I survived the famine by scavenging and supported my family.

The man inside straightened up and said, "Brother Xi, this is distributed according to the number of people, not just to one family."

"I don't care!" Old Man Xi said, "Dividing the grain according to headcount is our family's own business. When the grain was distributed, we didn't even talk about dividing the family property!"

The village head looked at Xi Ershun.

"Here you go!" Luo Xiaozhi came out from behind and said, "All the food we have left is for you!"

"Alright! Let's split up!" Old Man Xi cupped his hands to the group of people and said, "Fellow villagers, when we were fleeing for our lives, we had no paper, pen, or official seal to witness our separation. Right here, you will be our witnesses. Today, our eldest son's branch and the second son's branch will separate and become two independent families."

"Who said there's no paper and pens?"

A male voice came from the crowd, and Wen Zike handed over paper and pen from behind, saying, "We just happened to have some with us! Village head, take this and use it, don't be shy."

When the village head received the paper and pen, he felt a little unreal.

Seeing that the village head was still in a daze, Wen Zike slapped his forehead: "Aren't we still short of ink pads?! I almost forgot."

He rushed back, took the inkpad from Wen Zichuan, and handed it to the village head.

Wen Zike was just a gofer; the real scoundrel was Wen Zichuan.

They were just too disgusted to stand by and watch, which is why they were willing to play the villain and bring out paper and pen.

Old Master Xi's words about dividing the family property stuck in his throat, unable to come out for a long time.

He originally intended to just say something random and then renege on the debt later!

Anyway, there's no paper or pen now. If he doesn't have any proof and doesn't go to the government, what can Xi Ershun do to him? Can he beat him up?

Taking advantage of the opportunity, He brought over two stools from Zhao Ningning's house. The stools from Zhao Ningning's house were flat, which was just right for writing on.

In no time, the village headman finished writing the family division document. According to the agreement between Xi Ershun and Old Man Xi, and also according to the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Xi Ershun would receive three-thirds of the family property, and Xi Dashun would receive seven-thirds.

When it was time to put his fingerprints on the paper, Old Man Xi was still a little dazed.

—How...how did we split up?!

The man standing to the side had long disliked Old Man Xi. Taking advantage of his dazed state, he grabbed Old Man Xi's hand, pressed the inkpad directly onto the document, and stamped it onto the family division document. That was it!

Holding the family division documents, Xi Ershun's hands trembled slightly.

—Finally! Finally, the family has separated!

Old Man Xi's hand was pressed down. When he came to his senses, he angrily looked back, but there was nothing there!

With the fingerprints already affixed, Old Man Xi couldn't back out now. He sternly stuffed the document into his pocket and said, "Hmph! Just don't regret it!"

Xi Ershun neatly folded the documents and placed them in Luo Xiaozhi's hands. Holding his wife's hand, Xi Ershun said, "Of course I won't regret it!"

"Now that we've divided things up, we should divide the belongings too." Old Man Xi limped forward and reached out to grab the large bag of grain from Wang Yan's cart.

Divided by headcount, Xi Ershun and his family of four could take a whole bag.

"Hey—" Wang Yan blocked the way for the car, "You're dividing the family property, why are you taking my grain!"

"This, this is your grain!" Old Man Xi walked around Wang Yan and reached for the grain bag.

"How can it not be ours!" Wang Yan pulled the car away, lifted a half-full sack of grain from it, and exclaimed, "This belongs to Xi Ershun's family!"

"How could that be!" Old Man Xi cursed. "Are you saying this on purpose to help Ershun? You widow, you really do have feelings for our Ershun!"

Before he could finish speaking, Old Man Xi was slapped in the face.

After hitting the man, Wang Yan wiped her hands on the car with disgust. "Watch your mouth. Before the family division, you didn't even know how much grain your son's family had, and you still wanted to divide it?"

"I didn't lend my car to Luo Xiaozhi for nothing. When I lent it to her, I said I would exchange it for grain—" Wang Yan patted the large bags that were full on the car and said, "Look, with the rental fee paid by Luo Xiaozhi, it's just enough to fill a bag."

"You're talking nonsense! How could you need half a sack of grain just to borrow a cart!" Old Man Xi covered his face, wanting to find the village head to make a decision. The village head looked at Old Man Xi helplessly: "That's true."

"When distributing the grain, Luo Xiaozhi specifically asked me to weigh out two equal portions, just so that Wang Yan could receive them."

If there were a village head, Old Man Xi would be like a stove that had gone out, his mouth agape but he couldn't make a sound.

