Zhu Haotian was worried that Old Lady Zhu would not be able to persuade the guards on her own, so he handed his little niece to Tao Shi, saying, "You hold the child, and I'll talk to the guards."
"Hao...Are you stupid?! Sending the child away is better for both us and the child!"
Tao sighed helplessly as she watched her husband leave resolutely.
Upon hearing the sound, Zhu Xixi looked up at her aunt, tilted her head, and shook her head.
[Is this the auntie who gets ripped off? She's a nice person, just naive enough to be made a fool of.]
[Sigh! Xixi's family is all so naive; not a single one of them can see reality clearly.]
Where did the baby's voice come from? Tao looked around curiously, and the more she listened, the more she felt that the voice was coming from her arms.
She looked down and saw her little niece frowning, her small face full of worry.
She looked up nervously at her surroundings, only to find that no one else was reacting.
Is Xixi a reincarnation of a deity? That's why she can foresee future events.
She smiled excitedly, touching her little niece's face, "Xixi, don't worry, Auntie will take good care of you."
Just then, Old Lady Zhu walked over, looking very worried, and sighed repeatedly.
Seeing her mother-in-law frowning, Tao anxiously stepped forward to her side. "Mother, what's wrong?"
“We need to hand over food to the guards every day before they will agree to let Xixi stay in the team.”
Grandma Zhu adored her granddaughter, but her weathered eyes were tinged with worry for the future.
Tao thought she had misheard and covered her mouth in surprise, "What? Hand over grain every day? We don't have enough grain to last three days, so where would we get grain to hand over?"
"Besides, my uncles and the others will definitely object."
“They give us time to go out and find food every day. We’ll take it one step at a time and go check on the eldest son’s wife.”
Grandma Zhu knew that even though this action would be opposed by the whole clan, she was overjoyed holding Little Nuomi in her arms and didn't care about what others thought.
After learning that she was safe, Zhu Xixi happily waved her little arms and giggled.
Waaah, finally I don't have to leave.
As Grandma Zhu listened to Xixi's innocent thoughts, her face, which had been filled with worry, gradually broke into a smile.
"Grandma, I have no other wish than that you and your brothers can grow up healthy and happy."
Just as the two were happily playing with Xixi, the others resting in the woods curiously looked into Grandma Zhu's arms.
Upon seeing Zhu Xixi in her arms, the once quiet forest instantly became lively, with everyone chattering away.
Zhu Borong, Zhu Xixi's cousin, was the most opposed to Zhu Xixi staying in the team and was very dissatisfied with Zhu's grandmother's actions.
"Auntie, didn't we agree that the eldest daughter-in-law would give the baby away after it was born?"
"Yes, have you considered other people when you do this? There's already not enough food, and now you're taking on this money-losing burden. This is going to kill everyone."
When Zhu Borong's wife, Wen Xiuying, saw her husband stand up, she also raised her voice excitedly and shouted angrily at everyone.
Tao, unable to bear seeing her own family being bullied, also put her hands on her hips and stood up to argue loudly.
"Sister-in-law, what do you mean by this? My Xixi is a money-losing daughter, and what about your Yanyan? Isn't she a woman?"
"Can my Yan Yan be compared to this worthless piece of trash? How many dangers have you encountered along the way? It was all thanks to Yan Yan's reminders that you all made it this far. Otherwise, would you still be alive to get here?"
When talking about her daughter, Wen Xiuying, she happily raised her chin, pouted smugly, and proudly retorted with her hands on her hips.
"That's right. Besides, if it weren't for Sheng'an, would we have ended up like this? Aunt, don't say we're heartless. For the sake of the clan, don't do anything foolish."
Zhu Borong, with his chubby face, glanced sideways at Old Lady Zhu and made a sarcastic remark.
"Xixi's food rations will not come from the team; we'll take care of it ourselves."
