When Li Lianzhen and the others retreated to the higher earthen hill behind them, there were still many people who didn't want to move.
Zhou tried to get attention again, saying, "You awful old lady Li, you always know how to cause trouble. This place is so far from the underground river, do you think the water will rush up from underground?"
We'll ignore her, just sleep here, and leave when it's light.
Some people didn't want to leave in the first place, and after hearing what Zhou said, they felt even more at ease lying down.
Han Shunde looked at the people who didn't want to leave, stood on the earthen hill, and shouted loudly.
"Hey everyone from Hanjiacun, let's retreat a few hills back. The soil here is soft, and the underground river has swelled. For safety's sake, let's move back a bit!"
Some people saw Han Shunde shouting and called their families to retreat. Some of them were their mothers and wives, who were shouting and cursing as they chased after him to retreat.
Seeing those who wouldn't listen to advice, wouldn't retreat, and had already lay down to rest pretending not to hear, Han Shunde shook his head and left.
Li Lanzhen led everyone to retreat. She didn't just choose whichever hill was the highest and go up to it. Instead, she first looked for places where the soil was harder and mixed with sand and gravel, not just loess, before she went there.
Zhang Deshui saw through his thoughts.
He was pointing to the three mounds that were connected together next to him.
“My dear in-law, that’s fine. It’s a sandy mountain, and all three mountains are covered with thatch. Even though it’s dry, the roots of the thatch are still clinging to the soil and won’t easily come apart.”
Li Lanzhen nodded and said, "Okay, let's go up those three small mounds."
The families climbed the three connected, not-too-high earthen hills, bringing their oxen, donkeys, and big blue mules with them.
There were many people, and the surrounding area was full of people from Hanjiacun and Dongjiazhuang.
Li Lanzhen felt it was inappropriate to put the cart back inside.
Han Mingjiang saw Li Lanzhen touching the car and called out, "Mom, let's go first, and my brother and I will pull the car up later."
Li Lanzhen and her family went up the mountain and settled down.
The other families were either around them or behind them, and they found suitable mounds of earth to climb up.
After a long night's sleep, everyone went to bed.
Just as the sky began to lighten.
When Li Lanzhen opened her eyes, she heard Zhou's wailing and howling.
She stood up and looked down, and was shocked.
It turns out that the underground river has indeed become an above-ground river.
The area where they first stood yesterday has been completely submerged.
The place where the Zhou family members stood became an isolated island, surrounded by water on all sides.
At that moment, she stood there, jumping up and down, shouting for the old village chief to come and save people.
She cursed her daughter for being unfilial while also cursing her son-in-law for being inhuman, saying that he should have taken their family along earlier, and now all their belongings had been washed away by the flood.
They shouted loudly for Han Shunde and the others to come and rescue them.
Almost all of those trapped were from Zhoujia Village.
Almost all the lazybones didn't come up, and their belongings were washed away by the water. At this time, the wives were cursing and the children were crying.
Li Lanzhen ignored them and didn't want to help them. It was all their own fault. On the road to escape famine, they didn't have the skills to survive, so they should have followed the crowd or listened to the guides and leaders.
Those who are self-righteous and refuse to listen to advice deserve to suffer.
At this moment, she was concerned about whether the river would continue to spread upstream.
Looking up, I could see hills on the underground river in the distance. It seems that the underground river suddenly swelled from this section, overflowing the riverbed and surging onto the surface. An underground river has become an above-ground river here.
Perhaps this is a good thing, as the river water has alleviated the drought in this area.
Once the river recedes, or along the banks of the river, wild vegetables or weeds should grow, right?
For those who have no food, perhaps those fleeing famine can find something to eat.
With a sigh in her heart, Li Lanzhen called to her daughter-in-law to take out wild vegetable pancakes for breakfast.
Right now, it's not the right time to buy a pot and cook, or to make a porridge or drink something else.
Han Shunde called over the young and strong men to go and rescue the families trapped by the water.
Han Mingjiang stood up and looked at his mother again.
Li Lanzhen glared at him and said, "Go if you want to, why are you looking at me?"
Han Mingjiang and Han Minghai chuckled and ran away.
Xue Nizi reminded Han Mingjiang from behind, "Second brother, you mustn't save that old woman Zhou!"
Why didn't the floodwaters take her away? You wicked brat!
She had barely finished shouting when her mother, Wu, slapped her.
"Why do you talk so much, girl? Even wild vegetable pancakes can't shut you up?"
The children, munching on wild vegetable pancakes, looked at the place where they had been happily walking in the underground river just yesterday, now a vast expanse of water, and said with lingering fear, "Luckily we came up, otherwise we would have been swept away by the water."
Looking at the receding river, Li Lanzhen thought that the current wasn't very strong and that it shouldn't flow too far and wouldn't destroy the villages or towns below.
After rescuing the families trapped by the flood and reuniting with them, Han Shunde said that everyone should pack their things and continue on their way.
Granny Zhou sat on the ground, shouting and cursing at her daughter and son-in-law, demanding that they bring her grain.
The old village chief ignored him completely and told his family to leave quickly.
Han Shunde said to them, "You can leave if you want, or stay here if you don't. We don't have any food at home."
Then he raised his head and said to everyone, “My father said long ago that if you want to continue following us, you can continue, or you can leave on your own.”
After saying that, he turned around and followed the group.
Li Lanzhen ignored all of that. After eating at home and cleaning up, she called out to Xue Laohu and the others before Han Shunde could even speak, and they headed east according to the terrain they had observed the day before.
Yesterday, Li Lanzhen discovered the location of the underground river. It was still far from the official road. Now they continued eastward. If they reached that mountain, they would have to cross it to reach Youzhou.
According to Xue Laohu and Han Shunde's observations, they should be able to reach the foot of the mountain by noon tomorrow at the latest.
Along the way, Han Shunde kept making grand promises to everyone, saying that they were only a few miles away from reaching the foot of the mountain, where there would be green trees and wild vegetables.
Families with limited food supplies hoped to quickly reach the mountains to gather wild vegetables or catch pheasants and rabbits.
It makes walking even faster.
At that moment, everyone wished they could sprout wings and fly over quickly.
Li Lanzhen felt the same way. When she saw the underground river turn into a vast expanse of water on the surface, she thought of her youngest son and daughter-in-law.
I don't know how the two children are doing. The youngest has been weak since childhood and has been studying in a private school.
He doesn't have as much life experience as his two older brothers.
If it weren't for his father, who had heard that one needed to be in good health to participate in scientific expeditions, and sent him to Xue Laohu to learn a set of martial arts for fitness, he probably would have encountered danger soon after struggling in the flood.
This child is very filial. Whenever he has time, he goes to the fields to do farm work with his two older brothers, or goes up the mountain to chop firewood and find food, which is why he has become much stronger.
Han Shulan was a hardworking and unpretentious girl; otherwise, she would have been truly afraid that her youngest son would encounter danger before he could walk even ten miles.
Thus, she was also afraid that they would be caught by the soldiers or robbed by bandits.
Li Lanzhen was even more anxious to get to Youzhou as soon as possible, settle down, and make sure her family was settled before she went out to find her youngest son.
Filled with hope, the people walked faster, and by noon the next day, they had arrived at the foot of the mountain.
This was already within the territory of Youzhou, so they were no longer afraid of the Jin King's soldiers coming out to conscript men.
Moreover, the mountains in front of them were not covered with green trees and wild vegetables as Han Shunde had described.
Even more terrifying, when they reached the foot of the mountain, they saw that there were many refugees living there.
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