Two days later, the muddy ground had indeed dried up, and the surface had become much firmer.
During these two days, they had continued to fetch water from the small valley and check the traps and snares along the way.
Perhaps animals also spread news among themselves, as the pit trap rarely caught any prey anymore.
The snare, however, still occasionally trapped a wild rabbit, mainly because Fang Youwei kept changing its position.
Now that the ground had dried, returning to Fangjia Village was on the agenda.
Early that morning, the family began packing their belongings. It wasn’t until noon that everything was finally loaded onto the cart.
After that, they harnessed Liu Liu to the cart.
No sooner had they finished than they felt the ground beneath their feet tremble slightly.
A sense of dread rose in Fang Youwei’s heart. He immediately dropped to the ground, pressing his ear to the earth to listen carefully.
Seeing his actions, the others instinctively held their breath.
Fang Youwei heard a dull, rumbling sound in his ears—like distant thunder, or the pounding of countless hooves!
He stood up quickly and said hastily, “Don’t move from here. I’m going to take a look.”
After instructing his family, he found the tallest tree nearby and climbed up with ease.
Shielding his eyes with his hand, he looked toward the southeast. It was noon, and the sunlight there was fierce and blinding, but he could still see a distant cloud of dust rising. It looked like a dark, mass pressing forward—like an army on the march… Wait! An army on the march!
There was no time to think further. Fang Youwei slid straight down the tree trunk and ran back to his family.
Urgently, he said, “Quick! We need to run into the mountains. The Yue people have invaded!”
Their location was very close to the border. About a hundred li to the west, they would cross the frontier.
Beyond the border was the territory of the Yue people. They had not established a kingdom but lived as tribes of various sizes, led by chieftains, moving from place to place in search of water and pasture.
The Yue people were skilled horsemen and archers, tall and sturdy. They often crossed the border to raid the grain of the Great Yan Dynasty’s common people. The common folk called them “those who cross the border to plunder,” which is how the name “Yue” came about.
The reason Fangjia Village was located in a place surrounded by mountains on three sides with only one entrance was that their ancestors had deliberately chosen such a remote, secluded spot that was easy to defend and hard to attack, to escape the chaos of war.
Once war broke out again, as long as they blocked the only entrance, outsiders would find it very difficult to break in.
That location was also very hidden. Villagers had to go around a mountain just to reach the town to buy supplies. Over the years, they had rarely been disturbed by the outside world.
But given the current situation, they had no time to make it back to the village.
Fang Youwei tied down the luggage on the cart with extra rope, and the five of them pulled the donkey cart as they ran into the mountains.
Jiayin and Fang Zhiyuan sat on the donkey’s back. Fang Youwei pulled the cart from the front, while Old Madam Yang and Li Shi pushed from behind.
Liu Liu also understood the urgency of the situation and tried his best to take the easier paths up the mountain.
The Yue people were still some distance away. And even if they did come, Fang Youwei’s family had originally been living in the forest. Now that they were fleeing deeper into the mountains, the Yue people wouldn’t be able to see them.
So, the family had enough time—of course, the deeper they went into the mountains, the safer they would be.
Half an hour later, they reached the spot where the traps were set. Fang Youwei filled in the pit trap and removed the snare.
Earlier on the road, he had tied a bundle of branches behind the cart, which he could use to sweep away the cart tracks.
They had never walked a fixed path before; each time they came, they took a slightly different route.
This was a habit of a hunter—too many traces of human activity would make wild animals sensitive and avoid the area.
Now that they had reached this point, they could still feel the ground vibrating. It seemed the intruders were just outside the mountains, not very far away.
Even though the Yue people on horseback might not necessarily enter the forest, they still had to be cautious. What if they got hungry and decided to stop for a hunt?
So Fang Youwei filled in the trap and covered it with dead leaves to hide any sign of disturbance.
The family didn’t linger. They pulled the cart and continued deeper into the mountains.
They were heading for that small valley with the water source. They didn’t dare venture into unfamiliar places, as wild animals had their own territories. At least Fang Youwei and the two children had been along this path several times and knew it was safe.
In truth, as long as Jiayin stayed with them, any path would have been safe.
Because the wild animals in the mountains had already kept a wide berth. The only tiger in the area had long since moved to another mountain to reign as king.