Chapter 8 Chapter 8: Rushing to Avoid the Cold
The Du and Lu families were at odds, neither outwardly nor inwardly. After the four families started their journey again, the Gu and Su families never got close.
The Li family and the Su family were walking in front, while the Gu family and the Tian family were a little behind. The two families took the initiative to keep a distance from each other, which saved a lot of verbal disputes.
The Gu family stayed away from the Su family, and the Tian family and the Gu family were on the same side, which made it easier for Li Hongwen to get close to the Su family. It was unclear whether Su Guang had been worn down by the pressure or what, but a few days later, when Li Hongwen spoke to Su Guang, he would occasionally respond vaguely.
The men in the family relaxed, and the women from both families naturally began to interact with each other.
Su Guang has two sons and daughters-in-law, three grandchildren, and an elderly daughter who just came of age this year. They rely on two dry biscuits and a bowl of clear soup to fill their stomachs every day. It is easy to imagine how difficult it is for someone like the Su family who comes from a wealthy family and has never lacked food since childhood.
Although Li Hongwen's family had a large population, Li Hongwen's concubine Zhang came from a farming family. In order to repay Li Hongwen's kindness in burying his father, Zhang followed the Li family into exile in Songjiang City. Along the way, the Li family relied on the wild vegetables and fruits that Zhang found along the way, so they at least had some food to eat during the exile.
After Li Hongwen eased his relationship with the Su family, no matter how many wild vegetables Zhang found every day, Li Hongwen would ask Zhang to send some to the Su family.
Li Hongwen's wife, Liu, accepted the benefits from the Li family and went to talk to Lu. Even though Lu looked down on her, she had to agree. Lu felt that she was bowing her head for her children and grandchildren.
As they agreed to more and more things, the relationship between the two families became closer and closer. Li Wendan, the only six-year-old grandson of the Li family, was taught by Li Hongwen and walked with Su Yu, Su Ling and Su Ting, the grandchildren of the Su family, every day.
Sometimes they rested in the wild on the way. The Tian family and the Gu family set up a tent to rest in one place. The Su family and the Li family were also next to each other, and the relationship between the two families was getting better day by day.
Li Hongwen was so shameless as to stick to the Su family and boil the frog in warm water. Anyone with eyes could see it clearly.
Sometimes we have to say that although people like Li Hongwen, who are resourceful, shameless and resilient, are not likable, they should not be underestimated.
Today they rested in the wild again. The officers distributed the coarse and dry bread they had taken from the post station yesterday to several families. Some families were busy building thatched huts, some were busy looking for firewood, and some were busy looking for water to make soup.
The concubine of the Li family was lucky today. She found a nest of wild yams next to a ditch in the woods. Both Mrs. Du and Mrs. Bai went to take a look. Mrs. Du recognized it as wild yam and estimated it to be four or five pounds. She even said that Mrs. Zhang was lucky.
Li Hongwen made the decision and gave two pounds of yam to the Su family, one pound to the police officers, and the Li family kept two pounds for themselves.
Every family has eaten.
Li Hongwen's concubine Zhang was both looking for yam and cooking. She didn't eat any of the two kilograms of yam and only drank two mouthfuls of the soup.
Mrs. Du sneered secretly, saying that they were just offering flowers to Buddha, but they forgot who brought the flowers. They were all beasts.
Mrs. Du felt sorry for Mrs. Zhang, and Mrs. Zhang sat quietly aside without saying a word.
At night, when everyone was resting, Mrs. Du took her two daughters and taught them: "If you get married in the future, and your husband's family bullies you like this, just go to the kitchen, grab a firewood stick and beat them to death. Your parents will support you."
"Mom, who are you hitting?" A Xuan didn't understand what her mother meant.
Gu Youan understood and nodded with a smile.
There was no light at night, and the family lay down in the straw hut, closed their eyes and fell asleep.
Gu Youan was sleeping on the far right, next to her mother. Only Mrs. Du knew that Gu Youan had disappeared.
Gu Youan came back and Mrs. Du quickly turned around. Gu Youan stuffed four peeled cold eggs into her hands. Mrs. Du kept one and passed it on.
A Xuan was so happy that she wanted to scream, but Mrs. Du covered her mouth with her hand.
After a while, when Mrs. Du let go of her hand, Ah Xuan chuckled. In the darkness, she ate her eggs carefully, bite by bite, and went to sleep, feeling satisfied.
Gu Wen and his son Gu Wenqing also finished their eggs. Gu Wenqing asked quietly, "Did you exchange them at the post station yesterday?"
"Don't ask, just eat what you can."
Since the four families started their business again, there were not so many eyes watching them. Gu Youan would find the right opportunity to take some food to supplement the food for his family of five. He often stole eggs, such as chicken eggs, duck eggs, and quail eggs. The eggs in the refrigerator had been eaten up long ago, so he could only rely on the chickens and ducks raised in the backyard to lay eggs.
Gu Wenqing was very worried and asked, "Didn't our family plan to buy some warm clothes when we get to Shanhaiguan? Besides that, we also need to buy shoes and some food. How much silver do we have left?"
The shoes the five of them had worn when they went out had long since worn out, so they were now wearing straw sandals they had woven themselves. Straw sandals were useless in the snow, and Du had originally planned to find a way to buy some food and clothing before leaving.
