Chapter 3 I picked up a little girl
The village chief raised his hand to stop the noisy crowd.
"Alright, since everyone has made up their minds, let's go south and explore together."
We're about to set off, and I want to make some things clear in advance: our journey won't be peaceful. If you want to survive, don't back down when you encounter problems. Only by working together can we have a chance of winning.
Everyone, remember this: we will not provoke trouble along the way, but we also cannot be afraid of trouble.
Our village has a total of 51 households with 473 people, including men, women, and children. I hope that when we go south, the number of people will be greater than the number of people.
For everyone's safety, each household needs to provide one able-bodied person. I want to clarify one thing first: the Shen family is the maternal family of Chunping's wife, Shen Shi. They came to seek refuge with the Mu family, so they are all one family. Since we are all one family, when we need someone to help, one person from each family is enough.
If some meddlesome women are being unreasonable, they should ask their husbands and fathers-in-law whether my brother Da Sheng had saved or helped them before he was injured.
I've decided on this matter. If you're not happy about it, then you'd better leave now. Our Linshang Village temple is too small to accommodate a very large Buddha.
So, including the Shen family, we have 51 households with 477 people.
Of course, if things are distributed by household along the way, their two families can only be counted as one household. However, since they are from our Shanglin Village, they should be included if things are distributed by headcount.
I'm making these things clear to you now. If you have any objections, raise them now. Don't keep making excuses later, or we'll be saying goodbye forever!
After finishing his speech, Village Chief Lin coldly swept his gaze across the crowd. An old woman, somewhat indignant, was about to voice her objections when her family stopped her.
“Mother, the village chief has always had a good relationship with the Mu family. He clearly wants to help the Mu family. Besides, there are only two able-bodied men in the two families. It’s not unreasonable to consider them as one family.”
If we anger the village chief now, our whole family will have no way to survive.
"Old woman, you better behave yourself. I was saved from the jaws of death by Da Sheng back then. If you don't shut up, I'll divorce you!"
This woman is usually talkative and meddlesome, but she's not stupid.
After careful consideration, none of them dared to be the first to step forward.
The village chief was very satisfied to see that no one objected, and continued to raise his voice.
"The 51 strong laborers need to be scattered around the front, back, left, and right of the team, and there also need to be people to take turns keeping watch at night."
Alright, that's all for now. It's getting late, let's set off.
At the village chief's command, the procession slowly began to move.
The old people looked at the village behind them and couldn't help but shed tears. They didn't know if this departure would bring good or bad fortune, or if they would ever have the chance to return to their hometown.
The elderly and adults were very sad, but the young children were carefree and looked on with longing.
...
At the three-way intersection, Ningbao was already tired of sitting, and her tummy kept rumbling. She looked around to make sure no one was there, then quickly broke off a small piece of pastry and prepared to put it in her mouth...
Suddenly, Ning Bao frowned and kicked into the air. A spirit that had come close to Ning Bao to snatch the pastry was kicked away with a "squeak".
Ning Bao frowned as she looked at the dissipating spirit.
"They're all starving ghosts, daring to steal food from the living. Isn't that like lighting an oil lamp in a latrine and looking for trouble?"
Ningbao stuffed the pastries into her mouth and ate them like a little hamster with her cheeks puffed out. She mumbled something indistinctly between bites.
"Life is tough these days!"
But the world is so hard, and my master still kicked me off the mountain, saying it wasn't because he thought I ate too much!
"Hmph! Master is wicked! He's lying to children!"
...
Hiding in the tree behind Ning Bao, the Taoist priest Sanqing sighed silently. He had raised Ning Bao since she was a baby and she was only three and a half years old. He couldn't bear to part with her.
But there was nothing they could do; their master-disciple bond was too shallow, and her appetite was so small that there wasn't even a single grain of rice left in the temple. All the food was given to her.
He dismissed all the disciples in the Taoist temple. He was about to take Lao Fan, who had nowhere else to go, south to find a way to survive. He had calculated that Ning Bao would die if she went with them.
Moreover, it's an inescapable death trap!
That's why he tried everything he could to find a way for her to survive.
He believed that he and his disciple would surely meet again someday, so that they could meet again in a better way.
...
After Ningbao finished eating a piece of pastry, she took out the bamboo tube containing water and took a small sip. Her master had said that water was precious and should not be wasted.
Ningbao, who had just finished eating and drinking, was about to lie down and sunbathe her little belly to rest for a while when she saw a group of people coming up the path ahead.
She can now count to ten. Her master said that the fifth group of people is her destined one. She remembers the past four groups very clearly, so her destined one is among the group of people walking over.
Ningbao, thinking that she would soon have a family, immediately ran excitedly to the roadside with her short legs.
This group of people were none other than the residents of Shanglin Village, who had just left the village not long ago.
Seeing a small girl running down the slope, Mu Chunping, who was at the front of the group scouting the way, quickly ran over. He squatted down in front of Ning Bao and spoke softly in a low voice.
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