Following her mother-in-law's instructions, Zhang bought wine and meat, and tremblingly handed them to Liang Shuyan: "Mother, this, this is the wine and meat you wanted!"
Liang Shuyan brought the sniff to her nose and nodded: "Hmm, not bad."
He then grabbed a piece and stuffed it into Zhang's mouth, and also put a piece in his own mouth. While chewing, he said, "I'll just mix some seasoning into these. You can go over and put them in front of those two guards later."
Zhang became anxious and grabbed her mother-in-law's arm, saying, "Mother, why are you wasting so much delicious meat?"
Liang Shuyan looked up and saw that her eldest daughter-in-law's drool was falling like beads from a broken string onto the back of her hand.
She wiped her hands with disgust: "What do you know? I want to go into the city. You saw it yourself, these bastards won't let us in. Are we supposed to stay here tonight?"
Zhang knew perfectly well what her mother-in-law was planning. She just felt that it was such delicious meat mixed with medicine, how could her mother-in-law waste it like that?
"Mother, but, but, could you please leave some of this meat for Grandma and the children?"
Upon hearing her eldest daughter-in-law say this, Liang Shuyan looked at her daughter-in-law again and felt a little sorry for her. Since marrying into the Jin family, Zhang Shi had never eaten anything good or worn anything nice. Look at her, she couldn't even bear to part with the little bit of meat that she was using as bait. She couldn't tell whether she pitied her or wanted to slap her.
Seeing her mother-in-law's unwavering gaze fixed on her, Zhang Shi took two steps back in fright and said in a trembling voice, "Mother, then, then whatever you say we should do, we should do!"
Liang Shuyan reached out and roughly tossed the meat bag in her hand, clapped her hands, glanced at it, and said, "Go, put it in front of those two guards and say that this is an invitation from a gentleman to two gentlemen. Make it sound nice, and hurry up!"
Zhang rarely went out, and she was a little scared, but she didn't dare to say she didn't want to go in front of her mother-in-law. Wouldn't that just make her mother-in-law dislike her even more? So she braced herself and went to the two guards.
"Gentlemen, this is from that master who asked me to give this to you. He said that you two are working hard guarding the city in this cold weather, so I brought you some food. Please, please enjoy!"
Zhang didn't even know how she managed to finish speaking; she was trembling all over and her speech was incoherent.
"Grandpa? Who is this person who knows the ways of the trade so well? Seeing how hard we've worked, he even brought us some delicious food. What a kind person!"
Another guard came over, sniffed the bag, and immediately exclaimed happily, "Oh my, it's meat and wine! Did this kind old man overhear our conversation and then go and buy it for us?"
"That's about enough, let's eat! It's been so long since we've tasted meat, what are we waiting for?"
"Never mind all that, let me have a sip first. Is this wine some kind of Daughter's Red? The aroma is making my stomach rumble."
The two of them started wolfing down their food as they talked, and before long, they were hugging each other tightly and fell fast asleep.
Liang Shuyan then clapped her hands, walked over, and waved to Li Zheng, who was sitting to the side. Li Zheng understood what Liang Shuyan meant, called out to the villagers behind him, and the wagons and carts, with their creaking and swaying, finally made their way into the city.
Li Zheng looked pleased: "Thanks to Aunt Dashan. If it weren't for her cleverness in coming up with such a solution, we would all have to spend the night outside in this cold wind. After you all enter the city, find a place to stay. Tomorrow I will go to the magistrate to ask about our household registration."
Yes, to live here, you need to have a household registration. If you don't have a household registration, the government will investigate and you will be dismissed. Since you've just arrived, you should find a place to settle down first.
After everyone responded, each family went off to find their own place to stay.
Li Lanfang was a little tired and actually fell asleep leaning against the donkey cart. Niu Niu cried out, "Mom, Grandma is hungry. I can hear Grandma's stomach growling."
Liang Shuyan glanced at her old mother on the donkey cart, feeling a pang of guilt. Seeing the children's exhausted faces, she pointed to a noodle shop not far away and said, "Shall we go to that noodle shop up ahead and have some noodles before looking for a place to stay?"
After so many days of travel, to be honest, Liang Shuyan was completely exhausted. Now, as long as there is a quiet place, she will fall asleep immediately.
Jin Dashan's shoes had worn down to the point where the heels were gone. Right now, he was squatting down, looking down, trying to mend them with a straw rope.
"These children are so pitiful. They are all so young, born at such an age to suffer like this while fleeing famine. Once we find a place to stay, I will quickly make a pair of shoes for each of them. I can't let these children suffer with me!" Liang Shuyan glanced at the children and muttered to herself, feeling somewhat embarrassed.
Da Shan noticed her mother packing her worn-out shoes and blushed with embarrassment, smiling, "Mom, it's alright, we'll get there eventually, we can make do with these."
Although the people on the street were all dressed in tattered clothes, it was rare to see people like them, driving donkey carts, all dirty and looking at the novelties in the market with surprise.
Liu pointed to a woman selling lanterns across the street and said, "Mother, look, there are lantern sellers here too. So, Erniu can make lanterns too, and then we can make them and sell them for money!"
Liang Shuyan glanced at Liu Shi and said, "The idea is good, but this business is too crowded. Look, there are so many people here, all selling lanterns."
Sanwang hadn't said a word until he saw the noodle shop, then he suddenly shouted, "Mom, we're here! We're here!"
Zhang Shi is the most sensible. She just saw that her mother bought pork for the two gatekeepers in order to go to the city. Now so many people are going to the noodle shop to eat. How much money must that cost? Where does her mother get that much money?
"Mother, why don't we find a place to stay first, and then figure out what to eat? We still have some rice in our rice bag. With so many of us, where are we going to get the money to eat?"
Liang Shuyan was grateful for Zhang's understanding, but at this moment, Liang Shuyan patted her chest and said, "Don't worry, on the way to escape the famine, there was nowhere for me to spend money. Now that we're in town, of course I'll treat you to a good meal!"
Niu Niu clapped her hands happily: "Great! Mom, that's wonderful!"
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