Amandine was very nervous at this time. He thought there were only two or three wolves, but he didn't expect six to jump out at once. If they all pounced on him, he couldn't handle it. He could only slowly retreat and leave there. Uwa grabbed the corner of his clothes and moved backwards with him. In this way, the two retreated farther and farther until they could no longer see the wolves. They ran away. When they arrived at a safe place, the two smiled at each other. Amandine spoke first, "Let's find another place. The wolf den must be very smelly. I don't believe there is only one cave here."
They returned to the stream at the foot of the mountain and wanted to find another way up the mountain. After walking forward for more than 500 meters along the stream, there really appeared a way to go up, but it was not easy to walk. The mountain road was rugged and uneven. The two walked very slowly, one in front and one behind. After walking for nearly ten minutes, a piece of open space appeared in front of them, which was full of various weeds. What surprised the two most was that they saw a wooden house with an old man sitting in front of the house. The other party was also surprised to see them. He suddenly stood up, turned around, and ran into the house. After a while, he rushed out with a shotgun in his hand, "Who are you? How did you find this place?"
Amandine was not afraid of the other party being an old man. He smiled and said, "Old man, don't be too nervous, we also found this place by accident, this place is quite remote."
The old man saw that the two had no ill intentions and put down his shotgun. Uwa came out from behind and said, "Old man, don't be afraid, we won't hurt you."
The old man nodded, glanced at the two, and asked, "When are you leaving?"
Amandine was angry when he heard this. He thought that this place was not the old man’s alone, and couldn’t help asking, "What if we plan to live here? What are you going to do?"
"I found this place first, you can't live here," the old man shouted.
Uwa begged, "Old man, we have nowhere to go now, please don't drive us away."
"No, leave here quickly, or I will shoot," he raised the shotgun again.
Amandine was completely enraged. He pretended to pull Uwa back, but he quietly reached into his arms and took out a gun. When the other party was not paying attention, he fired a shot. With a "pop," the old man was shot in the shoulder and the shotgun in his hand fell to the ground. Amandine quickly stepped forward, bent down to pick up the other party's gun, and said coldly, "What a bastard! You don't listen to good words, and you have to fight to stop." The old man covered his bloody shoulder and cursed. Amandine slapped him twice before he calmed down. Uwa felt sorry for him and asked with concern, "Old man, how are you? Is it painful?" The old man thought she was mocking him and glared at her fiercely. Amandine didn’t care about it and went straight into the wooden house. Although the house was small, it had everything. After a round, he found an iron box under the bed, which was locked. He shouted to the old man outside the door, "What's in the box? Where's the key?"
The old man kept his lips shut and didn't speak. Uwa was afraid that he would be beaten by Amandine again, so she patted him and said, "Brother is asking you a question!"
After asking several questions in a row, the old man still didn't speak. Amandine was furious, took out a gun and walked over to point it at the old man's head, "If you let me ask you a second time, you won't live to see tomorrow."
Then the other party finally spoke, "There are some gold coins and several thousand shillings in it."
Amandine was overjoyed when he heard it, "You old man are quite rich, where is the key?"
The old man walked into the house and pointed to the front and said, "There is a button behind the painting on the wall, after pressing it, a space will appear, and the key is inside."
"You're not lying to me, are you? Will there be a hole in the ground after I press it and let me fall down?"
"Brother, be careful," Uwa also reminded.
Amandine was still very cautious and decided to let the old man get the key and stood there waiting. The old man reluctantly took the key and handed it over. Amandine took it with a nervous look on his face, thinking that he would have money to open a restaurant. When he opened the iron box, he found that there were indeed more than 30 gold coins, an old photo, and some shillings. The photo showed a woman. Amandine looked familiar, but couldn’t remember who she was. Uwa saw her and screamed, "Mom!" The woman in the photo was Mags, the woman who raised Uwa until she was six years old. She grabbed the old man’s shoulders and shook him hard, asking, "Where is Mom? You must know." The old man’s wound was scratched, and he whimpered in pain, "Let go first, it hurts so much!" Uwa let go and waited for an answer with wide eyes. After a while, the old man said, "Mags said she lost a daughter, could you be her?"
"Yes, where is she?" Uwa asked anxiously.
"She died three years ago, in this wooden house, so I have been staying here and don’t want to leave."
When Amandine heard that it was an acquaintance, he didn't know how to deal with it. He wanted to take away all the property here, but he was afraid that Uwa would be angry. When Uwa heard that her mother was dead, she cried "wow." This was the first time she cried in so many years, and the cry was deafening. Amandine covered his ears and ran out, thinking, is this woman a devil? She could make such a harsh sound. The old man also hurriedly followed him out and hid far away. After about ten minutes, the crying gradually subsided. The old man went back to the house to treat his wounds, and the relationship between the few people eased a little, and they were no longer on edge. Amandine had been thinking about the money in the iron box, but he couldn’t use force now, so he wanted Uwa to ask for it. The old man seemed to see what he was thinking and said in advance, "You can take half of the things in the box. It can be regarded as what Mags left for her daughter!"
Amandine was overjoyed when he heard it, and praised, "You are quite sensible, since you said so, I won't be polite." He kept his word and really only took half of the money in the box, and Uwa stopped crying. After Amandine got the things, he found a chair and sat down. Looking at the old man who was treating the wound, he asked, "Hey! What's your name?"
The old man looked up and glanced at him, and after a while he said, "My name is Ludes!"
Amandine nodded and asked Uwa on the side, "Are we going to stay here tonight, or leave immediately?"
"Let's go! Mom is gone, and I don't want to stay here."
"Okay!" He stood up from the chair, took two papayas on the table, and then waved to Ludes behind him, "Old man, we're leaving, thank you for your things."
Ludes couldn't wait for them to leave, and said, "You can come and sit down when you are free," but in his heart, he prayed that the two would never come again.