An orphan girl from a farming family: Everyday farming in the mountains during natural disasters

Xia Qingyue moved all the things to be dried to the bottom of the sinkhole. When she was done, she looked up at the sky. The bright sunlight made her close her eyes slightly. The warm light sprinkled on her body, making her feel so comfortable that she wanted to sleep.

It is said that sunbathing is good for the body. After squinting her eyes for a few minutes, she felt a little hot all over. She stood up with her hands on her knees and said, "It's time to work!"

Today she wanted to go to the pine forest to continue looking for matsutake mushrooms and explore the area at the same time.

Thinking of catching more crabs, river shrimps and crayfish, she brought a wooden bucket with her.

Not sure whether she could come back at noon, she used the washed large leaves to wrap five scallion pancakes and two boiled eggs to take with her.

Pine forest.

It rained for two days in a row, and a lot of mushrooms popped up, including Matsutake mushrooms, morels, boletus, and blue-headed mushrooms. There was no need for Heihei to lead them to look for them. Xia Qingyue could see so many with her naked eyes that she couldn't pick all of them.

She lowered her head and was busy picking mushrooms, and didn't notice Heihei walking around, stopping, sniffing here and there.

After an hour's work, she had filled a large backpack with mushrooms. She had almost picked all the mushrooms here, but due to her limited eyesight, she was bound to make some mistakes.

"Come on, Heihei, let's go take a look ahead."

Xia Qingyue hid the backpack in the grass, picked up two vegetable baskets and walked deep into the woods.

She picked the scattered mushrooms on the road and found two broken logs covered with wood ears. She picked and picked and finally had a full basket.

She was planning to go back, but when she glanced unintentionally, she saw a familiar green plant on the hillside not far away, which looked like leek.

When I walked over to take a look, I saw that it was really deer ear leek.

Deer ear leek is a wild leek that looks like a deer ear and has a scent similar to that of leek. It can be chopped and used to make dumplings and pancakes, or cut into sections and scrambled eggs. It is very fresh and delicious.

Seeing it was something she couldn't miss, Xia Qingyue squatted down and pulled, and soon pulled a large handful. She thought about digging up the leek with its roots, wondering if it could be planted.

Never mind, give it a try.

She pulled out half a basket of leeks. If she pulled too much, they would go bad if she couldn't finish eating them, so she used a shovel to pry up the leeks by the roots.

As she was prying, a low growl was heard. She looked at Heihei in confusion and found that it was staring in a certain direction with its mouth slightly open, fangs exposed, and a low growl came from its chest.

Why would it make such a sound for no reason?

Xia Qingyue felt that things were not that simple.

"what!"

A cry suddenly rang out.

someone!

Xia Qingyue stood up in astonishment and looked towards the source of the voice. In a flash, she picked up two vegetable baskets and said, "Heihei, let's go!"

She took Heihei and hid in a nearby bush of lush weeds that were taller than people.

"Heihei, don't make any sound." She covered Heihei's mouth and nose with her hands.

Heihei seemed to understand what she meant. He blinked and looked at her quietly.

Soon, a series of chaotic clattering sounds came from far away, sounding like the sound of horse hooves.

Xia Qingyue hid in the bushes and didn't dare to look up.

The next moment, the sound of horse hooves came. She could feel that they were close, so she raised her eyes slightly.

A dozen meters away, a fat and strong horse raised its head and feet, neighing miserably. The next moment, it fell to the ground with a loud bang, raising dust. Along with it, a person sitting on it and bags of things in the iron baskets on both sides of the saddle fell and rolled down.

A bag of something flew out and rolled to Xia Qingyue's feet.

She stared at the sack with wide eyes.

It’s over, it’s over. Who are those people? Will they come looking for this thing?

The man who fell off the horse fell on the ground with his stomach down and his back up, unconscious. From the angle she saw, she could see several cuts on his back, with blood all over it.

She wanted to run, but the sound of more horse hooves came nearby.

In order to understand the situation and make countermeasures, Xia Qingyue plucked up her courage and looked out through the gap in the grass.

A few dozen meters away, I saw a group of shirtless, burly men riding horses, two people on one horse, a total of five horses and ten people. They formed a circle to surround four injured men, each riding one horse.

All four men were dressed in dark tights, the same as the man who had fallen off his horse and had sustained a serious back injury.

At first glance, it is clear that the shirtless man and the men in tights are not in the same group, and the latter are at a disadvantage and are being hunted by the former.

The atmosphere was tense.

An older man in tights shouted, "Bold robbers, do you know where the goods we are delivering are going?"

"Isn't it just good stuff to be sent to the state capital? We don't fight unprepared battles. The brothers have already investigated the situation and guessed that you would most likely ride horses on the mountain road in order to save time.

Hahahaha, all the goods intercepted today are good stuff, I am happy, and I will allow you to finish it off on your own."

The shirtless man who was speaking seemed to be the leader of their group. After he finished speaking, he burst into laughter, and all his subordinates looked very proud, as if they had won a battle.

At this time, five shirtless and breathless men came running from the other side. Obviously, they were in the same group as the bandits, but they were not riding horses, but running to chase them.

Seeing the bandits so arrogant, the four men in tights looked pale and sweat dripped down their faces. They knew they could not escape death today, and they looked at each other with firm eyes.

“Give me your life. Even if it means death, I will take you with me!” The older man in tights tightened the reins and swung the sword in his hand. Because it was a sudden attack, a shirtless man nearby was unable to dodge in time and was cut on the arm.

The other three men in tights attacked at the same time.

Immediately, a melee broke out with the clanging of swords and the clatter of horses' hooves.

The shirtless leader and a few others watched coldly from a distance.

It was obvious from the skills of the four men in tights that they were well-trained. The shirtless men suffered a lot and several of them were seriously injured.

However, they were outnumbered after all, and the men were hacked to death one after another. The scene was bloody and violent, and Xia Qingyue felt weak all over, broke out in cold sweats, and dared not breathe.

The battle is over.

"Okay, guys, let's order the goods!"

The leader of the shirtless men shouted, and his men dispersed to count the things in the iron baskets installed on both sides of the saddle of each horse, that is, the things in sacks.

It seems that the amount of goods loaded on each horse is the same. After these bandits counted them, they found that one package was missing from the dead horse. Doesn't that mean they have to start a search?

Xia Qingyue was extremely anxious. The sweat on her forehead flowed down and dripped into her eyes, causing a burning pain. Her rapidly beating heart was about to reach her throat and jump out of her mouth.

She glanced at the goods that rolled to her feet, took two deep breaths, forced herself to calm down, not panic, and gently moved her body backwards, one step, two steps, three steps...

The bandit who was in charge of counting the dead horses finished quickly. He stood up and opened his mouth to report the number to his companions.

Xia Qingyue only took a few steps back and stared at the bandit with bloodshot eyes. She clenched the sickle in her hand and was ready to die.

"I also have four packs here."

Hearing this voice, Xia Qingyue's eyes were full of confusion. Seeing that those people didn't find anything wrong, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief. However, the crisis was not over yet and these people were still there.