I survived the famine by scavenging and supported my family.

Ning's father suppressed his curiosity, and soon he saw the village chief leading the villagers back safely.

"What's wrong?" Ning's parents whispered.

"I guess the village chief noticed something was wrong," Ning's mother replied.

In their village, the village headman is the most capable and respected, while the village chief is the wisest, but he has a sharp tongue and loves to curse, so many villagers dislike him.

After the village chief brought the people back, two families were still regretting that they couldn't buy cheap water. Unexpectedly, they weren't even allowed to rest. The village chief urged them to leave quickly.

"What's going on?" Zhao Ningning asked.

"Don't ask." Ning's father shushed him, pulling the reins and turning the horse around. "The only answer is to run."

After saying that, Ning's father cracked the whip, and the horse pulled the cart along, its four hooves clattering away.

Just as they ran, a group of people suddenly rushed up from the road, each carrying a weapon—not the farm tools and machetes they had just seen, but real large machetes!

The villagers who were slow to pack up were so shocked by what they saw that their eyes almost popped out of their sockets. They didn't even have time to pack their things, so they just threw the items in their hands onto the car and ran forward without a care in the world.

Wang Xiufeng picked up his broadsword, led his two brothers on horseback to the very back, and together with the village chief's two sons, guarded the very end of the procession.

After exchanging blows with that group of people, Wang Xiufeng felt a chill run down his spine. These people were all trained martial artists; they were not ordinary villagers!

They must have been robbing people along the way, and then settled in Dadong Village, where they pretended to be locals and continued to rob people on the road.

Just as Wang Xiufeng had guessed, this group of people were indeed robbing people along the way. They wanted to see which team could afford to pay one or two taels of silver for water so they could take them over.

In the past, they encountered only fat sheep who didn't care about money but wanted lives. Once they saw silver, they would take it all, demanding not only silver, but also food, water, horses, and carriages, and even human lives!

All the able-bodied men were killed, the old men were kept to work, the children were raised for the time being, and when they craved meat, they were dragged out. The obedient women were kept for people's pleasure, and the disobedient ones were beaten and locked up. After they lost their will to live, they were dragged out and raped.

"Committing all kinds of evil" is not enough to describe them.

Unexpectedly, the group they encountered today, which looked quite large, was actually incredibly stingy. Only a few families had money. They originally intended to take these people who came to buy water hostage and demand money and food from those families, or else they would kill them.

Unexpectedly, the villagers were quite vigilant; before they could even get close to the transaction, someone chased after them and stopped them.

Seeing that their plan had failed, they were unwilling to give up and called for reinforcements to chase after them, thinking that killing a few wouldn't be a bad idea.

After the initial engagement, Wang Xiu gave orders: one man went ahead to warn others to prepare cotton fireballs, while the rest continued to resist the occasional pursuers.

After being chased for a quarter of an hour, the cotton fireballs were ready. Wang Xiufeng, with his excellent aim, threw them directly at the people. The group of thieves did not expect this move and were caught off guard. They were hit by the fireballs and immediately burst into flames.

The fireball halted their attack.

The people of Wangli Village ran for twenty li in one go, and only slowed down when they saw that no one was chasing them.

I dare not stop, for fear of being caught up again.

Wang Xiufeng told his younger brother to keep an eye on things behind him, and then rode his horse to the front to tell his father his earlier guess.

The village chief was also present. After listening to Wang Xiufeng's words, he nodded repeatedly, "That's what I think too."

Even ordinary people with muscles wouldn't have such a well-proportioned physique, especially now during a year of famine. It's even more impossible for them to grow up so well just by eating food and drinking water under such circumstances.

The village chief, after making contact with the village head, immediately suspected something was wrong and rushed to stop the village head and his men. Fortunately, he managed to stop them.

Otherwise, their team would have lost more than just a tael of silver for water.

After surviving the ordeal, the people of Wangli Village were still pounding with fear.

Wildfires came first, followed by man-made disasters.

Where will this end?

Everyone felt terrible.

After walking slowly for more than an hour, more and more teams joined in from various side roads and official roads.

The group from Wangli Village carefully huddled together, walking slowly along the edge of the path.

The more people there are, the closer they are to Huangshi County.

The closer you get to Huangshi County, the less vegetation there is on both sides of the road, and most of what is exposed are large yellow or reddish-brown stones.

The mountain gradually became steeper, and from a distance, the mountaintop was a bare rock with vegetation growing only in the crevices between the rocks.

Some mountains are even made up of large chunks of rock.

