Chapter Ten A Narrow Escape

  Qiao Lian Ou and a few others chatted and laughed, after finishing their meal they saw that the sky was getting dark so they started to gather firewood.

  But it's no longer easy to pick firewood on the nearby mountain.

  Every household burns firewood, people go to the mountain every day to pick up firewood, and the dry firewood on the ground has almost been picked up. In the end, only by climbing to the pine and cypress trees to cut wet firewood, the freshly cut thick or thin branches of pine and cypress are tied into bundles with grass ropes, carried back and placed around the house to dry, and after drying, they become good burning firewood.

  Qiao Lian'ou liked to pick firewood, and when she was a bit older, she started learning from the older children how to climb trees. She would tie her sickle to her waistband, grab hold of the trunk, and inch her way up, climbing until she reached a spot with branches. Then, she would take down the sickle from behind her back, holding onto the tree trunk with one hand to keep her balance, and start chopping firewood with the other hand.

  When chopping firewood, there is a trick. Just cut two knives on the branch, and then use your hand to gently press the branch down, "crack" sound, the branch will fall under the tree.

  A tree was cut down, and the brave ones would grab the branches of a nearby tree that were stretching over, pull the nearby tree over, carefully climb onto another tree, and swing to another tree like a monkey to continue cutting. Of course, those who are timid and not skilled can only honestly slide down from the tree, re-climb to another tree, and cut again.

  Song Xiaoshan and Zhou Yongsheng were agile and belonged to the brave type. Qiao Lian'ou also wanted to learn their agility, but unfortunately, he was still too young and his strength was too small. In the air of ten or twenty meters, he was still a little scared, so he had to come down from the tree honestly and find another tree.

  They all started climbing trees and chopping firewood, and Qiao Lian'ou also wanted to try. Song Xiaoshan saw it and frowned, saying: "Forget it, you'd better look for dry firewood or pine needles in the shrubs below, you're too small, it's dangerous to climb trees."

  "No, I want to climb the tree, it's okay." Qiao Lian'ou really didn't want to miss this wonderful opportunity. Not every child has such an experience in their childhood. Although climbing to the top of the tree has some danger, the air is great up there! Looking out from above, the view is especially broad and the mood is especially comfortable. In the sweltering summer, the gentle breeze blowing on one's face is incredibly enjoyable.

  Song Xiaoshan saw that Qiao Lian'ou was not listening to him, so he could only smile wryly and shake his head, saying: "Well, be careful then. Make sure the sickle is securely tied up, or you'll have to climb down again to pick it up if it falls off halfway, which would be a lot of trouble."

  "Haha, got it! Don't know how, going up the tree!"

  Qiao Lianou found a pine tree with a trunk as wide as a bowl, and was about to climb up. The lower branches of the pine tree had been cut off by people, leaving only some 7-8 cm long wooden stakes, like a ladder extending to the top. This kind of tree is actually quite easy to climb, as long as you grasp tightly with your hands and step firmly with your feet, you can climb to wherever you want without much effort.

  Qiao Lian'ou was a bit excited, wanting to re-experience the thrill of climbing trees. She hugged the tree trunk and started climbing up. When she climbed nearly two meters high, the branch under her feet was too thin and couldn't bear her weight. It snapped with a "crack" sound, and Qiao Lian'ou didn't react in time. She fell from the tree, and because of the speed, she only felt a sharp pain on her belly as it got scratched by the thorny branches. She gritted her teeth and cried out loudly, "Aiyo!"

  Song Xiaoshan had climbed to the middle of the tree when he heard a mournful cry, turned his head and saw Qiao Lian'ou squatting under the tree in pain, hastily came down from the tree and ran over to ask what's wrong.

  Qiao Lian'ou was in so much pain that she couldn't speak, and had a bad premonition - could it be that her belly had been ripped open? Thinking this, a wave of despair surged up in her heart, and she didn't dare to lift her clothes to look. Looking at Song Xiaoshan's concerned gaze as he rushed over, she couldn't say a word, only tears streaming down her face.