Gu Wen was sleepy and didn't want to waste time talking to his eldest son, so he threw the bag of silver into his arms. Gu Wenqing held the bag and was surprised to find that there was more silver.
Of course, the extra few taels of silver were taken out by Gu Youan.
Gu Wen said softly, "Your mother hid it. Just keep it in your mind and don't spread rumors."
Gu Wenqing was not stupid, so of course he would not say anything nonsense. He gave the silver to his father, and thought about the methods used by the servants in the family to steal silver in the past. He wondered whether his mother hid the silver in her hair or in her shoes.
Gu Youan leaned against her mother and listened to her father and elder brother talking. After a while, she fell asleep. In the middle of the night, she felt cold and shivered.
She was so sleepy that she didn't wake up. When she woke up in the morning, she was covered with an extra layer of clothing.
"An An is awake."
"Um."
Gu Youan got up, folded his clothes and stuffed them into his bag.
Gu Wenqing came over to dismantle the straw shed. The hay had been bundled up and would be taken away when he left.
The Tian family was quick to gather the hay and eat breakfast. Mrs. Bai came over and said, "It got cold last night, and I had to cover myself with two old clothes to barely get by. If we were to get out into the snow and ice outside the Great Wall, I'm afraid I'd be frozen solid by the time I woke up in the morning."
"Don't be discouraged. There will be a way."
Mrs. Du pulled Mrs. Bai aside, and the two of them whispered for a while. Mrs. Bai finally felt better when she thought of the handful of gold thread she had hidden on her body.
Du Shi had changed clothes with Bai Shi before and knew that she was wearing a bunch of gold thread. She whispered, "Gold is valuable, but the labor of making gold thread is even more valuable than gold. It's hard for a young lady in the capital to find gold thread, let alone at the border. When you reach Shanhaiguan, you can sell the gold thread for the price. Your family of four will have enough to buy four sets of clothes."
Bai touched her waist and said, "We have to hurry up. The further north we go, the colder it gets. I'm afraid I won't make it to Shanhaiguan."
Mrs. Bai's health was not as good as Mrs. Du's. She fell ill several times along the way and was able to stay safe until now thanks to the help of the Gu family.
“Almost.”
If these fugitives can't bear it, how can those officers bear it?
These days they have been traveling very fast, not even stopping at post stations, just to get to Songjiang City as soon as possible.
To this end, in order to make it easier to set up a tent in the wild, they borrowed the officer's cart to store hay. The officer accepted a little benefit from them and agreed.
Everyone is anxious.
After a quarter of an hour, they packed up and set off again.
Axuan refused to wear straw sandals, so she walked barefoot, jogged for a while, and then stopped to wait for her sister.
Gu Youan took her hand and said, "Want to play with them?"
A Xuan glanced at the older children from the Li and Su families and snorted, "I won't play with them. I'll play with my sister."
After walking for a while, Mrs. Du saw some herbs that could clear away heat and detoxify on the roadside, so she quickly picked them and put them in her backpack.
Gu Youan took a look and she only recognized some of them as perilla.
It was a cloudy day today and we were afraid of rain, so we walked fast. In the afternoon, A Xuan couldn't walk anymore, so Gu Wen and Du Shi each carried her for a distance.
The sky was very gloomy in the evening. I just asked a passing caravan and they said the next post station was ten miles away. I was afraid that it would rain at night and there would be nowhere to hide. Officer Huang urged us to hurry up and we must rest at the post station tonight.
It was dark before they reached the post station. The leading officer lit a torch, and with the faint light of the torch, the four families followed along the road, pushing wooden carts.
She hadn't taken a shower for many days and her body had already smelled bad. Gu Youan felt that her nose had been blocked by the smoke. When a gust of wind blew, her nose seemed to be healed again. She smelled the scent of dust and a hint of moisture.
"Hurry up, it's going to rain soon!"
Without waiting for the officers to urge them, the four families pushed and pulled, gathered around the wooden cart, and hurried on their way.
After turning a corner, they saw a faint fire ahead. The officer was overjoyed: "Hurry up, we'll be there soon."
When the group arrived at the post station, a cold rain began to fall. The postman standing under the eaves sighed: "I'm afraid this is the last rain of the year."
What this means is that when winter comes, it will snow.
There were more than twenty people in the four families' group. There was no one else staying in the inn today, which was convenient for them. All four families could move into the house to avoid the rain and cold.
It was raining coldly outside, and they were unfamiliar with the area, so Officer Huang and his men weren't worried about the fugitive escaping. After arriving at the post station, they paid a large sum of money to have the postman cook some food and order half a pound of wine. After they ate and drank, they went inside to rest.
As soon as the servant rested, Mrs. Du could no longer sit still. She stuffed the dry biscuits into her son's hands and got up with Mrs. Bai to find the postman.
A quarter of an hour later, Mrs. Du asked Gu Wen and his son to go to the kitchen to fetch hot water.
After Gu Wen and Gu Wenqing went to wash up, Mrs. Du hurried to the kitchen to boil water.
When the Li and Su families met, they also took out some of their hidden money and belongings and went to the postman to ask for leniency.
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