Cheng Family

Dazhuang skillfully coaxed Xiaoyuan to sleep, and after she fell asleep, he carefully tied her back with a soft cloth strip.

He gripped the wood-chopping knife tightly again, and with a surge of courage, led his three younger brothers and sisters to gather whatever was usable in the house, piling it up on the couch in the main room.

The room was filled with the smell of mud and blood.

Several children huddled together, their bodies trembling unnaturally, trying to look away from the corpse on the ground.

The second child wrinkled his nose uncomfortably and whispered:

"Big brother, will Mother really come back?"

The village head's family seems like nice people, but they can be quite fierce in private.

Da Zhuang stared intently at the bolted wooden door, switched hands to grip the wood-chopping knife, and hastily wiped the sweat from his palms onto his clothes.

His voice was hoarse, but calm:

"Mother will definitely come back!"

As if they had found their anchor, the three older children's panic and anxiety gradually subsided, and a sense of exhaustion returned.

Hearing the breathing around him gradually subside, Da Zhuang blinked hard at his sore eyes and braced himself, carefully watching for any movement around him.

After an unknown amount of time, a knock came from the courtyard door.

The children, who were light sleepers, were immediately awakened. Fear showed in their round eyes, and they covered their mouths, not daring to breathe.

Da Zhuang raised his wood-chopping knife and boldly asked in a sharp voice, "Who?!"

Outside the door, Ye Wenxue breathed a sigh of relief, quickly picked up a hemp rope, tied up the goose, and whispered:

"It's me! Dazhuang, open the door."

With a creak, the wooden door opened.

Da Zhuang cautiously peeked out, and after recognizing the person in the moonlight, his tense nerves relaxed.

"mother!"

The three children rushed out and hugged Ye Wenxue tightly, leaving no gap between them.

Ye Wenxue didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and lowered her voice:

"Alright, stop crying. Quickly help your mother move everything onto the cart. It's almost dawn; we should set off now."

"Boss, I'll carry Yuanyuan on my back. You go and tie up the goose."

Da Zhuang didn't ask where the goose came from, but nodded emphatically with bright eyes.

The original owner's husband was a tall and handsome scholar.

Two years ago, he passed the imperial examination and became a scholar. He would occasionally go to the town to do some copying and teaching work, and sometimes he would help out at the county government office to earn some rice and meat as a supplement.

Therefore, the Cheng family was relatively well-off.

But after Cheng Xiucai passed away, the original owner of the body had just given birth to Yuanyuan and was unable to do heavy work, so she had no choice but to sell a lot of her belongings to exchange for food.

There wasn't much valuable stuff left, but there were plenty of odds and ends.

With the thought that she couldn't let certain people in Shanqing Village benefit from her, Ye Wenxue made several trips back and forth, then carried Yuanyuan on her back and held a candlestick while searching each room.

Despite his young age, Dazhuang was very meticulous in his work, and he packed away most of the edible, valuable, and usable items.

They even brought along the only half-full wooden bucket of murky river water they had at home.

The main room only contained some beds, tables, chairs, and wooden cabinets that couldn't be taken away.

...Ye Wenxue's space is too small, so she can't bring these things with her.

She turned and went to the kitchen next door.

Bring along the nearly empty oil, salt, soy sauce, pickled vegetables, broken bowls, and other recyclables from the stove.

Even the family's hidden treasures—the few dozen copper coins they had left—could not be overlooked, even if they were kept secret in the ashes of the stove or in the cracks of the walls.

Besides that, there was nothing else I could bring.

After searching through the original owner's memories and learning that all the family's wealth had been taken, Ye Wenxue turned and walked out.

"Caw caw caw!"

As dawn broke, the geese's pitiful cries echoed through the sky.

Ye Wenxue's pupils contracted, she tightened her grip on Yuanyuan on her back, and quickly ran outside into the courtyard.

Dazhuang, holding a wood-chopping knife, shielded the other three children behind him, confronting a group of men like a wolf cub.

Seeing Ye Wenxue rush over, Dazhuang promptly complained:

"Mother, they want to kidnap Siwang!"

Ye Wenxue's face turned cold, and a dangerous glint flashed in her eyes.

Old He was being pecked around by the goose, running all over the place, and even at this point, he still had the mind to argue:

"Nonsense! We just heard some noise over here and were worried that thieves had broken into the village, so we came to check it out out of kindness!"

Ye Wenxue and Dazhuang both spat at the same time.

No one would believe that if I said that!

The goose puffed out its chest and strutted back behind Ye Wenxue, letting out a long honking that sounded like it was complaining.

Old He cursed under his breath, calling him a traitor, and then picked up where Old He left off, smiling politely like a tiger:

"Widow Cheng, where are you taking the children?"

Ye Wenxue took the wood-chopping knife from Dazhuang's hand and weighed it up and down:

"It's none of your business."

Her gaze swept over the group of people behind He Laoda and He Laowu:

"What? Are you trying to go back on your word and come here to rob us?"

Old He glanced contemptuously at the wood-chopping knife in her hand:

"What do you mean by robbery? The silver was given to us, so it's rightfully ours. You'd better hand it over if you know what's good for you, or don't blame me for being impolite!"

One of the burly men couldn't help but speak up:

"Yes! Widow Cheng, that's not very kind of you. You know perfectly well that the village head's family is poor and short of money and food, you..."

Ye Wenxue stepped back to help the children onto the cart, interrupting him with a cold laugh:

"Are you blind? His family has six strong men, all of them are well-fed and greasy. Where would they lack money or food? If we're talking about poverty, isn't my Cheng family much poorer?"

"Besides, the three taels of silver originally belonged to my family. What's wrong with me wanting it back?"

"Why are you so eager to speak up for the village head's family? Could it be that you also want your money back, but you're too ashamed to do it?"

—As soon as the news of the famine escape spread, many villagers secretly slipped money to the village head.

The village head, who hoped that his daughter would marry into the neighboring county town, could lead them to escape the famine together, looking out for each other along the way.

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