Traveling through the mountains and farming

At this time, the sound of two officers talking could be heard faintly.

"How could we be so unlucky? It's bad enough that we were assigned to a poor mountain village, but more than half of the people and food have left the village?"

"Yeah, how do we search the mountain? There are mountains all around, and the people would have run away long ago."

"Well, it's just a token of our appreciation. The boss just said that there is nothing to loot in this village, so we should evacuate."

"Yes, they said that they wanted to speed up the collection of taxes and conscription in each village before more people knew that someone had escaped to Jiangbei County."

"Let's go, it looks like there's no one in this area."

Li Changli and others breathed a sigh of relief when they heard the officers gradually walking away.

Lin Wan released her arms around the two siblings and said softly, "It looks like they are preparing to evacuate the village."

Li Changli nodded and said, "Yes, but from what they said, other villages are not peaceful either."

Li Ke asked softly: "Can I go back and get our five chicks? And my Xiao Hong."

Lin Wan knew that Xiaohong was the pot of peppers that Li Ke was responsible for growing.

Li Chongle also said: "I also want to go back and get my little green."

Li Changli asked curiously, "What are Xiaohong and Xiaolu?"

Lin Wan also wanted to ask what Xiaolu was, but when she saw Li Chongle secretly winking at her, she stopped talking and did not ask any more questions.

An hour later, they walked out of the cave and prepared to sneak back to the backyard of their home.

When they were about to approach the backyard, Li Changli asked the others to hide while he went to investigate first.

After a while, Li Changli came back and signaled everyone that they could pass. He confirmed that all the village officials had evacuated.

Then they entered the house from the backyard, only to find the house in chaos.

The tables and chairs in the pavilion in the backyard were tilted to one side, and the bamboo fence was torn to pieces.

Li Ke quickly ran to the chicken coop, but at first glance he didn't see the pheasants he raised.

She was there, calling the chicks "chirp" as she usually did when feeding them.

After a while, five little chicks actually ran out from the corner.

When Li Ke saw the five chicks running out, a happy smile immediately appeared on his face. He quickly ran to find the backpack that was not damaged, and then put them in carefully one by one.

Li Chongle ran to check the stevia field and found that only some of the flowers and plants were trampled and damaged. Fortunately, most of the stevia was still intact.

He immediately breathed a sigh of relief, then took a small bamboo stick, dug out a few stevia plants, and wrapped them with leaves picked on the road. Before coming here, he had decided to take a few plants with him.

Then collect the mature stevia seeds as usual.

At this time, Li Changli came over and asked in confusion: "Is this the Xiaolu you mentioned?"

Seeing Li Chongle nod, he continued: "Then you have quite a lot of little greens, a large patch."

He then asked: "What about Xiao Hong that Xiao Ke mentioned?"

"Look, it's fine next to you!" Li Chongle said, pointing to a pot of peppers under the eaves.

Li Changli looked at the pot of chili peppers that were bearing fruit again and discovered that it was an unfamiliar plant. There were several red fruits on it and some that were not red.

He shook his head helplessly and walked towards the kitchen.

At this time, Lin Wan looked at the pots and pans that were in a mess in the kitchen, sighed helplessly, climbed up to the stove to take down the iron pot, and then put together some usable tableware.

Seeing Li Changli coming in, Lin Wan stopped what she was doing and said:

"That's about it. The others have been moved to the Valley Cave."

Li Changli took a look at the things Lin Wan was packing.

Then he inspected every room and the front yard again, and glanced at the direction of the village from a distance. He saw thick smoke rising, which meant that the fire set by the officers had not been extinguished yet.

Then he returned to the kitchen and saw the three of them were there, so he said:

"Do you have anything else you want to take? We need to evacuate as soon as possible. We don't know if the guards will suddenly return."

Lin Wan pointed to the things on the ground and said:

"That's about it. The others have already been moved to the Valley Cave."

Li Changli saw Xiaoke’s “Xiaohong”, Xiaole’s “Xiaolv”, five chicks in a backpack, an iron pot and a wooden barrel with some bowls and chopsticks inside.

Then everyone quickly took these things and walked towards the backyard door.

Lin Wan looked back at the home that she had spent more than a month decorating, and her heart was filled with reluctance and regret.

After leaving the backyard, they headed towards the valley cave.

On the way, Li Changli walked in front carrying an iron pot. He carefully paid attention to the movements around him. After confirming that the front was safe, he signaled the people behind him to follow.

Li Ke held the basket containing the chicks tightly on his back, and looked down from time to time to see if the chicks were safe.

Li Chongle was holding the pot of peppers and the stevia plants.

Lin Wan carried the wooden barrel and followed silently behind.

When they finally arrived at the Rivendell Cave, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

They put away the things they had brought and sat down to rest for a while.

Then, Lin Wan carefully sorted and categorized all the items in an orderly manner. The two siblings also helped. They tried their best to organize the things in several backpacks or wooden barrels.

Li Changli stood vigilantly at the entrance of the cave, always paying attention to the movements outside so as not to miss the signal sent by the grain transport team.

They waited for about an hour or two, and just when everyone was getting a little anxious, they suddenly heard the faint sound of birds calling outside the cave, as they had agreed on.

Li Chongle immediately stood up, rushed to the cave entrance and began to respond to the three bird calls.

Li Changli was delighted and looked outside the cave more intently.

Lin Wan and Li Ke also quickly came over, their faces full of nervousness and anticipation.

As Li Chongle's bird calls faded, a few more responses came from outside the cave, and then some light footsteps could be vaguely heard.

Li Changli made a gesture for silence, and everyone held their breath and waited quietly.

After a while, Li Changyi's voice was heard outside the cave: "Third brother, it's us."

Then, Li Changli quickly pulled away the cover of the cave entrance, and saw Li Changyi leading a grain transport team of more than ten people appear in front of him.

Li Changli hurried forward and gave Li Changyi a big hug.

Everyone didn't bother to exchange pleasantries and started to act quickly, entering the cave in an orderly manner.

Each person carried a sack of food out, and in the end two or three people were left to help Lin Wan and the others carry the remaining supplies.

Lin Wan and her two siblings also followed closely behind, carrying baskets on their backs and wooden barrels or other objects in their hands.

At this time, the sky was gradually darkening.

They carried food and various supplies and struggled forward in the dim forest.

Luo Dashan walked in front to lead the way, vigilantly observing the situation around him, worried that any accidents might happen.

Lin Wanze took care of the two siblings while trying to keep up with the pace of the team. They were surrounded in the middle of the team.

Li Changyi and Li Changli followed behind, and when they had walked almost one-third of the way, they began to carefully cover up their traces.

They used branches to gently wipe away their footprints, propped up some grass and trees that had obviously been knocked down, and tried their best to make everything look as if no one had passed by to prevent anyone from tracking them.

Lin Wan asked worriedly, "Uncle Dashan, have the traces of the previous food transport by cart been cleaned up?"

"Don't worry, I finally made a trace guide. Even if we find the wheel marks from before, we can't find the direction we entered the mountain. Moreover, the route we took this time is different from before." Luo Dashan replied.

Lin Wan finally felt relieved. She looked around. The forest was eerily quiet, with only the slightest noises coming from them.

She held Li Ke's hand and told Li Chongle to be careful with his steps and speed up to keep up with the team.

At this time, Li Chongshan beside him said, "Just hold on a little longer, we will soon reach our destination."

The group trudged forward in the dim forest, hoping to reach their secluded place in the mountains safely as soon as possible.