“It’s my aunt. She heard us whistling.” Song Tantan has keen senses and can always hear sounds that others can’t.
Ye Moxun opened his eyes and listened intently for a moment. He could faintly hear shouts. It was indeed the voices of his uncle and Sister Song. They had come looking for him.
"Let's keep blowing, they'll find us soon." Song Tantan pouted and blew the whistle with all her might until Song Zhuiyan and Zhong Qingyi found the tree.
"Tantan, Moxun, we finally found you! That's great!" Song Zhuiyan leaned against a tree, slightly bent over and panting. She was exhausted.
"Where are the others? Why are there only the two of you?" Zhong Qingyi frowned, looking around with a serious expression, but she didn't see Zhu Xiu and the others.
“We came out to find you. Aunt Zhu originally wanted to come along, but I didn’t let her.” Song Tantan put the whistle in her pocket and climbed down from the tree like a koala.
After getting down, she looked up and reminded Zhong Qingyi, "Uncle Zhong, A-Xun isn't feeling well, could you carry him down?"
Ye Moxun pursed his lips and remained silent. He was truly about to collapse. When Zhong Qingyi leaped onto the tree and hugged him, he closed his eyes and leaned against her without moving.
"Ah Xun," Zhong Qingyi called out worriedly, but the person in her arms did not respond, as if she had fallen asleep.
"He must have been exhausted. He was worried about you and insisted on coming with me to find you. Luckily you found us, so his hard work was worth it." Song Tantan's voice was already soft and sweet, but at this moment, she deliberately lowered it, making it sound even more gentle and adorable, melting anyone's heart.
"You must be hungry. Luckily, I brought some food with me. Let's eat first before we go back." Song Tantan's large, clear eyes shone brightly in the darkness, a sly glint in them.
"I'm really hungry. What did you bring?" Song Zhuiyan caught her breath and looked at Song Tantan with a smile, signaling her not to get carried away and not to bring out anything she shouldn't.
"There are two pancakes." Song Tantan handed one to each of them, then gave the water bag containing milk to Song Zhuiyan, before finding a clean spot to sit down and starting to eat the pancake.
This pancake was made by Song Tantan in her space. She used a lot of oil. Her and her aunt's pancakes both had eggs in them. The one she gave Zhong Qingyi was a plain white pancake, but it still smelled quite good because it used a lot of oil. If it weren't nighttime, she wouldn't have given it to him.
“This pancake was fried in a lot of oil,” he noticed.
"Really? I didn't know either. No wonder it smells so good." Song Tantan pretended to be clueless.
"It's probably oil brought by the Zhang family. Don't worry about it too much. If there's something to eat, then eat it. Oily food always tastes better and keeps you full longer," Song Zhuiyan said, trying to cover it up.
Zhong Qingyi didn't say anything more. She tore off half of the pancake and put it in her bosom. She then gave it to A-Xun to eat, and he stuffed the other half into his mouth and ate it in one bite.
When they went to find Zhu Xiu and the others, Song Zhuiyan carried Song Tantan on her back, and Zhong Qingyi carried Ye Moxun on her back. The two little ones were asleep. They hadn't walked far when they saw a fire ahead, as if someone was coming. The two of them stopped and their faces darkened.
"Oh dear, I should have gone with them. It's past midnight and they're still not back. We've walked so far and haven't seen anyone. I hope nothing bad has happened to them," Zhu Xiu muttered to herself as she walked, clearing a path with her knife.
Because they were afraid of being discovered by the soldiers, they dared not speak loudly and could only speak in a low voice. But now they were really anxious. If Song Tantan and Ye Moxun really got into trouble, how would they explain it when Miss Song and Young Master Zhong came back?
"Tantan, Moxun, where are you?"
"Tantan, did you hear me? Answer me."
Zhu Xiu was accompanied by A Zhu and Chun Sheng to search for the people. The others stayed behind to rest. The women and children dared not wander around at night, fearing both bad people and wild beasts. However, they had to send people to look for Song Tantan and Ye Moxun because they realized that without them, they did not know how to proceed and would be powerless to face any danger.
Zhu Xiu, A Zhu, and Chun Sheng went out to search first, and then everyone would search together after daybreak.
Upon hearing Zhu Xiu's voice, Song Zhuiyan and Zhong Qingyi relaxed, quickly responded, and then hurried over to join them.
"Is that Young Master Zhong and Miss Song?" Zhu Xiu's voice trembled with joy upon hearing the response, and she quickened her pace to greet them.
"Brother Zhong, Sister Song." Ah Zhu and Chun Sheng ran very fast and quickly found each other by following the firelight.
After the group reunited, they immediately returned to their resting place. Not far from where they were resting, they suddenly heard the cries of a woman and a child, as well as the low curses of a man. Clearly, something had happened.
Zhong Qingyi handed Ye Moxun to Zhu Xiu, grabbed her sword, and leaped away in a few bounds. Song Tantan also woke up in time. She struggled to jump off Song Zhuiyan's back and exclaimed, "It must be the people from Linjia Village who came to steal our grain. What kind of hero bullies the weak? I'll go and deal with them."
“Stop it,” Song Zhuiyan grabbed her collar, looking at her with an expression that said, “You should have some awareness as a child.” “Stay here and don’t move. I’ll go check on you.”
After waiting for a while, there was no sound of fighting, and even the crying of women and children stopped. Only a few muffled groans from men could be heard. Soon after, Zhong Qingyi called them over.
"It's resolved, let's go, let's go." Song Tantan, though small, was bold and took the lead.
Just as she had guessed, the people of Linjia Village took advantage of the absence of their strongest fighters to try and get the others to hand over their grain. Linjia Village had a large population, but they had been fleeing for over a year and had long since run out of food. They had only managed to survive until now by relying on their numbers and the ability to get others to share some of their grain.
"Equal distribution" is the Lin family's own explanation. To put it bluntly, it's just a matter of force. Who doesn't lack food after three years of drought? Even the government and the imperial court are short of food. If ordinary people have any left over, it's life-saving food that they've saved up. How can they distribute it equally? If they do, they'll starve to death. So, the Lin family's actions are similar to those of bandits.
But we can't call them bandits, because many refugees have done this when they were driven to the brink of despair in order to survive. In the end, it's the fault of the world.
So Zhong Qingyi and Song Zhuiyan only beat up the people who were stealing the grain; they didn't kill them, but told them to get lost and stop following them.
As dawn broke, Song Tantan vaguely felt someone pushing her and calling for her to wake up. She struggled to open her eyes and saw Ye Moxun's enlarged face. For a moment, she felt disoriented, as if time had returned to the day before when she woke up from her coma.
"What's wrong now?"
"We need to get out of here quickly. The system says a torrential rain is coming soon. The soil on this mountain is loose, and there will be a landslide. We must get to that mountain as soon as possible. Hurry up, dark clouds are looming overhead. The storm will arrive in half an hour." Ye Moxun's face was solemn, and his expression was indescribably cold.
Song Tantan suddenly woke up and sat up abruptly. Seeing that everyone else was still asleep, she was speechless. "Why did you only wake me up and not the others?"
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