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

The boy holding his little sister started chatting enthusiastically with the man with a short white beard. When they learned that they had the same destination, they both looked happy.

The boy said to the skinny girl, "Second sister, let's go with this grandfather and his friends to find him."

The skinny girl nodded and walked over.

Xia Qingyue had already walked away.

After walking for a while, she looked back several times, worried that someone was following her, even if Heihei did not show any nervousness or warning reaction.

I felt inexplicably uneasy and a little panicked.

Through what she had just learned, she was basically certain that the place with rivers and caves on the mountain that those people talked about was the base of the Li family and Xiushui Village. But wouldn't it be better for them to just live there? Why did they have to recruit so many people over there?

Could it be...

Xia Qingyue's footsteps came to an abrupt halt.

Could it be that something unexpected happened?

That Tan Xiaozhu doesn't look like a good person. Could he be related to this person?

After thinking about it over and over again, Xia Qingyue thought about this matter until the evening. After careful consideration, she decided to go to the Li family’s camp tomorrow to check the situation.

She originally wanted to find a shelter for the Li family, but she never found one, which made her feel a little regretful.

No matter what, she tried her best to find it, and there was nothing she could do if she couldn't find it.

Riverside cave.

It was late at night, and apart from the chirping of insects and snoring, people fell asleep one after another, some squeezed into the cave, and some slept in the open space outside.

There were several dark wooden houses where people lived. There were several piles of messy wood stacked on the open space next to them.

People had brought back the wood to build wooden houses. Construction of a dozen or so wooden houses had already started, and only a little bit of work had been done.

There were three fires in the open space, dimly illuminating the area. There were some young and strong men walking around on patrol. They were the ones responsible for night watch.

A dark shadow moved silently and came to the outside of a wooden house.

Then the sound of birds chirping was heard, and then it stopped after two chirps. The black shadow left the wooden house and walked to a deserted place.

With a slight creaking sound, the wooden house was opened from the inside and a man came out.

A beautiful figure was projected onto the ground, walking hurriedly.

The people coming out of the wooden house ran straight to a deserted place.

"Goudan, how's it going?"

"Sister Xiaozhu, we finally met her today, otherwise I wouldn't have come here!"

Goudan was the boy who met Xia Qingyue during the day and borrowed food from her younger sister.

"Are you sure it's her?"

"That's absolutely right. She is half a head taller than Sister Xiaozhu. She is fair-skinned with big eyes, and there is a big black dog beside her." Goudan raised his hand and placed it on his head to indicate his height.

Hearing this, Tan Xiaozhu showed joy and asked, "Then what did you tell her?"

"According to your instructions, I only told you some of the situations here."

"Okay, okay." Tan Xiaozhu's eyes flickered, and a sneer appeared on his lips. "Next, she should be curious about the Li family's situation and come looking for us. We just need to set a trap in advance and wait for her to get in."

She waved at Goudan.

The two were quite close to each other, and Tan Xiaozhu whispered to Goudan, "Well, go back and get the Li family..."

That night, Xia Qingyue didn't sleep well. She had some nonsensical dreams and woke up twice during the night.

She had to water the vegetables today and the paddy fields were very dry, so she got up early.

It was five o'clock in the morning and the sky was still dark. Xia Qingyue carried water back again and again. She first watered the vegetables and it was daybreak when she was done.

She rested for a while and continued to carry water and pour it into the paddy field. She poured as much as she could. She didn't expect to get the field wet, just not so dry.

She took turns pouring water into the two paddy fields, pouring ten buckets into each. She was so tired that she opened her mouth to gasp for air, and her throat was wheezing. There was an uncomfortable burning sensation in her throat, as if it had been roasted by fire.

"Oh... I can't do it anymore. I'm too tired. I'll come back in the evening and then fetch some water to pour into the paddy field."

If she continues to pick on him, she will be ruined!

She was so tired that she had no appetite. She mixed the batter, beat two eggs, added a handful of chopped green onions and a little salt, and fried some scallion pancakes.

The leftovers are wrapped in large leaves and eaten as lunch.

After eating, she went to the pen and picked up two fertilized eggs, two duck eggs.

Thinking that the purpose of today's trip was to go to the river to see how the Li family was doing, she traveled light and wore her most tattered old clothes.

Recalling the refugees she met yesterday, she carefully dressed like a man and rubbed her face with dirty soot and mud.

There are refugees everywhere on the mountain now. Only by dressing like them can you avoid standing out.

After going outside, Xia Qingyue followed her memory and went to the river.

This time she walked farther and had a clearer understanding of the situation on the mountain.

There were basically no wild vegetables or fruits to be seen, and many plants and trees had dried up, creating a desolate and barren scene.

It was okay in places where there were many tall trees, as they blocked the scorching sun, but it didn't rain, so the land was dry and the green plants were wilted and lifeless.

After walking for an hour, she put her hands on her hips, panting, and looked around.

"Oops, why do I feel like I'm going the wrong way?"

Although there were many eucalyptus trees growing around, which looked somewhat similar to the Li family’s garrison, there was no sign of a river.

"No no no!"

Heihei didn't know what happened. He shouted a few times and ran out like an arrow.

Xia Qingyue could tell from its dark and sharp eyes that it had discovered its prey and was hunting.

"Heihei, don't run too far. Let me see how to get there."

She found a slope and walked up it, grabbed the branch of a big tree with her hands, put one foot in the fork, used the force to climb up the tree and reached a higher place.

It is said that the higher you stand, the farther you can see. This is indeed true. Standing on the tree, Xia Qingyue saw a wide gully in the northwest direction. The sunlight shone on the water, reflecting a faint silver light.

After determining the correct position, she grabbed the branches and slid down.

I looked around, but there was no sign of Heihei.

She shouted twice but to no avail. It was so quiet all around that she could only hear her own breathing.

Feeling something was wrong, she pulled out the dagger from her sleeve and ran in the direction where Heihei was running.

"Dark, dark, dark!"

After running for about a few hundred meters, a strange sound suddenly came from the grass standing on the edge of the mountain.

She stopped and looked, and saw the grass rustling, as if something was about to come out.

Fearing that a snake or some ferocious beast might come out, she quickly retreated to a safe area, holding the dagger tightly and preparing for a fight.

As the grass leaves fell, a dark shadow emerged.

Heihei walked to Xia Qingyue's feet with two gray rabbits with blood on their necks in his mouth.

She exclaimed, "Heihei!"

Heihei put the wild rabbit at her feet, tilted his head back, opened his big blood-red mouth, and looked at her with a smile on his face.

This scene really made her angry and amused, "Heihei, don't run away alone next time. I'm worried about you."

She touched her dark head helplessly.

As she touched it, her eyes caught a glimpse of the direction where the darkness came out, and her gaze remained fixed there for a long time.