Zhu Yueran remained expressionless and did not want to speak, so the task had to be handed over to Zhou Erfu and Zhou Sifu.
So the two brothers asked all sixty-odd children. Some children were too young and their speech was unclear, so they could only skip them and ask the others who were relatively older.
Only after asking did I learn that most of these people were children of migrant workers, with only a few being children of normal farming families, but all of them had been stolen.
Because girls are often neglected and the refugees themselves are barely able to survive, they rarely bother to look for their missing daughters. They figure that even if they don't lose them, they will starve to death anyway, so they simply ignore them.
Some parents who feel sorry for their children will only cry a little and then move on. Of course, some parents will search everywhere, but obviously they will never find them.
The madam of that brothel wanted to get good girls without spending a single copper coin. Originally, the madam did send people to capture people from the refugees in order to find girls for the brothel, but later things changed.
The only way to find out the specific details is to ask the madam herself; these lowly thugs responsible for arresting people have no idea what the real situation is.
After everyone in the cave had been buried, Zhu Qiuyu returned carrying three burly men. He looked at Zhu Lin, asking what to do with them.
The one whose hand had been cut off appeared to have bled to death. Before Zhu Lin could speak, Zhu Qiuyu ordered the three burly men to dig a pit nearby to bury the man.
"Wait, dig a bigger pit, big enough to bury four people." These three are probably buried together too, it looks like he and his fifth junior brother will have to fill the pit in the end.
“Let’s bury one. The remaining three will be left to take care of these people. They need to eat and drink every day, and these three will be needed to cook for them,” Zhu Lin said.
That makes sense; Junior Brother's thinking is more thoughtful.
The three men breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this, at least their lives were temporarily saved.
On the way back, they had to go down that path. A group of little girls and several little boys were too scared to walk down it. They turned pale with fright and burst into tears.
Zhu Lin frowned, quickly grabbed Xingxing, and ran off.
Zhu Qiuyu: "?"
"Second Brother and Fourth Brother, please cut some vines and tie them all up. Fifth Brother and I will lead them one in front and one behind."
“Alright, we’re familiar with this. We used to use this method a lot when we hunted wild boars and pythons in Yegou Village. It worked really well. We could roll away with them. But people can’t roll away.” Zhou Erfu chuckled, scratching his head. After saying that, he pulled Sifu to find the vines.
A quarter of an hour later, Erfu and Sifu returned with a bundle of vines. They then skillfully tied each child together in a string of ten. Zhu Qiuyu led the way, and Zhu Yueran followed behind, leading the children down the mountain.
This process was repeated six times before all the people were brought down the mountain. Once they were down, they were still in the forest. The forest at the bottom of the mountain was quite flat, and they could easily lead the group down.
At this moment, Xingxing and Zhulin darted out from the side. The latter was carrying a wicker basket filled with wild fruits, and several wild rabbits were hanging beside the basket.
"Brother Lin and I picked a lot of fruit. These fruits are big and sweet. Brother Lin also hunted three wild rabbits." Xingxing ran to Zhou Erfu and Zhou Sifu and shared with them with a smile.
"Gurgle."
"Gurgle."
Several rumbling stomachs followed, and Xingxing's almond-shaped eyes widened as she tilted her head to look. She saw several little girls swallowing hard, gazing longingly at the fruit in the wicker basket.
These dozens of girls were all very thin, especially the younger ones, who walked with trembling feet, their leg bones not yet fully developed, clearly indicating they had been starving.
Seeing Zhu Qiuyu's gaze sweep over, one of the burly men immediately explained, "We give them food every day, otherwise so many people would have starved to death long ago. It's just that the people who deliver the food haven't come for several months, so we can't do anything about it. To be honest, if it weren't for the sudden appearance of you gentlemen today, we would have had to run away ourselves. We really can't make ends meet."
Zhu Qiuyu snorted coldly and said nothing.
"Brother Phosphorus, let's share the fruit with them, otherwise they'll starve to death." Xingxing ran up to the boy, tilting her head up and looking at him with bright, sparkling eyes.
Most of the fruit was picked by Zhu Lin. Xingxing was also carried up the tree by Zhu Lin, who picked a few of them in a proper manner. There were really only a few. No one had ever let the boy pick fruit for him to eat by himself. Only when the little girl wanted to eat, he would climb the tree and pick a basketful without her having to say a word.
This basket of fruit was picked by him for the little girl.
Now, however, I have to share the food with a group of unrelated people. I am really unwilling, but looking at Xingxing's hopeful eyes, I really can't bring myself to refuse.
"Can."
"I knew Brother Phosphorus was a good person, sharing so many fruits with everyone!" Xingxing said sweet words as if they were free.
Good guy Zhu Lin: "?" He doesn't want to be a good guy.
There were more than sixty people in the group, and each person only got one fruit in the end. Each fruit was as big as a baby's fist, with tender, juicy, and sweet flesh. Xingxing ate several of them before she was satisfied.
We originally intended to save these for our parents and brothers, but now they've all been given away. However, there are still plenty left on the tree. Should we go back and pick some more?
Zhu Lin seemed to know what Xingxing was thinking, and pointed at the three men, "You three come with me, go pick fruit from the tree, and fill this wicker basket."
“My fourth brother and I will go too. We’re good at picking wild fruits,” Zhou Erfu chuckled as he followed.
When they returned to their resting place, Zhou Erfu carried back a basket of fruit. The round trip took three hours.
It was already getting dark, and Zhou Laoda, Zhao Guihua, and the others felt uneasy.
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