Seeing this, Old Lady Zhu stopped dawdling and quickened her pace to enter the cave.
After entering the cave, everyone hurriedly blocked the entrance with all the branches that had been piled up beside it.
Just then, bandits wielding large knives appeared near the cave. Due to the darkness and the obstruction of tree branches, they were able to escape.
The bandits didn't notice the cave beside them; they just kept hacking at the bushes with their broadswords.
"They must still be in the bushes, trying to lure people out with fire."
One of the bandits walked over carrying a torch and handed it to the bandit standing in front of the bushes.
After taking the torch, the bandits lit the bushes without hesitation. Then, they retreated to a spot not far from the bushes and quietly observed their surroundings.
After seeing what was happening outside the cave, the people hiding inside didn't dare to breathe, covering their mouths and hiding in fear inside the cave entrance.
As the fire grew larger, the bandits gradually lost patience and, cursing, headed towards another mountain path.
After seeing the bandits disappear outside the cave, Old Lady Zhu hurriedly turned to look at her son and whispered something.
"The fire outside the cave must be extinguished, otherwise it could easily burn inside."
"Mother, it's not safe to go out now. We don't even know if the bandits have gone far."
Tao stood in front of the tree branch, parted the branches to look out, and complained in a low voice.
"That's true, it is indeed a bit dangerous to go out now."
After hearing her daughter-in-law's complaints, Old Mrs. Zhu pursed her lips helplessly, sighed, and nodded.
Although Zhu Chenfeng and Zhu Haotian really wanted to go out, they were also worried that blindly going out would attract bandits.
So they had no choice but to lean against the stone wall, anxiously watching the raging fire outside the cave.
Nestled in her mother's arms, Zhu Xixi looked at the somber atmosphere in the cave, her chubby face showing worry. She blinked her big eyes and curiously looked out of the cave.
She surveyed the area outside the cave and, after confirming there were no bandits, began to sob, tears welling in her eyes.
There are no bad guys, there are no bad guys, you can leave now.
If we don't get out of here soon, we'll turn into roast suckling pigs!
It will look ugly and terrible!
Upon hearing her daughter's heartfelt words, Madam Liu instantly understood and looked at everyone with a hesitant expression.
Noticing that Liu seemed hesitant to speak, Sun asked curiously, "Sister-in-law, do you have something to say?"
"I think that with the fire outside so big right now, it's unlikely that bandits are nearby, because it would be easy for them to get burned."
"So, if we put it out in time, the fire will reach the cave in less than 15 minutes, and then we won't be able to get out."
Naturally, Madam Liu dared not voice her daughter's true feelings, so she could only slowly and methodically analyze the pros and cons for everyone.
Grandma Zhu agreed with her daughter-in-law's analysis and nodded with a serious face, "That's right, since we're going to die anyway, we might as well take a gamble and try to find a way to survive."
“Okay, then we’ll go out and put out the fire, you guys stay in the cave.” Zhu Haotian couldn’t sit still any longer and hurriedly stood up to volunteer.
Seeing this, Zhu Chenfeng quickly stood up and nodded to Old Madam Zhu and the others.
Seeing this, Liu quickly unwrapped the cloth from her chest and handed Zhu Xixi to Old Madam Zhu, saying, "Mother, I'm leaving Xixi with you. I'm going to help my second and third brothers. More people means more hope."
“We’ll go too.” Zhu Dabao and Zhu Xiaobao saw their mother stand up and bravely raised their hands as well.
Although Sun and Tao were afraid, they were even more afraid of being trapped and dying in the cave with no chance of survival.
After seeing everyone volunteer to go out, he also stood up and looked at Grandma Zhu.
"Mother, I want to go too."
"And me too."
Seeing how united everyone's sons and daughters-in-law were, Grandma Zhu felt very gratified and nodded to them with a smile.
"Well done, descendants of the Zhu family. Be careful, and come back if anything seems amiss."
Encouraged by Grandma Zhu, everyone worked together to clear away the branches and come outside the cave, where they neatly and orderly spread the sand on the fire.
After an hour, the fire outside the cave was finally extinguished, and the group dragged their exhausted bodies back into the cave.
Grandma Zhu looked at everyone with heartache and said in a choked voice, "Thank you all for your hard work. It's almost dawn, so please get some rest."
The group, exhausted from a night of fleeing, quickly fell asleep.
Meanwhile, the bandits, having failed to find Old Lady Zhu's family, also returned in disappointment, dragging their wounded bandits back to their stronghold.
Before returning to the mountain stronghold, the scarred man went into a secluded spot in the woods and found the woman standing in the shadows.
“You didn’t say these people had gunpowder. This time, I lost seven or eight of my brothers.”
The woman, cloaked and hidden in the shadows, slowly turned around and replied in a low voice, "That's because you underestimated me. It's not my fault."
"I don't care, you have to pay more. Don't even think about leaving without eight hundred taels!" The scarred man didn't want to listen to the woman's explanation. He angrily waved his large knife and shouted a warning.
The woman hesitated for a moment, then took out a stack of silver notes from her cloak and handed them to the bandit, saying irritably.
"Since you've taken the money, you have to do the job well. Don't let them get away next time."
Scarface was surprised that the woman actually took out eight hundred taels of silver. A smile instantly appeared on his face, and he quickly took the silver notes.
"It seems you really hate these people, and you're willing to do anything to get rid of them."
"They're just a bunch of scum, they're all going to die sooner or later, but I don't want them to die so easily."
After the scarred man took the silver note, the woman glared fiercely at the bandit and turned to leave.
The next day.
As dawn broke, blinding white light shone through the branches into the cave.
Zhu Xixi also woke up from her daze. After using her telescope to check the situation at the camp, she cried anxiously.
[Waaaaah, why isn't anyone up yet? It's already daylight!]
If we don't get up soon, the officials will misunderstand us and accuse us of colluding with bandits.
Xi Xi's chattering voice woke Grandma Zhu from her sleep, and she groggily glanced at the sky through the gaps in the tree branches.
Then, she hurriedly shook her son and daughter-in-law awake, saying, "Everyone, wake up, it's dawn."
Zhu Chenfeng was the first to wake up after being reminded by Grandma Zhu. He rubbed his sore shoulders and looked outside curiously.
Upon seeing that it was already bright daylight, he excitedly woke up Zhu Haotian beside him.
"Second brother, it's dawn, let's hurry back."
Reminded by the two, the previously dazed group woke up and quickly got up from the ground.
Outside the cave, there was dust from the fire being extinguished, and when a breeze blew, the black dust was blown towards everyone.
The more Grandma Zhu looked, the more she felt something was wrong, so she quickly told everyone to go back into the cave.
"Come back quickly."
Confused and bewildered, the crowd slunk back into the cave after hearing what Old Lady Zhu said.
"Mother, judging by the time, it's almost Chen Shi (7-9 AM). If we don't go back soon, the escorts might cause us trouble."
Zhu Chenfeng didn't understand why Old Lady Zhu wanted everyone to go back into the cave. He frowned and explained uneasily.
Grandma Zhu knew it was getting late, but the dust outside was so thick that everyone who went out blindly died of suffocation from inhaling the dust before even returning to camp.
"The dust outside is too thick. Do you have any water bottles? We'll pour water onto our handkerchiefs and cover our mouths and noses before going out."
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