"That's right! Instead of hiding, we should go to the city to buy grain to make rice porridge for Xixi."

Liu Meixin also thought her mother-in-law's method was effective, since a goat is a living creature and hiding it would be quite troublesome.

Although things seem to be going smoothly now, Grandma Zhu is still not happy. After all, carrying something as valuable as gold on her person will inevitably lead to trouble sooner or later.

"Mother, sister-in-law."

Just as Old Mrs. Zhu was worrying, she suddenly heard her son and daughter-in-law calling out from the surroundings.

She quickly raised her hand to greet everyone, "We're here."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Grandma Zhu, Liu Meixin, and Zhu Yiming were all alright.

After glancing around, Zhu Haotian's face instantly turned grim. He stammered and pointed in the direction of the escorts.

"Mother, I just saw the guards carrying a goat out of the woods. Could that goat be...?"

Grandma Zhu didn't want to talk about gold in this place, so she quickly waved to her son to return to the camp.

After everyone returned to the camp, Grandma Zhu took all the food out of the bamboo basket and handed it to Liu Meixin to handle.

He then recounted the entire story in front of the fire.

When Tao Qinru heard about the gold, her eyes lit up. She looked at the baby Zhu Xixi in surprise and licked her lips.

"Mother, may I take a look?"

"Okay, but you need to be careful."

When Grandma Zhu saw Tao Qinru's greedy look, she smiled indulgently and hugged Zhu Xixi.

Upon seeing this, Tao Qinru quickly wiped her hands, carefully took her little niece, looked around, and then tiptoed to remove Zhu Xixi's swaddling clothes.

Upon seeing the gold in the swaddling clothes, her smile never faded. She looked at Zhu Haotian excitedly and whispered something.

"Husband, look! It's real, it's real!"

Zhu Haotian's attention was entirely on his little niece. After noticing that her belly was flat, he quickly looked at Grandma Zhu.

"Mom, have you breastfed Xixi?"

"Oh dear, I forgot! Give it to me quickly, Xixi is starving."

With so many things to do, Grandma Zhu almost forgot about this important matter. She warmed the kettle in the iron pot, quickly poured it into a bowl, and then held Zhu Xixi in her arms, feeding her milk in small sips.

Zhu Xixi was starving and was eating her milk in big gulps, making slurping sounds.

Tao Qinru watched Zhu Xixi wolf down her food and sighed with heartache, "This child is so sensible! She doesn't cry or make a fuss. I wonder if she'll be able to get used to rice porridge in the future."

"Don't worry, Xixi isn't a picky eater. She'll happily eat even rice porridge." After hearing his wife's sigh, Zhu Haotian also began to worry about his little niece. He wished he could buy another one.

Thinking of this, he suddenly stood up and hurried to Old Lady Zhu's side. "Mother, why don't we buy another one for Xixi? We were worried that the guards would take it away, but now that they already have a goat, we can just buy another one."

“No, there are more and more refugees on the road. This goat could easily be attacked by them. We are all defenseless. If we really fight, we are no match for those refugees.”

Old Mrs. Zhu longed to buy another goat for her granddaughter, but the journey was fraught with danger. She had to be wary not only of the refugees but also of Zhu Yanyan's underhanded tactics.

If they want to reach the border safely, they must keep a low profile and not be too high-profile.

With this in mind, after feeding Zhu Xixi the last mouthful of goat milk, she handed her granddaughter over to Zhu Haotian.

"You hold Xixi, I'm going to talk to Chen Xiang."

When Zhu Chenfeng heard that his mother was going to find the escort, he stood up and said, "Mother, I'll go with you."

"Alright, the rest of you, go prepare dinner!"

Old Mrs. Zhu pondered for a moment with a haggard look on her face, then nodded and led her son toward the escorts.

At this moment, the escort was slaughtering a goat. When Chen Xiang saw Old Lady Zhu, he smiled thoughtfully.

"Did Grandma Zhu want to see us about something?"

"Yes, Lord Chen, as you know, my little granddaughter is too young. I want to borrow the travel document to go to town to buy some grain to make rice porridge for her."

Faced with Chen Xiang's question, Grandma Zhu no longer held back and spoke her mind.

"Grandma Zhu, it's not that I don't want to help you, it's just that this is a bit difficult."

Chen Xiang glanced at Old Lady Zhu, then pretended to be troubled and clicked his tongue.

"Don't you think things have gone much smoother since my granddaughter was born? We've not only had fish to eat, but now we also have mutton. I believe our team will only get better and better in the future."

"On this premise, I need your help, and I will repay you many times over in the future."

Grandma Zhu knew that Chen Xiang was deliberately making things difficult for them in order to test whether they had anything more valuable on them.

Chen Xiang had never believed in ghosts or gods, but so many strange things had happened on this journey that his mindset had changed.

After a moment of contemplation, he became increasingly curious about Old Lady Zhu's next plans.

"I'm very curious, even if you're allowed into the county town, what will you use to purchase goods?"

"Sir, look at this magnificent river, it is the greatest wealth. Medicinal herbs are in short supply now, but if we are careful, we will find valuable herbs to sell."

Grandma Zhu didn't mind revealing her plan, since her actions would be discovered sooner or later anyway, so she might as well use it to create an opportunity.

Chen Xiang was very satisfied with what Old Lady Zhu said, and clapped his hands with a smile, "As expected of a first-rank imperial consort, her insight is beyond that of ordinary people."

After saying that, he took out the travel document from his pocket as he walked, threw it on the ground, and pretended to nervously touch his pocket as he walked and talked.

"That's strange, where's my travel permit? Could it be lost?"

Upon seeing this, Old Lady Zhu immediately understood Chen Xiang's meaning. After looking back at her son, she quickly bent down and picked up the travel document.

After obtaining the travel permit, the two hurriedly turned around and headed towards their camp.

Just after the two turned to leave, Chen Xiang's subordinate Zhu Wen slowly stepped forward and stood beside him, saying something.

"Sir, are we just going to give it to them like that?"

"Of course not. I'm just curious how Old Madam Zhu managed to make the purchases when she had no money."

Chen Xiang didn't actually believe what Old Lady Zhu said; he just wanted to use this incident to test whether the Zhu family was hiding anything valuable.

Upon hearing Chen Xiang's explanation, Zhu Wen immediately understood. "My men will secretly follow Old Lady Zhu into the county town tomorrow."

"Hmm, by the way, any news about Qiuyang Post Station?" Chen Xiang was pleased with his subordinate's quick thinking and turned to inquire about the post station.

"Still no reply. Could it be that even Qiuyang Post Station has fallen, boss?" Zhu Wen sighed as he reported, his head aching at the thought of the post station.

Upon hearing this, Chen Xiang's expression darkened. He narrowed his eyes and pondered for a moment. "Contact the other post stations again. If they have all been captured, then there is no need for these people to go to the border."