Chapter 139 - Chapter 139: Chapter 139: Hiding_1

Chapter 139: Chapter 139: Hiding_1

Translator: 549690339

Jiang Sanlang had always unconditionally trusted his daughter.

“Alright, we’ll head to the Wild Bamboo Forest. I’ll tell your uncle and second uncle, you and your mother should quickly pack our things.”

With that said, Jiang Sanlang walked out the door.

Spring Mother turned to her daughter and said, “Go pack some thick clothing. Autumn nights can be cold, we don’t know how long we’ll have to hide out. I’ll put yesterday’s steamed buns on the mule cart.”

We also need to pack some rice and wheat, and we must bring some of our golden mushroom seeds, if they get ruined, we’ll be without.

Yingbao nodded and ran into her room, putting her two boxes and furniture straight into the secret cave.

Then she went to her golden mushroom shed and harvested all the golden mushrooms, even the wooden racks were taken all in one pot.

The next step was simply waiting for her mother to finish packing so she could wrap things up.

After a quarter of an hour, Chunniang had packed everything onto the mule cart and was about to lock the gate to their house.

Yingbao took the lock from her: “I’ll do it, Mother. You should go and call your younger brothers.”

“Okay.” Chunniang handed the lock to her daughter and hurriedly went to find Jiang Jie and Jiang Wu.

Seeing her mother leave, Yingbao immediately ran to the grain warehouse, taking everything inside, then went to her mother’s room, putting all their wooden boxes, furniture, and the like away in the cave.

She then went to the kitchen, not leaving behind even the pots, bowls, and pans, and took everything, including the big table, altar table, and chairs from the main room.

She looked around the now empty room, satisfied, then locked the door.

After she locked the door, Yingbao told her mother to leave first with her younger brothers, then she went to her father’s mushroom shed and took the rest of the golden mushroom jars and wooden racks.

She then went to the chicken coop and put all the chickens in a cage, directly storing them into the secret cave.

She then put a saddle on Youyou, and led it outside.

As long as she then locked the gate, no one would notice the house was empty.

“Baobao, let’s hurry. Your uncle and second uncle have already packed their things.” Spring Mother exclaimed anxiously.

Jiang Jie sitting in the vehicle also called out: “Sister, hurry up.”

Jiang Wu said: “Sister, you’re dragging your feet.”

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” Yingbao ran over.

Jiang Dalang, Jiang Erlang, and Jiang Cheng had already carried bedding and other soft items towards the bamboo forest. Dani, Erni, Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle’s Wife, Aunt, everyone had a basket on their back, and a big basket hanging from their arm.

Both baskets were filled with the most important things. As for food and the big plaques, those were piled up on the mule cart.

Wei Zhan, Jiang Quan, Yuanbao, and Huzi were also following behind everyone, carrying more or less their own possessions.

“Ah, if I had known, I would have dug a cellar. There’s still so much grain left at home, what are we going to do now?” Mrs. Jiang Liu said with a pained face as she walked along, looking back.

Yingbao blinked her eyes, but she couldn’t take care of Uncle and Second Uncle’s families.

She dared to take things from her own house because the key was in her hand, it was easy to hide, thinking it through, her parents wouldn’t notice. Even if they did, she could explain it away, but as for Uncle and Second Uncle’s houses, she couldn’t really do anything about it.

Oh well, things are as they are. Maybe the bandits won’t reach here anyway.

The Jiang Family gradually moved into the depths of the Wild Bamboo Forest, only stopping when they could go no further.

Jiang Dalang and Jiang Erlang took a few bundles of bamboo and blocked the road, telling their family members, “You all hide here, don’t make a fire, don’t let the mules make a noise, we’ll go out and take a look.”

“You two be careful, if you see someone coming, hide immediately. Don’t confront them,” Old Man Jiang said worryingly, “Ah, I have no idea when Sanlang will return from the village. If he runs into the bandits, it would be disastrous.”

Jiang Sanlang had returned home to inform them and then went back to the village again to observe the situation.

Jiang Dalang and Jiang Erlang acknowledged this and went outside.

Just then, a light rain began to fall.

Seeing the situation, Chunniang and her sisters-in-law rushed to bring bamboo to build a low shelter.

This bamboo had been cut by Dani and Chuchu last time, and because there was too much, they piled it up inside the bamboo forest, which came in handy now.

