs nearby to relieve the heat." Madam Sun wanted to take advantage of this rest day to wander around and maybe she could prepare some herbs to relieve the heat for her family.
Old Mrs. Zhu was a little worried about the homeless people in the neighborhood, so she called out to Zhu Chenfeng, "Third son, take Jiayan for a walk around the neighborhood."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Chenfeng quickly stood up and nodded repeatedly, "Okay."
Xixi, who couldn't sleep at all because of the heat, started babbling excitedly when she heard that her uncle and aunt wanted to go for a walk nearby.
[I want to go too, Xixi wants to go too. She's been sleeping on the cart for days, it's so boring.]
Xixi would be very happy if she could wander around.
Liu, who was feeding her daughter rice porridge, smiled helplessly when she heard her daughter muttering.
Helplessly, he picked her up and followed behind Sun and Zhu Chenfeng.
"Third brother, Jiayan, I also need to go in and use the restroom, let's go together!"
The three of them entered the depths of the forest one after the other. Liu handed her daughter over to Sun and then went into the bushes to relieve herself.
Xixi nestled happily in her aunt's arms, tilting her head back and looking around curiously.
However, just as she was excitedly looking around, she unexpectedly saw a very terrifying scene.
The terrifying scene terrified Xixi instantly. She pouted, shrank her neck, and cried.
[It's terrifying! So many dead snakes, and so many crows are eating them.]
The crows' eyes were all red, the carcass was rotting, and insects were flying around it.
[Waaaaah, this is so scary, so disgusting!]
The sound of her niece crying made Sun panic. She frantically shook her body, trying to comfort Xixi.
"ah......"
At the same time, Liu's screams suddenly rang out from deep within the bushes.
Hearing the sound, Zhu Chenfeng turned around and looked at the bushes. He jogged over to the bushes and shouted inside.
"Sister-in-law, sister-in-law? What happened?"
Hearing the shouts, Sun hugged Xixi and ran to Zhu Chenfeng's side, anxiously saying...
"Go in quickly and see if your sister-in-law has encountered something terrible."
If it's really as my niece described, then those crows must have eaten the flesh of a plague-infected corpse, which is why their eyes are red.
Zhu Chenfeng wanted to wait a little longer, but seeing how anxious his wife was, he had no choice but to push aside the bushes and go inside.
After hesitating for a moment, Sun also followed behind Zhu Chenfeng, carrying Xixi in her arms.
The two walked deeper into the grass and saw Liu sitting on the ground, trembling all over, her face pale as she pointed ahead.
Seeing this, Madam Sun quickly picked up Xixi and walked towards her sister-in-law, calling out as she went, "Sister-in-law, what happened?"
"Don't come any closer, there are rotting corpses."
Liu dared not move rashly. She turned around to stop the two from going forward and slowly dragged her body away from the crows that were gnawing on the corpse.
She retreated until she reached the feet of Madam Sun and Zhu Chenfeng, where she slowly climbed up with their help.
Zhu Chenfeng also noticed the crows circling near the rotting corpses not far away. These crows become aggressive once they eat meat, especially when they smell blood.
When he helped his sister-in-law up, he noticed her injured hand, so he couldn't disturb the crows at this moment, otherwise, with just the few of them, they wouldn't be able to deal with the flock of crows.
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