Chapter 128 Did Xiao Jin cry?
The caves have been chosen, there is nothing to say, each family can go to their own cave. Sang Luo feels that this is the same feeling as modern people when they buy a house. Even if it is actually a gray cave, it will be their home for a long time to come.
Chen An, Shen Ning and Chen Xiaoya, the three kids were very excited, rushing to the front, beating the grass with small branches. The Xu brothers and sisters were a little nervous, they couldn't imagine how people would live in the cave they had just seen. Wang Yunzheng, holding his small bag that he hadn't left in his hand for nine days, followed behind Mrs. Xu and Wei Qinghe, looking at the cave chosen by the Xu family in the distance, with a hint of expectation in his eyes.
If the first trip was just a cursory look at the caves, the second trip everyone took a closer look because that was the place where they decided to settle down.
The same goes for Chen Lie and Sang Luo with the two little ones.
The small cave chosen by Sang Luo has no other faults except that it is small. Because the entrance is wide enough and not too deep, the lighting in such a cave is much better than that in a cave with a narrow entrance and a long depth, so people don't feel depressed living there.
Sang Luo had been compromising at the beginning, but now she is satisfied. She can't just live in a cave, and because it is small, she needs to put more thought into it. She needs to think carefully about how to design it.
Chen Lie was paying attention to some protruding rocks on the cave wall. Although they were not sharp, they would still hurt if they were rubbed or bumped against. He said to Sang Luo, "Think about how to clean up these days. Be careful with these rocks on the cave wall and don't bump against them. After the grain is transported, I will find a way to flatten it. The furniture and other things can also be made after I come back."
He looked at the size of the cave again and hesitated. He knew why Sang Luo asked about the size of the hollow cave in the beginning. Because they were not a real couple, what Sang Luo wanted most was to separate the two small rooms. So he asked Sang Luo: "Do you want to chisel it further inside to make it bigger? It will take some time and effort, but it is possible. I will ask Shopkeeper Xu to help get some tools from outside to help me."
It is not easy to bring dozens of old, weak, women and children in and out of the forest, but if Chen Lie wants to go in and out of the forest by himself, especially with Chen Dashan's cooperation, it is not a difficult task at all, so he said it easily.
When Sang Luo heard that the cave could be enlarged, her eyes lit up. However, she hesitated when she thought about the nine caves hidden in the peaks on both sides of this small canyon, and they were all large caves. Then she shook her head and said, "We can just repair the mountain wall a little and expand it a little to make the inside smoother. I'm afraid if we expand it too much, we will hollow out the mountain."
This mountain is so high. Don’t look back. It can’t bear the weight and it will collapse. They won’t even have to bury it, although she might be overthinking it.
Chen Lie's eyes curved: "Okay."
In his heart, he actually wanted to be closer to Sang Luo, it would be nice to be like before.
Looking at the cave more closely, it is just a small area. Sang Luo will decide how to decorate it. After Shen Lie finishes transporting the grain, the four of them will go back to the big cave. Because Shen Lie and his companions don't rest, they will have to return after lunch. The grain from Manager Xu must be delivered to the first grain storage point as soon as possible, otherwise, when there is chaos outside, it will be difficult for Manager Xu to transport grain into the mountain.
In the big cave, Qin Fangniang and Gan had already gone back. It was still early to make lunch, so they were preparing dry food for Chen Lie and the others who were going back to transport food in the afternoon. This could be prepared in advance.
Sang Luo went forward to help, but families also came back one after another. The old lady and the aunts joined in and crowded at the entrance of the cave. The work was done quickly, but the entrance of the cave could not accommodate so many people, so they simply sent Sang Luo away to pick wild vegetables for lunch.
The Xu family was the last to return. Unlike other families in the village, no one in the Xu family had ever really suffered. The old lady and Wei Qinghe were okay, and Wang Yunzheng was a bit precocious, but that was okay. However, the Xu family's younger brother and sister were almost wilted. It was hard to imagine what it was like to live in a cave for a long time.
