In the second half of last night, the two brothers Gu Damu and Gu Dalin kept vigil, and after the third grandfather got up, he asked Uncle Tian to call their brothers back and said to them: "I don't know what the situation is in Yongtai Mansion today, if you want to hurry, you have to go to bed first, in case you have to hurry, you also have spirit." ”

Gu Damu and Gu Dalin's brothers responded, took a bamboo tube of water handed over by Gu Qingtian, the two brothers took a sip respectively, moistened their throats, walked into the cave, lay on the haystack of his house, and prepared to sleep.

After a while, the voice of the third grandfather came from the mouth of the cave and asked them, "Have you seen Old Ancestor Qin?" It's dawn this day, why haven't the three of them come up yet? ”

When Gu Jinli heard this, he was a little worried, afraid that the affairs of the three people of the Qin family would be exposed.

Gu Damu's answer was unexpected: "Old Qin, they went to Yongtai Mansion to inquire about the situation, saying that they were going to come back later, so let's not leave and wait for them." ”

Gu Jinli was surprised, when did Qin Lao tell Gu Damu that they were going to Yongtai Mansion, and still gave such a reasonable reason?

Everyone was also surprised, and the third grandfather asked Gu Damu, "When did Elder Qin tell you?" ”

Gu Damu said: "It was said last night before we went to bed, when we met the ancestors of the Qin family on the mountain col on the left. ”

On the left side of the cave there is a one-man deep, two-meter-wide col, where the men relieved themselves, and the women went to the dead forest on the right to solve the problem.

As soon as Gu Damu said this, everyone understood, and did not ask any more, they were very grateful to the three members of the Qin family, if they were to change them, they would not dare to go to Yongtai Mansion to see the situation, if one is not good, it will kill someone.

Gu Jinli admired the actions of the three members of the Qin family very much, this excuse was too good, and he specially found the Gu Damu brothers who were keeping vigil in the second half of the night and said, in this way, even if the Gu Damu brothers patrolled under the slope in the second half of the night and did not see the three of them, they would not suspect anything, they just thought that the three of their ancestors and grandchildren went to Yongtai Mansion.

After hearing that the three members of the Qin family went to Yongtai Mansion to see the situation, they folded their hands and bowed to the eastern sky: "God bless, the three of Qin's ancestors and grandchildren will come back safely." ”

After the third grandfather knew that the ancestors and grandchildren of the Qin family had not come to the cave to gather, he put down the matter and said to Father Luo: "Tiezhu, you go to the place where we found the water last night and bring the jar back." ”

They found a dripping stone crack in the mountain last night, and took half a jar of water, and when they left, they put a jar there to catch water, and after one night, they should be able to receive a lot of water.

"I'll go." Father Luo took a jar, took a machete, and left the cave.

After Father Luo left, the third grandfather called Gu Dashan, Uncle Tian, Gu Dafu, and Gu Dagui, and went to the mountains again to look for food.

They didn't find anything to eat last night, and they ate a lot of beans, so they had to be diligent in finding food and filling in the 'holes' they had eaten.

As for Gu Qingtian, Gu Qingliang, and Gu Dexing, they still stayed in the cave and did not go out to find food.

The third grandmother was very dissatisfied with this, but the third grandfather said that it is not peaceful now, and he is afraid that some disaster victims will find here and hurt the women, so he will leave these half-sized children here, and there are really outsiders coming, and they can bluff people, so that others dare not do it easily.

Luo Wu and Gu Jinan still went to patrol under the slope.

Gu Jinli's several female babies were arranged by the third grandmother to mow the grass.

Now that the weather is cold, they don't have thick clothes, so they cut some dry grass and come back and weave straw clothes and straw sandals, which can also protect them from the cold.

After they cut a few rounds of dead grass, and after the third grandmother and a few women in charge of the family made a few straw clothes, the three members of the Qin family also came back, and the faces of the three of them were tired.

