Rebirth, end of the world, time travel, escape famine, make money!

In this way, they walked in the mountains and forests for another twelve days, and they encountered more mountain streams on the way down the mountain than on the way up the mountain.

They really don't lack water now, and the climate here has become noticeably more humid.

The journey was relatively smooth. We did not encounter any large animals and no one was injured.

The biggest prey caught are roe deer and wild deer, and rabbits and pheasants are occasionally caught.

The closer you get to the foot of the mountain, the fewer wild vegetables and fruits there are in the woods. It seems that the villagers on this side of the mountain are not having a good time either, and they must come to the mountains often to find food.

Just like that, as their steps became lighter, they knew they were not far from the foot of the mountain.

The sound of the wind in the mountains and forests seemed to carry a hint of joy, as if it was also announcing the end of this difficult period of fleeing famine.

The sun hangs obliquely in the western sky, casting the last rays of light on this land favored by nature, giving everything a warm golden edge.

A lot of food was consumed along the way. After all, everyone didn't have much dry food. Almost every household had eaten up the dry food they bought in the city last time. They had to rely entirely on things in the mountains to survive.

Otherwise, why do so many people flee to the mountains during years of famine?

They ate and drank so much along the way that in the end everyone had a lot of dry food left, with chestnuts and wild vegetables being the most common.

Every household had some dried meat stored, and the food that could not be stored was eaten first.

The sounds of water in the mountain stream became clearer and clearer, some were gurgling, some were rushing, forming a natural movement of music that led us down the mountain.

They walked along the path beside the mountain stream. The soil under their feet became soft because of the moisture. Every step left a deep footprint, but it also felt particularly solid.

They walked like this for another three days. When they looked down the mountain, they could see villages with people in the distance.

You can also see small black dots occasionally moving on the winding road along the foot of the mountain in the distance.

That morning, after the people of Hujia Village had finished their morning meal, they continued walking down the mountain. Not long after they started walking, they vaguely heard voices.

Everyone looked at each other. It was not people from their village who were talking. The voices were coming from far away.

The person leading the way said, "Everyone cheer up, we should be close to the foot of the mountain."

Sure enough, soon they saw several men dressed as hunters walking up from the bottom of the hill and facing the people from Hujia Village head-on.

The people of Hujia Village also looked at them. No one spoke first. Village Chief Hu stood out from the crowd and greeted them with a bow, "Brothers, are you going up the mountain to hunt? Our village is fleeing from the northwest. May I ask what the situation is in Zhongzhou?"

The man in the front said, "You are too polite, brother. We are from the hunter village at the foot of the mountain. Most people in our village rely on hunting in the mountains. We have few fields and make a living by hunting. The people in the villages ahead of us don't have a good life either. When they have nothing to do, they will go up the mountain with us to hunt or pick some wild vegetables and fruits to fill their stomachs."

Village Chief Hu: "Yes, the upper reaches of the Mother River have dried up. There is no water coming in. The water in the middle reaches is even less and is about to dry up. The village can no longer grow other crops. Only sweet potatoes can be grown. We can only say that we are not starving to death!"

Another man on the opposite side said, "Yes, yes. It just rained. They occasionally go into the mountains to find some food. They often go to the foot of the mountain in groups to look for wild vegetables and fruits! But they only hang around outside the mountain. They don't dare to go deep into the mountains."

The leading man continued, "They don't dare to come to the deep mountains yet. After all, they have no experience. Unlike the men in our hunter village, they can go into the mountains for six or seven days without any problem. They dare not spend the night in the mountains unless it is a matter of life and death! What are you doing?"

Village Chief Hu also sighed, "Oh, brother, we are from the west. We crossed the mountains and ridges this time to find a safe place to live. This time, we also encountered a pack of wolves in the mountains, which was also very dangerous. Who would want to take this risk unless it is absolutely necessary!"

The leading man said, "Brother, to be honest, we have been spending more and more time in the mountains recently. Too many preyable animals have been killed in the past two years. If we don't go far, we won't be able to catch any prey. Now, the prey we catch is worth only the meat and the skin! It's too hot, and we can't sell it for as much as before!"

