The moment the soy sauce dripped onto the rice, the aroma of the dried fish and shrimp was instantly released. Yunling couldn't even imagine how fragrant it would be if the soy sauce seeped down the rice grains and dripped to the bottom of the pot to form a thin layer of soy sauce.

Yun Ling swallowed hard, and Yun Ruoxia's drool dripped onto her shoulder as she said:

"Sister-in-law, is this safe to eat?"

"Sure."

Zhang used a spatula to scoop the rice from the bottom and then mixed it with the rice on top. The soy sauce slowly seeped into most of the rice as he skillfully stirred it, creating an extremely delicious flavor that made everyone else's mouths water.

As night fell,

The only candle lit the surrounding area, and everyone gathered around to eat this pot of seafood rice. The seafood flavor was very rich and permeated the rice, and with the right amount of soy sauce seasoning, it was absolutely delicious.

The Fan family's children couldn't sit still. They'd eat a bite of rice, then shift their positions left and right, as if they had thorns growing on their bodies.

"This seafood rice is so delicious. I wish I could eat it every day."

"Mother, can I eat seafood rice every day?"

"Me, me, me, I want to eat seafood rice every day too."

Sister-in-law Fan was a little embarrassed. She tried to hold onto her youngest son, but he was too young to understand social etiquette. He didn't know what the adults were thinking and was only concerned with his own happiness, so he was quite unrestrained.

"The child is too young to understand, he..."

"Okay, once we find a place to settle down, we'll eat seafood rice every day."

Yunling's words broke the awkward silence. Everyone else knew it was just polite talk, but the children didn't see it that way.

All they knew was that Yunling had promised them that she would provide them with seafood rice every day, so Yunling was their rice maker, and they had to follow her.

**

Even the most delicious and heartwarming seafood rice will eventually be eaten up, leaving everyone with only endless longing.

After two days of hearty meals, everyone was in high spirits and walked with great energy. Soon... they encountered the people who had fled from Qingcheng.

They have no intention of getting into arguments with others, and even when picking wild vegetables and fruits, they will deliberately avoid these people to avoid attracting their attention.

However, sometimes, even if you don't provoke others, they might still provoke you.

The attire of Yunling and the others aroused jealousy. That night, after Li Yuedi finished her night watch and was handing over to Tang Ling, she felt the urge to urinate.

She then took a tinderbox and led Xiaobai to the nearby bushes. After relieving herself and fastening her skirt, she had just emerged from the bushes when the only hairpin in her hair was snatched away.

Why did you steal my hairpin?

"Yours? Have you no shame? This is clearly my hairpin, which you secretly took. I'm just taking back what's mine."

"You're talking nonsense. When did I take your hairpin? I don't even know you. This is my hairpin. I bought it with my own money. Give it back to me."

When Li Yuedi tried to snatch it, the woman quickly backed away and spat at Li Yuedi.

"What do you mean 'give it back to you'? This is mine. You stole it from me."

Li Yuedi's anger surged. No wonder this woman had been staring at her all day; she was harboring ill intentions. She was both angry and anxious, and immediately tried to snatch the hairpin back.

But the woman, who harbored evil intentions, was no pushover. When she saw Li Yuedi trying to snatch back the hairpin, she quickly retreated to resist.

The little white dog, able to distinguish right from wrong, immediately barked at the woman, baring its fangs as if it were about to pounce and tear her to pieces at any moment.

The woman was already afraid of such aggressive beasts, and being outnumbered and outmatched, she could not resist. So she shouted in her local dialect:

"Meat, there's meat here! Everyone come and eat meat!"

"Hurry up and come here, don't let the meat get away."

Upon hearing that there was meat, those people could no longer sit still; they eagerly pushed themselves up and scrambled over.

"Meat? Where's the meat? Don't lie to me, you old hag."

"Isn't this meat? Isn't this dog meant to be eaten? There's a saying that dragon meat is heavenly and dog meat is earthly. This dog is so fat, its meat must be delicious."

Li Yuedi truly hated this vicious woman. Not only did she steal her hairpin, but she also dared to covet Xiaobai! Xiaobai was everyone's guardian angel; how could she let these thugs and bandits take her away?

"Xiaobai is our pet, it belongs to our family. If you touch Xiaobai, that's theft, and you'll go to jail."

But Li Yuedi's words had no deterrent effect whatsoever; instead, the woman laughed:

"What? What are you talking about? You want to sue us? Go ahead, the magistrate has run away, I want to see where you can sue us. You're overestimating yourself. If you're so capable, go to Kaifeng Prefecture and seek justice for this beast."

"You...you...you..."

"What do you mean, 'what do you mean, 'what do you mean, 'what do you mean, 'you dead dog'? You don't look like an animal at all. Your body is fatter than any of us. We humans can't even get enough to eat, so what's wrong with eating you to nourish ourselves? Is it illegal?'"

Everyone agreed that the woman's words made sense. Putting aside the issue of whether it was legal or illegal, the fact that they hadn't had any meat during their time on the run was enough to make them crave Xiao Bai. The woman's words were just giving them a pretext to take action.

"I think that makes sense. What kind of time is this? How can animals be more important than human lives? Isn't this a joke?"

"I think so too. What's more important than a person? It's just a dog. If you eat it, you eat it."

“That’s right, we don’t know anything. All we know is that we saw a dog on the roadside. Who knows if it’s ownerless? Besides, in this situation, let alone a dog, I could take down a bear and feed it to my belly.”

"..."

These people's self-righteousness disgusted and frightened Xiaobai, so it could only bark more fiercely at them in order to fight for its own survival.

But its self-protection was seen as defiance and provocation by these people, so they joined together, picked up the scattered branches, and attacked Little White.

"That damn dog is really fierce. Let me teach it a lesson."

"Let's hit it on the head with a stick and see if it dies."

"Just go over there with a rope and tie it up, then hang it up a tree. I don't believe it can still struggle."

Li Yuedi was truly frightened; she was afraid that Xiaobai would fall into the hands of thieves, so she immediately stood in front of Xiaobai...