Chapter 9 The Jar of Honey
In the evening, Zheng's mother and others worked hard to weave a mat that was more than one meter long. They didn't dare to weave more because the mat made of fresh wormwood was still wet and quite heavy. They had to wait for the mat to dry completely in the sun for two days before they could continue weaving. Otherwise, if they weaved too many, they wouldn't be able to carry it on the road.
After finishing weaving the mats, the mother and her two daughters were exhausted after a long day, so they quickly packed up and went to bed.
At dawn the next day, the exile team was awakened by the officials beating gongs. They packed up their things and started on their journey.
They walked until almost noon before stopping. Thanks to the clay pot that Song, the yamen runner, had given Zhou Jin, and Zheng had boiled a pot of water before going to bed yesterday, and adding the water in the bamboo tube, Zhou Jin and his family didn't feel thirsty at all during the journey.
Those who didn't have that many water containers were in trouble. They walked for several hours without encountering any water sources on the road. The water in the bamboo tubes was already empty. Seeing a muddy ditch not far from where the team stopped, the thirsty people didn't care whether the water was dirty or not. They rushed over and scooped up water with their hands to drink.
Zhou Yu looked at these young men and women who had once disdained even tea and were scrambling to grab the muddy water, and said to her brother with lingering fear,
"Brother, thank you for the clay pot!"
Her original body was weak to begin with, and after walking all the way, she was extremely tired. Her legs and feet felt like they were not her own. She sat down against a tree like a puddle of mud, breathing heavily, and her voice sounded like a broken bellows.
Zhou Jin ignored her and was busy taking out all the clothes from the basket and pouring them on the mat.
"Brother, why are you rummaging through clothes now?!" Zhou Yu asked curiously again.
"Tear up some clothes and make leggings for you." Zhou Jin answered without even raising his head as he picked through the few pieces of clothes in the basket.
He only remembered to wear leg wraps when he suddenly noticed that Song Yayi and other officials were wearing leg wraps on the road.
"Brother, what are leg wraps used for? Are chicken legs delicious?" Little Zhou Ying, who was sitting next to the basket, asked in a baby voice, thinking, chicken legs and duck legs are delicious, so leg wraps should be delicious too, right?
"Aying, you can't eat leg bandages. They are used to tie the calves tightly with cloth strips. This can prevent knee injuries, leg cramps, muscle soreness, etc. after walking for a long time. It can also prevent low branches and mosquitoes, snakes, ants and other things from scratching the legs or crawling into the trouser legs..." Zhou Jin was happy to see the soft and cute little sister. He immediately changed his face and explained to the little sister in a soft voice.
"Oh, so I can't eat it!" Zhou Ying was very disappointed. She stood up with her little butt sticking out and went to play with the little brother next to her...
Zhou Jin...
Zhou Yu couldn't help himself...Puff!
You deserve it! You treat your two sisters differently! Now you're being criticized by the little girl, right? Haha...
He was not afraid when his brother glared at him, and just glared back.
Seeing the brother and sister's eyes glaring at each other like swords, Zheng secretly found it funny. She thought, they are still children after all, they will make a fuss at the slightest thing. She hurried forward to help them out and said,
"How come Jin is so awesome! How come he even thought of making these leg wraps?"
"I saw that my mother and 'sister's legs were so sore after walking all day that they couldn't stay still. I happened to see that Song Yayi and the others were wearing leg wraps. Suddenly, I remembered that I had read about the use of these leg wraps in a book before, so I thought of giving it a try!" Zhou Jin deliberately emphasized the word "sister" in order to awaken the conscience of the unscrupulous sister.
I feel sorry for you, brother, as I am worried about you, and you still have the nerve to laugh at me, huh!
"Oh? Are these leg wraps really as useful as you just said?" Zheng couldn't help but ask curiously.
"Well, it should be useful. Think about the 25,000-mile Long March back then. Uh, no... uh... when the emperor was marching to fight, the soldiers all wore leg wraps, and Song Yayi and the others also wore them. They need to walk all year round, and they would definitely not wear these leg wraps if they were useless!" Zhou Jin said, and he almost mentioned the 25,000-mile Long March.
After hearing this, Zheng thought it made sense, so she stepped forward to help Zhou Jin pick out a skirt she was wearing when her house was searched and tear it up. The skirt was made of silk and was not convenient to wear in prison. Later, when her mother bribed the prison warden to visit them, she brought her a dress made of fine cloth. She put the skirt away and kept it in her bag after being exiled.
Zheng's skirt is made of a lot of material. When it is unpacked, the fabric is more than one meter wide and two meters long, which is enough to make leggings for several people.
So, with Zhou Jin's help, the Zheng family tied up the legs of everyone except Zhou Ying, who rarely walked and was always carried on someone else.
"Brother, A'li feels a little pain in her legs!" Zhou Li looked at her calves that were tied tightly by her brother and felt a little uncomfortable.
