After living a new life for my neighbor's grandmother, I traveled through the book again

Tong Jia's guess was correct. The collapse of this stronghold had actually been foreshadowed. The second-in-command of the stronghold had originally planned to take his men away today, and Tong Jia and his team just happened to be there by chance.

Of course, if Tong Jia didn't take action, they would have no chance to escape.

It was during this final search that they discovered a little maid hiding under the bed.

This little maid was only about fourteen or fifteen years old. When Tong Jia found her, she was shaking like a sieve.

Tong Jia could only gently guide her to calm down, and only after she calmed down did she learn the whereabouts of Rong Xinzhi from her.

She was indeed taken away by the second-in-command of this mountain stronghold. To be precise, she took the initiative to go with the second-in-command.

Tong Jia couldn't understand why Rong Xinzhi would take the initiative to leave with a bandit.

The little maidservant stammered, "Our eldest master is obviously a bandit, but the second master is different. When he doesn't speak, everyone thinks he is a weak scholar.

Many times, including our family, we initially thought that the Second Master was a good person, different from the others in this village, but in fact...

In fact, he and the old lady were the worst two people. They had the most bad ideas, and they also ate...

My father, mother, brother and sister-in-law were all killed by them while they were still alive, and died in agony, wuwu...

On the contrary, the boss sometimes actually lets it go even if the girl cries too hard."

Upon hearing this, Tong Jia felt dizzy.

"Do you know where they ran to?" she asked anxiously.

The little maid cried and shook her head, saying, "I don't know, no one told me, wuwu..."

"Don't be anxious. What can she, a little maid, know?" Yang Jixia pulled Tong Jia away a little, stopping her from continuing to question the little girl.

Tong Jia shouted anxiously: "Didn't you understand what she meant just now?

Don't be in a hurry, take your time. If you go any slower, I'm afraid by the time we find Rong Xinzhi, there won't even be a trace of her left!"

"That's not a problem that can be solved in a hurry. You should calm down first." After Yang Jixia said this to Tong Jia, he asked Tao Junle to take Tong Jia away, turned around and winked at Tian Ma.

Tian Ma immediately hugged the little maid into her arms and said, "Little girl, what's your name? Where are you from? Is there anyone else at home?"

Seeing that the little maid didn't answer but didn't resist Tian Ma's contact, Yang Jixia walked to the hall and saw Tao Junle using sign language to comfort Tong Jia.

Feeling as if he had no place to use his skills, he went straight to the backyard. He planned to make full use of all available resources to build a boat as soon as possible.

Whether you want to find Rong Xinzhi, return to the Yang family, or go to the provincial capital to find Rong Xinhua, you need a boat to leave.

There were tools such as axes, saws, and nails in the woodshed in the backyard. He dismantled several bathtubs, cabinets, and tables and started working.

It was not until Tao Junle came to call him to eat that he realized it was already dark.

Looking up at the deep blue sky, he sighed and said, "We can only stay here one night.

Eh? Didn't they say that all the things were taken away by the second in command?

Where did you find food?"

Tao Junle raised his head towards the inner room and told him to ask himself. Then he took a look at the semi-finished "boat" that Yang Jixia had spent a lot of effort to make. He curled his lips, looked at Yang Jixia again, walked quickly to him and entered the room, and started demonstrating in front of Tong Jia.

When Yang Jixia entered the room, he saw Tian Ma scooping rice porridge for the little maid and asked her to drink it first. The little girl took a sip and gave Tian Ma a sweet smile. It seemed that she was really dependent on Tian Ma.

Looking at Tong Jia and Tao Junle, the two of them were gesturing and looking at him, which made him feel a little scared.

He asked, "Are you saying bad things about me to my face?"

Tong Jia smiled and said, "I did say something bad about you, but it wasn't a bad thing.

Lele said you made something that looked like a boat and praised your strong mobility.

Yang Jixia retorted: "What do you mean by something that looks like a boat? It's a boat to ride on..."

"Oh, it's a boat. But I won't take your boat. I would rather find a big basin and float back than experience another shipwreck." Tong Jia directly expressed her opinion.

Tao Junle told her that the "boat" was indeed a boat, but the base did not look very solid, as if it was made up of three bathtubs. It might be fine for a short time in the water, but he was worried that if it was put into the water for a long time and the weather was cold, it would break directly in the water.