Xi Ershun didn't say anything, but poured out some of the remaining grain and carried it to the bag next to Xi Dashun.

Their belongings consisted of Luo Xiaozhi's personal items and his two sets of clothes. They relied on Wang Yan's bucket and pot for water and food.

After the family division was completed, there was not much excitement to watch, so everyone dispersed to go home and cook.

Granny Qian muttered, "Another ingrate has appeared in the group."

Dad is still alive and well! And now they're making a fuss about dividing the family property, right at this critical moment of famine. What an ingrate!

Just like Zhao Lao Er!

Although the Zhao family had received nearly four sacks of grain, Granny Qian still remembered it, and the village head even gave Zhao Lao Er a reward of silver!

Once we reach the town ahead, we might be able to buy things; silver has many uses.

Granny Qian grumbled as she went back, and when she saw Madam Sun cooking, she cried out "Wasteful brat!" and went over to stop her.

They eat at most two meals a day now. Apart from the Wen family, who else cooks lunch? They just have some water and a piece of flatbread!

Back in the carriage, Ning's mother sighed, "That Xi Ershun really had a tough time."

"I almost died twice, and when we divided the family property, I was called an ingrate," Zhao Ningning said. "Would I only stop being called an ingrate if I actually died?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Ning's mother gently patted her. "Right now, even if he really died because of Old Man Xi, people would only praise him for being 'filial'."

Filial piety is of paramount importance. Only a good village head would speak up for them and for Xi Ershun.

If you encounter a bad village head or chief, they might force you to make up!

Back in the carriage, the group ate a flatbread and drank some water they had boiled that morning before setting off again.

Another half-day's walk and we'll reach the town. Once we pass through the town, we'll be out of the Baihe Mountains!

The further you go into town, the higher the terrain becomes. In the end, the muddy ground is just a thin layer, and the ground is only slightly damp, which looks like it was left after acid rain.

When you reach the town, you can basically see the shape of the official road on the ground.

The people of Wangli Village breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the houses in the town from afar.

They set off today with bated breath, fearing that it might rain again halfway through the journey. Fortunately, it didn't rain, allowing them to reach the town safely. Once they arrived in the town, they could find an empty house to stay in.

I never expected there to be so many people in the town!

The village headman spotted people in the town from afar and warily told everyone to stay put.

After gazing into the distance for a while, Wang Xiufeng said, "Father, the people inside seem to be refugees who have fled here, not the original inhabitants of the town."

"Then we need to take shelter for a while." The village head sighed. "Keep a close watch on the situation tonight and keep an eye on the weather."

He had planned to walk for a day to reach the town, where he would have a roof over his head and wouldn't have to worry about rain at night.

Unexpectedly, there were already other teams in town.

They are currently outnumbered and do not wish to get into conflicts with other teams.

"Tell the villagers not to be too conspicuous when cooking tonight, or they might target our grain," the village head instructed again.

Wang Xiufeng nodded, told the villagers what his father had told him, and the group went down the main road and found a nearby open space to rest.

Just as the water boiled, a group of three people from the town arrived.

Although there were few people, the man on duty in the village became alert and ran over to say, "Village head, someone is coming."

The village headman jumped up and walked to the roadside. Seeing that only three people were coming from the other side, he finally felt a little relieved.

The other person stopped when they were about three zhang away, cupped their hands and said, "My name is Jiang Song, and we are from Xiangzhong County."

The village head also cupped his hands and said, "My name is Wang Congxing, and I am from Wangli Village, Fengning County."

After exchanging names, Jiang Song didn't mince words and said directly, "I'm forty-two this year, so I'll shamelessly call you 'Big Brother,' Brother Wang. I see there are elderly people and children in your group."

When the name of the people in the team was mentioned, Li Zheng's expression remained unchanged, and he nodded, saying, "Yes."

He secretly felt a chill run down his spine. What did this person mean? Did he want to pick on the weak?

Seeing that the other party's expression was even more wary than before, Jiang Song quickly cupped his hands in apology and said, "Brother Wang, I had no intention of offending you. There are also elderly people and children in our group."

"To be frank with you, the pass leading out of the mountain in front of the town has been blocked. Anyone who tries to pass through will be skinned alive."

"We were almost there when we suddenly ran into someone who had run back. We stopped him and asked him questions, and that's how we found out what was going on ahead."

"So I came here to give you a heads-up, and also to make friends with you all," Jiang Song said, then sighed.

He wanted to ask if they could join forces with Wang Licun to gather a group of people and rush over.

But the opposing team also has elderly people and children, so it might be difficult.