I used the dry grass I saw in the big cave that covered the ground and made a mat. The joy I felt when I first saw Yun Gu was reduced by 50%.
I understand the principle, but I am just listless.
Old Mrs. Xu had already comforted the three children in the cave a long time ago. She didn't say much now. She just told them to go and play with their friends. She rolled up her sleeves and went to work with Old Mrs. Chen and the others.
The men had to leave soon. They should have rested in the cave, but they were afraid that there might be snakes hiding in the deep grass, so they picked up their hoes and went to clear the weeds on both sides of the mountain on the roads leading to the caves.
The most idle ones are the children, who gather together to discuss what their own cave looks like.
The big ones are in a group, the small ones are in a group, the boys are in a group, and the girls are in a group.
Because of Manager Xu's instructions, the Xu family and the Shen family are very close. In addition, Shen Ning took extra care of Xu Wenyin along the way, so now Xu Wenyin is also in the group of Shen Ning, Chen Xiaoya and Qiaoer.
Seeing Chen Ning and Chen Xiaoya talking about their own caves in vivid detail, whether they were big or small, round or narrow, they wanted to describe every shape, she had no idea what to say.
It was not until Shen Ning and the others looked at her that Xu Wenyin said, "It's so dark in my cave. Are we going to live in the cave forever? Just spread hay on the ground and sleep like that?"
Shen Ning chuckled: "Of course not, if you want to make a bed, you can also make a cabinet and a table. My eldest brother can do it."
Chen Xiaoya was also happy: "My dad can do it too."
Xu Wenyin was dumbfounded. After thinking carefully, she said, "My uncle might not."
Chen Xiaoya thought it was no problem at all: "Let your uncle learn from my father, or learn from Brother Alie. Brother Alie also learned from my father."
Xu Wenyin: “Is it difficult to learn?”
Shen Ning shook his head: "It's not difficult, right? My brother seems to have learned it quite easily."
Xu Wenyin was relieved, and breathed a sigh of relief, saying to Shen Ning and the others: "I almost thought I would have to sleep on the ground all the time. I just saw that there were bugs on the ground in the cave."
Chen Ning and the others all laughed, and Chen Xiaoya said, "Go ask my grandma to get some dried mugwort later, and just fumigate it."
Shen Ning: "Besides, insects are not scary. If you catch them, you can feed them to chickens."
Even Shi Qiaoer, who was only six years old, nodded when she heard this: "My brother would catch insects and feed them to the chickens. My mother said that the more insects the chickens eat, the better they will lay eggs."
Xu Wenyin looked at Shen Ning and the other two, and said in admiration: "You are really brave."
Shen Ning had been to the county and to Dongfulou. Thinking about those houses in the county, she said, “It’s not that we are brave, we have seen a lot since we were young. You must have always lived in that kind of good house in the county, so you have never seen it.”
That's right, Xu Wenyin said, "I used to live in the county, and a while ago I lived in Shezhou. This is my first time in the mountains. I have never seen so many insects and so many wild animals before."
When Chen Xiaoya heard her talk about the county and Shezhou, and then asked what the county and Shezhou were like, she had a lot to talk about, from houses to shops, from roads to cars, from restaurants to dim sum shops. The youngest, Shi Qiaoer, hissed and almost drooled, she was so envious.
Xu Wenyin smiled and said, "My father said that if things are peaceful outside, he will take us out. Then I will take you to my house, and let my mother take us to visit the shops."
The girls were very happy, but Xu Wenyin's eyes dimmed when she talked about her mother. "I miss my mother, my father, and my elder and second brothers. Do you think there will be chaos outside? I heard from my father, mother, and grandmother that many rioters rushed into the city and killed anyone they saw. That's why my father didn't dare to ask us to stay in Shezhou."
If it were other children, they really wouldn't understand what refugees and chaos were, but these few families were exceptions. Both the elders at home and Shen Lie taught them a lot.
Chen Ning was the one who heard the most, and said, "I heard from my eldest brother that the north had been in chaos for a long time, and many people died. Not only in the prefectures and counties, but there were also bandits in the mountains, so we hid in such a faraway mountain."
