The old man and the woman didn't say much, but supported each other and silently followed Tang Cheng, and with the sound of heavy donkey carts and the occasional groan of pain, the loose procession slowly moved along the winding dirt road. If he could maintain such a speed, maybe it would be a matter of three or four days to get to Nanjing, but Tang Cheng was not so optimistic, he knew that the physical fitness of the old and weak women and children could not be counted on at all, and it was just a matter of stop-and-go, and he had to beware of Japanese air raids during the day, and he had to be careful to prevent freezing, skidding, and loss at night.

It is also unrealistic to greet many people with the ability of one person, Tang Cheng quickly made up his mind: the old couple looked like people with great knowledge, the little girl was destined for him, whether it was public or private, he should take care of this family. As for the rest of the team, they can help whoever they can, and they really have no choice but to let God arrange it.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the usual early twilight had already appeared. The temperature also began to drop significantly, and the little girl who snuggled up on the donkey cart fell asleep with sugar in her mouth, and Tang Cheng untied his burden almost without thinking, took out the new clothes he bought in Suzhou and put them on the little girl's body. The humidity at night will be very heavy, which is naturally not as comfortable as the bed, but Tang Cheng still tries to create a small warm space for the little girl.

After walking for more than half an hour, the black-faced man in the lead finally turned around and gave the order to rest on the spot. Today's trip was quite relaxed compared to the previous two days, Tang Cheng didn't feel tired, but the refugees around him were like being amnesty, they were panting, beating their backs and looking for a place to rest. Tang Cheng turned his head to look at the old man and the woman, although the two were not exhausted, judging from the old man's gray face and the woman's staggering steps, it seemed that their condition was not much better.

Returning the small suitcase to the old man, Tang Cheng and the black-faced man discussed in a low voice, there is a bush not far from here, and you can go find some firewood while it is still dark, so that you can sleep hot when you camp at night. The black-faced man led the adult men in the team to look for firewood, Tang Cheng stayed behind to take care of the remaining old and weak women and children, and the donkey cart carrying the belongings had the water they had gotten this morning, and as long as they found dry firewood, they could cook porridge and drink.

Taking off her own burden from the donkey cart, the old woman was about to reach out to hug the little girl who was already asleep, but the little girl was sleeping soundly, this may be the first good sleep she had slept in many days, so Tang Cheng shook her head at the old woman, and put her right index finger in front of her lips and made a shushing motion. The old woman was a little surprised, but she was not stubborn, but stood in front of Tang Cheng and poked her head out to look at the little girl on the donkey cart. Seeing that the little guy's face was ruddy, and the corners of his mouth occasionally moved, he was relieved.

"It's a pity that we don't have much food of our own!" The old man hiding under the bonfire shrugged his shoulders, and handed Tang Cheng a bowl of gruel when he turned his head, "Hurry up and eat, it's not good if it's cold!" Tang Cheng took the bowl of vegetable porridge made of biscuits, flatbreads, dried vegetables and wild vegetables, and drank the porridge that had lost its original taste. The old woman had already followed the old man to the luggage place, looking at their slightly clumsy backs, Tang Cheng who was holding the porridge bowl was a little stunned.

The war was cruel, and perhaps before the war, the old couple lived in a beautiful big house, but now they are refugees, just like the people in the city. In such a war, whether it is China or Japan, a large number of young and strong men from both warring countries have been killed or disabled, and even if the war is over, the old and weak women and children who are lucky enough to survive really do not know whether to call it lucky or miserable.

Hoping that the Nationalist army remaining in Shanghai would be able to support it for a few more days, Tang Cheng prayed silently in his heart, hoping that God would transfer his good fortune to him for the time being, so that he could reach Sichuan or some other safe place safely. Obviously, not everyone has such a mentality as Tang Cheng, and the surrounding refugees naturally have to speculate about this war. Listening to their discussions, Tang Cheng smoked silently, no news is good news, as long as there is no large-scale rout of the army to flee, the situation in Shanghai will naturally not be much worse.

The young body naturally has the advantage of being young, but the old people, women and children who accompany them are becoming more and more weak, and there are more and more people stopping to rest alone or in twos and threes. According to the normal proportion, there are actually not many adult men in the ranks, but they carry luggage in their hands, and occasionally support the old and weak who are faltering, so their physical exertion is even greater than that of those old and weak women and children.

Whether it was a quarter of an hour's rest, two or three hours, in Tang Cheng's opinion, it would not help alleviate the embarrassing situation in front of him. Civilians are civilians after all, and neither physical strength nor mental will can be compared with those of soldiers who have withstood the grind of war, and temporary encouragement and motivation cannot be effective for a long time. "Uncle and uncle" The voice of the little girl sounded in the quiet field, but the little girl woke up. She rubbed her sleepy eyes, and the first thing she did was not to find grandma or grandpa, but to shake her little hand and wave it towards Tang Cheng. Seeing that the "uncle" was still there, the little girl sitting in the donkey cart smiled sweetly, and that piece of chocolate in the afternoon was a sweet moment for her.

