Chapter 036 The Taste of Hunger
Xu Zhenying set out on the journey hungry. She had never remembered being hungry like this since she was born.
When she used to run in the mountains with Old Man Xu, she would at least bring some compressed biscuits and water. Now she was on the road to exile with nothing in her hands. On the second day, she was so hungry that her chest was sticking to her back, her nerves were tearing, and the hunger finally turned into a churning pain.
The same was true for all the members of the Xu family. They were too hungry to complain or wail, and they just set off on their journey with depressed or manic expressions.
All their dry food and bags were taken away last night. Xu Zhenying only ate two mixed-flour steamed buns at noon and walked about twenty miles. He went to bed hungry last night and drank a bellyful of water at the post station this morning. Now, his stomach was shaking as he walked, and he felt even hungrier.
The food that the escort provided to the exiled prisoners was just a bowl of porridge with some wild vegetables. After such a large amount of exercise, how could a bowl of porridge fill their stomachs? It was just to keep the prisoners alive and prevent them from starving to death.
Xu Zhenying thought that if she continued to be hungry like this, she might really be unable to resist killing someone.
Ever since she traveled through time, she has been trying very hard to adjust her mindset. Whether she was imprisoned, exiled, or had her things stolen, she felt powerless to change the status quo and has been mentally strengthening herself.
But now, dizzy and weak from hunger, she just wanted to kill the escort Liu Laoshi, grab all the supplies and run into the deep mountains and forests. She still didn't believe she couldn't escape on her own.
Of course, this is the worst option.
Xu Zhenying had never killed anyone, nor did she want to. She had always been committed to resolving the issue peacefully. But if it came to that, she could convince herself that this was ancient times, and there was no need for such strong moral standards and psychological burdens.
So, she instructed Lian early on to find a suitable time to see if she could get their things back.
Unexpectedly, Lian brought back bad news.
Liu Laoshi had already distributed all their supplies, with the bulk going to Zhao Bantou, and each of the remaining escorts received something more or less.
This news was like a bolt from the blue. Everyone in the Xu family was devastated, their faces gloomy. Xu Deyuan had been beaten the previous day, and his body hadn't fully recovered yet. They were very poorly informed, and now, knowing that Liu Laoshi was making things difficult for them, they didn't dare to say a word.
What will happen if you continue to make trouble? You will only get beaten up again.
Even Huang Cui'e was as silent as a quail this time.
They stopped to rest at noon. Many people on the road took out their dry food, while some brought their own food and cooked it. The aroma of the food wafted over, making everyone in the Xu family look even uglier.
The eldest son, Xu Dechi, was so hungry that he felt dizzy and dazed. He stared at Xu Deyuan like a hungry wolf, "Second brother, tell me the truth. Have you offended Liu Laoshi before? Otherwise, why would he target our Xu family?"
Xu Deyuan's face immediately darkened. "Brother, what are you talking about?"
He looked around and saw that the other members of the Xu family were also looking at him with ill intentions. He immediately said angrily, "What do you mean? You don't all believe what that damn girl Qingying said, do you? I don't even know that Liu Laoshi. How could I have offended him?"
Huang Cui'e didn't believe it and shouted at the top of her voice: "In our Xu family, you are the only official. The others are honest farmers. Apart from you, who else could offend the people in the government? It must be because you did something bad before that made them remember us——"
"Nonsense!" Xu Deyuan spat, his shackles shaking and making a clashing sound. "Sister-in-law, you have the nerve to say you're an honest person. Don't think I don't know that your eldest wife borrowed money from high-interest lenders behind my back. And three years ago, you used my name to seize so much land and did so many immoral things. You know the whole story!"
"That's enough, stop arguing!" Grandmother slapped Huang Cui'e. "You are such a chatterbox. It's already this late and you're still arguing. You all have nothing better to do than to eat, don't you?"
Huang Cui'e said aggrievedly: "Mom, haven't we eaten this yet?"
Grandmother Huang sat down on the ground, her face terrified. She looked at Xu Deyuan and said, "Second brother, he won't starve us to death, will he? If our whole family dies, how will he explain himself?"
"It's common for people to die during exile. Even if we all died, he could just make up a random excuse and let it go. No one would care."
"Let's just go all out and fight him!" Xu Huijia, the eldest son of the first family, had a ruthless look in his eyes.
"Brother, are you crazy? What will we do after we kill him? Be a fugitive for life? Live in hiding in the mountains?" The second brother disagreed. "The road is full of wild beasts and bandits. How can we, the old, weak and sick, escape? Who can run faster, you or the wild beasts in the mountains?"
Xu Huijia cursed, "Damn it, I've never been so cowardly in my life—"
"Brother, stop yelling and save your energy. You're only making me hungrier."
Xu Zhenying saw Liu Laoshi coming over with a bag of things, and she quickly reminded everyone, "The escort is here."
Everyone in the Xu family quickly stopped discussing. Liu Laoshi, holding a cloth bag, threw it directly on the ground in the middle of the crowd. "Behave yourself, or you won't get anything to eat."
Xu Zhenying keenly noticed that Liu Laoshi's eyes swept over Xu Deyuan intentionally or unintentionally.
Xu Zhenying was almost certain that something must have happened between Liu Laoshi and his second uncle.
Huang Cui'e was the first to crawl over and pick it up. When she opened it, she found that there was only a small bag of coarse rice mixed with a lot of bran. It was so rough that it was difficult to swallow. Even a poor family in the countryside would never take out such rice unless the harvest was bad.
Huang Cui'e didn't dare to throw a tantrum this time. The whipping she received yesterday still hurt badly. She could only plead, "Sir, how can this little rice be enough for our family of more than 20 people? Please be kind and give us some more..."
The eldest son's family has many male children, and they are all in their teens. It is the time when the half-grown sons are eating their father out of money. A bag of rice cooked into porridge is probably not enough for one bowl for each person, not to mention that they have to walk such a long way every day.
My eldest uncle also pleaded, "Sir, we have more than a dozen children in our family, and they are all growing up. I am afraid this amount of food is not enough. Considering that you and my second brother were officials in the same court, please have mercy on us..."
"Have mercy? Haha——"
Liu Laoshi looked down at Huang Cui'e, until Huang Cui'e's scalp tingled, "Want something to eat?"
Huang Cui'e nodded reluctantly.
"It's actually very simple. There is a way, it just depends on whether you are willing." Liu Laoshi came closer and pressed down like a mountain. Xu Zhenying saw what Liu Laoshi said in Huang Cui'e's ear. Huang Cui'e's face changed, her lips trembled, and then she dared not say anything.
Xu Zhenying was curious about what Liu Laoshi said. After Liu Laoshi walked away, someone immediately asked, "Boss's wife, what did he say?"
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