Chapter 9: and

Staring at Old Man Li for a long while, until he made Old Man Li feel guilty, Old Man Li finally said, "Going to the riverside is just a lie. We are going to escape, escape into the mountains downstream."

Escape... escape. What a terrifying word.

The group: "..."

It took a long while for everyone to come back to their senses. The quick-tongued Jiang-shi immediately blurted out, "Father, have you gone senile!?"

Jiang-shi really wanted to crack open her father-in-law's head to see what was inside; how could he have such a stupid idea?

Glancing at Jiang-shi, his gaze swept over the second son's wife, Zhang-shi, and then settled on his son-in-law, Pan Dalin.

"You know best how dangerous the mountains are, and you can imagine how dangerous the drought-stricken mountains are. But compared to the mountains, this place will likely be even more dangerous before long... Between two evils, choose the lesser. Our family's survival depends on you."

Pan Dalin, suddenly burdened with a mission, looked bewildered.

"The weather this year is too strange; next year might be a drought as well. Many people have been here for over two months, some even since the end of June. For these past few months, the imperial court has been transporting grain here."

"Even without mentioning what happened last year, the court's grain reserves cannot last a whole year or more. In a situation where there is no food in the entire country, refugees killing and eating people might become a common occurrence... Our family, not many people, with the old and the young, if we drag it out like this, I fear we will all perish."

They could refute anything else by saying, "Father, you're overthinking it," but the mention of killing and eating people stirred fear from the depths of their souls. Just thinking that their own family could become someone else's rations made them tremble.

"Although the mountains are equally dangerous, at least we can be certain we won't be eaten by people."

Cannibalism—what a terrifying thing. And when that moment truly arrives, who can guarantee they won't be the ones eating, and who can guarantee they won't be the ones whose children are eaten?

"Father, although I cannot guarantee everyone's safety, I will do my best." Pan Dalin felt the weight of the entire family resting on his shoulders.

In the mountains, where there is water, there is generally no shortage of prey. As long as they find water, they won't worry about food. But people know this logic, and animals do too, so places with water are exceptionally dangerous. Yet, compared to the possibility of his own children becoming food for others, he would rather take that risk.

The potential situation was too frightening. The next morning, everyone in Baitang Village carried their bundles toward the river. The yamen runners, having seen too many people afraid of them, paid no mind to the panicked, shifty eyes of the villagers when they met.

"Try to go further down, don't cause trouble for others, and don't foul the water people drink." Raising his voice, the village chief watched everyone's backs before heading off to collect grain with the townspeople.

The grain for this day was also life-saving grain. Besides, if he didn't actively collect it, that would be what drew people's attention.

The people of Baitang Village leaving the camp with large and small bundles was indeed eye-catching, but since Old Man Li told everyone he met that they were collectively cleaning their belongings, it only drew a few extra glances.

Once out of the camp, Qin Wangshu was surprised to see green wheat fields.

"These wheat seedlings are truly good. In previous years, they would have been covered in snow by this time." Old Mother Li, also leaving the camp for the first time, sighed as she looked at the fields along the way.

"Water is the foundation of life. As long as there is water, even if the weather is abnormal, some vegetation can survive." Withdrawing her gaze, Qin Wangshu secretly thought that if they could find a larger lake or pond, they could at least plant some wheat. If they could harvest it next spring, they could plant much more summer wheat.

...

The two-li journey was not long. In less than ten minutes, the group arrived at the riverside. The sun had just risen, and many people were using gourds to fetch water and wash their faces. Of course, many had already taken good spots, preparing to catch fish.

"Further down! We have many people; the water will get muddy as soon as we get in." Old Man Li shouted, urging the women who wanted to approach the water as soon as they saw it to keep moving down. Hearing this, the people fetching water at the riverside hurried them along.

"Go further down, you lot are taking up too much space."

Since people were shooing them, Old Man Li naturally had to be tactful. He immediately led everyone further down, and by the time they unloaded their bundles, the nearest person was already two thousand meters away.

"Take out anything that can dry by noon first. In the afternoon, try to pick out things you can do without to dry."

"Old Man Li, everyone chose good things when they left home; where would there be anything to discard now?" A woman felt that Old Man Li was speaking without feeling the pain. "Why don't you ask my sister and see if she has anything she can throw away?"

Old Mother Li, who was busy arranging her children, turned back upon hearing this prickly remark. "Old man, you aren't the village chief, why are you worrying about things? Let people wash however they want."

"Old sister, that's not how you say it. Everyone is listening. The village chief entrusted everyone to your old man."

"Are you implying that if my old man told you to go eat dung, you'd go running to do it too?"

Choked by her words, the gossiping woman turned her face away.

Rolling her eyes at her, Old Mother Li turned back to arrange her children. "Take out all the clothes. Don't touch the quilts; wash the bedsheets and bundle cloths..."

Accompanied by Old Mother Li's loud arrangements, the Li family children began to act. The women washed clothes, the men scrubbed pots and bowls, and Old Man Li took the children to gather branches for wood ash, then fetched water to wash a patch of stones clean.

It was the first time Qin Wangshu had used wood ash to wash clothes, and she found it novel, though getting the sweat stains off the collars wasn't easy.

Watching Qin Wangshu's movements as she rubbed the clothes, Li Xiaoxia hurriedly taught her, "Fourth Sister-in-law, you have to do it like this, use force!"

Listening to the sound of water being squeezed from the fabric and watching Li Xiaoxia use all her strength to rub the cloth against the stones, Qin Wangshu nodded silently.

Unfortunately, this was the first time Qin Wangshu had ever washed clothes, let alone such dirty ones, so no matter how she looked at it, it felt awkward.

Li Jiang, who had been keeping an eye on his young wife, sped up the sharpening of his knife. After sharpening the family's kitchen knife, wood-chopping knife, axe, and sickle, and attaching a handle to the hoe, he walked over.

"I'll do it, you go sit aside."

Qin Wangshu, who hadn't managed to clean the collar after a long time, didn't actually want to go aside, but as the pile of clean clothes beside her sister-in-law Li Xiaoxia grew, while she hadn't even finished one, she decisively gave up her spot.

It wasn't as if she hadn't washed them before; for the past three months, the original owner's clothes had been washed by Li Jiang.

Having her work taken away, Qin Wangshu didn't stay idle. If she couldn't wash, she could at least rinse. So, she stepped into the water and rinsed the clothes for Old Mother Li and Li Xiaoxia.

Don't look at Old Mother Li as just a rough village woman; she was actually quite particular. She let the young girl wash her own clothes, but she washed Old Man Li's herself. Therefore, Qin Wangshu wouldn't run into her father-in-law's clothes while rinsing for Li Xiaoxia. Although Li Xiaoxia was only twelve, she was already a veteran at washing clothes for several years. It was only four sets of clothes, and she was already nearly finished.

After helping Li Xiaoxia rinse the clothes, Li Jiang had also finished washing two sets. Turning around, Qin Wangshu began to rinse again.