Chapter 144 Mountain Rat
Li's will to survive finally arose, and he mustered up his energy to do his pawnshop and sell clothes and bedding.
It was a warm but still cold March day. Shen San came home after finishing his farm work. He wanted to lie down on the bed, but found that the quilt and pillow had been changed...
While the third wife and her husband were arguing about whether it was more shameless for you to spend all your savings to pay for military service and deprive your family of food, or whether it was more selfish for me to sell some of my belongings to treat illnesses and prolong my life, in the dense forest, Chen Lie and his group had their bowstrings fully drawn, and with stern expressions they aimed their arrows at a group of refugees falling behind them.
The other party was a young man in his twenties. Unlike the refugees from the north, his clothes and appearance did not show signs of hunger or fatigue. His situation was better, and it was obvious that he was the indigenous people from Qiyang County who had taken refuge in the mountains.
At this time, the leaders were all hit by arrows and were howling in pain. The arrows were bamboo arrows, but because the person who shot the arrows had strong enough arms, the arrows pierced through the clothes and went deep into the flesh.
There were four injured people, two with injured shoulders and two with injured thighs, one on the left and one on the right, all neatly arranged.
By this time, Chen Lie had already put an arrow cast by the army on his bowstring.
"Next arrow, to the left chest. Who wants to test my accuracy with this arrow?"
The taut bowstring in his hand moved slightly, and the people he was aiming at retreated again and again.
Dozens of stones of grain are good, but when they saw the dozen people on the opposite side pulling their bowstrings in unison, especially thinking of the two teenagers and a young man in the lead, who could cripple someone's hand or leg, the group of refugees who relied on their numbers to come up swallowed their saliva.
Scared.
A bamboo arrow could penetrate so deeply into the flesh, let alone an iron arrow, which hit the chest... everyone shuddered again.
"No, no, let's go, leave now."
They had no chance to snatch the food nor to eat it.
As soon as one person spoke, the others turned around and ran. The injured ones were half-dragged and half-carried away by their companions.
As this group of refugees fled far away, the young and strong men following Shen Lie and his group felt a little weak in their hands, especially Wei Qinghe. His bow was even one of Chen Youtian's, and he just pulled it for show, with no strength and accuracy at all.
Zhou Dalang and his friends also lost their confidence, their legs and feet felt weak: "Our mountain is not peaceful anymore."
It was fine on the way out this time, as there were quite a few of them and they all carried empty baskets, so no one pushed them up. But it was different on the return trip, as they carried all the remaining food on their backs, which was very conspicuous.
Fortunately, Chen Lie and Chen Dashan were really ruthless, and Lu Er was able to keep the situation under control. Otherwise, not only would they not be able to keep their food supplies, but it would also be unknown whether the people could return safely.
Chen Lie and the other four who had returned from the north were accustomed to this scene, so the four of them made a plan and decided that Shi Dalang and Lu Er would go in front, while Chen Lie and Chen Dashan would follow behind to watch out for anyone else falling up, and then they would continue to move deeper into the mountains.
From Shili Village to the new grain storage point, and then on the way to Yungu, we had to take a detour to avoid people and carefully search the front and back. We did not walk fast for the first four days. It took more than four days to cover the distance of the first three days. It was not until the fifth day that we rarely encountered people in the mountains because of the deep forest and the roaming of wild beasts.
After that, they encountered a group of wild boars. Fortunately, it was night. In order to hide and avoid being followed, they spent some time digging a shelter on the side of a mountain near dusk and stuffed all the people and food inside.
Hearing the noise late at night, a group of people held their breath and dared not move. It was only Chen Lie and Chen Dashan who quietly pushed open the camouflaged rough wooden door a little, and with the moonlight pouring into the forest, they were able to see clearly what was outside.
There are fifteen or sixteen wild boars of all sizes. Have they run into a wild boar den?
You can't afford to offend me, so just stay in the shelter and keep quiet.
They set out from Yungu on March 10th and finally returned to Yungu on the evening of March 22nd. They rested in a cave and explored separately to make sure that no one was following them. They waited until dark before returning to the valley.
Because they had been told to return late, there was no one waiting at the entrance of the valley this time. Chen Lie and his men brought all the grain into the valley, hid the baskets, and sealed the entrance. When they delivered the grain to the big cave, only the Xu family who lived closest to the periphery could vaguely hear the noise.
Chen Lie and his companions lit the torches only after they entered the valley. When they lit the torches and looked at the situation in the cave, they were stunned.
