Nowadays, except for finding weeds and cutting wood, the village does not allow anyone to enter or leave easily. Once the crops are grown, strangers will not be allowed to enter the village.
Especially since their village is not far from the official road, it is too conspicuous.
Changle Village, once a small village of over 200 households, now has only about 40 people left. Aside from the blind old man who guards the village entrance and the Jiang family, who have settled into their tiled house, the rest of the people have been concentrated in the center of the village.
Jiang Yue estimated that after mid-April, there would be less rain.
She touched Jiang Nian's arm. After all, she was not a doctor, so she didn't dare to make a conclusion. She just asked him to continue to rest and try not to move.
Today, they will take the villagers to Tianxia Mountain to cut down big trees to make big wooden barrels to store water.
Many jars and buckets were found in the empty houses. There were also three wells in the village, but the drought had scared everyone out of their wits, so they tried to store as much water as possible.
The yellow mud behind the village has been almost completely dug up, and can only be used to make small bowls and pots for storing things. For water storage, wooden barrels are still needed.
It takes two days to reach Tianxia Mountain by the official road, but if you go around the small road in Changle Village, you can reach it in four or five hours.
The journey wasn't short, but all the usable wood near the village had been cut down, leaving them with no other options. It was only when the Jiang family offered to take them up the mountain that they finally decided to go.
The village chief wanted to stay in the village and called on eight strong men from the trap diggers to follow the Jiang family with hatchets in their hands.
They trust the Jiang family.
Taking advantage of the first light of day, the ten people set off amid the farewell gazes of the villagers. They would definitely not be able to return on the same day and would probably return the day after tomorrow.
Jiang Nian ignored everyone's gaze and carried Jiang Yue on his back.
Jiang Yue's ears turned red, and she could feel the teasing gazes behind her.
She leaned close to his ear and said, "Put me down, baby. I'm not tired now."
Jiang Nian shook his head and lifted her up, "I can only support you with my right hand, hold on tight. If you don't want me to carry you, I can hold you in my arms."
Holding him like a child? That's even more shameful! Jiang Yue buried her face in his back and stopped talking. Pulling up the mask, she acted shameless.
When they were halfway there, the sun was already high in the sky. The weather was still a bit cool, but they were already feeling hot from head to toe.
They went up the mountain on the other side.
That side was far from the city, so I didn't encounter any other people going up the mountain. As I reached the foot of the mountain, I saw many large trees.
Because of the previous earthquake, many trees fell down. After two days of drying in the sun, they will be dry and become good firewood.
The villagers were overjoyed. After a short rest, they took out their axes and began to select wood. Now they had to find wood that could be used to make barrels, and firewood would be found later.
Jiang Yue and the others said they wanted to go to the top of the mountain and come down before dark. It was already mid-afternoon, not too late.
The villagers didn't say anything, just reminded them to be careful. The Jiang family had a special status in the village. Everyone knew that the couple was capable. Not to mention Jiang Nian's hand was injured, even in normal times, no one would want them to help with work.
Jiang Nian took one step at a time, and even when he carried her on his back on one hand, he was steady as ever. Jiang Yue hugged Jiang Nian's shoulders and asked, "Do you think those are still on the mountain?"
Jiang Nian shook his head, "I don't know."
They went directly to the previous cave, the entrance of which was blocked by collapsed rocks.
Jiang Yue looked inside through the crack in the stone. It was pitch black and she heard no sound.
Fortunately, Jiang Nian didn't smell their scent here, which meant they had left.
Suddenly, there was a "wheezing" sound, and the two men turned their heads sharply, and a mule rushed towards them!
Jiang Nian stood in front of her.
The mule ran up to him, stopped, lowered its head and neighed softly.
Jiang Nian touched its head.
It's their mule back!
Jiang Yue walked over and happily smoothed the fur on its back. As expected of a mule she'd raised, it knew to return to its original spot and wait for them! Smart!
There is plenty of grass to eat in the mountains, but its stomach is still a little smaller. I wonder if it is because there are so many wild beasts in the mountains and they scared it and made it thinner.
Jiang Yue hugged its neck and snorted, "Now you know how good we are to you, right? Will you dare to run around again next time? If you meet a tiger again, we will definitely eat you up!"
The mule grunted a few times and exhaled air through its nostrils. It was unclear whether it was out of dissatisfaction or fear.
The two men and the mule turned around and went to the bamboo forest.
Jiang Yue found a dozen or so young bamboo shoots among a patch of older ones, enough to make a whole dish.
The mule stretched its neck to drink water, while Jiang Nian stared at the fish in the lake. After a few months, the fish in the lake had grown a lot bigger and looked very plump.
"Don't look at it. You can't use your arms. Let's go down the mountain and ask the villagers to come up and catch some fish. We can grab a few and grill them for dinner."
Jiang Nian nodded. He had a strong taste for food and thought grilled fish was better than fish soup.
They moved quickly and returned to the mountainside. The villagers had already tidied up several large trees and were sitting there eating dried beans. Fearing they might accidentally break the pot, they left it alone and planned to cut some bamboo in the mountains to carry water back.
"Ah—a mule!" Several people were stunned and stood up.
What a big mule! In the good old days, only a few families in their village could afford a mule, and it was a valuable commodity.
"This is our mule. It got separated during the earthquake and has been waiting for us on the mountain. Let's bring it back this time."
"Oh, what a good mule that understands human nature!"
Jiang Yue smiled, patted the mule's head, and then said, "Brothers, there is a lake up there with fish. Why don't you send two of us to go fishing? We used to live in the mountains and have hidden a fishing net that we can use to catch fish."
"Fish! There are fish!"
The eyes of the few people who were originally gasping for breath suddenly lit up and they were extremely excited. Thinking of the taste of fish, they swallowed their saliva.
After a discussion, several people came to a conclusion.
"I want to go!"
"Okay! Tiezi and Zhuzi go, you guys are stronger!"
"OK!"
The two men were quite tall, in their early twenties, at the prime of their lives, fond of food and bravery. As soon as they saw the sound of mountain mice running by, they felt itchy in their hearts and wanted to hunt and eat meat in the mountains.
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