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

It wasn't just her grandmother who was like this. Jiang Xing looked at most of the people in the group who had successfully waded across the ditch and reached the shore. Their lips were white, and they were shivering from the cold, unable to stop.

This can't go on. Jiang Xing stood on the edge of the earthen slope and looked around.

The mountain behind where they stopped was not high, and the surrounding vegetation was very dense. The trees on the hillside were dark and lush, with branches and leaves overlapping like an open umbrella.

The leaves under the tree were thick and didn't look very wet. It's likely that the leaves blocked most of the rain, which is better than being exposed to the rain in the open.

Jiang Xing was about to turn back to find Ma Dadan when Ma Dadan came looking for him first.

He trudged through the mud, his face scars turning purple from the cold. His cotton-padded coat was soaked through and wrapped around his body. He shivered in the rain, his lips trembling as he said, "If this rain keeps pouring down, a bunch of people will collapse tonight."

Jiang Xing pointed to the dense forest: "The area under those trees is dry. Let's go into the forest first and take shelter from the rain."

Ma Dadan looked up at the forest, then looked back at the hundreds of people huddled together in the rain behind him. He hesitated for a moment. The forest was not the main road, and if they went the wrong way, it would be difficult to find them. It would also be difficult to manage so many people crammed into the forest.

He was still hesitating, wanting to say "wait a little longer," when Jiang Xing turned his head and placed his hand on Zhang's forehead to check her temperature.

Zhang's forehead was burning hot, like a stone in a furnace. She then tried Xiao Niu's forehead, which was also burning hot. Third Uncle was squatting on the ground, covering his mouth with his sleeve and coughing. After coughing up a mouthful of phlegm, he coughed again while panting.

Jiang Xing straightened up, looked at Ma Dadan, and said firmly, "My grandmother has started to have a fever. You can think about it yourself. I need to take them into the mountains to find a place to rest first."

Hearing this from the side, Shen Dehou put down the bundle he had just carried on the ground: "I'm traveling with Xing'er. If we're going into the mountains, count me in."

Ma Dadan opened his mouth, but was stunned for a moment by her gaze. He muttered under his breath, "I didn't say I disagreed, why are you so fierce?"

Looking around, realizing that getting soaked meant certain death, he gritted his teeth, turned to the crowd, and shouted, "Everyone into the woods! Stay together, don't scatter!"

Upon entering the dense forest, it became clear that the forest was even deeper than it appeared from the outside.

The rain was mostly blocked by the layers of branches and leaves, and the dripping water was sparse, unlike the downpour outside. The ground underfoot was dry, covered with a thick layer of dead leaves that rustled underfoot.

Walking inside, there was shelter overhead and the feet didn't sink into the mud. After walking for less than fifteen minutes, the rain had mostly stopped.

Ma Dadan led the way, parting the bushes with his hands. Suddenly, he stopped, turned around, and shouted in a low voice, "This way! Two caves!"

A large cave is embedded at the bottom of a cliff. About ten steps away, the dense trees around it partially cover the entrance, so you can't see it unless you get close.

The rock walls at the edge of the cave entrance were dry, and there were withered branches scattered on the ground. Underneath the branches were ashes from burnt firewood, and if you kicked them, you could see the black charcoal marks underneath, indicating that someone had been there.

Before Ma Dadan could even go inside, the people inside had already come out.

People poured out of the cave entrance, some carrying machetes, some leaning on carrying poles, and others clutching sharpened wooden sticks, lined up in a row blocking the entrance and the cave between the group and the cave.

There were at least a hundred people, all dressed in animal skins and tattered cotton-padded coats, their faces covered in soot from the smoke, their expressions unfriendly, their eyes scanning the intruders who had suddenly appeared.

Several people were carrying dry branches they had collected, clearly having just returned from gathering firewood outside. They hadn't even had a chance to enter the cave when they ran into these uninvited guests.

The man at the head of the group had rough skin, with bluish-purple marks on his cheekbones, likely from frostbite that had scabbed over. He held a curved wood-chopping knife with several nicks in the blade.

He took a step forward, stopping when he was less than two steps away from Ma Dadan. His gaze swept over Ma Dadan and swept over the entire line of people behind him.

He saw the bulging bundles on the oxcart, the tightly packed grain sacks on the cart, and someone carrying a jar in their arms. He looked away, a slight smirk playing on his lips: "This cave is ours. If you want to enter, bring grain in exchange. One sack of grain for one place."

Ma Dadan leaned his broadsword on the ground and said, "We are refugees being led by the government to the southwest for resettlement. We're just looking for a place to shelter from the rain, and we'll leave once the rain stops. We don't need a bag of grain."

"It can't be that bad?" An old man squatted at the entrance of the cave, leaning on a cane with a sharpened iron plate tied to the end. "With so many of you crowding in, how are we supposed to live inside? Our bedding is all inside. Who's going to compensate us if you trample it and get it dirty? Even a bag of grain is cheap."

The leader turned around, glanced at the grain sacks on the carts behind him, then turned back and licked his chapped lips: "Since you have a lot of people, give us an extra sack of grain. If you have any cured meat, bring out a piece too. One sack of grain can be exchanged for a whole family to move in."

"Or else..." Another tall, thin man next to him stepped forward, holding a carrying pole in front of him, his eyes glancing at the young women in the line: "Those without grain can use other things as collateral. Clothes, iron pots, anything valuable, we don't mind."

Ma Dadan's face darkened, and he gripped the hilt of his broadsword so tightly it turned white.

Jiang Xing squatted down next to Zhang Shi and placed his hand on her forehead to test her temperature. It was even hotter than before. Zhang Shi closed her eyes and her breathing was short and rapid.

The third uncle sat on the oxcart beside her, panting with his eyes closed. The calf nestled under his arm, its face still flushed with an unnatural redness. She stood up, walked to Ma Dadan's side, and without looking at the leading man, said to Ma Dadan, "These mountains and forests belong to the imperial court. When did they become someone else's property? We can't afford to waste too much time. To avoid any complications, each family gets a handful of grain. If you don't give us any, we'll resort to violence."

The leader's expression changed: "A handful? You're trying to fob off a beggar?"

"Don't nag any longer, and you won't get a single grain," Jiang Xing said. "There are about a hundred of you. If each family gives you a handful, it'll be enough for you to eat for several days. If you know what's good for you, move aside now, and each family will give us their share. Otherwise..."

She placed her hand on the hilt of the sword behind her waist, drawing the blade out slightly: "Then I'll kill you all."

She didn't raise her voice, but the action and tone of her voice made the leading man pause for a moment.

The woman's expression wasn't meant to intimidate; behind her was a dense crowd of at least several hundred people. Those around her were already looking back, checking for an escape route. If a fight broke out, their group of about a hundred people wouldn't stand a chance.

"Fine." He glared at Jiang Xing and tucked his curved sword behind his back. "One cup per family."