After breakfast, the villagers loaded the spoils onto the carts one after another. The Tartar tents were torn into pieces and used by several households as tarpaulins to cover their grain.
Lu Qiqi had Zhu Zi and Dun Zi lift Liu Tong onto the carriage, with Zhu Zi in charge of driving.
The carriage is stable, which is conducive to wound healing.
Then she remembered that Li Dashun was also seriously injured, so she put him in the carriage as well and asked Dunzi to drive the carriage for Aunt Zhao.
Li Changlong had injured his hand, but driving an oxcart wasn't a problem, so he was asked to pull Lu Dahai and Li Xibao.
The three horses brought back from the bandit's den were ridden by Song Yanqing, Feng Yuer, and Lu Qiqi and Lu Yao. The group continued their journey in a grand procession.
Continuing south, through the forest, and down to the foot of the mountain, more and more refugees were scattered about.
The refugees, dressed in disheveled clothes and with dirty hair, saw Lu Qiqi and her group. They were riding tall horses in front, followed by horse-drawn carts, donkey carts, and oxcarts. The carts were piled high with things covered by tarpaulins, so there must be food!
Gradually, a look of greed appeared in his eyes.
The villagers felt a growing tension as they watched the refugees staring at them menacingly.
They had just fought a battle with the Tartars, and now some were wounded, some were dead, and all that remained were wounded, disabled, women, and children. If these refugees really wanted to do something, they probably wouldn't be able to withstand them!
Lu Qiqi and Song Yanqing exchanged a glance. Song Yanqing rode his horse backward and told the villagers on their way to pick up their own tools, both to prevent the refugees from committing evil deeds and to deter them.
The villagers picked up their hoes, sharpened sticks, bandits' knives, and Tartars' scimitars, and surrounded the donkey carts, horse-drawn carts, women, and children.
When Lu Qiqi looked back, the sheer scale of their attack made them look like bandits who had just returned from a robbery.
The refugees following behind, seeing that although the people of Lijia Village had wounded men, they were all armed with knives and sticks and were quite strong, dared not follow closely any further.
Once they crossed the foot of the mountain, the Li family villagers had left the refugees far behind.
After walking for most of the day, the villagers were starving, but the thought of the refugees staring at them with the eyes of wolves and tigers, as if there were a piece of fat meat in front of them, made them dare not relax for a moment. Holding their breath, no one dared to utter a sound, and they only dared to ask when they could rest after they had gone far away from the refugees.
After a quick midday meal of dry rations, they set off again, continuing their journey until they were certain the refugees would not pursue them any further, at which point the village chief ordered a rest.
Fearing there might be other refugees nearby, Lu Qiqi instructed the villagers to stay close together, with one group guarding the grain carts and horses, and the aunties gathering firewood and wild vegetables not to stray too far.
Lu Qiqi walked over to her third aunt, Li, and saw her changing Lu Dahai's dressing. "Third aunt, Third Uncle's injury is not a big problem anymore. If you leave this dressing on overnight, you won't need to change it again tomorrow!"
Auntie felt sorry for Lu Dahai, and with red in her eyes, she nodded to Lu Qiqi, "I understand!"
As Mrs. Lu was taking a pot from the oxcart to prepare a meal, Lu Qiqi stopped her, saying, "Auntie, let's use all the food we can make into dry rations tonight. There will probably be more and more refugees on this road, and if we start a fire to cook, we might attract unwanted attention."
Mrs. Lu was startled at first, but quickly nodded in agreement. In this day and age, people would do anything for a bite to eat! If their food was stolen, her family would not be able to survive. Today, seeing so many refugees, hunched over and leaning on canes, they didn't know if they could even get out of the forest without food!
The thought of these refugees being her fate if their food was stolen sent a chill down Lu's spine, and she immediately began preparing dry rations!
Lu Qiqi told the village chief about this idea.
After hearing this, the village chief looked up at the sky and said helplessly, "This road is probably not going to be peaceful from now on."
Upon hearing that cooking was prohibited on the road ahead, many more people went into the woods to pick wild vegetables. Everyone hoped to pick as many wild vegetables as possible to make vegetable dumplings and vegetable pancakes.
Even if all else fails, cutting more hay to feed the livestock is still a good idea!
Lu Qiqi also joined the wild vegetable picking team. Despite her young age, Lu Yao was a master at picking wild vegetables. Before long, she and Feng Yuer had picked half a basket of bitter wild vegetables. Lu Qiqi's brows furrowed in pain as she watched, and she never wanted to eat bitter vegetables again!
Lu Qiqi walked towards a place where few people were picking wild vegetables, but was stopped by Li Shi, "Qiqi, there aren't many wild vegetables over there, come over here and pick some."
Lu Qiqi responded and was about to turn back when she saw the purslane with its red roots and green leaves on the ground.
This stuff tastes much better than bitter vegetables!
Lu Qiqi took out a small curved knife and made several cuts in a row. Seeing that she was squatting on the ground and not coming over for a long time, Li walked over to Lu Qiqi.
When Li saw that Lu Qiqi had picked half a basket of unfamiliar herbs, she asked, "Qiqi, are these medicinal herbs?"
Upon hearing Li's voice, Lu Qiqi said without looking up, "It's a medicinal herb, and it's also a dish. It's much tastier than bitter herbs. Third Aunt, go and call Ayao and the others over. We'll eat it tonight!"
Knowing that Lu Qiqi was knowledgeable, Li didn't ask any questions. She put down the basket in her hand and went to call Lu Yao and Feng Yu'er.
Lu Yao, who had been summoned by Li, came over carrying a basket of bitter herbs. Lu Qiqi told her to feed the bitter herbs to the cows, but Lu Yao shook her head like a rattle drum, and her eyes instantly turned red.
Lu Qiqi was startled by her and quickly picked up a purslane plant to explain, "This is called purslane. It can be used as a medicinal herb and can also be eaten as a vegetable. Most importantly, it's not bitter! Tell me, if there are non-bitter wild vegetables to eat, why do we still eat bitter wild vegetables?!"
Upon hearing this, Lu Yao hesitated for a moment, but when she thought about how amazing Lu Qiqi had become since being pushed down by her older cousin and waking up, not only able to hunt but also to cure diseases, she no longer doubted whether this thing called purslane was edible!
Feng Yu'er couldn't tell which wild vegetables were edible and which weren't. She had never seen them before, let alone eaten them. As soon as she heard that the wild vegetables she had picked for half a day were bitter, she immediately defected to Lu Qiqi's side. She didn't want to eat bitter wild vegetables!
Seeing that the Li family members were picking purslane, the curious villagers also gathered around. There was plenty of this wild vegetable here. If it could be eaten, it would save a lot of trouble and also produce a lot more grain!
An aunt asked, "Lu family girl, is this wild vegetable you picked edible?"
Lu Qiqi stood up, tidied her stray hairs with the back of her hand, and smiled, "It's edible! Much tastier than bitter herbs. Purslane can not only be eaten as a vegetable, but also used as a medicinal herb. If you can't finish it, you can dry it and sell it!"
The aunt asked again, "Is this dish just stir-fried and eaten?"
Lu Qiqi said, "It would be best to blanch it first, otherwise it will taste a bit sour and a bit astringent."
Upon hearing that this was a good thing, the aunt immediately abandoned picking bitter wild vegetables and began to gather purslane.
As more and more villagers gathered to pick purslane, Lu Qiqi suddenly remembered that she still had some cabbages in her space that were about to ripen. If she didn't eat them soon, they would get too old!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