  "What's wrong? Quick, come on, let me see!" Song Xiaoshan saw Qiao Lian'ou covering her stomach and knew that it might have been scratched. He didn't care about the difference between men and women anymore and wanted to lift up her clothes to take a look.

  Sister Zhou Yunzhi also saw the scene just now and ran over with Zhou Qingdong.

  "Come on, what's wrong with you? Quickly lift up your clothes and let me see!" Qiao Yunzhi also felt a bit strange. Qiao Lian'ou was usually very open and carefree, but today she seemed different, blushing and hesitating to lift up her clothes.

  "No, no... " Qiao Lian'ou felt a bit embarrassed in front of so many people. Qiao Yunzhi saw the situation and, without caring about anything else, stepped forward and lifted up Qiao Lian'ou's clothes, revealing his injured belly.

  Qiao Lian'ou closed her eyes, let out a long sigh, and said, "Why is today so unlucky? I'm a big girl from a good family, surrounded by so many people... Alas! She felt her face turning red.

  "My goodness, it's not easy to row, look, there's a big hole here and it's already leaking blood!" Qiao Yunzhi exclaimed, completely ignoring Qiao Lianou's entanglement, as if in her heart Qiao Lianou had never been a girl.

  Everyone gathered around to watch.

  "It's really dangerous, if we were a bit unlucky, our bellies might have been slashed open, and then the intestines would...". Zhou Yongsheng was adding to the terrifying atmosphere with his ominous words, Qiao Lianyu really wanted to kick him. She lowered her head to take a look, fortunately, there was only a red mark about 10-15 cm long on her belly skin, it seemed like they were truly lucky!

  "It's nothing, it just hurts a bit now. It'll be fine after a few days when the wound heals." Qiao Yunzhi put down Qiao Lianou's clothes and said, "You sit here and rest, we'll help you gather some firewood. Climbing trees is very dangerous, look at what happened to you, you almost got into an accident."

  Qiao Lian'ou's soul was still unsettled, and she definitely couldn't continue climbing trees to find the feeling now. She had no choice but to sit obediently on a clean stone behind her and wait for them to finish chopping firewood.

  Watching these companions flying back and forth in the trees, with an air of nonchalance, all Jiao Lian Ou could do was feel envious.

  Song Xiaoshan moved quickly, an old hand at chopping firewood, and soon chopped two large bundles of firewood. After putting the firewood on his back and tying it up with a rope, he began to help Qiao Lian'ou pick up the firewood.

  Although there were not many dry pine needles on the ground, there were still some in a few shrub clusters. Before long, Song Xiaoshan helped Qiao Lian'ou pick up a full load on his back. The other people each helped Qiao Lian'ou chop some, and soon they gathered into a bundle.

  "Never mind, she's injured today and can't carry so much. I'll help her carry it." Song Xiaoshan didn't care whether Qiao Lian'ou agreed or not, and tied the bundle of firewood onto his own back frame.

  Zhou Qingdong saw that everyone had finished gathering firewood, stretched his waist and said to Qiao Lianou: "Alright, let's go find the cattle. You just wait here and watch our baskets. We'll help you drive the cattle over."

  "Alright, I'll wait for you guys, hurry up, it's almost dark." Qiao Lianou responded, feeling a lot of emotion in her heart. These were truly her good friends, each one taking care of her so much.

  Song Xiaoshan and his gang left, leaving Qiao Lianou alone sitting by the road in the forest waiting for them.

  The sky darkened, red clouds filled the sky, and the world was a vast expanse of gray.

  Qiao Lian'ou was admiring the beautiful scenery at dusk when suddenly there was a movement in the nearby bushes, and a person flashed out, startling Qiao Lian'ou who was completely unprepared and almost cried out.