Lin Youcai didn't hold back either: "Tiezhu is a scholar after all, and he even helped us. Now we're the ones who want to ask Lao San to take us with them. If you still have this bad temper and love to gossip and smear Lao San's family, you might as well go with those who don't want to go to Lingnan, so as not to drag us down. Otherwise, Tiezhu's mother won't treat the people in our village anymore."

Lin Youcai couldn't say for sure if there was anything wrong.

When Lin Laosan was at home, he was treated like a slave. His family took advantage of his honesty and lack of temper. But even a clay figure has a temper, and if you push them too far, they will definitely cause trouble.

Now, if they want to survive, they have to beg Lin Shucheng's family.

Tie Zhu was literate and could analyze situations, and his mother also knew a little about medicine. More importantly, they knew about herbs and could trade them for food.

On the road to escape famine, if they could beg Lin Laosan's family to take them along, their chances of survival would be much greater.

But Lin Youliang was putting on airs, and before they could say anything, Lin Laosan got angry and left.

Lin Youcai didn't want to be dragged down by them, but they were all from the same village and cousins, so he couldn't just abandon them and leave.

Hearing the village chief's words of advice, Lin Youliang snorted coldly and did not refute them further.

Lin Laosan was usually a quiet person, never saying a word, but doing whatever he was told.

They actually dared to take out a knife and try to cut them.

Lin Youliang couldn't accept this change and was extremely unhappy, because his father was his own father!

How can a son be so rebellious?

He was, after all, his own son. His relationship with his father must have been strained by his restless wife. Lin Youliang watched as the villagers split into two groups, one going to the north, while the other decided to go and beg Lin Laosan's family for help the next day.

He thought, we're all family, blood is thicker than water. I'll talk to the third brother properly later, and he'll definitely be on his side.

Lin Youliang clutched his stomach, feeling dizzy with hunger. Seeing that everyone else had grain cakes, he began to ponder: if the third brother could share so many cakes with the villagers, he must have a lot of good stuff on him.

He is, after all, Lin Laosan's biological father. How could a son not care about his father?

That would get you talked about behind your back!

Lin Jinyue didn't care about being talked about behind her back; she was currently at the city gate exchanging two leaky oil-paper umbrellas with someone.

It was at this moment that she heard the system's sharp alarm.

[System: Beep beep—beep beep—Alarm, alarm! Prince Jing's army will attack in half an hour. Please escape to a safe place as soon as possible.]

[System: Beep beep—Please escape as soon as possible, host.]

Lin Jinyue was so frightened that she dropped the oil-paper umbrella in her hand.

Jiang Yun asked worriedly, "Daughter, what's wrong?"

Lin Jinyue was startled, and then she heard the system alarm: "Mother, Prince Jing's army is about to arrive, we must run!"

Lin Shucheng, who was exchanging items with someone nearby, muttered under his breath, "How unlucky can I be?"

Of all times, it had to come now.

Seeing the people from Linjia Village still dawdling at the city gate, Lin Shucheng quickly shouted, "Village Chief, Brother Fugui, get up! Everyone in the city is saying that Prince Jing is about to attack. You should leave quickly."

Upon hearing this, the villagers disregarded their arguments, and the village chief picked up his bundle and followed the direction Lin Jinyue's family had left in.

Prince Jing was cruel.

During the three-year drought, food was scarce everywhere. If Prince Jing's men ran out of food, they would resort to cannibalism. They even called these prisoners of war "two-legged sheep" and divided them into different classes. The meat of old men was not good, while the meat of young women and children was tender and was usually given to the soldiers.

How could we dare to linger any longer?

Only Lin Youliang's family was cursing and swearing: "Who knows if what you're saying is true or false? Don't tell me you're just trying to fool us."

But no one paid them any attention; they were all in a hurry to run away.

When Lin Youliang saw that the villagers had abandoned them, he became so angry that he started cursing loudly.

He originally wanted to go against Lin Jinyue, but he didn't expect that many people in the city would run out.

They panicked and hurriedly tried to catch up with Lin Shucheng's family.

Nan'an County quickly descended into chaos.

They finally arrived in Nan'an County and saw a glimmer of hope. They were already outside Prince Jing's territory, and it seemed that if they just held on a little longer, they would reach the capital.

Who knew Prince Jing would attack so quickly?

Hearing Lin Shucheng's shout, those around panicked and hurriedly ran away. Some even took advantage of the chaos to steal other people's food and supplies.

The area outside the city was in complete chaos, and several of the Lin family's children were injured in the trampling.

The Lin family had never seen anything like this before.

Even though they were so hungry they were dizzy, the whole family ran for their lives.

However, they subconsciously followed the direction the people from Linjia Village were running, which was southward.

From afar, they saw Prince Jing leading his army on their way.

Lin Youliang's vision went black, and he almost fainted.

Lin the eldest hurriedly said, "Father, let's go hide first. There's a lot of dust from riding horses over there, they might not be able to see us. There's that cave..."

The whole family was in a flurry of activity, and Lin Youliang even lost a shoe in the process.

On the other side.

Lin Jinyue was also caught in the chaos of war, and they kept running south.

Halfway there, he realized he might encounter Prince Jing's army.

Lin Jinyue planned to hide in the woods for a while, and then take a detour to find an opportunity to bypass Prince Jing's men.

The villagers of Linjia Village followed behind them.

Lin Jinyue didn't expect them to follow her. Before she could say anything, the village chief, Lin Youcai, grabbed her wrist: "Er Ya, hurry, come with us to hide. If we take the official road, we'll be arrested sooner or later. We found a very secluded cave here a few days ago."

The people around also said, "They definitely won't be discovered there, and there's clean water, and maybe even the medicinal herbs you're looking for."

Upon hearing that there were medicinal herbs, Lin Jinyue decided to go with them.

These days, medicinal herbs are more important than anything else; you can't buy them even if you have money.

They followed the village chief for quite a while, winding their way through the streets, before finally arriving at a hidden cave entrance.

The cave entrance is small, only wide enough for two people to walk through. A huge tree outside blocks half of the entrance, and there are vines and bushes around it. If you don't look closely, you can't tell that there is a cave here.

The village chief led the family inside and said to them, "Don't worry, no one will find us here. And if we climb up the tree, we can see Nan'an County in the distance. If there are any troops on the road, we can see them too. I'll have Fugui keep an eye on things later."

The cave entrance is quite large, more than enough to accommodate the forty or so people from their village.

They had all run their legs off just now, and now that they were relaxed, Lin Jinyue lay sprawled on the ground, not wanting to move at all.

The others weren't much better off.

The village chief, however, had been holding back for a long time and was finally able to speak his mind.

Lin Youcai sighed, "Third brother, all we want is a way to survive. Tiezhu is right, the current emperor is unreliable. Prince Jing has already attacked Nan'an County. After thinking it over, we're afraid Lingnan is the best place to go. We all want to go to Lingnan, so why don't we go together and look out for each other on the way?"