The two parties stared at each other wide-eyed, the group of five seemed quite flustered, not sure what to do next. Ji You waved his hand, "Don't be scared, I'm not here to catch you.
However, you can't pass through this road, someone is guarding up ahead, you should go around the mountain."
These five people were the ones who had left most of their children and grandchildren behind with Old Man Fang, his eldest grandson, Little Son, and his Little Great-Grandson.
They didn't have much luggage, just a few change of clothes, some dry food for the road, and water skins. Compared to refugees fleeing famine, they were incredibly simple.
Old Man Fang carefully examined the young man before him. He had an upright aura, clear and righteous eyes, he seemed trustworthy.
He immediately thanked him, "Thank you for your warning, young man. Your kindness is etched into my heart. I fear it might be inconvenient to repay your kindness now, so let's do it another day."
"That's enough, what repayment? You should get going. If my colleagues come, you won't be able to leave, and I won't be able to save you."
He urged them impatiently. He had shown them the way, why were they still standing there like fools?
If they didn't leave soon, they wouldn't be repaying him, they would be getting him into trouble.
Seeing them still standing there in a daze, he let out a sigh of frustration, "Get lost, what are you standing there for?"
After shouting at them, Ji You turned around and walked away. It was their business whether to leave or not. Stupidity would be their own downfall.
Old Man Fang looked at his stupefied children and grandchildren, let out a sigh and said, "Let's go."
"Dad, there's no path on the mountain, how do we go? Could that man be playing us for fools?" Fang Xiaosi looked at the forested mountains on both sides, there was no trace of anyone walking through.
"Smack", Fang Xiaosi received a smack on the back of his head, Old Man Fang scolded him: "Idiot".
After scolding him, he didn't bother about them anymore. He took Little Great-Grandson, Fang Mingli's little hand and went up the mountain, the same way Chang'an and her group had taken.
The lucky ones following Old Man Fang were his nephew and son. Their brothers weren't as lucky, they thought Old Man Fang had taken the official road, and they followed that road straight into a trap.
Chang'an and her group wandered around in the mountains, not knowing where they had ended up. The deeper they went, the more humid it got, encountering snakes, bugs, rats, and ants was inevitable. Fortunately, there was no one fussy in their group, otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to go on.
Being in the deep mountains had its advantages, they could hunt for game at any time, dig up fresh wild vegetables, and occasionally pick some mushrooms.
Fortunately, Chang'an found some wild sweet potatoes, but they were the kind that after being steamed and tasted, could choke you to death on the spot, and they weren't even sweet.
However, having something was better than nothing. No one would reject them, especially Mu, who treated them like a priceless treasure.
"Little Chang'an, can we really eat this?" He was a little scared of this unknown thing. Most things in the mountain were poisonous.
Chang'an rolled her eyes at him and unceremoniously said: "Start digging."
More explanation wouldn't be as effective as a personal experiment. Chang'an started a fire nearby and threw about ten sweet potatoes of roughly the same size into the fire.
Then, a pot was set up again, water was poured into it, and five or six red yams were washed with the water from the water bag and put into the pot to boil.
There were quite a lot of these red yams. Chang'an called out to Older Tong and the others to dig together, and they would share what they dug up. However, Older Tong refused.
He felt that these were discovered by Chang'an, and they should not take advantage of others.
But they were clearly running out of food, and they weren't really taking advantage. It was only right to receive the fruits of their labor if they participated in it.
And it wasn't entirely discovered by Chang'an. It was Older Tong's grandson who first raised the question. In fact, strictly speaking, it was the Tong family who discovered it, so why would the discoverers of the food not participate in the distribution?
Chang'an was not good at persuading people. Like a bull that won't drink water, he would only force its head into the river to drink.
This delicate task of persuasion should be left to Old Gu Six.
However, to her surprise, Old Gu Six lived up to his reputation, he was direct and straightforward, ordering Older Tong's children and grandchildren in a simple and crude manner, "Dig!"
This method of 'persuasion' was akin to Chang'an forcing the bull to drink water.
Faced with his fearsome demeanor, the Tong family father and son sniffled, looked helpless and pitiful, and tremblingly picked up their hoes to join in the digging of the red yams.
Old Gu Six turned his head back, gave Chang'an a triumphant look, and said, "See, isn't it simple?"
Chang'an and Chang Le twitched at the corners of their mouths, then solemnly gave him a thumbs-up, living up to the name of Old Gu Six.
The red yam was a heavy food. More than ten people were digging in a small area, and in half an hour, they dug out about three hundred jin.
After they finished digging, the roasted and boiled red yams on Chang'an's side were also ready.
"Come and taste this red yam."
Chang'an divided one for each person, some ate the roasted ones, some ate the boiled ones, and he gave a roasted one to Old Gu Six and Chang Le.
At the end, he didn't forget to remind everyone, "Don't eat too fast, or you'll choke. Second Uncle Yang, watch your two little brothers and don't let them choke."
Under Chang'an's reminder, everyone ate carefully, and the two three-year-old children didn't choke.
Mu, feeling full, patted his stomach and said, "This red yam is filling."
The others also nodded. Even though the taste was not very good, if they could plant it on a large scale, it could become a life-saving food.
The government taxed rice and wheat. After paying the taxes, it wasn't enough to fill the family's stomachs. If they could plant some other grains that they didn't have to hand over, life would be much better.
Chang Le looked at the half-eaten red yam in his hand, his eyes deep, unsure of what he was thinking.
Only Old Gu Six noticed his anomaly. Old Gu Six looked puzzled, then understood, and finally slapped Chang Le on the back of his head.
He said unkindly, "What are you daydreaming about? Get to work so we can get down the mountain sooner."
Whoever you were, if you fell into his hands, you had to listen to him and his daughter.
They estimated that there should be about three hundred jin of red yams. They divided it by person, not counting the two three-year-old sons of Yang Mingxiao's family, who had no labor power.
Each person got twenty jin. The Older Tong's family who all participated in the digging of the red yams got the most, 120 jin, and the least was Mu, who was the only one in his family.
She had no plans to eat the sweet potatoes from the Chang'an family; they still have grains. The sweet potatoes would be left aside for now, to be used for making sweet potato pancakes once they settled down.
The path they were treading was downhill, but they were still deep in the lush mountains with dense shrubs. One had to be careful to avoid getting clothes torn by thorns.
Everyone, except the Chang'an family, was walking very cautiously. They might just be lucky or perhaps it was because it was daytime, they didn't encounter any ferocious birds.
They only managed to exit the deep mountains when night fell. Surprisingly, there were animal traps and pitfalls around, causing even the three members of the Chang'an family to tread carefully.
This suggested the presence of people living at the bottom of the mountain. They found a flat spot to rest, not blindly descending the mountain.
It wouldn't be too late to proceed after scouting the situation at the mountain base tomorrow. They hoped that Jing King hasn't claimed this place yet.
They had been walking in the mountains for over ten days, and they should have left Jing King's territory by now; still, they feared unexpected occurrences.
"Dad, did you hear that?" Chang'an asked Old Gu Six after she listened carefully, afraid that she might have misheard.
Old Gu Six answered calmly, "Someone's crying out for help." He felt it was a bit strange to hear such cries in the middle of the night.
"Should we go check it out? Maybe it's the residents at the mountain base, we could use this opportunity to scout the situation?"
Chang Le stood up and said, "I'll go check. If someone really fell into a trap, I'll come back to call for help."
"I'll go with you," Old Gu Six got up as well. Chang Le was still a child in his eyes, even with her impressive skills, her age was an undeniable factor.
