Walking the Path of a Workaholic in Cliché Novels (QT) Chapter 55

Does this mean you want him to leave with a lantern?

     “I’ve died twice, so ghosts are nothing special.” After a few breaths, An Yinong calmed down. He held the lantern pole tightly and turned around slowly.

     From the corner of his eye, he saw green gauze flying by, but there was nothing behind him. The path An Yinong walked on was now surrounded by white mist. The closer you look, the foggier it becomes, and the exit of Hulutan was looming.

     He couldn’t help but tighten his clothes, and his teeth were chattering.

     “Thanks.”

     After that, he carried the lantern and walked home, walking slowly at first, then speeding up, and finally running. It was already dark, and there was only a young man holding a lantern on the twisted black passage. The dim cold light from the lantern enveloped him like mist.

     Unknown creatures on both sides poked their heads and tried to move, but there was nothing in the place illuminated by the green fire.

     He ran all the way to the house, lit the oil lamp, and while he was still in shock, the faint sound of birds flapping their wings could be heard outside the window.

     An Yinong waited carefully for a while, then quietly walked over and looked through the crack in the window. Then he opened the window and saw a dull owl sitting on the tree.

     “Xiao Qi, do you feel anything?” he asked the system.

     “No.” The system was very frustrated. It felt that it was the most useless system in history.

     “It’s impossible to go to Calabash Pond.” An Yinong turned to look at the blown out lantern. Whatever it was, whether it was good or bad, he was leaving. When he leaves, it will all be over.

     In the next few days, due to the increase in taxes from the authorities, the people were struggling to survive. Some villages that could not survive began to flee entirely. Some people turned from good citizens into bandits and robbed property everywhere.

     He heard that the rice shop in the town was also robbed, and many people died. Therefore, merchants have closed their shops, and the windows and doors of wealthy households were also closed, for fear of being pushed away by hungry people.

     People in Tianjia Village were also in panic, and they were hesitant to leave or stay.

     An Yinong stopped going out. He pushed the wheelbarrow to the carpenter’s house for repairs.

     The front wheels were replaced with new thicker ones, the sides were reinforced, and two small wheels were fixed at the back. This became a ‘tricycle’. There are three wooden boxes of the same size fixed on the platform. He can lie on them to sleep at night without setting up another tent.

     “Put a bamboo shed on top and cover it with oil paper to protect it from wind and rain.”

     After hearing this, the carpenter said, “Are you going to find food somewhere else?”

     “If you can, who wants to leave their hometown? People who leave their hometown are cheap.” An Yinong sighed and shook his head, “But when will it rain today?”

     The carpenter didn’t say anything either. Although he still had a skill, his life was very difficult.

     An Yinong didn’t go out for the next few days. He exchanged some oil for things he didn’t use at home, then packed up the little stone mill at home that wasn’t used much, and ground all the food at home into powder.

     He mended clothes and repaired tools at home during the day, and secretly ground grain at night. After several nights, most of the grain was ground into fine powder.

     “Put this bag of multigrain flour in a pot and stir-fry until it’s cooked. Just add water when eating. The same goes for these black beans. Eat them dry when they’re cooked. Add oil to this bag of multigrain flour and bake it into dry cakes. If you really want to escape, If you don’t have time to cook a pot, it’s okay to just eat it.”

     An Yinong carefully arranged the food at home.

     The movement in his house was also noticed, and the villagers were curious: “What is your house grinding for?”

     An Yinong did not tell the truth, but only said: “I’m grinding the bark. The bark of the elm tree at the door has been ground into a good entrance.”

     This wasn’t a complete lie. He did grind some bark and put it in separate bags. Everyone else has already started eating tree bark, so their family can’t be too special.

     When it was almost time, the carpenter had repaired the original wheelbarrow to an extremely strong state. An Yinong looked at the cart with a shed and wooden boxes, and a rare smile appeared on his face.

     “I set up a long pole for you on the bamboo shed. You hang it with a cloth at night so that others can’t see you. At least you can sleep better,” the carpenter said.

