I survived the famine by scavenging and supported my family.

The shouts of killing grew closer and closer. Ning's mother came out of the carriage and exchanged a glance with Ning's father.

"I'll go see what's going on!" Ning's father dropped the reins and instructed Ning's mother, "Keep an eye on the child."

Using the carriage as cover, Ning's mother took out a large knife and threw it to Ning's father, saying, "Be careful."

After taking the knife, Ning's father blended into the crowd.

He wanted to see what was going on up ahead!

He struggled to move forward amidst the crowd, receiving a barrage of complaints along the way. When he finally managed to squeeze to the front, he discovered that two families were engaged in a brawl, blocking the city gate from the city!

People around tried to persuade them, but the two families ignored them. The men on both sides were fighting each other, and the women were hitting each other on the side. The fight was fierce!

After asking around among the onlookers, Ning's father learned that the two families were wealthy households in Huangshi County.

The two companies have a business dispute, and they always compete to be number one. Who would have thought that they would be competing for this even just to leave the city gate!

They had a lot of things and their vehicles blocking the entrance because of the fight. The people behind them couldn't persuade them to move forward, and they couldn't get through either.

There was a blockage in front, and then someone else attacked from behind.

Ning's father was so angry he laughed. So while they were blocking the way behind and worried sick, they were fighting over who should get out of the city first.

He saw that the horses of both families were panting heavily under the city gate. After thinking for a moment, Ning's father walked around the crowd of onlookers and ran along the city wall to the two families' carriages.

Raising his knife, Ning's father stabbed the horse in the rump. The horse, in pain, instinctively bolted forward.

One horse wasn't enough, so Ning's dad quickly jumped off the car and started stabbing the other horse's rump.

One carriage after another sped towards the city gate. With such a commotion, the two families who were fighting finally noticed that their carriages were moving away.

The fighting stopped, and they quickly turned back to chase after the carriage.

They may care about saving face, but the carriage was full of their belongings, and they couldn't afford to lose them!

Once the people at the front of the line left, the carriages behind them slid out of the city like a flood.

Ning's father was swept out of the city gate by the crowd. As soon as he got out, he stopped by the gate and anxiously looked into the city.

Just before we came out, the rioters behind us were almost catching up to our convoy. I don't know what's going on...

So many cars look almost identical, it's really hard to tell them apart.

Thinking this, Ning's father saw a bright red carriage emerge from the city gate like a shooting star.

Ning's father: "..."

Alright, now we know where the team from Wangli Village is.

Sure enough, he looked ahead and easily found his own carriage in the caravan. He jogged and merged into the flow of carriages. As he approached his carriage, Ning's father called out, "Lanxiang!"

Seeing Zhao Xingmao return unharmed, Zhou Lanxiang felt a huge weight lifted from her heart. Holding the reins in one hand, she stretched out the other towards him: "Come here!"

Zhao Xingmao grabbed his wife's hand and, with a little help, returned to the carriage.

Ning's mother focused on getting on her way, while Ning's father recounted the fight that had just taken place at the city gate.

"They really don't know their place! What time is it? Fighting over something like this delays their departure from the city. They're risking their lives!" Ning's mother shook her head, then changed the subject to Ning's father, saying, "There are refugees behind us. They're catching up."

"Refugees?"

"It's that group from Heqing County," Zhao Ningning interjected. "They tried to climb into our car just now, but my mother took them down one by one with a knife."

"Just when it was possible to move around ahead, my brother drove the car, I kept an eye on the surroundings, and my mother fought monsters."

Zhao Ningning mixed up modern terms with ancient forms of address and told her father what had just happened.

After hearing this, Ning's father felt a headache coming on. "Refugees... refugees are not as simple as ordinary groups of people fleeing famine."

They're much more ruthless than ordinary robbers... You'd better be careful on the road ahead.

After the car drove a short distance out of the city, the people of Wangli Village gradually gathered together.

During the run, several families in the group got separated. The village headman counted them and found that only twenty households remained.

In just a few days, Wangli Village dwindled from 39 households to only 20.

The number of people has dwindled from over 250 to just over 100.

Those who have become separated cannot be waited for indefinitely, as there are still refugees and wildfires behind them.

The village head sighed and urged the group to move forward quickly.

10:00 AM.

After having breakfast, Ning's father and Zhao Qi handed over their shift to Ning's mother and went back to their carriage to rest.

Seeing that the village head showed no sign of stopping, Zhao Ningning coiled the package in her hand into a hat and put it on her head.

The curling stone, wrapped in a bag, sent a chill down from the top of the head to every part of the body.

