Sheng Xiping escorted Zhou Qinglan back to the Tang family home. After watching Zhou Qinglan enter the courtyard and locking the gate, he turned around and went back to his own home.
Back at home, the same thing was done: the wooden door bolt was used to secure the door.
Actually, the security in the forest area is quite good, and there are generally no petty thefts.
Locking the door is mainly to keep out wild animals.
After all, it's next to a big forest. When it's late at night and everyone is quiet, who can say for sure that no wild animals have entered the village?
After locking the door, Sheng Xiping stepped into the house. As soon as he entered the outer room, he turned around and called out to the west room.
"Sheng Xi'an, Sheng Xikang, you two get over here."
"What's wrong? You were fine just a moment ago. Why are you yelling all of a sudden?"
Sheng Liancheng and Zhang Shuzhen were both in the east room. Zhang Shuzhen was making her bed and planned to go to sleep soon.
Sheng Xiping's shout startled Sheng Liancheng and his wife.
"Dad, Mom, I told them to stay home and study more during their vacation."
Alternatively, they could help with some chores at home to keep them from going into the woods.
"And what's wrong with them? They led Fang'er and the others to the other end of the second branch line. It's so far away, what if something happens?"
Sheng Xiping remembered what the old woman from the Li family had said earlier.
What if the Li family's daughter-in-law wasn't mistaken, and there really was a black bear over there? What chance would any of the children have if they encountered a black bear?
"Huh? That can't be right."
"That area isn't too far from our forest farm. People go there often, and there aren't any large wild animals there. What could possibly happen?"
Sheng Liancheng is carefree, and not only him, but most parents these days are carefree.
When the kids are on vacation, they're like sheep being let loose, going out in the morning and coming back in the evening, and the family never really takes care of them.
“Dad, Aunt Li told me this when I got home this afternoon.”
Her daughter-in-law was gathering vegetables in the logging area leading to the second branch line when she heard wild animals howling. She said it was a black bear.
Sheng Xiping snorted. Although he didn't quite believe it either, he had to keep an eye on the kids in his family, so this was a good opportunity to scare them.
Upon hearing this, Sheng Liancheng and his wife, who were sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed), both exclaimed in surprise.
Just then, Sheng Xi'an and Sheng Xikang came over from the west room.
"Brother, what's going on? Why did you call us?"
The two men were taken aback when they saw their elder brother's unpleasant expression. What was wrong? Who had offended him?
"Let me ask you two, what did I say to you after we finished digging up the gastrodia elata?"
Did I tell you to stay home and study, instead of taking your younger siblings out to show off?
Sheng Xiping, with a cold face, questioned his two younger brothers.
"Tell me, what have you two been doing at home? Where have you taken them to cause trouble?"
Upon hearing this, the expressions of Sheng Xi'an and Sheng Xikang changed.
What did they do? Haha, they do everything.
These days, few children stay home during holidays.
Even Sheng Xi'an, who loves learning, couldn't resist the encouragement of others and went out to show off everywhere.
"You two don't say anything, I'll ask."
Sheng Xiping glared at the two older brothers, then raised his hand to interrupt the third brother, preventing him from speaking.
"Sixth brother, come here and tell me, where have you guys been lately?"
The kids in the family are all grown up now, and they're quite cunning.
The sixth son, Sheng Xitai, is young, and all his thoughts are focused on food. You can't get answers from others, but you can definitely get answers from the sixth son.
Sheng Yunfang and Sheng Yunfei were in the outer room, while Sheng Xitai was peeking into the east room from the west doorway. Unexpectedly, he was called out.
In this family, Sheng Xitai fears nothing but his older brother.
As soon as his older brother called him, the little guy quickly came over, "Brother, what's wrong?"
"Tell me properly, where have you been lately?"
If you explain it clearly, I'll make you something delicious later. If you don't, I'll slap you across the face.
Sheng Xi kept a straight face and tried to scare Lao Liu.
“We’ve been to so many places.” Upon hearing this, Sheng Xitai immediately told him the truth.
So the little guy ignored the winks his second and third brothers gave him and told them everything.
“We went to the air-raid shelter in Nanshan. It was no fun at all. The ground was covered with sheep droppings, and there were swallows in the cave.”
The air-raid shelter that Sheng Xitai mentioned is a stone cave that was carved out a few years ago on the front mountain.
The hole isn't very useful. People graze sheep at the other end of the alkali field. If it rains, the sheep will automatically find a place to shelter from the rain, so there will be sheep droppings on the ground.
As for "Yanbiegu," it's a local dialect term referring to bats.
Upon hearing the mention of the air-raid shelter, the faces of Sheng Liancheng and his wife on the kang (heated brick bed) in the east room, as well as Sheng Xiping standing in front of the kang, all turned grim.
About four years ago, an old man surnamed Zhou from the forest farm went to cut motherwort near the air-raid shelter, but he didn't come back that day.
The next day, when relatives and friends went to look for him, he was already dead. He had been bitten to death by a black bear, and his face and body were covered in blood. It was quite frightening.
Much later, someone killed a black bear in the mountains. Whether it was the one that killed Old Zhou was unknown.
From then on, everyone told their children to avoid going near the air-raid shelter.
The terrain there is high, and it is surrounded by steep slopes.
Standing on it, you can see the entire Qianchuan Forest Farm. If you accidentally slip and slide down, there's a big river below.
"Where else did you go? Tell me." Sheng Xiping took a deep breath, suppressing his anger, and continued to ask.
"They went to Diaoyutai. My second and third brothers even went swimming in the water. I didn't. I didn't dare."
Sheng Xitai completely betrayed them, directly selling out his two older brothers.
There is a large bay upstream of the Qianchuan River, with a cliff on one side and a sandy beach on the other.
The water there is about 20 meters wide and more than 1 meter deep.
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