91 Famine Age 6

◎Same destination◎

Perhaps it was because she hadn't slept properly in bed for too long, Yan Lan slept very soundly this time, and didn't wake up until noon.

There was no one in the village, even the yard was quiet. The tension in Old Lady Wang and the others suddenly relaxed, and they all stayed in bed without waking up.

It was a rare break, and Yan Lan didn't want to disturb them. She got dressed and walked out of the yard alone. The game players had just left a few days ago, so she would go to the village center to take a look, maybe she would find something.

After coming out of the yard, you have to go around a dry lotus pond to reach the center of the village. A village road divides the scattered courtyards into two sides.

I was in a hurry last night and it was dark so I didn't remember to take a closer look. Now I see that except for Xiao Yongzi's house far away at the foot of the mountain, all the other houses in the huge village were burned to the ground. The original wooden frame has now become a pile of charcoal, and there are even signs of burning under the scorching sun.

Hearing the crackling sound, Yan Lan ran past quickly in fear, and only stopped when she passed a big pit.

The pit was about a person's height and very large. There were footprints on the ground. She guessed that this was probably the place where the bandits were planning to bury people as Xiao Yongzi mentioned.

After walking around the deep pit and finding nothing special, she was about to leave when she saw a thin but agile figure walking out of the ruins not far away. It was Xiao Yongzi.

Xiao Yongzi also saw Yan Lan looking for something here, and ran over.

He was obviously more enthusiastic than last night: "Sister Yan, what are you doing here? Did you sleep well last night?"

Yan Lan nodded: "Yeah, I slept well. I came here to see if there are any clues. By the way, what are you doing here?"

Xiao Yongzi scratched his head embarrassedly: "Haha, I just came to see if there is anything I can use."

Everyone in the village fled the famine. After the bandits swept through, they didn't have much belongings left, so they took away as much as they could when they left.

They were away for several days, and Xiao Yongzi searched the village several times. He didn't gain much, but there were always one or two unexpected gains, such as a small piece of salt stone that had not been used up, a sweet potato left in the cellar, or a penny hidden in a stone. Although the value was small, he was already very content.

Yan Lan knew his family's situation. His grandfather was injured and recuperating at home, and the family relied on him to go out and find food. It was admirable that he could carry the entire family at such a young age.

"Did you find anything useful today?"

Xiao Yongzi shook his head with a bitter face, then suddenly nodded and said, "It's not like I didn't gain anything. Although I didn't find anything to eat or use, I did find this. It must have been accidentally dropped by those kind people earlier."

He took out a small gray purse from his pocket and handed it to Yan Lan. The cloth of the bag was rough, but the stitching was very fine, especially the small "王" character sewn on the lower right corner of the bag.

An idea immediately popped up in Yan Lan's mind. It just so happened that Old Lady Wang's surname was also Wang, but it couldn't be such a coincidence!

She calmly returned the purse to Xiao Yongzi and said, "I've just finished shopping too. Do you want to go home with me?"

Xiao Yongzi put the bag away again and said, "Okay."

On the way back, Yan Lan asked Xiao Yongzi about the specific details of the group of people, such as what they looked like and what characteristics they had.

But he is face-blind, so apart from knowing exactly how many people there are, he can only say that they have big faces, big bodies, are a little fat, and have particularly good looks.

Fortunately, the journey home was not far, and they soon arrived at the gate of the courtyard. The fragrance of millet porridge and bacon cooked in the courtyard was particularly appetizing.

Yan Lan turned her head to look at Xiao Yongzi, who was swallowing hard, and smiled: "Come and eat with us?"

Xiao Yongzi was very tempted, but reluctantly refused: "No, I have to go home and cook for grandpa."

Just as he was about to turn around and walk home, Yan Lan quickly grabbed his collar and said without question, "It's all ready, let's eat together. Why bother with all that? If you're worried about your grandfather, you can take the food home and eat with him."

Xiao Yongzi was still a little hesitant: "But...they..."

Yan Lan knew what he meant and dispelled his doubts with one sentence: "Don't worry, I got all this food back. They won't say anything about you."

"You got all of this by yourself? That's amazing!" Xiao Yongzi looked at Yan Lan in shock and admiration.

Yan Lan was too embarrassed to say that this was the supply point delivered by the system, so she took the lead and walked towards the yard.

"I guess so, so you can rest assured."

Xiao Yongzi trotted over and followed, his voice light and cheerful: "Well, thank you, Sister Yan."

As soon as she walked into the yard, she saw Aunt Wang coming out of the kitchen with a pot of porridge. When she saw Yan Lan, her mouth smiled widely: "Oh, Miss Yan, you're back. I was just about to look for you."

"Yeah, I just went for a walk around the village."

Aunt Wang placed the pot on the wooden table in the middle of the yard and began to gossip, "Anything new?"

Yan Lan shook her head: "I didn't find anything, but Xiao Yongzi found something."

Xiao Yongzi received her eye contact and quickly took out the small purse from his pocket: "It's...it's not worth anything..."

