The villagers discussed for a night and divided themselves into three groups.
Some people want to find a place to settle down in nearby state capitals.
Some people also believed that since Jinning County had been hit by the disaster, the nearby provincial capital would probably not be peaceful either, so it would be better to move away.
Finally, Tian An and his group are going to the capital, and they are also going the farthest.
The clan leader and elders were too old to withstand the hardships, so they followed the group of people heading to the nearest provincial capital, thinking that being closer would allow them to come back and visit in their lifetime.
The village head wanted to go further away and find a stable place to settle down with his family.
The village chief thought about it and found Tian An and Zhao Yiming, wanting to go to the capital with them.
In addition to the village chief's family, the other four families who came to visit the two were Dashu, Qiushan, Xiaofeng, and Tian Mingcai.
Zhao Yiming and Tian An had good relationships with several families, so it would be a good idea for them to travel together, so they readily agreed.
Seeing that the once happy village was about to be torn apart and everyone was going their separate ways, the saddest people were the clan leader, clan elders, village chief, and other old people.
When they get older, they want to live together happily with everyone, but they didn't expect that they would have to leave their hometown when they are old. They are afraid that they will never come back in this life.
After everything was discussed, everyone took advantage of the daybreak to catch an hour's sleep. When daybreak came, they began to divide the things.
After Tian An distributed two bags of grain to each of the villagers and farmhands, he only had about one-tenth or twelve-tenths of the grain he had stored.
Looking at the servants following behind him, Tian An thought for a moment and asked them again, "We have a long journey ahead of us, and we don't know what might happen along the way. If you don't want to follow us, you can stand up now. For the sake of our past friendship, I will return your deeds and give you two bags of food, and you can leave on your own."
Upon hearing this, the servants, including Chunxi Mangzhong, knelt on the ground in panic. "Miss, we won't leave. Let us follow you! We will be loyal and unwavering, and will never have second thoughts."
Tian An remained unmoved and continued to tempt him, "Think carefully, if you get the indenture, your slavery will be cancelled. This is your only chance, and you won't miss it again."
The kneeling people did not hesitate and said in unison: "We have no regrets. Please stay, young lady."
Tian An looked at them and saw that their expressions were genuine. After a while, he said, "Everyone, get up! I've given you this opportunity. I just hope you won't regret it later."
They said in unison again, "No regrets," and then stood up.
Just when Tian An and the others were about to leave, Qiu Tian's family, Luo Yourong's family, and Wang Erdong's family all came to their door.
"Girl, our three families want to follow you." Luo Yourong spoke first.
Wang Erdong also said, "Please take me in, young lady."
Qiu Tian followed closely behind, "Miss, I will work harder in the future. Please let us follow you!"
Tian An glanced at the farmhands watching from a distance and refused, "We have a long way to go. If you follow us, you will not only get no protection, but will be in danger. Since you have already taken the food, leave now!"
Seeing Tian An's refusal, Qiu Tian almost cried and knelt on the ground, "Miss, please leave us here! Please."
Tian An helped her up and said, "Qiutian, be obedient. We will meet again if we are destined to."
Seeing his granddaughter crying heartbrokenly, Grandpa Qiu Tian gritted his teeth and knelt down in front of Tian An, "Girl, please leave us here! If you doubt our loyalty, then we can sign a contract to sell ourselves."
The other two families looked at each other and knelt down, "Miss, we can also sign the indenture."
Tian An was shocked. How could the old men kneel before her at such an old age? She hurried over to help them up and said, "If you have anything to say, please stand up first."
Seeing that there was room for easing the situation, they slowly stood up and looked at Tian An with hope.
Tian An sighed and said helplessly: "Have you thought it through? Once you sign the contract, there is no turning back."
Luo Yourong's father stepped forward and said, "Miss, we have no regrets. We have already escaped hardship once. We are already undocumented, and we are afraid that we will not find a master as kind as you if we escape hardship again. We have no regrets selling ourselves to you, and we don't want any money, just food."
Several others also said: "Yes, we don't want money, just give us food."
Tian An had nothing to say. He looked at Zhao Yiming and agreed when he nodded.
Seeing that both masters agreed, the few people breathed a sigh of relief, knelt down to express their gratitude, and then stood up. Without being told, they took the initiative to carry all the things they needed.
Seeing that the three families had been retained only after selling their bodies, the other farmhands gave up their thoughts. It would be nice to be able to follow the scholar, but they were still unwilling to sell their bodies.
After saying a brief goodbye to everyone, Zhao Yiming and Tian An left with their team.
The group did not go down the mountain and pass through the village. Instead, they went down directly to the middle of the mountain, turned around a nearby mountain, and continued through the woods.
They had said when they set out that they had to follow Zhao Yiming's arrangements along the way, so even though the village chief and the others had doubts, they didn't ask too many questions.
They only stopped twice along the way, each time for a quarter of an hour before continuing on their way. Fortunately, Tian An had taken good care of Granny Qin, so she didn't fall behind during such a demanding journey. Xiaokang and Xiaoqi, though small, walked the entire way on their own. The others were also used to working, and none of them were pretentious.
At noon they arrived at another mountain where Chen Feng and his men hid their food.
When the village leaders saw the carts of grain, their eyes widened. They thought to themselves, "No wonder Zhao Yiming and Tian An didn't even blink when they distributed the grain to the villagers. It turns out they had been prepared. They were also glad they had made the right choice. With these two's meticulous thinking, they will definitely be safe on this journey."
After meeting up with Chen Feng and the others, Zhao Yiming rested for a while and had a simple meal. Then he selected a few more people and prepared to take them down the mountain.
"Rest here for today, we still need to make some preparations."
It was already evening when they came back, and each of them was carrying a lot of things.
Zhao Yiming handed a basket to Tian An, "Take them to change their clothes. It's more convenient to wear men's clothes when you go out."
Tian An looked at the basket of coarse men's clothing and stared at Zhao Yiming blankly: "Didn't they say the county town had fallen? Where did you buy these clothes?"
Zhao Yiming looked away awkwardly, and Qiu Shan took the initiative to explain for him, "The owner of the cloth shop ran away, and these things are ownerless. Brother Yiming led us to dig them out from under the collapsed house."
Tian An pointed at the axe, hatchet, and even a long knife that Dashu was taking out of his backpack and asked, "No one wants those either?"
Qiu Shan turned his head and looked in the direction Tian An pointed, then nodded, "We went to several blacksmith shops in the county to collect these."
Tian An: "...the things are so easy to pick up, and they don't cost money, she should go with us."
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