Farming Family's Pocket Dimension: A Charmed Little Lady Comes to Farm

Chapter 64: Chapter 64: Where Does It End?

Gu Fei was suddenly reminded of her past life in the military. No wonder soldiers always wore leg wraps.

’I should have thought of this sooner.’

Little Cao piped up from the side, "Grandma, wrap my legs, too."

Mrs. Chen smiled. "You barely walk at all. You don’t need them."

Li Chunhua and Lan Zhi helped each other put on their wraps. Lan Zhi looked down at her own legs. ’She never imagined she would one day leave the house looking so strange.’

’But there was no other choice. Her legs were so sore she could barely lift them.’

That wasn’t all. After the old lady left the room, Gu Fei pulled Lan Zhi aside. From her dimensional space, she took out a compact of contouring powder she had used in her past life and brushed it all over Lan Zhi’s face.

At first, Lan Zhi thought Gu Fei was just applying makeup. But when she saw her own grimy reflection in the bronze mirror, she jumped. "What did you do to my face?"

Gu Fei pinched her cheek. "You’re too beautiful. It’s not safe on the road. What if we run into soldiers or bandits and they carry you off?"

"I didn’t think of this yesterday."

The moment Lan Zhi heard that, she nodded eagerly, wishing Gu Fei would apply even more.

When they came out of the room, Mrs. Chen and Li Chunhua had already started making breakfast: a porridge of wild greens and white rice, served with pickled vegetables and cornmeal cakes.

After the meal, Mrs. Chen had Gu Erlang fetch two more buckets of water. She purified it by stirring in some alum, brought it to a boil in a large cauldron, and then filled all their waterskins.

Every other family was doing much the same.

Their uncle’s family was smaller, so they only bought one bucket of water. They boiled it, sealed it in a jar, and gave what was left to their mule.

Around 5:00 AM, the mules were led out and harnessed. Uncle Ma shouted, "Time to go! Everyone, let’s pick up the pace today. We’ll try to reach Fuyuan Town by evening to rest."

Not long after they set out, they noticed the main road was a little more crowded than it had been the day before.

Gu Zhang spotted a group of more than a dozen people walking on the road. Dressed in rags and carrying bundles, the group of men and women, old and young, looked like a family. He approached an elderly man to inquire, "Sir, where are you all headed?"

The old man shook his head. "We don’t know. We’ll go as far as our legs will carry us."

"Our family only had three acres of land to begin with. The grain ran out back in the spring, and now with this drought, we didn’t harvest a single thing this year. We’ve had no food at home for half a year. There’s no way to survive by staying, but out here... maybe we have a chance."

Gu Zhang sighed. The old man then asked, "And where are you folks headed?"

Gu Zhang replied, "We’re heading south. The south isn’t suffering from drought. All these northern counties are bone-dry. We don’t even have enough drinking water back home. It’s impossible to live."

The old man was stunned. "Several counties are dry? Then how far does this road go?"

"I was hoping things would get better once we reached West Mountain County. I have a few able-bodied men in my family; we could have worked as hired hands just to get something to eat."

Gu Zhang shook his head. "They’re all dry. West Mountain County is probably even worse off than our home. In recent years, our West Qin County has had a good Prefectural Governor. He reduced many of the exorbitant taxes and commissioned water conservation projects, so most families were getting by."

"West Mountain County has many coal mountains, so the land already produces little. I’m afraid things are even tougher there."

A bewildered look crossed the old man’s face. ’If there’s no way to survive in West Mountain County, then what are we to do?’

"Then which part of the south are you heading to?"

Gu Zhang replied, "We’re heading southeast, toward East Sea County."

The old man shook his head. "Wouldn’t Han Zhong County be closer? That’s considered the south, too. It has a great river, so it couldn’t possibly have a drought. I went there myself when I was a young man."