The previous shelves and grain bags were gone, replaced by neatly stacked firewood.
Everyone looked at each other in confusion: "What's going on? The grain is not piled here anymore?"
Old Mrs. Xu had already come out to greet them, accompanied by Xu Wenbo and Wang Yunzheng. As for Xu Wenyin, she had gone to notify the other families.
Chen Lie and his companions asked Old Lady Xu and found out that there was too much grain stored in the big cave, and mountain rats had caused a lot of grain bags to be bitten, and a lot of grain was wasted. This was everyone's lifeblood, so in order to make it easier to look after it and prevent mountain rats from discovering it in time, each family moved all their own grain and other things temporarily stored here back. The big cave was then used to store dry firewood that had been dried before.
Well, this time we don’t need to move the food to the big cave. We can move all the food to Xu’s house, because the next batch will contain Xu’s food, salt and other things.
Sang Luo received news from Xu Wenyin that the people transporting the grain had returned. When she came out with Chen An and Shen Ning to meet them, she ran into Chen Lie carrying a large bag of grain outside the Xu family cave.
When the two met, Shen An and Shen Ning had a lot of questions to ask, because they all knew that their eldest brother would quietly return to the village to see Xiao Jin this time.
Sang Luo also wanted to know what was happening outside.
But there were too many people and they were still moving food, so they had to hold back for the time being.
The wooden racks originally in the big cave have now been divided among the families. Naturally, the Xu family also got two. Calculating how much food her family had, Chen Youtian, who stayed in Yungu, also helped to make two more shelves as a reserve, so there is room to put the food when it is moved in. However, the cave, which was not big to begin with, is now even more crowded.
After all the food had been moved, it was time for each family to talk. At this time, the Chen family, Zhou Cunzheng, the Lu family, and the Shi family also came. They did not move and stayed at the entrance of Xujiashan Cave. They mainly asked about the situation outside Shen Lie and Chen Dashan.
I heard that the county and the villages are still stable for the time being, but more people have fled to the mountains. For example, in Shili Village, two more households have fled.
However, there were many refugees in the mountains, and Zhou Dalang told them about how they were robbed of their grain by more than 20 refugees. Everyone felt depressed after hearing this.
Zhou Cunzheng asked anxiously: "What happened next? How did you get away?"
"Alie, Dashan and Uncle Lu shot and injured several people over there first, and then shocked them and made them retreat."
The elders all had worried looks on their faces, so Chen Lie said, "Don't worry too much. The further you go in, the more likely you are to run into jackals, wild boars, and the like. So the roads will be relatively safe for the next two or three days, unless you get stuck in the outer areas. For the time being, not many people will come in. But you have to be more careful when going in and out in the future. Go out again in the next few days to arrange the outside, cover up what needs to be covered, and find a safe place to put away the baskets that can't be brought in."
However, Chen Lie knew in his heart that this peace was only temporary. When they first wanted to find a place to live, they did not dare to leave the village for too long and were in a hurry to go back. They had agreed with Chen Dashan to walk inward for seven days and then return. Later, on the sixth day, they discovered this valley by chance. They chose to live here as it was really secluded. If the two of them walked faster, it would only take five and a half days to get there.
To be honest, it is very deep now, but if a war really breaks out in the future, there will still be brave people who will rush in to avoid disaster.
After all, war and banditry are more deadly than the wild beasts in the mountains.
Therefore, if things get really chaotic outside, there will be refugees outside this valley. But there is nothing we can do about it. We have to fight back against the enemy with our soldiers and block the water with earth.
Chen Lie only said, "If you need to prepare some mountain products or find something that is not available in the valley, we have some free time recently, so we can go out and look for it. If there is a commotion outside in the future, there will definitely be people surrounding us, and it will be troublesome to go in and out then."
What are they lacking? What each family lacks is actually food. After all, no one knows how long they will have to hide in this mountain. The more food they store, the longer they can hide.
However, it is spring now, and there is still nearly ten days before summer. The food in the mountains is not as good as in autumn, and most of it is still wild vegetables. Wild vegetables are not necessary if vegetables can be grown in the mountains.
Then there is meat. This stuff can be stored, but hunting requires skills. Chen Lie and Chen Dashan took them to live in the mountains, but hunting is still about whoever hunts gets it, so those who have the skills can go out, and those who don’t have that ability can’t go out. It’s up to each family to make their own decision.
Those who are willing to go out and practice slowly will gain something.
Everyone nodded. They knew that they were all exhausted after being outside for more than ten days, so they asked them to rest early and go home.