Hearing Xu Wenyin say that she missed her parents, Shen Ning also thought of Shen Jin and the others.
They all have new homes now, but Shen Jin, Shen Yin, Chen Tie and Tian Yaer are still in the village. I don’t know how they are doing.
The original bit of happiness faded away.
"Little girl, what do you think of Xiao Jin and the others now? I wonder if he is crying after finding out that we are gone?"
She had kept this question in her heart for a long time and had never dared to ask it. But today, after arriving at her destination safely and deciding where she would live in the future, she thought about it again and couldn't help but asked her closest friend.
Chen Xiaoya was also a little depressed. She used to get along badly with Shen Jin, but later Shen Jin was not so annoying anymore and they played together every day. When Chen Ning mentioned this, Chen Xiaoya felt depressed.
"I will cry, right? If I were left behind, I would cry too. And if there are rioters, will they be killed too?"
My heart skipped a beat when I said this. The word "kill" was only used to refer to killing chickens and ducks in the past. It was not until my eldest brother escaped from outside that Chen Xiaoya realized that people could be killed for no reason and that people could kill people.
When I think of my friends who I often played with, I can’t help but feel nervous.
Xu Wenyin was curious and asked, "Who is Xiao Jin?"
Shi Qiaoer said, "He is Xiaoan and Aning's cousin. Aning has three cousins and one cousin. The oldest cousin is called Shen Jin."
Xu Wenyin blinked: "Then why didn't you come with us?"
She saw that several other cousins had come together.
Chen Xiaoya said in a muffled voice: "Because Aning's uncle and aunt are so bad, no one wants to bring them here."
Xu Wenyin doesn't have any uncles or aunts, she only has an uncle, and her uncle is also very nice, so she can't imagine what a particularly bad relative is like, so she asked: "Then can't we just bring Xiao Jin and the others?"
Shen Ning flicked the grass leaves in his hand: "They probably won't be willing to leave their parents."
Xu Wenyin thought about it and it made sense. Children are always with their parents. For children like her and her third brother, whose parents couldn't come, their grandmother brought them here.
…
In Shili Village, the grain-collecting clerks measured the grain outside the Shen family's courtyard and left after finding out that the grain was sufficient. Li, who had been beaten, was still lying on the ground, unable to get up for a long time.
Shen Jin and Shen Yin tried to pull and hold her, but how old were they? How could they hold up Li with that little strength? The two brothers cried and sobbed. Shen Jin looked up and saw Shen San huddled in a corner of the yard. He said angrily, "Dad, what are you still standing there for? Help mom up."
Shen San was indeed frightened. He didn't expect that Li was so fierce that he even dared to bump into the police.
Crazy, really crazy.
But now, after being yelled at by his son with tears in his eyes, he finally came to his senses. The clerks who were collecting grain had left. He finally straightened his back and hurried to Li's side. While helping Li, he kept scolding her: "Are you crazy? Isn't it enough to have served two months? If you run into the government, aren't you afraid of being tied up and forced to serve another six months or a year?"
Li had her eyes closed the whole time. If she hadn't been gasping for breath, the blood stains on her clothes would have scared the four children to death.
Fortunately, the winter clothes have not been taken off yet. The country people can't afford thick or thin coats, so the only thing they can wear to keep warm is their winter coats. Of course, winter coats are not that thick.
The clerk whipped Li hard, but the coat blocked the blow. However, no one knew what the whip was made of. Not only was Li's coat torn to pieces, but there were also faint traces of blood on the cotton exposed inside the coat.
In addition to being whipped several times, Li was also kicked several times by several clerks. She was in so much pain that she couldn't speak. She kept her eyes closed and gasped until Shen San came over, full of complaints. Li finally opened her eyes, unable to hit or scold him, so she just stared at Shen San.
Shen San was frightened by Li's gaze. He felt that Li had the strength to tear him apart. He was a little scared and said, "Why are you looking at me like this? I'm doing this for your own good. Isn't this a waste of time?"
