The heat of the daytime sun had receded, leaving only the chill of the forest.
A mountain breeze swept by, causing the four men, who had just been drenched in sweat, to shiver and feel a chill run through them. They quickly put on their clothes.
It's cooler up in the mountains than down in the valleys.
To get down the mountain, they had to go to a high place to find their way. The four of them dragged their tired bodies up a nearby hilltop and looked out into the distance.
This sight left them all stunned.
Below them was a large hillside, still a burnt slope, so steep that even a manure bucket couldn't stand still.
But it was covered with bright red sorghum, clusters of melons and vegetables, and scattered white cotton.
The tall, thin man with a thick beard exclaimed with delight, "Oh my, I didn't expect there to be farmland in this woods! That's grain!"
This hillside is located behind the forest, and it cannot be seen unless you go up the mountain and climb to the top.
Li Laoshi was overjoyed and no longer hated the men who had chased him all day. He chimed in, "Who says otherwise! Let's cut some sorghum and dig up some sweet potatoes to take back!"
"Are you stupid? You can tell at a glance that these things are planted by someone. There must be a house here. Look over there!"
The disheveled man looked excited, pointing towards the opposite mountain forest and shouting.
What attracted them was not just the hillside, but also the mist and clouds deep in the opposite dense forest, and the partially exposed cliff face.
It was already sunset, and night fog rose from all parts of the forest, spreading into the sky like a curtain that gradually thickened and became denser, completely obscuring the mountains and forests.
Birds returning to their nests hop and sing in the treetops, their melodious calls echoing, but you can only hear their voices and not see them.
This scene was something Li Laoshi and his friends had seen countless times since childhood, but today was different.
A wisp of blue smoke rose from the white smoke, barely visible from a distance and easily mistaken for fog.
At this moment, the group was on the nearby hilltop, and they could clearly see that it was smoke from a fire, indicating that someone in the forest was starting a fire!
The bearded man and his companions became even happier: "Great! Today we can finally have a proper meal and drinks!"
"Yes! Yes, it's fate that we meet. Since we've met, we should take a break."
However, Li Laoshi's previously joyful expression gradually turned strange.
The plume of smoke gradually condensed into a long, thin column, stretching across the jungle and drifting towards the mountain where it was located, connecting with the mist on this side, as if a bridge had been built across the sky.
Smoke builds a bridge!
There's a saying among the people that if you build a bridge with tobacco, something bad will happen, either on this side or the other!
Li Laoshi swallowed hard, glanced to the side, and said weakly to the bearded group who were excitedly heading to the other side, "That place probably isn't a good one. We'd better hurry up and leave!"
He frequented the teahouses in town and heard all sorts of mysterious stories, but the most mysterious of all was the one about Yanzi Daqiao.
"Let's go, of course we're going!" Those people couldn't hear Li Laoshi saying that he wasn't the one talking; they just wanted to get there quickly for a good meal.
At this moment, the smoke bridge became more solid, stretching directly in front of him, as if he could step on it with just one foot.
Li Laoshi was also hesitant. He was almost forty years old and had seen many times before how several households would cook at the same time in the morning and evening, with smoke rising from each other's houses, and nothing ever happened.
Maybe it will be the same today. It's just that I'm scaring myself with wild thoughts because I've been listening to those old ghosts talking about metaphysics.
As soon as I thought that, my empty stomach started churning.
Hunger overwhelmed his last shred of reason, and he became interested in finding a family to have a big meal with.
"Let's go, there's no path here. Let's back up and come around through the woods!"
There is no road down this hill; there is only a high slope that has been burned, piled with rocks, and overgrown with weeds and shrubs.
"No detours, let's just go straight down!" The others disagreed; they were eager to fill their stomachs.
There were no paths in the mountains, but they appeared by climbing and rolling.
Several people scrambled down the mountain through the rocks and weeds and entered the slope. Ignoring the black and gray mud all over their bodies and the abrasions on their heads, faces and arms, they tore off a few cucumbers and started eating them.
The familiar texture, the crisp and sweet taste, and the crops in front of them almost brought tears to their eyes.
"Waaah, I want to eat five bowls of rice, plain white rice!"
"Let's cook a pot of it, then kill a chicken and eat it!" another person said, wolfing down their food.
The bearded man's eyes gleamed with greed; he couldn't wait to possess everything before him.
For more than half a year, I have been wandering. I used to be a proper farmer, but now I have become a vagrant who doesn't know where my next meal will come from.
If there were a place like this where I could hide, I wouldn't leave.
Everyone had the same thought: as they ate, their eyes would involuntarily drift toward the cliff not far away.
By this time, the smoke there had become increasingly clear.
At the foot of Laoyun Cliff, the two families were still busy.
The new house is almost finished, and Xiaoman and Xu Errui are covering the last few neatly chopped bundles of wheat straw on the roof.
There wasn't much straw, but it was just enough to build a house, thick and sturdy, so there was no need to worry about winter rain.
Jiang Zhi and Chun Feng were also busy in the kitchen. The pot was scalding hot. They put in a spoonful of oil, then ginger, garlic and chili, and finally poured in a basket of fresh and tender vegetable leaves. With a "slurp", the whole room was filled with the aroma of cooking.
In the earthenware pot next to the stove, the soup was simmering gently, emitting a faint medicinal aroma.
To maintain good health, one should always have a touch of bitterness in their diet. Now, both families have become accustomed to the taste of various herbs.
There are large jars of lard and pork cracklings, so you can stew or stir-fry as you like.
Fragrant pork cracklings, stir-fried pork intestines, and pig's head meat—things that used to be sold for money and saved up—are now all in my stomach. This was a life I never dared to dream of before.
With fewer desires, life becomes simpler; each day is spent simply eating and dressing warmly. This is the simple and unpretentious happiness of the lower class.
It was getting dark, but Qiaoyun was not in the room.
Normally, at this time every day, Xiao Caixia would finish her milk and go to sleep obediently. But today, the noise from the house repairs probably disturbed her. She continued to drink her milk but didn't sleep, just kept her eyes open and whimpered irritably.
Qiaoyun couldn't soothe the child no matter what she did, and she was afraid that the child would start crying, so she had no choice but to carry the child and walk back and forth on the path outside the courtyard.
She was humming a lullaby to lull her child to sleep when suddenly, a loud crash came from the woods not far away, followed by shouts and curses from several men, and then a long, drawn-out scream, as if someone was swinging on a swing...
Qiaoyun jumped in alarm, grabbed Xiao Caixia and ran back, shouting as she ran, "Mom, Errui, someone's stepped on the trap!"
On the roof, Xu Errui also heard the shouts, and he rolled over and slid down the straw.
In the courtyard, Xiaoman dropped the long fork she used for forking grass, grabbed a specially treated wooden stick, and tucked a sickle into her belt before rushing out: "Where is he? Watch me kill him!"
Jiang Zhi and Chun Feng came out of the kitchen carrying kitchen knives and sticks. They quickly stopped Xu Errui, who was about to rush out, and whispered a few words to him.
Xu Errui nodded and then entered the woods, while Jiang Zhi and Chunfeng did not follow.
We don't know how many people are coming, so we need to stay behind to guard the rear.
The two stood facing the woods, with Qiaoyun, Xiaocaixia, Nini, and the elderly patients who came out after hearing the noise behind them...
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