While Ye Wenxue was chatting 'calmly' with General Qi, Su Jiu was frantic outside the valley.
Beside him was a donkey cart packed full of people. Sanyuan was sitting on the cart with his lips tightly pressed together, holding the wailing little Yuanyuan in his arms.
Su Jiu looked around and asked, "Why haven't they arrived yet?"
Sanyuan insisted, "Master, let's wait a little longer."
After Ye Wenxue left the valley, they were supposed to drive the donkey cart to the bamboo house to meet up with Xu Lin's family, and have Xu Lin's father lead the way to Qingxu Town at the foot of the mountain.
But all of the valley's belongings were packed onto the donkey cart, and all the livestock except for the rabbits were tied up and put away, but the youngest, Siwang, was nowhere to be found.
Four or five-year-old children could not be found anywhere in the valley.
Even the strongest goose was nowhere to be found.
After searching the entire valley, Dazhuang suspected that Siwang had secretly taken the goose down the mountain with his mother, so he took Shuangshuang and searched along the way.
More than two hours have passed, and the three of them still haven't returned. Su Jiu can't help but be anxious.
"If we wait any longer, Xu Lin and the others might already be on their way."
Sanyuan shook his head: "Uncle Xu is not that kind of person."
Su Jiu glanced at him and sighed heavily.
This child, at a time when life and death are at stake, who cares what kind of person he is?
The two exchanged a few more words when they heard footsteps coming from the nearby woods.
Sanyuan, carrying Yuanyuan, quickly jumped off the donkey cart and peeked out. Sure enough, it was Dazhuang and his two companions, along with a large goose.
Siwang was being dragged along by Shuangshuang, who had dark faces. His head was bowed low, and he looked completely dejected.
Shuangshuang was almost furious. She was still scolding him: "You're really something! You ran off without even saying goodbye to your older brother and sister. What if you've run into danger?"
Siwang, head bowed, said, "It wasn't me who wanted to run away, it was the goose that ran away, and that's why I followed behind."
Besides, he clearly asked his older brother and only followed the goose after receiving his permission.
He even left a mark on the road.
Shuangshuang, Sanyuan, and Su Jiuci all turned their gazes toward Dazhuang.
Da Zhuang narrowed his eyes: "When did I say that?"
"When you were busy moving things, didn't I tell you the goose had run away?"
Da Zhuang laughed angrily: "I didn't tell you to run behind me!"
Siwang hung his head, nervously fidgeting with his fingers: "It told me to follow..."
Dazhuang took a deep breath: "Alright, let's not waste any more time. Let's hurry to the bamboo house and go down the mountain with Uncle Xu's family."
"oh......"
Su Jiu really wanted to curse a few times. What kind of time is this to still care about a goose?
Seeing Dazhuang carrying Siwang onto the donkey cart and Shuangshuang carrying the goose onto the cart, Su Jiu didn't have time to continue complaining. He raised the whip and urged the donkey toward the bamboo house.
The Xu family had been waiting for a long time, and none of them looked very happy.
Su Jiu stopped the donkey cart, about to explain the reason for his lateness, when Wang Chun, Old Master Xu's apprentice, spoke up first:
"This is bad. I rode my horse to check the roads my master pointed out, and every road was guarded by officials, including the road to Tanzhou."
Su Jiu's vision went black, and he looked tremblingly at Xu Lin.
Xu Lin frowned and nodded slowly: "He's right. Even the path my father usually takes to go up the mountain to chop firewood has been blocked."
He looked at the children peeking out of the donkey cart and smiled bitterly: "If I had known, I would have gone down the mountain with Zhang Suinian and Doctor Chen. Now look what happened, we've been caught in a trap."
Su Jiu glanced at Xu Lin disapprovingly; he didn't want to be the one left holding the bag.
A moment of silence fell over everyone.