After rounding a bend, the rugged mountains receded, and a small, barren plain appeared before us.

That's Huangshi County!

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and a renewed hope for life rekindled in their hearts.

Upon reaching the area below Huangshi County, the people of Wangli Village were overjoyed to see that the city gates were still open, feeling that they had finally "made it through".

The line from Wangli Village was at the very back, with countless people ahead of them. Although it was slow, Huangshi County kept putting people in.

As long as the line keeps moving, it'll eventually be your turn!

After settling the team in, the village head and the village chief went ahead to gather information.

After gathering their information, the two returned looking pale and sickly.

There's no other reason than that Huangshi County only allows entry, not exit.

And you have to pay money to enter, just like in Heqing County, one tael of silver per person. Fortunately, livestock and horse-drawn carriages are not charged separately here.

With Heqing County demanding exorbitant prices before them, and Lingbei Prefecture blocking their way, the people of Wangli Village readily accepted Huangshi County's offer of entry for just one tael of silver.

Another reason is that they had just "earned" some money a few days ago, which was enough to cover the expenses.

Old Zhao's family.

Granny Qian guarded her money bag tightly.

They don't squander their money like that.

Granny Qian looked left and right, and came up with a plan—

They hid Zhao Sixia and Zhao Qian in the boxes on the cart.

That way we can save at least two taels of silver!

—Oh dear, why didn't I think of that last time? If I had, I could have saved those two taels of silver!

Granny Qian was filled with regret and heartache.

While the group was at the back and no one was paying attention, Granny Qian instructed her two daughters-in-law to empty the contents of the box.

While watching them work, Granny Qian lamented about Zhao Huilan, "If only you were younger, you could squeeze into the trunk and save an ounce!"

Zhao Huilan remained expressionless; she had no desire to be confined in a stuffy, poorly ventilated box!

Luckily, she's too old and tall to fit inside.

Once the boxes were cleared out, Granny Qian took advantage of the night to have Si Xiaozi and Liu Ya each crawl into one of the boxes.

You know what, they were ten and six years old respectively, and they fit perfectly inside!

They can even put a few pieces of clothing on their heads to cover themselves.

Once the deal was finalized, Granny Qian waited until it was their turn in line, then, when no one was looking, she stuffed the two children into a box and took a cart full of junk with nowhere to go into the city.

Once inside the city gate, we pulled the cart through a long, fenced road.

At the end of the road, there were yamen runners guarding the area. When they saw people coming, they led each household to a large tent.

The Zhao family members, unaware of what was going on, followed the instructions of the yamen runners. As soon as they entered the tent, a soldier collected silver from each person.

The carriage didn't even overturn, and the constables didn't bother with it until it passed by.

Granny Qian was secretly delighted; they had just saved two taels of silver! That was two taels of silver!

No sooner had they been happy than, as they stepped out of the tent, Old Zhao's carriage, horse and all, was dragged away by the yamen runners.

Seeing that the carriage was about to be pulled out of sight, Granny Qian grew anxious and asked the soldiers guarding the gate, "What are you doing? Are you checking the carriage?"

Who inspects a carriage while hiding from the owner? And this isn't how you steal something from a carriage!

The constable, unfazed by Granny Qian's reaction, drew his sword from its sheath and threatened, "Go away! You still want a carriage?! We're already being lenient by letting you into the city!"

"No, where's our carriage?!" Old Zhao shouted. "Without a carriage, how are we going to get around?!"

Let's not even talk about the carriage; we bought that skinny horse halfway there for a lot of money!

"roll!"

The constable drew his sword and pointed it at the group of people. After he drew his sword, the constables standing around him all drew their swords as well.

There were more than a dozen large knives pointed at her, and Granny Qian's legs began to tremble uncontrollably.

The thought of her carriage and horses being dragged away by these bandit-like yamen runners made her grit her teeth and say, "Give us back our carriage and the silver! We're not going into the city!"

"That's not up to you." The bailiff thrust the knife forward, and a bloody gash immediately appeared on Granny Qian's neck.

When she felt a sharp pain in her neck, Granny Qian thought her head was about to fall off. She was so terrified that she collapsed to the ground.

"roll!"

The bailiff pointed the tip of his knife at the person on the ground.

This time, the Zhao family was very obedient. Old Zhao carefully reached out from the side and pulled the terrified Granny Qian towards the exit.

Only after they had run far away did Old Man Zhao remember that his fourth son and sixth daughter were still in the box in their carriage!

What should we do?!

Seeing that his wife was terrified, Old Zhao had no choice but to muster his courage and go to the exit area to ask the yamen runner.

