Upon hearing this, Jiang Sanlang looked at his little girl, then sat down to eat with a calm expression.
He picked up a piece of melon and took a bite. It was very sweet and the most delicious melon he had ever eaten.
Dani also took a bite of the melon and asked Yingbao: "Will you go look for it again tomorrow?"
She still remembered the experience of looking for water chestnuts with her little cousin. She and Erni didn't find any, but her little cousin could always pull out one or two water chestnuts wherever she went. It was magical.
Yingbao nodded: "Go!"
She has a melon field, and the melons are basically ripe. If they are not picked in time, they will probably rot in the field.
Erni's eyes sparkled when she heard this: "I'll go find her tomorrow, too."
This melon is so delicious, even better than water chestnuts. She wants to eat melon every day.
Jiang Wu picked up another piece of cantaloupe and ate it, muttering, "Humph! None of you can find the cantaloupe, only my sister can find it!"
Yingbao turned to look at her brother.
It’s strange, how does this guy know that he is the only one who can find it
It was dark after dinner. Yingbao crawled into bed, closed her eyes and entered the cave.
She hadn't seen the book for some time, and today she suddenly had an idea to go look for the little door to see if it appeared.
We rowed the gourd boat to the light source and circled the giant sphere, but the small door did not appear.
Yingbao was not discouraged. She placed her hands on the sphere and kept saying, "I want to go in! I want to go in!"
I repeated it several times but got nothing.
Yingbao was disappointed and was about to leave when she suddenly saw a small door slowly appear.
Yingbao was overjoyed and quickly reached out to her.
There was a flash of light, and she reappeared in the thick fog.
The giant book arrived as promised, and automatically turned a page.
Yingbao hurried over to watch.
[…On a stormy night, the bandits wielded their swords and hacked at the villagers, blood splattered and limbs flew. Some villagers resisted, but it was in vain, and they were eventually beheaded.]
[…The bandits laughed wildly, chased and killed the villagers, and set fire to the houses in the village. The falling rain could not extinguish the flames of evil, and all the houses were burned down.]
[… The refugees who temporarily lived in Dongshan also failed to escape the disaster. Hundreds of bandits surrounded the forest and hacked anyone they saw. The Jiang family protected Madam Wen San, Wen Tian and Wen Jiao and retreated while fighting. When they retreated to a cave deep in the forest, only Jiang Cheng and Jiang Quan were left with the Wen sisters, as well as Jiang Yingbao, the adopted daughter of the Jiang family…]
After finishing a chapter, the book turned into a paper butterfly and disappeared.
In the blink of an eye, Yingbao appeared on the gourd boat again.
I kept recalling the plot of the book in my mind, and felt the hairs on my back stand on end.
Yingbao quickly rowed the gourd boat to the shore and left the cave.
I suddenly opened my eyes and saw that it was pitch black all around me, and I couldn't see my hand in front of me.
I could hear my parents' soft snoring, the whistling wind outside, and the sound of raindrops hitting the ceiling.
The words in the book suddenly flashed in my mind: ...On a stormy night...
"Dad! Mom!" she screamed.
Chunniang and Jiang Sanlang sat up and fumbled in the dark: "Baoer, what's wrong?"
Yingbao didn't care whether the description in the book was true or not, and didn't care whether the incident happened tonight. She shouted, "Mom and Dad, get up quickly! Bandits are attacking the village! They will soon attack the mountain!"
"What?" Jiang Sanlang didn't doubt what his little girl said. He quickly stood up and put on his coat. He told Chunniang, "Hurry up and wake up the children! I'll go get them!"
As he spoke, he had already crawled out of the bamboo shed and called his elder brother, second brother, parents to get up. "Get up! Everyone, get up! The bandits are coming!"
After a while, everyone woke up and came out to check.
Chen Yin ran over while putting on his coat and asked, "Third brother, what's going on?"
"Bandits are attacking the village, come up the mountain immediately! Get the children up quickly!"
Chen Yin also became anxious when he heard this, and shouted from the bamboo sheds: "Hurry up! The bandits are coming!"
