There are more than ten days before the New Year. Many people are returning to their hometowns one after another.

Many people from their village have also returned. Those whose homes were smashed, those who sat at the door and cried, and those who scolded and killed a thousand knives.

Li Xiao thought that their old man should be back soon.

They still have some food at home, and they don't have to go up to the mountains to hunt. The main thing is that she can see that her father is not in the mood to accompany her up the mountain at all. Her father was very worried about the old man. I would go to the village every day and wait, and after lunch, I would go to the village and not go back until Shen Shi.

Li Xiao sat on the big tree at the edge of the village and accompanied her father. She carried arrows on her back. Stroking the bow in his hand.

Since her last illness, she is in better health than before. The strength is also much greater. Even the eyesight is better. Now she can fire three arrows in her left hand. The right hand can fire two arrows in a row. I guess that's a blessing in disguise. It is said that if you don't die in a catastrophe, you will have a blessing in the future, and bless your family to come back safely.

She stared blankly into the distance, and every day she could see people coming back from the entrance of the village, turning from excitement to disappointment.

Today she saw a group of people supporting each other and walking this way. Li counted five people. There were six people out of their house. Then he continued to fiddle with the bow in his hand, but looked up from time to time. She was suddenly stunned, and found that one of the others looked like an old man in their family. Rubbing his eyes. After confirming, he shouted under the tree: "Dad, it's grandpa". Then he went down the tree in a few clicks. Ran to the main road, and the second pillar also ran there when he heard it. When it got closer, it was the old man and the others.

Erzhu ran over and knelt down to kowtow to the old man a few times, and then called Daddy. The old lady was carried by a large pillar. Li Xiao saw everyone, looked around, and found that the eldest brother was missing. Quickly pulled up her father and said, "Let's go home first."

The second pillar said: "Yes, yes, go home first."

Erzhu went over and picked up the old man and walked home. Xiulan grabbed Li Xiao, she wanted to ask how her youngest son was. Li Xiao saw her gaze and said, "Auntie, I'll run back first, let the third brother and the fourth brother boil some hot water and get some food." Then Li Xiao ran away. Thinking about why the eldest brother didn't come back together, did he go to see off the Zhang family.

The younger brother helped Xiulan and said, "Mother, the third brother is fine, we can see it when we go home." Xiulan wiped her tears, felt the strength in her body, and her steps were much lighter.

Li trotted home and shouted at the door: "The third brother and the fourth brother grandparents are back." Sanwang Sixi hurriedly ran out and asked: "What about people"?

A while ago, I saw people from the village coming back one after another. Erzhu took them to clean up the house, and the kang was re-passed, and a fire was burned. They all moved back to their rooms. Sanwang Sixi will clean the room every day. Just waiting for the family to come back.

Li Xiao pulled Sanwang and said, "Hurry up and boil hot water, get food, I'll be there soon, I'll run back." Uncles and aunts are all good." Sanwang hummed, dragged Sixi and went to the kitchen. Sanniang heard that she put down Wufu and also went to the kitchen.

In the kitchen, Li novel: "They have an empty stomach now, they can't eat meat, cook some broth, put more ginger, and let them sweat when they drink." Cook some more paste. Let them eat two meals. in eating the same as us".

When Sanniang heard this, she said: "I know, you go out, the kitchen is small."

Li Xiao turned his head and ran out to get firewood and burn the kang in the eldest brother's room. Their parents' room is connected to the kitchen, and as long as it is open, it will be hot when the food is cooked. The rooms that rise from the back on both sides need to be lit separately.

Before they had finished their work, they heard a voice at the gate. Li trotted out, and Sanwang and Sixi also ran out. Wufu also ran out.

The second pillar put down the old man. When the old man saw that the children were all there, he said, "Okay, go back to the house, go back to the house."

Everyone entered the main room together, Sanniang took the broth and said: "Daddy, you first drink hot soup to warm your body, Wuya is afraid that your stomach will be empty, so she won't let you eat anything else." The eldest brother and sister-in-law also sit down to eat, and you can also sit down when you come to the younger brother."

Li Xiao saw that everyone had finished drinking the hot soup and eating, so he asked them to go back to the room to rest. The road was cold and hungry, and everyone was tired. Li Xiao saw that Sanwang had something to say, so he pulled him out and asked him to wait for everyone to rest.

They slept until dark. Sanniang brought hot soup and paste to everyone again.

The next morning, Sanwang couldn't help it, and ran to ask his father, where is his eldest brother? Xiulan was crying, and the old man heard it, so he asked them to go over and talk.

The last time they gathered in this room was before they fled. Now the people are back, but the big brother is missing.

When Li Xiao entered the house, he saw Xiulan and his brother touching tears.

The old man saw that everyone had arrived, and said, "We followed Village Chief Zhang all the way to the provincial capital, and the road was okay to start with." After nearly 20 days, there were more and more people. Everywhere there are food snatchers and murderers. There are many of us, and we are all adults, and although others are red-eyed, they don't dare to do anything to us. The weather is getting worse and worse, and there are more and more people. The slower you go. “

The old man looked at Li Xiao, as if these words were all said to her alone, and as if he was telling about the hardships of this journey. "Zhu Ta's mother was worried about her family, and she was sinned against again on the way, and she fell ill halfway, but she persevered to the city. On the way, there was also the old man of the Zhang family, who relied on your ginseng to hang his life and did not insist until he entered the city. The Zhang family hastily handled the aftermath. When we got to the city, we realized that the refugee camp was not having a good time, and people were dying every day. The officials in the provincial capital invited doctors to treat everyone. But there are few medicines and they are expensive. Most of the people went to the city without food, let alone money to buy medicine. If it weren't for your ginseng, your grandmother wouldn't have come back. Wait until the snow stops. The officials in the provincial capital began to register everyone. Then they divided the money back home. Those who don't want to return to their hometowns can also stay, where is the provincial capital so good to stay. Later, a big official came to the imperial court, saying that he wanted to recruit soldiers, and one soldier would give 2 taels of silver. Many people went to sign up, and only after becoming soldiers did they have money to return to their hometowns. Da Zhuang went to register and gave us 2 taels of silver, and we came back in time for the year. The old man looked up at the people who were not born and said, "The situation at home seems to be very good." Tell us about it."

Li Xiao sat up straight and said, "My father and I went to the mountains to hunt prey and cut a lot of firewood. The thrifty ones have survived until now. Later, a lot of people came to the village, so we closed the gate and didn't dare to go out. My dad made an arrow target, and I practiced archery at home. Now even my father's third and fourth brothers can shoot arrows."

The old man smiled and said two yes. He said he shot me another day. And he let them all go out. Leave the big column and two columns alone.

The old man looked at the two brothers and said, "Erzhu, Wuya doesn't want to talk to me, tell me about this time, let me and your eldest brother also listen to it." Erzhu glanced at the two of them and told them in detail about the events during this time, including the thrill of their hunting in the mountains, including the fact that the refugees came to grab food later. just ignored the fact that Sanwang was arrested and Li Xiao killed people, and he thought it was better not to say it.

After hearing this, the old man nodded and said, "I knew that it wouldn't be so easy." When I left your family behind, I didn't expect to see you again when I came back. It's nice to see you guys alive. Get out of here, all of you."