Seeing that the old couple was sorting out their baggage, Tang Cheng put aside these nonsense thoughts for the time being, walked over with the little girl in his arms, and then sat down next to the old woman lightly. "Grandma, hee-hee, grandpa." The little girl happily hid herself in Tang Cheng's arms and laughed, stuffing half of the dark chocolate left over from the afternoon in her mouth.

The old woman lifted the shawl back slightly, and then turned her head and gave her daughter a faint smile. "Come to grandma and let uncle rest for a while." The old woman's voice was very soft, she stretched out her hands, but the little girl shrank into Tang Cheng's arms and shook her head desperately. "Good fruit, my uncle is injured, come to grandma's side." The old woman continued to coax the fruit in Tang Cheng's arms.

After the old woman said this, the little girl Guo'er looked at Tang Cheng with some hesitation, then turned her head to look at her grandparents, and finally reluctantly opened her hand, also holding it with both hands, but the old woman's movements seemed a little difficult. Embracing her granddaughter, the old woman lowered her head and whispered to her, only to hear the little girl's giggles from time to time. Tang Cheng, who had been living in tension and hesitation, heard that such a voice made him feel like he was in heaven.

In the middle of the night, Tang Cheng took out his baggage from the donkey cart and took out the military blanket wrapped in it, the military blanket in Suzhou and the rout in exchange for the military blanket smelled a little bad, but now is not the time to pay attention to those. Standing up and pulling the blanket and shaking it vigorously a few times, Tang Cheng met the gaze of the old woman and the little girl and gently covered them, and even carefully tucked the hem of the blanket under the woman's feet. "Uncle Xie Lu, Uncle Xie is so good!" The little girl muttered happily, and the old woman who was holding her also had a layer of mist in her eyes.

"Well, you guys should rest first, and I'll take a look around." Tang Cheng reached out and touched the little girl's pigtails, then smiled at the old couple and got up to leave. According to the records in Xie Bo's field notes, Tang Cheng also arranged a guard post when he was camping, Tang Cheng and three adult men in the first half of the night, and those wounded people lying on the donkey cart in the second half of the night, only in this way will the refugees sleeping in the wilderness have a sense of security.

Walking around the area, Tang Cheng, armed with shell guns, found nothing unusual, and the exhausted refugees huddled around the campfire and took a nap, or directly unfolded the warm items they carried with them and curled up on the ground and fell asleep. Dry firewood was added to the three fires, and Tang Cheng did it on the periphery of the fire, and he had developed the habit of wiping the gun in his spare time, so he took a suitcase and laid it flat on the ground, and the disassembled pistol parts were spread on the suitcase.

"They all say you're a bandit or a one-legged thief, I don't think so, you should have been a soldier, right?" I don't know when, the little girl's grandfather, the old man surnamed Wu, sat beside Tang Cheng. "There are good and evil people in the recklessness, but they don't have the same eyes as you, very clean eyes." The old man's words made Tang Cheng's movements stiffen slightly, but he didn't answer, still lowering his head to wipe the parts in his hands.

"You're a good boy, and Guo'er likes you very much." Seeing that Tang Cheng did not make a sound, the old man surnamed Wu smiled and continued, "Guo'er's parents are in Nanjing, her mother is a Chinese translator and doctor at the German embassy, and Guo'er's father is also a soldier, I see that your posture with a gun is similar to his, so I think you should have been a soldier." It's too late, I'll go to sleep first, Xie Lu thank you for escorting us old and weak to Nanjing, if it weren't for us people, you might have arrived in Nanjing a long time ago. The old man patted Tang Cheng on the shoulder as he left.

Turning his head to look at the old man's somewhat clumsy back, Tang Cheng's eyes flickered a little, he didn't care if the old man had seen his identity, he just liked the atmosphere when the two of them were sitting idly just now, like friends and family. Sighing lightly, he turned around and looked around at the people who had fallen asleep, Tang Cheng continued to wipe the parts in his hands, if the little girl named Guo'er was still awake at this time, she would definitely be able to see the corners of Tang Cheng's mouth and the smile on his face.

"I will definitely send you to Nanjing safely" After assembling the pistol that had been wiped, Tang Cheng, who had restarted, added some dry wood to the campfire, and then slowly disappeared into the night, carefully searching for possible dangers along the surroundings of the camp. The three consecutive days of walking consumed a lot of physical strength from everyone, including the three adult men who served as the guards the night before, and only Tang Cheng was cruising like a ghost in the entire camp, and he was accompanied only by the three campfires in the camp.