Joyful Motherhood in a Rural Family

Chapter 653: Chapter 653: Life and Death in Two Days and Two Nights (Part 10)
 

“Old, ugly, and lame – no idea why Big Brother insisted on bringing you along. You’re seriously slowing us down.”

Old Man Li remained silent, moving forward quickly with the aid of his crutch, already sentencing this man to death in his heart.

“Hurry up! What are you dawdling for? We’ve been walking for so long, and you’ve hardly taken any steps. Do you even want to escape? You old bastard!”

Jiang Xiaocai’s curses flowed more smoothly as he grew bolder.

“Little brother, say a few less words!”

Jiang Dacai couldn’t help but scold him.

What a fool. Couldn’t he see the other man’s face darkening?

As their gazes met, he immediately became alert to Old Man Li’s dangerous eyes. It seemed they needed to make their move first!

Before long, the party reached the first underground hidden river.

The water in this hidden river was unusually cold. As soon as they entered, they shivered uncontrollably, teeth chattering, unable to speak.

Roused from her stupor by the ice-cold water, YingEr finally regained consciousness and began to struggle.

“Umm…um…”

“Shut up! If you keep screaming, I’ll drown you in the river. We can still finish our task with a corpse, and it’d be less trouble!” Jiang Xiaocai threatened her, causing YingEr’s tears to fall in torrents, but she didn’t dare cry out loud.

Dad, Mom! Hurry and save me! YingEr was wrong, she won’t run around again!

Save YingEr!

As everyone waded through chest-deep water in darkness, the torches flickered dimly, illuminating only a narrow circle. Besides the darkness enveloping their eyes, the only sounds were the rushing water and occasional dripping from above.

At the moment, YingEr was cold, hungry, in severe pain, and terrified beyond measure, as if every day had become a year.

Old Man Li silently followed behind, step by step, tracing Jiang Xiaocai’s path without uttering a word.

Using the torch in his big brother’s hand, Jiang Xiaocai saw fish swimming in the water. With his stomach already rebelling from hunger, he began salivating.

“Big brother, I’m really hungry. There are fish in this underground river. Why don’t we catch some to eat before we continue?”

“Stop messing around; we’re on the run, not on a picnic. What more do you want? A barbecue?” Jiang Dacai retorted irritably.

“Ah! If only we could have a couple of barbecue dishes right now, haha!”

Jiang Xiaocai couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“Be careful what you wish for. You might not even get to taste the barbecue before the soldiers catch up. When that happens, you can enjoy some free cooked dishes,” Old Man Li sarcastically jabbed him.

“You old bastard! Are you trying to provoke me to death? You think I can’t share a grilled fish?” Jiang Xiaocai flew into a rage.

“Little brother, stop fooling around. Once we escape, there’ll be no shortage of good food. At that time, I’ll buy you whatever you want,” Big Brother promised.

“Fine! But that’s what you said; you can’t go back on your word!” Jiang Xiaocai finally softened up.

In the last position, Old Man Li silently listened to the banter between the two brothers up ahead. Using the fire from the torch, he fiercely stabbed the sharp end of his crutch into the water, immediately pulling out a wriggling fish.

As the Jiang brothers watched in shock, he grabbed the fish, took out a small knife, cut a large piece of flesh from its belly, and shoved it into his mouth, smacking his lips with gusto.

The fish struggled frantically, waving its tail, but couldn’t match the speed of Old Man Li. Piece after piece of flesh entered his mouth.

Jiang Xiaocai, starving for so long, now wanted to eat as Old Man Li did. Despite his big brother’s disapproval, he tried and failed three times to catch a fish from the water. In the end, Old Man Li couldn’t bear to watch any longer and caught another fish for Jiang Xiaocai.

At this point, the two brothers didn’t care if the fish was cooked or not. They were ravenous, and the large fish was quickly devoured.

Finally, they threw the fish bones back into the river to destroy any trace of evidence.

Perhaps because of the fish, Jiang Xiaocai stopped cursing and instead began to complain bitterly about the burden on his back.

“Big Brother, this little girl here, used to be our potential ticket to wealth, but now that our plans have been exposed, why do we still need her? It would be better to finish her with a knife.”

Jiang Dacai felt helpless with his foolish younger brother.

“Don’t talk nonsense. She’s our protective amulet right now. If she dies and the soldiers outside catch up, who’s going to face them? You?”

“…Fine.”

Jiang Xiaocai still refused to let it go, grumbling continuously.

After following the underground river for a long time, the terrain suddenly changed, becoming much flatter.

Jiang Dacai, leading the way, slowly left the river behind and began climbing up mountain rocks, continuing to move forward over the rugged terrain.

Holding the torch in his hand, he had no trouble climbing the rocks. Jiang Xiaocai, carrying YingEr in the middle, found her an annoying burden and tied her onto his back with tree vines, making it much easier to move. Faced with a difficult path, he stopped cursing and focused on climbing step by step.

Old Man Li, walking at the rear, had the hardest time. Already suffering from a lame leg, climbing the rocks posed a significant challenge.

Jiang Dacai, ahead of him, assumed he would hear Old Man Li call for help. But glancing back involuntarily, he was surprised to see the old man utilizing the difference between his disabled and good leg, lying flat on the rocks, using both hands to vigorously claw his way up, never falling behind.

Jiang Dacai looked at Old Man Li with newfound respect.

Who would have thought! Old Man Li was quite the tough guy! Despite the sharp rocks on the mountain resembling knife edges, cutting countless small wounds into his flesh, he obstinately refused to make a sound. He was one ruthless man, even ruthless toward himself!

Old Man Li was filled with determination!

Initially, he had fallen into the whirlwind entrance and was dragged into the underground karst cave.

At the time, he thought he was a dead man! Yet, unbelievably, he had survived. He didn’t know how long it took before waking up at the bottom of the cave. His lame leg resulted from being bitten by the Di Family’s dead dog and then suffered swelling, rotting, and ultimately, permanent disability after soaking underground.

But he couldn’t accept it! He, Old Man Li, had yet to avenge his reckless wife! How could he die!

He couldn’t accept it, so he survived!

He used his hands to climb, bit by bit. Along the way, everything he encountered became food: snails, slugs, mountain rats, snakes… At the extremity of hunger, even soil, grass roots, tree barks, and leaves were shoved into his mouth.