Elder Qin had always been gentle in front of them, treating Qin Er Lang better than Qin San Lang, yet now his voice was filled with anger, clearly furious with Qin Er Lang.
Gu Jinli knew they were arguing and wanted to pull Luo Huiniang away quietly, but then he heard Luo Huiniang say: "Xiao Yu, did you hear that? It sounds like Elder Qin and the others are arguing."
She muttered again: "The argunt is so intense, will they start fighting?"
Luo Huiniang was rubbing her arms, a bit cold, and tiptoed to look towards the distant bushes.
Just as her voice fell, the sound of argunt from Elder Qin’s side stopped.
After a short while, Elder Qin ca from behind a few dead trees in the distance with Qin Er Lang and Qin San Lang, and upon seeing them, Elder Qin smiled and said, "Ah, it’s Xiao Yu and Hui Niang."
Gu Jinli and Luo Huiniang greeted: "Grandpa Qin."
Elder Qin nodded with a smile and said: "Er Lang doesn’t like the south and wants to go to the east to seek refuge with a distant relative in our family. I, the old man, am afraid he might freeze to death on the way, so I did not agree, and he is angry with . You don’t need to mind it."
Gu Qinli felt surprised, as Elder Qin did not need to explain all this to them; such explanations only made it more suspicious.
Perhaps realizing this, Elder Qin did not wait for Gu Jinli and her to speak, and left with Qin Er Lang and Qin San Lang.
Qin Er Lang gave them a fierce glance, scaring Luo Huiniang considerably, and Qin San Lang looked at them sowhat apologetically before following Elder Qin away.
After they had gone far, Luo Huiniang patted her chest, feeling sowhat scared afterward, and said, "That Qin Er Lang is really frightening, looking so gloomy. If he looked at more, I definitely would have nightmares. Xiao Yu, are you scared of him?"
Gu Jinli responded: "He is quite scary."
Qin Er Lang was gloomy, but she didn’t find him too scary, just unreliable. Having such a person in their team, who is not on the sa page as them, would create many uncertainties...
"Let’s keep our distance from him in the future and seek help from Brother Qin if needed, and not bother him." Gu Jinli pulled Luo Huiniang deeper into the bushes and circled around with a stick to make sure there was no one around before they began to relieve themselves.
Luo Huiniang nodded gravely: "Mmm, Brother Qin is much better than Qin Er Lang."
Brother Qin here ant Qin San Lang; they liked to call him that, while they called Qin Er Lang, Brother Qin Er.
After a short while, the two returned to their resting spot.
Gu Jinli glanced at where the three from the Qin Family were sleeping. Seeing that they were already asleep, she withdrew her gaze and returned to her own straw mat to continue sleeping.
The next day just as dawn was breaking, they were awakened by successive bouts of crying, as another group of disaster victims returned to the foot of the mountain, seeing their family mbers’ bodies and weeping aloud.
From yesterday to now, they had seen too many disaster victims coming back to search for their loved ones only to find corpses and cry; they were no longer surprised.
"Third Uncle, Brother Luo Er, Dashan!" Two cries of surprise mixed with sobs ca from afar.
Third Grandpa and the others were startled and hurriedly looked in the direction of the sound.
Luo Wu, with sharp eyes, spotted the speakers imdiately; it was Uncle Tian and Gu Damu, limping and supporting each other as they walked towards them.
"It’s Uncle Tian and Uncle Damu," Luo Wu said excitedly, pulling Gu Jin’an over, and supporting them, he asked, "Uncle Tian, Uncle Damu, are your legs alright?"
Uncle Tian and Gu Damu, wiping their tears, replied: "It’s fine." Being alive was enough.
Third Grandpa and the others also went up to et them, and Gu Dafu, seeing Uncle Tian and Gu Damu, wept with joy: "Brother Tian, Damu, you are still alive, good, good, being alive is good."
They had been waiting since yesterday, and only Old Tian and Gu Damu from the village had returned.