Xiao Zhenniang and her daughter Wen Shu were also awakened and quickly put on their coats and packed their things.
Fortunately, she was thoughtful and packed everything before going to bed every night to prevent any emergencies.
The wet nurse, who was sleeping beside them, got up quickly and took a tinder to light a candle.
Lin, who was sleeping on the other side, was woken up and was very unhappy.
But she also knew that this was a serious matter, so she quickly put on her clothes and shoes, and stuck her head out of the bamboo shed to look. She saw that it was pitch black outside, with only a few torches flickering here and there.
"It's still raining outside, how could there be bandits in the middle of the night?" Lin muttered in dissatisfaction.
"Then you continue to sleep well." Xiao Zhenniang didn't want to spoil her, so she let her daughter wear short clothes that were convenient for walking, and tied her shoelaces tightly.
Then he rolled up the bedding and carried it on his back. His daughter Wenshu and wet nurse also carried a package each. The three of them put on their bamboo hats, left the bamboo shed, and ran to gather outside the Jiang family's bamboo shed.
When Lin saw that her fourth brother's wife and her daughter had left, she panicked and quickly asked the maid to pull her two daughters up and dress them and put on shoes.
Wen Tian was sleeping soundly, but was suddenly woken up and became very impatient. She cried and refused to get dressed.
Lin coaxed, "Bandits are coming, we need to hurry."
"Where are the bandits!" Wen Tian was angry and pushed the maid's hand away and got under the quilt: "I don't want to get up!"
Wen Jiao was also sleepy, but she was more afraid of the bandits, so she immediately advised: "Sister, please get up quickly, or the bandits will come and kill people if you don't get up."
Seeing that her eldest daughter was disobedient, Mrs. Lin was a little annoyed and said angrily, "Just go to sleep. We will leave you here alone. Don't worry about Xiaohong and Xiaocui. Hurry up and find clothes for Jiao'er."
The two maids responded, found a dress for Wen Jiao that was easy for her to walk in, and helped her put it on.
While Lin's mother and daughter were still getting dressed and putting on shoes, Yingbao had already packed their luggage with her parents and brothers. The two dogs were in their owners' arms, and Youyou had a lot of things on his back, all put there by Yingbao.
Yingbao took advantage of the darkness around her and everyone was busy packing up, and ran to collect two large iron pots and some food and bedding.
These things are too cumbersome and will only slow down everyone's progress.
There was chaos all around and no one noticed what was missing. They just thought someone else had taken the things away.
Suddenly, Jiang Sanlang came over and whispered to his daughter, "Baoer, where should we go to be safe?"
Yingbao was stunned for a moment, and pointed deep into the forest, "Go over there, there is a cave over there."
Jiang Sanlang patted his daughter and said, "Okay, let's go over there."
After saying that, he asked everyone to go deeper into the woods.
Fortunately, they had already explored this forest yesterday and had a general idea of the terrain, so everyone could still determine the direction.
Halfway through the journey, Jiang Sanlang asked everyone to continue following Yingbao, while he led a group of young men down the mountain carrying weapons and bows and arrows.
Yingbao rushed over and stuffed a packet of pills into her father's hand, telling him to keep it safe.
"Dad, you must be careful. There are many bandits. Don't try to hold on. If you can't defeat them, run away."
"Okay." Jiang Sanlang touched his daughter's head and turned away resolutely.
The rain was not heavy but the wind was strong. Yingbao walked quickly into the forest wearing a small bamboo hat, feeling sad.
She didn't know whether her father and the others were in danger, nor did she know whether the things in the book would happen.
But she couldn't gamble with the lives of her entire family.
"Wait! Wait!" The voice of Mrs. Wen San came from behind.
Chunniang wanted to turn back, but Yingbao grabbed her sleeve tightly, leaving her no chance to stay.
But the voice kept calling from behind, and it was very harsh in the quiet night.
"Let's go and take a look. It's not a good thing if she keeps following us and yelling." Old man Jiang said with a frown.