After Old Man Sun's intervention, the others rushed forward and began punching and kicking Wang Ergou until he lay on the ground begging for mercy.
"Oh dear, I was wrong, fellow villagers, uncles and aunts, please stop hitting me, I, I was just talking nonsense, please, please let me go."
Hearing the screams and seeing that someone would die if the beating continued, Old Liu quickly called for a stop, "Alright, stop it, don't fight anymore, someone will die."
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately stopped.
Old Man Sun was still not satisfied and slapped Wang Ergou across the face, cursing, "You little bastard, you're acting like a grandpa in front of us. I think you deserve a beating."
As he spoke, he was about to kick the person on the ground again.
Liu Dayong rushed forward and grabbed the person, using all his strength to subdue him.
Seeing this, Wang Ergou quickly got up from the ground and ran towards the nearby woods in a panic, regretting that he had come up the mountain early in the morning to get beaten up.
When Jiang Yimian and Gou Sheng arrived, this was the scene they saw. Everyone was furious and cursing under their breath.
After finding out what happened, Jiang Yimian frowned. She knew that the sly one must know the other way up the mountain. The mud and sand blocking the way down the mountain could only stop people from outside the village, not those who had been familiar with the village and the mountains since childhood.
After thinking for a moment, she said to Old Man Liu, "Grandpa Liu, Wang Ergou knows the way up the mountain. He was beaten up by you today, so he must be holding a grudge. He might lead the villagers up the mountain. Why don't you leave with me? It's not safe here anymore."
Over the course of her time with them, she could sense the kindness and simplicity of the people on the mountain. Every family had its own hardships, yet they persevered and lived on tenaciously. She didn't want to watch more than a dozen lives perish like that.
In the past, she wouldn't have even offered this advice, but after spending so much time with Wang Fengqin and the others, her hardened heart has softened considerably.
Before Old Man Liu could speak, Old Man Sun spoke first, his face flushed with anger, saying, "If he dares to come again, I'll break his legs. He's even threatening us! Bah! Jiang girl, if you're scared, just leave. The things in that forest might be even more terrifying than the people down the mountain."
I'm not leaving, anyway. I don't want to get eaten by wolves before I even find a place to stay; then no one will come to my rescue.
He didn't believe that Wang Ergou would dare to bring people up here. Although that bastard was despicable, he wouldn't be so bold.
After all, he had watched the other person grow up, so he knew what kind of person the other person was: bullying the weak and fearing the strong, a little scheming, but not a bad person at heart.
It's different in the deep forest; those beasts don't have any humanity.
The others shared the same thought: if Wang Ergou really wanted to tell the people down the mountain about their whereabouts, he wouldn't have come up the mountain alone today. After today's beating, that guy probably wouldn't dare to come up the mountain again.
Seeing that Jiang Yimian and her family were really leaving, Old Liu sighed, "Jiang girl, you don't know how deep this forest is. There are countless dangers inside. There is no absolutely safe place. Why don't you stay here with us for a while and wait for the war to pass?"
When he was a child, he witnessed a hunter in the village being injured by a large tiger in the mountains. One of his legs was gone, and the wound was covered in blood and looked horrible.
He vowed then never to venture into the deep mountains, and naturally, he holds the same thought now.
Seeing that she couldn't convince anyone, Jiang Yimian stopped talking and told them it would be best to continue sending people to patrol in the coming days before leaving.
She has said what she needed to say, and if anything really happens, she will have a clear conscience.
However, not long after she left, the two people hiding in the woods also sneaked down the mountain.
*
When Jiang Yimian returned to the shack, Wang Fengqin had already packed her things and was talking to Liu Xiaoyun.
Seeing her family's original shack disappear, leaving only some branches used to support it and a bamboo bed, Jiang Yimian felt a sense of emptiness in her heart.
As expected, she was influenced by the Jiang and Chen families; she was even a little reluctant to part with them.
Suppressing her sadness, she secretly put the bamboo bed into her spatial storage when no one was looking.
The cave was full of cold, hard rocks, and it was even colder to sleep on the ground than on this earth. Too lazy to find bamboo again, she brought the bamboo plank with her.
After doing all this, Jiang Yimian carried her basket and bundle and left with Wang Fengqin and the others.
Fortunately, it was a cloudy day, without a strong sun, and a gentle breeze occasionally blew through the mountains, making it quite cool.
They passed through several dense forests along the way. At first, Wang Fengqin and her companions were a little scared, fearing that they might encounter some wild animals. Later, they relaxed and, apart from hearing some birdsong, they didn't encounter any animals or even small insects.
Gradually, the group relaxed, and Xiao Ye and Xiao Nuan'er quickly forgot about their separation. They skipped and jumped all the way, as if they were on a spring outing.
Jiang Yimian breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this, marveling at the effectiveness of her insect repellent powder. She had sprayed it once yesterday and continued to do so along the roadside today, which had indeed driven away the snakes, insects, rats, and the like.
The group had been walking for almost two hours and were already covered in sweat.
Seeing that there was still a little more to go, Jiang Yimian relaxed considerably and simply told the group to find a dry spot to sit down and rest, and have a meal.
Lunch was wild vegetable pancakes that Wang Fengqin had made that morning. However, unlike before, they contained not only plenty of flour but also some minced meat, making them extremely delicious.
After eating a wild vegetable and meat pie and drinking some water, everyone was quite full.
Seeing that it was still early, Jiang Yimian wasn't in a hurry to continue her journey. While resting, she told him about Wang Ergou's trip up the mountain.
Wang Fengqin was expected to worry that Wang Ergou would talk about the people on the mountain, but to her surprise, she shared the same thoughts as everyone else in the village.
"That guy isn't a good person, but he's not that much of a bastard. Since he didn't lead people up the mountain this time, he certainly won't betray us again. He's a pitiful kid too."
Wang Fengqin sighed and didn't mention Wang Ergou anymore.
Jiang Yimian was a little surprised, but she didn't take it to heart. Seeing that she had rested enough, she carried her things and set off.
They thought it would take three hours, but they arrived at the cave in just two and a half hours by stopping and starting along the way.
These days, Wang Fengqin's health has improved considerably. She is no longer so weak and no longer needs Jiang Yimian to carry her. She carried her bundle and persevered all the way.
Aside from being a little pale from exhaustion, there were no other symptoms.
Needless to say, the two younger ones have been running around on the mountain these days and are much stronger. They are just a little tired now, and soon they are looking around in the cave.
On the way, Jiang Yimian mentioned that they had found many good things in the cave, including food and cloth, which reassured them that they didn't need to worry about food.
So much so that the two little ones got excited as soon as they entered the cave, and when they saw the basket full of meat, they beamed with joy.
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