Traveling through the famine, I stockpiled supplies like crazy

Chapter 428 Catching the Strong Man

"Then you should ask your great grandfather. I can't control your class affairs."

So Mu'er turned around and asked Grandpa Zhao. Grandpa Zhao thought that Mu'er hadn't had a rest for a long time and it would not be good for her to study every day, so he readily agreed.

Seeing that her great grandfather approved it so readily, Mu'er jumped up with joy.

"That's great, that's great, I can help mother with work too."

Grandpa Zhao looked pleased, "Hahaha, this child is so thoughtful."

After the weather cleared up, the corn was harvested. Several people were busy preparing for the autumn harvest and planting. By the time they finished all the work at hand, it was already mid-September.

Since Lu Chuan and the Taoist priest didn't have time to go hunting in the mountains, they decided to go down the mountain to see the situation below.

That evening, after dinner, everyone sat in the yard to enjoy the cool air and discussed plans for going down the mountain in the next two days.

The Taoist priest was the first to speak, "We have finished the work in the fields these days. I plan to go down the mountain with Xiaochuan in the next two days. We haven't been down the mountain for such a long time, and we don't know what the situation is down there now."

Xu Han also wanted to go down the mountain. She hadn't been down the mountain for a long time. This time she wanted to go down the mountain for a walk and add some new things to her home.

So he took the initiative to say, "I'll go with you. I just happened to be going to the county town to buy some things."

Lu Chuan shook his head and refused. "Tell me what you need and I'll buy it directly. You don't have to go."

Grandpa Zhao also agreed, "Yes, Xiaochuan is right, Xiaohan, you should not go. Right now the war is at its peak, and we don't know what the situation is down the mountain. This world is unstable, and if something happens, they will have to worry about you if you go with them, and it will be inconvenient for them to do anything."

Xu Han thought about it and nodded in agreement. "Then I'll list the things you need to buy and you can buy them accordingly."

"Okay, there's nothing to do at home these two days anyway, why don't we go tomorrow?" Lu Chuan looked up and asked the Taoist priest.

The Taoist priest nodded and said, "Then let's go tomorrow. It's just a trip to the county town anyway, so there's no need to prepare anything."

"I'll prepare some water and bread for you guys to eat tomorrow morning."

After a few more words, they finalized the itinerary for tomorrow.

The next day, when it was still dawn, the Taoist priest and Lu Chuan set out.

Seeing that it was still early, Xu Han gave the things to Lu Chuan and went back to sleep.

Although it was still dark, the two were still traveling at a fast pace. The surroundings were familiar, and their speed was not much different from that at dawn.

By the time it was bright, Lu Chuan and the Taoist priest had already arrived at the river, ready to row the boat.

When they were halfway down the mountain, Lu Chuan and the Taoist priest both noticed something was wrong.

The two looked at each other, and Lu Chuan immediately understood what the Taoist priest meant. He quickly moored the boat and carefully observed the movements in the mountains.

Normally, there should be a lot of birds in the mountains at this time of year, and birds would be startled and fly away wherever they go, but Lu Chuan and the Taoist priest did not hear any birds singing.

The Taoist priest got off the boat and walked along the river bank. His expression became more and more serious as he walked. The two found that the further they walked, the quieter it became. Something was really wrong.

There was not a single bird singing around, it was so eerily quiet.

The Taoist priest picked up a stone and threw it into the forest, but it did not scare the birds away as expected.

As the saying goes, there must be something wrong when something is abnormal. There are no birds in the mountains during this period of time, which means that there are people or other wild animals, people or things more powerful than birds, who directly scared away all the birds in the mountains.

Lu Chuan whispered to the Taoist priest, "Master, I think something is wrong here."

The Taoist priest looked at him like an idiot and thought to himself, "Isn't this nonsense? How could my disciple be so stupid? Anyone with a little bit of prudence can tell that something is wrong."

Lu Chuan didn't care, pretending not to see the disgust in the Taoist's eyes. He continued, "It's so quiet here, it shouldn't be because of large animals, there may be people. And there are a lot of people."

This place is not very far from home. Logically speaking, if it was a large animal, with the abilities of the Taoist priest and Lu Chuan, they would have discovered it long ago and would not have allowed the large animal to wander here.

They would have certainly killed all the large animals not far from home, not giving them any chance to come down the mountain.

After looking around, the Taoist priest calmly said, "Find a place to hide the boat, and we'll go over and take a look at the situation."

Lu Chuan hid the boat in the bushes as he was told. After taking a look, he felt uneasy, so he covered it up a little more.

After seeing Lu Chuan hide the boat, the Taoist priest walked into the woods without saying a word.

Both of them were quite skilled and were extremely careful along the way because they were not sure whether the other party was a friend or foe, so they were extremely cautious.

Not long after entering the forest, the Taoist priest discovered traces of people. From afar, he saw a group of men sleeping on the ground in the forest.

Judging from the man’s clothes, he doesn’t look like a bad guy, but more like an ordinary citizen living down the mountain.

They were all wearing patched clothes and had tools such as sticks or hoes beside them, probably for self-protection.

Lu Chuan looked at the Taoist priest, who made a gesture to Lu Chuan, and the two of them tiptoed to other places.

After walking for a while, we found another group of people. It was obvious that this group of people was larger than the previous one.

Their clothes and equipment were the same as the group of people they had just met, and they all looked like honest farmers.

Lu Chuan and the Taoist priest walked around, getting farther and farther away, but they continued walking with a purpose. They observed the situation while walking down the mountain.

After walking for about an hour, there were fewer and fewer people in the forest, and the mountain returned to its usual bustle.

Birds were chirping, and from time to time you could see pheasants and rabbits running by.

The two men walked to a slightly flat place and sat down. Lu Chuan took out a bamboo tube from his backpack and handed it to the Taoist priest.

"Master, drink some water."

The Taoist priest took the bamboo tube and drank half of it in one breath. After traveling for such a long time, he was really thirsty.

After drinking the water, the Taoist priest slowly spoke, "So many people suddenly broke into the mountain, and they were all ordinary people. Something must have happened down the mountain."

As the two walked along, they met several groups of people, some in groups of three or five, some with dozens of people, and even some with more than a hundred people gathered together.

These are only the people the two of them met today. There must be more that they haven't met, maybe even more.

Lu Chuan suddenly remembered a sentence his wife often said before, and couldn't help but say it out loud, "Could it be that the people down the mountain are conscripting men?"