Chapter 4 Leaving Dahe Village
Xu Nian felt like he was woken up just after he fell asleep.
Looking at the gray sky outside the window, Xu Nian woke up and left the house.
The family hurriedly ate some dry food with hot water. The dry food was not only hard but also sore to the throat. Xu Nian did not pretend to be rude and finished a cake in just a few bites.
After dinner, the men in the family put their packed bags into the cart.
The valuables such as dry food were put into the donkey cart. This donkey was bought for the convenience of Xu Yaozu's studies.
When I bought it, it was a five-year-old donkey. Seven or eight years have passed, and now it is at the age when it can do things.
After everything was ready, everyone went out of the yard together.
Wang walked at the end and locked the door, as if everyone was just going out for a long journey and would be back soon.
In this way, looking back every few steps, the Xu family arrived at the gathering point at the entrance of the village.
Although it was already dawn, many houses had already arrived. Xu Nian looked at them one by one and found that they were all with their families.
In the past, the villagers would have talked about Xu Nian when they saw him, but now everyone is so frightened that they don't have the energy to gossip.
When the time came, the village chief began to count the number of people, and finally decided that there were 19 households in Dahe Village, with a total of 218 people, who would go north together.
Although Xu Nian didn't know how many people there were in Dahe Village, he knew there would not be only these nineteen households.
Without waiting for further thought, the village chief had already started to lecture me.
"We are fleeing this time, so everyone must obey my orders. Anyone who refuses to obey can leave the team now."
Seeing that no one objected, the village chief continued, "Now check your bags again and throw away anything useless. Otherwise, if anyone gets left behind on the road, don't blame me for not caring about the friendship between fellow villagers."
Xu Nian stood on tiptoe and looked over the crowd at the village chief in front of him. He was about the same age as Old Man Xu, but his aura was quite strong and he did not look like a farmer.
Xu Weian saw his niece stretching her neck like a goose and couldn't help but laugh and asked, "What are you looking at?"
"The village chief is really amazing." Xu Nian said to himself.
"Of course. Uncle Wang was on the battlefield when he was young."
No wonder the village chief looked so imposing when he was scolding.
It was not until the village chief said to start that everyone's emotions seemed to have found an outlet. Not only did the women and children cry, but even the five-foot-tall men had tears in their eyes.
Old Man Xu knelt down facing the back mountain, and other members of the Xu family also knelt down one after another. Xu Nian didn't know why, but he did the same without hesitation.
Only after he kowtowed three times did he stand up and follow the main force.
Finally, she learned from her uncle that the back mountain was the burial place of the Xu family's ancestors.
Everyone spent the whole morning rushing along, and not a single sound was heard in the team.
At the front of the main force were the village chief's family and several hunter kings.
They were not walking on the official road, but on a sparsely populated path, because Wang the Hunter was experienced, and at least so far they had not taken a wrong turn.
The fifteen members of the Xu family were in the middle of the team. Although they had a donkey cart, the stuff almost filled up all the space. Apart from Old Man Xu who was trying to catch the car, there was only five-year-old Xu Cai who was stuffed in a corner of the car.
Xu Nian raised her hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead. Her legs felt as if they were filled with lead. She couldn't help but complain in her heart: When will this day end?
However, Xu Nian really admired the children of the Xu family. From the little Xu Ling to the unhealthy Xu Kang and Xu Jian, none of them complained this morning.
It’s hard to imagine that the children here are so precocious and sensible.
The troops did not stop until they heard the village chief say that it was time to rest for an incense stick of time.
Xu Nian sat down right there, not caring whether it was clean or dirty, she just wanted to breathe a sigh of relief.
Xu Yaozu did not rest, but asked everyone in the family to get up and stretch their muscles, otherwise they would not be able to walk soon.
Xu Nian couldn't help but sigh that her father was more like a modern person than her and even knew the principle of "oxygen debt".
Xu Yaozu came to Xu Nian and rubbed her legs while caringly saying, "Are you tired? Dad will rub it for you. Does the injury on your head still hurt?"
Xu Yaozu felt a little distressed. He had been busy since returning home, and it was only last night that he learned about the terrible suffering his daughter had endured.
Xu Nian shook his head stiffly and wanted to retract his legs, but after thinking for a while he still did not move.
She couldn't help but secretly look at the man squatting in front of her. Although he looked like a rough man, his movements were full of tenderness.
Xu Nian had never felt the love of her parents since she was a child, but after coming to the other world for a few days, she felt the true love that Tian and Xu Yaozu had for their daughter.
She was envious and guilty. If she let them know that she was not the real Xu Nian, she didn't know whether they would be more sad or more afraid.
Xu Yaozu didn't think much about Xu Nian's silence. Originally, his impression of his eldest daughter was that she was taciturn.
Maybe it was because he went away to study and missed the time with his eldest daughter, so his eldest daughter was always a little distant towards him.
However, after returning home this time, he felt that his daughter had changed a little. Perhaps this accident was a blessing in disguise.
The father and daughter's train of thought were completely off the same page. They just kept rubbing their hands and thinking, until they heard the village chief shout "Let's go!" and stopped.
Everyone spent the whole day on the road, even eating and drinking were done while walking.
It was not until it got dark that the village chief asked everyone to stop.
We didn't encounter many refugees along the way, and it seemed that the war had not yet spread to Yangcheng.
But even so, everyone still cannot feel at ease, because they are walking on their own two legs and have families to support.
But the enemy's army was chasing them on all fours, so the people of Dahe Village did not dare to relax for a moment.
The majority of the troops found a relatively flat area where the households were not too far apart, and they lay down there to recuperate.
Although it was windy on that August night, it wasn't cold, so Xu Nian fell asleep with her clothes on.
She was so tired, even during the military training march in college she had never felt so tired.
Xu Nian felt like she had just fallen asleep when she heard a scream. She opened her eyes and sat up, only to find that something had happened in her home.
Her second aunt was hugging the pale-faced Xu Kang and crying fiercely.
Because Xu Kang and Xu Jian were twins, they were very thin when they were born and were always sick from childhood to adulthood. It can be seen that Zheng put a lot of thought into their growth.
At this time, Xu Fugui also came over with Doctor Liu from the village. After a examination, it turned out that the patient had heatstroke.
Maybe he was afraid of wasting time for the people at home, so he stayed up all day long.
The Xu family felt distressed and angry when they saw Xu Kang, whose face was pale and a little feverish.
After listening to the doctor's diagnosis, Xu Nian silently went to get a bowl of light salt water.
While letting Xu Kang drink it in small sips, he consoled him:
"Don't force yourself to feel unwell in the future. You are not helping your family members. Instead, you will make them sad. Do you understand?"