When Xixi heard the conversation between her grandmother and Chen Xiang, her little brows furrowed and she made babbling sounds.

Fortunately, Xixi had already emptied the corrupt official's granary.

Food isn't my biggest concern; it's the cold weather.

[This kind of weather is unbearable indoors, let alone outdoors in this biting cold.]

I wonder if everyone will be able to get through this cold winter.

Thinking of this, Xixi's little face scrunched up like an old lady, and even her usually strong little feet felt weak when she kicked.

Not only was Xixi worried about the future, but the rest of the Zhu family members also looked worried and sighed repeatedly.

After a moment of contemplation, Old Madam Zhu quickly stood up, dusted herself off, and said, "Listen up, all of you, get up and check the winter supplies on the carriage."

Upon hearing what Old Lady Zhu said, the group, who had been resting, quickly got up and rushed to the carriage to start calculating the remaining winter supplies on board.

Old Liu rolled his eyes in annoyance at Zhu's inexplicable behavior.

"What does this old woman mean? Shouldn't we be solving the food problem right now? Why is she checking these winter supplies in this sweltering heat?"

Even Zhu Wen found Zhu's actions strange and came to Chen Xiang's side to ask curiously.

"Boss, what does this old lady Zhu mean by this? Why is she suddenly checking the winter supplies?"

Chen Xiang was troubled by the food issue, and shook his head with a sullen face, "I don't know, maybe they have their own plans!"

"Boss, why don't we escape? Look, there are fewer and fewer people left, there's no point in continuing to escort them!"

Zhu Wen had this idea long ago. Ever since he learned of the turmoil in the court, he no longer wanted to escort these people to the border.

Anyway, the imperial court wouldn't give them any money to escort them, so they might as well just run away halfway and find another town to work in.

Old Liu also thought Zhu Wen's words made sense and nodded in agreement, "That's right! Boss, we were still able to get silver from Zhu Yanyan before, so we didn't lose out."

"But now Zhu Yanyan has also disappeared without a trace, so there's really no need for us to continue. If you're afraid of taking responsibility..."

Halfway through his sentence, Old Liu made a gesture as if a knife had been sliced ​​across a neck, "If all else fails, we'll quietly take them all out..."

"Shut up! The Zhu family saved you after all, how can you be so ungrateful?" Chen Xiang had considered running away, but he thought it was better to go to the border to see what was going on than to wander around.

But now the situation is getting worse and worse, and he really needs to reconsider whether he should continue on his journey.

Xixi overheard their discussion, and she put on a mature expression, shaking her head and sighing.

[It's such a pity; the journey through the desert was arduous, but we discovered many valuable treasures along the way.]

These treasures are all very valuable; you could exchange them for a lot of money. Why go back to your death?

Treasure? Chen Xiang realized he seemed to hear a childish voice, his expression blank, as did the expressions of his brothers around him.

Finding that they had no expression, he then turned his attention to Zhu Xixi.

Could that sound have come from her?

The sound was intermittent, and he couldn't hear it very clearly, but he did hear the word "treasure".

Xixi didn't notice Chen Xiang looking at her; she was still blowing bubbles and muttering to herself while looking at her little hands.

The Yuan Dynasty's court has long since collapsed, and many local officials are only concerned with protecting their own interests.

[They've started ruthlessly exploiting the people. Soon everyone will be heading north to seek a living; who would be foolish enough to go south?]

The baby voice rang out again, and this time Chen Xiang was absolutely certain that it was indeed the little girl's voice.

How could he hear this girl's voice? Could it be that there's some kind of destiny between them?

To find out the reason, Chen Xiang got up and walked towards Xi Xi, wanting to see what was going on.

Xixi started to get sleepy halfway through her rambling, curled up her toes, and ate them as she drifted off to sleep.

When Chen Xiang walked in, he found that he hadn't heard anything, but only saw the chubby little girl sleeping with her toes in her mouth.

"Lord Chen, what's wrong?"

When Grandma Zhu saw Chen Xiang staring at her granddaughter, she quickly wiped her hands, hugged the child to her chest, and asked anxiously.

Coming to his senses, Chen Xiang stared blankly at Old Lady Zhu, then coughed awkwardly a few times to explain.

"This little girl is about three months old! She's chubby and fair-skinned, and she doesn't cry or fuss on the way."

"She is very well-behaved, but she has a bad fate and was born into our family."

Grandma Zhu felt a lump in her throat when she talked about her granddaughter, and her eyes reddened as she choked up.

Old Liu and Zhu Wen thought Chen Xiang was going to discuss something with Old Lady Zhu. They exchanged a glance and quickly came up behind Chen Xiang.

"Grandma Zhu, our eldest brother is too embarrassed to tell you, so let me do it! You'll have to walk the rest of the way yourself!"

Zhu Wen stood beside Lao Liu, sighing repeatedly. He was grateful to the Zhu family, but fate had other plans, and all he wanted was to live.

"Grandma Zhu, I'm sorry, let's say goodbye here! If you reach the border safely, I hope you won't tell anyone about this."

Faced with the sudden separation, Grandma Zhu stared blankly at the group, at a loss for what to do.

"Are you sending us to the border alone?"

"Yes, the imperial court doesn't have any money to give to the post stations now, which means there are no post stations to receive us along the way. Once we enter the desert, there will be no food, which means we're doomed. It's better to just leave now."

Old Liu's idea was simple: to survive. There was no need to sacrifice himself for people who didn't want to be involved.

Although Zhu Wen wasn't as direct as Lao Liu, he roughly understood the same thing and silently nodded in agreement.

At this moment, Old Lady Zhu was completely at a loss. She had never seen the guards and prisoners separated midway through the journey.

After crossing the desert, it will be several more months before we reach the border, and we may encounter even more terrible things along the way.

Only two sons in the entire team could withstand the unknown risks, but these two were far from enough.

If they were in today's situation, they would only be waiting to die.

"That....."

"What nonsense are you talking about? What kind of escort abandons a prisoner halfway? I won't stop you if you want to leave, but I won't give up halfway."

Chen Xiang was furious at Zhu Wen and Lao Liu for making the decision on their own initiative. He turned around and angrily rebuked the two of them with a dark face.

Old Liu never expected that even at this point, Chen Xiang would risk his brothers' lives for those so-called principles.

"Chen Xiang, are you crazy? Without the support of the post stations and without food, continuing on will only lead to death."

"You're the one who's gone mad! Do you even know what's going on?"

Chen Xiang felt sorry for Lao Liu's foolish idea, and shook his head with a sneer, "Even the imperial court doesn't have it, do you think going back will save us from death?"