Although Xu Genqing had already inquired about the situation along the official road once, and everyone said they hadn't seen it, Tian Gui, along with Wu Yang and Xu Genyou, still searched along the official road again.
These three men are steady and reliable. Tian Gui and Xu Gen are both older and have good communication skills with the surrounding migrant workers.
Whenever the three of them encountered migrant workers, they would go and inquire about their surroundings.
Ask if anyone saw a lone woman and a man riding an old mule pass by.
Although the official road here is not bustling with traffic, there are always more than a dozen pedestrians passing by every day. What if the migrant workers are distracted and miss their sight?
Besides asking questions, the three of them kept looking at both sides of the road.
Look at the tall thatched slopes on both sides of the official road, the newly repaired ditches, and the culverts under the road.
Xu Gensheng, that jinx, said something like: "Isn't it too scary to bury him in a ditch?"
Can you just say things like that? There are migrant workers coming and going on the road construction, and Li Laoshi is a man in his thirties with a mule. He can't hide it even if he wants to.
However, the more people disbelieve it, the more they think this way, making everyone very nervous.
The three of them continued walking and asking questions, but they had already reached Pear Blossom Town without finding anything.
He gradually realized that Qin and Li Laoshi definitely hadn't taken the official route, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
Whenever he saw migrant workers warming themselves by the fire by the roadside, Tian Gui would ask, as usual, "Hey guys, did you see a single woman in blue clothes and a straw hat go to town today?"
The migrant workers laughed: "On this road, even female mice have cats to accompany them, how could there be any single women?"
"It's almost Chinese New Year now, so there are more people on the streets, but there are definitely no single women walking around. I can see that clearly."
However, several heavily concealed carriages passed by, so it's unclear whether the woman you mentioned was inside.
Tian Gui frowned upon hearing this; this was a bit troublesome.
In the dead of winter, with the cold wind howling, and the carriages covered by curtains, it was normal for the laborers to not be able to see clearly.
After being approached repeatedly, the migrant workers became curious: "You're from Xujia Village, right? What brings you here? Hey, how come your village is building houses so quickly?"
Some people were very interested in the matter of Xujia Village and kept asking questions.
This was something that couldn't be said out loud, so Tian Gui and the other two simply said that distant relatives had come to visit and they were afraid of getting lost, so they wanted to pick them up.
While dealing with other people's questions, I quickly left.
It seems they haven't found her on the road, so they'll have to go into town to search. If they can't find Qin, they'll at least have to find Li Laoshi.
With the official road proving fruitless, let's turn to the side path that Jiang Zhi and his companions took.
Taking the flatter official road from Xujia Village to Lihua Town requires taking a longer route, about three miles.
When there are no cars, villagers usually prefer to walk over the mountains.
Not far from Xujia Village, a small intersection appears beside the main road. A stone slab bridge, only two feet wide, is hidden in the weeds. The ditch under the bridge is now dry, with only the damp pebble bottom exposed.
These stone slab bridges are common in mountainous areas, serving both as dams to block rivers and as stepping stones for people.
Jiang Zhi stepped onto the stone slab, turned her head to Xu Genqing who was following closely behind her, and asked, "You said you also walked the mountain road to the town, but you didn't see anything along the way?"
Xu Genqing said, "I was in a hurry and didn't look around carefully."
Jiang Zhi nodded. She hadn't looked closely at the surrounding traces before, but this time she had to take a good look.
Previously, Xu Genqing had walked over the mountain to the town to pick up Qin Shi, but he couldn't find her, so he returned along the official road.
The mountain paths here are all shortcuts trodden out by villagers. The grass is thick and the paths are narrow, with thorny vines on both sides snagging and making a rustling sound as they drag on your trouser legs.
There are also those waist-high "silk grasses" that have turned yellow and withered but still have sharp edges, which can easily cut your skin if you are not careful.
Normally, I would walk around these plants, but this time, I had to take a closer look at the tall grass clumps and thick vines along the roadside.
If you look closely, you'll soon see fresh footprints left by an old mule on the wetland, pointing directly towards the town.
That should be fine, so why can't I find anyone?
Jiang Zhi was puzzled, but without her saying anything more, the group followed the footprints toward the town.
"Mother, the old mule has been standing here for a while, and it even pooped a lot! It seems like they've turned into the ditch." Xu Errui shouted from the front.
Jiang Zhi went over and saw a pile of fresh mule dung and messy footprints.
Xu Gensheng shouted, "Isn't this what Honest Brother left behind?"
Genqing, didn't you see these things when you walked this road before? Are your eyes in the back of your head?! You can't even see them when they're so obvious.
"Your mother and Honest Brother must have gone into the thatched hillside, making us come all this way to look for them!"
Xu Genqing's face turned bright red. He and Lianhua had just done that before, and now when he heard Xu Gensheng say that they should go through the grassy slope, his heart started pounding and he felt ashamed.
Despite the jumping and the embarrassment, my tense heart inexplicably relaxed: as long as nothing else happened to my mother, that was all that mattered.
But after being yelled at by the big mouth about having a baby, he still couldn't save face and angrily slapped him: "I told you not to talk nonsense."
Xu Gensheng raised his arm to block his attack, then retaliated with a punch, laughing strangely, "Aunt Qin has been a widow for your father for ten years, it's not unreasonable for her to want to remarry."
If you really get together with Honest Bro, he doesn't mind that your mother is a few years older, so you won't lose out by having another father..."
Ignoring Xu Genqing's murderous smirk, Xu Gensheng got more and more excited as he spoke.
Seeing that Xu Genqing was about to get into a fight, Jiang Zhi stopped the talkative Xu Gensheng: "Say less. We need to find the person first."
Xu Gensheng grinned and said, "It's not a good time to go looking for them!"
Jiang Zhi retorted, "What's in your head? Li Laoshi and your Aunt Qin aren't those kinds of people."
"Besides, look closely, there are not only mule tracks on the ground, but also marks left by wooden sticks..."
"Mother, come quick, there's blood here!" Errui shouted from behind the bushes not far away.
While Xu Gensheng and Xu Genqing were arguing, Xu Errui had already gone into the ditch to check.
He has a steady personality and has experienced a lot, so he takes everything he does seriously now.
We only saw mule tracks, not people, so we can't let go.
So Errui followed the path into the ravine and found bloodstains.
Upon hearing the presence of blood, Xu Genqing and Xu Gensheng immediately tensed up and rushed over.
Jiang Zhi also rushed over, and her brows furrowed as soon as she saw what was on the ground.
This is a mountain valley, so there is naturally a small stream. The water is not much; it just meanders through the cracks in the rocks.
At this moment, several stones were moved aside, leaving a pit filled with clear water. On a nearby stone, a few drops of bright red bloodstains were clearly visible.
Xu Genqing, sweat beading on his forehead, said, "When I left, I really didn't see any mule dung or blood here. My mother and the others... could something have really happened to them?"
No one answered him that there were wild animals in those mountains.
Tigers and bears are not common, and since it's winter, there won't be any snakes, but you might encounter badgers, herds of wild boars, golden cats, and takins coming down from the mountains to forage.
Jiang Zhi didn't know what had happened either: "Don't guess wildly, let's find someone first. With just a few drops of blood, maybe it was just a cut from some cogon grass!"
Thatch grass, also known as white thatch, thatch root, or thatch needle, has sharp leaves and can be used to build thatched houses.
Imperata cylindrica root tastes sweet and is a snack for children. It is also used in medicine to treat hematemesis, hematuria, and jaundice.
Bamboo and wood in the flesh: Burn cogon grass, grind it into powder, mix it with lard, and apply it to the affected area.
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