Chapter 19: Ambushed (1)
After these people had drunk enough water, they looked at the villagers of Peach Blossom Cove with eager eyes. They swallowed their saliva as they smelled the fragrance of the stewed fish and subconsciously walked towards them. When they saw Ji Shui Sheng, these people did not dare to leave and stood far away, looking at them with eager eyes.
"Yongkang, go and ask them what happened."
Ji Shui Sheng also realized that something was wrong and asked Qiu Yongkang to go over to take a look. The main reason was that he would scare these people away. Yongkang looked gentle and refined, so they wouldn't be afraid.
Qiu Yongkang walked over to the refugees. As expected, they were not afraid of him at all, and they could answer his questions.
Su Qing kept looking at them. The refugees were gesturing and talking with a look of panic on their faces, their eyes filled with unconcealed fear.
Very soon, Qiu Yongkang returned with a piece of news. The people that Ji Shui Sheng and his men had beaten up yesterday were bandits. After being taught a lesson by Ji Shui Sheng and his men, these bandits had gone mad from killing. They brought back hundreds of people and killed the victims on sight. These victims were all those who had escaped.
"Shui Sheng, we have to leave quickly. Those bandits will definitely catch up."
Qiu Yongkang's expression was serious. There were about thirty strong men in Peach Blossom Cove, but only a few of them knew martial arts. The rest were all honest farmers, so how could they be a match for those Desperados?
Moreover, he had to take care of the women, children, and elderly, which would be even more restrictive.
"Alright, let's go immediately."
Ji Shui Sheng nodded. He was not afraid of the bandits, but he was responsible for the old and young of Peach Blossom Cove.
The villagers of Peach Blossom Cove set off once again. After walking under the sun for a while, they were covered in sweat. When they were hot, they would be thirsty, and when they were thirsty, they wanted to drink water. The water bags they brought out were empty in just a short while.
Su Qing and Ji Xiao Ying shared a water bag, but she tried not to drink water as she had been trained to handle it.
Xiao Ying's face was red from the sun and her legs were weak from the heat. She was like a dried fish without water, and her lips were so dry that they were bleeding.
Even so, Ji Xiao Ying refused to drink the water herself. She would give Su Qing a sip every time she drank. This was what Su Qing liked about her- she was selfless and kind.
When Ji Shui Sheng saw the two of them giving way to water, he handed his water bag to his sister.
"You can keep it. I'm not thirsty."
"No, we've had enough."
Ji Xiaoying's heart ached for her brother as well. He still had to pull such a heavy cart and would be even more thirsty after sweating so much.
After finally finding a water source, Ji Shui Sheng let everyone rest for a while and fill up their water bags.
The villagers ran to the water's edge to drink to their heart's content. After Su Qing had her fill, she raised her head and observed carefully. The river was very shallow, revealing the rocky beach below. The water upstream was thin and slow, and the further ahead she looked, the drier the weather became. The water source ahead might have dried up.
She felt that this would not work either. She had to find a container to store water in the system, but there were no containers in the system. She had her eyes on the bamboo on the mountain. The bamboo had grown for decades and was thick enough to store water.
She took a machete and walked up the mountain. Ji Shui Sheng frowned when he saw her. This woman always did things alone and made him worry too much.
He chased after her and asked, "What are you doing now?"
"The river bed is showing signs of drying up. There might be no water source if we go any further, so we must bring more water," Su Qing said indifferently. It was up to him to believe it or not.
Ji shuisheng took a look at the river. The stream was thin and weak, and the stones at the bottom of the river were exposed. It was really as she had said.
Ji Shui Sheng looked at Su Qing and asked, "What do you have in mind?"
"The bamboo on the mountain can be made into bamboo tubes to store water. Everyone can make a basket and carry as much as they can."
Su Qing pointed at the green bamboo on the mountain. The bamboo had grown for decades and covered the sky. There might even be bamboo shoots in the bamboo forest that could be eaten on the road.