Knowing she was in the wrong, Old Lady Zhu didn't want her daughter-in-law to argue with them, so she pulled Tao, who was still trying to retort, towards the camp.
Meanwhile, Uncle Zhu Chenfeng and Aunt Sun went out to find food.
The two older brothers, Zhu Dabao and Zhu Xiaobao, also hurriedly returned to the camp after being notified by Zhu Haotian.
"Mother, what's going on?" Zhu Chenfeng hurriedly came to Old Madam Zhu's side, looking at her little niece in her arms with a puzzled expression.
"Yes, Mother, why is Xixi still here? Didn't we say we found her a good family?"
When Mrs. Sun saw that her little niece was still in the camp, she curiously approached and touched Xixi's little hand with her finger.
Grandma Zhu looked at everyone helplessly and sighed, "Those two hunters are no good people; they wanted to take Xixi away..."
Halfway through her sentence, she glanced at Zhu Dabao and Zhu Xiaobao, gesturing for Sun to cover their ears.
Seeing this, Sun quickly nudged Zhu Chenfeng and covered the ears of both children.
Only after seeing her grandsons cover their ears did Grandma Zhu continue speaking with a sorrowful expression.
"They want to use Xixi as their food."
"this......"
Before marrying into the Zhu family, Sun was a daughter of a prominent family who had lived in seclusion for many years. She was unaware of such acts as exchanging children for food.
She had only ever seen it in storybooks, and when she heard it with her own ears, her face turned deathly pale, and she shrank behind Zhu Chenfeng in fear.
"Mother, but my sister-in-law is not well, and the troops are running out of food. What should we do about Xixi's food rations?"
Zhu Chenfeng was older than Sun and had traveled extensively before, so he was used to such things.
Instead, I'm more worried about whether my little niece will survive.
The third child's question made Old Lady Zhu fall into deep thought. She had just told everyone that Xixi didn't eat the food provided by the team.
In other words, if Xixi wanted to eat rice cereal, they would have to find a way to sneak into the county town to buy rice and then grind it into rice cereal.
However, nowadays, there is famine and war, and the checkpoints to enter various counties are very strict, requiring a pass to enter and exit.
They were all prisoners exiled to the borderlands. Even if they were later granted permission to enter the city, who would be willing to take the mission?
Zhu Xixi, comfortably nestled in her blanket, opened her eyes; she had just dozed off for a while.
As soon as I opened my eyes, I heard my third uncle and grandmother worrying about her eating habits.
Seeing her family members hanging their heads dejectedly, she frowned unhappily.
Just then, she suddenly saw her cousin Zhu Yanyan hiding in front of a dried-up stream not far away.
I'm putting the fish and water from my space into the stream. Huh? Xixi has eyes that can see a thousand miles!
[This Zhu Yanyan is up to no good again, deliberately letting the guards find out.]
This solidified his reputation as a lucky charm, and he gained the trust of the escort.
[This also made Grandma feel that Zhu Yanyan was a lucky star who would bring good fortune to the Zhu family.]
They willingly handed over the food to Zhu Yanyan, and Zhu Yanyan accepted their kindness without any qualms.
[While she ate meat and drank soup, her grandmother and the rest of the family ate tree bark. They ate so much bark that their stomachs ruptured, and their intestines were visible.]
[Sigh, Xixi's family is such a terrible bunch.]
Thinking about all this made her both anxious and helpless, and she sighed listlessly.
When Grandma Zhu heard about her family, she frowned and lowered her head, wanting to listen more, but she couldn't hear anything.
The Zhu family was pitied by the people, who spontaneously organized a cartload of grain before they set off to give to the Zhu family for their use on the road.
Many of the post stations along the way had long been abandoned, and there was no food on the road, so the entire caravan ate the food given to them by the people.
Zhu Borong grew up under her care and is now suffering alongside her, so she will take extra care of them.
I never imagined that this family would turn out to be so heartless.
"aunt!"
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