The Daily Life of Farming and Raising Children in Ancient Mountain Residences

Chapter 124: Discovery

Shen Jin tried to hide in bed, but when it was time to get up, he couldn’t stay in bed any longer.

Mrs. Li came in and, seeing Shen Jin still in bed, remarked in surprise, “Lazing in bed today?”

She urged him to get up quickly, helped Tian Ya get dressed, and went to the kitchen to get busy.

At breakfast, the family noticed Shen Jin’s swollen, red eyes, which clearly showed he had been crying.

Mrs. Li looked at her three sons and asked, “Did you get into a fight? When? How come I didn’t hear anything?”

Shen Tie was baffled, and Shen Yin glanced at Shen Jin without speaking.

Shen Jin looked up at his parents and said, “I had a nightmare, Mom. I dreamed that a lot of refugees rushed into the village, stole all the grain, and many people died.”

He couldn’t let his parents know that his brother and the others had left, at least not yet. Shen Jin wasn’t sure how his father, with his current grudge against his elder brother, might react. If he reported it to the village head, Shen Jin didn’t dare to think about what might happen.

If his brother and the others were tracked down and brought back, Shen Jin didn’t know what the consequences would be, but he knew it wouldn’t be good.

So, he calmly disguised his brother’s talk about refugees as a nightmare to cover up, hoping to remind his parents that the village wasn’t safe.

Shen Jin was only nine years old and didn’t understand much, but he knew that his brother and sister-in-law were smarter and more capable than his parents. Following them couldn’t be wrong. If they had left, it meant staying in the village was less safe than leaving.

For a child his age to figure this out was impressive, but unfortunately, his father, Shen Tie, didn’t get it. He only heard bad omens.

Crying like this, who had died?

Just thinking about it made Shen Tie furious. “You’ve been hanging around the main house again, haven’t you? Stop listening to that nonsense. What kind of crazy dreams are you having? Don’t you think we have enough bad luck right now?”

Mrs. Li also felt that talking about such a dream at this time was very unlucky. Already worried, she became even more anxious. Reflexively, she said, “It’s nothing, dreams are the opposite. The refugees in our county have been settled. You should stay home more and not run around so much. Don’t think I don’t know who you’ve been with. Have your father and I not suffered enough because of that side of the family?”

Shen Jin felt disappointed but didn’t argue. He didn’t expect to convince his parents. One wrong move and he might get beaten, and it wouldn’t change anything. Besides, he felt deflated and didn’t have the energy.

After breakfast, he found a chance to slip out again. He didn’t do much, just kept a close eye on several houses, worried that someone might try to open their gates.

Fortunately, the families had planned to leave and had been keeping to themselves since the new year. People in the village were used to not seeing them every day, and if asked, they would say they were busy inside weaving. The children left early to go to the mountains, so no one suspected anything.

Shen Jin felt he was doing a good job keeping watch, unaware that while he was home for dinner, someone in the village had gone to the main house of the Shen family.

…

When Zhou Laizi returned home, his family anxiously watched him.

“Well? What did Alie and his wife say?”

Zhou Laizi looked dazed, which scared his wife. Yesterday, he had been ready to cut his own foot. Could he still be feeling desperate today?

She hurriedly asked, “Say something. What did they say?”

What did they say?

They weren’t even there.

Zhou Laizi closed the courtyard gate before returning to the main house and, in a low voice, told his family what he saw at the Shen house.

The Zhou family was stunned.

But then Zhou Sanlang spoke up, “Dad, Ah Lie said he’d tell us what to do today. Isn’t this the answer?”

Yesterday, Shen Lie and Sang Luo had followed the Zhou family into their courtyard and stopped Zhou Laizi from harming himself.

Sang Luo explained how dangerous it was to be maimed without proper treatment. Then she asked, if they weren’t afraid of death or disability, what else was there to fear?

Finally, Shen Lie said he would help them figure out a solution and told them to come to the hillside house after dinner the next day.

