"Big brother, where are we? Why aren't those people moving?" Jiang Le hid behind his older brother and quietly looked at the group of people in front of them.

A group of elderly, weak, women and children were placed on the carriage, while the group from the desolate mountains jumped down and followed the others.

Jiang Dashan couldn't understand it either. Logically speaking, these carriages belonged to the people of Huangshan, so why weren't they enjoying themselves inside, but instead braving the heavy snow to walk outside?

As for giving up the warm carriages to a group of complete strangers who are now homeless? So what if they are old, weak, women and children?

Jiang Dashan shook his head, thinking that these people were simply too soft-hearted. They would only realize how dangerous the world was once they froze to death outside.

Even though he said that, he still followed those people with his younger brother, not missing a single step.

Because they followed so closely, they discovered that the group of people from the desolate mountains walking outside the carriage were all wearing thick cotton-padded clothes and warm sheepskin boots, and they were running even faster than the carriage next to them, their steps were incredibly swift.

Sometimes when the carriage couldn't move and the wheels fell into a ditch, the group of people would come up behind the carriage and easily push it forward without even blushing.

Jiang Dashan and Jiang Le remained in shock for as long as they watched.

Are these people all extraordinary individuals? How come each of them has such excellent physical abilities? Such strength is rarely seen even in the military.

Not long after, the group walked into a grove of trees. Cui Ying, who was in charge, stopped and had people collect a lot of firewood from under the snowdrifts. He then controlled several fire snakes to jump into the grove and quickly lit the fire.

“Everyone has had a tough journey and must be exhausted. Let’s warm ourselves by the fire and rest for the night before continuing our journey.”

Cui Ying looked at the large group of refugees behind her.

There must have been at least seven or eight hundred people in the back of the line. With so many people gathered together, the group seemed exceptionally large.

Some people tried to be clever and sneak away when the group in front wasn't paying attention, but they were soon tied up by the fire snake.

And so it went, the more times those people ran, the tighter the fire snake tightened its grip.

Fearing that the fire serpents would devour them, some of the refugees who had planned to escape secretly finally stopped and gave up the idea.

They plopped down next to the fire and remained completely still.

Cold and hungry, they had been standing at the city gate for so many days and had long since lost most of their strength. They wished they could just lie there for the rest of their lives.

Many people subconsciously touched their stomachs, and a series of gurgling sounds rang out.

Someone's stomach was growling so loudly that even the refugees at the nearby campfires could hear it, and they instinctively looked over.

The burly man with a full beard blushed, wishing he could shrink into the fire.

"Everyone must be hungry after walking for so long, let's eat!"

Niu San opened one of the flatbed carts and dug out all the sweet potatoes and potatoes from the earthen kiln.

The sweet potatoes that were put in earlier have indeed been distributed, but they took a lot of grain with them and stuffed a lot more in before they left, so they are now perfectly roasted.

"One for each person, you can choose between sweet potatoes and potatoes. Don't be fooled by the small quantity, they are quite large, enough to fill you up halfway!"

"We didn't bring much food, so please bear with us. We'll reach the wasteland the day after tomorrow, and we'll make sure you have enough to eat then!"

Hearing this, those familiar with the terrain were very puzzled.

"I remember the provincial capital is very far from the remote county. In normal seasons, it would take eight or nine days to travel there, let alone on a snow-covered path like this. How could it be so fast?"

The speaker was the same man whose stomach had been growling loudly, his voice like thunder. He had a thick, messy beard, like wild grass plucked by the north wind, and his chin was covered with icicles.

He was wearing a thick cotton coat on the outside, with half a sheepskin wrapped inside. His trousers were patched and mended, revealing his skin that was red from the cold. He wore a pair of worn-out boots, with his big toes sticking out.

This man was Lü Kun. He had never heard of Huangxian before, but after this group of people arrived, he inquired around the group and, based on the information he had heard, he deduced that Huangshan was very likely the mountains on the edge of Qingzhou.

Since it was on the edge of Qingzhou, the journey was extremely long. If it weren't for the barren mountains, the fact that the group had given him thick cotton clothes and hot roasted potatoes, Lü Kun would have wanted to slip away long ago.

In this freezing winter weather, with howling winds everywhere, walking on the road is no different from walking on ice. If you have to walk in this kind of weather for ten days or half a month, you might as well just end it all!

Hearing this, Niu San scratched his head and looked at Cui Niangzi and Liang Shu behind him.

“Don’t worry, it will take at most two days to bring you back!” Liang Shu stepped forward, her tone firm.

The others fell silent, because even if they wanted to escape, they couldn't. That Lady Cui was incredibly elusive; no matter where they fled, they could always see a fiery snake following them. It was terrifying even in broad daylight, let alone in the pitch-black night.

After eating and drinking their fill, many people lay down right next to the fire. Everyone had the same thought: there were so many people here, even if Niu San and Cui Niangzi had some bad intentions, could they really kill them all?

After enduring hunger and cold for so long, the group finally managed to fall asleep, almost instantly drifting into a deep slumber as soon as they closed their eyes.

In the cold wind, all that could be heard were the crackling of flames and the snoring of a few people.

When the last refugee fell asleep, Cui Niangzi came over with Niu San, and the two of them nodded to Liang Shu opposite them.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!