Two hundred miles is neither a short distance nor a long one.
The Li family followed the caravan for six or seven days and finally arrived in Junyang County one afternoon.
When they parted, Liu, the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort), insisted on not taking the ten taels of silver. He kept saying that he wanted to establish a good relationship with the Li family and stay in touch with them often in the future.
He hoped that Li Laosi would join the security escort agency in the future and run business together.
The Li family had no choice but to accept the money, thinking they would repay the favor in the future.
They hired two horse-drawn carriages and the family arrived at the small mountain village where their uncle, Liu Gen'er, lived before sunset.
The small village was very quiet. At this moment, no one's chimney was smoking, and there were very few lights.
Remembering what her younger brother had said in a letter, Old Lady Li went to the second house at the entrance of the village.
This house is surrounded by mud-brick walls and has a thatched roof.
The gate to the courtyard was made of tree branches, and the house had only two or three rooms, looking very poor and dilapidated.
When Grandma Li saw this, she felt a little worried. She pounded on the courtyard gate and called out, "Liu Gen'er, come open the door! It's your sister!"
But no one answered for a while. Tao Hongying and the others exchanged glances, their expressions all showing a hint of worry.
"Coming! Who is it? Can't a person sleep at this hour!"
Finally, the door was pushed open with a creaking sound, and a thin woman with her hair casually tied back walked out.
Seeing so many people standing at the door, the woman's initially displeased expression immediately froze.
She took several steps back, her face wary. "Who are you looking for?"
"I am Liu Gen'er's older sister. I married and moved to the border region many years ago. Recently, there was war in our area, so I brought my family to seek refuge here..."
Grandma Li responded and explained in detail.
Upon hearing this, the woman pondered for a moment before understanding, and quickly said, "Wait a moment."
After saying that, she turned and went into the house, and soon came out with an old lady in her arms.
Old Mrs. Li recognized her as Liu Gen'er's wife, Guo, her sister-in-law.
Guo was a few years younger than Li, but she looked unusually old.
His face was wrinkled like a dried orange peel, and he didn't look very healthy.
When Guo reached the courtyard gate, she raised her triangular eyes and looked at Old Lady Li standing in front of her.
"Oh, it's you, big sister! Why did you come all this way to my house? Come in and let's talk."
Tao recognized Old Lady Li, but her tone was rather cold, showing no enthusiasm whatsoever for seeing a long-lost relative.
Old Mrs. Li's initial enthusiasm suddenly cooled.
She thought for a moment, then led her children and grandchildren into the courtyard.
Two more men and a large woman came out of the house.
They looked as if they had just crawled out of bed, rubbing their eyes and yawning, their gazes towards the Li family filled with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance.
"Sister-in-law, where is Liu Gen'er?"
When Guo heard Old Lady Li mention her husband, her expression became complicated. "Liu Gen'er died last year."
"What? How did she die?" Old Mrs. Li swayed and almost fell, but fortunately, Li Laosi stepped forward to help her up.
"Didn't they send a letter two years ago saying he was in good health? How come..."
Upon hearing the sudden news of her brother's death, Grandma Li was completely stunned. She held back her tears and wanted to get to the bottom of things.
Guo snorted coldly, showing no trace of grief, but rather appearing extremely resentful.
“Last summer, there was a torrential rain, and the levee flooded. It shouldn’t have reached our side. But that damned Liu Gen’er insisted on saving a child who was being swept away by the flood. In the end, he got himself killed, leaving us, a widow and her child, to suffer in this world.”
As she spoke, she looked at Old Lady Li again.
His harsh gaze, like a scraper, scrutinized Old Lady Li and the rest of the Li family from head to toe.
Old Mrs. Li was cautious in her actions. Before disembarking, she had her family change out of the clothes that Mrs. Sun had given her and put on the patched clothes she had worn before.
In addition, they had traveled a long and dusty journey, and their clothes were dirty, so they looked quite disheveled.
Tao's eyes were filled with disdain and disappointment.
“My father is dead, what are you coming to seek refuge with? With our family in such a state, how can we possibly take you in? We can’t even support ourselves!”
Liu Gen'er's eldest son, Liu Tiezhu, was exhausted. Seeing that the Li family didn't seem wealthy, he told them to leave.
Guo listened to her son's words without saying a word, clearly agreeing with him.
"We just want a temporary place to stay; you don't need to worry about food or clothing..."
Li Lao Er was dissatisfied with their attitude and stood up to explain.
But before he could finish speaking, he was interrupted by another man.
"Who are you trying to fool? With your poor, shabby appearance, what if you actually move into my house and refuse to leave?"
Liu Laifu, the second son of the Liu family, was also dissatisfied, pouting and glaring.
However, Guo Shi, out of respect for the deceased Liu Gen'er, waved her hand to stop her son and said...
"Alright, alright, if you have nowhere to stay, you can stay in our courtyard for now, but don't even think about going inside. Leave as soon as it's light tomorrow, we can't help you!"
Old Mrs. Li was so angry that her whole body was trembling. Jia Yin felt sorry for her and tried her best to hold back from taking the stones out of her space and throwing them on the Liu family's house!
Selfish and ungrateful!
She would rather let the Li family sleep on the street than have anything to do with them.
She reached out her little hand and tugged at her grandma, making two cooing sounds.
Liu Laifu was standing nearby, and when he heard the noise, he craned his neck to take a look, which only made him more disgusted.
"They're so poor they're fleeing famine everywhere, yet they're still having so many babies!"
Li Laosi was furious and reached out to grab Liu Laifu.
Liu Laifu was quite slippery; he was so frightened that he quickly hid behind Guo.
"What? You're going to hit us just because we won't take you in? Come on, hit us! If you're so capable, beat our whole family to death and take over our house!"
The old lady Li, who had been silent all along, raised her hand and pulled her son back, saying, "Fourth son, don't cause trouble."
After saying that, she turned to Guo Shi and said, "Sister-in-law, I didn't think it through. Don't worry, now that Liu Gen'er is gone, our two families will be estranged. Even if we starve to death, we won't trouble you."
Guo snorted coldly, "That's fine then, but you can't go back on your word."
After saying that, she took her son and daughter-in-law back into the house.
The courtyard was completely silent.
"Mother, how could they do this? A few years ago, my uncle sent word that he was getting a wife for his son, but his family couldn't afford the dowry, so you even sold your own dowry and jewelry. Our family went hungry for more than half a year to scrape together the money and send it to them!"
Li Lao Er was so angry he was panting heavily. "But now, just because my uncle passed away, they've turned their backs on us!"
Tao Hongying, Zhao Yuru, and the others were also filled with disappointment and indignation, but Wu Ergou stood behind the crowd, watching the spectacle with complete indifference.
Grandma Li sighed deeply, held her granddaughter upright in her arms, and pressed her soft, warm little face against her chest. Only then did the chill in her heart dissipate.
"Fu Niu'er, Grandma will take you to sleep outside, not here, okay?" Grandma Li asked Jiayin softly.
Jiayin grinned and rubbed her cheek against Grandma Li's.
"Fu Niu'er is so good!" Old Mrs. Li finally showed a faint smile, turned around and led her family out of the yard.
At the entrance of the village stood a century-old tree, so large that it would take several people to encircle it, with lush branches and leaves. The Li family lit a fire there and temporarily settled down.
Fortunately, it was still late summer, and the nights weren't too cold.
But everyone was filled with apprehension and confusion; they had traveled a long way to get here, only to find this was the outcome.
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