"What boat?" asked Tian's mother, who had been accompanying the little girl, in confusion.

Yang Jixia explained: "If we want to leave here, we need a boat. The boat in the village and the boat we used to get here are both gone, so we can only build one directly.

I was pretty rushed today, so I just made a rough outline of the boat. I'll clean it up tomorrow and it will definitely be ready for launching."

He himself was actually worried about his safety after going into the water, and planned to find something to act as adhesive tomorrow to prevent water leakage.

Tian Ma said, "We don't have to take the water route. Xiaoting said we can take the mountain road to the provincial capital. She knows the way."

"Can we take the mountain road to the provincial capital?" Yang Jixia and Tong Jia asked in unison.

Tao Junle couldn't speak, but his gaze rarely shifted from Tong Jia to the girl named Xiaoting.

The little girl must have been comforted by Tian's mother. Knowing that these people had no ill intentions, she became bolder.

She replied, "Yes. My father can't swim and doesn't dare to build a boat. He's not good at studying, so my grandparents want him to study medicine.

But he only knew about medicinal herbs and couldn't feel a pulse. In the end, he could only make a living by collecting and selling herbs.

This mountain stronghold used to be our village. Ever since those bandits came seven years ago, the number of people in the village has been decreasing day by day.

If my father hadn't known about medicinal herbs, our family wouldn't have survived to the end...

Only my father knew the way down the mountain to the provincial capital, but there were always people around him and he couldn't go at all.

I walked with him, I remember it.”

"If that road is really only known to your father, and no one has walked here for seven years, even if the road is still there, it should be very different compared to seven years ago. Are you sure you can find it?" Yang Jixia asked uncertainly.

Xiao Ting nodded and said, "I'm sure. If it were summer, I might not be sure. But now it's winter, and the mountains are bare everywhere. It's easy to find the marks I left on the rocks when I was a child."

Seeing the girl's determination, Tong Jia didn't want to soak in the icy river water again, so she decided directly: "Then let's have a good rest tonight. After breakfast tomorrow morning, let Xiaoting lead the way. We will try the mountain road first. If it doesn't work, we can come back to study the boat."

Everyone, including Yang Jixia, agreed.

After the five of them had dinner, Tian's mother went to the room to get some bedding and placed five mats on the floor around the fireplace in the middle of the hall.

After Xiaoting lay down, the four of them quickly communicated in Morse code about the time to take turns keeping watch.

It’s not that they don’t trust Xiaoting, but everything that happened here was too weird. Even if some of the weirdness was created by Tong Jia, she herself was scared of what would happen next.

There were four people, each keeping watch for an hour and a half, and then Tian's mother got up to prepare breakfast.

There wasn't much to prepare, just throw some sweet potatoes and potatoes in the oven to roast, eat some in the morning, and take the rest with you on the road.

There were actually a few pieces of meat in the kitchen, but after hearing what Xiaoting said, the few people didn't dare to touch those pieces of meat, let alone eat them.

After breakfast, the five of them set off.

Tian's mother walked in front with Xiaoting, Yang Jixia walked in the middle carrying three sets of bedding and holding a clay pot full of water, and Tong Jia and Tao Junle walked at the end, carrying a bag of sweet potatoes and potatoes.

Both of them put on the bulletproof vests that Tong Jia had urgently prepared last night. Walking at the end not only protected the other three people, but also made it easier for the two of them to steal the food in the RV. They could also mark the way along the way. If that road was blocked, they could still find their way back by following the marks.

Of course, the most important reason is that Tong Jia heard Xiao Ting say that the road to the provincial capital was discovered by her father when he was collecting herbs. Tong Jia then had the idea that if she encountered any medicinal herbs, she could dig them up and put them in the RV when no one else was paying attention.

She had beautiful thoughts, but there was still a big gap between reality and imagination.

Although the journey was not as arduous as that of the large group, crossing snow-capped mountains and grasslands, it was still a very rare experience for her.

Tong Jia, who was originally considering how much of the things collected from the small treasury of the mountain stronghold boss to keep and how much to hand over to the public, also decided to hand over everything except the jewelry to the organization after experiencing this journey across mountains and rivers.

Of course, there are also proper methods and ways to submit.

It is definitely not possible now. We have to wait until Guo Xin brings people over to meet up with them.

When Tong Jia looked up again while thinking about something, she found that she could already see the iconic clock tower of the provincial capital.

