When everyone came down the mountain, they were all exhausted, but the possible food and supplies gave them a boost.

In chaotic times, food is the first priority for ordinary people. Even if they are exhausted, even if they are in danger, even if they may lose their lives, as long as there is food ahead and a chance to survive, they will forge ahead.

As expected, Chenxi was right. The grain carts had been taken away, but two dead horses were thrown away. Perhaps they couldn't take them all, or perhaps taking too many would have resulted in them spoiling. A broken cart was also thrown away, of course, it was already falling apart.

Fortunately, no other refugees passed by during this time, giving them the opportunity to possess these things on their own.

The young men lifted the two dead horses, but no one paid attention to the wrecked cart. Some people picked up some fallen grains of rice from the ground, while others searched carefully to see if anything valuable had fallen. Sure enough, a woman found a silver hairpin, but no one else found anything else.

Those who died in the fight have been taken away or disposed of. In any case, nothing was found at the scene.

Shenxi pointed to the wrecked carriage, "Old village chief, have someone take this back as well!"

The old village chief frowned. "This is useless."

The carriage had fallen apart, its parts scattered all over the ground, and it was no longer of much use.

“It will be useful. We will not travel any further for the time being. We can save the carriage for the children to lie on, and it will also provide some shelter from the rain. If the weather gets cold later, it can be used as a bed.”

The old village chief thought about it for a moment and nodded in agreement. Although it was close to the south, it would still be cold when winter came.

The decision to stay put for the time being requires a lot of preparation.

Together, everyone strained to carry everything into the mountains. But when it came time to divide the spoils, Li Si jumped out again, "Why should those women and children, who did nothing, get their share too?"

Li Si pointed at the woman he had failed to steal from earlier and said, "She also found a silver hairpin; hand it over too!"

The old village chief's brows were furrowed so deeply they could trap mosquitoes. "Silver hairpins can't be used for food or drink, and they're useless at this time of year. It's just a woman who found one; she's lucky to have found it. Besides, that silver hairpin isn't worth much."

Li Si acted recklessly, "Old village chief, it's not that I'm being rude, but you've been siding with that woman the whole time. Have you taken a liking to her, or are you having an affair with her?"

The old village chief's beard trembled with anger. Before he could speak, Aunt Wu jumped up and scratched Li Si with her claws. "You foul-mouthed bastard, what nonsense are you spouting!"

Li Si covered his scratched face. It was good; it was symmetrical now. One side was scratched by Li Quan's wife, and the other side was scratched by the village chief's wife.

"Old woman, you scratch me too."

As he spoke, he raised his foot and kicked Aunt Wu in the stomach.

Aunt Wu cried out and fell to the ground, clutching her stomach. The pebbles and some hard grass roots hurt her, but she didn't feel any stomach pain.

After kicking Aunt Wu, Li Si paused for a moment, but immediately became fierce. "Old village chief, you're getting old. It's time to change the leadership. You've kept them, and with this kind of distribution, I, Li Si, am the first to object."

Someone was helping Aunt Wu up, but she was sweating profusely from the pain and couldn't say anything.

Shenxi stepped forward to take her pulse. Although she didn't know how to diagnose illnesses, she still knew the basic pulse signs and rates. Aunt Wu's pulse was fast, but there was no stagnation or other abnormalities, so she shouldn't have kicked her stomach.

It seems that a fast pulse is painful.

She asked a few women to cover her up, then lifted up Aunt Wu's clothes, revealing a bruise on her abdomen; Li Si had really used a lot of force.

After a careful examination, confirming there were no internal injuries, Chenxi breathed a sigh of relief. Fifth Aunt was the first adult to show her kindness since she transmigrated, and she remembered that kindness.

She gently rubbed Aunt Wu's abdomen and pressed a few acupoints to relieve the pain. After Aunt Wu recovered, she said softly, "Aunt Wu, it's okay. There was no internal injury."

Aunt Wu was also worried that the kick might have damaged her internal organs. When she heard from Chenxi that it hadn't hurt her internal organs, she was immediately relieved and felt much less pain.

"Thank you, Xiaoxi."

"Fifth Aunt, you're too kind."

During this time, Li Si's suggestion that the village chief should be replaced actually stirred the hearts of some people. The old village chief had been the village chief for many years, and it wasn't that no one wanted to replace him. However, given the old village chief's prestige, the fact that the majority of people in Shenjiazhuang were surnamed Shen, with the remaining majority being surnamed Wang, and the fact that the old village chief was both the village chief and the patriarch of the Shen family, anyone who wanted to step forward had to think twice.

However, many members of the Shen family were killed or injured along the way. With the old village chief leading the way, most of the young and strong members of the Shen family listened to him. When conflicts broke out with the refugees, the young and strong members of the Shen family charged the most fiercely and suffered the most casualties.

Upon arriving here, although the Shen family still had a larger number of members, it was no longer an absolute advantage.

For example, at this moment, the Wang family patriarch, who was in his forties, said slowly and deliberately: "Old village chief, it's time for the Wang family to take over as village chief. On the one hand, you are getting old, and I feel sorry for you. I've seen you get even older from all the hard work along the way. You should put down your burden and let us young people take over. On the other hand, both the Wang family and the Shen family have large populations in the village. Although the Shen family has more than the Wang family, the Wang family is not small either. It's best to take turns being the village chief."

Shenxi knew it was time for her to shine.

Along the way, people would occasionally provoke the old village chief. Although they eventually backed down under the old village chief's intimidation, it always gave some people something to think about.

The Wang family patriarch instigated Li Si to constantly clash with the old village chief. Shen Xi guessed that the Wang family patriarch might have promised Li Si some conditions.

After settling Aunt Wu in, she turned and asked the Wang family patriarch with a smile, "Li Si suggested changing the village chief because of the distribution issues and the problem of leaving behind those women and children. Uncle Wang, if you were to become the village chief, how would you resolve this?"

The Wang family patriarch hadn't really thought that far ahead. He had promised Li Si that if he became the village chief, he would give Li Si priority in food and also give him some village positions. However, he didn't want to resolve such matters right away. He believed that as long as these issues weren't brought up in the open, he could gradually drive those people away.

He pondered for a moment, then said, "There aren't enough people in our village to share, let alone give some to others... it's really, really..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but everyone understood: how much meat could there be from two horses? There wouldn't even be enough for the village to share.

"Uncle Wang, are you planning to drive them away?"

If we don't drive them away now, when it's time to eat horse meat later, how can those hungry refugees not rob us? And at this point, if you drive them away, will they really do it willingly? At most, they'll just avoid you a bit and stay in these mountains. After all, everyone knows they can't go south or go home.

They can temporarily avoid you, but if they still have no food and become desperate for it, they are capable of anything. Only by sticking together and establishing order can they possibly survive here.