“We’ll go too! We’ll follow Da Wa’s mother’s arrangements!” Old Man Lu nodded and said firmly, “We still have our grandson!”
Upon hearing this, Old Mrs. Chen paused for a moment, then sighed, "Yes, I'll listen to you. What's the point of living? Isn't it for our children and grandchildren?"
At the Qin family home, Granny Song was helping Liu pack winter clothes and other items that might be needed.
"Oh dear, it seems like everything here can be used!" Looking at the pile of things in front of her, Liu frowned. Although they were all odds and ends, they all seemed to have a purpose.
Granny Song laughed and said, "Grandma, let's organize everything in one place first, and then let the master take a look. If there's anything we need, we'll bring it. We have enough cars at home, and if all else fails, Diao Xi and the other young men, along with my Ah Cheng, are all capable!"
Thinking of the several strong young men, who had been eating and sleeping well with their employer these past few days, their physiques were growing stronger and stronger. The employer was generous with food, and they couldn't hold back their strength either. Granny Song truly cared about the Qin family; only when their employer was doing well could they do well.
Liu smiled at her and agreed.
Qin San Niang, along with Wu Chunhua, arranged the affairs of the workshop properly. Although the amount of candied fruit and wine processed was reduced, it was still a considerable amount.
Half of the inventory was transported in batches to the charitable hall's warehouse in the county seat, while the preserved fruit was sent to Ruyi Cake Shop. This way, the supply of goods could be guaranteed in the short term. Even if chaos broke out in the county, the losses would at least not be too great.
She remained optimistic about the safety of the shop's employees. Regardless of which side gained the throne, they would need to find ways to recuperate and increase the population in order to secure their rule. After all, the ones causing the chaos were not foreign tribes, and they wouldn't easily commit the heinous act of massacring entire cities. That would mean their descendants would be born without an anus. Anyone with a modicum of conscience, even if their head wasn't filled with excrement, wouldn't do such a stupid thing.
As for whether they would conscript men from the streets? Yes, they would, but at most they would be used to defend the city! The county magistrate already felt he didn't have enough men to defend his own city! As for orders from above, they could only recruit soldiers from the surrounding villages. In the countryside, the number of people who could afford thirty taels of silver per village was less than five, so the quotas set by above were easy to meet.
This cannot be blamed on Magistrate Jia. After all, when a crisis really comes, he will have to protect the county government first!
However, just in case, Qin San Niang told Mu Chun, Cao Wenshan, and Guo Er about the secret passage in the Si residence, hoping they wouldn't have a chance to use it. Furthermore, she had hidden a large amount of food in the passage, enough to feed their more than one hundred people for a month.
Cao Wenshan and the others were very grateful and were determined to protect their employer's shop.
A few days later, unrest broke out in several villages near Shiligou, causing widespread panic among the villagers.
Village head Chen Sheng tearfully recounted that Magistrate Jia's power to conscript soldiers had been usurped, and now the Prefect's personal guards had taken over the task. The conscripting officers were all fierce and ruthless; if someone couldn't pay the money, they would immediately drag them away, a pitiful sight! Even those families without older children, twelve or thirteen-year-olds, were dragged away!
"Oh dear, what are we going to do!" Chen Sheng lamented. "What do teenagers know? We're pushing them to their deaths! If they really go to the battlefield, they'll just be used as human shields and scapegoats!"
Qin San Niang frowned; it seemed that things had changed in Jiangzhou.
"Uncle, what are your plans?"
If he had previously thought of observing the situation, he now knew that things were going badly—this was the experience of someone who had lived half a lifetime! He had already sent his eldest son to the school to deliver a message and call his second son back. At this point, he couldn't care less about studies; the most important thing was to stay alive! He could only hope that his second son wouldn't do anything foolish. He had come to understand this year: his progress in his literary studies hadn't been significant, but he had been thoroughly tainted by the pedantry of scholars!
“Big Brother’s mother, let’s listen to you and head into the mountains. There are plenty of young men in the village. At worst, we can expand our territory like our ancestors did. Rather than being a mindless, unlucky fool, it’s better to fight our way out in the mountains! It can’t be any harder than this cannibalistic world.” Chen Sheng said, frowning. He was truly reluctant to give up the family business that his ancestors had built up over generations.
“Alright! Since Uncle Village Head agrees, let’s head into the mountains tomorrow!” Qin San Niang made the final decision.
Everything at home had already been prepared; Song Po and the others had packed up anything they could take. Liu and the others would have loved to take even the pickled vegetable jars, but that was clearly impossible. The mountain roads were rugged, and although they had oxcarts and horse-drawn carts, they were lucky to be able to haul enough grain and daily necessities!
That night, no one in the village slept. Smoke curled from chimneys above Shiligou. Everyone tried to cook their food as quickly as possible, wondering what life was like in the mountains and whether they would have any fresh food.
Although the women all had their own families, relatives, and friends, they knew that this matter concerned their lives, so the men couldn't stop them from going back to their families to inform them.
They knew in their hearts that even if they went back to inform their families, their families might not follow them into the deep mountains. Everyone knew that the old forest was full of dangers, with poisonous snakes, insects, and wild beasts that could take a person's life in a minute!
Therefore, many women, who were not strong-willed to begin with, were easily persuaded and began to consider giving up.
Chen Sheng didn't say much. No one could guarantee his safety, and he himself was still unsure of what to do! Besides, if Shiligou were gone by then, his position as village head would be meaningless. Why bother worrying about it? Even if he was forced into it, it wouldn't make a difference if he was unwilling!
However, most of the men in Shiligou were shrewd. Rather than trusting those who levied exorbitant taxes, they preferred to trust Da Wa's mother, after all, her abilities were no joke! Besides, if she, with her huge fortune, wasn't afraid of anything, why should they be?
Of course, some people from other villages were also willing to join, such as Old Man Wang's family from Wangjia Village, and Caihua Niang's family. They all benefited and had no bad intentions, so Qin San Niang was happy to take them along! At the very least, if you want to live a better life in the mountains, it's always good to have a craftsman!
In the winter of the eleventh year of the Dasheng era, on the eve of the Lunar New Year, a large group of people from Shiligou braved the biting north wind and headed into the mountains.
Standing atop the hill, the group turned back for a long look at their hometown. The village had once been their shelter from the wind and rain, a place they had painstakingly pieced together brick by brick, but now it was time to say goodbye.
It would be a lie to say I wasn't sad. The sound of many women crying could be heard from the group, which gradually turned into cursing. Then the sound gradually faded, perhaps because of the wind, and became a muffled, suppressed sob...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com