     After picking up the modified wheelbarrow, he went to the cobbler to pick up his hat and shoes, which were made of thick fur boots.

     As for the hat, it is the Lei Feng hat that was popular in later generations. It has two big ears and can be hung to protect the neck and ears.

     “One box is for food, one is for clothes and quilts, and one is for medicine and other things that may be needed.” The three boxes are full, but where are the pots and pans? Just hanging on the sides.

     An Yinong tried to lift the wheelbarrow. The items on it, including the wheelbarrow, weighed more than two hundred kilograms, and it felt heavy even when he pushed it.

     The car was so heavy that it needs only two arms to carry it, and his arms will be useless at the end of the day. An Yinong recalled other people’s cars: “A strip of cloth had to be tied between the two armrests, and the strip of cloth was tied around the shoulders for easy lifting.”

     “Dong dong dong!” There was a rapid sound of gongs and drums outside the door.

     He walked out the door, and many villagers walked out: “What’s wrong? What happened?”

     “Lianhua Village was attacked by robbers. Everyone died. No one, old or young, survived.” A married woman who fled here cried with her children.

     The villagers felt even more chilled: “Robber?”

     The robbers came very quickly. They appeared the next day in the village next door. The home of Huang Laocai, the richest man next door, was ransacked. He himself was killed. The thugs he raised turned to the enemy and all the young masters and ladies in the house who were fair-skinned and tender were also robbed, only the youngest young master escaped.

     The group robbed and left without stopping.

     “I heard that they were defeated soldiers who were killing good people and taking credit for their merits.”

     “Several carts were pulled away. The bulging sacks were filled with grain.” Rumors spread among the villagers.

     Two days later, the villagers did not find out the whereabouts of the robbers. Instead, they heard that the county government office had been robbed of all the food.

     There were soldiers and bandits, the county government office was robbed, the county magistrate died, and all the edible grass roots nearby were dug out and eaten clean. This series of events finally cut off the last trace of luck in the hearts of the villagers. They knew, there was still a glimmer of hope to escape, but if you stay, you will definitely die.

     “Are you leaving or not?”

     “Walk!”

     Countless hungry farmers dragged their families out of their homes.

     “You just left like that? There are still many things left, but you didn’t take them?” The fleeing people looked back frequently, and the scenery and dilapidated houses that had long been tired of looking at them seemed to become very cute.

     “I won’t take it anymore. I can’t take so much.”

     “All our chickens have been killed? Can’t we keep them first?”

     “This is an escape!”

     Many people were reluctant to leave. This was their ‘home’, and with every detail of their lives, breaking it was worth a million dollars. But if you don’t leave, you will starve to death. Taking their parents, wives and children with them, pushing the cart, and abandoning their hometown, the people of Tianjia Village set off.

     “There is nothing edible on the road.” Looking at the desolate scenes on both sides, the old people burst into tears.

     After two years of drought, many plants could not survive at all. Later, they were gnawed by locusts and humans, so what appeared in front of them was a wasteland. The road was full of yellow mud and sand, and when the wind blows, it’s hard to open your eyes. Therefore, those who fled from famine wrapped their heads in sackcloth.

     An Yinong struggled to walk while pushing the cart, with a thick strip of cloth holding his back, and handrails tied to both sides of the cloth.

     He also carried a bag with food on his back, and a water bag hung on his waist. The streamlined belongings were placed on the repaired car, which was covered with a thick mattress and quilt.

     Families with a large population all pulled ox-carts, horse-drawn carriages or donkey-carts. The carts were piled with things and they carried a lot on their backs. As for the poor families, they carried two baskets on one shoulder, one basket for their children and one basket for food rations.

     They just walked on the deserted road.

     The population of Tianjia Village was not large, only about 20 households and over 100 people. They planned to go together so that they could take care of each other.

     “Winter is coming now. It’s cold in the north and there’s no grass growing. There’s a war going on right now and there’s no way to survive. It’s better to go to the south. Wild vegetables grow earlier in the south. It will be easier to survive the winter.”

