Chapter 27 Being Watched

Liu Ye stacked the gold in a place where it wouldn't get in her way, then slipped out of the space. She then rearranged the things on the bed, restoring them to their original state, and happily lay down on the bed to sleep, sleeping soundly until dawn.

She stretched, put on her straw sandals, and came out of the house. It was still so hot outside, so hot that it made her head spin, but she was happy. Having money really felt different. She straightened her back and felt a sense of peace she had never felt before.

At this moment, Bai Zilin also came out of another room. His room was quite far from Liu Ye's room, so he didn't hear the noise coming from Liu Ye's room.

"Liu Ye, let's set off after we finish eating."

Liu Ye nodded happily and said, "Okay, let's set off for the south too."

After the two finished eating, Liu Ye put the basket on the cart and said, "Brother Bai, you should sit on the cart too. I'll pull you along so we can get there faster. Otherwise, when will we ever get to the south? Just get on the cart and sit down, or I'll carry you."

Bai Zilin knew he couldn't persuade Liu Ye otherwise, so he obediently climbed onto the carriage and sat down, putting his cane aside: "I'm ready, let's go."

Liu Ye pushed the cart out of the house, crossed the small road and took the main road. In one morning, she left the town and headed south along the official road. There were many people on the official road. Every now and then, a group of villagers would come out from the small road, dragging their families along, just like them, to escape famine in the south.

Bai Zilin felt sorry for Liu Ye pulling the cart: "Liu Ye, if you're tired, stop the cart by the roadside and rest for a while."

Liu Ye wiped the sweat from her forehead: "Brother Bai, I just heard someone say that there is a village ahead. Let's go to the village to rest. The sun is about to set. If we stop here to rest, we will have to sleep in the wilderness tonight."

Bai Zilin agreed, "Okay, I'll listen to you."

Before sunset, Liu Ye pulled her cart and followed the fleeing villagers into the village by the roadside. The village was small, and the houses were quickly looted by the fleeing villagers. Liu Ye didn't intend to fight with them. She pulled her cart to the big locust tree in the center of the village and said, "Brother Bai, let's rest here tonight. I just don't know if there will be any bugs."

Bai Zilin got out of the car with his cane and sat on a rock under a big tree: "This spot is nice, it's good to cool off under a big tree."

Liu Ye spread two bamboo mats under the big tree. She had found these mats at that house. She handed Bai Zilin an apple and a wild duck egg. Bai Zilin took the apple and said, "I'll just eat one apple. You can have the rest."

Liu Ye didn't stand on ceremony. She first ate a wild duck egg, then a large apple: "Brother Bai, at this rate, when will we reach the southern region?"

Bai Zilin shook his head: "I don't know either. I've never left our town in my life. Let's just go with them. If they go south, we'll go south too."

Not far from where Liu Ye and the others were resting, several families of villagers who had fled famine were sitting by the wall. Among them, a man and a woman were staring at Liu Ye and the others with a sneaky look.

“My dear husband, look at those two people. One is using a cane, and the other is mentally challenged. They have food in their baskets…”

The woman who spoke looked like a skinny donkey, with a face longer than the sole of a shoe, squinting triangular eyes, and a mean expression.

Yellow Dog spat out the foxtail grass from his mouth, grinned mischievously, and whispered, "Not now, it's still light out. We'll do it tonight!"

Just then, a woman carrying a child approached Liu Ye pitifully and said, "Girl, I've run out of water, and my child hasn't had any water all day. We've also run out of the biscuits I brought. I'm not thirsty or hungry. Please, young lady, give my child some water and something to eat..."

Bai Zilin quickly stuffed the half-eaten apple into his pocket and looked at Liu Ye with a worried expression, afraid that she would be soft-hearted. If she gave one to someone who wanted it, there would be a second and a third. If they didn't give it to them, they would snatch it!

Liu Ye wasn't stupid. She put the apple she had just eaten halfway into her bosom and refused without hesitation, saying, "We're out of food too. Go ask someone else."

The woman holding the child never expected that this seemingly simple-minded girl would dare to refuse her. She secretly pinched the child in her arms, making the child cry loudly. She quickly comforted the child with heartache, "Oh, my poor child, it's all my fault for making you suffer. You must be starving, but I'm powerless to get you anything to eat. What am I going to do? There are so few kind people in this world. My poor child..."

Bai Zilin and Liu Ye pretended not to hear. In these times, whoever is kind enough to give alms to others will be the first to starve to death.

Seeing that the two men had no intention of giving anything, the woman knelt down abruptly: "Kind girl, please have pity on the child! The child is so young, how can he endure hunger? If he starves to death because of this food, little girl, how can you bear it? Quickly, get me two apples. I even saw you eating an egg. You clearly had food; you could have saved my child. I won't ask for more, just give the child an egg. Kind girl, you saved my child's life; I will be grateful to you for the rest of my life."

Liu Ye rolled her eyes in exasperation, turned away to avoid seeing her. You can't talk to someone like that; the more you engage with her, the more rude she becomes!

Bai Zilin lay down on the bamboo mat, closed his eyes, and pretended to be asleep.

The woman holding the child saw that no one was paying attention to her after she had been talking for a long time. She got up from the ground in anger and cursed through gritted teeth: "We mother and child have run into some heartless villains. Come on, I will take you to find a kind person to beg for some food to save my child's life. Let those black-hearted, rotten villains go steal food. They will be struck by lightning sooner or later!"

The woman holding the child, having enjoyed her conversation, went to ask other people for food. As for whether she got any or not, Liu Ye had no interest in listening.

She took an apple out of her bosom and ate it in a few bites. She wiped her mouth with her sleeve and turned to lie down on the bamboo mat to sleep. But out of the corner of her eye, she saw the couple sitting by the wall staring at them with ill intent.

Her heart skipped a beat. Oh no, they were being watched! She quickly got up, took the basket off the cart, and placed it between herself and Bai Zilin. Then, she took out two machetes from the basket and nudged Bai Zilin with her hand: "Brother Bai, be careful to sleep at night. I've left the machetes here for you."

Bai Zilin opened his eyes and saw Liu Ye winking at him. He knew they were being watched: "I understand."

Liu Ye put the wood-chopping knife beside her, lay down on the bamboo mat, and closed her eyes. How could she dare to sleep if she was being watched? She kept her ears perked up, listening to every sound.

The couple standing by the wall exchanged a glance, and the thin, donkey-faced woman whispered, "Husband, they have knives!"

Old Huang curled his lip in disdain: "I still have a knife, humph, don't worry, a piece of trash and an idiot, even if they had ten knives, they wouldn't be a match for me!"

The thin, fair-faced woman agreed. Her husband was quite strong; they had already succeeded several times, dealing with able-bodied people. Now, with a mentally challenged man and a cripple on crutches, dealing with them would be like catching crabs in a jar—easy peasy.

She just saw the idiot eating eggs, and they also have big apples. They've really stumbled upon a fat sheep today.