Jiang Dashu and Yan Gu's families ran wildly on the road, even leaving their luggage behind, and rushed forward with their children in their arms.
"Ouch!"
Jiangshan turned around and saw that his mother had fallen!
Without a word, he stuffed the child into his wife's arms and shouted, "Run!"
With tears in her eyes, Li turned and ran away with the child in her arms. Even if she had to sacrifice her own life, she had to protect the child.
Jiang Dashu was about to turn around to pull his wife, but his eldest son pushed him away, "Dad, you go first, I'll carry Mom!"
There was no time to hesitate, or we would all be doomed. He gritted his teeth and continued running.
Gao's ankle was swollen and her back was sprained, leaving her unable to move. The bandits behind her were about to charge with knives. Seeing her eldest son dare to run back to get her, she burst into tears.
Jiangshan picked up his mother. They couldn't run very fast like this, but even if someone chopped them down, he could still block a few blows by carrying her on his back!
Gao's eyes were blurred with tears. She grabbed her eldest son's clothes and said, "I am an old man and I will die. Why did you come back to save me? You are desperate! Xiao Shizi is still so small, and your wife is still so young. How can you bear to leave them? Put me down and run away!"
Jiangshan was so thin that his bones were protruding. His clothes were loose and the wind was blowing against him, making it even harder for him to run. His chest felt like it was on fire.
He gasped, tears streaming down his face, "I can't bear to leave! But, I can't bear to leave Mom either! Mom, please don't talk anymore, your son is tired..."
Gao wiped her face and stopped talking. It was worth it that the mother and son could die together.
The ground was slippery and Jiangshan's shoes were torn, so he stumbled while running and fell accidentally.
The bandits were already approaching them, raising their knives at them.
Jiangshan protected his mother with his hands, pressing her frail body beneath him. Tears streamed down his face, and he closed his eyes. Death was a matter of a moment, and he clenched his teeth tightly.
At this moment, an arrow came through the wind!
With a "thump", the bandit behind him fell to the ground and couldn't get up.
Jiangshan slowly stood up and opened his eyes wide. A long arrow pierced his chest. The bandit died with his eyes open.
He turned around and saw dozens of people in military uniforms coming towards the front, raising their knives and rushing towards the bandits.
“Charge!”
In just half a minute, the dozen or so bandits chasing them were killed or injured, and the situation was reversed in an instant.
"mother!"
Mrs. Li didn't run far with her youngest son in her arms. When they saw they were saved, they ran back.
Little Stone rushed into his father's arms and cried loudly, "Dad!"
The other members of Yan Gu's family and Jiang's family also ran back, having escaped death, and cried together in a ball.
Li Zhi kicked the few bandits who were still alive. If they hadn't been short of manpower, these evildoers would have been beheaded. He picked up the packages, set them aside, and asked, "Are these yours?"
“Yes, yes, yes…”
Facing the armored general, the two families felt weak and knelt down to express their gratitude, "Thank you for saving our lives, sir!"
Li Zhi helped Jiang Dashu up. The man looked old, and he didn't know his age, so he called him "father-in-law".
"Our general is stationed at the front to build a city. If you have nowhere else to go, you can go to the city. Now you are given food, and you can earn food by working. In a few years, you will be able to distribute land."
When Jiang Dashu heard this, he quickly asked which direction it was.
Not to mention that the old woman can't travel now, both families have had enough of the suffering of fleeing famine and dream of settling down.
Li Zhi casually pointed at three soldiers and told them to take the civilians and escort the bandits back to the city. Then, they would continue their patrol, making sure no one dared to commit violence along this stretch of road.
Jiang Shi clung to his father tightly and refused to get down, and even his mother couldn't carry him away.
"Son, be good. Let mom hold you so dad can have a rest."
But he might have been frightened, so he buried his head in his father's shoulder and cried without saying a word.
Jiang Shan touched his head and said, "It's okay, he's light, I can still hold him."
He is indeed light. His body is made up of small bones. He is five years old but weighs almost the same as when he was two years old.
Jiang San gave his two-year-old son to his wife and carried his mother on his back. When he got tired, Jiang Er took over.
Fortunately, the road is not far and we arrived there in half a day.
Jiang Dashu saw hundreds of people working in the fields outside the city with peaceful expressions. He felt a little relieved, thinking that it shouldn't be a lie.
After entering the city, the soldiers handed them over to the officials in charge of registration at the county government office.
It was already dark by now, and their household registration was still there, so registration was much less troublesome.
The officer assigned them to two adjacent houses and said, "You will live here for three years, and the deeds will be yours."
"Oh, okay, okay..."
The two families cried with joy. After sending the official away, they went back home to tidy up.
Li was quick to act and, along with her two sisters-in-law, she helped tidy up the bed in the main room so that her mother-in-law could lie down and rest. She clutched her waist, her lips turning a pale white.
Jiang Dashu looked at the big tiled house. The tables and chairs were broken and rickety, but it was much better than the mud house they lived in in the village. Although it only had five rooms, at least they had a place to live.
"It's getting dark, and everyone is tired. Let's rest first. We can heat water and clean the house tomorrow."
The official said that as long as they brought their household registration, they could collect grain, and even a baby in swaddling clothes would count as a head. Their family finally had an advantage and could receive more than two dou of grain.
The next day, the two families went to the government office and found that there were many people who had just come to the city to collect food, just like them, but none of them were as numerous as their family.
Jiang Dashu's family had twelve people in total, which was quite a large family. And Yan Gu's family also had eight people.
The two families went up the mountain when the floods first hit, hiding there and not daring to come down. When the weather warmed up this year, they finally decided to go down the mountain.
But not long after he came down the mountain, he was chased by a group of bandits. He was rescued by soldiers at the critical moment.
The two families had a lot of food in their hands, so they sent it back home without saying much.
That day, the three Jiangshan brothers signed up to work. There were enough people working the land, and the three brothers, young and strong, though thinner, could still do a lot of work, so they stayed in the city to repair the house.
Pingya took care of the children, while the Jiang family's daughters-in-law were busy cleaning the house and tending to their mother-in-law. There were no hospitals in the city these days, so they could only survive. Fortunately, the ankle injury wasn't serious, but the back injury would require at least several months of bed rest.
Jiang Dashu sorted the dry firewood his son had collected and also weaved baskets out of rattan.
Seeing his daughter-in-law crying and wiping her tears, he sighed, "Don't cry anymore. You have found a way to survive now. If you have the time to cry, you might as well get well soon so that your daughters-in-law can free up their hands to earn food."
A lot of people have come into the city these days, and everyone is scrambling to do the work.
She paused in her sobbing, as if she felt his words made sense. She asked him to bring some rattan straw and lay on the bed to weave straw sandals. Her sons' shoes were completely worn out, and they all worked barefoot, which made her feel bad.
With work to do, she felt useful, her mood improved day by day, and her daughters-in-law were able to go out as well.
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