When being spoken to like this, Mrs. Zhao suddenly felt that her previous words were inappropriate.
"It was me who didn't consider this carefully enough, Old Lady Mo please don't blame me."
Knowing that Mrs. Zhao had not come over just to apologize so simply, but she did not say her true purpose.
So Old Lady Mo was going to order her to leave.
"Mrs. Fang, I can understand how your family feels, and I appreciate your apology. If there is nothing else, you should go back now, to avoid being scolded by the officials."
Seeing that Old Lady Mo was starting to drive her away, Mrs. Zhao was no longer modest.
She carefully took out a gemstone ring from her rolled up hair.
"Old Lady Mo, may I exchange this ring for some fish?"
As she spoke, Mrs. Zhao turned and pointed to where her family members were resting.
"My little son saw you all eating grilled fish and craved it so much that he cried. I really had no other way, so I came to ask if you could spare us some."
Old Lady Mo looked at the gemstone ring in Mrs. Zhao's hand, then looked in the direction she was pointing.
Sure enough, a little boy who looked eight or nine years old was there wiping his tears.
"The fish were caught by my ninth daughter-in-law, if you want to exchange it, go talk to her."
For such matters, Old Lady Mo felt it was not appropriate for her to make decisions on behalf of her daughter-in-law.
Mrs. Zhao politely expressed her thanks, then went towards the riverbank.
Just then, He Zhiran had also caught enough fish and was walking towards the shore.
She had already seen Mrs. Zhao talking with her mother-in-law, and could roughly guess her purpose in coming over.
He Zhiran did not take the initiative to speak, but slowly put on her shoes and socks at the shore.
Mrs. Zhao came over, trying hard to maintain a proper smile.
"He... Mrs. He, may auntie discuss something with you, and exchange this ring for some fish?"
He Zhiran looked at the ring, the red gem was crystal clear, obviously a valuable item at first glance.
It showed Mrs. Zhao was willing to spend a lot just for some fish.
At the same time, she guessed that the Fang family really had no silver on them, otherwise they wouldn't use such a nice ring to exchange for some worthless fish.
He Zhiran did not stand on ceremony with Mrs. Zhao, and directly took the ring.
Then pointing to the crucian carp she had just caught, she said: "The fish are all here, take what you need."
Seeing the other party agreed, Mrs. Zhao expressed her thanks profusely, then squatted down to grab some fish.
He Zhiran just stood there watching, she wanted to see how many fish Mrs. Zhao would take.
Mrs. Zhao hesitated briefly, then took five fish.
"Is this okay?"
Given the value of Mrs. Zhao's ring, let alone five fish, even five hundred would not be excessive.
But the other party was not greedy, only taking five.
This gave He Zhiran a good first impression of Mrs. Zhao.
"No problem, if it's not enough, you can take some more."
Mrs. Zhao shook her head: "No need, I'm very satisfied with this."
After speaking, she reluctantly glanced at the ring in He Zhiran's hand, then turned and left.
Just from that one look, He Zhiran could determine that this ring was very important to Mrs. Zhao.
So she chased after her and softly said,
"There must be some misunderstanding between us. If you want to resolve it, please ask Uncle Fang to come find my husband after dark, then everything will become clear."
Mrs. Zhao solemnly nodded: "Alright, I will pass this on to my Old Master."
He Zhiran turned around and secretly stored the ring in her space.
She thought that if the Mo and Fang families could resolve their conflicts in the future, she could completely return the ring to Mrs. Zhao.
Just not right now.
The sisters-in-law continued to clean the caught crucian carp. He Zhiran grilled ten fish at Peng Wang's request, then gave them all to him. What Peng Wang wanted to do with the fish was his business.
After eating the grilled fish and seeing it was about time, Peng Wang gave the order to continue on their journey.
The two miserable laborers from the He family reluctantly pushed the wheeled plank with pained expressions once again.
The afternoon weather remained sultry. Fortunately, He Zhiran had brewed herbal medicine for some people to drink, sparing them from the danger of heat stroke.
The Mo family members, Xie family members, and officials were all fine.
However, it was different for the other three families.
As they travelled, some people from those families developed varying degrees of heat stroke symptoms.
Initially it was still manageable as their family members carried or supported them, keeping up with the large convoy.
But as time went on, the number of people with heat stroke kept increasing. The remaining few who were still relatively healthy simply could not take care of so many people.
In a short time, the entire exiled convoy was filled with wails.
At the same time, the Xie family members and officials were sincerely grateful to He Zhiran.
If not for the herbal medicine she prepared in advance, they would probably not escape the fate of heat stroke either.
Seeing the situation, Peng Wang knew they could no longer continue travelling, and could only order them to stop.
When encountering such circumstances, the first person Peng Wang thought of was He Zhiran.
"Mrs. He, this matter still needs you to resolve it."
But He Zhiran did not agree.
"Officer Peng, you've seen it these past two days, they've been cursing us Mo family people. Why should I go save them?"
He Zhiran believed she was no saint who would save anyone just because she knew medicine.
Especially the He family and Li family people, their hatred for Mo Jiuye was down to the bone.
If Mo Jiuye stuck his head out, they would definitely spare no effort to chop it off with a blade.
She would absolutely not lend a helping hand to save people harboring such malice.
Of course the Fang family was different, she could consider treating them.
Peng Wang also understood this reasoning.
As the head official in charge of escorting them, it was not a big deal if a few people died or were injured along the way.
But if the number was too great, he would be unable to explain it to his superiors after returning.
Therefore, he could only continue persuading He Zhiran.
"No matter how big their mistakes, they are still living people. You can't just watch them die, right?"
He Zhiran's mind was set, and she crossed both arms stubbornly, not leaving Peng Wang any leeway.
"Officer Peng, stop saying anymore. I said I won't save them means I won't save them."
"You..." Peng Wang was also angered, pointing at He Zhiran's nose, wanting to scold her a few times, but held back in the end.
"Mrs. He, I advise you to be more tactful. There is still a long way to the Northwest, offending me does you no good."
He Zhiran's temper also flared up, unwilling to back down.
"Officer Peng, what you said is unfair. If you were me, would you be willing to save the lives of your enemies?"
"This..." Peng Wang was left speechless by her retort.
He realized this woman He had a stubborn temper, being hard on her really wouldn't work.
So he made an effort to keep his emotions under control, and spoke again in a negotiating tone:
"How about this, you choose some more agreeable ones to treat?"
Although unwilling to compromise on her pride, He Zhiran also understood she couldn't offend Peng Wang too severely.
When someone provided a way out, she should take it at the right time.
She looked at the people with heat stroke. The Fang family was still decent. Perhaps because they ate some fish at noon, their bodies had some immunity and only three were down.
The He family and Li family were in bad shape. The two families had over thirty people total, and less than ten could still stand now.
"Since Officer Peng puts it this way, I will reluctantly save some as a favor."
