Jiang Yilu covered his rumbling stomach. Through the gaps between the branches, he could see that the sun was already high in the sky. It should be around twelve o'clock now. Generally speaking, it was time for lunch.
He took out a can of fresh milk and a bag of bread from the space, found an open space, swept the dead leaves aside, and sat on the ground to eat lunch.
He was not idle while eating, and began to observe the surrounding terrain.
Neither Jiang Yilu in this life nor Jiang Laidi in the previous life had ever entered the depths of the Daqing Mountains. The halfway point of the mountain where he was now was already the limit he was familiar with.
Every child in Qingshan Village is warned by their parents not to play in the mountains, as there are many ferocious beasts there, and no child in the mountains has ever disobeyed this warning.
In her previous life, Jiang Lai Di often followed her sisters into the mountains to pick wild vegetables and look for dead branches. She was very familiar with the distance between the foot of the mountain and the mountainside. Even after living in the United States for more than ten years, when she set foot on this land, her memories were still intact.
Jiang Yilu swallowed the last sip of milk, put the milk carton and bread bag back into the space, patted his butt and stood up.
There were only two options before him now. One was to continue walking into the mountain, and the other was to return the same way and wait to meet up with the adults who came up the mountain to rescue and tell them the news. Then, as a child, he would go home obediently and wait for the adults who went up the mountain to bring back the light ladle.
Intellectually, Jiang Yiliu would choose the second option, which was the safest approach. But emotionally, Jiang Yiliu still wanted to choose the first option.
In the five years since his rebirth, except for the period when he was still a baby and could not move, he had been with Guangpiao and the others almost all the time. Although he always complained about these little brats being clingy and trouble-making, in his heart, Guangpiao and the others were like his juniors. He had always taken care of them as an elder, especially Guangpiao, who had a slight kinship with his family, so Jiang Yilu paid more attention to him.
In Jiang Yilu's heart, the status of these children may be second only to Meilin, who was raised by him.
After thinking it over again and again, Jiang Yilu decided to go into the mountains.
It's not that he is reckless, but he knows that he has a golden finger, which is his space. When he enters the mountains, if he encounters any beasts, he can hide in the space. It is precisely because of this reliance that Jiang Yilu is so bold to enter the mountains.
Otherwise, Jiang Yiliu smiled bitterly, everyone is selfish, if it weren't for this space, I'm afraid all he could do is stay at the foot of the mountain, waiting for the rescuers to go into the mountain to find Guangpiao. He still couldn't bear to give up this hard-earned new life.
He had been walking for several hours straight. He rested for ten minutes, massaged his sore calves, and then continued walking into the mountains.
The road into the mountains is not a blind one. Jiang Yilu has been paying attention to the crushed dead leaves all the way. The men in the village went into the mountains before dawn today. With such a large group of people, there will be obvious traces on the road they have walked, and those leaves are the best marks.
The leaves that had been withering and turning yellow in the fall had become very brittle in this season. A person's footsteps could break a whole leaf into pieces. Where more than 20 people passed by, the leaves there would be obviously different from those in other places.
Jiang Yilu kept an eye out for broken leaves and branches along the way. Guangpiao's grandfather was an old hunter and must have taught him these things. He thought that Guangpiao must want to find the team that went up the mountain to hunt wild boars. If he followed the traces left by their predecessors, he would definitely be able to find Guangpiao.
*****
Here, Jiang Yilu ran into the mountains, and the people at the foot of the mountain began to go crazy looking for him.
"Xiaobao, Xiaobao." It was time for lunch, but Jiang Yilu was nowhere to be seen. Gu Dongmei was anxiously calling for help everywhere in the village.
"Mom, Uncle Er said that Tiezhu seemed to have come to see Xiaobao today. I don't know what they said, and then Xiaobao left. Why don't you go to Tiezhu's house and ask him?"
Dani followed, panting, and with her came Old Lady Miao and Jiang Aiguo.
"Yes, yes, Tiezhu must know. Let's go to the Gao family and ask." Old Mrs. Miao said anxiously while being supported by Jiang Aiguo.
Gu Dongmei twitched the corners of her mouth and really wanted to ask loudly, is Jiang Dachuan dead? Even if he has a lame leg, it doesn't make sense that he can't even take care of a child. But after looking at her mother-in-law, she still didn't dare to say it out loud.
The most important thing now is to find her son, so Gu Dongmei followed them towards Gao's house.
"Xiaobao? He didn't come to my house today. Let me ask for you." Tiezhu's mother shouted a few times into the house. Tiezhu followed Old Lady Gao out with a bowl of rice, with a grain of rice on his chubby little face.
"Tiezhu, do you know where Xiaobao has gone? Why hasn't he come home for dinner so late?" Old Mrs. Miao walked up to Tiezhu and asked.
