Sold immediately after wearing it? I took my family and fled the famine.

When the procession reached the front of the village, the villagers were already waiting at the village entrance.

Men and women, young and old, stood in two rows, all with smiles on their faces, smiles that were so warm, almost excessively warm.

Despite the cold weather, they weren't wearing many clothes, but they didn't look cold at all.

Ma Dadan dismounted and walked up to the villagers. A man in his fifties, wearing a gray cotton-padded jacket, greeted him with a smile.

"Gentlemen, fellow villagers, where do you come from? Where are you going?"

"We came from the north and are heading southwest to escape famine," Ma Dadan said. "We're passing through your village and would like to find a place to rest and see if we can buy some food."

"Buy food?" The man's smile widened. "Don't worry about buying or not, everyone's having a hard time fleeing. You wait here, I'll have people go door-to-door collecting some food. We'll cook porridge for you tonight, so you can all have a good meal!"

Ma Dadan smiled.

"Also, don't leave tonight," the man continued. "It's so cold, stay here for the night and leave tomorrow. Our village isn't big, but we have plenty of empty houses; you can squeeze in."

Ma Dadan hesitated for a moment.

"Staying up for one night won't delay your journey. You can leave early tomorrow morning when it's light and the road will be easier to travel," the man said again.

Ma Dadan nodded: "Thank you very much."

The man turned to the villagers behind him and shouted, "Go, everyone tidy up and make room in a few houses! Priority will be given to families with children!"

The villagers responded and dispersed.

"Do you have children? Come, come, come stay at my house! I have a heated kang bed, it's warm!"

"This family has kids too? Come on, come with me!"

"Oh my, this child is so cute! How old is he? Come on, let's go to Auntie's house, Auntie will make you some sweet soup!"

They were especially hospitable to families with children. Women with children were surrounded, pulled and tugged at as if they were being robbed.

Jiang Xing's family stood a little further back, not moving forward.

A middle-aged woman, around forty years old, with a round face and a smiling expression, walked over, wearing a thin cotton-padded jacket. She first glanced at Zhang Shi, then at Third Uncle, and finally her gaze settled on Xiao Niu.

"Oh my, this child is so fair-skinned. Come stay at my house; we have a heated kang bed, it's very warm."

Jiang Xing stepped forward and blocked Xiao Niu's path: "No need, we can stay outside."

The middle-aged woman's smile remained unchanged, but her gaze swept downwards before returning to the calf. There was an unnatural red tinge under her eyes, and the way she looked at the calf reminded Jiang Xing of the way starving people stared at food in the apocalypse.

"It's so cold outside! The child can't stand it," the middle-aged woman continued to persuade.

"No need." Jiang Xing's tone was firm.

The middle-aged woman glanced at her, but didn't insist, and turned to go to the next shop.

Widow Sun stood not far away, holding Niu Niu in her arms, with the older boy beside her. A middle-aged woman walked over and took her hand: "Oh dear, this child is so thin. Come on, let's go to my house, I'll cook a bowl of porridge for this child."

Widow Sun hesitated. She subconsciously looked towards Jiang Xing, who shook his head almost imperceptibly.

"No need," Widow Sun said, taking a step back while holding Niu Niu. "We can stay outside."

The middle-aged woman's smile remained unchanged, but her eyes turned cold, and she turned and left.

The villagers led their families away, and those with children or large families were given priority to be accommodated in the village.

The remaining few hundred people found a place to camp outside the village.

Shen Dehou did not enter the village. Instead, he led the people from Jiangjia Village who had listened to him to find an open space outside the village, very close to the main road.

Jiang Xing drove the oxcart over, and his third uncle began unloading.

Shen Dehou walked over, squatted down, and lowered his voice: "Girl, what exactly did you figure out?"

Jiang Xing looked at his third uncle, then at Zhang Shi, and said in a low voice, "In this freezing weather, they are dressed so lightly, yet they are not cold. Their hands and feet are not red or swollen, they do not slip when walking, and their eyes are red. There is not a single elderly person in the entire village."

She paused.

"What was the most scarce resource during the escape from famine?"

Shen Dehou's face turned pale. He wasn't stupid; he understood what was being said.

Third Uncle took the pipe out of his mouth, rubbed it with his fingers a couple of times, and then slowly tucked it back behind his waist. His movements were slow, but his hands were steady.

Zhang closed her eyes, pressed her lips into a thin line, and clenched her hands tightly under the blanket.

All three understood. No one asked any more questions.

Shen Dehou stood up: "I'll go and notify a few more people."

"Village Chief," Jiang Xing called out to him, "If you go and inform them now, who will believe you? Everyone's in the middle of their excitement, they won't believe you even if you tell them, they'll just scold you."

Shen Dehou stood still.

"You just need to inform the people of Jiangjia Village," Jiang Xing said. "Those who are willing to believe you will naturally come, and those who don't, no matter how much you talk, it won't make a difference."

Shen Dehou stood there for a while, then turned and left.

He went to find those people from Jiangjia Village and repeated the story to them one by one.

Some people believed him and packed their things to move closer to him, while others didn't believe him, thinking he was paranoid, and stayed where they were.

Finally, the dozens of households that followed Shen Dehou in evacuating from the edge of the village settled down in an open area that was furthest from the village and closest to the official road.

They said they were setting up camp, but they didn't actually set up anything.

Jiang Xing specifically instructed again: "Don't fall into a deep sleep tonight. Pack your things, and don't take off your clothes. Be able to wake up immediately if called, grab your things, and leave. Pile the firewood together, and have several families warm themselves by the fire. Don't scatter."

Nobody asked why.

Those who were willing to follow Shen Dehou out already knew what was going on.

Jiang Xing didn't have a shed either. She took a piece of tarpaulin from the car and used a few wooden sticks to prop it up over Zhang Shi and Xiao Niu's heads to block the snow.

My third uncle tied the oxcart to the roadside, securing the load securely so it could be moved at any time.

The firewood was piled up among the families; the fire wasn't big, but it was warm enough.

Seven or eight people huddled around a fire, no one speaking, their eyes fixed on the flames, their ears perked up, listening to any sounds coming from the village.

Widow Sun, holding Niu Niu, squeezed next to Jiang Xing's fire. She didn't say anything, just held the two children tightly.

Zhang draped an old quilt over Widow Sun's shoulders. Widow Sun glanced at her, her eyes reddening, but she didn't say anything.

The calf nestled in Zhang's arms, its eyes half-closed, not asleep.

"sister."

"Um."

Will those people make their move tonight?

"have no idea."

The little calf buried its face in Zhang's arms and stopped asking questions.