When the third grandmother saw them, she hurriedly greeted them and asked Elder Qin, "Brother Qin, how is the situation in Yongtai Mansion?" Can we still go that way? ”

Qin Lao wiped his face, let himself be a little more energetic, shook his head and said: "It's not good, there are Peng Changyong's soldiers stationed on the outskirts of Yongtai Mansion, as long as he sees someone, he will welcome him into the mansion, but it is not relief, but killing people and robbing money." ”

The faces of the third grandmother and several women changed greatly when they heard this: "This, we are still killing people?" Brutes! ”

Chen was most concerned about his life and death, and hurriedly asked Qin Lao: "Then what should I do now?" How long are we going to hide here? There is nothing to eat in this mountain, and if we hide for a long time, we will die if we run out of food. ”

While talking, the third grandfather and the others also came back, saw the three members of the Qin family, and asked about the situation of Yongtai Mansion again.

Qin Lao said it again, and finally said: "We don't have to hide in the mountains, we can go down the mountain, don't take the official road, bypass Yongtai Mansion from the plains, and then go to Chi Road, follow the Chi Road, pass through the six mansions of Zhongzhou, and you can go to Jianghuai and other places, where there is a water separation from the south of the Yangtze River, and the drought should not be so serious." ”

After a pause, Qin Lao said again: "If we go to Jianghuai and other places, the drought is still serious, let's cross the river and go to the hinterland of Jiangnan." ”

Qin Lao's words, everyone seemed to have found the backbone, this route is too familiar, if you don't walk through it yourself, where can you say it so clearly?

After hearing this, the third grandfather felt that the burden on his body was much lighter: "Brother Qin is well-informed, let's listen to you." ”

Qin Lao said with a smile: "We are fleeing the famine together, no one listens to anyone's statement, and when something happens, we think together." ”

As soon as he decided to bypass Yongtai Mansion and go south, the third grandfather asked Gu Dashan and Uncle Tian to take the jar and continue to go to the stone crack to catch the water, as much as he could.

In the evening, everyone gathered again, set the exact route, and discussed what to do if something happened on the way, until the first hour of the day, and everyone went to bed.

At dawn the next day, everyone got up, and after roasting the beans, they divided a handful of beans, and then gave straw clothes to the young children to keep out the cold, and the group began to go down the mountain and go out of the mountain.

Halfway up the mountain, they encountered some victims who had come down from several other peaks, and it seemed that many of them were hiding in the mountains like them.

None of them cared about anyone, they just guarded their things and walked at a distance.

After descending the mountain, Qin Lao led a few families across the dry river when they first came, and walked towards the plain in front of the dry river.

After seeing this, some of the victims glanced in the direction of Yongtai Mansion, and they chased after them, shouting: "Fellow in front, wait first, where are you going?" ”

The families did not speak, for fear that the victims who followed were evildoers.

Qin Lao slowed down, and when those victims asked again, he turned his head and replied to them: "The defenders of Yongtai Mansion have killed good people and risked their merits, that place can't be walked, we are going to take this plain to take a detour to the south." ”

After Qin Lao said this, he didn't pay attention to them anymore, and only explained to the third grandfather: "They are all hard-working people, I can't bear to send them to death, Brother Gu don't blame me." ”

The third grandfather shook his head: "Brother Qin doesn't have to explain, we all understand...... Alas, this god is grinding. ”

Those victims listened to Qin Lao's words, and hurriedly ran back to tell the people they knew, and after a while, many victims followed behind them.

Among the victims, there are many smart people who know that it is better to go south than to go east, and they have experienced the murder of officers and soldiers in Yongtai Mansion, so there are more and more victims going south.

After Gu Jinli and the others bypassed Yongtai Mansion and got on the Chi Road, they saw more victims on both sides of the Chi Road, groups of people, stretching for hundreds of miles, and the number of people was no less than what she saw when she woke up.

Qin Lao was relieved to see so many victims going south, only when there were more victims going south, the yamen would not be too strict when they registered, and their identities would not be exposed.