Did Chang'an really think the entire Oldest Gu's family was so formidable?
Is this it?
The incapable Battle Five would probably fight better than them?
The other members of Oldest Gu's family knelt before the Village Head, saying they could expel the nine brothers who were struck by lightning, including Oldest Gu, from the family, begging the Village Head not to expel them from the group.
They were never very capable people. They could bully Old Gu Six before only because he was still young, but after he grew up and had the old hunter protecting him, they could no longer bully him.
Now, expelling them from Qingfang Village meant leaving them no way to survive.
"Please Village Head, don't expel us. We will never bother Old Gu Six again, I beg you."
Lady Zhu led the kneeling and begging. Losing ten able workers at once, their old and weak family with grown-up but incompetent grandsons would struggle.
If expelled, they would likely be robbed by other refugees soon.
The Village Head remained unmoved and led his people to depart again.
Lady Zhu and others could no longer beg, hurrying to catch up with the group, but were held back by their able-bodied sons and men.
"What are you doing? You want this whole family to die with you?"
The nine men, already inhuman wrecks, could not speak but firmly grabbed their wives, clearly intending to take them along.
One man laid on the ground, unconscious and neglected, as their father had intended to abandon them initially.
The women steeled themselves and kicked the men away. Previously, they would not have dared, nor could they have overpowered them.
Now, these once strong and powerful men offered no resistance as the women effortlessly kicked them aside.
Each household took their sons, daughters-in-law, granddaughters, loaded them onto carts, and rushed to catch up with Qingfang Village's group.
Lady Zhu also took her grandsons and daughters, leaving behind her once most beloved oldest and youngest sons, and hurriedly left with what little belongings they had.
They fell behind Little Ya's Dad's group, wanting to overtake them to catch Qingfang Village's group but not daring to.
The eyes of these refugees were too fierce, as if they would kill anyone who dared walk in front of them.
Little Ya's Dad's group knew the people behind were the expelled ones, so they were not afraid of them.
Although unaware of what happened ahead, they had seen the lightning strike earlier. Anyone struck by lightning could not be a good person.
If they let those people walk ahead, wouldn't that be walking behind that person?
What if more lightning struck and they got caught in it?
Of course, they could not let those people walk ahead. The group tacitly blocked them from moving forward.
As they walked, Lady Zhu and the others fell further and further behind the front group. This group of elderly, weak women and children, with grandsons spoiled by Oldest Gu and unable to carry loads or lift anything.
Previously, they could keep up by having Gu Er and Gu San's children help out of respect for Oldest Gu.
Now that burden was gone, but they equally could not move quickly, unable to catch up with the front group, only watching helplessly as they went further and further away.
They resented Old Gu Six in their hearts, but dared not show it, let alone curse him.
Wasn't it because they wanted to cause trouble for Old Gu Six that Oldest Gu got struck by lightning?
Fearing they might get struck by lightning for cursing Old Gu Six, they could only curse inwardly: "Indeed a disaster star, whoever gets near suffers misfortune."
Chang'an fell asleep swaying in the mule cart, unable to cook the promised large rice meal for Old Six's Dad today.
The group stopped at noon, having reached a relatively flat area where some small groups were already resting.
The mule cart stopped, waking Chang'an. She lifted the cart curtain, "Dad, is it noon?"
"Yes, we'll stop to eat something and rest before continuing."
Old Gu Six lifted his daughter down and took the pot and water bucket from the cart.
His daughter had been inside all morning, so she would need to cook outside.
After getting down, Chang'an climbed back up, packing the steamed buns and roasted flatbreads from the wooden box into her space to prevent spoiling.
For lunch, she decided to cook dried snap peas, cured sausage, and rice together in one pot. She had an idea—to hoard some.
In this frustrating world without potatoes, sweet potatoes, or corn, everyone ate the same rice and flour. What was there to hoard?
It was just that others added wild vegetables while she added snap peas and sausage.
It was just the two of them, father and daughter, and Old Six's Dad was quite capable. Wasn't it reasonable for their meals to be a bit better?
Did the two of them really need to live eating wild vegetables and tree bark just to fit in?
Ridiculous.
Moreover, they could protect their own food supplies, so why not eat well?
Chang'an brought out the rice, sausage, and snap peas.
Old Gu Six had set up the pot and heated the water. Chang'an carried the ingredients over.
She rinsed the rice twice and put it in the pot, then used a fruit knife to slice the sausages into the pot. There was a cutting board, but she was too lazy to take it out for just two sausages.
The extremely sharp fruit knife sliced them quickly, after which she added the snap peas and a bit of seasoning.
Done!
No lid?
She climbed back into the cart and rummaged through her space, finding a wide bamboo cutting board that fit perfectly as a lid for the small iron pot.
She took it out, climbed back down, and covered the pot with it.
She tended the fire, adding firewood and carefully watching to avoid burning the pot.
Old Gu Six went to tend to the mules, feeding them water and hay, then took two empty buckets and told Chang'an, "Daughter, I'm going to get some water. Eat first if the rice is ready."
"Okay, be careful Dad, come back soon."
Chang'an looked up to respond, then turned her attention back to stirring the pot with a wooden paddle.
"Got it," Old Gu Six replied, and went into the woods with the buckets.
He did not call any villagers, too lazy to bother with that rabble.
The aroma of rice and sausage drew everyone's attention. Their plain rice porridge, once appealing, now seemed tasteless in comparison.
The villagers swallowed their saliva. Seeing Old Gu Six leave with the buckets, some thought the lone young Chang'an might share if they asked.
Little Mu carried the water buckets as he followed Old Gu Six away, with a few others leaving behind them. Little Ya's Dad also took some people with him.
Most people in Qingfang Village thought that since the Village Head didn't give the order to find water, they shouldn't leave.
They were like oxen plowing the fields, moving only with a whip's lash, despite their homes running out of water, unaware to take the initiative to search for water.
The Village Head looked at these people with a headache; the clever ones had already followed Old Gu Six.
"Do you still have water at home? Why are you all just sitting around? Don't you know to go out and find water?"
The villagers snapped out of it, noticing that Po Xiao and Ming Xiao from the Village Head's family had already left. They hurriedly picked up their buckets and rushed out.
Someone secretly made their way towards Chang'an, holding a bowl in their hands.
"Hey Chang'an's niece, whatcha making that smells so good? Gimme some too, will ya?"
