"I didn't!" Daya argued.

"Mom, she dares to talk back to me even though she is paying for it. I even saw her drinking water secretly." Da Zhuang was relentless and seemed determined not to give up until he achieved his goal.

Da Zhuang's wife stepped forward and kicked Daya out. She didn't listen to her explanation at all and attacked her without saying anything. "How dare you drink water secretly? Who gave you the courage? If I don't teach you today, you might get into trouble in the future."

She turned around to look for a stick. Dazhuang pointed at a stick as thick as his arm not far away and said, "Mom, there, there."

Daya looked at her mother coming towards her with such a thick stick in her hand. She was so scared that her face turned pale and she kept backing away, crying, "Mom, I really didn't do that. I just drank the dew that I collected myself. I really didn't steal the water."

Aunt Wang couldn't bear to see this and said, "Mrs. Dazhuang, I can testify that Daya didn't drink the water secretly. She drank the dew she collected herself."

Several women nearby also joined in and spoke for Daya.

Da Zhuang's wife knew that she had misunderstood, but she would not allow herself to lose face, so she said bluntly: "The dew she collected should be given to her family. She drank it privately, which is stealing."

Aunt Wang and others were very angry at Da Zhuang's crooked logic. Everyone could see that Daya would inevitably be beaten.

Daya is her child, and outsiders like them cannot do much about it. They can only sigh and lament that Daya has a bad fate, being born in such a family and having such a mother.

"Mom, beat that bitch quickly. She allowed her to drink water secretly. Beat her to death." Da Zhuang urged desperately.

Daya was crying and looking at the stick in her mother's hand with horror.

"No! Mom, I won't dare to do it again."

As the thick stick was about to fall, a majestic voice came and scolded the other party.

"stop!"

Yang Lizheng walked forward, with Su Yin following beside him.

"Uncle Lizheng, what's the matter? I taught my child a lesson, but I didn't do anything else."

That means you have no control over me.

Yang Lizheng snorted coldly, "You are holding such a thick stick, are you going to beat your child to death? Is there any mother like you?"

"Just because we don't tell you doesn't mean we don't know. If you give the child a little more water, the child won't go to collect dew to drink. You don't give her food or water. Are you planning to let her die of thirst?"

The words of the village head made Daya feel warm in her heart, but there was an inexplicable sourness in her eyes.

Yang Lizheng looked at Grandpa Dazhuang again, "Yang Laoliu, do you have a weak spine? Are you not so old that you are blind and deaf?"

Yang Laoliu was called out by name and had to express his opinion. He said to Dazhuang Niang, "Fourth daughter-in-law, please calm down! Bring some bread and water to the child. Don't let outsiders think that we are mistreating the girl."

"If you continue to tarnish our family's reputation, I'll ask the fourth brother to divorce you."

Da Zhuang's mother was so angry and anxious when she heard this that her eyes turned red with anger.

Aren't they the ones who hate Daya? They call her a dead girl and a money-loser. Every time I give her a bite of food, they will roll their eyes and scold me non-stop.

Now, everyone is wrongly blaming her.

These two old guys will get what they deserve sooner or later.

Thanks to Yang Lizheng's intervention, Daya finally escaped the disaster. No one knew how long Dazhuang's family could last, but everyone knew one thing: it wouldn't be long before things would return to their old ways.

Since there was no travel during the day, the old, the weak, the women and the children who stayed in the camp did not eat, and skipped the morning meal. Only the men who went out to look for water were eligible to eat.

Su's mother was also about to do the same, but was stopped by Su Yin.

She has money now, and can buy some supplies when she arrives in Yongqing County. There is really no need to save on food.

In the morning, the men went to look for water, while the women who stayed in the camp did other work. Many were weaving straw sandals, and some were mending their family members' torn shoes and clothes. Everyone was busy.

At noon, people who went out to look for water came back one after another.

"Did you find any water?"

"how's it going?"

Faced with everyone's questions, everyone who came back just shook their heads.

When the last group of people came back, they also didn't bring back any good news.

Yang Lizheng sighed, "It seems that the spring has dried up. Let's go around the mountain and get back to the official road."

Su Yin had looked at the map, so he naturally led the way.

Su's mother and others also moved from the front middle of the team to the front row, next to the head of the village. The eldest uncle, the second uncle and the youngest uncle also moved to the front to make it easier to take care of them.

According to the location marked on the map, Su Yin led his men through a sparsely populated mountain road, commonly known as a roadless road. After walking for about an incense stick of time, a narrow path appeared in front of them.

If there are traces of people walking, it means we have reached a safe area.

After walking along the narrow path for about an hour, they rushed out of the forest and faced the scorching sun.

"Official road! There is an official road ahead."

"Finally I saw the official road."

Someone saw a tower standing not far away and exclaimed in surprise.

"Eternal Pagoda."

During the Yong Dynasty, there was a tower standing on the outskirts of every county town to remind travelers that they were about to enter the county town.

Yongqing County was about to arrive, and everyone had joy on their faces.

Many people rely on Yongqing County to replenish water and other missing items.

Seeing the Yongqing Pagoda, everyone walked with more energy.

Everyone's attention was on the Yongqing Pagoda and Yongqing County in the distance, but Su Yin noticed that there were many refugees staggering on the official road. These people were in twos and threes, with ragged clothes and blood on their faces.

"Third Grandfather, I think something is wrong with the people down there."

After her reminder, Yang Lizheng and others shifted their gaze to the crowd walking on the official road. When they saw this, their hearts were pounding.

"Go ahead."

The team came out of the woods. The appearance of such a large team immediately attracted the attention of the people around. Those who had some ulterior motives immediately dispelled some unrealistic ideas after seeing people coming out of the woods continuously.

Su Yin and Yang Lizheng targeted a family of four. Compared with the others, those four people looked much better in spirits and there was no greed in their eyes.

"Excuse me, little brother, where are you from?" Yang Lizheng asked with a smile.

The other party glanced at their team, and the young man said, "We are all villagers from the surrounding villages."

“What are you doing…”

The man looked sad. "Today, a group of people suddenly came to the village. They rushed into the village, burning, killing and looting. My family lives far away, and even if we escaped, we left in such a hurry that we didn't take any of our belongings with us."

"We were lucky to escape. Those who didn't have time to escape were killed by those people."