When several families saw Uncle Tian and Gu Damu, they all gathered around, handing them water and food while asking about their families’ situations.
Once asked, both Uncle Tian and Gu Damu, the two grown n, burst into tears.
It was only after Uncle Tian and Gu Damu had finished crying that the families learned about the severe casualties suffered by their two families.
Uncle Tian’s family suffered greatly; his daughters, Dahua and Erhua, were taken away by the evil n. Uncle Tian’s eldest son was beaten to death by these evil n while trying to save them, and Uncle Tian’s foot was also injured.
The situation at Gu Damu and Gu Dalin’s family was even worse.
Gu Damu’s daughters Gu Cuiniu and Hong Niu; Gu Dalin’s two daughters and daughter-in-law, Ms. Xie, were also taken away by these evil n.
Of the two brothers’ eight sons, except for Gu Qingliang, Gu Qingtian, and the youngest Gu Qingxi, all were killed by the evil n while trying to escape.
Now, in the Gu Damu and Gu Dalin family, only Old Mrs. Yan, Ms. Yan, three sons, and two young daughters are left, along with the two brothers.
And in the Tian Family, only Uncle Tian, Aunt Tian, Tian Erqiang, and Tian Xiaohua are left.
"Third Uncle, Third Aunt, it’s dreadful, absolutely dreadful, all are gone, all dead," Uncle Tian reported the conditions of both families and burst into tears again.
Third Grandma could only shed tears, and along with Third Grandpa, comforted Uncle Tian and Gu Damu until they finally stopped crying after a long while.
Gu Jinli, hearing about the tragic experiences of both the Tian and Gu families, sighed deeply. She rembered the bashful Dahua and Erhua, and the gentle Gu Cuiniu — these flower-like girls were taken away, and their fate can only be imagined.
But now was not the ti for sorrow, she reminded, "Uncle Tian, Uncle Damu, where are Aunt Tian and the others hiding? Let’s hurry and bring them back."
Upon hearing this, Third Grandpa quickly got up, "Xiao Yu’s reminder is tily, we must quickly bring them back. We still have so food and water here that can help both families get by."
Mrs. Chen was unhappy to hear this; grain was so valuable now, how could Third Uncle dare to bring out food for the Tian and Gu families?
But she only dared to keep these thoughts to herself, not voicing them out loud, as her family also had no food or water and had been relying on Third Uncle, Luo Family, and Gu Dashan’s families since yesterday.
Uncle Tian and Gu Damu, also worried for their families, quickly got up and went with Luo Family’s father and son, Gu Dashan and son, Third Grandpa, and Qin San Lang to bring back their families.
Old Mrs. Yan was carried back; she had been in a shock-induced coma for a day and a night.
Gu Jinli quickly concocted a bowl of salt water for her to drink, pressed a few acupoints on her body, and after busying herself for half an hour, finally revived Old Mrs. Yan.
Seeing Third Grandma, Old Mrs. Yan cried bitterly again, but fortunately, a few days had passed since the incident. After crying, with so comforting from Third Grandma, she gradually cald down.
After Father Luo and the others brought back the people from the Tian and Gu families, they returned to their hiding places and brought back over a dozen corpses, burying these bodies next to Gu Family’s grave.
These corpses included those from Uncle Tian’s family, Gu Damu and Gu Dalin’s family, and those villagers from Gu Family Village who had managed to escape the resting place but were killed elsewhere by the evil n.
Everyone was busy for most of the day until they had taken care of these bodies by the afternoon.
Third Grandpa worried that there might be more bodies of Gu Family Village people nearby, so he led Gu Dashan and others to search the vicinity, and indeed found a few more bodies which they carried back for burial.
In the subsequent days, they waited for any other surviving villagers while continuing to search for the bodies of the villagers.
Until three days later, when their water was nearly gone, Mrs. Chen finally couldn’t hold back and exclaid: "We can’t wait any longer, if we keep waiting, we will all die of thirst and hunger here."
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