As Xiaoman's grandfather had arranged, Xiaoman indeed brought a large bundle of tree bark for roofing. With these materials, Jiang Zhi's small single-room shelter could be settled.
However, before building the house, they first needed to go to the village one last time, as they would no longer come down the mountain afterward.
Jiang Zhi discussed with Qiaoyun and Xu Errui what to bring.
Qiaoyun wanted a stone mill, as the cornmeal was almost gone and needed to be ground into flour.
Er Rui said they needed some dry grass for bedding, as using only leaves was too hard.
Jiang Zhi frowned as she listened. These items were either too heavy or too bulky, making them unsuitable to carry.
But she didn’t know what else they needed either—it felt like they were short of everything.
Thinking again about the few families in the village who hadn’t left, they had been secretly moving furniture that very day. By now, they had probably already ransacked the entire village. Coupled with the refugees coming and going, even if there were useful things left, there wouldn’t be many.
It was useless to speculate now. They could only go into the village first and see what remained.
Before dawn, Jiang Zhi, Xu Errui, and Xiaoman quietly descended the mountain with baskets and ropes, appearing at the edge of the village.
The villagers had been gone for five days. In the morning light, the village was as quiet as death, with not even a rooster crowing.
Xu Errui and Xiaoman had grown up in the village and knew the layout of every courtyard.
With them leading the way, the three followed the back walls of the courtyards, turning here and there until they entered the nearest house at the village’s edge.
This family had left in a hurry. Tables, chairs, and benches remained, but they had already been picked over. What was left were broken pieces missing legs or corners.
After a quick look, the three continued to other houses. On the surface, the village seemed unchanged except for the eerie quiet, but as they visited more homes, signs of chaos gradually appeared.
Over the past few nights, they had seen flames from the mountain. Sure enough, several houses had been burned.
Charred ruins and broken walls, with beams and rooftops jutting starkly into the sky.
Although no bodies were seen, shattered pottery jars and several dark stains of blood on the ground made Xu Errui and Xiaoman pale with fear.
Not daring to linger here long, Jiang Zhi and Xu Errui decided to check their own courtyard, even if it had been burned, just to put their minds at ease.
Xiaoman also wanted to check his own home. The three agreed to meet at the Village Chief’s house and went their separate ways.
Returning to their own courtyard, Jiang Zhi found it hadn’t been burned, but the originally locked gate had been forced open, hanging crookedly half-open.
Xu Errui rushed into the yard. Seeing the door to the room he and his wife had lived in wide open, he immediately went inside to check.
Jiang Zhi went straight into the Kitchen Area.
First, she found the place where the fire sickle and flint were kept and retrieved an old fire sickle from it.
Although they had brought a set to the mountain, in a place without lighters or matches, fire sickles and flint were essential tools for making fire. One set wasn’t enough—they needed to prepare an extra.
Several cracked jars with chipped rims were still in the kitchen. Jiang Zhi reached into one and felt around, pulling out a few irregular, blackish lumps of “stone.” She immediately tucked them into her bag like treasures.
These were salt stones.
Because the salt here was unrefined coarse salt with many impurities, it would absorb moisture and crystallize into hard stones if left in the salt jar for too long.
She hadn’t known about this at first. It was only when she was tidying up on their first night at home that she saw them and asked Qiaoyun, who said they were too hard to use and should be thrown away.
Normally, they wouldn’t be needed, but now Jiang Zhi couldn’t afford to discard them!
Living on the mountain, they could manage with wild fruits and tree bark for food, but they couldn’t do without salt and flavor.
A lack of salt and minerals in the body can lead to weakness and illness. Although these salt stones are of poorer quality, they can still replenish salt.
After thoroughly searching the entire house again, what pleased Jiang Zhi the most was finding a large, unused bag of realgar powder in the corner.
This was a valuable find. After living in the mountains for a long time, snakes and scorpions appearing in the shed were only a matter of time, so realgar, which repels insects, was crucial.
By now, Jiang Zhi already knew what she needed.
When Xu Errui brought over a chipped firewood chopper he had found, Jiang Zhi asked, "Er Rui, do you know who has quicklime?"
Quicklime was also excellent for killing ants and small insects!
Quicklime wasn’t a valuable item—ten coins could buy a large bag in town—so no one had brought it along while fleeing.