"Young man... there are two important things on my carriage that were just taken away. They're not valuable, but they're important. Could you please do me a favor?"

Want to get preferential treatment without offering any reward? The gatekeeper waved his hand impatiently: "Get out, get out, get out!"

Old Zhao said sheepishly, "Sir, would you please go and ask around about that carriage..."

The constable interrupted him, saying irritably, "Fifty taels of silver per cart! Either pay up, or get out!"

Fifty taels! Even if you sold their whole family, you couldn't scrape together that much silver!

Old Zhao hesitated, wondering whether to reveal that there were two children in the carriage. Unexpectedly, when the yamen runners inside saw that they were still blocking the way, they came out with large knives.

Old Zhao hurriedly pulled his family towards the city.

the other side.

Zhao Ningning's family was placed at the back of the line this time, so they didn't need to touch anything outside the carriage, but they needed to "disguise" the inside of the carriage.

Having learned from her previous experience traveling from Heqing County to the city, Ning's mother still only put some leftover food in the carriage and just enough water to fill the bucket.

They also picked out some of the bowls, chopsticks, and stoves that they might need on their escape route, making the carriage look more like a place of "life".

After everything was mostly set up and their carriages were almost ready, Ningning's family began their journey into the city.

Upon entering, they passed through a corridor and were led into a tent. Ning's father took out four taels of silver from his pocket, and the family handed it over respectfully.

Once outside the tent, Ning's father sat directly on the hood of the carriage, ready to start the horses, when a yamen runner next to him reached out and pulled him aside.

Having undergone special training from Ning's mother and been a refugee during the famine, Ning's father was not immediately pulled off the bus.

"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Ning's father looked around, a smile spreading across his face. "You can't drive here, right? Zhou, come and hold my hand."

After he finished speaking, he smiled at the constable and said, "Officer, I won't drive the carriage; my wife will pull it."

As soon as Ning's father said this, everyone in Zhao Ningning's family became extremely alert.

Something's not right! Something's very wrong!

Following his words, Ning's mother smiled at the yamen runner and said, "Alright!"

As she spoke, she reached out and took the reins from Ning's father.

"Hey!" The constable stopped them with his scabbard, displeased. "Who told you to lead the carriage yourselves!"

Ning's father chuckled and said, "We can't trouble the officials to lead the horse, can we? It's just a few steps; my wife can lead it."

"Who said you could lead the carriage yourselves!" The constable snatched the reins from Ning's parents and shooed them away, saying, "Get out!"

"This? What is this?" Ning's father asked in surprise, his hands hovering helplessly in the air.

"Do I have to spell it out so clearly?" He raised his head, and the lower-ranking yamen runners around him stepped forward to block the carriage's path.

Helpless, Ning's father could only get out of the carriage and plead with the bailiff, "Sir, this carriage has been passed down through generations of my family, and it has accompanied us all this way during our escape from famine..."

"Sir, may I ask how we can keep this carriage? If we can keep it, we can..."

Ning's father glanced at the two children behind him, then pulled Zhao Qi over, saying, "We'll give you our son!"

In ancient times, boys were much more valuable than girls!

"Go away! Who wants a child this big!" The constable was getting impatient. This person was still bothering them, and it wouldn't be good if the people behind them realized something was wrong and turned around and ran away.

It needs to be resolved as soon as possible.

After he finished driving it away, he walked around the carriage and kicked it with his foot. The carriage looked ordinary and was made of just common wood.

The only difference between this carriage and others is that its wheels are thicker than those of other carriages.

The constable squeezed it with his hand; there was a tattered cloth wrapped around the wheel, but nothing unusual inside.

"Fifty taels, take this carriage with you."

They had a fixed price for impounding and secretly reselling horse-drawn carriages.

The higher-ups would collect thirty taels or a horse-drawn carriage, then they would add another layer in between, making twenty taels in total.

Nobody would turn down money.

But not everyone can afford fifty taels of silver, and this family doesn't seem like they can afford that much.

This constable had no hope at all.

Unexpectedly, the man opposite him felt a pang of heartache upon hearing this. He grimaced and rummaged through his clothes, then crawled back into the carriage and managed to scrape together thirty taels of silver.

Thirty taels of silver was still short of fifty taels, so the man ordered his wife to take out a gold hairpin that she had hidden to pay for it. In the end, he even took out the dozen or so copper coins that the two children had hidden on them.

After calculating from both sides, it comes to approximately forty-nine taels and eight hundred and ninety-seven coins.