"Then you'll have to ask your great-grandfather. I can't control what you do in class."
So Mu'er turned to ask Grandpa Zhao. Grandpa Zhao thought that Mu'er hadn't had a rest in a long time and that studying every day wasn't good either, so he readily agreed.
When Mu'er saw that her great-grandfather had approved so readily, she jumped up with joy.
"Great, great! I can help my mother with chores now."
Grandpa Zhao looked pleased and said, "Haha, this child is so thoughtful."
After the weather cleared up, the corn was harvested. The group busied themselves preparing for the autumn harvest and planting, and by the time they finished all their work, it was already mid-September.
Lu Chuan and the Taoist priest didn't have time to go hunting in the mountains, so they decided to go down the mountain first to check on the situation below.
That evening, after dinner, everyone sat in the courtyard to cool off and discussed their plans to go down the mountain in the next couple of days.
The Taoist priest spoke first, saying, "I've finished all the work in the fields these past few days, and I plan to go down the mountain with Xiao Chuan in the next couple of days to take a look. It's been so long since I've been down the mountain, I wonder what the situation is like down there now."
Xu Han also wanted to go down the mountain. She hadn't been down for a long time and wanted to go down and explore the area, and maybe buy some new things for her home.
So he took the initiative to say, "I'll go with you. I can go to the county town to buy some things."
Lu Chuan shook his head and refused, "Just tell me what you need, and I'll buy it for you. You don't need to go."
Grandpa Zhao chimed in, "Yes, Xiao Chuan is right. Xiao Han, you shouldn't go. The war is at its most intense right now, and we don't know what's going on down the mountain. The world is unstable, and if something happens, they'll have to worry about you if you go with them, making it inconvenient for them to do anything."
Xu Han thought about it and agreed. "Then I'll make a list of what you need to buy for you, and you can just buy it accordingly."
“Alright, we don’t have anything to do at home these past two days anyway, why don’t we go tomorrow?” Lu Chuan asked the Taoist priest.
The Taoist priest nodded. "Then let's go tomorrow. It's just a trip to the county town, so we don't need to prepare anything."
"I'll prepare some water and bread for you later, and you can eat them tomorrow morning."
After exchanging a few more words, they finalized tomorrow's itinerary.
The next day, while it was still barely dawn, the Taoist priest and Lu Chuan set off.
Seeing that it was still early, Xu Han gave the things to Lu Chuan and then went back to sleep.
Although it was still dark, the two were still traveling at a fast pace. They were surrounded by familiar surroundings, and their speed was not much different from when it was light.
By daybreak, Lu Chuan and the Taoist priest had arrived at the riverbank and were ready to row their boat.
As they descended the mountain, about halfway down, both Lu Chuan and the Taoist priest noticed something was amiss.
The two exchanged a glance, and Lu Chuan immediately understood the Taoist priest's meaning. He quickly brought the boat to shore and carefully observed the movements in the mountains.
Normally, there should be many birds in the mountains at this time of year, and they should be startled and fly away wherever they go, but Lu Chuan and the Taoist priest did not hear any birds chirping.
The Taoist priest disembarked and walked along the riverbank, his expression growing increasingly somber. The two noticed that the further they went, the quieter it became—something was definitely wrong.
Not a single bird could be heard around; the silence was eerily profound.
The Taoist priest casually picked up a stone and threw it into the forest, but there was no panicked flight of birds as expected.
As the saying goes, something unusual must be a sign of trouble. The absence of birds in the mountains during this period indicates that there are people or wild animals, or something more powerful than the birds, that have scared them away.
Lu Chuan whispered to the Taoist priest, "Master, I feel something is wrong here."
The Taoist priest looked at him like he was an idiot, thinking to himself, "Isn't this obvious? How could my disciple be so stupid? Anyone with a little sense would have noticed something was wrong."
Lu Chuan didn't seem to care, pretending not to see the disdain in the Taoist priest's eyes. He continued, "It's so quiet here, it's probably not because of any large animals, but because there are people. And quite a few people."
This place isn't particularly far from home. Logically speaking, if it were a large animal, the Taoist priest and Lu Chuan would have discovered it long ago and wouldn't have allowed it to wander over here.
They must have dealt with the large animals not far from their homes, giving them no chance to come down the mountain.
After looking around, the Taoist priest calmly said, "Let's find a place to hide the boat and go over there to see what's going on."
Lu Chuan did as instructed and hid the boat in the bushes. After taking one look, he was still not sure, so he made some additional camouflage.
After seeing that Lu Chuan had hidden the boat, the Taoist priest took the lead without saying a word and walked into the woods.
Both were quite skilled, and they were extremely cautious as they traveled, unsure whether the other was friend or foe.
Not long after entering the woods, the Taoist priest spotted people. From a distance, he saw a group of men sleeping on the ground.
Judging from the man's clothes, he didn't seem like a bad person, but rather an ordinary person from the foot of the mountain.
They were all wearing patched clothes, and had sticks or hoes or similar tools beside them, presumably for self-defense.
Lu Chuan looked at the Taoist priest, who then gave him a hand gesture. The two of them then tiptoed off to another location.
After walking for a short while, they encountered another group of people, which was clearly larger than the previous group.
Their clothing and equipment were the same as the group of people they had just met; they all looked like honest, simple farmers.
Lu Chuan and the Taoist priest circled around, walking further and further away, but they continued walking with a purpose, observing the situation as they headed down the mountain.
After walking for about an hour, there were fewer and fewer people in the mountains, and the mountains returned to their usual liveliness.
The birds chirped and twittered, and every now and then you could see pheasants and rabbits running by.
The two walked to a slightly flatter spot and sat down. Lu Chuan took a bamboo tube out of his basket and handed it to the Taoist priest.
"Master, have some water."
The Taoist priest took the bamboo tube and drank half of it in one gulp. He was really thirsty after traveling for so long.
After finishing his water, the Taoist priest slowly said, "So many people have suddenly broken into the mountain, and they are all ordinary people. Something must have happened down below the mountain."
Along the way, the two encountered several groups of people, some in small groups, some in groups of dozens, and even some in groups of over a hundred.
This is just what the two of them encountered today; there are definitely more they haven't met yet, and there might even be more.
Lu Chuan suddenly remembered something his wife often said and blurted it out, "Could it be that they're conscripting men down the mountain?"
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