Before she could finish her words, the purse in her hand was snatched away by Aunt Wang Er. She took the purse in her hand, examined it carefully, and then shouted excitedly towards the bamboo house.

"Sister-in-law, come and take a look!"

Yan Lan's heart skipped a beat. Could it be true?

When Aunt Wang heard the shouting, she came out of the house slowly.

Aunt Wang was impatient and stepped forward to pull her over. "Hey, sister-in-law, hurry up and see if this purse is the one you embroidered for your brother?"

Aunt Wang's movements were noticeably stiff, and she paused for a few seconds before slowly taking the purse and stroking it carefully. Then her fingers began to tremble, and even her voice choked.

"Yes... yes, I embroidered this for the child's father. Look at the cloth, it's the leftover material from making the child's new clothes, and the needle and thread, I specially sewed two extra stitches."

Her crying attracted Old Lady Wang and several little girls. Old Lady Wang saw the purse in the eldest daughter-in-law's hand and immediately understood what had happened.

She grabbed Yongzi's hand and said excitedly, "Yongzi, tell grandma where you got this! How did it end up in your hands? Tell grandma!"

Xiao Yongzi was a bit confused. The moment grandma and aunt saw the purse, something seemed off. Could it be that they knew this purse? They wouldn't think I stole it, would they?

Thinking of this, Xiao Yongzi was startled and hurriedly explained,

"Grandma, I swear, I didn't steal this. I found it in the center of the village. It must have been dropped by those kind people by accident."

"If...if this is yours, I'll just give it back to you."

Surrounded by people staring at him intently, and with other people's belongings appearing on him, Xiao Yongzi's face began to turn red.

Old Lady Wang still held his hand tightly: "Yong Ziwa, Grandma didn't say you stole it, but do you still remember what the people inside looked like?"

At this point, Xiao Yongzi became excited and said excitedly: "I know, I know, they are all very tall, with two eyes and one nose..."

Old Lady Wang was not giving up. "Is there an old man with a square face and a mole on his nose, or a young man around 30 with a pointy head..."

Xiao Yongzi wanted to scratch his head, but found that his hands were tightly held by Old Lady Wang. He could only endure the itch in his heart and replied: "Grandma, I can't remember clearly, but I know that some of them are very good-looking, and some are average-looking..."

Yan Lan endured their nonsense without getting to the point, so she had to rescue Xiao Yongzi from Old Lady Wang and tell them her guess.

After hearing this, Aunt Wang's eyes were filled with tears, and she felt a sense of surprise and sadness at having lost and regained something.

"Miss Yan, you...you mean, the head of the family, my father-in-law, and my second brother all fled with us."

Yan Lan nodded: "Yes, that's probably the case."

"Well, then, Xiao Yongzi, do you know which direction they went?"

Aunt Wang looked at Xiao Yongzi expectantly.

Xiao Yongzi suddenly felt a little pressured. Although he was a precocious, hardworking and kind boy, he still didn't understand these things.

Yes! I got it! How could I forget about Grandpa?

He suddenly raised his head and pulled Aunt Wang towards the next yard: "My grandfather must know, let's go ask him."

Old Mrs. Wang and Aunt Wang walked forward in a hurry, while Yan Lan grabbed Sister Wang, who was at the end of the group, and motioned her to go inside with her to get something.

I've been here for a while, but I haven't visited Xiao Yongzi's grandfather yet.

Second Aunt cooked a big pot of porridge in the morning. She used a ladle to stir it, and fresh wild vegetables and finely chopped bacon spilled out. She took a large bowl and filled it up.

Xiao Yongzi told me that his grandfather had injured his leg. He happened to have saved up a lot of herbs in the past few days, so he asked Wang Damei to find some for treating bruises and injuries and send them over.

She was a few steps slower, and by the time she reached the next room, everyone had already said what they wanted to say.

Seeing Yan Lan arrive, Aunt Wang quickly stepped forward to take the porridge from her hand and said, "Miss Yan, please show Uncle Zhang our escape map."

Yan Lan didn't ask why. She took out the map from her arms, opened it and handed it to Xiao Yongzi's grandfather who was half lying on the bed.

Grandpa Zhang held up the blueprint and half-closed his eyes to look at it for a long time before he excitedly spoke amid the expectation of everyone.

"I'm sure! I'm sure this is it!"

"At the time, my grandfather and I couldn't leave, so everyone showed me a map, hoping that after my leg injury healed, I could follow the map to find them. We didn't have pen and paper to record it, but I remember it clearly in my mind."

Grandpa Zhang stroked the soft paper carefully and asked in surprise, "Girl, where did you get this blueprint? Even the texture of the paper is exactly the same as what I saw before."

Yan Lan made up an excuse to get away with it and turned to look at the Wang family.

When Old Lady Wang learned that not only did her two sons not go to the war, but their destination for fleeing famine was the same as hers, she was happily wiping away tears with her two daughters-in-law.

Yan Lan did not disturb the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. She asked Wang Damei to apply good medicine to Grandpa Zhang's injured leg and then left.