Chapter 180 Hunting
After more than ten days of travel and dust, they built a defense for the Zhou family that lasted nearly a day and a night. Chen Lie and his companions told everyone in the valley about the situation outside and then went back.
Sang Luo was in a bad mood the whole way, Chen Lie noticed it and wanted to comfort her, but Sang Luo had tried her best to adjust herself.
Just hold on. Compared to being trapped in the county town or with Zhou Laizi's family before, her situation is already much better. Just hang in there and try to hold on until she can fight out a victory. Then maybe life will be better.
I just don’t know how long this process will last.
She asked Chen Lie, "People are trapped in the county town, and refugees have been recruited. Isn't there a lot of people in the mountains outside now?"
Chen Lie saw that she had changed her mind and felt relieved. He nodded and said, "It's much less than I originally expected. Most of them are the ones who escaped earlier, or a few refugees who escaped from the county town or did not want to be recruited to rebel. But the inner circle is not so easy to break into. If there is still food to be found outside, no one should risk coming in again."
Sang Luo nodded: "Then let's stock up on more things in the fall. I'll go out with you for a while tomorrow."
She was quite familiar with the products in the mountains, so she would always go out and sweep them herself. Once Chen Lie had recognized them all, she could then take Shen Jin with her.
Thinking of this, he said to Shen Lie: "I'll go make some food, you go take a shower and have a good sleep for the day."
After running around outside for more than ten days, she just saw that except for Chen Lie and Chen Dashan who were in slightly better condition, the rest of the Xu family members were exhausted.
Chen Lie felt warm at heart, thanked Sang Luo for her hard work, and went to fetch water with a bucket.
They came back without making any noise. The few children who were interested in reading were staying in the cave with Shen Jin and his friends. When it was almost time for them to come back to help with feeding, Chen Lie had already washed off the dust, had a hot meal and went to sleep.
As soon as Shen An and Shen Ning entered the cave and were about to call their sister-in-law, Sang Luo put her index finger to her lips, motioning the brother and sister to look at the bed.
Only then did Shen An and Shen Ning realize that their eldest brother had returned. They quickly kept quiet and were careful not to make any noise when walking.
Sang Luo smiled, pointed to the kitchen, and signaled the brother and sister to go have dinner by themselves.
This half day and one night was a rare opportunity for Chen Lie to have a good rest. Starting from the next day, throughout the autumn, it was difficult for him and Chen Dashan to have some free time, because they had to shoulder the responsibilities not only of the Chen and Shen families, but also of the various families in the valley and the Zhou family outside the valley.
If these many people want to survive in this deep mountain, hold on a little longer and longer, and wait until the day of peace, those who are capable have to worry more about them, and everyone has to join forces and do their best.
…
The next morning, the men went out for the whole day and were busy until nightfall. The caves of the other three families were ready and the simple wooden beds were made. Then they returned to the valley together. The next day, Chen Lie had to take Sang Luo out of the valley. Before leaving, he called all the children to his side. He did not tell them in detail that they had a place to stay outside, but only said that it would take a while for them to come back, and he made some arrangements for the family matters.
Whether it is Chen An, Chen Ning or Shen Jin, they can now manage the household affairs well, raising sheep, feeding chickens, growing vegetables and cooking food, all without anyone having to worry about it. Even milking the sheep, Chen Ning can do it quite well.
Shen Jin also knew that his sister-in-law knew a lot of things, and she would definitely go out in the autumn, so there was no rush, he could only wait for his brother to take him out next time.
The old men who were capable of taking charge and people like Zhoucun Zheng and Xu the shopkeeper were left in the valley, and each family also had one or two young and strong people left. After all, the mountain was already in chaos, so after discussion, they left Shi Da, who was relatively experienced and had seen bloodshed, to preside over the valley, and the others cooperated. The entrance to the valley was sealed from the inside, and there were people guarding the entrance day and night. There was nothing to worry about. Shen Lie and Chen Dashan just waited for the families to gather, and then they could take a group of people out for autumn hunting.
