After saying goodbye to Dragon Girl, Su Cheng and Miao Shan ran along the road, checked everyone, and headed towards the nearest town.

A journey of mountain and a journey of water.

This time, there is a thousand miles to go to the West. Su Cheng and Miaoshan only know one destination, but they don’t know how to reach Xuelian Peak. On the way, Su Cheng and Miaoshan cannot just identify one West, and then walk there with their heads down.

It is still necessary to find a place where people are, borrow cars and horses, and find out the way. This is the right thing to do.

The sun has sunk on the rocks, and soon the earth will return to darkness.

"We're going to leave the jungle quickly."

Su Cheng held the dragon scale sword in his hand, waved it twice, splitting the weeds and thorns in front of him, clearing out a small path, and saying to Miaoshan: "When it is evening, all the jackals, tigers, leopards, and venomous snakes and beasts in the mountains will come out. In this bushes, you can't defend against these."

Even the weeds here are more than one person tall, enough to cover up Miaoshan and Su Cheng, and there are no people everywhere. Su Cheng and Miaoshan can travel here all rely on the sharpness of the Dragon Scale Sword.

Miaoshan followed closely behind Su Cheng and said ashamedly: "We shouldn't listen to that person, we should go directly to the official road."

Halfway through, Miaoshan met a pedestrian and asked about the direction to the county town. The man pointed out the way and claimed that it would take seventy miles to walk the official road, but if he walked the small road, it would only be thirty miles.

Miaoshan and Su Cheng chose to take a shortcut and walked directly into the bushes. Even Su Cheng observed the jungle, but he could not find any traces. He had already walked a long way and neither of them wanted to turn back. Therefore, he drew out his sword and cleared the road in the mountains.

"The uncle also said that there is a small village here, but there is no road at all nearby..."

Miaoshan has always blamed himself and realized that it was his own decision-making problem, which caused the two of them to clear the road here when it was getting late.

"He didn't lie to us."

Su Cheng turned around and looked at Miaoshan. He watched her walk for a whole day, covered in sweat stains, his hair was stuck on his face, and pointed to the sky in front of him and said, "Look, there is smoke from there."

Miaoshan followed Su Cheng's finger direction and indeed saw a few smoke rising from the cooking fires. Under the bright red sunset, it was particularly conspicuous.

"There are really people!"

When Miao Shan saw this, she was full of joy, then shook her head and sighed: "It's just that they live in seclusion in this forest, why don't they see the road at all?"

When Miaoshan and Su Cheng were at the foot of the mountain, they observed for a long time but could not see the road up the mountain. Only then did they clear their own way out.

"We'll know if we go and ask."

Seeing the village ahead, Su Cheng immediately became motivated again. After cleaning it a few times, he split the bushes in front of him. Through the gaps between plants and trees, Su Cheng and Miao Shan felt that the pictures were wide open, the fields were connected by fields, houses were one by one, a stream came from the mountain, and a gusseted bay, forming a pond in front of the village, and then banged directly at the gravel at the foot of the mountain, gradually shattering Qiong Yao, and finally became a curve of clear water, leaving from then on.

This is the village where you live in secluded place.

"Hey! Who are you?"

There was an old man in the field. When he saw the vegetation and trees collapsed here, Su Cheng and Miao Shan faintly silenced, and he started drinking in the field.

"Old man."

Su Cheng hurriedly shouted: "We want to go to the county town and be guided to take a shortcut. We missed Sutou along the way. We wanted to spend a night in the village, and we could pay for the tea, rice and accommodation." Su Cheng said respectfully.

"It turned out to be a passerby."

After hearing this, the old man said, "You pass by, why are you cutting these plants and trees so hard?" His words were full of blame.

Upon hearing this, Su Cheng put away the dragon scale sword, reached out and pulled open the bushes, pulled open the thorns on both sides, and freed up a path that Miaoshan could pass first. Su Cheng then stepped forward, stepped on the ridge here, and threw away the bushes, as if he had stepped into a new world.

"Old man."

Su Cheng looked at the old man in front of him and felt that he was already sixty or seventy years old. In this era, he could be considered a long life. His body was already trembling, but he was holding a sickle in his hand, and he was still busy.

"Old man, I'll help you."

Su Cheng stepped forward, took the old man's sickle, bent down to harvest the rice here, and said to the old man: "When we came here, we saw that there was no road here. Not only did we both find it difficult to walk, but we thought that the people in your village could also find it difficult to walk. Therefore, it would be convenient for you to clear a way with a sickle, and it would be convenient for you to go down the mountain."

After the old man's sickle was taken by Su Cheng, he sat on the ridge, poured a bowl of tea from the teapot, took a few sips, and sighed and said, "We don't want such a road. The road is open, taxes, and military service is coming again. Now our village is hidden in the mountains, and there are no roads around, and life is getting better and better."

There was originally a road in the mountains and forests, but they deliberately abandoned them.

Su Cheng's hand, who was cutting rice, stopped, and after hearing this, he couldn't help but sigh.

Seeing Su Cheng diligently, the old man came here and worked first. He also saw that Miaoshan was a purely kind woman. He felt that neither of them looked like bad people, so he started talking.

Their village is called Zounan Village. There were originally a hundred households here, and this place was also a major transportation route between the county town and several other places. It was very lively. However, over the years, the Chu State wars continued and taxes were increasing. Most of the young people in the village were summoned by the government, and few could come back. There were complex taxes coming here, causing many people in the village to leave their hometowns to hide from taxes and military service. Until the end, they blocked the way to the mountains.

"After the road here, we will be purified."

Old Man Zou said: "It's because there's no more fuel and water in our village, so no one comes to take care of it anymore."

Su Cheng had already finished cutting all the rice here, walked to Old Man Zou, and said, "No one has ever been here to take care of this place?"

Old Man Zou nodded and said, "Even when the roads were smooth, the government never cared about us. Now that the roads are closed, how could they take care of us?"

Su Cheng and Miao Shan looked at each other, which made it clear about the problem of the village.

"You two, come home with me."

Old Man Zou supported his legs and stood up, saying to Su Cheng and Miaoshan: "In recent years, we have also had a lot of surplus grain in our family. Adding two more pieces of bowls and chopsticks is nothing. As for whether it is not money, let alone."

Old Man Zou was in front, Su Cheng and Miao Shan followed him, and they also met some villagers along the way. However, depending on their age, they were all fifty or sixty years old and had no young faces. According to Old Man Zou, many young people in the village were taken to join the army and died almost the same. The remaining few people came back every year during the spring and autumn harvest, and they worked outside on weekdays.

Su Cheng and Miaoshan followed Old Man Zou to his house.

This is adobe thatched cottage, three main rooms, two wing rooms, and a kitchen and a granary. A circle of fences are built around the house, which looks very distinctive.

When Old Man Zou returned home, he hurriedly greeted his wife. As Old Man Zou greeted him, an old lady walked out with a cane and holding a wall.

Old Man Zou asked the old lady to sit in the yard and chat with Su Cheng and Miaoshan. He walked into the kitchen and made a fire to cook.

"You two are going to the county town."

When the old lady heard Su Cheng and Miao Shan’s purpose, she hurriedly said: “If you go to the county town, can you send me a message? My son is working in the Shen family in the county town. Are you too busy? Why is it harvested in autumn? Isn’t you still not come back?”
Chapter completed!