After a night of rest, they continued on their journey at daybreak. The men were injured, so they emptied half of the food from their backpacks onto the oxcarts.
Chen Feng and Zhao Yiming couldn't be carried at all. Tian An originally wanted to take Zhao Yiming's food and put it in the space anyway. Unfortunately, the target was too big and it didn't work at all. He could only put it all in the ox cart.
There were so many disaster victims in Ganzhou. They were carrying weapons all the way, and the injuries on their faces showed that they had been in a fight. At first glance, they looked like desperadoes, which was quite intimidating.
No matter how much the victims envied their ox carts, they had to consider whether they could defeat them.
Some fearless people wanted to provoke, but Deng Yuan killed them as an example. He drew out his long knife and slashed the back of the knife on the arm, then turned the blade over as if he was holding it wrong, ready to strike again.
Although the blade didn't bleed, it still hurt! After witnessing Deng Yuan's ruthlessness, those who wanted to rush forward to grab things were frightened and retreated repeatedly, which actually helped clear the way for them.
This kind of intimidation happened almost every day, and Deng Yuan's ability to bluff people was perfected. From then on, he could scare people with just a gesture or a look.
Everyone was injured and walked slowly. It would have taken them five days to leave Ganzhou, but this time it took them three more days.
After leaving Ganzhou, they entered Hengzhou. Hengzhou was close to Ganzhou, and although it was also dry, it was better than Ganzhou. Along the way, they could still come across rivers with water and half-dried grass, which at least gave their cows and donkeys enough food.
If they came across a suitable place, they could stop and cook some meat. Chen Feng and his companions had previously bought half a pig from Yuncheng, and Tian An had it salted. With the cooler weather, the bacon could be preserved for a long time even without being smoked.
However, they heard along the way that there were many beggars in the Hengzhou area, and many children died while walking. Tian An and his friends also met a crazy woman on the road who had gone mad because her child was beggared and her brain was stimulated.
Everyone was so scared that they stared at the children the whole day. Fortunately, the food was getting less and less, and there was a lot of space on the ox cart. When they were on the road, the children sat on the ox cart. Even when they were resting, they could only move around in the circle formed by everyone.
On the fifth day after entering Hengzhou, at dusk, a strong wind suddenly blew and dark clouds rolled in the sky, a sign that a storm was coming.
Zhao Yiming finally led everyone to a dilapidated temple. As soon as they entered, a carriage arrived.
Seeing the oxcart at the gate and the guards Liu Da, Tian Gang, and Dashan, the three wanted to retreat and find another place to take shelter. However, the raindrops as big as beans began to fall heavily. The visitor could only clasp his fists with the three men and then shamelessly lead the two men who jumped off the carriage into the ruined temple.
Liu Da and the other two thought that this dilapidated temple was not theirs, so there was no reason to drive others away. Besides, they had more people on their side and were not afraid of them, so they ignored them and were busy pulling the ox cart to a place where they could shelter from the rain.
The three people who entered the dilapidated temple obviously did not expect that there were so many people inside. They were stunned for a moment, and then they reacted and wanted to retreat. However, the rain outside was already heavy at this time, and it looked like it would not stop in a short time, so they could only grit their teeth and stay.
When Tian An and the others saw three strangers coming in, they cautiously called the children back and told them not to run around.
In this way, the two gangs in the dilapidated temple were on guard against each other, doing their own things without disturbing each other.
After dinner was ready, Zhao Yiming asked Dashu, Wu Zhuang and Deng Yuan, who had finished eating first, to go out and let Liu Da and the others take over for dinner.
A tall and strong middle-aged man came out from the opposite side, and a middle-aged woman came in after a while.
The woman was also shocked to see so many people gathered with Tian An, but after she came to her senses, she smiled at them, looking like a kind aunt next door.
It's just that his eyes would glance towards them from time to time, not at the men, not at the women, but only at the children. Occasionally, when he was caught, he would just laugh twice and jokingly praise the children, "The eldest sister's children are raised very well, they are so adorable."
No one spoke to her, but she didn't get angry and just ate the dry food in her hand.
They were already on guard against a few people, and seeing the woman acting like this, they regarded her as a thorn in their side. At night, three people kept watch, the men slept on the outside, and the woman and the children slept in the corner.
In the middle of the night, Xiaokang woke up and said she wanted to go to the bathroom. As Tian An just sat up, Zhao Yiming asked her to sleep on her own and he would accompany Xiaokang.
Despite this, Tian An still waited for Xiaokang to come back before holding him and continuing to sleep.
Unexpectedly, as soon as Tian An closed her eyes, Xiaokang leaned over to her ear and whispered that when he went out just now, he heard a child crying in the carriage outside.
Tian An patted him and whispered, "It might be someone else's child making a fuss in the middle of the night. Don't meddle in other people's business. Go to sleep."
Xiaokang muttered, "His children are really naughty. They're making a lot of noise so late at night."
"Guys? Are there many children in the carriage?" Tian An asked, opening his eyes.
Xiaokang waved his hand, closed his eyes and murmured softly, "I don't know, it seemed like there were a lot. As soon as I approached the carriage, the uncle inside came out and asked me to go away. When he pulled the carriage curtain, I saw several children, but I couldn't see how many there were."
Tian An's heart skipped a beat, and he looked at the woman across from him by the fire. The child was crying, but the woman was sleeping soundly, and she didn't let the child get off the carriage to eat at night. This was obviously not right.
It seems that these people have serious problems. They might be the human traffickers they have been wary of.
Tian An hurriedly told Xiao Kang, "From now on, you can't leave your sister's sight. No matter what you do, you must tell your sister."
Xiaokang said "Okay" sleepily and fell asleep. Tian An, however, could no longer fall asleep. Thinking about the abnormal behavior of several people today, and considering what Xiaokang said, Tian An was more and more certain that these people were human traffickers. The children in the carriage must have been captured by them.
What should I do? Should I save him?
There were only four people on the other side, one of whom was a woman. We definitely had the advantage in numbers, but who knew if they had any other helpers?
What if this was a large-scale trafficking ring? While their numbers were large, two-thirds were elderly, weak, women, and children. If they risked their lives to save these children, like the strong man and the scarred man before, they would be in trouble.
She was lucky enough to meet a general last time, but she wasn't always so lucky. If she implicated everyone, she would be guilty of a serious crime.
But if she didn't save him, the education she received in her previous life made it impossible for her to turn a blind eye.
For the entire night, Tian An's mind was like a battle between heaven and man, with the two villains fighting fiercely.
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