If he hadn't seen a child standing on the hood of the car looking around, he wouldn't have dared to approach and talk to him. After all, he had encountered many cannibalistic refugees along the way.

He approached the group because he thought that since they could take care of children and the elderly, the group wouldn't be completely devoid of humanity.

"Brother Jiang, tell me about the situation in the town, and also the situation at the border crossing." The village headman asked seriously, "When did you arrive? And which road did you come from?"

Jiang Song simply put down his weapon and walked and talked with the village head.

"Our team arrived three days ago, coming down from the mountains to the west."

After they came down, they also encountered an earthquake, but fortunately the tremor was small, and they escaped successfully, walking along the main road to this place.

They thought that once they passed through this town, they would reach the territory of Luchuan County, but who would have thought that they would be blocked by a group of heartless thieves.

"They kill without blinking an eye. If you obediently hand over all the grain, they'll take a liking to you and let you go."

"But..." Jiang Song smiled bitterly, "They mostly just don't like people! I secretly went to check it out, and out of ten people, only about 30% were allowed to get through. The rest were either killed directly, or persuaded to join in the killing of others, or women and children. The younger ones were basically all kept in captivity."

Upon hearing this, the village head's heart skipped a beat.

If it were simply about money and food, they would have reluctantly handed over some.

You can't kill me!

"Then...is there any other way to get there?" The village head said with a wry smile, "If not, we'll just climb another mountain. We've climbed so many mountains before, what's one more?"

Jiang Song shook his head. "No, it won't work. The mountains on both sides of this pass are manageable on this side, but the other side is as steep as a cliff. An ordinary person simply can't get down!"

The village head frowned. "Are there many of them?"

Jiang Song: "There are more. Originally there were less than a hundred people, but in the past few days, other teams have come over, and the team has gradually grown to more than 150 people."

If there were only a hundred, the two teams combined could still put up a fight.

Now, the person who is worried has changed from one, Jiang Song, to two.

The village head was also worried. He inquired about the situation in the town and went down to tell the villagers to pack their things.

Compared to the wetlands where you can't even sit or lie down, at least in town you can find a house to shelter you from the elements.

Of course, before going to town, he sent someone to check around and confirm that there was only Jiang Song's team in town and that no one was in the other houses. Only then did he feel at ease letting his team go with him.

After settling in town, the village head called over Ning's father's family, and also the Shang and Wen families to discuss the matter together.

After the situation at the border was explained, the people inside the room became somewhat worried.

Wen Zichuan sighed. His Wen family members could take on two opponents at once. If everyone in the team could be like them, they wouldn't have to be afraid of getting through this hurdle.

He shook his head after thinking about it.

The group couldn't come up with a good idea, so Jiang Song finally said, "Why don't we wait a little longer and wait for a more reliable team to come and charge over together?"

The group ahead of them all looked menacing, so he didn't dare let his men appear out of the town, fearing they would be wiped out right there.

After waiting for three days and passing through seven or eight groups, he finally found a group from Wangli Village. It looked like there were many people, including men, the elderly, and children.

"We can only wait and see," the village head sighed.

After listening to the discussion, Ning's parents went home and told Ning Ning about it. Ning Ning's first reaction was—a big rock.

Ning's father teased her, "What's wrong? Are you at odds with a rock?"

"Don't look down on rocks!" Zhao Ningning crossed her arms. "We'll know tomorrow if we get some people to go up the mountain and check out the terrain!"

"If the pass is narrow and the mountain is steep, luring the thieves directly to the pass, with some rolling rocks down from the top to attack from both sides, how could they possibly escape!" Zhao Ningning shook her head. "And you always watch TV dramas! I remember seeing something similar on TV before!"

"Okay, okay, let's go to the top of the mountain tomorrow to see what the terrain is like." Ning's father agreed, and the family got ready and rested early.

Zhao Qi volunteered to keep watch at night, so he could sleep in the space during the day and not catch up on sleep.

The next morning, after having breakfast at Zhao Ningning's house, she asked Zhou Jian and He Shi to watch over their things, and then called Wang Xiufeng from the village head's family and Li Si, the second son of the village chief, to go up the mountain together.

The commotion they made alerted the Wen family, and Wen Zichuan wanted to go too. In the end, a total of eight people went!

Because Jiang Song and Wen Zike both caught up.

Not counting the space, Zhao Qi is actually eight people!

With Jiang Song leading the way, the group quietly climbed up the mountain along a small path beside the main road.

The mountain wasn't too high, and the group climbed it in just one hour.

After climbing up, Zhao Ningning estimated the distance and realized things weren't looking good.