"It's okay, A'li. It will be a little uncomfortable at the beginning, but you'll be fine after two days of getting used to it. You can walk faster with leg bandages and your legs will be less likely to get injured! A'li, you're a little man now, you must hold on!" Zhou Jin encouraged while tying his legs.
The little guy is only seven years old, but he has to walk the same distance as adults every day. Although Zheng sometimes carries him for a while, the little guy is afraid that his mother will be tired, and he will only let his mother carry him unless he is too tired to walk. In order to prevent the little guy from having any sequelae from walking for a long time, such as bow legs, the leggings must be tied.
When Zhou Li heard his elder brother praise him as a man, he immediately puffed out his chest, put on a stern face, and nodded, enduring the discomfort: "Yes! Big brother! A Li is a man now, A Li will definitely be able to persevere!"
The elder brother said that they were the only two men in the family and they had to be responsible for protecting their mother and sisters, so he couldn’t be afraid of hardship!
"Well, our Ahri is great!"
After Zhou Jin finished tying up A'li, he gave him a thumbs up, which made the little guy's chest stand up higher. Then he taught Zheng and the others how to tie their legs. When the people around saw that the whole family had their legs tied up like dumplings, some people couldn't help but come over to ask out of curiosity. Zhou Jin explained to everyone the purpose and method of tying the legs, and emphasized that Song Yayi and the others had also tied their legs up.
Some people believed it and some didn't. Some followed suit and some thought it was a waste of fabric. Zhou Jin didn't care. He had told everyone he needed to.
The exile team was given two meals a day, one at noon and one at night. Because the weather was hot, they could rest for an hour after lunch to avoid the hottest part of the day.
At noon, Zheng cooked pancake porridge as usual, adding a handful of dried snail meat and a handful of wild vegetables. The mother and the others drank a bowl each, and then rested for half an hour. Then Zheng and Zhou Jin got up again, suppressing their sleepiness.
They had to stay up. There were too many people in the exile team, and everyone was not getting enough to eat. No one cared about food like wild vegetables anymore. Every time the exile team stopped, everyone rushed to find them, and it was almost impossible to get them without snatching. In addition, people followed Zhou Jin to find snails and loaches yesterday, and now even the mud puddles were full of people. Zheng and Zhou Jin could only take advantage of the rest time to go to a place a little further away from the exile team to see if they could find something to eat.
Because they had encountered bandits who robbed people before, Zhou Jin would not let Zheng act alone as long as she was a little distance away from the team. Because Zhou Yu was weak, Zheng forced him to stay behind and take care of the two children to rest.
But Zhou Yu had an adult soul after all. Seeing her mother and brother working hard for a living, how could she sleep? After they left, she sat up and planned to pack her luggage so that she could take some with her on the road.
All their belongings now include a thin quilt, two straw mats, two backpacks, a bundle of clothes, a clay pot, a few sets of bowls and chopsticks...that's all.
The weather is hot now, and the two little ones only have a piece of clothing draped over their bellies, and no blankets. Zhou Jin first unfolded the thin blanket and used a long strip of cloth left over from making leggings to roll the thin blanket into a luggage roll using the backpack-packing method learned during military training. He also rolled a straw mat into strips and tucked them into the rope of the luggage roll, so that they could just carry it on their backs when they go, which would be much more convenient and labor-saving.
Then there were two bamboo baskets. One bamboo basket had to be reserved for little Zhou Ying to sit on, and could only hold a bag of clothes. The rest of the pottery jars, bowls and chopsticks, dried snail meat, and bamboo tubes were placed in the other bamboo basket.
After putting everything in order, Zhou Yu looked at his shabby belongings and began to worry.
I remember in the time-travel stories I'd read in my previous life, people who traveled through time all had systems, spiritual springs, and space-time, but how come they, the brother and sister, had nothing? Not only did they have nothing, but they tragically ended up in exile.
How unlucky!
At this moment, she probably had forgotten how excited she was when she first came through yesterday and saw that there were no zombies in the world. She wanted to hug the time-travel god and kiss him to thank him for giving her an extra life!
But now she felt that it would be difficult for her family to survive for more than three months with the meager supplies they had, and they might not even be able to survive for three days!
"Alas! These two siblings are getting worse and worse! Back in the apocalypse, there were still compressed biscuits, canned food, indoor vegetables and other things to eat. You could even pick up villas, mansions, cars and other things from the ground... As long as you were brave enough and not afraid of zombies inside, you could pick up whatever you wanted!
But now, we can’t even eat wild vegetables!
Sigh! I didn't expect the quality of life in this crappy place to be even worse than the apocalypse. Besides the zombie bug that's currently unsolvable, at least we don't have to starve!"
Zhou Yu rubbed her flat belly and couldn't help but complain in her heart. But even if she had to choose between the two worlds, Zhou Yu would still choose this one. Zombies are simply too disgusting. How can they be as cute as the two little ones sleeping soundly in front of her...
But life was so difficult right now. She missed the jar of honey she had only eaten a spoonful from when she and her brother and sister had just blown up the newly found RV before they came here...
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