"Alright, I'll bring some people to cut down more bamboo and vines, and you'll bring some people to weave a basket," Ji Shui Sheng nodded. He knew that Su Qing knew how to weave a basket, so he entrusted her with this important task. There were only two elders in the village who knew how to weave, but they were old and slow, so they would just waste time.
Su Qing nodded, but she still continued to walk into the mountains.
"You should know your body's condition if you're skilled in medicine. Don't act alone," Ji Shui Sheng called out to Su Qing from behind, reminding her not to act on her own.
"I know. That's why I need to hurry up and gather herbs for treatment," Su Qing turned around and said to Ji Shui Sheng in a calm tone.
Ji Shui Sheng looked into Su Qing's eyes and said, "Okay. I promised you that I would cure you, so if you need any medicine, just tell me and I'll help you gather it. If I can't get it, you can go buy it."
A man's promise was worth a thousand taels of gold. He would never go back on his word.
"No need, I can think of a way."
Su Qing was used to solving everything on her own, and she had already thought of buying the medicine. It was difficult to pick a thousand-year-old Lingzhi, and it would cost at least a thousand pieces of gold if she bought it. Therefore, she had to make the best use of her time to earn money.
The best way to earn money at the moment was to sell medicine, so she had to seize this time to pick more herbs and find an opportunity to sell medicine and make money.
Seeing how stubborn Su Qing was, Ji Shui Sheng didn't say anything else. Anyway, he had decided to help her to the end. His foster father had a prescription to bring the dead back to life. It was said that it was left behind by the godly doctor Bianque. However, the medicinal herbs required for the prescription were too difficult to gather, especially the thousand-year-old Lingzhi.
However, no matter how difficult it was, he had to try. After he had safely brought the villagers to Jing Shi road, he would go to the mountains to find Lingzhi. For now, he would boil some medicine to recuperate her internal organs and extend her life.
Ji Shui Sheng brought Daniu into the mountains to cut bamboo while Su Qing went to the bamboo forest to look for bamboo shoots. Unfortunately, the bamboo shoots found out of season were too old to be eaten.
Su Qing gave up on looking for bamboo shoots and started to gather herbs. She gathered all the herbs and placed them in the system for little seven to process. Not long after she had gathered them, she heard Ji Shui Sheng calling for her.
Su Qing raised her head and saw that Ji Shui Sheng and Li Daniu had already cut down three thick bamboos. They had also cut them into two so that they could carry them down the mountain.
Old seventh Jiang had also brought his men to cut down many vines and was waiting for her to leave with him.
Normally, to make a bamboo tube, one had to cut the bamboo into sections and boil them in water, then dry them in the shade. They didn't have time right now, so they directly filled the bamboo tube with water, then made a stopper to plug the mouth of the bamboo tube.
Su Qing taught the women in the village to weave baskets, and the progress bar she taught the women would increase, but then it would be slower. Two hours later, they had woven more than ten baskets, and there was no more time to waste. Ji Shui Sheng ordered them to fill the bamboo tubes with water and put them into the baskets, and everyone continued on their way.
Su Qing saw that her weaving and herb-picking skills had improved, so she continued weaving straw sandals as she walked. By night time, she had already made more than ten pairs, but her weaving skill points had only increased by one-tenth.
Fortunately, they had eaten fish and cornbread in the morning. Otherwise, they really wouldn't have been able to walk down. In the evening, they reached a mountain pass. The mountain was steep and there were strange rocks everywhere. It was not a safe place to rest, but the old, weak, women, and children in the village couldn't walk anymore. From time to time, people would fall behind.
Ji Shui Sheng looked at the steep mountain peak and frowned. If someone threw a stone down from above, they would die. They could not stay here for long.
Just as he thought of this, he saw a few black heads sticking out of the mountain.
When they saw them, someone shouted, "They're here."