“Aunt, we respected you when you were still a first-rank noblewoman. Now that we are all prisoners, why do you have food while we don’t?”
“That’s right, you not only have rice and noodles to eat, but also eggs. Why should I have to eat moldy pancakes from tree bark pits?”
Wang Qiu angrily stepped out from behind Zhu Sheng, staring intently at the pot of still-boiling white rice, swallowing hard with longing.
The rest of the clansmen were also starving, and they all agreed with Wang Qiu and Zhu Sheng's statement, raising the wooden sticks in their hands in agreement.
"This is the food we got by selling the herbs we picked ourselves. If you want more, go find the herbs yourselves."
Zhu Haotian, not to be outdone, stood up and loudly refuted the two men's words.
"Zhu Haotian, don't forget, we were implicated because of your older brother. If it weren't for your older brother, we would be in this situation. This is what you owe us."
Seeing that Wang Qiu couldn't win the argument with Zhu Haotian, Zhu Sheng pulled his wife behind him, glared at her fiercely, and roared loudly.
These words completely enraged Old Mrs. Zhu. She quickly stepped forward and slapped Zhu Sheng hard across the face, retorting without any politeness.
“We owe you? Who was it that got to become a second-rank official with the help of my eldest brother? They were the ones who got into trouble and asked my eldest brother for help. When there were benefits, you always praised us. Now that they're in trouble, you say it was us who caused it.”
"Are you clean yourselves? Everyone has a life on their hands. Do you think you can escape the Dali Temple's strict investigation? Don't try to blackmail us with that. We're not buying it."
The noise was so loud that it woke Zhu Xixi from her deep sleep, and she happened to hear Old Lady Zhu righteously rebuking these vampires.
Zhu Xixi was so excited by what she heard that she waved her little fists to cheer on her grandmother.
Grandma, you're amazing! You're incredible!
After waving her little hands several times, she suddenly remembered the crucial information that Jiangyang County was about to fall.
Thinking of this, she became melancholy again, pouting her little mouth in grievance, tears welling up in her eyes.
[But what's more important now is that Jiangyang County is about to fall. The enemy will disguise themselves as bandits and occupy Jiangyang County.]
[At that time, the people will be displaced, the number of refugees will increase, and eventually even the ferry crossings will fall under the control of the enemy.]
Even the eldest brother, Zhu Xiaobao, went missing at this critical juncture.
Thinking of the danger they were about to face, Xixi's chubby face instantly lost its smile, and she sobbed pitifully.
Liu stood behind Old Madam Zhu, holding Zhu Xixi in her arms, quietly listening to her daughter's tearful voice, her eyes instantly reddening.
She hesitated as she looked at the chaotic scene before her, where the tribespeople were still arguing about whether the leader was in the wrong.
Everyone was furious, and some even picked up tree branches and threw them at Old Lady Zhu. Fortunately, Zhu Haotian reacted quickly and blocked the branches.
Finally, someone shouted to the tribespeople, "Don't be afraid of them, there are many of us, we'll take their food."
As soon as she finished speaking, Liu could no longer hesitate. She hurriedly pulled her mother-in-law and son aside, shouting to her sisters-in-law and others as she ran.
Forget about the food, run!
Reminded by Liu, Zhu Haotian, who originally wanted to fight with his clansmen, was pulled away from the fire cluster by Zhu Shengtian before he could even make a move.
The others quickly grabbed whatever bamboo baskets they could carry and ran toward the escorts' camp.
After the tribesmen entered the fire pit, they frantically took out the ingredients from the baskets and stuffed them into their mouths, whether raw or cooked.
Even the rice that had just been cooked in the iron pot didn't care if it was hot or not; they desperately reached in and scooped the rice out to put it in their mouths.
The clansmen's frenzied behavior terrified Old Lady Zhu, making her legs go weak and almost causing her to lose her balance.
If it weren't for Madam Liu supporting Old Lady Zhu, she would have fallen to the ground.
"Mother, what's wrong?"
Hearing Liu's shout, the others also hurriedly turned to look at Old Lady Zhu.
Grandma Zhu clutched her chest, desperately trying to compose herself. She closed her eyes and calmed herself for a while before raising her hand and waving to everyone.
"It's nothing, I'm just a little short of breath."
When Tao saw her rice and eggs being ruined like this, she was so angry that tears welled up in her eyes.
She wanted to ask her mother-in-law for her opinion, but seeing her mother-in-law like this, she didn't dare to speak up. She could only stand there anxiously, feeling both angry and aggrieved.
"Mother, should I go and get the food back?" Zhu Haotian thought that Old Lady Zhu was anxious because she saw that the food had been taken away, so he suggested that he should try to get the food back.
However, this idea was rejected by Grandma Zhu. "No, these people are starving. You'll only get hurt if you go there."
"Yes, they had no water to drink along the way, and then they experienced that heavy rain and the scorching sun during the day. These people have no moral bottom line."
"Survival is their only thought right now."
Zhu Chenfeng agreed with his mother's view. There were only twenty or thirty people left in the clan, and they only had two men.
If it were a standoff, even if the second brother was highly skilled in martial arts, he wouldn't be able to fight against so many people all at once.
"So we can only watch them steal our food?" Sun was not angry about the food, but about the fact that if they tolerated this behavior, they would never have peace again.
"Moreover, these escorts were clearly doing it on purpose. They said they were going out for a walk, but they were just deliberately leaving so that these tribesmen could steal our food."
“Yes, we have a long road ahead of us. This can’t go on. Since these guards are deliberately making our lives miserable, we’ll outsmart them.”
With a sharp expression, Old Lady Zhu stepped out of the shadows, straightened her back, and roared at the clansmen who were burying their heads in their food.
"Do you want to have food to eat in the future?"
Upon hearing this, everyone who had been engrossed in their food looked up, their expressions blank, as if they didn't understand what Old Lady Zhu had said at all.
Just as time seemed to stand still, Zhu Yanyan stepped forward and refuted Old Lady Zhu's words.
"Don't believe her, she's just saying that to mislead you."
Finally, Tao, unable to bear it any longer, stood up, one hand on her hip, angrily pointing at Zhu Yanyan's carriage, wishing she could go over there right now and lift the bamboo curtain.
"Zhu Yanyan, you have food at home too, why don't they go to your house and steal it?"
However, Zhu Yanyan made no attempt to hide what Tao had said, and turned around to make a gesture of invitation.
"Didn't they loot all my things? Where would I find anything left?"
This statement left Tao speechless, and she was so angry that she could only glare at Zhu Yanyan, stammering that she wanted to go up and fight her.
"Alright, second brother, shut this guy up."
Old Mrs. Zhu didn't want to drag this matter out for too long; if the escorts returned, they feared they would truly have no good days ahead.
Upon seeing this, Zhu Haotian's expression hardened, and he rolled up his sleeves and walked towards Zhu Yanyan.
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