At this point, Lu Dalang finally realized something was wrong.
Before, Old Man Lu had followed the group out to cut trees and plant soybeans. Lu Dalang thought they were just chopping wood at that time. Old Man Lu also avoided him when it came to soaking the soybeans, and asked Old Man Chen to help with the soaking. However, the Lu family lived in a big cave. Although for the sake of privacy, they often came back from outside to cut ramie and weave cloth in the summer, and there were bed curtains on each bed, many things were on the shelves, so they were inevitably seen when they were cleaning up.
This time, Lu Erlang and Lu Sanlang not only brought weapons, but also animal skins and thin blankets, even a clay pot for boiling water and two sets of bowls and chopsticks.
He had been depressed for less than half a minute when he couldn't help but went to take a look at the backpack that Lu Erlang was going to carry out.
He looked at the backpack, then at his two younger brothers, who were still filling small bamboo tubes with salt. He asked tentatively, "Why are you bringing these things with you on this trip?"
Lu Erlang's expression remained unchanged as he said, "It's autumn now. We need to go deeper into the mountains to look for mountain products that can be stored or dried. We don't know when we'll be back, and we're afraid that if we go in and out too much, there will be too obvious traces left. We'll process the mountain products outside and store them for a while before sending them back."
When he heard that they had to go deeper, Lu Dalang became scared. On the way into the mountain, there were so many ferocious beasts in the inner area that it was common to encounter two in each trip. Why go deeper?
Stop asking immediately.
As for processing the mountain products outside and storing them for a while before sending them back to leave less traces, that would be even better for the safety of the valley. He got the advantage without saying a word, and didn't even ask how Lu Er and Lu San were living outside or whether they were safe.
Mrs. Lu glanced at him and told Lu Erlang and Lu Sanlang to hurry up and not keep other family members waiting.
After the two brothers left, Liu Niang took Ah Xu out as well, then looked at Lu Dalang and said, "Alie went out for a while, and the outside is in chaos. We don't know how long we have to hide in the mountains. There is only so much food, and there is not much land in this valley. You should eat more frugally. After the family is divided, don't count on your brothers to support your family when there is no food. That's not right. They risked their lives to do that."
Lu Dalang's face turned red with embarrassment, and he only replied, "Mom, I know."
Turning to Lu Da Niu, he said, "Did you listen to your grandma's words? In the future, put less beans in, don't do any heavy work, just lie down after eating, and save food if you can."
Lu Danniu quickly agreed.
This trick was used on the child again, and Mrs. Lu didn't want to say anything anymore.
The family was originally unwilling to go to this point, but the eldest brother was hopeless and Wang Chunniang had done all kinds of stupid things. The couple's relationship with the other families in the valley was nothing but face-saving relations with their brothers, so she had to put this evil guy first.
Mrs. Lu didn't go out either. She just found some work and sat at the entrance of the cave to do it.
Lu Shuanzhu really wanted to say that he could also go out hunting, but he knew in his heart that it was no longer a question of whether he dared to go out or not, so he lowered his head silently and said nothing.
The only thing he could do was to protect his mother and prevent any more trouble.
…
The Lu family's affairs are taken care of by the Lu family. When Chen Lie and his group went out, Shi Da and Zhou Jia Sanlang were responsible for guarding the cave.
The mountain was not peaceful after all. Chen Lie, Shi Da and Zhou Sanlang agreed that they would come back once every five to ten days. The time was uncertain. The door above would be sealed with stones. They told him the agreed knocking signal and asked him to just pay attention to any movement down there and help remove the bolt of the entrance when they came back.
The two of them noted them one by one. Chen Lie opened the secret door at the entrance and used the plants that blocked the secret door to observe the outside. When there was nothing unusual, he went out and called everyone to come out together.