Li was still staring at him coldly, which made Shen San feel flustered and weak. He forced himself to help the man to the room and threw him onto the bed. In his panic, he didn't even have enough strength to control his strength. He said he had work to do in the fields, walked out of the room, picked up a hoe and ran away in the yard.
When Li was thrown, her wound hit the bed and she groaned in pain, gasping for breath. After a long while, she was supported by Shen Jin and Shen Yin. She also exerted some strength and lay on her side on the bed.
The four siblings cried very hard. Shen Jin had never been so scared before. He looked at the bloodstains on his mother's body and didn't dare to touch her. As a result, his father threw her down.
Shen Jin didn't bother to think more, and just wiped his tears and said, "Mom, mom, I'll go to Sanli Village to find a doctor for you?"
Li shook his head with difficulty.
There was no money in the family to hire a doctor for her, so even the gold bracelet and the money the family had saved were all taken away by Shen San to pay for the military service.
Li was truly desperate only at this moment. Shen San was not a very hardworking person and he did not plant much. Now there was only a small bag of millet and two small bags of beans left at home. At most, they could only last for four months. It was only February and the autumn harvest was still a long way off. How would they survive in the future?
This was why she rushed towards the clerk who was carrying grain like a madman.
Can't survive.
But seeing her children crying, Li dared not say anything. She shook her head and said, "Hold it for a while. Wait until the bleeding stops and you will be fine after a rest."
Shen Jin cried when she heard this: "Mom, let's run away. The government will seize our food. We don't have much food left at home."
Grain robbery is just grain robbery. Officials are more vicious than bandits because they can rob you in broad daylight.
Li knew the reason, but she shook her head: "How much... food do we have now? Let them rob us. We have already paid what we should pay. If we run away now, the gold bracelets, silver and money in our house and the food that was taken away will all be wasted. If we stay here, at least we still have land and can grow some crops."
She panted heavily and took a break before continuing, "Besides, where can we escape to? There are many wild beasts in the mountains, and there are also refugees who are starving. You have never escaped, so you don't know what life was like. Our family, we escaped from famine. In the whole family, only I and your father, your eldest cousin, and Chen An and Chen Ning, who were just born... not long ago, survived. It's not that easy to be a refugee. If you run to the mountains, you might be killed or fed... by wild beasts."
Shen Jin lowered his head and whispered, "Brother and the others are very powerful."
Li's eyes looked a little empty.
Yes, Chen Lie is capable. He was able to come back from such a long distance through mountains and forests, and he didn't fill the stomachs of wild beasts, but Chen Lie would not take their three rooms with him.
She eased the pain in her body and then asked Shen Jin: "Did your elder brother teach you how to hunt? How are you doing?"
Shen Jin nodded: "Yes, I have learned some simple traps for pheasants. I haven't tried it myself yet, but my brother said I will be able to do it if I practice more."
As for the slingshot and the hole in the ground, Shen Jin didn't say anything when he thought of what Shen An said that day.
Li smiled, and when she smiled, she didn't know where her wound was pulled, and her face was twisted in pain, but she still smiled, and her eyes turned red.
Seeing his mother like this, Shen Jin's tears fell even harder. Thinking of what his mother had just said about stopping the bleeding, he suddenly remembered something and said, "Mom, don't move. My eldest brother taught me a few herbs that can stop bleeding. I'll go find them now."
Seeing this, Shen Yin hurriedly followed: "Brother, I'll go too."
The two brothers ran out like a gust of wind. Li looked at the empty door and then moved her gaze to Chen Tie, whose face was red from crying beside the bed. She pulled Chen Tie and howled with his eyes closed. Tian Ya'er, who was not even as tall as the edge of the bed, suddenly started to tear up from the corners of her eyes.
When Chen Tie saw his mother crying, he was still sobbing, with tears and snot all over his face, but he hurried over to wipe Li's tears: "Mom, mom, are you in pain?"
But the more he wiped, the more Li's tears flowed.
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