While Xiaoman's house is still intact, we'll clean up the dust and rest here.
What's most satisfying is that there's also a mountain spring under the rock wall. Xiaoman usually covers it with a stone slab, but now it's clear and bright without any dust.
The group immediately started cooking; it felt so good to have escaped death!
Grandma Xiaoman pulled the grain bag out of the soil, stirred all the little white flour left in the house into a pot of paste, added salt and seasonings, and generously drizzled a few drops of sesame oil on top.
After the fire, everyone was exhausted and hungry, and they ate the porridge with relish.
After eating, the group spread out bedding on the ground, lay down in all sorts of crooked positions, and fell asleep almost immediately.
It was almost dawn outside, and the sky was shrouded in smoke, making it appear gray and hazy.
Everyone only took a short nap before waking up again. They had escaped the wildfire, but two problems still urgently needed to be solved.
First, we need to find out the situation in the village, whether it was displaced people or rebel soldiers who burned down the village.
If it were a chaotic army, Xiaomanye's suggestion was to prohibit cooking during the day and to avoid wandering around in conspicuous places to attract the soldiers and bandits.
If they are refugees, it's not a big problem; they should have left after the house was burned down.
What about the other families who moved up the mountain with us? Did they survive the wildfire? Did they have any food left?
Although it might seem like taking advantage of a loophole, if someone was indeed injured or killed in the fire, they would still need help collecting their remains, as they are all from the same Xu family.
Another thing is to extinguish any remaining embers to prevent them from reigniting.
There are many things to do, and we need to tackle them one by one.
Jiang Zhi decided to take Er Rui to check on the other households herself, and to help those who were injured.
Xiaoman and her grandfather put out the fire near their home so they could take care of the family and get away quickly if anything happened.
The mountain road that was previously blocked has collapsed and is no longer passable, so we can no longer take the original route down the mountain.
Driving around mountains ravaged by wildfires would waste too much time and be unsafe.
Little Mangye had a backup plan when he blocked the road.
While it was still early, he led Jiang Zhi and her son to a steep slope and took out a knotted rope.
Xiaoman said, "Errui's mother, as long as we tie this rope to the tree, we can go around the landslide from the steep slope."
Jiang Zhi looked at the rope and her lips twitched. This was going to involve scaling walls and rooftops.
Xu Errui clutched the rope, looking troubled: "Uncle, I can walk, but my mother..."
He and Xiaotian had been working with their father in the mountains burning charcoal since they were little. It was easy for the men to climb up and down the cliff. His mother was usually very good at working, but she was a woman and had never walked on the edge of this cliff before.
"It's nothing, just the next slope!" Jiang Zhi took the rope, tied one end to the burned tree, wrapped the other end around her waist, grabbed the rope, and slid down the steep slope.
In the real world, she had been going up the mountain with her grandfather to collect herbs since she was a child, and she was used to this situation.
You can climb the slopes where wild grass grows, without even needing ropes.
She's still a novice and has to consider other people's feelings; she doesn't want to scare anyone.
Everyone knows that Granny Jiang is a troublemaker; she always insists on doing things she's not allowed to do.
Jiang Zhi's behavior did not arouse suspicion from Xiaomanye and Xu Errui, who could only watch her go downhill.
The slope is very steep, almost vertical; I wouldn't dare walk on it without a rope.
Now that there are knots and you can stand on the ground, as long as you stay calm, it's not as difficult as you might imagine.
The two descended the slope smoothly, hiding the rope that was hanging down into a crevice in the rocks beside them.
Xu Errui led the way and hurriedly went to the charcoal sheds where the other families lived.
The charcoal kilns of these two households were located at a lower elevation than their own homes and were relatively close to the village. They discovered the fire earlier and should have been able to escape.
Walking through the burned forest, although you could still see wisps of smoke rising from the ground occasionally, the overall situation was better than Jiang Zhi had imagined.
In her mind, there should be flames and burning trees everywhere after the recent wildfire.
However, the tall grass here has been cut down by the villagers to build shacks, and many miscellaneous trees have also been cut down.
At this time, the trees removed from the forest were all oak trees with hard wood that were not easily burned. The flames could only stay close to the ground, came quickly, and went quickly, leaving only a thin layer of ash.
After turning a bend in the mountain, two charcoal kilns appeared in front of Jiang Zhi.
Xu Errui, who was walking ahead, exclaimed in a low voice, "Oh dear, Zhao Li's shed has been burned down."
Even without him saying it, Jiang Zhi saw the thatched hut still emitting black smoke.
Not only this one, but a thatched hut not far away also burned down, with no signs of firefighting efforts whatsoever.
Xu Errui stopped, hesitant to go any further. He pointed to the front of the thatched hut: "Mother, look there... is that a person?"
Jiang Zhi stopped him: "Er Rui, take another look, are they from the village?"
In the ashes in front of the thatched hut, a person was lying prone. His face was not visible, but he could be identified as a farmer by his clothing.
The two tentatively approached, and Xu Errui used the wooden stick he had picked up to nudge his leg.
Oh dear, it's all hard, it must have died at least in the first half of the night.
The dead are not as scary as the living. Jiang Zhi and Xu Errui mustered their courage and turned the corpse over, revealing a face with knife wounds. Although it was charred, it was still recognizable.
Xu Errui started vomiting: "This is Zhao Li's father!"
"Quick, look for the others!"
Jiang Zhi suppressed the urge to run away and looked up at the collapsed thatched hut.
Actually, there's not much to find in the thatched hut; a wooden hut would just turn to ashes if burned.
But there were two families here, a total of seven or eight people, and only one body. Where are the others?
Xu Errui and Jiang Zhi searched both thatched huts and finally found a clue.
Beneath the wooden pillars of the collapsed thatched shed, still emitting wisps of smoke, a pair of thin, small feet, resembling a woman's, were visible.
Jiang Zhi and Xu Errui lifted the wooden pillar, and a woman who was almost naked and had been neatly cut in two with a knife suddenly appeared.
"It's Zhao Li's wife!"
"Ugh!" Jiang Zhi also vomited, not from nausea, but from gastrointestinal spasms caused by intense fear.
At this moment, it didn't matter whether the people burning the village were refugees or rebel soldiers; Jiang Zhi only knew that the two of them were in great danger here.
If the other party hasn't left, and they just lie in wait nearby, then the two of them will be walking right into a trap.
"Quick, let's get out of here right now!"
She kicked Xu Errui, who was squatting on the ground vomiting, and then turned and ran up the mountain.
Xu Errui was also quite frightened and stumbled after him as he ran.
Ignoring everything else, the two ran straight to where they had come down the mountain, intending to find a rope to climb back up.
Before heading up the mountain, Jiang Zhi had a second thought. She first found the old path leading up the mountain and then followed it to the section blocked by the landslide.
Because of the wildfire, the area was covered with a layer of ash. She didn't even need to search carefully to see some messy but fresh footprints on the loose soil.
Jiang Zhi gasped. Someone was trying to go up the mountain, but was blocked by the landslide.
Thinking of the burning thatched hut and the woman cut in two, she felt a chill run down her spine.
If it weren't for Grandpa Xiaoman prying up rocks to block the mountain road a while ago, his whole family would definitely have been killed last night.
Unable to climb the mountain, these people burned down the village and set the mountain ablaze.
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