After listening to Old Zhou's words, He Zhiran had already guessed that this place was probably the mountain that Peng Wang had said they were going to climb over.
Peng Wang took the initiative to come to Mo Jiuye and He Zhiran's front to clarify things for them.
"This mountain is called Niu Jiao Mountain. The top of the mountain is somewhat similar in shape to cattle horns, so it got that name.
If we hadn't wasted so much time on the road earlier, we could have chosen to walk around the foot of the mountain. If that was the case, it would have taken seven or eight more days.
We have climbed over this mountain before and did not find any large beasts, but there were more wild chickens and rabbits and the like. We can also hunt game to satisfy our cravings."
He Zhiran looked up, and as Peng Wang said, there were two mountain tops at the highest point of the mountain that looked like cattle horns. The name was quite appropriate.
In addition, the mountains were connected endlessly, giving people a sense of majesty even when standing at the foot of the mountain.
It goes without saying that crossing over from here would also be very tiring.
At this time, most people had already found suitable places to stop and were resting in the tents.
Mo Jiuye came to He Zhiran and pointed to the tent that had just been set up, "After walking all day, go in and rest!"
He Zhiran was indeed a little tired, so she responded and followed Mo Jiuye back into the tent.
After resting for a while, He Zhiran called Mo Jiuye to go up the mountain with her to take a look.
She said to take a look, but she was mainly considering that there were only women at home. She wanted to find some branches to make simple trekking poles for them.
That way, if they encountered difficult parts of the mountain road, they would have some help.
The two worked together to make ten simple trekking poles and took them back.
Seeing the new gadgets in their hands again, the Xie family and Fang family asked about the use and then followed suit.
After safely spending the night, everyone had a simple breakfast the next day, packed up the luggage and some items, carried them on their backs, and followed the officials up Niu Jiao Mountain.
At first it was fine. Everyone had rested for the night so their energy was full. After walking for an hour, people began to fall behind frequently.
Especially the He family, they had to have a few people looking after He Ming no matter if they were carrying things on their backs or lifting them. Therefore, they were often the last in line.
Even though the officials swung their whips to threaten them to speed up, they simply couldn't quicken their pace.
Left with no choice, Peng Wang could only lead the troops to walk and stop repeatedly.
This speed of marching happened to benefit Mo Jiuye.
From time to time he would hunt prey in the bushes or other places on the side of the road.
He Zhiran also took the women of the family to pick herbs along the way.
Seeing that the marching speed was slowed down but there was still such a harvest, Peng Wang's dissatisfaction with the He family also faded a lot.
Just like this, walking and stopping all the way, in the afternoon the troops had entered the deep mountains.
It must be said that this was definitely a natural oxygen bar bestowed by nature.
Looking down the mountain, it felt like standing on top of the world.
From here you could see in all directions, clouds and mist stretched endlessly, peaks floated, nine winding turns, making people's minds broaden and forget to return.
Facing such a beautiful scenery, He Zhiran temporarily forgot everything and sincerely felt the comfort brought by nature.
Just as she was immersed in oblivion, suddenly a woman's scream was heard from below.
Everyone's eyes were all looking towards the source of the sound.
I saw Mrs. Zhao sitting on the ground, her expression very painful.
He Zhiran hurried over.
"He’s family, my mother-in-law just stepped on a rock and probably sprained her foot," said the daughter-in-law of the Fang family as she grabbed He Zhiran and told her about her mother-in-law's situation.
Without doubting, He Zhiran rolled up Mrs. Zhao's trousers to check.
Seeing her ankle protruding obviously, this was no simple sprain!
"Auntie, your bone is fractured."
As He Zhiran spoke, her eyes had already started searching around.
Hearing that her bone was broken, Mrs. Zhao's tears flowed down instantly.
"It's because I'm useless, I can't even walk well."
As she spoke, she unconsciously looked in the direction of the He family.
At this moment, He Ming was being carried by several women walking hard towards them.
Mrs. Zhao didn't want to be a burden on her family like He Ming, so while her daughter-in-law's attention wasn't on her, she closed her eyes and rolled down the slope next to her.
She only hoped that King Yama would appear quickly to take her away, absolutely not dragging her family down...
No one had expected Mrs. Zhao to be so desperate.
When everyone realized something was wrong with Mrs. Zhao, her whole body had already rolled several meters down the hillside.
"Mother!"
"Mrs. Zhao, what are you doing?"
"Mother, stop quickly..."
The Fang family rushed towards Mrs. Zhao's direction at once.
But the terrain there was steep. If they fell accidentally while chasing, they would end up in the same situation as Mrs. Zhao.
Because of this, although the Fang family chased after her, they couldn't catch up to Mrs. Zhao who was rolling down faster and faster.
Seeing Mrs. Zhao's body rolling farther and farther away, the Fang family was no longer hopeful.
At this moment, they clearly saw that Mrs. Zhao's tumbling body suddenly stopped, and Mo Jiuye stood steadily in front of a big tree, blocking Mrs. Zhao's body from rolling down.
The Fang family breathed a sigh of relief at the same time and carefully went towards them.
With everyone's efforts, Mrs. Zhao was finally brought back to the original place.
Fortunately, Mrs. Zhao only had some abrasions on her exposed skin, otherwise she was fine.
When Mrs. Zhao saw the anxious eyes of her loved ones, tears poured out uncontrollably once more.
"Why are you doing this? Our Fang family is unlucky enough, why keep me to drag you down... woo woo..."
Seeing this, Fang Chuanzhou's eyes brimmed with tears too.
He knew clearly in his heart that his old wife had done this so that they could march unencumbered. But he couldn't accept her doing something like this.
"We have three sons, and even if nothing else at least there’s still me this bag of old bones. The four of us big men can carry you while marching. How can that be considered a burden? You must not think so desperately!"
"That's right, mother, we brothers have plenty of strength to take turns carrying you on our backs, it won't be a burden at all."
"Mother, your daughter-in-law can also take care of your daily needs. You must not have such thoughts."
Seeing her family care so much about herself, Mrs. Zhao couldn't hold back her tears even more.
At this time, Peng Wang had also rushed over. Hearing that Mrs. Zhao had broken her leg and then tried to commit suicide, he was both angry and had a headache.
Therefore, his attitude was extremely unfriendly.
"Mrs. Zhao, if you dare to commit suicide and break my rules here, I will send someone to whip your family every day after you die, and make sure they suffer a fate worse than death."
For Mrs. Zhao, this was much more effective than the Fang family's persuasion.
Mrs. Zhao was stunned for a moment, and immediately assured him.
"Master Official, please don't beat my sons. I promise I won't think about it anymore."
She was even a little scared afterwards, afraid that if she really died, her family would be implicated.