This didn't dispel much of the heat from outside, and Zhao Ningning's cheeks were flushed red, which made her mother feel very distressed.

"Why don't you go back first? There's nothing to do during the day, so you don't need to stay here with me."

"No, I'll go with you." Zhao Ningning shook her head. "If I don't get a tan, I'll look different from everyone else."

Even with the car roof providing some shade, Ning's parents still got tanned from the heat during their travels. Zhao Qi, needless to say, gets tanned very quickly. Only Zhao Ningning is slightly fairer than the other three.

Apart from the Shang family mother and son, their entire family was among the top-ranked "white" members in the group.

The carriage continued on its way, and by 11 a.m., the sun was so intense it felt like people were about to crack, so the village headman finally ordered the group to stop and rest.

Among the twenty households, there was also Old Zhao's family, who were pulling a wedding cart.

They were originally at the back of the group, but when they left the city, Old Zhao kept a close eye on the village head's house and ran alongside them. In addition, they only had one cart, which was not heavy because there was not much on it, so they were able to catch up with the group.

But... I did manage to keep up with the group, but the car was completely empty, there was nothing inside!

In the past two days, they used the loose silver they had hidden on their person to buy a small stove and a small earthenware pot in Huangshi County.

They then used their remaining silver to exchange for a bag of grain.

This is the food ration for their entire family, just one person.

Because they didn't have buckets, they didn't even have water.

Many families in the group are in a similar situation to Old Zhao's. They all had their carriages confiscated by the yamen runners when they entered the city, caught off guard.

All the belongings in the car were also taken away.

Now they only have a little bit of food and water that they bought with the silver they hid, and nothing else!

"Er Ya, go and gather some firewood," Granny Qian ordered from the wedding carriage.

"Liu Ya...you, you go and pick them up with your second sister."

Zhao Sixia was too young, so Zhao Laosan naturally disagreed with her going to work alone with Erya. He stood up and stopped her, saying, "Mother! Let's forget about Sixia, she's still too young."

—What do you mean Liuya is still young? Am I that old?!

—I never had to do any housework at home before!

Zhao Huilan harbored resentment in her heart, yet dared not disobey her grandmother.

Yesterday she disobeyed her grandmother by refusing to go find firewood, so her grandmother didn't cook for her that day.

She only gets one bowl of thin, watery porridge a day, so thin it's like a mirror, and even that's not allowed to be drunk by her grandma!

Having not eaten for a day and a night, Zhao Huilan's stomach was so hungry it felt like it was being twisted into a knot, both painful and aching.

Touching her belly, Zhao Huilan went to search in the nearby woods.

What's better than Huangshi County is that this is a dead forest, with dried branches scattered all over the ground, which can be picked up and used for firewood.

Other families were also gathering firewood.

As she was picking things up, Zhao Huilan saw someone peeling the bark off a tree.

She thought for a moment, and realized that the bark must be useful! Otherwise, the villagers wouldn't have gone to the trouble of peeling it.

After the man finished peeling and left, Zhao Huilan quietly followed him and peeled off a pile of bark as well.

When she saw Er Ya return carrying a pile of tree bark, Granny Qian didn't immediately realize what was going on. But after recognizing the bark, she beamed and clapped her hands, exclaiming, "Oh dear! How could I forget about it! This is edible tree bark!"

"Huilan, where did you find it? Are there any more?"

Hearing her grandmother call her that, Zhao Huilan chuckled to herself: Now she knows to call her by her name.

"In the woods just now," Zhao Huilan said, "I saw someone peeling some, so I peeled some too, but I don't know if there are any more of these trees."

"Come on, come on!" Granny Qian laughed and pulled her along. "Take us there, we'll get a lot!"

This tree is called the rice tree. It is rare in the Lingnan area and can only be found further north. When the rice tree blooms, it is as dense and white as rice grains, hence the name rice tree.

Its bark is silvery-white, and you can peel it off, cook it, and eat it! Inside the bark are layers of something, and if you chew on them for a while, you can even taste the flavor of rice!

Granny Qian had only eaten it once before she got married, and she had never eaten it again after that. Therefore, she forgot about it during the journey of fleeing famine!

Fortunately, we've now entered the Lingbei region. These rice trees thrive in the north, so we'll encounter more and more of them as we travel further!

Granny Qian pulled Zhao Huilan into the woods; what she could think of, others in the group could certainly think of as well.

Even if they couldn't think of it, they would follow suit if they saw others peeling tree bark to eat.

Before long, the families who had stopped to rest at the edge of the woods went into the woods to peel bark from the trees.