Victory is at hand.

What made Tong Jia feel regretful was that he did not find any medicinal plants along the way.

I don’t know if it’s because of the season or because there are too many people picking herbs, but all the herbs on this mountain have been picked bare.

Fortunately, Tong Jia was not obsessed with this, so she was not too disappointed.

After coming out of the mountain, walk for more than 20 minutes to reach the clock tower of the train station.

There are many hotels near the train station. Generally, as long as the trains do not stop running, the hotels here will not close, and there will always be someone on duty even when it is close to the Chinese New Year.

The few of them planned to stay in the hotel and freshen up first, and then go find Rong Xinhua.

I asked three hotels in a row, and they were all full.

After much difficulty, they found five beds in the fourth hotel. They did not choose and checked in directly. After taking a shower in the public bathroom, Tong Jia and the others felt that they had escaped from their predicament.

According to the address of the foreign company given by his fifth uncle, Tong Jia, accompanied by Yang Jixia, went to the foreign company where Rong Xinhua worked as a comprador.

This place has been closed for a long time.

Yang Jixia looked at the door lock and said, "Look at the dust on the door lock. It must have been locked for quite some time.

There may not be anyone working here any longer.”

There happened to be a stall selling firecrackers opposite the foreign company. Yang Jixia walked over and asked the stall owner about the situation.

He asked, "Brother, was this a Japanese trading company before? Why is it closed now? Did it close for the New Year, or is it completely closed?"

The firecracker vendor waved his hand and said, "I only set up shop for a few days during festivals, not often.

I don't know the specific situation, but after Laba Festival, I set up a stall here and never saw that store open.

If you want to find out something, go to that Xiaogao dim sum shop. It’s open all year round. They do business on the first floor and live on the second floor.

The store has been open for more than ten years, they should know about this."

Yang Jixia nodded, thanked his elder brother, and walked towards Xiaogao Dessert Shop.

Before he went in, he saw Diao Ren coming out.

Yang Jixia stopped him and asked, "Diao Ren, didn't you go home with your second sister and brother-in-law? Why are you here?"

Diao Ren was also very surprised when he saw Yang Jixia and Tong Jia.

But he still answered Yang Jixia's question first, saying: "My young master asked me to come to the foreign company to find the eldest young master of my in-laws, but the foreign company is closed. I just got the news from the dim sum shop.

Mr. Yang, it's so cold, what are you and your wife doing..."

"We are also here to look for Rong Xinhua. We were just about to go to the dim sum shop to ask. What did you find out?" Yang Jixia asked.

Diao Ren replied, "The owner of the pastry shop said that the Japanese-owned company closed down last summer, and the compradors and their families who worked there all followed the owner to Japan."

"What? Went to Japan? Can the old lady's body withstand traveling across the ocean?" Tong Jia asked in shock.

Diao Ren immediately followed up, "I thought so too, so I asked the dim sum shop owner if all the employees' families had been taken away.

The boss said he didn't know whether all the employees' families had been taken away.

He also heard it from others. The owner of the tailor shop on the front street mentioned it when he came to buy snacks, but he didn't ask in detail.

I'm just about to go to the tailor shop, would you two like to join me?"

"Then let's go together." Yang Jixia and Tong Jia went to the tailor shop with Diao Ren.

On the way, the three of them naturally talked about what happened during the two days they were apart.

When Diao Ren learned that several people were kidnapped by bandits and Rong Xinzhi was taken away by the second-in-command of the stronghold, he felt very incredible.

But he was a servant, and it was not good to say too much, so he changed the subject and asked about Tian Ma's situation.

As we were chatting, we arrived at the door of the tailor shop.

Diao Renxian entered the room first, and as soon as he stepped in, he saw a man and two women looking at fabrics and choosing styles inside.

Then he immediately retracted his foot and pulled Yang Jixia and Tong Jia towards the back door.

The two were confused and passively followed Diao Ren. They didn't know how long they ran until Tong Jia couldn't run anymore, and Diao Ren stopped.

She asked, "Did a dog bite you in the tailor shop? Why are you running away like that?"

You can run away by yourself, why do you have to drag us along?

Not only did he run away, but he didn't even say hello. Today I learned clearly what it means to run away."

Diao Ren said, "Madam, I just saw Miss Xiaozhi chatting and laughing with a man and an old lady in the tailor shop..."