“Ah! Snake! Snake!” When Dani picked up the last stack of bamboo, she found two black snakes hiding underneath, which gave her a good scare.

Jiang Cheng rushed over without a word and chopped the snake’s body with the iron shovel in his hand.

Looking at the squirming body of the snake, he said, “Be careful, there are many snakes in the bamboo forest, don’t get bitten by them.”

Everyone nodded, proceeding with increased caution.

With several adults working together, they quickly built two bamboo shelters. They were a bit low, but there was no problem for sheltering from the rain or resting.

The children were ordered to stay in the bamboo shelter and not go out. After Chunniang fed the mules some fodder, she put a muzzle on them to prevent them from making sudden noises.

Everyone then crouched in the bamboo shelter, listening quietly to the sounds outside.

Dani sighed, “We still have a lot of things at home that haven’t been hidden. The gold ear mushrooms haven’t been moved either, I’m sure dad and the others went to hide them.”

The gold ear mushrooms hadn’t grown much, and logically the bandits wouldn’t be interested in them, but if they burned down the mushroom shed, the family would suffer a great loss.

Yingbao said nothing, she was a bit worried about dad and Lady Wen’s family.

After an unknown amount of time, children like Yuanbao, Huzi, Wei Zhan, Jiang Jie and Jiang Wu started to doze off.

Chunniang went to the mule cart to fetch two large bamboo trays and put them in the two bamboo shelters. She also brought two quilts, and let the children sleep in the bamboo trays.

Outside, the fine rain continued. Jiang Sanlang and the others had not yet returned.

Chunniang wanted to go out and look, but was stopped by Madam Jiang Liu. “Don’t go. Sanlang told us to stay here and not to wander around. Just wait for them patiently.”

“Yes, Chunniang, you can’t help even if you go out. Just look after the children.” Old man Jiang adjusted the corners of the quilts for his grandchildren.

With no choice, Chunniang could only suppress her impatience and return to the bamboo shelter.

Before long, both Dani and Erni became tired. Chunniang told them to sleep on the mule cart, which was loaded with grain, but there was still room for the two girls.

Yingbao followed her two cousins onto the mule cart, squeezing between the sacks of grain.

The mule cart was covered. The sound of the rain falling on it made a rustling sound, and Dani and Erni quickly fell asleep.

Seeing that her two cousins were asleep, Yingbao took advantage of the situation and quietly slipped out of the shelter. Xiaolu and Youyou were standing under the bamboo forest, blinking their big eyes at their little mistress

“Don’t make a sound. Let’s sneak out and take a look.” Yingbao carefully climbed on the deer’s back and asked it to quietly circle around the bamboo shelter and head out.

It was now noon, but the foggy rain made it impossible for Yingbao to see the situation at the base of the mountain.

It seemed that a carriage was parked at the gate of their yard, and a man in a raincoat was talking to the person on the carriage.

From the look of it, that carriage seemed to belong to Lady Wen, and the one talking to them was Jiang Erbo.

Yingbao hurried the deer over, and indeed it was Lady Wen’s carriage. On the carriage sat Lady Wen, her daughter and her nanny, with Lady Wen’s servant sitting on the shaft of the carriage wearing a straw hat.

“Master, you didn’t go to North Mountain?” Yingbao asked.

Lady Wen poked her head out and said, “We could not get to the North Mountain on our carriage, so when I saw it was raining, I decided to come and find you.”

Yingbao: “We are all in the bamboo forest, why don’t you come too?” The small path by the bamboo forest could accommodate a mule cart, so the carriage should definitely be able to go in.

Lady Wen laughed and said, “Thank you then. Your second uncle also suggested we go to the bamboo forest, he was just about to lead us there.”

Jiang Erlang said, “The bamboo forest is secluded. If there is any unusual movement, we can abandon the carts and go inside. Yingbao, you lead Lady Wen there first, your big uncle and I still have to clear the food at home. Did you bring the key? Later move your food to hide it too.”

He and his older brother were constantly moving the food and cotton from their home and hiding them in the vegetable garden, because there was a ground shed there which was used to store cabbages in winter, but was now perfect for hiding food.

After all the food and cotton were moved into the ground shed, they would pile up some straw on it. From the outside, it would be impossible to tell.

As for whether it would be discovered or not, they didn’t know. It’s always better to hide something than not. If the thieves weren’t sharp-eyed and didn’t discover it, their family would have made a gain.