The entrance and the surrounding area were hidden with large rocks and various obstacles as he said. The section of the trail closest to the intersection with obvious traces of footsteps was processed and some other treatments were done to eliminate the traces. Until there was nothing unusual, he led everyone to the cave, made the beds, placed the dishes and chopsticks in the cave, and did not bother with anything else.
Chen Dashan brought out a load of buckets and drew water from a mountain spring. After each family took turns watering the soybeans planted outside, they took their weapons and backpacks and set off.
Among the group of people who came out, there were only two women, Sang Luo and Shi Erlang's wife. Naturally, this was also because there were too few young and strong people in these two families.
Chen Lie carried the clay pot, water, several neatly stacked sacks of different sizes, and a piece of animal skin in his backpack. He told the two of them some things to be careful about, and whispered to Sang Luo, "Stay by my side at all times."
Sang Luo held the sharp hoe in her hand and nodded.
Shi Erlang's wife was also a little nervous at first. Originally, it was her eldest sister-in-law Gan who went out, but the cave outside was small and not very comfortable to live in. When she knew that Sang Luo would go out with her, and Shen Jin would go out later, she took the initiative to ask to go out.
Looking at Sang Luo now, he was not so nervous anymore.
In fact, apart from Chen Lie who was paying attention, the others who left the valley also subconsciously divided themselves into two groups, protecting Sang Luo and Shi Erlang's wife in the middle. They did not delay on the way and went straight to the mountain where the Zhou family lived.
Lu Erlang was not lying to Lu Dalang. They moved around a lot nearby, and they had almost cleared out all the pheasants and hares. There might still be wild boars, but they were definitely not as numerous as in the inner area, so they didn't bother looking for them and went straight to explore the inner area.
Zhou Laizi and his son were surrounding the wooden stakes in the planting area, while his wife, daughter and the two younger children were planting soybeans. When they heard some noise from afar, they were startled at first, but when they realized it was Chen Lie and his group coming, they were so happy that they put down their work and ran to greet them.
As for hunting and gathering, they only dared to walk around in groups of three men and did not dare to go far.
When Zhou Laizi saw the weapons in Chen Lie's hands and the bows and arrows on his body, he was so excited that his tanned face smiled: "Going hunting today?"
Shen Lie and Chen Dashan laughed, and Chen Dashan said, "Yes, let's take you with us. Let's go with two people. Uncle will see who from your family will go?"
Zhou Laizi didn't even need to think and said, "I'll go with my Erlang."
He turned around and said to his eldest son, "You continue to build the fence at home and protect your mother and sisters."
Zhou Dalang knew that there were many wild beasts here, so he nodded quickly.
Zhou Laizi's wife brought her eldest daughter over. When she saw Sang Luo and Shi Erlang's wife, she was indescribably happy. After hiding in the mountains for so long, she was naturally excited to see the villagers again, especially the women, and went over to talk to them.
Sang Luo looked at the mother and daughter of the Zhou family. They were very thin, and their faces were indeed as Chen Lie said, abnormally pale from being hidden in the cave for a long time and not being able to see the light. She was not very familiar with the mother and daughter of the Zhou family, so she just said hello. Shi Erlang's wife had been married to the village for many years, so she was familiar with them and smiled and said a few words.
When Zhou Laizi's wife saw Shi Erlang's wife and Sang Luo also carrying baskets and hatchets, she knew that they were going to the mountains together. She envied them and said, "With my body, I can't do anything I want to do."
The eldest daughter of the Zhou family came over to greet Shi Erlang's wife and Sang Luo, said something to her mother, and hurried back to the cave to prepare water in a bamboo tube for her father and second brother.
Chen Lie and his friends really didn't have time to delay any longer, so after a brief chat, Zhou Laizi and his son went back to pick up the backpack, took the two bamboo tubes filled with water from their daughter, came out to get the hoe and hatchet that were placed outside for self-defense, and then went to Chen Lie and his friends.
After informing the Zhou family that they would return at an uncertain time, the group headed into the mountains. Zhou Laizi's wife and their children watched them go until they could no longer see anyone, and then they turned back to work harder.
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