Zhou Laizi didn’t want to maim himself or his son. How could the whole family become cripples?

He pondered Shen Lie’s words and decided against self-mutilation. He anxiously awaited the time Shen Lie mentioned, only to find the house empty.

Zhou Sanlang tugged at his father, “Dad, this is the answer. Why pay taxes or serve in the army? Let’s pack up our food and leave overnight. If we’re not afraid of dying, why fear the wild beasts in the mountains?”

Zhou Erlang agreed, “Exactly, Dad. If we pay taxes, we die. If we go to war, we most likely die. We might as well take our chances in the mountains. We could find a way to survive!”

Zhou Laizi looked at his dilapidated home. No matter how run-down it was, it was still home. The thought of leaving made his lips quiver, “This courtyard and those fields…”

Zhou Dalang spoke up, “The government doesn’t let us live peacefully and farm anymore. It’s either military service or corvée labor. Who has the manpower left to tend the fields?”

At these words, Zhou Laizi’s hands trembled. Yes, the government no longer cared if they could farm or not.

He looked at his wife and the young children. Although they were talking about fleeing into the mountains, not one of them was afraid. Instead, their eyes sparkled with hope, seeing a chance for survival.

His wife and children weren’t afraid, so what was he afraid of? A surge of courage welled up in Zhou Laizi’s heart. “Alright, let’s pack quietly. We’ll leave tonight.”

…

The villagers realized something was wrong the next day.

In fact, they should have noticed the previous day because even though the children played in the mountains in the morning, they usually came home in the afternoon or evening. But with so many children around, no one paid special attention to whether they saw certain kids or not.

Moreover, everyone was preoccupied with the issues of taxes and military conscription, so no one had the leisure to worry about other families’ children being noisy or quiet.

It wasn’t until the next day that someone casually remarked, “Isn’t the village a bit quieter?”

This was just a casual comment, and the listener didn’t take it to heart, replying, “Everyone’s stressed. Taxes and conscription—this is killing us.”

The real alarm was raised when the Wang family came to the village.

Old Lady Wang and her daughter-in-law had been visiting Shili Village frequently. Nobody paid much attention to them, too busy even for small talk. Until Old Lady Wang’s sharp voice was heard from the Lu family’s courtyard, drawing everyone’s attention there.

The Lu family had fled.

The whole family had fled.

This news exploded in Shili Village!

Old Lady Wang saw the ten or so sacks of straw and felt dizzy with rage. Thinking about the Lu family’s behavior over the past two months, she realized her family had been fooled, not knowing how much they had been tricked.

Immediately, she rushed to the Zhou family’s house!

She had to report this immediately! She had to let the village head and the local authorities know right away, and they had to lead the villagers in pursuit.

The Lu family wasn’t going to get away with this!

But before she could report to the authorities, as she reached the Zhou family’s house with some villagers in tow, they found it empty too.

Aside from the large furniture they couldn’t move, the grain and smaller items were all gone.

The villagers were stunned!

The Zhou family, including the village head, had left quietly. How did they do it? What about this year’s harvest? The Zhou family had even bought grain. How did they disappear without a trace?

Then everyone remembered that since last December, the Zhou, Lu, Chen, and Shi families had all gone to the county to work.

What work? The villagers finally realized the truth. They split into groups and checked the Chen, Shi, and the Shen family main house, which had always been closely associated with the four families.

All gone!

This was serious!

When the local official arrived, he was shocked.

He ordered a household inspection and found that Zhou Laizi’s family was also gone.

The villagers were puzzled. They hadn’t seen the five families the day before, but they had seen Zhou Laizi’s family just the previous evening. Yet, they had vanished overnight.

Indeed, the Zhou family didn’t have much grain left. After paying the taxes, they’d probably starve. With just that bit of grain and possessions, Zhou Laizi and his two grown sons could carry it all. His wife, eldest daughter, and the younger two children could carry small bundles and flee.