     Several grown men gathered together to discuss an escape route.

     An Yinong did not stop him. Judging from the development of the plot, the survival rate of refugees who fled to the south was indeed the highest. Of course, the way to the south was not safe. There were many mountains and there were many bandits and bandits. In the plot, they encountered two robbers along the way, killing and injuring many people.

     Thinking of this, he clenched the black iron machete in his hand. There were muscles on his arms formed by three months of eating. This month, he also practiced the fighting skills he had learned before, just to have a better chance of survival when encountering gangsters.

     This group of more than 20 families began to walk south. They walked along the dry river for nearly ten miles on the first day. Occasionally, they could see puddles on the road that had not completely disappeared.

     Because they were hungry and had no energy, everyone was walking slowly. No one spoke a word along the way, and it was lifeless.

     An Yinong also stopped and walked, but he stopped to collect water and dry firewood.

     There are two baskets placed on both sides of the wheelbarrow, one with a barrel to collect water, and one with dead branches and hay.

     For other families with a large population, several people could be divided into collecting firewood while leaving two people to look after the luggage. He was alone. As soon as he left, someone might have taken the car away.

     So An Yinong came up with this method. Collect as many of these things as possible while on the road and use them when you stop and rest.

     It was getting dark, and they found a dilapidated temple nearby, with more than a hundred people crowded in the courtyard.

     The sense of security that human buildings bring to people was incomparable to the wild environment. Several families collected dry firewood and hay, lit bonfires in their yards, and then took out food to roast.

     At this moment, they still had food, although it was mainly grains, rice bran and even grass roots, but the food was there and the comfort was there, so everyone was in good spirits and still had the strength to speak.

     “It’s so cold.” The man took off his shoes and toasted his feet, and the smell of the pigsty came out. Several women laughed and scolded them, saying that the food they were going to eat later also smelled like stinky feet.

     “Don’t laugh. Right now, we still have a roof that can protect us from the rain, we can cook things by the fire, and we have food to eat. I don’t know what will happen in the future.”

     As soon as these words came out, everyone became quiet, and even the less sensible children hid timidly behind their parents.

     At this time, An Yinong stayed in the corner. His tricycle was tilted after it was parked. He had to put special feet under the two small wheels so that the surface of the tricycle would be flat and would not move casually.

     He hung rags on three wooden frames and tied the straps, and hung a straw curtain on one side to cover most of his eyes. He sat on a small stool and listened to their chat on the other end.

     Of course, he was not just sitting there. He was filtering the water collected during the day, filtering through layers of pebbles, charcoal, sand, and cotton gauze, and then boiling it to save it for drinking.

     Other families who drink raw water directly don’t understand: “Just drink water. Why do you have to deal with so many things?”

     “I’m weak and will easily get sick if I drink raw water.” An Yinong didn’t explain much. He couldn’t prove that there were germs and insect eggs in the water. If he said too much, they would think An Yinong cursed them. In this environment, he felt that it was appropriate for him to be selfish.

     When it was time for dinner, he climbed into the small compartment of the wheelbarrow, lowered the curtain, and applied a ‘health halo’ to his shoulders, wrists and legs. After pushing the car for a day, his body no longer seemed to be his own.

     The only thing that could bring him comfort at this time was the delicious food from another dimension.

     The dinner there was always very rich, and there was still a lot of food left on the table after he was full. Anyinong consciously left out foods that had little flavor, such as lettuce, fruit and bread.

     These were wrapped in a clean cloth and ready for tomorrow’s breakfast.

     Not long after dinner, except for the two people who stayed vigil, everyone else climbed into the car and fell asleep. An Yinong also lay in his car. The relatively private space gave him a psychological sense of security.

     When the snoring started coming one after another, An Yinong also held the machete and closed his eyes.

     “…!” His eyes opened suddenly.

     “Shh.” A cold finger pressed against his lips.