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

The next day, Jiang Xing opened his eyes on the straw mat.

She sat up quietly, quickly tidied herself up, and walked straight towards the corner of the city wall, passing between several oilcloth sheds and carts.

The corner was deserted. She had only been there a short while when footsteps came from the other side of the city wall. Ma Dadan turned out of the alley, wearing a worn gray cotton robe. His left leg was still not very nimble when he walked. He was carrying an oil paper package in his hand. The package was bulging and had several warm oil stains showing through it.

"The steamed buns are still warm." Ma Dadan shoved the paper package into her hand, his breath steaming in the air. "Eat them quickly, there are only five left."

Jiang Xing took the paper package. The oil paper was warm, and the aroma of lard wafted out through the seams. She put the package away, nodded slightly to Ma Dadan, and had a faint smile on her lips.

He took out the silver that everyone had pooled together the night before and handed it over. The loose silver wrapped in white cloth weighed heavily in Ma Dadan's hand.

"Besides my family, there are my third uncle and Sister-in-law Sun. The families willing to pay are the village chief, Aunt Wang, Granny Chen, and Doctor Gu."

Ma Dadan tucked the silver into his pocket, raised his hand to adjust his collar, and looked at her: "I'll go to the government office to submit the list now. We'll depart no later than the day after tomorrow. Once it's done, I'll have someone send you a message."

After he finished speaking, he turned around and walked back. After taking a few steps, he suddenly stopped.

He turned to look at Jiang Xing, his eyes revealing a complex and unreadable expression. Scenes flashed before his eyes, eventually settling into the quiet silence between them, a few steps apart. He then looked away, a knowing smile playing on his lips, and turned to limp toward the government office.

When Jiang Xing returned to the campfire, Xiao Niu had just woken up and was squatting on the ground rubbing the sleep from the corner of his eyes with his fingers.

She squatted down, opened the oil paper package, revealing five plump white buns, their skins glistening with oil, which made the eyes of several children warming themselves around the fire almost stick to their lips.

Xiao Niu swallowed hard, then neatly distributed the buns, giving one to Zhang Shi, one to his third uncle, and the remaining three. He broke one half for Tie Dan, another half for Shi Tou, and the last half for the youngest, Niu Niu. Each child held half a bun, and their mouths were covered in oil as they ate.

She sat down and recounted the important events to everyone: the list had been submitted, the money had been paid, the official procedures were being processed, and they would depart no later than tomorrow or the day after.

As for where we will be assigned, we will wait for notification from the government.

Upon hearing this, the families couldn't suppress their smiles. The hardest thing in the world is not having any definite news. Now that they had definite news, they had something to look forward to.

Jiang Xing glanced around and then deliberately lowered his voice to say, "Don't go far these next two days. We might need to be notified at any time. Pack up all the luggage we don't need."

After a short breakfast, everyone started packing their luggage.

Actually, there's not much to pack. Each family has a pot, a few sets of bowls and chopsticks, a few quilts, and two tattered bamboo baskets.

The children, unaware of what the adults were busy with, sensed that the atmosphere was different from usual. Excitedly, they ran around between the sheds, only to be pulled back by their mothers by the ears, scolded, and then run off again.

Two days passed without any news. On the morning of the third day, a series of rapid hoofbeats suddenly came from the gate.

A group of soldiers came from the direction of the city gate. The leader was holding a roll of roster in his hand. He rode his horse to a stop at the entrance of the fence, followed by two guards with guns and a young clerk dressed as an office worker.

The clerk dismounted, took the roster from the leading soldier, cleared his throat, and shouted, "The first batch of allocation lists before the New Year is finalized! All household heads whose names are called, pack your belongings and assemble inside the city gate as soon as possible. Those whose names are not called, stay where you are and wait. No crowding or noise is allowed! Here is the first batch of lists..."

He opened the roster and read out the names one by one. His voice echoed through the camp, and cheers erupted from the homes of those whose names were called. They hurriedly dismantled sheds and loaded them onto carts, their hands and feet moving so fast that it seemed they were afraid the soldiers would change their minds if they were too late.

Jiang Xing stood up and glanced at the roster in the clerk's hand.

"Everyone pack your things and be ready to leave at any time," she whispered to Chen Shuisheng beside her. Chen Shuisheng responded and turned to inform the other families.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the camp, in the homes of those who hadn't heard their names called, the atmosphere was like a pot of boiling water whose firewood had been removed, quickly cooling from initial anticipation to disappointment.

The young man slammed the bundle he was carrying onto the ground, the bundle unraveling to reveal several neatly folded old clothes; his wife tugged at his sleeve, but he shoved her away.

He stubbornly tried to push his way forward, shouting, "My family arrived two days earlier than his, why is he included but not me!"

The soldiers guarding the perimeter were even faster than him. Several scabbards swept towards him simultaneously, blocking his path. A soldier who appeared to be the leader gripped his sword hilt, his gaze coldly sweeping over the restless crowd. He shouted sternly, "Read the names on the roster one by one. Those whose names haven't been called, stay where you are. No pushing! Anyone who takes another step forward, don't blame the swords and spears for being merciless!"

The man was forced back several steps by the scabbard, stumbled, and fell to the ground. The people around him swarmed back, and no one dared to push forward.

The refugees who arrived at the same time as Jiang Xing and the others were sitting in front of their respective tents, watching the refugees who arrived earlier pack their things and walk towards the city gate. Although they were envious, they were not surprised.

But when the officers and soldiers read out the names of Jiang Caiquan's household and Shen Dehou's household, they all stood up in surprise, and many of them began to look at each other and whisper among themselves.

The moment the clerk uttered the words "Zhang Xiuying's household," someone finally couldn't hold back any longer. A man from Zhoujia Village suddenly stood up, took two steps forward, and shouted, "Sir! We arrived in the same batch as them. How come they can leave but not my family?"

The leading officer did not answer him, but took a step forward with his hand on the hilt of his knife. The man was then dragged back by the sleeve of the person next to him.

Seeing that the soldiers' knives were already half-drawn, the others dared not act rashly anymore. They could only watch helplessly as people on the other side of the fence began to dismantle the shed and move pots and pans. After muttering a few words, they dispersed.

Jiang Xing withdrew her gaze from the soldiers, turned around and was about to take a step when two figures suddenly staggered out from the crowd in front of her. Her hand instinctively went to the hilt of the short sword at her waist, but in the next instant she saw who it was. Jiang Erzhu was running in front, his face flushed red and his forehead covered in sweat. Liu Shi was following behind him, her hair disheveled from running.

The two rushed to Zhang's side, ignoring the pebbles on the ground, and knelt down with a thud.

Jiang Erzhu braced himself on the ground with both hands, his fingers digging into the soil, his voice urgent and rapid: "Mother, Mother, we were blinded by greed before, we deserved to die, we shouldn't have disrespected you, we shouldn't have tormented Daya and Xiaoniu... I kowtow to you, please, for the sake of us all being members of the Jiang family, don't abandon our family!"

As he spoke, he kowtowed repeatedly, each thud landing heavily on the frozen, hard ground. Liu knelt beside him, trembling all over, her voice even more shaky than his: "Mother-in-law, you are kind-hearted, please take us with you... We promise we will never cause trouble for Daya again."

Zhang looked at them coldly, as if they were two complete strangers. She spoke, her voice low, each word seemingly squeezed out from between her teeth: "Back in Jiangjia Village, how you treated us, my grandson and me, I remember it all clearly, and I will never forget it for a moment." After saying that, she gripped Xiao Niu's hand tightly, took a step back, moved to Jiang Xing's side, and turned her back on them, no longer looking at them.