In the end, the group couldn't come up with a solution and could only continue on their journey.
I don't know if it's because of the cold weather, but there seem to be far fewer wild animals in the forest. They're no longer afraid of insects and snakes and have long since disappeared.
Within the group, young and old alike were filled with speculation and apprehension, causing them to quicken their pace even further.
But these dozen or so mountains cannot be crossed in a day or two by speeding up the pace.
After another three days of travel, the second snow fell.
It snowed for half a day, but the snowflakes didn't melt. When you stepped on them, they almost covered your ankles.
Everyone took out their cotton-padded coats, and those who didn't have cotton-padded coats wrapped themselves in two layers of light clothing.
The Li family was the first to prepare, so of course everyone had cotton-padded clothes, including Uncle Zhao and the others.
Only when Doctor Zhang was "kidnapped" by Ye Shan was he wearing only a single layer of clothing.
Fortunately, the Li family was kind and prepared new jackets and trousers for Uncle Zhao and the others well in advance.
Uncle Zhao wore the old clothes, so he gave the new ones to Doctor Zhang.
He didn't stand on ceremony, dressed warmly, and even urged Zhao Yuru to sew him a hat.
Uncle Zhao and his friends had nothing to do on the road, so they tanned a few wolf skins, but since it was still too short, the skins had a strong fishy smell.
Doctor Zhang didn't mind at all; he wore it on his head day and night without taking it off.
Because it's so cold at night, the most common sound heard in the camp lately is sneezing.
It was another night, and it was especially cold after the snow.
The elderly and children huddled in the shacks, while the men gathered around the campfire to talk. It wasn't that they didn't want to sleep, but they were too cold to sleep.
The village chief and Uncle Zhao gathered everyone together to talk. "It seems we can't leave before the heavy snow closes the mountains. We need to prepare early and find a place to stay for the winter. Otherwise, it will be too late when the elderly and children can't hold on and they all get sick."
Everyone nodded, "It's just too cold. Let alone the elderly and children, we won't be able to stand it for another two days."
Li Lao Er said, “Uncle, we can find a place to stay for the winter. But first, we need to find a sheltered and warm cave, and even one or two won’t be enough. It’s not easy to find a place that suits our tastes. Second, we need to prepare food for the winter. We need to quickly gather mountain produce and collect anything edible. Third, we need to stockpile medicinal herbs in case anyone gets a headache or fever during the winter.”
"The second brother is right. There are three important things to do right now. Let's discuss it and see if we can split up and get settled before the third snowfall."
The village chief tapped his pipe and said, "Captain Liu, you've crossed these mountains. I'll leave the task of finding lodging to you."
“Alright,” Chief Escort Liu readily agreed. “I vaguely remember there’s a similar place just two mountains away, but I can’t be sure. Give me one of my brothers, plus Liu Yang and Jiayi, and I’ll set off at dawn!”
"Alright, you can pick any number of people you like. Just mark the way and we'll follow the trail." The village chief waved his hand, and the matter was settled.
Of course, it was Physician Zhang who led the young men to arrange the gathering of medicinal herbs.
Gathering all edible mountain produce to prepare winter rations became the task of the entire village.
It's only September now; he won't be able to leave the mountain until at least March next year.
There were nearly a hundred people, and they only had enough food for one month left.
In other words, they had to find enough mountain produce in this vast forest to feed the entire village for five months.
This is simply wishful thinking, but we have to do it even if we can't.
Nobody wants the elderly and children to go hungry!
The journey has been incredibly difficult and dangerous; it hasn't been easy to get this far.
We absolutely cannot let all our efforts go to waste!
The women left the cooking to the elderly, and whenever they needed a rest, they would carry their baskets and rush into the woods.
At this point, they were no longer afraid of insects or snakes, nor of black bears or wolves.
Compared to starving to death, none of these things frighten them anymore.
Jiayin had been waiting for this moment. She obediently nestled in her grandmother's arms, gradually leading her mother and aunt away from the group, and then frantically moved the things out of the space.
Apples, pears, piles of chestnuts, dates, a rabbit that committed suicide, and nests of eggs.
Everyone was frantically picking mountain produce: walnuts, chestnuts, wood ear mushrooms, frozen mushrooms—all sorts of things were available.
People also occasionally hunt pheasants, rabbits, and even roe deer.
Therefore, although the things that the Li family mother-in-law and daughter-in-law brought back were novel, they were not too eye-catching.
It's eye-catching, but nobody has time to think about it.
When you're struggling to survive, anything that can fill your stomach is a good thing, regardless of where it comes from.
It's good that it fell from the sky, because it proves that God didn't want them to starve!
And so, walking and stopping, the villagers were all so busy that their eyes were red.
The things the women picked filled four large sleds.
The men weren't idle either; they loaded three sleds with their prey.
In particular, Li Laosi carried back another lone wild boar.
Although these things were still not enough to get through the winter, they gave everyone a great deal of confidence.
After another three days of travel, the weather grew even colder, and a snowstorm began to blow at night.
The crowd huddled together to shield the elderly and children from the wind and snow, and also helped to build more bonfires.
But after one night, more than twenty people still caught a cold.
Five little children, five elderly people, and the rest are all young and middle-aged.
Apart from Old Mrs. Li having a stuffy nose, everyone else in the Li family is fine.
Their padded jackets and trousers were already thick, and Jiayin secretly took out an old cotton quilt at night to make the bedding even thicker.
This was left behind when they left home, and she packed it up.
If you take it out now, no one will pay much attention.
Grandma Li, Tao Hongying, and Zhao Yuru stood between Jia'an and Jiaxi, who were tightly embracing their younger sister.
The two Li brothers, along with Jiaren, Jiayi, and Jiahuan, were on the outermost edge.
The Li family, like an onion, protected Jiayin layer by layer in the middle.
But she couldn't sleep well; her heart was burning with anxiety as she worried about how to get the food out of her spatial storage.
How can we keep our family warm and help them get through the winter safely?
As a result, before she could come up with a solution, another problem arose.
The renowned doctor Zhang led his young boys to gather herbs and prepare medicine, but perhaps they caught a chill from the wind, as they too caught a cold.
Relying on his position as a doctor, he thought it wasn't serious and decided to just drink a bowl of herbal soup to ward off the cold.
But by nightfall, his fever had spiked.
He was already sixty years old, and Ye Shan had tied him to a horse and swayed him all the way to the Li family. After only a few days, he joined the refugee camp.
Even with the best care from the Li family, the children in the remote mountains and forests couldn't eat or sleep well.
It was expected that the old man's body couldn't take it.
But at that moment, he was everyone's protector, and when he suddenly collapsed, everyone panicked.
Li Laosi and his men cut down trees overnight and built a small one next to the Li family's shack. They laid out bedding for the old man separately and lit a small brazier for warmth.
This way, the virus won't infect the Li family, and it's also convenient to take care of them.
Tao Hongying and Zhao Yuru fetched water and applied it to the old man's forehead. Seeing that it was useless, they disregarded all etiquette and unbuttoned the old man's cotton-padded coat, wiping his chest and back.
The old man also gave the villagers the fever-reducing medicine soup he had prepared earlier.
But the old man's fever kept rising, and by midnight he had started talking nonsense.
"Where do you think you're going? I'm going to find out who you are!"
"Tell me, what kind of miraculous medicine cured Ye boy!"
"There's no such thing as a cure-all without medicine!"
Jiayin had been thinking about the old man and secretly came to the shack to check on him, but she overheard all of this as soon as she entered.
Her legs went weak, and she almost fell on the old man.
So, this old man had been trying to find fault with her all along!
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