Chapter 199 People in the Mountains
"Huh? Why are there children here?"

Soon, Li Guoqiang saw the situation in the bushes through the vision covered by the small world, and a slightly puzzled look appeared on his face.

As far as he knew, there were indeed bandits in these deep mountains in the past, but in the past two or three months, he had almost traveled through most of the mountains and had not encountered any people of unknown origin.

He originally thought that the bandits had disappeared, but he didn't expect to suddenly meet a little kid about eleven or twelve years old.

Under normal circumstances, it is impossible for such a young child to go deep into the mountains alone. The only possibility is that there are residential areas nearby.

Could it be that this child was born to those bandits?

Just as he was feeling curious about this, the little brat came out from the bushes, half wary and half curious.

He was carrying a basket filled with some Chinese medicinal herbs on his back, and holding a small shovel in his hand. One could tell at a glance that he had come into the mountains to collect herbs.

Then, before Li Guoqiang could say anything, the little brat asked loudly, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

Judging from his accent, it seems similar to that of the villagers in Jinshanbao. Even if he is a bandit's child, he should be a local bandit.

This thought flashed through Li Guoqiang's mind, and then he smiled and answered, "My name is Li Guoqiang. I am a villager from the Jinshanbao Production Brigade outside the mountains. I raise bees here."

"Kid, what's your name? Where are you from? Where are your parents?"

"I?"

When the little brat heard the question, he immediately stopped thinking about where the Jinshanbao Production Brigade was. His face suddenly tensed up, and then he said with some vigilance: "I won't tell you!"

After saying that, he immediately turned around and ran into the bushes, and disappeared in a moment.

Seeing this situation, Li Guoqiang became more and more certain that there was something wrong with the origin of this little brat, so he thought about it and immediately flashed into the small world, and then followed closely behind the little brat.

The little kid was seen nimbly running back and forth in the woods, looking back as he ran, obviously worried that Li Guoqiang would catch up with him.

Not long after, perhaps because he realized that Li Guoqiang was not catching up with him, he suddenly stopped beside a big tree, then leaned against the trunk and gasped heavily.

Taking this opportunity, Li Guoqiang's figure kept flashing around, trying to find out where the little brat lived.

Regardless of whether his guess was right or not, in order to ensure the safety of his private apiary, he had to find out the brat's origins.

If the little brat's parents were really bandits who had committed serious crimes and were fleeing and hiding in the mountains, then he wouldn't mind enforcing justice and arresting them all and escorting them out of the mountains.

If not, he can also choose to move the private apiary to another location depending on the situation.

Soon, he saw two adobe and thatched houses at the foot of the mountain and a small yard surrounded by a wooden fence on the other side of the mountain.

Judging from the thickness of the adobe walls and the mottled marks on the doors and windows, it can be seen that these two thatched houses have been built for quite a long time, at least a dozen years.

Moreover, the small stone mill and firewood piled up in the yard, as well as the few pieces of land by the stream in front of the yard, clearly prove that this is not a temporary settlement, but that there are people who really live here for a long time.

As for the origin of the owner of the house, we would have to take a closer look to find out.

After checking the situation outside the house and the yard, Li Guoqiang suddenly had an idea and teleported back to the little kid, intending to wait for the little kid to return home and find out the situation.

At this time, the little kid had rested enough, so he lifted the basket on his back and walked along the foot of the mountain towards the two adobe and thatched houses.

This walk took more than half an hour.

By the time the little brat returned to the outside of the yard, it was already past three in the afternoon.

The warm sunlight shone through the mountains and forests onto the ground, casting patches of mottled light. It also made the two adobe and thatched houses in front of the little kid feel like a paradise.

Suddenly, a breeze blew, blowing up the little boy's bangs, revealing a slightly dark face with a hint of urgency.

The next moment, he walked into the yard, quickly put down the basket, and then shouted towards the house: "Sister, sister, I met someone from outside the mountain in the mountain!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a tall, slightly thin girl with two pigtails on her head suddenly opened the door and ran out. She grabbed the boy's arm with a nervous look on her face, looked him up and down, and asked, "Third kid, are you okay?"

"without!"

The third child shook his head and answered, "I'm fine. The man asked me my name and where I was from. He also asked me where my parents were. I ignored him and ran back."

"Ok!"

Erniu heaved a sigh of relief when she heard that, then nodded and said, "You're right. We don't know if the other party is a good person or a bad person, so we can't just tell him about our family's situation."

"Especially in this mountain, people are scarier than wild animals. It would be terrible if he had any bad intentions towards our family."

When she said this, a look of lingering fear flashed across her face, as if she remembered something bad.

"Sister, don't worry!"

Sanwazi noticed the change in Da Niu's expression and quickly spoke to comfort her: "I checked when I came back. That person didn't follow us. He shouldn't have come to our house."

"that is."

"Just what?"

Erniu saw that Sanwazi suddenly became hesitant and asked hurriedly.

"I heard him say that he was raising bees in the mountains. Who knows, he might find us someday!"

Sanwazi pursed his lips, then answered with some concern.

"Keeping bees?"

Erniu was slightly stunned, then asked in confusion: "If we want to get out of the mountain, we will have to walk for at least a day and a night. How did that person come here to raise bees?"

"How would I know that?"

Sanwazi rolled his eyes, then said unhappily, "I just saw him digging a ditch there, and there were a lot of wooden boxes next to him, so I ran over to take a look out of curiosity."

"伱"

When Erniu heard that it was Sanwazi who took the initiative to run over, she couldn't help but scold him angrily, "How can you be so reckless? Didn't I tell you to hide immediately if you see someone in the mountains? Why are you taking the initiative to approach him now?"

"What if he really is a bad guy?" "Nothing!"

