I survived the famine by scavenging and supported my family.

Mrs. He said, "Consider it a deposit. Return it to me in perfect condition after you've used it, and I'll give you the purslane back."

"Thank you! Thank you, Auntie!" Jiang Hui bowed repeatedly with joy. Madam He couldn't bear it any longer and quickly told her, "Hurry up and go, it will be dark soon."

Carrying the pot, Jiang Hui went back to wash it first, and also fetched some water to take back with her.

Tang Rui was already stuffing firewood from the bonfire into the stove and putting the pot on the stove, while Jiang Hui went to the river to wash the purslane she had picked that day.

Even without salt or grains, this soup is still incredibly tempting.

Before, in the cave, they only had raw grass roots and wild vegetables to eat.

Occasionally, when they were led out of the cave, they would be given a bowl of thin porridge, which was always cold.

When it was almost cooked, Jiang Hui carefully lifted the pot and set it aside to cool, then poured the remaining embers from the stove into the fire.

When it was almost ready to drink, Jiang Hui held the pot to Tang Rui's lips and let her taste it.

It's been so long since I've had hot food! Especially on such a cold day, Tang Rui burst into tears after only one sip of soup.

"Waaaaah... Jiang Hui, I actually managed to survive and eat."

Jiang Hui smiled, then her eyes filled with tears as she said, "This isn't a meal, it's just wild vegetable soup."

"That's delicious too." Tang Rui sniffed, holding the pot in her hands. "You should have some too!"

Jiang Hui sipped the soup slowly, the two of them taking turns, until they finished it. Only then did Tang Rui remember, "Liu Yuzhen hasn't come back yet!"

Jiang Hui shook her head. "This is what I traded for with our wild vegetables. She can also trade for purslane herself."

If she's willing to help watch the clothes, and the three of them take turns digging for wild vegetables, Jiang Hui won't say anything.

She neither helps watch the things, but instead takes advantage of them by leaving her things with them so they can watch them.

Jiang Hui is not the kind of person who would let someone take advantage of her without fighting back.

"Then I'll go wash the pot!" Tang Rui volunteered to go to the river to wash the pot, while Jiang Hui, carrying the stove and the clean pot, went to find the kind old lady from earlier.

The pot was lent out intact and returned cleanly. Mrs. He nodded and said, "You can leave it here. Here's your purslane..."

Before she could finish speaking, the girl who delivered the pot put it down and ran off.

Ms. He: "..."

We can't possibly chase after it again.

Shaking her head, He went back and grumbled to Zhou Jian.

"This little girl is quite stubborn. She said she didn't want her wild vegetables, but she still gave them to her."

However, this also shows that the girl is a nice person.

On the other side, Liu Yuzhen, exhausted, finally returned carrying a bunch of wild vegetables.

Beside the fire, Jiang Hui and Tang Rui were drying clothes.

Seeing her return, Jiang Hui said, "The clothes are almost dried; I'm going to wash them in the river."

After saying that, she packed up her things and took them with her, and Tang Rui followed her downstream.

There's no one washing things upstream anymore, and there aren't many people downstream.

Jiang Hui put everything down and simply set up a curtain with an oilcloth.

Jiang Hui asked Tang Rui to keep an eye on people while she quickly took a cold shower behind the curtain.

As soon as the icy river water hit her, Jiang Hui sneezed.

But she still insisted on washing it, and even washed her hair with river water. There were no bath soaps available, so although she couldn't get it very clean, she could at least wash away the smell from her hair.

After Jiang Hui washed herself clean, she changed into the clothes she had washed and dried that day, and then Tang Rui went to wash them.

The thought of the icy river water sent a chill down Tang Rui's spine before she slowly walked behind the curtain to take off her clothes.

After quickly washing up, Tang Rui couldn't wait to put on her clothes, exclaiming, "It's so cold, so cold!"

It was already completely dark when the two of them packed up the oilcloth and returned to where they had been staying.

Seeing them return, Liu Yuzhen grabbed Jiang Hui's wrist and asked, "How did you eat wild vegetables?"

"I cooked something to eat." Jiang Hui pulled her hand away.

"Cook? You have a pot?" Liu Yuzhen asked, then shook her head. "I don't see any pots or pans."

"Borrowed." Jiang Hui placed the packages on the ground one by one.

The firewood in the bonfire was almost gone, with only a few embers left. Jiang Hui added a few more pieces of firewood, leaned against the fire, and lay down with her bundle as a pillow.

As she lay down, Liu Yuzhen continued to ask, "Whose did you borrow? Why didn't you wait for me?"

"Hey!" Tang Rui said, "Jiang Hui isn't your mother. You won't even help watch the luggage, why should we wait for you? We need to return the borrowed pot as soon as possible!"

After being reprimanded by Tang Rui, Liu Yuzhen bit her lower lip and glanced resentfully at Jiang Hui lying on the ground.

