Village Chief Xu nodded, pondered for a moment, then raised his head as if summoning some courage, and said to the villagers, "We could also go to Seven Star Mountain to explore the way and see if it's feasible to seek refuge there?"
Hu San raised his hand casually and said in a booming voice, "I'll go, I can go scout ahead."
Village Chief Xu smiled and glanced at him, saying, "Alright, but we'll need to bring a few more people along."
Uncle Liang and Gao Sheng then said, "We'll go too. I have an oxcart, so it'll be faster to go back and forth."
At this moment, Village Chief Xu shook his head and pointed at Xu Fanyuan, Gao Lei, and Gao Yu, saying, "Let the younger generation go. We still need to discuss and prepare for the patrol."
Those who were called out by Uncle Liang all stood up. Hu San said anxiously, "I'll go back and hitch up the oxcart now. I'll wait at Uncle Liang's door."
Xiaoyue looked at Li Lei, who then raised his injured hand and said to Village Chief Xu, "I'll go too. I'll go home and hitch up a donkey cart. The donkey cart has a canopy and people can ride in it."
Xiaoyue also chimed in, "Brother Hu, do you have any firewood? The kind you cut on the mountain in the fall. We can haul a cartload of firewood over there."
Hu San stared wide-eyed, looking down on Xiaoyue, a woman, and sneered, "You think you can spend the night there? There's plenty of firewood in Seven Star Mountain, you can easily break off a bundle."
Suddenly, Village Chief Xu had a thought, as if he saw a light, but couldn't find the source of it. He said anxiously, "If I told you to take it, then take it. If you can't, you can go to my house to get firewood."
Seeing that things were not going well, Hu Banxia stepped out from the crowd, grabbed Hu San's arm, and said, "Brother Hu San, I'll go with you to get firewood, and then I'll ride in your car to Qixing Mountain."
Xu Fanyuan, Gao Lei, and Gao Yu also went to Hu San's house, pushing and pulling each other.
Seeing that Hu Banxia and the others had taken Hu San away, Xiaoyue also took Li Lei back home. Li Lei was about to hitch up the carriage when Xiaoyue rushed to the front room to see how Liang Qi was doing.
Xiaoyue pushed open the door. The room was quiet. Only Liang Qi was lying on the kang (a heated brick bed), his breathing sometimes tight and sometimes loose. His face was pale, his eyes were closed, his eyebrows were furrowed, and his lips were a little better. Xiaoyue stood on Liang Qi's head and raised her hand to carefully smooth his eyebrows. But she accidentally let Liang Qi grab her hand.
"Are you feeling better? Is there anything that's bothering you?" Xiaoyue asked as she pulled her hand away and sat down on the edge of Liang Qi's kang (heated brick bed).
"Why did you keep Bai Hongmei here? I've already explained everything to her, and her father agreed. Who knew she would come back again?" His tone was somewhat urgent, helpless, and tinged with unease.
Xiaoyue sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), finding Liang Qi's breathing amusing. Without thinking, she twisted Liang Qi's nose and, after succeeding, smiled smugly, saying, "She said you're her man, and Uncle Liang didn't object. What could I do?"
"I don't care, I only care about you, I don't care about anything else. Anyway, you took her in, so you can send her away." It's like a child throwing a tantrum because an adult didn't give him candy.
Xiaoyue gently stroked the fine downy hair growing on Liang Qi's head and softly comforted her, "We can't send her back to Sanjiazi Village now. Something happened in Sanjiazi Village."
Liang Qi grabbed Xiaoyue's hands and rubbed them against his cheeks, saying softly, "What happened? Ordinary things don't affect Bai Hongmei. Bai Hongmei has only been in Sanjiazi Town for less than three months. She is Yun Xingfei's third uncle's illegitimate daughter."
"No wonder, she acts like a spoiled young lady, but she's not as dignified or pretentious as the legitimate daughter of a wealthy family. Hmm, marrying you is perfect. You're handsome, your family isn't complicated, you only have an old man, and he's healthy enough that you don't need to take care of him."
"Is it that his family is going to build a house for you and Bai Hongmei in Sanjiazi, so that you can move there after you get married?"
How did you know?
Suddenly, he changed the subject again, saying, "You said something happened in Sanjiazi Village, what exactly happened?"
A group of soldiers occupied Sanjiazi Village and committed all sorts of atrocities, including murder and arson.
"What?" Upon hearing this, Liang Qi tried to sit up, but before he could, he fainted again.
Xiaoyue called softly a few times, but he still didn't wake up. Helpless, Xiaoyue called Chunyue, "Go find Doctor Hu to come and see Liang Qi."
He then instructed Chunyue, "You just need to stay by Liang Qi's side."
Hearing Li Lei shouting outside, Xiaoyue took an axe and put it in her basket. She also put a bag of steamed buns and half a bag of rice in the basket, along with a tinderbox and two bundles of firewood that she had tied to the cart.
When they arrived at the village entrance, Hu San's oxcart was already waiting there, but it was loaded with firewood as tall as a person. Xiaoyue then let Hu Banxia, Gao Lei, Gao Yu, and Xu Fanyuan sit on her cart.
After traveling for an hour, they arrived at the swamp. Xiaoyue got off the donkey cart and saw that, just as they had said, the swamp was steaming. The swamp was fifteen meters wide and stretched around Qixing Mountain without end. Bubbles of steam rose from the bottom of the swamp everywhere.
Li Lei drove the car to the edge of the swamp. Xiaoyue took a rope, handed one end to Li Lei and Xu Fanyuan, tied the other end around her waist, and then took a stick, cautiously wading in step by step. As soon as the stick went in, she sank completely in.
She bypassed it, finding places to step where she couldn't squeeze in. After walking less than three meters, Xiaoyue smelled the distinctive scent of the swamp and hurriedly retreated. Still feeling dizzy, Xiaoyue leaned on the cart shaft and rested for a while.
She then said to Xu Fanyuan, who was standing beside her, "Take a bundle of firewood, throw it into the swamp, and then light a torch and throw it in as well." After giving these instructions, Xiaoyue leaned against the Xuanyuan, her face gradually turning pale.
Suddenly, Hu San shouted, "Look, look! The swamp is on fire! Even the places where there was no firewood are on fire! Look, look!" Although Hu San was carefree, he was very cheerful and optimistic.
Xiaoyue looked at Hu San laughing carefree like a big child and said softly, "Wait until the fire is out before walking through the swamp. The poison gas will be gone then."
"Really." Hu San stared at Xiao Yue with his bright, sparkling eyes, completely convinced.
After waiting for about two hours, Xiaoyue saw that the flames on the swamp were gradually getting smaller. She made an example by carrying a bundle of firewood on her back and spreading it out in the swamp. Then she picked up the other half and placed it on top of the spread-out firewood, forming a cross with the next layer.
Following Xiaoyue's example, Li Lei paved the way ahead of her. The others, seeing this, imitated him, and the group quickly reached the foot of Seven Star Mountain. Xiaoyue gazed at the seemingly endless Seven Star Mountain, but instead of marveling at its grandeur, she only remarked on the heavy snow and the dense forest.
Xu Fanyuan noticed that Xiaoyue was acting strangely, so he said to her, "Have someone take you back to the village first and report that we're looking for caves or something in the mountains before it gets dark."
Xiaoyue nodded and looked at Li Lei, who said coldly, "There are many wild animals in these mountains."
Xiaoyue thought about it and agreed. She wanted to take the carriage back by herself, but Gao Lei said, "I'll take you back to the village."
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