Chapter 55 56. Zhu Family
Jin Qianqian looked at Granny Zhu and suddenly laughed, "Don't worry, my husband is also a scholar and won't do anything that would force you to do anything.
Stay here for one night today, and we will leave early tomorrow morning. We won't cause you any trouble."
After saying this, Jin Qianqian held up the package in her hand and said, "We brought all the dry food with us."
Zhu Da turned to look at Gu Wenheng, "Are you a scholar?"
Gu Wenheng took out the official document he had been carrying with him from his bosom and said, "I am not talented, I just passed the examination as a student."
Looking at the vermilion seal, Zhu Dalian waved his hands and said, "I don't know any characters, but I know the seal of the government office. There are often notices posted on the city walls, and they all use such seals.
Since you are scholars, you can stay here peacefully and leave early tomorrow morning."
If it was an ordinary refugee, he would not dare to keep him at home even if the old woman agreed.
"Thank you, but we can't take advantage of you for nothing." Jin Qianqian took out a small cloth bag of white rice from her bag, which weighed about two kilograms. "This is a small token of our appreciation, and also our lodging fee."
Zhu Da immediately looked at them seriously, "You can't do that. Although we live in a remote place, we can be self-sufficient. You still have to travel and settle down in the future, so you'd better keep these things."
No matter how Jin Qianqian persuaded, the other party refused to accept it.
While chatting with the old lady, Jin Qianqian finally figured out the situation here.
The place where they are now is called Daocheng. This remote village has never had a name because of its small population. People outside just call it the hunting village.
As the name suggests, the hunting village is a place where people make a living by hunting. When there is a market, they take the prey they have hunted to the market in exchange for daily necessities or copper coins.
Because this area is all mountainous, people can only grow vegetables and cannot grow other crops.
Of course, Jin Qianqian also appropriately revealed some of the hardships they had experienced along the way, especially the water shortage outside, which caused the old lady to look at the young couple with sympathy.
"Well, although we are a little poor here, we can still be self-sufficient with the spring water in the mountains. What are your plans next?"
Gu Wenheng pointed in the distance and said, "After we climb over those mountains, my parents are still waiting there. We want to go through there. Do you have any good suggestions?"
He chose to tell everything because he knew that if they wanted to return to the city from the mountain behind, they would have to rely on the guidance of the locals to avoid many detours.
Zhu Da looked at Gu Wenheng in surprise, "That road is not easy to travel. Even for old hunters like us, we can only cross two mountains at most. We dare not take risks any further.
But I do have some impression of the place you mentioned. There is a natural lake there, and I often see birds circling there. It's a pity that there is a natural ditch there, so it's probably impossible to cross it."
Gu Wenheng immediately sat up straight, "I don't know how wide it is, can we get through with a long piece of wood?"
Zhu Da frowned, "That ditch is so deep that you can't see the bottom. Most people don't have the courage to cross it."
Gu Wenheng turned his head and glanced at Jin Qianqian. Jin Qianqian blinked slightly and then breathed a sigh of relief.
"Dad, Mom, we are back." The two brothers of the Zhu family finally arrived home before nightfall. Listening to their happy voices, one could guess that this time the harvest was not bad.
"My two boys are back," Grandma Zhu laughed and stood up to open the door. Living in the deep mountains, they have become accustomed to keeping the door closed.
"Mom, my brother and I were lucky today. We caught a few pheasants and found a few nests of pheasant eggs." When Zhu Lin saw Grandma Zhu, he happily reported his harvest.
"You are such a grown-up kid, but you are still so noisy. We have guests at home today, so please restrain yourself." Granny Zhu scolded with a smile, "It's just right that we can add two more dishes today. We haven't had guests at home for a long time."
"Guests? Do we have any guests outside?" These two words were unfamiliar to the Zhu brothers. Apart from the neighbors visiting, who would come to their place?
Gu Wenheng and Jin Qianqian stood up before they came in. Gu Wenheng nodded to them, "Excuse me."
There really was a guest. The Zhu brothers felt a little uncomfortable and smiled stiffly, "You're home, hurry up and take a seat."
Watching the Zhu brothers walk into the house hand in hand, Jin Qianqian couldn't help but pursed her lips, revealing the dimples at the corners of her mouth.
"I'm sorry to embarrass you, but these two kids are too honest. They always follow us in the deep mountains. When they see outsiders, they don't know how to communicate with them." Zhu Da looked at the three young men who were obviously about the same age. His own two children were really inferior to them.
"That's good, simple and reliable." It was the first time that Gu Wenheng met such an honest person. He tried his best to pick out appropriate words of praise.
&
It was dark, but the city gate opened again at this time.
Everyone stared at the city gate nervously, and saw some refugees with ragged clothes and wounds on their bodies being thrown out by the yamen runners with knives like throwing away garbage.
"Xiaojun," Liang Xiaojun's father Liang Mugen recognized his child at first sight and rushed over to help him up tremblingly.
Seeing Liang Xiaojun's appearance, everyone couldn't help but gasp.
His head and face were covered in blood, and his right hand was drooping.
“Dad,” he opened his mouth and everyone saw that his front few teeth were missing and blood was flowing from his mouth.
"How did you become like this?" Liang Mugen was so frightened that he almost threw his son out of his arms, his words full of disgust.
"Those people are so mean. If they see people with tattered clothes, they will throw them into a pile. If you don't do what they say, they will beat you up. I just sprained my ankle when I was walking, and they beat me up like this."
When Liang Xiaojun saw his biological father, he could no longer hold back his tears. His face was covered with snot and tears. Those who originally wanted to ask more questions backed away in fear.
"Xiaojun, have you seen your brother Huanan?"
"Xiaojun, where is your sister-in-law Tang? Have you met her?"
“…”
"I don't know, don't ask me," Liang Xiaojun covered his mouth, "Once we went in, we all ran away, so who would care about who?
Many people ran to the official road, and some may have run far away. If they haven’t run far, they should be brought back.”
"But they haven't come back yet. They can't just leave us, young and old, here, right?" Some elderly people covered their faces and cried. Although the luggage was all here, the truly valuable things were on each person.
Liang Xiaojun didn't care about that now. "Dad, I'm in so much pain, and my arm might be broken. Please help me find a doctor."
(End of this chapter)
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