Lin Zheng clutched Zhang Fang’s leg, a grown man reduced to tears, pleading pathetically, “Master Zhang, you can’t abandon the Lin family!”
Zhang Fang looked at them helplessly and sincerely explained, “If you all come with me and the raft capsizes, you will surely die! Did you not see that I didn’t even take those children with me? Staying here while we wait for rescue is currently the safest option!”
Although Mao A Niu and the others didn’t protest, their hearts filled with fear at being left behind. The youngest child was already crying, while the others looked at Zhang Fang with pitiful eyes.
Zhang Fang raised his hand and swore to the heavens, promising the group, “I, Zhang Fang, swear on my life! If I don’t return to rescue you after escaping, I will not have a good death!”
Seeing Zhang Fang’s serious vow, Lin Zheng realized that nothing could change the situation and had to let go. With tears in his eyes, he looked at Zhang Fang and said miserably, “Master Zhang, you must come back to rescue us quickly!”
Zhang Fang nodded, addressing the Lin family. He divided all the food into two portions, leaving one for the Lin family and one for Mao A Niu and his group. Worried that the Lin family might not be trustworthy and would snatch the food from the children, Zhang Fang specifically let Ah Kuo stay behind.
Ah Kuo was surprised to be left behind as well, and just as he prepared to kneel and plead with Zhang Fang, the latter tossed him a knife, startling Ah Kuo into speechlessness.
“I will return. You stay here to recuperate and take good care of these children. Do not bully them! If I come back and find out anyone dared to bully them, I will definitely not spare you!” When Zhang Fang said the last sentence, a ruthless expression crossed his face, specifically looking at the Lin family.
Lin Zheng instantly understood Zhang Fang’s meaning and immediately declared, “Rest assured, Master Zhang! We will definitely take good care of these children!”
Zhang Fang went over and patted each child’s head, instructing them, “I will go find a boat, and as long as I am alive, I will definitely come back to save you. You need to unite and protect yourselves. Do not let others snatch away the food. Stay alert at night!”
Mao A Niu nodded solemnly, committing Zhang Fang’s words to memory.
After calming everyone down, Zhang Fang finally came over.
Old Chen rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath, “What a slowpoke!”
He didn’t believe Zhang Fang would come back after escaping. Leaving these children and the Lin family, who were just taking advantage of others, here was just abandoning a burden. Humans are really hypocritical; clearly, Zhang Fang had already abandoned these people but still pretended to comfort them.
Zhang Fang ignored Old Chen, checked everything, and then worked with the others to push the cart into the water before quickly climbing aboard.
Old Chen moved the fastest, eager to board, but he couldn’t beat Mu Qing. Once aboard, he could only behave.
Mu Qing pulled Zhang Fang up, followed by Hao Zhuang.
The others climbed onto the rafts, but in the shallow water, the rafts couldn’t handle so much weight. Seeing this, Zhang Fang shouted over, “Those who know how to swim, get on last! If you really can’t, just hold onto the raft in the water!”
Everyone was tied with ropes to prevent the rafts from suddenly breaking apart in the water and causing someone to fall. One end of the rope was tied to a person, while the other end was tied to one of the wooden beams on the raft. Even if it did break apart, each person could hold onto a piece of wood to float in the water, preventing them from sinking immediately.
Eight other rafts were also manned by officers. Once Zhang Fang gave the order, they immediately threatened the mountain bandits with knives to comply. The ones who could swim had no choice but to hold on to the rafts in the water. The people on the rafts rowed, following Zhang Fang as they departed.
Although the roads were flooded, the mountains remained unchanged, and Old Chen relied on this to find direction, leading everyone toward Mei County.
Fortunately, they were moving downstream, so rowing didn’t require too much effort. With a slow water current, those submerged in water felt less anxious.
Passing through areas with forests and grass, even though the trees were submerged, those in the water could feel the roots snagging at their bodies. They started to grow fearful and struggled to climb onto the rafts.
Those on the rafts, even if they were also mountain bandits, were not welcoming to those in the water.
“Get down! What are you coming up for?”
“Quick, get down!”
“There are trees snagging below! We need to go up!”
“No! You can’t come up!”
The officers were at a loss for how to respond and could only turn to Zhang Fang for help, “Master Zhang! The people in the water want to come up!”
“There are trees snagging people below!” they yelled out loudly.
With a furrowed brow, Zhang Fang looked around and told them, “Hold on a bit longer! There are mountains ahead; once we reach them, we can stop and rest!”
Those in the water found it difficult to climb aboard momentarily and had to endure a bit longer.
Once they reached a stretch where there were no trees blocking the water, an old man’s corpse began to drift by, sending chills down their spines and deepening their fear of death.
Those in the water couldn’t hold back any longer; they turned pale and tried with all their might to clamber up.
Zhang Fang saw the floating corpse and felt heavy-hearted. His hands, which were resting behind his back, clenched into fists as he suddenly shouted, “Unite! Do not panic! We must get to the front first!”
In response, Old Chen scoffed, disdain clear in his eyes. In the face of life and death, people only think about how to survive; how could they consider others?
The mountain bandits on the rafts did not want their comrades in the water to come up and began to block them. This provoked the those in the water, leading to a fight between the people on the rafts and those in the water.
Even the officers’ knives couldn’t quell them; chaos erupted, and they refused to obey orders. Some even tried to push the officers from the rafts into the water. The officers were furious and began to strike out.
Zhang Fang was stunned and angrily shouted, “Stop it! If you don’t calm down, no one will survive!”
No one paid attention to his words.
Zhang Fang felt frantic; this was not what he wanted to see.
Before blood could be drawn, Old Chen’s furious roar silenced everyone.
“Death should be what comes!”
The birds hidden in the mountains were frightened and flew from their perches in response to his voice.
Subscribe
Login
0 Comments