Granny Qian led Zhao Huilan and the others there early and brought back a large pile of bark as food. Zhao Laosan and the others didn't mind being tired and ran back and forth. When they got tired, they would stand still and peel bark off the trees.

When the team had rested long enough and was ready to set off, they filled all the wagons!

There was no time to cook, and no water to boil, so they could only pull the cart of bark and continue walking with the group.

On Zhao Ningning's side.

The villagers all went to strip the bark from the trees, and Zhao Qi and Ning's father went along too. They had plenty of food, and they gave half of the bark they collected to Zhou Jian and the others, saying that they couldn't eat it all themselves.

Unaware of the truth, Zhou Jian was deeply moved and secretly remembered his brother-in-law's family's kindness in taking care of his family.

The group continued forward, and after reaching the main road, the village head slowed down to discuss the next route with the village chief and the monks.

Huangshi County cannot be retained; we can only move forward.

The young master of the Shang family came out, pointed to the map and said, "Grandpa Wang, since you are also going north, why don't you travel with us?"

"Follow the Baihe Mountains to Luchuan County. Luchuan County is located in the north. If you want to go further north, you can follow the continuous mountain range to Jiangdu County."

These counties and prefectures, large and small, are densely packed together, numbering innumerable.

This is the first time the village head has ever traveled this far in his life.

Looking at the map, he said helplessly, "That's exactly what I meant. We can't come up with a suitable route on our own."

Just keep heading north, don't stop.

Countless disasters had occurred in the south, and a large wave of refugees were chasing after them, so they could only head north until they reached a place with water where they could settle down.

In the month or so since we fled the famine, we haven't heard of any disasters in the north, so it seems that the north should be fine.

"Then let's follow this official road forward. In three days, we'll reach the next town." Young Master Shang pointed to the map. "I've traveled this road before when I went home with my mother to visit relatives."

As he spoke, Young Master Shang slid his finger forward, following the winding lines to its final destination: Qingzhou.

The village head, drawn by his gesture, nodded and said, "Alright!"

During their evening rest, the village head briefly explained the route.

Finally, he instructed the villagers to remember the towns and counties they were going to, and to meet up in the next town if they encountered any problems.

If you can't wait, try to leave a mark that the villagers will recognize.

Young Master Shang even helped come up with a plan: he would use a machete to cut the character "王" (king) into a tree outside the city.

Zhao Huilan hid behind the crowd, looking towards the center from a distance.

Compared to the villagers who were all black like eggs, Young Master Shang was like a big white goose among chickens.

He was fair-skinned and tall, with outstanding temperament and speech.

He can still be the head of Wangli Village.

If only I could get in with their family...

She stared at Young Master Shang for a while longer, until Granny Qian called her several times to go back and collect firewood, before Zhao Huilan reluctantly went to collect firewood.

Zhao Ningning's whole family overheard this. Ningning's father calculated that if they wanted to go to Qingzhou, it would take at least another month or two!

This is the best-case scenario. If you take breaks from time to time and something else happens, it could easily take two months.

After calculating the time, Ning's father felt as if each day was an eternity.

There was no other reason than that life was just too hard. Even with food, drink, and ice, the constant travel had everyone on the verge of a mental breakdown.

If it weren't for the thought of "finding a place to stay" keeping them going, they probably would have been exhausted by the time they reached the prefectural city.

Ning's father sighed and looked up at the sky.

wrong.

The light was too bright, so Ning's father used his hand to block most of the light and carefully looked around.

—Am I seeing things? Why are there only eight suns left in the sky?

Ning's father rubbed his eyes and looked again; there were still eight.

Because the sun was setting in succession, Ning's father dared not say whether there was one less sun.

He plans to count them again tomorrow.

The next day, before Ning's father even got up, he heard a commotion outside.

"Eight!"

"There are really only eight!"

Ning's father turned over and looked to the side, where many people were shielding their eyes from looking up at the sky.

After watching it, everyone excitedly told the others:

"One of the suns is missing!"

"There really is one missing!"

"Waaaah... Finally, there's less!"

"If I keep going, I'm going to die!"

"Heavens! Open your eyes and look! Your people are dying from the sun!"

"Eight suns already! Is it going to rain?"

"Let it rain!"

"..."

The villagers were excited, but they only slowly packed their things and continued on their way after the village head called them to set off.

After Zhao Ningning's family finished breakfast, Ningning's father secretly fed the mule and horse some water and calmed them down before harnessing the two animals to the cart.

With one less sun today, the people of Wangli Village walked with much more energy. By the end of the day, they had walked three miles more than yesterday!

Even more excitingly, the village head and his team found water!