Tiezhu's eyes were blurry, and it was obvious that he hadn't figured it out yet. Suddenly, his face changed, his pink cheeks lost all color, his mouth opened, his eyes turned red, and he burst into tears.
"Xiaobao went to the mountain to look for the ladle, I forgot about it, wow——"
"What's going on? Tell me clearly what Xiaobao means by going to the mountain to look for Guangpiao." Gu Dongmei pushed Old Lady Miao aside and asked while grabbing Tiezhu's arm.
They didn't know what happened this morning, but Tiezhu's mother knew. She immediately understood the seriousness of the matter and explained the whole thing in a few words.
How could she forget such an important thing? Tiezhu's mother now wanted to beat her precious son. If anything happened to Jiang Yilu, the Jiang family would probably go crazy, and Guangpiao and her son would be beaten to death.
"You stupid kid, why didn't you tell me such an important thing earlier?" Old Mrs. Gao acted decisively. Before the Jiang family could take action, she put her bowl aside, rolled up her sleeves and hit her grandson on the butt. As for the strength of the hit, only she knew.
The whole yard was filled with Tiezhu's wailing.
"It's over, it's over, my dear grandson." Old Mrs. Miao collapsed on the ground, slapping the ground and crying loudly. It's been half a day, who knows where Xiaobao has run to? There are hungry beasts in this mountain. He is a five-year-old child with tender skin and flesh. Isn't he providing food to the beasts?
"Grandma, now is the time to ask the adults in the village to go into the mountains to look for him. This is not the time to cry." All the women in the yard looked like they had lost their parents, but Jiang Aiguo was the calmest and spoke to them.
"That's right, that's right, go and call someone." Gu Dongmei was like a headless fly. She had no mood to argue with the Gao family. The important thing was to find the child. She was already this old, and it was not reliable to have another child. Jiang Yiliu might be the only son in her life. Gu Dongmei thought about the life she had before Jiang Yiliu was born, and shuddered. Nothing must happen to her son.
The villagers only found out about this incident after hearing the broadcast from the brigade. All the men who had signed up to go up the mountain yesterday but were not selected in the end gathered at the foot of the mountain on their own initiative. Among them were Guangpiao’s two uncles.
Jiang Tang had four sons. Besides him, his two sons and an older grandson went up the mountain this time. Because there were too many people from the Jiang family, in order to avoid public outrage, Guang Piao and two strong uncles were not selected.
This disaster was caused by Guang Piao, so the two of them must be involved when going up the mountain to look for people.
"Second aunt, I'm sorry. It's that kid Guangpiao who caused the trouble. We two brothers will definitely bring Xiaobao back safely." Guangpiao's second uncle Jiang Dalin said guiltily.
Standing next to him was Bald, who was beaten black and blue, holding his buttocks and crying.
After learning that Jiang Yiliu went into the mountains to find him, he was beaten up by his family again. Guangpiao never thought that his action would harm his best friend. He was touched and scared by Jiang Yiliu's risking his life to go into the mountains to find him.
At this moment, Guangpiao completely regarded him as the best brother in his life, the kind that was closer than his own brother. He swore in his heart that as long as Xiaobao came back safely, he would listen to him and never do such stupid things again.
The life or death of their grandson and son is still uncertain, and neither Grandma Miao nor Gu Dongmei has the heart to deal with the culprit in this matter.
"Da Lin, Xiao Bao is now in your care. You must find him back." Jiang Cheng said to his nephew, looking depressed and full of worry. If it weren't for his lame leg, Jiang Cheng would have wanted to go up the mountain himself.
His poor grandson must be cold and hungry now, and he doesn’t know what kind of suffering he is going through.
Jiang Dalin pulled his nephew back and didn't mind the cold faces of Old Lady Miao and Gu Dongmei. This matter was their family's fault, and he should bear whatever they did.
"Second cousin, don't worry, Dasen and I will definitely bring the person back." After Jiang Dalin said this, he took four or five villagers and walked towards the mountains.
*****
Jiang Yilu's steps became heavier and heavier. The deeper he went into the mountains, the denser the trees and bushes became. Fortunately, there was a path opened up by the hunting team ahead. Jiang Yilu walked along the bushes that were split by the machete with heavy steps.
The longer time went by, the more he began to doubt whether Guangpiao had really gone up the mountain. If it weren't for the hat in his hand reminding him, he would have almost suspected that Tiezhu had given him false information.
Jiang Yilu pinched his leg and was about to find a safe place to rest for a while when he suddenly smelled a strange fragrance.
Is he near the hunting team's camp? Doesn't that mean Guangpiao is ahead?
Jiang Yilu swallowed the saliva that was unconsciously secreted from his mouth and began to run towards the place where the fragrance came from.
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