Xu Errui nodded. "Mother, I know this. The Village Chief’s family bought lime powder at the end of last year for making three-in-one soil, and the leftover was piled in the woodshed."
Great! With quicklime secured, they could look for other things.
Salt stones were the more, the better. The two began entering kitchens house by house, rummaging through salt jars.
Back then, every household had taken their salt with them and discarded the salt stones, which now benefited Jiang Zhi.
As they made their way toward the Village Chief’s house while searching, Jiang Zhi’s bag already held over a dozen salt stones of various sizes.
Xu Errui also found several discarded sickles and firewood choppers, making it a fairly fruitful haul.
Just as the two were nearing the Village Chief’s house, a yawning man, fastening his pants as he walked, emerged from the drainage ditch beside the courtyard wall. Both sides were caught off guard and came face-to-face.
By now, the sky was fully bright, and even facial hair could be counted clearly up close. Jiang Zhi looked at the dirty refugee in front of her and immediately raised her sickle in alarm. "What do you want?"
The refugee was also startled and turned to flee in panic, shouting as he ran, "Second Elder! Third Uncle! Someone’s here to rob us!"
Jiang Zhi and Xu Errui were dumbfounded: We’re robbing? We were the ones scared out of our wits.
The two quickly retreated, hiding behind a haystack to observe the situation.
No sooner had they hidden than four or five people rushed out from the Village Chief’s courtyard, carrying hoes and shoulder poles, their clothes open and shoes dragging, their expressions tense.
"Er Gouzi! Where are they? Who’s robbing?"
The early-morning defecator, Er Gouzi, pointed in Jiang Zhi’s direction. "Two of them, holding knives, over there."
Someone from the refugees stepped forward and clumsily bowed toward where Jiang Zhi and the other were hiding. "We’re just passing through, resting here. We’ll leave at daybreak. We only have some tattered padded jackets with us, nothing of value."
It seemed they were just honest farmers fleeing hardship, already experienced from being robbed and handling the situation calmly.
Xu Errui stepped out and bluffed with a shout, "If you’re leaving, hurry up! If you don’t go now, we won’t be polite!"
"Alright, we’ll leave right away!" The Second Elder said a few words to the others, and someone retreated into the courtyard, likely to gather their belongings.
Soon, commotion and panic erupted inside—the cries of children not fully awake, women screaming, probably too exhausted from the journey to move.
Before long, a group emerged from the courtyard, pushing carts, carrying loads on shoulder poles, and carrying children on their backs.
Jiang Zhi frowned as she watched them, wondering where these people had come from and where they could possibly go.
In stories of famine flight, they’re always on the road, enduring hardships, but rarely is their final outcome ever seen!
However, when that Second Elder passed by Xu Errui and Jiang Zhi, he saw clearly that there were only the two of them here. His steps slowed, and his gaze began to wander.
The few people following closely behind him also stopped, their eyes fixed on the basket Xu Errui was carrying on his back. Their expressions instantly turned malicious.
Sensing something was wrong, Jiang Zhi quickly picked up her firewood knife, took a few steps back, and shouted loudly toward the village, "Da Niu, Er Niu, bring everyone over here!"
Beside her, Xu Errui looked utterly confused. "Mother, who are they…" He wanted to ask who Da Niu and Er Niu were.
Afraid he might slip up, Jiang Zhi quickly said, "Tell Da Niu to come over. There's trouble on his side of the village!"
There were more people, and they were from the village…
The wandering-eyed "Second Elder" instantly snapped back to clarity and even bowed apologetically to Jiang Zhi, saying, "We apologize for the disturbance! We apologize for the disturbance!"
Xu Errui clumsily returned the gesture. "No trouble at all! No trouble at all!"
Jiang Zhi ignored them, only watching coldly as the refugees left.
But just as these people hadn't gone far, they heard the sound of hurried footsteps, shouts of varying intensity, and then the crackling noise of a fight.
A vaguely familiar voice arrogantly declared, "Well, well! I said someone sneaked in last night without paying, ruining our village's feng shui. So it was you! Finally caught you. Pay up, or don't even think about leaving!"
Xu Errui and Jiang Zhi were still standing outside when they heard this. They exchanged a glance: this was extortion against the refugees.
Xu Errui said, "Is that Uncle Youcai and the others? They didn't leave; they're still in the village?"
Jiang Zhi's brows furrowed tightly: these two families, relying on their numbers, were stealing first and then robbing!