The Chen and Chen families left a step later and told the Xu family about the meeting with Manager Xu.
When Old Lady Xu heard that the two men had helped her son dig a secret hiding place in the mountains and forests outside the walls of Qiyang County, she had to thank them profusely. Chen Lie and Chen Dashan dared not accept it and avoided them.
Seeing Xu Wenbo and Xu Wenyin looking at him eagerly, Chen Lie realized something and said with a smile, "We met in the mountains, so we were in a hurry. In addition, we didn't have any writing materials, so your father couldn't write back. But he will send your letters to your mother in Shezhou, so that your mother and brother can rest assured."
When Xu Wenbo heard that the letter would be delivered to his mother, a smile appeared on his face: "That's good. I think my mother won't worry too much about us after reading the letter."
He also bowed to thank Chen Lie and Chen Dashan for delivering the letter for him.
He was still a young boy, full of childishness. Shen Lie and Chen Dashan both laughed, but did not avoid him. After a few words of small talk, they said goodbye to the Xu family and went home.
The Shen family cave was just a few steps away. When I got closer, I found that the door of the cave was sealed tightly.
Chen Lie was stunned for a moment, and then he realized that Sang Luo was afraid of snakes.
Sure enough, Sang Luo laughed and said, "No one was here, and I was afraid that snakes or rats would get in if the door was open, so I closed it when I came out."
Oh, right, mountain rat.
As he was removing the door panels, he asked Sang Luo, "Has our family's food been damaged a lot?"
Sang Luo was silent for a moment before she said, "Fortunately, four bags were broken. Uncle Tian was preparing to use them as granaries, so we found them in time, so the missing bags weren't that much."
Chen Lie didn't notice anything at first, but he felt that Sang Luo's tone seemed a little wrong. Before he had time to think about it, he heard Chen An muffled voice: "Mice are very picky. They only eat the grains in our house."
There was some melancholy in his words.
At this point, Chen Lie could tell something was wrong. He subconsciously looked at Sang Luo and asked, "What's going on?"
Sang Luo raised her chin and gestured, "Let's go in and talk."
He also asked Shen An and Shen Ning to go to the bathroom to get some firewood to light the stove and boil water. One of the things they had to do was to wash Shen Lie, and they also had to make some food for him.
Shen An knew that the eldest sister-in-law was because there was no evidence and she didn’t know who did it, and she didn’t want him and his sister to hear it, so she pulled Shen Ning out.
Sang Luo and Shen Lie entered the cave and walked a few steps inside before Shen Lie asked in a low voice, "Is someone stealing food?"
Sang Luo glanced outside and whispered, "There is no evidence. It is true that there were mountain rats. There were indeed traces of mountain rats gnawing on the bags. There were also scattered grains and half-gnawed beans on the ground. However, these traces were not found everywhere. Among the four grain bags in our house, two of the holes looked a little different from the other two. Maybe I was overthinking."
"What about other families? Is this the case?"
"It's not easy to ask about this unfounded matter. The Xu family didn't have needles and thread, so they came to borrow some from us. The old lady's eyesight wasn't very good, so I used the excuse of helping thread the needle and mend the pieces. There were also three grain bags with holes that looked like they needed to be straightened out. I also made excuses to visit other families, but there was no such situation."
Then just target their family and the Xu family?
Chen Lie frowned. He believed in Sang Luo's judgment. If it wasn't a 70% to 80% chance, Sang Luo wouldn't have said this to him.
He was a little annoyed. It was fine to be careful of refugees and wild animals outside, but there was such a thing in the valley. He suppressed his annoyance and asked Sang Luo, "Do you have any guesses in your mind?"
After working together for so long, everyone has a basic idea of each family's character.
A few days had passed since the incident, and Sang Luo had calmed down a lot. She met his gaze and just smiled: "I won't make blind guesses about someone I have no evidence of. We have to be careful of mountain rats that might move back to the cave. They can't reach into our cave. But you just need to be more careful in the future. If you want to go out, follow our previous agreement and keep the entry and exit gates tight. At least don't get into any trouble during this period of time here."
After all, apart from Chen Lie and Chen Dashan, everyone else in the valley, even Lu Er and Shi Dalang, had to be careful if they wanted to go out alone.
Chen Lie met Sang Luo's gaze. Although he did not ask any more questions, he had a vague guess in his heart. His cheeks tightened, and he suppressed his anger and said, "Okay, I know what's going on."
Not everyone has the talent for hunting. Since it is so disgusting to think about a bite or two of food, just keep thinking about it.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
