Famine and Chaos: Weaving Cloth in Exile to Escape the War

The moment Yang Erniu felt the wriggling sensation crawling all over his body, he was scared half to death.

"what!"

He screamed and sprang up from the ground with a somersault, thrashing his body like a madman.

Soon the two rats on his body were knocked away. Ignoring his disgust, Yang Erniu scrambled to grab a torch that was still burning nearby and rushed into the kitchen without looking back.

When he saw the scene in the kitchen, he almost fainted.

Under the stove, beside the water vat, and near the rice bag, the shadowy figures of rats scurried about.

Several rats had already jumped onto the cutting board and were frantically gnawing on half of the remaining cornbread, while others were trying to bite open the rice bag.

Even more daring was one that climbed up the rope hanging from the salted meat.

"Get out! All of you, get out of here!" Yang Erniu waved his torch like a madman, forcing back the nearest group of rats.

But there were too many rats; as soon as you chased one away, another would scurry up from the other side.

A rat, its tail singed by the fire, let out a sharp scream. Instead of fleeing, it lunged at his feet with red eyes.

"Ah!" Yang Erniu jumped back in a panic, his back hitting the door frame.

At that moment, the kitchen door was suddenly pulled open.

Gao Xiuqin, Yang Ersao, and several teenagers carried torches into the kitchen, and the whole family was stunned by the sight before them.

In the flickering firelight, rats scurried about inside the house.

They are not afraid of people; some of the bolder rats even tried to climb up people's trouser legs.

The children screamed in terror, and the women turned deathly pale.

Gao Xiuqin was the first to react, shouting, "Quickly! Grab your weapons! We can't let them ruin the grain!"

The family quickly realized what was happening and frantically grabbed torches to chase away the rats.

The kitchen instantly descended into chaos.

But there were just too many rats, and they were very cunning.

They weave between people's legs, slip along the base of the wall, and if they get angry, they might even jump up and bite.

Yang Dawang was also awakened by the noise. He woke up groggily and got off the kang (a heated brick bed), almost falling to the ground. He felt dizzy and his body was burning hot.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Yang Dawang stepped out of the room and heard a commotion in the kitchen. He then saw the rats in the yard and was instantly startled.

He hurriedly dressed and was about to rush into the kitchen, but when he thought of Jing Zhichun's words about not letting her have contact with her family, Yang Dawang stopped running!

He could only stand at the doorway and watch helplessly as his family killed the rats, while the rats in the yard kept scurrying into the kitchen.

Yang Dawang was so anxious that the veins on his forehead bulged. If this continued, the food in the kitchen might not be safe.

"No! You can't fight like this!" Yang Dawang shouted towards the kitchen. "Eldest son's wife! Second son's wife! Stop fighting! Listen to me! Food! Saving the food is the most important thing! Quickly move everything inside—all the food, everything, pots and pans, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar—not a single grain of rice—to the kang (heated brick bed) in the main room where your mother sleeps! Hurry!"

"quick!"

Upon hearing this, the two people in the kitchen immediately understood the gravity of the situation, dropped their tools, and began moving things.

As soon as Tiedan came out carrying the sauerkraut jar, Yang Dawang quickly began to instruct, "Tiedan, go find that packet of realgar your father left behind! Sprinkle it around the edge of the kang (heated brick bed), make sure it's thick! That stuff has a strong smell, it can repel rats!"

Yang Tiedan quickly responded, grabbed the sauerkraut jar, and rushed into the house to start searching for realgar.

Meanwhile, Gao Xiuqin, Yang Ersao, and Yang Sansao became the main movers in the kitchen.

One of them picked up half a bag of brown rice, and the other carried an oil can, and they ran towards the main house.

The rice grains were scattered all the way while running, and there was no time to pick them up now.

Yang Erniu and Yang Sanniu were in charge of catching rats, while the rest, Daya and Erya, followed behind, frantically carrying pots and pans.

And so it went, one trip, two trips, three trips...

The belongings in the Yang family kitchen were moved to the main house as quickly as possible.

Yang Tiedan also carefully sprinkled realgar powder around the edge of the earthen bed.

Instantly, a pungent aroma filled the air.

A miracle happened.

The rats that were originally scurrying around the house stopped daring to approach the yellow lines drawn with realgar on the kang (a heated brick bed).

Immediately, everyone in the Yang family sprinkled realgar powder all over the floor of the main house, and soon the rats in the main house disappeared.

"It works! Realgar really works!" Yang Erniu exclaimed in surprise. He had previously thought it could only drive away snakes.

Seeing that the rats had all left the main house, the rest of the Yang family breathed a sigh of relief, slumped onto the kang (a heated brick bed) filled with grain and household items, and began to pant heavily.

But the crisis is not over.

Unable to enter the main house, the rats swarmed into the other rooms.

Seeing this, Yang Dawang immediately shouted, "Quickly move all the bedding, clothes, and anything else that can be moved from the other rooms to the main house. From now on, that will be our only place to stay!"

So the rest of the Yang family started moving things into the main house.

Soon, the main house was filled at a visible speed, until there was almost no room to even step.

After the last piece of belongings was moved in, Yang Dawang shouted to the people inside the house, "Erniu, scatter the remaining realgar in front of the main house door."

"Yes, Father." Yang Erniu quickly picked up the remaining realgar powder and sprinkled it in front of the main house door.

Yang Dawang breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the rats scurrying around the yard avoid the main house after smelling the realgar powder.

Just then, Yang Dawang suddenly started coughing.

At first, it was just a suppressed cough, but it quickly became uncontrollable, causing him to bend over coughing, and his entire face turned bright red instantly.

"Dad! What's wrong?!"

When Yang Erniu saw his father suddenly coughing hysterically while leaning against the door frame, his heart clenched and he rushed forward without thinking.

"stop!"

Yang Dawang abruptly raised his hand to stop Yang Erniu, then coughed again. After the coughing subsided and he steadied his breathing, he said, "Don't...don't come any closer! Erniu, go back inside right away! Close the door so the rats don't get in!"

"But, Father, your health..."