The villagers discussed this, saying all sorts of things, but some of them began weighing the options between paying taxes and military service or fleeing to the mountains.

The local official was furious, not noticing these discussions. He just ordered people to chase after them.

In the Daqian Dynasty, neighbors were responsible for each other. If several families fled, the villagers couldn’t avoid responsibility. To clear themselves of blame, or perhaps with other motives, many villagers went into the mountains to pursue them.

But Shili Village was surrounded by mountains, and no one knew which direction the village head and Shen Lie’s group had taken.

Someone suggested tracking footprints, reasoning that such a large group must have left traces.

Several groups set out to find clues.

…

Deep in the mountains, Shen Lie and the others had safely reached their first grain storage point. The journey had been tense but without any real danger. The half-grown boys, who had been practicing with slingshots and bows for nearly two months, were thrilled.

Shopkeeper Xu and Dong brothers had found the temporary grain storage point on the first afternoon and returned. At the first storage point, there were now six families, including the Xu family, Shi Dalang and the remaining members of the Lu family guarding the grain.

Old Man Lu and his family hadn’t expected to flee so early, especially during the spring farming season. The government was taxing and conscripting again.

“It’s good we left. We don’t have to worry anymore,” they said. They couldn’t go back home anyway.

Shen Lie and the others calculated the return time of Chen Dashan’s group and planned to wait at the first grain storage point for a day or two to regroup before moving together.

The inner mountains were much more dangerous than the outer ones, and Shen Lie, along with Lu Er and Lu San, couldn’t ensure everyone’s safety alone. Some capable fighters had to stay behind at the storage point, so Shi Dalang couldn’t leave.

When Lu’s wife expressed concern about being pursued, Shen Lie, Shi Dalang, and Lu Erlang all laughed.

Shen Lie reassured her, “Don’t worry, following our tracks won’t lead them to us.”

…

In Shili Village, the villagers searched the surrounding mountains and thought they had found clues. When they reported back to the local official, they were stunned.

There were indeed traces, but there were too many, heading in every direction. The trails all led deep into the mountains and forests. Where should they pursue it? There was no way to chase them!

The villagers remembered Shen Lie leading the families in so-called hunting lessons for the past two months, and they all ground their teeth in frustration.

Shen Jin, hiding nearby and eavesdropping, secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

His big brother had taken them in all directions, running far each time. If anyone could follow those traces, it would be a miracle!

…

In the cave at the grain storage point, Shen Lie also laughed, “The mountains around Shili Village are full of ‘traces,’ but once they go deeper…”

He looked at Lu Erlang and smiled, “You also took different paths each time, right?”

Lu Erlang nodded, “Yes, and Dashan’s group did the same. They would shift their route a bit each time or take detours. We never used the same path.”

In the mountains, there were no real paths; paths were formed by people walking the same way repeatedly. What the villagers called traces were just that.

Shen Lie, Chen Dashan, and their comrades were remnants of a vanguard force abandoned deep in enemy territory. They had played hide-and-seek with enemy search parties in the mountains for months and had even crossed borders back into the Daqian Dynasty, fighting mountain bandits for months. Counter-reconnaissance and erasing tracks were basic skills.

If they weren’t proficient in these, they wouldn’t have survived.

…

Back in Shili Village, the local official listened to the villagers’ reports, inspected the mountains, and returned home in a rage, smashing the tea cup his wife handed him. The Wang family was even angrier, to the point of spitting blood.

The remaining villagers of Shili Village were now faced with empty homes from six families and the imminent arrival of recruitment officers.

Should they follow the six families and flee, or stay and continue to hand over their survival rations and send their sons to the battlefield? This was a pressing question.

People feared death, and the battlefield was terrifying. But the mountains… they lacked the skills of Shen Lie’s group, and they weren’t as poor as Zhou Laizi’s family, who had to strip bark to eat after paying taxes. Some families could send brothers to the battlefield, and death wasn’t certain for everyone.

Each family closed their doors and pondered. Their hesitation and inner turmoil had just begun.