Meeting Jiang Yu's gaze, Qi Nuan smiled and said, "Let's go."
The two then jumped into the cold pool and swam towards the other side of the mountain.
Jiang Yu pulled Qi Nuan up, and Qi Nuan shivered. She quickly took out clean clothes from her space and changed.
The cave was cold and damp.
A cool breeze swept through, and the two lit torches and walked in the direction of the wind.
Jiang Yu took Qi Nuan's hand and let Qi Nuan walk behind her while she scouted ahead.
The interior is very spacious in some places and narrow in others, where only one person can pass at a time. It is surrounded by naturally formed stalactites.
Every now and then you can hear the sound of water dripping, "drip-drip..."
It's more accurate to describe it as a karst cave than a cave.
They had only walked for an hour when Jiang Yu noticed that Qi Nuan was freezing. They found a relatively spacious place, lit a fire, and decided to rest for a while before continuing their journey.
Qi Nuan took out her tools and cooked a pot of thick, white fish soup.
After drinking it, Qi Nuan felt as if she had instantly come back to life.
"Gurgle..."
Hearing the noise, they turned around and saw Xiao standing in the darkness, soaking wet, looking at them.
If they didn't know him, they would have thought he was a water ghost that crawled up from somewhere.
Seeing the looks in Jiang Yu's eyes, Xiao opened his mouth and said, "I...I'll go with you."
During this time, he spent time with Qi Nuan and the others. Jiang Yu taught him to speak and walk, and he seemed no different from a normal person.
However, his voice was a bit strange, and he didn't know many words.
Qi Nuan asked him to come over, served him a bowl of fish soup, and gave him a set of clean clothes.
Of course, Jiang Yu taught him how to wear the clothes.
It turned out that after he went back, he didn't know what to do. After thinking about it the next day, he still wanted to leave with Qi Nuan and the others.
After saying goodbye to the wolves, he went to the cave where they lived, but found that they were no longer there.
So he went to the cold pool and followed them all the way.
Seeing Xiao, Qi Nuan was undoubtedly very happy.
After the three of them got ready, they set off again.
They walked for about an hour before finally seeing light, and following the light, they emerged from the cave.
The cave's exit is at the foot of a mountain, in an uninhabited area.
I don't even know where this place is.
"Ah Yu, what do you think?"
They hadn't walked far when they saw many refugees on the road.
"Old man, where are you headed?"
Jiang Yu asked an old man with gray hair.
The old man, holding a wooden stick, heard their voices and said, "Where are you going? Don't know where to go? Just follow the crowd, wherever life takes you!"
Without looking at them after saying that, he walked away with the crowd, his steps unsteady.
A middle-aged man interjected, "Go south! You can't survive in the north. Many places are already short of food. If you don't leave now, you won't be able to leave after the snow."
"Ayu, what should we do?"
Jiang Yu pondered for a moment and said, "Let's just follow the crowd."
There were many refugees, and they didn't walk very fast. They would take a break every hour or so.
Qi Nuan noticed that many people didn't eat anything during the rest period, only drank some water.
Qi Nuan didn't dare to take out any other food, but only took the wild fruits she had picked in the valley, and shared a few with each person.
Xiao was a little confused, but he didn't say anything. He just obediently took the wild fruit and started eating it.
Jiang Yu gave two wild fruits to the man from earlier. The man looked pleased but wasn't surprised, as there were still some edible wild fruits in the mountains at this time.
They wandered all the way here, and many of the refugees survived by eating wild fruits and edible wild grasses in the mountains.
He took the wild fruit from Jiang Yu's hand and said, "Thank you, Uncle. But I see you are all still young, so I'd like to remind you to eat first."
He looked around and said, "Some refugees have already formed cliques, and they will steal other people's food."
Jiang Yu nodded, and Qi Nuan said, "Thank you, Uncle."
Seeing how cute she was, the man added, "Don't go alone; try to stay behind the refugees."
Jiang Yu saw carriages and horses faintly visible ahead of the refugees and asked, "Do you know who those people driving those carriages are?"
"Who knows? They're all rich people. I've heard there's the Wang family from Taiyuan, the Cui family from Shandong, and some officials. Our only chance of survival is to follow them."
Jiang Yu didn't ask any more questions; it seemed that things were no longer going well in the north.
They had to get to Upper County immediately, but it was clearly impractical for them to act alone.
Suddenly, chaos broke out ahead.
But things quickly calmed down.
It wasn't until the next day that they learned that some refugees had been trampled to death by horses. Later, the horse's owner gave some food to the deceased's family, and the matter was settled.
The man standing to the side said indignantly, "In chaotic times, human life is cheaper than grass."
Jiang Yu and the others remained silent. Qi Nuan thought that human life seemed to be both the most valuable and the least valuable thing, because people attributed value to everything else except themselves.
But soon, the hidden dangers sown by this seemingly insignificant matter soon came to a head.
After the deceased's family received compensation, people had different opinions. Some felt it was unfair, while others saw hope in it.
For those who have no food left, exchanging one's life for the survival of the whole family seems like a very worthwhile thing.
Some people, after weighing the pros and cons, disregarded their own lives and became victims of horses' hooves.
His family finally received the reward he earned with his life.
However, after this happened multiple times.
Those in front quickly realized something was wrong; instead of food and money, they were met with beatings and insults.
And what about the dead? It seems their existence is worthless.
Soon, resentment and dissatisfaction slowly accumulated in his heart and finally erupted.
This group of refugees may be the weakest and most incompetent, but when their strength unites, it is astonishing, and their destructive power is unpredictable.
Conflict is imminent.
They finally extended their claws to the carriages, horses, and people in front of them.
The middle-aged man called out to Jiang Yu and the others.
"Don't move forward. Let's stop and wait for the next group of refugees to arrive before we go."
The refugees may achieve a temporary victory, but they are driven only by anger, lacking strategy and suitable leadership. Once the nobles realize the situation, it will be a bloody disaster for the refugees.
As expected.
Although the nobles are now like stray dogs, don't forget that they still have sharp claws and teeth.
Those who initiated the conflict were all killed by the nobles, while the nobles also suffered heavy losses, and neither side benefited from it.
But trust is gone.
As they walked together, both remained wary of each other.
"Ah Yu, what do you think about this?"
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