Chapter 29: Chapter 029 Turmoil Begins
Gu Dashan, hearing Qi Yi's words, knew that Qi Yi was helping his family avoid attracting the villagers' attention, so he accepted the grain and water.
Qi Yi handed a small cloth bag to Gu Jinli and said, "This is a thank-you gift from my wife. She is very grateful you saved the child, but she is too weak to thank you in person right now, so she prepared this modest token for me to pass on to you."
Gu Jinli took the cloth bag and, feeling the granular sensation inside, was shocked; it contained—salt.
Salt, water, and food are essentials on the road to flee famine, and salt is easy to carry; as long as it's well hidden, it won't draw attention.
Knowing what was in the bag, Gu Jinli showed a genuine smile and said to Qi Yi, "Thank you, Uncle Qi."
Qi Yi gave a smile and had Housekeeper Lin bring over Village Chief Gu and the others.
As soon as they returned, they saw a bundle of grain and a bundle of water, their eyes lighting up. A few villagers even had a greedy gleam in their eyes, as if they wanted to snatch it.
Gu Jinli and Gu Jin'an noted their reactions.
Gu Jin'an, as the eldest son in the family, spoke on behalf of Gu Dashan, "Village Chief Grandpa, these are thank-you gifts from Qi Mansion to our family. My dad said that since we are all fleeing the famine together, this should be handed over to the village for Village Chief Grandpa to allocate."
Upon hearing this, Village Chief Gu was overjoyed and couldn't close his mouth: "Good, good, good, Dashan, you're someone who doesn't forget where you came from; the village will remember your kindness."
The villagers of Gu Family Village also started smiling happily.
Gu Ergou and his brother ran forward, pushing aside the two servants next to the bundles, volunteered to carry them and said to the village chief with a smile, "Village Chief Uncle, we will carry these back to the village for you."
Village Chief Gu glared at them, wanting to scold them, but felt it was not a good look, as they were still on Qi Mansion's camp grounds, so he just said gruffly, "Be careful, this is our village's grain and water; if you drop it, I won't forgive you."
These Gu Ergou brothers always like to take advantage of others. If they carry the food, surely they will pocket a good few handfuls for themselves.
The Gu Ergou brothers cheerfully said, "Don't you worry, Village Chief Uncle. Who do you think we are? We're the ones who can carry a 200-pound load for over ten miles on mountain roads without even panting."
Village Chief Gu didn't want to bother with the brothers and said to Qi Yi, "Young Master Qi, it's getting late. If you have no further orders, we'll be heading back."
They had been out for a long time, and now it was getting completely dark. With nearly half of the able-bodied men from the village here, only women and children remained at the village's resting place, and they worried something might happen if they returned too late.
Qi Yi said, "Village Chief, take your time leaving."
Village Chief Gu then led everyone back to Gu Family Village's resting place, smiling all the way.
Back at the resting place, Village Chief Gu instructed the villagers to notify each household to come to his resting place to collect water and food.
When the villagers of Gu Family Village heard that there was food and water to collect, they were all elated but afraid to attract the attention of other refugees, not daring to show too much eagerness. They took their water jars and cloth bags and quickly headed to the village chief's resting place.
Once all the villagers of Gu Family Village were gathered, Village Chief Gu said, "Xiao Yu saved the young master of Qi Mansion, and the grain and water are thank-you gifts from Qi Mansion to Xiao Yu. But Dashan and his family, considering us all, have given the grain and water to the village for everyone to share."
Village Chief Gu, pointing at the bundle of grain and water, said, "We're all benefiting from Dashan's family's generosity, so we shouldn't be too greedy. I've decided to give ten pounds of grain and one jar of water to Dashan's family, and the rest will be distributed among everyone else."
The villagers had no objections; after all, this was Gu Dashan's family's property, and being able to share in it was already fortunate.
Seeing their agreement, Village Chief Gu had his son Gu Dafu give ten pounds of grain and one jar of water to Gu Dashan's family.
And then, the distribution of grain and water began.
Gu Family Village had a total of over two hundred people, comprising around fifty households. The grain provided by Qi Mansion was almost one hundred and fifty catties, allowing each family to receive about three catties. On the famine escape route, this was considered quite a substantial amount of grain.
After receiving the grain and water, villagers were all smiles, praising Gu Dashan's family.
Ms. Zhang braved herself to come to the resting area at the village chief's house, and whispered to the village chief: "Village Chief, I've come to collect our family's grain and water."
Upon hearing this, Third Son Gu's daughter-in-law burst into laughter, her voice sharp as she said: "Oh, isn't this Third Son Gu's wife? Your Third Son Gu has sold off Brother Dashan's family, and you still have the face to come and claim grain?"
She patted the cloth bag holding the grain and said: "This grain was given to the village by Brother Dashan's family, do you really have the cheek to ask for it?"
Ms. Zhang, her face red with embarrassment, did not retort but continued with her head lowered: "Village Chief, my mother asked me to collect the grain and water."
Village Chief Gu, remembering Qi Yi's care for Gu Dashan's family, said: "There's no grain for you, go back. Tell your father-in-law and mother-in-law that Dashan's family is no longer their son, and stop causing things that make us all look bad."
Third Son Gu's daughter-in-law, hearing the village chief's words, laughed even louder, shouting: "Did you hear that? There's no grain for you, scram now."
Ms. Zhang couldn't stay any longer upon hearing this, and left in a hurry.
Old Gu Family, seeing Ms. Zhang returning without grain and water, were all furious, with Little Sister Gu cursing: "Just because you're lucky today you think you can soar high into the sky, it's just a few grains of rice and a few sips of water, we don't care for it!"
Mrs. Gu also said: "We are a scholar's family, we are unlike those provincials, not bowing down for a mere five bushels of rice."
However, Qian Li'er was filled with hatred, staring at the village chief's resting spot with poisonous eyes, thinking to herself, cursed Gu Xiaoyu and Gu Jinxiu, wait for it, one day she would avenge today's humiliation!
...
After the distribution of grain was finished, Village Chief Gu appointed some villagers for night watch, and the rest of the villagers went back to their places.
Gu Jinli's family returned to their resting area alongside Third Grandma and Third Grandpa.
Everyone today was exhausted, they chatted briefly before going to sleep.
Gu Jinli reached into her cloth bag and pulled out two pieces of paper; one was a fifty-tael silver note, presumably given to her specifically by Qi Yi, while the other seemed to be a letter.
Reading by the light of the campfire, she saw a line written on it: Heading east carries many dangers, try to move south as much as possible.
Gu Jinli felt a sinking feeling in her heart as she read this line. It was as she suspected, with all the refugees heading eastwards in droves; tens of thousands of them could easily cause a mayhem. Once it began, the consequences were unimaginable.
It was now autumn, and it was too cold in the east. There was a possibility that they would freeze to death before even reaching Yangji Prefecture.
The south, however, was warm and had plenty of water and vegetation, and the refugees hardly went south. The journey was much safer, and they could find more to eat along the way.
The 𝘮ost uptodat𝑒 novels are pub𝙡ished on freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.
It seemed she must figure out a way to convince her family to head south instead of continuing east.
The next day, at the crack of dawn, the sound of the watchmen's clappers rang out again. The refugees got up and gathered to continue their eastward escape from famine. But when they stopped to rest in the evening, she could no longer see the carriages of Qi Mansion.
Qi Mansion had quickened the pace of escape, completely separating from these refugees.
After three more days of travel, the situation on the road had not improved but had worsened. Gu Jinli keenly noticed some strange new faces among the refugees.