Village Chief Hu started chatting with the two of them. "That's right. The winters haven't been very cold in the past two years, so of course the leather is not valuable!"

"Life is hard. You'd better go east or south after you get down the mountain. I heard that places near the sea are much better. You can eat seafood, it rains frequently so there's no shortage of water, and you can grow food all year round. It should be much better than the northwest.

I heard that in the northwest, drinking water becomes a problem when there is drought! We have a lake here, so at least we have enough water for drinking. But we can’t grow crops. Without rain to irrigate the crops, people who live closer to the lake have more labor and will go to the lake to fetch water for irrigation. They will harvest as much food as they can. So going southeast is your best choice.”

"Thanks for the reminder, brother!"

Village Chief Hu chatted with the man for a few more sentences. After he understood the situation more or less, he told them the route they took and asked them to avoid the place they passed as much as possible. It would be difficult to hunt prey within a few kilometers around the place they passed.

The people in their village were able to hunt some every time. Although they didn't catch anything big, it could provide them with some information. At least they didn't have to go to the places they passed by. The chances of hunting something in other places would definitely be greater.

Several hunters also expressed their gratitude for their kind reminder!

Let the villagers go first and then they will plan the route.

Father Liu and his group were at the end of the group. So when the last few people passed by, Father Liu stopped them and stuffed a few pears into their mouths. He also wanted to know the situation down the mountain.

Especially after meeting Lin Weizhong and his son, Liu's father has always wanted to know if there are other people out there who have traveled through time like them.

I just want to know more about it and see if anything special happened in this dynasty. After all, some of the people who traveled through time might have special abilities.

Once this ability is used, it will definitely leave clues.

If you meet some people who want to make a big splash, it will be easier to be discovered.

Father Liu asked in a rather tactful way, "Brothers, I would like to ask if there are any strangers settling in your village?"

The hunter in front saw that he had something to ask, so he took the pears from each of them without hesitation, but thought that he wanted to settle down here and that he didn't hear their conversation. Instead, he gave him sincere advice:

"I just told the people in front of me, and I guess you didn't hear it. The situation in our village at the foot of the mountain is not good either. It's best not to settle here!"

Father Liu saw that there was a misunderstanding and quickly explained, "We don't want to settle down. We had relatives who were also heading this way. We got separated along the way, so we agreed to wait on this side of the mountain to see what was going on. We just wanted to ask if there were any strangers, and if anything special or strange had happened. It's always better to be careful these days. We just wanted to learn more about what's going on outside. We've been walking in the mountains for nearly a month. We're all curious about what's going on outside."

"Oh, strangers, now that you mention it, I remember that there seemed to be a few strangers who settled near the Hunter Village. But they didn't seem to settle down in the county government, but just found an uninhabited thatched hut to live in. Occasionally, they would go into the mountains to hunt. The village chief and his men thought they were just fleeing, so they didn't care much about them, as long as they didn't threaten the safety of the villagers!"

"I also heard from my daughter-in-law that a magical person came to her hometown village. It is said that she has very good luck. She can draw water from the well every time. No one else can draw water from the well. So now she uses water to exchange for things in the village every day!"

Another old man who looked to be in his forties said.

"Your daughter-in-law must have stolen something to help her parents again!"

"That's right, Old Man Li, the wife you married for your son is really useless. Look how you tortured your granddaughter. She has to dig wild vegetables at the age of three!"

"Alas, I have no choice. Before, the weather was good and we could grow crops on the wasteland. Now, we can't even harvest much sweet potatoes from that one acre of wasteland. I can't just chase my daughter-in-law away!"

"Didn't it rain all day just now? Didn't the situation get better?"

"It rained for a day in your mountain, and it only rained for a while in our mountain. It doesn't solve the fundamental problem at all."

"Oh, ok, thank you very much!"

"No thanks, no thanks!"

After saying that, several people went into the mountains.

After the Liu family got the news they wanted to hear, they didn't want to listen to the gossip anymore. After saying thank you, they hurried away and caught up with the main group. They all understood each other tacitly, it seemed that there were indeed other people who had traveled through time.

