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

Chapter 71: Chapter 71: Riddled with Concerns

Seeing that his siblings wanted to follow their second brother, what choice did Gu Zhong have? Sticking together was certainly better than his family returning alone. He was the only able-bodied man in his household; he had to rely on his brother and sister.

Gu Zhong nodded. "My family will follow Gu Er as well."

Boss Zhang quickly chimed in. "I’ll listen to Second Brother Gu, too. Whatever Second Brother Gu says, goes."

The village head sighed. He actually wanted to turn back. He’d heard the elders talk about fleeing a disaster sixty years ago, about how terrifying the refugees were. Their eyes had gone red with hunger, and they would snatch anything that could be eaten.

When they were hungry enough, they even dared to eat people.

It was always safer at home than out in the wilderness.

He was silent for a long moment. "Then let Zhang decide."

When Gu Zhang saw everyone looking at him, he suddenly felt a heavy weight on his shoulders. He could only say, "My opinion is that we should keep moving forward."

"If it were just a drought this year, that would be one thing. We could tough it out. But the drought will continue next year and the year after. It’ll be impossible to survive at home. We have to leave, whether we want to or not."

Uncle Ma’s ears perked up. ’A drought next year and the year after, too?’

’Gu Zhang sounded so certain. How could he know that? Did he read the stars or something?’

"Taking a detour won’t work, either. With each passing day, life even here in West Qin County will only get harder. A family with grain today might have none tomorrow, and the number of refugees will only increase."

Everyone nodded. He had a point. A detour would waste time, and by then, there would be even more refugees.

"My thinking is we should stick to the original route. But we need to figure out a plan."

Gu Zhang looked toward Uncle Ma. "Uncle Ma, you worked for an escort agency when you were younger. What do you think? What should we do if we run into refugees? Should we hire some men from an agency?"

Uncle Ma shook his head. "I can’t say for sure whether we should hire people. In a situation like this, hiring too few would be useless. But if we hire too many, I’m afraid the cost in silver would be no small sum."

Just then, Gu Fei suddenly said, "Father, I have an idea."

"Let’s keep moving for now. If we meet any honest, reliable, able-bodied young men along the way, we can promise them full meals. The condition would be that they help protect our wagons and travel with us."

"For someone who has truly gone hungry, I think, they would be willing to lay down their life to protect the ones who are keeping their belly full."

"Besides, there are a good number of us. If we really run into robbers, we can all fight together. We’re definitely stronger than starving refugees. Why would we be afraid of losing a fight?"

Uncle Ma looked at Gu Fei. ’This girl... she’s really something else.’

’Shouldn’t a village girl be terrified to hear such things? Like that Xing’er, who was hiding behind her mother right now with a panicked look on her face. Now *that* was how a village girl was supposed to act.’

’But this Gu Fei girl actually dared to suggest a plan. And come to think of it, it wasn’t a half-bad plan either.’

Gu Zhang considered this for a long moment. "That’s one option."

"My only concern is that people we pick up along the way might not share our goals. You can’t judge whether someone is loyal and honest just by looking at them."

"So, we need to hire men, but not too many. If there are too many of them, they might just band together and steal all our grain."