Dazhuang clenched his fist and suddenly asked, "Which road is it to Shuixi Village? Or perhaps the village you mentioned you lived in, Mr. Su?"
Xu Lin's father shook his head: "The road behind Shuixi Village is close to the valley, and that's where Wang Chun went to check it out first."
In the past, there were a large number of refugees in Shuixi Village, so they naturally dared not go to Shuixi Village.
But since spring had arrived, most of the refugees were sent back to their hometowns to farm, and that's when Old Master Xu had an idea.
Even though Xu Lin tried to stop him, saying that the mountain behind Shuixi Village was steep and narrow, and that donkey carts and oxcarts couldn't pass through, Grandpa Xu still insisted that Wang Chun go and take a look.
Before Wang Chun could even reach the entrance to the mountain, he ran into the officials who were rushing to guard it.
Upon hearing this, Su Jiu smiled sheepishly: "I didn't... just make that up."
He had just met Ye Wenxue, and who knew whether Ye Wenxue was good or bad, so he just made up a village name on the spot. Anyway, Ye Wenxue didn't have time to check it.
Later, when they moved to the valley, Su Jiu didn't dare to tell the truth, fearing that Ye Wenxue would beat him if she found out he was lying.
Dazhuang, Shuangshuang, Xu Lin, and Lanqing couldn't help but roll their eyes at the same time.
Bald man's mother, carrying a bundle, had a resolute face: "I know a road not far from the mountain stronghold, it's right here..."
Wang Chun interrupted her: "Madam, are you talking about the road that Elder Nian led his men down the mountain?"
Baldy's mother vaguely sensed something was wrong and hesitated before speaking, "Yes...yes."
Wang Chun shook his head: "The last road I went to was that one."
It's unclear how the soldiers discovered this, but all the roads, big and small, in the mountains were blocked. To get down the mountain, one had to get past the soldiers.
Xu Lin's family wasn't afraid, but there were also Baldy's mother and Ye Wenxue's children, so no one dared to take the risk.
Another unbearable silence.
Shuangshuang gritted her teeth and thought about knocking out the soldiers guarding the road and sneaking away. The goose struggled to break free from her hand, flapped its wings, and kept quacking at Dazhuang and the others in a certain direction.
Da Zhuang stood up and looked on tiptoe. The direction the goose was pointing seemed to be the same direction where it had just urged Si Wang to run around.
While the others were confused, Siwang patted the goose's head and said, "Brother, it seems to be saying that we can take the path I just took."
Dazhuang looked at the goose, then at the direction he was being pointed in, and quickly made up his mind: "Let's go with the goose!"
The children were used to being led by the goose and knew how powerful it was, but the others, including Su Jiu, were somewhat hesitant.
Xu Lin frowned: "When I was young, I came to the mountains with my father to cut firewood. I clearly remember that there was a cliff with no way to go."
Grandpa Xu nodded emphatically.
Su Jiu took out a jade bottle from the cloth bag at his waist: "I also have sleeping powder, a fairly large dose."
Dazhuang waved his hand like an adult: "No, Mother said we'd better not provoke the soldiers, otherwise she'll have to go to jail to bail us out."
Mr. Su, Uncle Xu, since we're completely out of options, why don't we trust Big Goose and let him lead the way?
Su Jiu and Xu Lin looked at each other for a while, then nodded: "It's better than being arrested by the soldiers."
With time running out, everyone quickly made a decision.
Several old men boarded an oxcart, while Wang Chun and Xu Lin rode a horse together, heading in the direction the goose pointed.
Down the mountain, it was almost noon.
Ye Wenxue was still having a gentle conversation with General Qi.
General Qi gradually calmed down after shaking off his feelings of shame, anger, and resentment.
He knew that the unknown person before him was somewhat wary.
Perhaps they were wary of his vanguard, or of the garrison troops from a distant county, or perhaps of the three men, Zhixing, who were in his hands.
But clearly, this person didn't dare to kill him.
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