When the children saw the reeds and the water, they cheered happily and chased each other into the reeds.
The children of Lishu Village, however, remained calm. Perhaps they were used to the scenery here, or perhaps they were worried about their village; their mood was not very high.
Li Lanzhen did not try to comfort them.
Although they are still very young and have no relatives, they must endure the pain and suffering they have to go through. Only by overcoming these hardships will they grow up, become strong, and bravely face tomorrow!
Shanxing didn't pay attention to the group of people who ran towards the rocks beside the reeds.
He led Li Lanzhen and the others to the right.
Li Lanzhen then discovered this valley. The terrain on the left was lower, and there was an endless expanse of reeds on this side, as well as that river. Where did the water come from? Where did it go? It was not clear at the moment, but it was the same valley that they had just entered.
The land on both sides of the reed marsh is relatively low-lying, covering about 2,000 mu (approximately 133 hectares).
On the right side, the terrain is higher, probably around 2500 meters high. The soil is very fertile, and she bent down and grabbed a handful of soil.
He squeezed it and was delighted to find that the land was even more fertile than the land in the Valley of Forgetfulness!
Xue Bao chuckled and said, "Aunt Lanzhen, do you think this land is very fertile?"
Li Lanzhen nodded, "Yes! The soil here is even better than that in Forget-Worry Valley!"
Xue Bao also raised his head, looking at the vast valley, lost in thought.
I looked up and gazed at the steep cliffs on all sides. Although the mountains here were steep, the trees were lush and tall.
But it's still possible to climb up.
He concluded that there must be wild beasts in the mountains here.
Li Lanzhen turned her head and looked again at the mountain gate they had just entered through.
Shan Xing'er thought Li Lanzhen was worried that the soldiers would come here, so she said loudly, "Don't worry, they won't find this place!"
Then he glanced at Xue Bao and said.
"He cleared away the tracks along the way, and I also sprinkled sleeping potion along the way."
They won't find this place; it's safe here.
Li Lanzhen looked at the vast valley but found no signs of treehouses, wooden houses, stone houses, or caves.
Curious, she asked, "Shanxing, where do you live?"
Shanxing looked up and pointed to the right, "There's the shack we built over there."
"You've been living there for the past few years?"
"Yes, we live there, dig for wild vegetables, there are wild ducks and wild duck eggs in the reeds, and we can also catch fish."
Then, she lowered her head and murmured, "I've never eaten any food."
Li Lanzhen glanced at their expressions and understood.
Xue Bao watched a group of children jumping and playing happily beside the reeds.
He said to Li Lanzhen, "Auntie, I'm going to catch some fish and collect some wild duck eggs. It's time to eat."
"Alright, Xue Bao, keep an eye on the children so they don't fall into the water!"
Shanxing brought the children from Lishu Village along as well.
Douhua and Datou sat in the basket behind Li Lanzhen, watching their older brothers and sisters playing happily by the water, and the two of them became anxious.
Douhua patted Li Lanzhen's shoulder with her little hand.
"Grandma, let's go outside! There's water! Let's catch fish to eat!"
Li Lanzhen then realized that the two little ones were still in the basket.
She chuckled and put down the basket. "Alright, Grandma's letting you out now. Your brothers can play in the water, but you two can't get too close. You're too small and can't stand up straight. You'll just fall right in and never see your brothers and Grandma again, understand?"
Douhua nodded, indicating that she understood.
Big Head gripped Li Lanzhen's pants tightly with both hands.
"You will die."
Hearing the child utter those three words, Li Lanzhen felt inexplicably sad.
She bent down, picked him up, patted his back, and comforted him.
"Don't be afraid, Da Tou! Grandma's here, and your older brothers and sisters are all here too. Don't be scared!"
Would you like to go play by the water?
Big Head hugged Li Lanzhen's neck tightly and rested his big head on Li Lanzhen's shoulder.
"I want to go play in the water."
Put him down, Douhua took his hand and said to him.
"Don't be afraid, Big Head. I'll lead you there so we can catch fish and grill them."
When Li Lanzhen saw this little girl, she thought, "She's so bold and daring."
The little girl took a couple of steps and saw Sanwang standing next to Shanxing, waving at him.
"Brother, let's go catch some fish to eat."
Sanwang immediately smiled and walked over, taking Douhua's hand in his.
He led the two children toward the reeds.
Watching Sanwang walk away, Shanxing spoke slowly.
"Sanwang is the grandson of our old village chief. That day, after the men in black entered the village, they didn't rob anything, they just killed people."
They rushed to the old village chief's house and hung Sanwang from a tree.
They forced the old village chief and his men to hand over two children and a sixteen or seventeen-year-old man.
The adulterous couple went to Youzhou City and heard that if they could provide information about the whereabouts of two children and a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy, they would receive one hundred taels of silver.
They betrayed Pear Tree Village, received one hundred taels of silver, and brought the men in black into the village.
Shanxing sat down and looked at the children beside the reeds.
"The old village chief said that everyone in the village has lived here for decades and no outsiders have ever come here."
They didn't believe it, so they went from house to house and drove everyone in the village to the front of the ancestral hall.
Enraged at not finding the person they were looking for, they slaughtered the entire village.
That despicable couple didn't even spare their own parents.
And so, everyone in the village died. The adulterous couple thought they could escape too, so they happily took one hundred taels of silver and went home.
Unexpectedly, they were also murdered in their own home.
After a while, Shanxing spoke again.
"I wasn't in the village that day; I came here to collect some herbs to take back with me."
That's how I escaped death. When I returned to the village, I found that the entire village had died in front of the ancestral hall.
My grandfather was inside too.
At this point, Shanxing was already in tears.
"I noticed that the pair of beasts were missing from the crowd."
He rushed to their house to find out some information.
They saw a group of men in black slaughtering the family.
I heard one of the men in black say that they should hand over one hundred taels of silver, and that they had said there were outsiders in the village.
They searched everywhere but couldn't find them. Although the men in black killed the entire village, it was they who caused the tragedy.
Those two beasts knelt down and begged for mercy, but they were still killed.
I know the truth now, and I hate them so much.
The next day, Sanwang and the others came out.
We gathered in front of the ancestral hall and wept.
Later, I decided to bury all my relatives in the village.
It took us two days to bury all our relatives in the village.
Sanwang and his men wanted to storm into those two beasts' house and burn it down.
I stopped them from doing it, thinking that their house was the first one at the entrance of the village.
That bloody scene should deter those fleeing famine from coming here, or those intending to come and commit evil.
Li Lanzhen looked at her heartbroken appearance and said.
"And then you came here and settled down."
This is a place you already knew about, right?
Shanxing raised her hand and wiped away her tears.
This was the first time Li Lanzhen had discovered the girl's weakness since they met.
"This big valley was discovered by my grandfather. He said that when I was very young, my parents and grandmother all passed away. My grandfather then brought me to Lishu Village and settled down here."
My grandfather was a herb gatherer. From as early as I could walk, I would go with him to gather herbs in these mountains, and then sell them at the pharmacy in Youzhou City for money.
Li Lanzhen nodded.
"Didn't you and your grandfather tell the people in Lishu Village about this place?"
Shanxing shook her head.
"We didn't tell anyone, only my grandson and I knew. And it's fortunate that we didn't tell them, otherwise those two beasts would definitely have reported this place to the authorities to exchange it for silver."
Looking up at the sky, Li Lanzhen realized it was almost afternoon and she would have to stay in the valley for the rest of the day.
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