Jiang Hui had already closed her eyes, seemingly oblivious to everything around her.

Having no other choice, Liu Yuzhen had to borrow a pot from someone.

Everyone had already rested by now, and the few who were still awake saw that she had come empty-handed and showed no sincerity, so none of them were willing to lend her anything.

After looking around, Liu Yuzhen still managed to borrow a pot.

To spite Jiang Hui, Liu Yuzhen cooked a whole pot of purslane soup.

Just as he was about to show off, Tang Rui and Jiang Hui had already fallen asleep!

Liu Yuzhen drank a lot of soup and got up several times during the night.

The next morning, Jiang Hui got up and washed the clothes she had changed out of the day before.

Tang Rui got up a little later and also washed the clothes.

They didn't have a pot, and they ate very little, so they simply skipped breakfast.

Jiang Hui took out some grass roots and gave a handful to Tang Rui so she could chew on them too.

At the beginning of Chen Shi (7-9 AM), the team set off.

Hearing that they would reach the county town in two more days, everyone wished they could walk a hundred or eighty li a day.

After the group set off, He secretly found Jiang Hui and slipped two bamboo tubes into her hands.

Ms. He said, "This is a bamboo tube that I didn't cut very well before, but it doesn't leak, and it's just the right size for drinking water!"

After delivering the bamboo tubes, Madam He jogged to catch up with her own carriage.

The bamboo tube in her hand felt heavy. When Jiang Hui opened it, she found that there was still water inside.

—This old lady is such a kind person.

There were two bamboo tubes, one for her and one for Tang Rui.

In order to reach the county town as soon as possible, the team walked all the way until noon before resting.

After stopping, everyone rested and cooked.

Since they had no water, Jiang Hui could only lightly roast the purslane over a fire and eat it directly.

After eating, Jiang Hui and Tang Rui slept together.

Liu Yuzhen was allowed to use their fire, but she didn't have a bamboo tube to drink water.

For some reason, Liu Yuzhen always felt a bitter taste in her mouth after eating the purslane she roasted herself.

She wanted to ask Jiang Hui what happened, but when she opened her mouth, her mouth tasted so bitter that she started drooling, so she had to give up.

The three of them followed the group in a rather indifferent manner.

After Xi Ershun's family got a carriage, Luo Xiaozhi immediately invited Wang Xiaohua to ride in their carriage.

The kindness was repaid with food, and the friendship remained. Xiaohua's mother also felt sorry for the child, so Wang Yan would let the child sit in the cart from time to time while she pulled him along.

Wang Xiaohua also felt sorry for her mother and would often get off to help push the cart after sitting for a short while.

When Xi Ershun's family offered to help take care of Xiaohua, Wang Yan agreed without hesitation.

When the team was still a day away from the county town, they finally encountered other teams.

Both sides were very vigilant, and quickly increased the distance between the groups from a distance.

Seeing people means we're not far from the county town.

That evening, while resting, the village head said, "We'll be in the county town tomorrow. Everyone should pack up their belongings properly."

On their previous trips to the city, they had lost all their grain and silver. After hearing what the village head said, each family found a place to hide their grain after they finished eating.

He hid some silver inside her clothes, and sewed some of the lighter pieces of silver inside as well.

They also put some in the car and in the firewood.

She even hid some on the horse's body.

The grain could only be divided into several packages and tucked inside clothing.

Zhao Ningning's family doesn't need to worry about hiding, but they need to disguise themselves.

Ning's mother took out half a bag of grain from her space and put it in the car, and also put some pots and pans in the car.

They also left a small packet of copper coins on Ning's father.

Having fled famine for so long, their mule cart looked dilapidated and didn't appear to be from a wealthy family with plenty of food.

After making preparations, everyone rested.

The next day, at 9:00 AM.

The closer you get to the county town, the more people there are on both sides of the street.

Looking out the car window, Zhao Ningning saw that the ragged refugees on both sides of the road were filthy. It was almost November, and there were flies all over them!

Upon seeing the flies, Zhao Ningning slapped her thigh and went to the front of the car to find her mother.

Tugging at her mother's sleeve, Zhao Ningning said, "Mom, there are flies on those people."

Following her gaze, Ning's mother saw that the homeless people on the roadside did indeed look dirty and smelly.

Although their own group wasn't much better off, the refugees looked rather dirty compared to each other.

Zhao Ningning noticed that Ning's mother was also frowning and said, "Weren't you thinking about how to persuade the village head? Perhaps this is a good way to put it."

Indeed, Ning's mother was terrified at the thought of the upcoming epidemic.

All she knew was that the epidemic would break out before winter, and she had been thinking about how to find an excuse to get the village head and the others to take precautions.

"Okay, I'll go and tell them." Ning's father handed the reins to Ning's mother, jumped off the car, and quickly ran ahead to find the village head.

