Bai Zhi drove the carriage to the direction of Huangtuo Village. On the way, she met many people. The people ran towards the south desperately. Some of them even had untidy clothes. Obviously, they climbed out of their bed and didn’t even put outer clothes. They were lucky. Before the enemy arrived, they got the news first. At least, they could escape and save their lives.
They went in a hurry, but along the way, they didn’t even one person from the Huangtou Village.
As they approached the Huangtou Village more and more, they couldn’t see any figure.
Zhao Sue felt very uneasy: “Why there isn’t anyone? Did something happen?”
Bai Zhi shook her head: “No, no, don’t scare yourself.”
The carriage rushed into the village, but the village in front of them was no longer the village they were familiar with. The village was a mess. Some houses were still burning. There were dead villagers on the roadside. They seemed to be walking into a ruin destroyed by war.
The carriage stopped outside their house and they rushed in. They searched upstairs and downstairs, but they didn’t even a figure. The tables and chairs in the room were scattered, and the room was a mess. All the valuables were swept away.
What is the difference between this and ghosts entering the village? She has been living in an era of peace. She had only seen this kind of thing in textbooks and movies, but she didn’t expect that one day, she would experience it.
Zhao Sue sat paralyzed on the ground: “Ru’er, my Ru’er, what should I do? What can I do!”
Bai Zhi helped her up: “It’s not time to cry now, we have to find them.”
Zhao Sue tears couldn’t stop at all: “But where are we going to find them?”
Bai Zhi replied: “Let’s search the village first and see if anyone has survived, and ask them to know what happened.”
Zhao Sue wiped away her tears quickly: “Yes, yes, maybe there are still people in the village who have not been found.”
The two rushed out of the house in a hurry and search most of the house in the village. In the end, they found the dying Village Chief Li in their house. Village Chief Li’s wife already died, and Village Chief Li was lying in the pool of blood, leaving only with a few last breaths.
Bai Zhi wanted to save him, but she knew in her heart that it was too late.
Village Chief Li held Bai Zhi’s hand, his voice was weak and almost inaudible, but she leaned her ear to his mouth.
“They, all of them, have been captured. I heard they wanted to take them to exchanged them for the captives. You, you go and report this to the officials—”
The hand that Village Chief Li’s grasping Bai Zhi’s sleeve let go and hung down. He could no longer say anything. The amiable old man that helped her many times, was now gone.
Bai Zhi couldn’t help but cry, her shoulder trembled, and her heart was swallowed by anger.
Why do innocent civilians need to be involved in the war between the two countries?
If they can fight against the battlefield, why should they use such shameless and cheap tactics to deal with innocent people who have no money or power to fight back?
After covering the Village Chief Li and his wife with straw mats, they continued to search in the village, but they found nothing except for the dead old people.
Following the messy footprints on the ground, she found that these footprints were all going in one direction, the Luoying Mountains.
Boss Chen said that these enemy forces entered the Luoying Mountains from the Xiye Country, then passed through the dense forest, and sneaked into the Chu Country.
So, are they going back the same way?