The human heart is unpredictable. Although they all come from modern society, they dare not take the risk of recognizing each other. In this hierarchical society, human life is too fragile.

They also think that if they can unite more with their fellow villagers, life will definitely be smoother if everyone sticks together.

However, we still need to examine a person's character. It's not that there are no bad people in modern times. There have always been bad people.

We traveled all day for the next three days and soon reached the foot of the mountain.

During these three days, as more and more people came into the forest and we encountered several waves of people along the way, the wild vegetables in the forest became much less. Apart from finding some food for the day, the villagers did not spend more time storing food for everyone, but kept on their way.

When we arrived at the foot of the mountain, it was already three or four in the afternoon, which is what they call the Shen time. It was not late, but it was not early either. In another hour or two, it would be dark.

Village chief Hu discussed with the villagers and decided to see if they could find a place to stay in a nearby village. The Hunter Village was at the foot of the village.

The village is not big, and it seems that there are only about a dozen households. They live quite well. Basically every household lives in a house built of stone. There is a stone road from the foot of the mountain, extending along the foot of the mountain.

Village Chief Hu led the villagers to find a house and knocked on the gate. From the gate, they could see the scene inside. Village Chief Hu asked politely, "Is anyone there? Excuse me for asking a question."

A woman was tidying up a winnowing basket, which was probably filled with wild vegetables or something like that. When she saw the person coming, she asked through the fence, "What can I do for you?"

"Excuse me, Auntie! We are fleeing from the other side of the mountain. We came here to inquire about the situation and see if there is a place in the village where we can stay overnight!"

"There are no extra houses in the village for you to stay overnight. You can walk along this road for about an hour. There is a stone village along the Mother River. The stone village is full of stones. You can set up camp there by yourself! Many people have gone there to rest before. This way, we won't disturb each other, which is good for everyone!"

"Okay, thank you, Auntie. Give these two pears to the children to quench their thirst!" Village Chief Hu took out two pears and stuffed them through the fence gate.

"You're welcome. You can keep it for yourself. This pear is a lifesaver right now. No one in our family will starve to death!"

It has to be said that most people at that time were still very simple and honest, perhaps because they really had extra food at home.

I don't know if he's just being polite or if he's really kind and doesn't want it.

Village Chief Hu didn't care whether she was sincere or not, he just stuffed the money in her hand and turned away without caring what she said.

The woman didn't react for a moment and her hand lost its grip, so a pear fell to the ground. The woman quickly picked it up. Fortunately, it was a mud dam, so the pear was not broken.

By the time she picked it up and wanted to say something, Village Chief Hu had already left.

It looks much more solid than the adobe houses made of a mixture of mud and straw.

They walked along the winding cobblestone road, their steps tired but filled with anticipation.

Occasionally, a few patches of moss can be seen on the stone road, which seem to be telling the quiet years and the hasty past.

The sunlight shines through the sparse clouds, dappling onto the road, adding a bit of warmth to the journey home.

As the distance shortened, the outline of the Hunter Village gradually became clear.

The smoke rising from the village interweaves with the outline of the distant mountains to form a tranquil pastoral picture.

The occasional sounds of chickens crowing and dogs barking add a breath of life.

The village chief knew that if they could find a suitable place to stay today, not only would everyone be able to get the necessary rest, but they could also prepare for the next journey.

As he walked, he observed his surroundings, secretly thinking about how to negotiate with the villagers of Stone Village.

Finally, they arrived at the entrance of the village, Stone Village. When they got closer, they saw stones everywhere.

Just as the woman said, Stone Village was full of stones, and the houses here were built with adobes made of small stones mixed with clay.

The villages near Shitou Village were also built along the mother river. The river was dry and cracked in the front, but there was still some water here. I don’t know if it was the water that seeped down from the mountains.

But it does look like it is about to dry up, with some stagnant water still left in the middle. I estimate that if the weather continues to dry for another month or so, it will be gone.

If it still doesn't rain, life here will become more and more difficult!

"Ugh……"

The village chief was walking in front and could only sigh helplessly and continue walking into the village!