After speaking with the village head, during the midday break, the village head told everyone to cover their mouths and noses.

Having learned from past experiences of covering their mouths and noses during wildfires and volcanic eruptions, everyone took out the strips of cloth they had saved and wrapped their mouths and noses.

It's cold now, so wrapping it up will keep you warmer!

Seeing that the Wangli Village team had all covered their mouths and noses, Jiang Hui cut off a sleeve from her bundle and followed suit.

Tang Rui also used her knife to cut her sleeve.

Liu Yuzhen scoffed: "These people are even more pretentious than me. All they do is cover their noses when they encounter crowds that smell bad."

Seeing that the Xiangzhong County team had also covered their mouths and noses, she borrowed a knife from Jiang Hui and cut off a sleeve to cover her face.

In the afternoon, the team continued their journey.

After covering their noses, their voices became muffled. Fortunately, they arrived in Yikang County just an hour after setting off in the afternoon.

The main gate of Yikang County was open, and people were coming and going.

As a precaution, the village head waited at the entrance of the county town for a while to find out the news of entering the town before returning to the group.

"Each person pays one tael of silver to enter the city; livestock and carts are exempt." The village head exclaimed, "I heard there are still grain shops open inside!"

Upon hearing this news, both teams were extremely excited.

To be honest, they all have enough silver to enter the city now; they can just pay the silver and they can go in! There are also grain shops where they can buy grain!

When they stopped, no one took anything from under the vehicle. As soon as the village head said to leave, they all got up and headed towards Yikang County.

Just as the village head had said, when they entered the city, the guards only charged each person one tael of silver and let them in.

Upon entering the city, the group immediately pulled their carts to the entrance of the grain shop.

After making some inquiries, I learned that grain prices have risen significantly since then.

Refined rice: 200 cash per catty; refined flour: 220 cash; brown rice: 150 cash; mixed grains: 140 cash...

The crowd paused for a moment upon hearing the price of grain, then cheered. As long as they could buy it, that was enough! They had money in their pockets! They weren't afraid of rising grain prices; they were afraid of not being able to buy grain at all!

The crowd was making a ruckus, ready to go buy grain, when the village headman quickly stopped them, saying, "You haven't even found a place to stay yet!"

The village head urged everyone to find a place to stay, while he looked at Yikang County and began to consider leaving.

I wish I could stay and live here.

Even if grain prices are high, as long as they can settle down and live a stable life, it's better than fleeing famine.

Some people thought similarly to the village head.

Instead of looking for an inn, Zhao Ningning's family went to a middleman to find a place to rent.

Their family is not short of money, so this time they rented a large courtyard next to some wealthy families in Yikang County!

Even mules have their own private rooms.

The He family lived two streets away from them, in a quieter and safer area.

Those who had less money and wanted to save money went directly to stay in the dormitory-style rooms at the inn.

Those who wanted to rest a bit more found someone to share a small courtyard to stay in.

Apart from the three girls, everyone else found a place to go.

Miao Chunfang held Jiang Hui's hand and said, "If any of you three run into trouble, come find me."

Jiang Hui nodded, and Miao Chunfang added, "Once you find a place to stay, go and let them know."

Liu Yuzhen's eyes widened: "Aren't you going to let us go with you?!"

"Liu Yuzhen!" Tang Rui said, hands on her hips, "Shut up!"

Liu Yuzhen was dismissed by Tang Rui, and Miao Chunfang smiled at Tang Rui.

After Miao Chunfang left, Liu Yuzhen muttered, "What's wrong? I just wanted to ask one question..."

Jiang Hui was too lazy to listen to the nonsense of a fool, so she tugged at Tang Rui's sleeve and said, "Let's go, let's find a place to rest."

"Hey!" Liu Yuzhen chased after them, "Don't go! Aren't the three of us together?"

Jiang Hui kept walking, showing no intention of waiting for Liu Yuzhen.

After catching up with them, Liu Yuzhen discovered that Jiang Hui had stopped in front of a restaurant.

"What are you doing here?" Liu Yuzhen asked, puzzled. "We don't have a single copper coin on us, not even enough to buy a cup of tea!"

Jiang Hui ignored her, placed her bundle on the ground by the door, and stepped into the restaurant on her own.

"Manager, are you looking for a cook here?" Jiang Hui asked.

The shopkeeper standing at the door glanced at the girl standing in front of him. She was about sixteen or seventeen years old and was wearing men's clothes with several holes.

His clothes were clean, and his face and hands were also clean.

The shopkeeper asked, "How did you know we were looking for a cook?"

"When I passed by just now, I saw people making a fuss at the door. The waiter who came out to chase them away said, 'Our boss said that even if there isn't a single cook in Yikang County, we won't hire you.'"

"I was thinking, if you fire one cook, you should just hire another one."