Jiangshan panted, called all the adults in the family into the house, and then closed the door.
The village chief frowned, "Boss, what happened? Why are you so flustered?" Even the second brother's face turned pale.
Jiang Shan swallowed hard, his voice trembling, "Dad, the capital has been broken into by refugees!"
"What?!" the village chief was speechless.
"Where did you get this news?" His mother grabbed Jiangshan's arm tightly.
"We ran into Jiang Yue and Jiang Nian on our way to gather information. They had escaped from the city, killed many refugees, and were covered in blood!"
Two groups of refugees had come to the village, but they were only four or five people each and were driven away en masse by the villagers. The family thought that after hiding for a few months, the refugee problem would be solved, so they wanted to go to the town or county seat to inquire about the situation.
"Are they injured? Where are they now? Why didn't they come back with you?"
"No one was hurt. They said they were heading east, but they didn't say where exactly."
The village chief pursed his lips. Even the capital city has been destroyed. What's next...
Jiang Shan said in a series of words, "Dad, let's think of a solution quickly! A lot of people have already fled the city, and it's hard to tell whether they are civilians or refugees. Who knows, they might go to the town tomorrow or the day after tomorrow and then come to the village. Jiang Yue said that those refugees are burning, killing, and looting in the city..."
Several people exclaimed, "This isn't just about stealing, it's also about killing people?!"
"Robbing food right now is no different from killing people!" The village chief made up his mind and said solemnly towards the back mountain, "Let's pack up immediately and hide in the mountains tonight under the cover of darkness."
"Deep mountains?! There are tigers and wolves in there! Are you crazy, old man?"
The village chief pointed at the women and children in his family, his expression solemn. "We only have one mule cart. After stuffing the children in it, what else can we take? We can't even get far before we're caught up!"
What's more, there are many women in the family, they are slow and weak, and they cannot protect the food.
Who doesn't flee together as a whole clan or village? However, Jiangshan Village now has many elderly, weak, women, and children. With so little time, he simply couldn't muster a few families willing and able to flee together.
The village chief's wife wiped her tears, nodded helplessly, and then quickly packed up with her panicked daughters-in-law.
The key is food, drink, gold and silver jewelry, bedding, pots and pans...
As the night deepened, the village chief's family carried goods up the mountain in batches.
Finally, the frame had to be removed and stuffed into the cellar, and then the mule was quietly led up the mountain.
The village chief and his wife held the two youngest children and led the little tiger, hiding behind a big rock in the front mountain, waiting for their sons and daughters-in-law to bring the things up.
The night in the mountains was getting darker, and occasionally there were a few soft rustling sounds. I looked up, my eyes were blurry, and I was almost scared to death.
Tiger Head was terrified and hugged his grandfather's thighs, gently wiping his tears with his little hands. He didn't dare cry out loud because his father said that if he was discovered, he would be caught and eaten.
The village chief's wife paced back and forth, anxious, yet afraid to light a fire in the mountains. Fear of being discovered was one factor, but she was also worried about the mountain burning. During the scorching summer, the dry weather made fires more likely to start.
"Why haven't they come yet? These people are too slow!"
"Nana, I'm itchy."
"Come, Tiger Head, come here and let me scratch your skin. Oh, there are poisonous mosquitoes all over this mountain. It's hard for you. Your tender flesh attracts mosquitoes..."
She kept muttering while tickling Tiger Head, hoping that someone would come soon.
Another half hour passed before a few people came up. But judging by the noise, it seemed like there were more than just people from home.
The village chief hugged the child tightly and looked back. It was Yan Gu's family.
Jiang Shan whispered, "We were discovered by Aunt Yan, so..."
The village chief stopped talking and said, "It's okay. There's safety in numbers. Let's go up the mountain first."
Yan Gu's family is also able to endure hardships. They didn't say a word when they entered the deep mountain pit for the first time.
By the time they reached the cave deep in the mountains, it was already late at night.
"It's too late to clean up, everyone take a nap first."
Not caring if it was dirty or not, they found a corner in the dark and sat down against the wall to take a nap. Both adults and children were exhausted and soon they started snoring.
When it was dawn, Jiangshan opened his eyes and saw his father sitting there wiping his tears. He had not slept at all.
He pursed his lips and said, "Dad, don't be sad."
"I feel guilty! As the village chief, I only care about my own life. What will happen to the other people in the village?"
Yan Gu also woke up, and when she heard this, she sighed.
"If you don't care about yourself, who else can you care about? How many people can you take with you to escape? Many people are willing to defend their own fields and refuse to move. You can't talk to those people until dawn, how can you still escape?"
If you ask Yan Gu, it’s a great achievement if you can take care of yourself!
She got up at night and saw the village chief's family walking up the mountain, so she asked about it. After getting the news, didn't she only care about her own family? To be honest, she didn't even think about her parents' family.
The village chief stayed alone for a while and finally came to his senses. From now on, he would be the head of the family, Jiang Dashu, instead of the village chief of Jiangshan Village.
The village chief's neighbor found a few of the most troublesome old ladies in the village early in the morning. She was determined to expose the village chief's family's secrets. She wanted to see how much grain they had secretly stored and not distributed to the villagers!
“Bang, bang, bang—”
"Open the door! Village chief!"
They knocked a few times and the door opened without being locked at all.
Several people rushed into the yard, but no one was there! They felt something was wrong. It was so quiet, even the mule cart was gone!
The quilt in the room was missing, and when I entered the kitchen, all the pots, pans, bowls and spoons were gone!
Several people were shocked. The village chief had run away!
They frantically went door to door to inform everyone, and then they all gathered at the village chief's house. It was empty, with nothing left except the house.
Someone found a piece of paper stuck behind the gate and quickly showed it to Jiang Sanhe, who could recognize a few words.
Jiang Sanhe's face was dark as he stared at a few words to identify them. "It seems to be something like 'liu', 'min', 'wei'. These are the only words I recognize."
A bunch of people are scratching their heads, what does this mean?
"Is it, 'Refugees kill people, it's dangerous'?" someone speculated.
What? The refugees are coming again? And they're going to kill more people? The villagers were terrified.
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