When Sanwazi saw that the girl was angry, he immediately realized that he had let the cat out of the bag, and then he quickly explained: "I ran over to check because I saw that he didn't have a gun."

"He didn't have a gun and I was so far away from him. If the situation was not right, I would have turned around and ran away immediately."

"You know how fast I can run in the mountains. There's no way he can catch up with me."

When he said this, a hint of pride and pride appeared on his face, and he was obviously very confident in his running speed in the mountains and forests.

However, Erniu didn't care about that. She immediately reached out and gave Sanwazi a slap on the face, then warned him seriously: "I don't care how fast you run. If you dare to do this again, I will break your legs to prevent you from messing around and causing trouble for our family."

"Ouch!"

The third child cried out in pain, then held his head with his hands, pouted his lips, and said unhappily, "Sister, can you please stop hitting my head? If you keep hitting me like this, I'll become stupid sooner or later!"

"Humph!"

Erniu snorted coldly, then said with some disdain: "Even if you get beaten to a pulp, it's better than being beaten to death!"

"You know how our eldest brother died, and what our father told you before he left. He told you to be careful in everything and not to have any contact with people outside the mountain. It's been less than half a year, and you've turned a deaf ear to his words?"

"If something happens to you, what will you let our mother do in the future?"

Sanwazi: “.”

"okay!"

Erniu saw Sanwazi lowering his head with a guilty look on his face, so she quickly reached out and patted his shoulder, saying to him in comfort, "I'm saying this for your own good. Our father is gone, and our mother is sick and lying on the kang, unable to get out of bed."

"The biggest wish of my parents in this life is to watch you grow up safely, get married and have children."

"Don't worry, when you grow up a little bit, I will find you a wife. I will make sure you can find a wife."

"sister!"

The third child called out with a choked voice, then threw himself into Erniu's arms.

Seeing this situation, Li Guoqiang felt a little relieved, and then became more and more curious about the identities of the parents of this pair of siblings.

If they were all good citizens, then why would they run away to live in seclusion in the mountains?
Moreover, from the conversation between the brother and sister just now, it is obvious that their eldest brother and father are both gone, and there is only a bedridden mother left in the family. So how do they usually make ends meet?
Even if they could hunt in the mountains and grow some food and vegetables on the poor land beside the stream, how would they obtain the other necessities of life?
For example, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, etc.

After thinking about it, Li Guoqiang felt that they either had to go out of the mountain to find someone to exchange with, or someone would come regularly to deliver some daily necessities to them.

Because their existence is related to the safety of his private apiary, it is necessary for him to figure out the relevant situation.

It would be easy if they went out of the mountain by themselves. As long as we show a little strength in front of them, we can prevent them from coveting the apiary. We can even offer them certain benefits and recruit them as employees to help take care of the apiary.

But if someone comes here regularly, it will be a bit difficult.

Thinking of this, he made a decision immediately, and then with a thought, he appeared at the gate of the courtyard.

At this time, Erniu and Sanwazi, the two siblings, had not noticed that someone had come uninvited, and were still immersed in sadness.

Seeing this, Li Guoqiang could only cough and shout, "Hello, can I come in and ask for a bowl of water?"

Hearing this sudden sound, Erniu and Sanwazi were instantly frightened.

Then, Erniu hurriedly pulled Sanwazi behind her and hid him, then stared at Li Guoqiang with a nervous face, as if she was looking at some ferocious beast.

When Sanwazi saw Li Guoqiang's handsome face, he was slightly stunned, and then hurriedly reminded: "Sister, he is the person I just told you about!"

Hearing this, Erniu's heart immediately rose to her throat and a layer of cold sweat broke out on her back.

In her opinion, if he didn't have any intentions towards their family, why would he secretly follow Sanwazi here?
If she had known this would happen, she should have brought the shotgun with her when she came out of the house just now.

Now, she could only hope that the other party would act slower so that she would have time to find a way to go back to the house and get the gun.

As long as she could get the shotgun, she wouldn't have to be afraid of the other party.

"Ah!"

Li Guoqiang saw that the two siblings were so nervous that cold sweat broke out on their foreheads. He couldn't help but feel a little happy, and then he waved his hands and explained with a smile: "Don't get me wrong, I raise bees on the other side of the mountain, I'm not a bad person."

"I just happened to pass by here and saw a family, so I wanted to come over to ask for a bowl of water. By the way, I also wanted to ask you about the situation in this area."

"Go away, you are not welcome here!"

When Erniu heard what Li Guoqiang said, she didn't believe it at all. She just said with a cold face to chase him away, hoping to drive Li Guoqiang away and then go into the house to get the gun.

After she finished speaking, she saw that Li Guoqiang did not move, so she quickly added another sentence.

"If you don't leave, I'm going to call for help!"

The implication was that he wanted Li Guoqiang to mistakenly believe that there was someone else in the room.

It's a pity that Li Guoqiang had already heard their previous conversation clearly. At the same time, he used his small world to closely monitor the movements within a radius of 100 meters. He didn't believe these lies at all.

In addition, in order to find out the situation of this family as soon as possible, he didn't want to waste time with the brother and sister, so he directly pushed open the half-open gate and walked inside.

"you"

Seeing this, Erniu glared at him, then hurriedly shouted, "Stop right there!"

After she finished speaking, she saw that Li Guoqiang was still walking, and she panicked. Without thinking too much, she turned around and ran into the house with her third child.

However, before they ran to the door of the house, Li Guoqiang's figure suddenly appeared behind them like a ghost, and then he pressed Erniu's shoulder, causing her to stop involuntarily.

Her whole body froze, and just as she was about to struggle free, she saw a sharp knife with a cold glow suddenly appear in front of her, and she grabbed it in an instant.

After a while, she asked with a trembling voice: "What do you want to do?"

(End of this chapter)