Reborn as the Blissful Wife in the countryside-Chapter 41 - 0 The Officials and Soldiers Commit Murder

Chapter 41: Chapter 041 The Officials and Soldiers Commit Murder

"Eh." Qin San Lang responded, leaping forward like an arrow released from the bow, and in a blink of an eye, he charged out.

After scanning the surroundings, he snatched a young man smeared with blood and dragged him into the forest on this side.

Seeing Qin San Lang catching disaster victims, Elder Qin hurriedly told everyone, "Hurry, move deeper into the woods."

Upon hearing this, the families, while supporting their kin, clutched their belongings and followed Elder Qin as they ran deeper into the forest.

Gu Dashan, worried about Qin San Lang, asked Elder Qin: "Elder Qin, shouldn’t we wait for San Lang?"

Although Qin San Lang was also running towards this Dead Tree Forest grabbing hold of a disaster victim, he was separated from them by a distance of over twenty meters; Gu Dashan feared that if they ran too fast, Qin San Lang would be left behind.

"There’s no need to wait for him; San Lang is fast on his feet, he’ll catch up with us." Despite his age, Elder Qin was quick, and even as he spoke, he had already run to the middle of the forest, leaving everyone but Qin Er Lang several meters behind.

"Run, run for your lives, the soldiers are killing people!" A sudden, jarring voice came through.

"Soldiers, soldiers killing people?!" The families shrieked in terror, cluelessly panicking.

Gu Jinli’s heart chilled, and looking back in the direction of the voice, he saw not the silhouette of soldiers but numerous disaster victims running into the Dead Tree Forest.

This Dead Tree Forest was not large, but being next to the official road, it was the only hiding spot nearby. Any disaster victim with a shred of wit would run towards here.

Gu Jinli quickly said, "Grandpa Qin, Third Grandpa, this Dead Tree Forest isn’t safe, we must leave quickly."

When Mrs. Chen heard Gu Jinli’s words, she screamed, "Leave, leave, this is the only patch of forest nearby where we can hide, where else can we run to?"

She was shaking so much with fright that she could barely lift her feet; how was she supposed to run?

Aunt Tian, one hand pulling Tian Xiaohua and the other tugging Uncle Tian, trembled with fear along with her family. Upon hearing Gu Jinli’s words, Aunt Tian choked out, "Where, where should we run to?"

Gu Jinli had already grabbed Gu Jinxiu and was dragging Mrs. Cui, bypassing Elder Qin and Qin Er Lang, running deeper into the forest: "First thing’s first, leave this Dead Tree Forest!"

If the soldiers truly were coming after them, the Dead Tree Forest by the official road would become the first place to be searched; hiding inside was a death sentence.

Gu Dashan, holding Brother Cheng and leading Gu Jin’an, hurriedly followed suit.

Elder Qin and Qin Er Lang also followed closely behind, charging towards the deeper parts of the Dead Tree Forest.

"Run quickly!" Third Grandpa shouted at the still dazed families, pulling up Third Grandma and chasing after Gu Jinli and the others.

Horrified beyond thought, the families, hearing these words and seeing Third Grandpa and the others making a run for it, also quickly followed.

The Dead Tree Forest wasn’t extensive; Gu Jinli, dragging Gu Jinxiu and the others, had only run a few dozen meters before they exited the forest.

Outside the Dead Tree Forest was a muddy, dried-up riverbed. Past the riverbed was a vast, flat plain, while to the left of the river was a large expanse of withered grassland, and to the right, a chain of mountains.

Gu Jinli made a split-second decision and pointed towards the mountains, "We’ll run towards the mountains, quick!"

Elder Qin also surveyed the terrain nearby, nodded in agreement with Gu Jinli’s suggestion, "Let’s run to the mountains, mountains can hide people. Even if soldiers or nefarious folks were slaughtering the disaster victims, they would at most search the vicinity and not take the trouble to search the mountains."

To search the mountains, one would need a force of thousands; and they were merely disaster victims, not high-profile figures warranting an exhaustive search by soldiers or evil men.

The families, upon hearing Elder Qin’s words, didn’t have time to think and just started to follow him as he ran.

