After hearing her daughter's words, Liu looked up curiously at the intersection not far away.
Because they were at the back of the line, even if she craned her neck, she could only see the dense crowd in front of her.
I can't see what's going on at the front of the line.
[Oh no, it's about to pour rain! The line has slowed down!]
Her daughter's nagging made Liu Shi anxious. After glancing at the gradually darkening sky, she quickly reminded her mother-in-law.
"Mom, it's suddenly getting dark, and it looks like it's going to rain. What should we do?"
Grandma Zhu looked up at the darkening sky and, upon discovering that it was shrouded in clouds, she became anxious and quickly turned to look at Madam Sun.
"Third brother's wife, go check what's going on at the front of the line?"
Following her mother-in-law's gaze, Sun glanced at the scene on tiptoe, nodded helplessly, and jogged towards the front of the line.
At the same time, dark clouds suddenly filled the sky, and a torrential downpour began in an instant, plunging everyone into panic.
Grandma Zhu quickly turned to look at her granddaughter. Because the rain was so loud, she could only raise her voice to remind Liu.
"Eldest daughter-in-law, the rain is too heavy. Use the blanket to shield Xixi from the rain."
As the rain washed over her, Liu bent over, trying to shield her daughter with her body, while pulling up a cup beside her to block her view.
As the rain intensified, the once-smooth road gradually turned into a muddy, potholed path.
The rain was so heavy that everyone could only keep their heads down and continue on their way, bracing themselves against the rain and the strong winds blowing in their faces.
The already narrow path, washed away by the rain, became a muddy path where one could easily sink in with a single step.
Grandma Zhu shielded her eyes with her hand anxiously, stood on tiptoe to look ahead, and said anxiously, "Why hasn't my third son's wife come back yet? I'm going to go find her."
"Mother, the road is slippery now. You should stay with the group and not wander around. Jiayan is fast and should be back soon."
Zhu Chenfeng struggled to push the cart, and upon hearing his mother's grumbling, he quickly stopped her and gave her a loud order.
Despite this, Old Mrs. Zhu was still worried about her third son's wife's condition and took a few steps forward with a anxious expression.
Sun finally made her way back slowly through the muddy path. Because the muddy path was so difficult to walk on, the procession was moving very slowly, which gave her the time to return at her leisure.
"Mother, the rain is too heavy." Madam Sun lifted her long skirt and walked towards Old Lady Zhu with a mournful face as she trudged through the mud.
Seeing this, Grandma Zhu quickly looked around and suddenly spotted a wild taro tree. The leaves of the taro tree were even larger than lotus leaves, which was just right to provide shelter from the rain.
She hurriedly turned and walked towards the thicket of thorny vines, pulled out a dagger from her waist, cut off a few taro leaves, and carried the leaves out of the vine forest.
"Jiayan, come and use this to shield yourself from the rain."
When Sun came over, Old Lady Zhu was walking out of the vine forest covered in mud. She quickly took the taro leaf from her.
He also handed a leaf to Liu Shi, and the rest to Tao Shi. Then, holding up the leaves, he stood between Zhu Chenfeng and Old Lady Zhu and said loudly.
“Mother, I just inquired ahead and found out that we’re almost at the post station. The escorts won’t let the group stop to take shelter from the rain and insist that we keep going to the post station in the rain.”
Do you know how far it is?
Grandma Zhu wasn't afraid of the rain itself; she was worried that the rain would be too heavy and would soak her grandchildren.
After wiping the rain off her face, Madam Sun tilted her head and glanced at the slowly advancing procession, then sighed and replied.
"The escorts have already gone ahead to the post station to wait for us. The road is quite difficult to travel now, and at this rate, it will probably take several hours for the group to arrive."
Upon hearing this news, Old Lady Zhu's face darkened. After a moment of contemplation, she shook her head firmly.
"No, we can't wait any longer. Second brother, third brother, you two put in some effort to get around to the front from both sides of the bushes."
"Second son's wife, third son's wife, you two help push too, let's all work together to get to the post station as soon as possible."
Under Grandma Zhu's direction, everyone gripped the handles of the cart and pushed it hard towards the bushes beside them.
Worried that her weight would affect the speed of the cart, Liu quickly got off the cart, holding up taro leaves and tying Zhu Xixi to her chest with a cloth.
"Mom, I'll help too."
When Old Mrs. Zhu saw Liu come downstairs, she became angry with heartache, "You're holding the child, why aren't you hiding under the covers in this heavy rain?"
"Mom, what time is it now? If I don't come down and help, when will we be able to get around to the front?"
Liu knew that her mother-in-law was worried about her health, but she wanted to get to the post station as soon as possible to avoid the rain so that her daughter and son would not catch a cold.
Left with no other choice, Old Lady Zhu had to stop trying to persuade Liu to push the cart into the bushes with her.
However, the path through the grass was even more difficult to walk on than the muddy path, requiring several people to work together to push forward along the grass.
Although the path through the grass was difficult to traverse, with everyone working together, they finally managed to get to the front of the group.
The two carts successfully re-entered the path, and Liu Shi, under Zhu Laotai's nagging, got back onto the cart.
The escorts in the group had already headed to the post station, while the remaining tribesmen continued their journey along the path.
After about half a cup of tea's time, we saw the flag of the post station hanging ahead.
Upon seeing the post station's flag, Zhu Haotian excitedly turned around and reported to his family, "Mom, I see the post station, it's just ahead."
Grandma Zhu walked behind Zhu Haotian, helping Zhu Chenfeng push the cart, and nodded happily, "Okay, let's hurry up and get there before dark."
Seeing the glimmer of hope, everyone felt a surge of confidence and quickened their pace toward the post station.
Just as everyone rushed to the post station, they saw that the area around the post station was crowded with refugees who had come to take shelter from the rain.
Everyone rushed to pound on the gate of the post station, shouting for the officials inside to open it.
Even though the people outside pounded on the door until their hands went numb, the door remained tightly shut, showing no sign of opening.
The Zhu family was kept on the periphery of the refugees and had no way of knowing the situation at the post station.
As the rain intensified, accompanied by strong winds, the howling gale nearly blew Grandma Zhu away.
While shielding herself from the strong wind, Old Lady Zhu shouted instructions to Zhu Chenfeng.
"Third brother, go check what's going on up ahead. With such strong winds, the luggage might be blown away."
Zhu Chenfeng, bracing against the strong wind, used his feet to push against the sliding cart and shouted back with difficulty, "Mom, the wind is too strong, the cart is about to slide away, we need to use a stone to push it back."
"Okay, hang in there, Mom will find you a stone right away."
Grandma Zhu looked down at the yellow mud under the cartwheel, squinted to look around, but the rain and strong wind made it impossible to see her surroundings clearly.
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