Thirty or so people, stepping high and low, crossed the muddy dry river and turned towards the mountain on the right to escape.

Some of the refugees saw them heading into the mountains and followed them.

Elder Qin, seeing those refugees, said to Qin Er Lang, "Er Lang, go and hold them back."

There were too many refugees following them, making it easy for their hiding place to be discovered, which was very unsafe. They had to stop the following refugees.

Qin Er Lang nodded silently, turned, and ran off. No one knew how he did it, but by the time Gu Jinli and the others entered the mountain, they saw no refugees behind them.

While leading the family deeper into the mountain, Gu Jinli was observing the nearby mountainsides and alert to scents within them, and Elder Qin seemed to be doing the same.

After wandering around in the mountain for half an hour and reaching deeper into the range, Gu Jinli suddenly smelled a faint stench. Following it around a mountainside, she saw a slit in the distance and quickly said to Elder Qin, "Grandpa Qin, there seems to be a crack over there with the stench of decaying animal carcasses. Could it be an animal den?"

If there was a cave, they could hide in it and wait to go out after scouting the situation outside.

Elder Qin looked at Gu Jinli, puzzled. Had this child learned hunting? How did she know to use the scent of animals to find a cave?

But Elder Qin’s puzzlement was brief, and he didn’t dwell on it. A child who has survived a disaster has seen all sorts of things and should not be judged by ordinary standards.

Elder Qin nodded, "It looks like an animal’s den."

He called out to Father Luo and Luo Wu, and the three of them, armed with machetes and sticks, approached the crack on the mountain while pushing aside ferns, finally revealing a cave entrance one meter wide and as tall as a person.

Elder Qin had Father Luo light a bunch of dead grass and throw it into the cave to smoke it. After waiting for a while and seeing no creature emerge, they entered one by one to inspect the cave.

The families waited anxiously outside, glancing at the cave entrance and then at their surroundings, fearing the arrival of soldiers or villains.

Moments later, Luo Wu ran out of the cave and announced to everyone, "Inside, it’s a bear’s cave. It’s quite spacious and should be big enough to hide all of our families."

Luo Wu wrinkled his nose and added, "But there are two bear carcasses inside that will need to be cleared before we can enter."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief hearing there was a cave to shelter in, but their faces turned pale at the mention of a bear’s cave.

Mrs. Chen exclaimed, "A bear’s cave? There are bears here, we need to run quickly. If we stay, we’ll be eaten by the bears!"

Gu Dagui glared at Mrs. Chen, "Shut your mouth, are you deaf? Didn’t you hear Kid Wu say that the bears are dead?"

"What if a live one went out to find food? If it comes back and traps us in the cave, none of us will escape," Mrs. Chen, clasping her two sons, stared fearfully at the small cave entrance.

Gu Dagui, too frustrated to argue, said resentfully, "If you want to leave, you go by yourself. We’re not leaving."

It was a struggle to flee to the mountains and find a cave to hide in, and this woman insisted on causing trouble; it enraged him.

Hearing the argument, Elder Qin came out of the cave and said to the couple, "Don’t worry. Those were two bears starved to death. If there were any bears nearby, they would’ve starved by now in this disaster. There’s no need to worry." ƒгeewebnovёl.com

Gu Dagui, after hearing this, glared at Mrs. Chen, "See? You’re the only one afraid of death."

Mrs. Chen snorted and didn’t respond to Gu Dagui but instead asked Elder Qin, "Elder Qin, are you sure no bears will come back and attack us?"

Elder Qin shook his head, "There won’t be any. Bears, being so large, would have a hard time surviving in such a severe famine."

With Elder Qin’s reassurance, Mrs. Chen and the rest of the families were at ease. They all entered the cave together, cleared out the bear carcasses, disposed of the rotten grass inside, smoked the interior with dry grass, and then settled in.

Elder Qin did not enter the cave with them; instead, he went to meet up with Qin Er Lang and Qin San Lang. Half an hour later, the three members of the Qin family returned to the cave and shared the events unfolding in Yongtai Prefecture with the others.